:^amamma 


LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


977c39 
P42h 


I   o  H  o  b    o 


HISTORY 


OF 


JjJj 


XAIER,  Union  Al  POLASRI CODNTIES, 


IKL.INOIS. 


B33ITEX>  ,3Y    AAT'IXjIjIJ^Iid:    HElTR-y    X'ER/R/IIT. 


ILLUSTRATE.D 


CHICAGO: 

O.  L.  BASKIN  &  CO.,  HISTORICAL  PUBLISHERS, 

183  Lake  Street. 

1883. 


PREFACE. 


rpHE  history  of  Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski  Counties,  after  months  of  persistent  toil  and 
-L  research,  is  now  completed,  and  it  is  believed  that  no  subject  of  universal  public  impor- 
tance or  interest  has  been  omitted,  save  where  protracted  effort  failed  to  secure  reliable  results- 
We  are  well  aware  of  our  inability  to  furnish  a  perfect  history  from  meager  public  documents 
and  numberless  conflicting  traditions,  but  claim  to  have  prepared  a  work  fully  up  to  the  standard 
of  our  promises.  Through  the  courtesy  and  assistance  generously  afforded  by  the  residents  of 
these  counties,  we  have  been  enabled  to  trace  out  and  put  on  record  the  greater  portion  of  the 
important  events  that  have  transpired  in  Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski  Counties,  up  to  the 
present  time.  And  we  feel  assured  that  all  thoughtful  people  in  these  counties,  now  and  in 
future,  will  recognize  and  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  work  and  its  permanent  value. 

A  dry  statement  of  events  has,  as  far  as  possible,  been  avoided,  and  incidents  and  anecdotes 
have  been  interwoven  with  facts  and  statistics,  forming  a  narrative  at  once  instructive  and  inter- 
esting. 

We  are  indebted  to  John  Grear,  Esq.,  for  the  history  of  Jonesboro  and  Precinct;  to  Dr.  J 
H.  Sanborn  for  the  history  of  Anna  and  Precinct;  to  Dr.  N.  R.  Casey  for  the  history  of  Mound 
City  and  Precinct,  and  to  George  W.  Endicott,  Esq.,  of  Villa  Ridge,  for  his  chapter  on  Agricult- 
ure and  Horticulture  of  Pulaski  County.  Also  to  H.  C.  Bradsby,  Esq.,  for  his  very  able  and 
exhaustive  history  of  Cairo,  as  well  as  the  general  history  of  the  respective  counties,  and  to  the 
many  citizens  who  furnished  our  corps  of  writers  with  material  aid  in  the  compilation  of  the 
facts  embodied  in  the  work. 

September,  1883  Tjjg  PUBLISHERS. 


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852588 


CONTENTS 


PART  I. 


CAIRO. 

PAGE. 

<^'>I  AFTER  I.— City  of  Cairo— The  First  Steamboat  on  West- 
ern Waters — Great  Eartliquake  of  l.'^ll — First  Settle- 
ment of  Cairo— Hoibrook's  Schemes — A  Mushroom 
(  ity  and  the  Bubble  Bursted — Early  Navigation  of 
Western  Rivers — Capt.  Henry  M.  Shreve,  etc.,  etc 11 

CHAPTER  II.— Crash  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company 
in  1841 — The  Exodus  of  the  People— Pastimes  and 
Social  Life  of  Those  Who  Remain — Judge  Cilbert — 
How  a  Riot  was  Suppressed — Bryan  Shaunessy — 
Gradual  Growth  of  the  Town  Again — The  Record 
Brought  Down  to  1.^53,  etc .SI 

(  HAPTER  III.— Cairo  Platted— First  Sale  of  Lots— The 
Foundation  of  a  City  Laid — Beginning  of  Work  on 
the  Central  Railroad — S.  Staats  Taylor^City  Gov- 
ernment Organized  and  Who  Were  Its  Officers — In- 
crease of  Population — The  War — Soldiers  in  Cairo — 
Battle  of  Belmont— Waif  of  the  Battle-tield— "  Old 
Rube  ■' — Killing  of  Spencer — Overflow  of  '58 — Wash 
Graham  and  Gen.  (irant  —  A  Few  More  Practical 
Jokes,  etc.,  etc 47 

(  HAPTER  IV.— Decidedly  a  Cairo  chapter— Cairo  and  Its 
Different  Bodies,  Politic  and  Corporate — Cairo  City 
and  Bank  of  Cairo — Cairo  and  Canal  Company — Cairo 
,  <  ity  Property— Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Property 
— The  Illinois  Exporting  Company — D.  B.  Holbrook 
—Justin  Butterfield— Recapitulation,  etc.,  etc 67 

(HAI'TER  v.— The  Levees— How  the  Territorial  Legisla- 
ture by  Law  Placed  the  Natural  Town  Site  Above 
C»verflows — First  Efibrts  at  Constructing  Levees — 
Engineer's  Reports  on  the  Same — Estimated  Height 
and  Costs — The  Floods — The  City  Overflowed — Great 
Disaster,  the  f'ause  and  Its  Effects— The  Levees  are 
Reconstructed  and  They  Defy  the  Greatest  Waters 
Ever  Known 90 

CHAPTER  VI.— The  Press— Its  Power  as  the  Great  Civil- 
izer  of  the  Age — Cairo's  First  Editorial  Ventures- 
Birth  and  Death  of  Newspapers  Innumerable — The 
Bohemians — Who  They  Were  and  What  They  Did — 
"  Bull  Run  "  Russell—  Harrell,  Willett,  Faxon  and 
Others  —  Some  of  the  "Intelligent  Compositors" — 
Quantum  Sufficit 126 

(  HAPTER  VII.— Societies:  Literary,  Social  and  Benevolent 
—The  Ideal  League — Lyceimi — Masonic  Fraternity — 
Its  Great  Antiquity— Odd  Fellowship  — The  Cairo 
Casino — Other  Societies,  etc ISS 


CHAPTER  VIII.— Cairo— Her  Condition -in  1861-187S-1>;.><:; 
— The  Ebb  and  Flow  of  Business  and  Population  — 
War  and  the  Panic  Which  Followed — Steamboat.s— 
Mark  Twain— Pilots — .Some  Steamboat  Disasters— And 
a  Joke  or  Two  by  Way  of  Illustration,  etc W' 

CHAPTER  IX.— The  Church  History— St.  Patrick's— Ger- 
man Lutheran  —  Presbyterian  —  Baptist —  Methodist 
and  Other  Dcnomination.s — The  Different  Pastors — 
Their  Flocks,  Temples,  the  City  .Schools,  etc.,  etc 17G 

CHAPTER  X.— Railroads  — The  Illinois  Central —Cairo 
Short  Line — The  Iron  Mountain — Cairo  &  St.  Louis — 
The  Wabash— Mobile  &  Ohio— Texas  A  St.  Louis— The 
Great  Jackson  Route — Roads  Being  Built,  etc.,  etc....  19.5 

CHAPTER  XL— Conclusion— The  Future  of  the  City  Con- 
sidered—Her Present  Status  and  Growth — Present 
City  Officials,  etc 217 


PART  II. 

UNION  COUNTY. 

CHAPTER  I.— Intro<luction — Geology— Importance  of  Edu- 
cating the  People  on  This  Subject — The  Limestone 
District  of  Illinois — Keononiical  (ieology  of  Union, 
Alexander  and  Pulaski  Counties — Medical  .Sprjngs, 
Building  Material,  Soil,  etc.— Wonderful  Wealth  of 
Nature's  Bounties — Topograi)hy  and  Cliniato  of  this 
Region,  etc "^'i-? 

CHAPTER  11.— Pre-historic  Races— The  Mound-Buildera— 
Fire  Worshipers — Relics  of  these  Unknown  People — 
Mounds,  Workshops  and  Battle-<i rounds  in  Ufllijn, 
Alexander  and  Pulaski  Counties — Visits  of  Noxious 
Insects— History  Thereof,  etc 244 

CHAPTER  III.— The  Daring  Discoveries  and  Settlements 
by  the  French— The  Catholic  Missionaries— Discov- 
ery of  the  Mississippi  River — .Some  Corrections  in 
History  — A  World's  Wonderful  Drama  of  Nearly 
Three  Hundred  Years'  Duration,  etc 2.5'i 

CHAPTER  IV.— 1  ollowing  the  Footsteps  of  the  First  Pio- 
neers— Who  They  Were— How  They  Came— Where  They 
Stopped— From  179.J  to  1810— Cordeling— Bear  Fight- 
First  Schools,  Preachers,  and  the  Kind  of  People  they 
Were— John  Orammar,  the  Father  of  Illinois  State- 
Craft,  etc '^^* 

CHAPTER  v.— Settlers  in  Union,  Alexander  and  Pulaski— 
Lean  Venison  and  Fat  Bear— Primitive  Furniture— A 


CONTENTS. 


Pioneer  Boy  .Sees  a  Plastered  House — ilow  People 
F'orted — Their  Dress  and  Amusements — Witchcraft, 
Wizards,  etc. — No  Law  nor  Church— Sports,  etc. — fiov. 
Dougherty — Philip  Shaver  and  the  Cache  Massacre — 
Families  in  the  Order  they  I'ame,  etc.,  etc '21o 

CHAPTER  VI.— Organization  of  Union  County— Act  of 
Legislature  Forming  It — The  County  Seal — Commis- 
sioners' Court — Abner  Field — A  List  of  Families — Cen- 
sus from  1820  to  ISSO— Dr.  Brooks— The  Flood  of  1844— 
Willard  Family — Col.  Henry  L.  Webb  —  Railroads — 
Schools — Moralizing,  etc.,  etc 285 

CHAPTER  VIL— The  Bench  and  Bar— Gov.  Reynolds- 
Early  Courts— First  Term  and  Officers— Daniel  P.  Cook 
— Census  of  1818— County  Officers  to  Date— Abner  and 
Alexander  P.  Field— Winsted  Davie — Young  and  Mc- 
Roberts — Visiting  and  Resident  Lawyers — Grand  .Juries 
Punched — Ilunsaker's  Letter — War  Between  Jouesboro 
and  Anna— County  Vote,  etc.,  etc 301 

CHAPTER  VIIL— The  Pre-ss- Finley  and  Evans,  and  the 
First  Newspaper — "  Union  County  Democrat'' — John 
Grear— The  "Record,"  "Herald,"  and  Other  Publica- 
tions—How the  Telegraph  Produced  Drought— Dr.  S.  S. 
Conden— Present  Publishers  and  Their  Able  Papers,  etc.  318 

CHAPTER  IX.— Military  History— "Wars  and  Rumors  of 
Wars" — And  Some  of  the  (lenuine  Article — Revolu- 
tionary .Soldiers— Mexican  War- Our  Late  Civil  Strife 
—Union  County's  Honorable  Part  In  It— The  One  Hun- 
dred and  Ninth  Regiment — Its  Vindication  in  History, 
etc.,  etc 82.3 

CHAPTER  X.— Agriculture— Similarity  of  Union  County 
to  the  Blue  Grass  Region  of  Kentucky— Adaptability  to 
Stock-Raising  —  Fair  Associations  —  Horticulture  —  Its 
Rise,  Wonderful  Progress  and  Present  Condition— Va- 
rieties of  Fruit  and  Their  Culture— The  Fruit  Garden 
of  the  West— Vegetables — Shipments— Statistics,  etc., 
etc 334 

CHAPTER  XL— Jonesboro  Precinct  —  Topography  and 
Physical  Features— Coming  of  the  Whites— Pioneer 
Hardships— Early  Industries— Roads,  Bridges,  Taverns, 
etc.— Religious  and  Educational— State  of  .Society- 
Progress  and  Improvements,  etc- 3.52 

CHAPTER  XII.— City  of  Jonesboro— .Selected  and  Sur- 
veyed as  the  County  Seat— Its  Healthy  Location— Early 
Citizens— Some  who  Remained  and  Some  who  Went 
Away— First  Sale  of  Lots— Growth  of  the  Town— Mer- 
chants and  Business  Men— Town  Incorporated — .Schools 
and  (  hurches — .Secret  .Societies,  etc 351 

CHAPTER  XIII.- Anna  Precinct— (ieneral  Description 
and  Topography— Early  .Settlement— The  Cold  Year- 
Organization  of  Precinct— Incident  of  the  Telegraph- 
Schools  and  Churches— Bee-Keei)ing,  Dairying,  etc.— 
Crop  Statistics— A  Hail-Storm,  etc 363 

CHAPTER  XIV.— City  of  Anna— The  Laying-out  of  a 
Town— Its  Name— Early  Growth  and  Progress— Incor- 
porated—Fires— Notable  Events— Societies,  Schools  and 
Churches— Manufactures— Organized  as  a  City— Hos- 
pital for  the  Insane- City  Finances 371 


CHAPTER  XV.— South  Pass,  or  Cobden  Precinct— Its  To- 
pographical and  Physical  Features— Early  Settlement  of 
White  Peoi)le— Where  They  Came  From  and  a  Record 
of  Their  Work— tJrowth  and  Development  of  the  Pre- 
cinct-Richard Cobden— The  Village:  What  it  Was, 
What  It  Is,  and  What  It  Will  Be— Schools,  Churches, 
etc.,  etc 392 

CHAPTER  XVI.  —  Dongola  Precinct  —  Surface,  Timber, 
Water-Courses,  Products,  etc.  —  Settlement — Pioneer 
Trials  and  Industries — Schools  and  Churches — Mills— 
Dongola  Village :  Its  Growth  and  Development— Leav- 
enworth—What  He  Did  for  the  Town,  etc 402 

CHAPTER  XVIL— Ridge  or  Alto  Pass  Precinct— Surface 
Features,  Boundaries,  and  Timber  Grown — Occupation 
of  the  Whites — Pioneer  Trials — Industries,  Improve- 
ments, etc.— The  Knob — Churches  and  Schools— Vil- 
lages, etc.,  etc 410 

CHAPTER  XVIIL— Rich  Precinct— Description,  Bounda- 
ries and  Surface  Features — .Settlement  of  the  Whites— 
W^here  They  Came  From  and  Where  They  Located— 
Lick  Creek  Post  office— .Schools  and  Churches — Caves, 
Sulphur  !*pring3,  etc 414 

CHAPTER  XIX.— Stokes  Precinct— Topography  and  Boun- 
daries—  Coming  of  the  Pioneers — Their  Trials  and 
Tribulations— Mills  and  Other  Improvements — Mount 
Pleasant  laid  out  as  a  Village  —  Churches,  Schools, 
etc.,  etc 41'J 

CHAPTER  XX. — Saratoga  Precinct — Its  Formation  and  De- 
scription— Topography,  Physical  Features,  etc. — Early 
.Settlement— The  Wild  Man  of  the  Woods— Mills- 
Saratoga  Village  —Sulphur  .Springs — An  Incident — 
Roads  and  Bridges — Schools,  Churches,  etc.,  etc 42-5 

CHAPTER  XXL— Mill  Creek  Precinct— Its  Natural  Char- 
acteristics and  Resources— One  of  the  Earliest  Settle- 
ments in  the  County — Pioneer  Improvements — Schools 
and  Churches— Villages,  etc 431 

CHAPTER  XXII.— Meisenheimer  Precinct  — Its  Surface 
Features,  Timber,  .Streams  and  Boundaries — Settle- 
ment of  the  Whites — Early  Struggles  of  the  Pioneers 
— Schools  and  Schoolhouses— ^Religious — Mills,  Roads, 
etc..  etc 433 

CHAPTER  XXIIL— Preston  and  Union  Precincts— Their 
Geographical  and  Topographical  Features  —  Early 
Pioneers — Where  They  Came  From,  and  How  They 
Lived — The  Aldridges  and  Other  "  Fir.st  Families" — 
Swamps,  Bullfrogs  and  Mosquitoes — Schools,  Churches, 
etc V i^i-'> 


PART   III. 

ALEXANDER   COUNTY. 

CHAPTER  I.— First  .'Settlement  of  the  County— The  Way 
the  People  Lived — Growth  and  Progress — Geology  and 
Soils — The  Mound-Builders — Trinity — America — Col. 
Rector,  Webb  and  Others — Wilkinsonville — Caledonia 
— Unity — Many  Interesting  ICveuts— etc.,  etc.,  etc 44-5 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

(  IIAITKK  II.— The  Act  Creating  the  County— How  it  was 
Named — Some  Interesting  Extracts  from  Pr.  Alexan- 
der's Letters — The  rroniinent  People — Col.  John  S. 
Hacker — Official  Doings  of  the  Courts — County  Officers 
in  Succession — Different  Removals  of  the  County  .Seat 
—  Treacher  Wofford — etc.,  etc 4.54 

CHAl'TER  III. — Census  of  Alexander  County  Considered — 
The  Kind  of  I'eople  They  Were — How  They  Improved 
the  (  ountry — Who  Built  the  Mills — Dogs  Versus  Sheep 
— Periods  of  Comparative  Immigration — Acts  of  the 
Legislature  Efi'ectiug  the  County,  etc.,  etc 46fi 

CHAPTER  IV.— War  Record— 1812-15— Blaek  Hawk  War- 
Some  Account  of  It,  and  ('apt.  Webb's  Company- 
Roster  of  the  Company— War  witli  Mexico — Our  Late 
Civil  War  —  Politics  —  Representatives  and  Other 
Officials — John  Q.  Ilarniou— State  Senators,  etc. — Some 
Slanders  Upon  the  People  Repelled,  etc.,  etc 472 

CHAPTER  V. — Bench  and  Bar  of  Alexander  County — State 
Judiciary  and  Early  Laws  Concerning  It — Judicial 
Courts — How  Formed — First  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court — Who  Came  and  Practiced  Law — Judges  Mul- 
key.  Baker,  I.  N.  Haynie,  Allen,  Green,  Wall,  Yocura, 
Linegar  and  Lansden — Local  Lawyers,  etc 479 

CHAPTER  VL— The  Precincts  of  Alexander  County— To- 
pography and  Boundaries — Their  Early  Settlement — 
Dangers  and  Hardships  of  the  Pioneers — Villages — 
Schools  and  Churches — Modern  Improvements,  etc 491 


PAET    IV. 

PULASKI    COUNTY. 

CHAPTER  I. — Geology,  Meteorology,  Topography,  Timber, 
Water,  Soil,  etc. — Great  Fertility  of  the  Land — Its  Ag- 
ricultural and  Ilortieultural  Advantages — What  Far- 
mers are  Learning — Address  of  I'arker  Earle,  etc 503 

CAAITER  II.  — Organization  of  the  County— The  Facts 
That  Led  to  (he  Same — Act  of  the  Legislature — Estab- 
lishment of  the  <'ourts— the  First  Officers — Kemoval 
of  the  Seat  of  Justice  -The  Census — Precinct  Organi- 
zation— Lawyers — Schools,  Churches,  etc.,  etc.,  etc 510 

CHAPTER  III. — About  Early  Leading  Citizens — tJeorge 
Cloud,  H.  M.  Smith,  Capt.  Riddle,  Justus  Post— Pulaski 
in  War— Black  Hawk,  Mexican  and  the  Late  Civil 
War— History  of  the  .Men  Who  Took  Part— A.  C. 
Bartlesou,  Price,  Athertou — Mr.  Clemson's  Farm,  etc., 
etc 5i;i 

(  IIAPTER  IV.— Agriculture— Early  Mode  of  Farming  in 
Pulaski  County—  Incidents— Stock-Kaising— Present 
Improvements-  Horticulture—  First  Attempts  at 
Fruit-*  irowing— Apples— Tree  Pe<ldlers— Strawberries 
—Peaches — Grapes  and  Wine— Other  Fruits,  Vegeta- 
ble.?, etc.,  etc .520 

CHAPTER  v.— Mound  <ity— Early  History  of  the  Place— 
The  Indian  Massacre— Joseph  Tibbs  and  Some  of  the 


Early  Citizens  of  "  The  Mounds  "—Gen.  Rawlings— 
First  Sale  of  Ix)ts— The  Emporium  Company— How 
It  Flourished  and  Then  Played  Out— The  Marine 
Ways— Government  Hospital— The  National  Ceme- 
lery.  etc 535 

CHAPTEl!  VL— Mound  (ity— Decline  and  Death  of  the 
Emporium  Company— Overflow  of  the  Ohio  in  1858— 
Flood  of  1802, 1S<>7,  1882  and  ISS.'i— leveeing  the  City 
—Bonds  for  the  Payment  of  the  Same— .\  Few  Mur- 
ders, With  a  Taste  of  Lynch  Law,  etc .553 

CHAPTER  VIL— Mound  City— It  Becomes  the  County  Seat 
County  Officials— Jud,ge  Mansfield— Lawyers— F.  M. 
Kawlings  and  Others— Jo  Tibbs  Again— The  Press— 
"  National  Emporium  "—Other  Papers— First  Physi- 
cians of  the  City— Schools— Teachers  and  Their  Sala- 
ries, etc.,  etc .561 

CHAPTER  VIII.— Mound  City— Its  (  hurch  History— Catho- 
lic Church— The  Methodists,  etc.— Colored  Churches- 
Fires  and  the  Losses  whicli  Hesultcd— Manufactories 
— .Secret  and  Benevolent  Societies— Something  of  the 
Mercantile  Business— Population  of  the  City— Its 
Officers  and  Government,  etc 570 

CHAPTER  IX.— Election  Precincts  Aside  from  Mound  City 
—Boundaries,  Topographical  Features,  etc.— Advent 
of  the  White  People  and  their  .Settlements— How  they 
Lived—  Progress  of  Churches  and    .Schools— Growth 


and  Development  of  the  County.. 


PAET  V. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 

Cairo ; :: 

Cairo- Extra 56a 

Union  County.— Anna  Precinct .57 

.Tone.sboro  Precinct 92 

Cobden  Precinct 118 

Alto  Pass  Precinct 153 

Dongola  Precinct 170 

Meisenheimer  Precinct 182 

Stokes  Precinct -jgo 

Saratoga  Precinct 197 

Rich  I'recinct 204 

Union   Precinct 209 

Preston  Precinct ojl 

Mill  Creek  Precinct 212 

Anna  and  Jonesboro — Extra 214 

Alexander  County.- Elco  Precinct 218 

Thebes  Precinct 228 

East  Cape  Girardeau  Precinct 2;!.5 

II n ity  Precinct 239 

Clear  Creek  Precinct 243 

Santa  F'e   i'recinct 247 

r.eeeh  }£idge  Precinct 249 

Lake  Millikin  Precinct 2.50 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

PiT.AS^Ki  County.— Mound  City  Precinct 251 

Villa  Ridge  Precinct 282 

Grand  CJiain  Precinct 298 

Ohio  Precinct ^^^ 

Wetaug  Precinct ^^^ 

UUin   Precinct 326 

Pulaski  Precinct 3^1 

Burkville  Precinct 3** 


PORTRAITS. 

Arter,  I) ^^3 

Casey,  N.  B 547 

Casper,  P.  H 241 

Clemson.  .1.  Y 9^ 

Pavie,  Winstead 223 

Endicott,  G.  \V • 529 

Finch,  E.  H  151 

Oaunt,  J.  W 259 

(irear,  John ■'''^^ 


PAGE. 

Hambleton,  W.  L 565 

Hess,  John 1^' 

Hight,  W.  A 511 

Hileman,  Jacob ^31 

Hoftner,C ^ ^3 

Hughes,  M.  L ;;••: 277 

Leavenworth,  E ^1 

Mason,  B.  F ; 295 

Meyer,  G.  F 205 

Miller,  Caleb ^l-^ 

Morris,  James  S ^''^ 

Paruily,  John -157 

Ros»,  B.  F -103 

Saflbrd,  A.  B 25 

Sanborn,  J.  H 385 

Scarsdale,  F.  E 169 

Spencer,  H.  H US 

Stokes,  M 421 

Toler,  J.  M 79 

Wardner,  H 367 

Weaver,  John 475 

Williams,  A.  G 493 


^^^ 


HISTOEY  OF 


EXANDER,  UNION  AND  PULASKI 


COUNTIES. 


PART  I. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO, 


BY    H.    C.    BRADSBY. 


CHAPTER    I. 


CITY  OF  CAIRO— THE  FIRST  STEAMBOAT  ON  WESTERN  AVATERS— GREAT  EARTHQUAKE  OF  1811- 

FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  CAIRO— HOLBROOK'S  SCHEMES— A  MUSHROOM  CITY  AND 

THE    BUBBLE    BURSTEU  — EARLY    NAVIGATION    OF    WESTERN 

M.  SHREVE,   ETC.,  ETC. 


RIVERS— CAPT.    HENRY 

"And  leaves  the  world  to  solitude  and  me." — Gray. 

THE  earliest  settlement  of  Cairo,  on  the 
promontory  of  land  formed  by  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  dates 
back  only  sixty-six  years  ago.  There  are 
persons  yet  living,  not  only  who  were  born 
then,  but  who  can  even  remember  events  of 
that  time  with  distinctness.  But  these  clear- 
headed old  people  are  nearly  all  gone,  and 
in  a  very  few  years  there  will  be  nothing  left 
us  but  the  traditions  of  1817,  unless  the  pres- 
ent opportunity  is  conserved,  and  the  facts 
placed  in  a  permanen.t  form  while  it  is  yet 
possible  to  obtain  them  from  those  who  not 
only  saw,  but  were  a  part  of  the  long-ago 
events  that  have  led  to  the  present  changed 
condition  of  affairs.  The  tooth  of  time  eats 
away  the  living  evidences  of  what  occurred 
more  than  fifty  years  ago  with  unerring 
swiftness. 

The  life  of  a  nation  or  city,  compared  to 
time,  is  but  a  breath,  although  it  may  sur- 
vive generations  and  centurie.'?,  and  how  in- 
conceivably brief,  then,  is  the  longest  space 
of  a  single  human  life. 


Man'rf  nature  is  such  that  he  is  deeply 
concerned  in  the  movements  of  those  who 
have  gone  before  him.  Whether  his  fore- 
fathers were  wise  or  foolish,  he  wants  to 
learn  all  he  can  about  them;  to  study  their 
customs,  habits  and  general  movements. 
And  while  those  are  yet  left  who  were  par- 
ticipants in  the  earliest  gathering  of  a  peo- 
ple in  any  particular  locality,  it  is  easy 
enough  to  sit  down  by  the  fireside  and  listen 
to  the  story  of  the  father«;  of  their  trials, 
their  triumphs,  their  failiues,  their  ways  of 
thought  and  their  genei'aj  actions;  but  in  a 
moment,  and  before  you  have  had  time  to  re- 
flect upon  the  loss,  they  are  all  gone,  and  the 
places  that  knew  them  so  well  will  know  them 
no  more  forever;  and  then  it  is  the  chronicler, 
who  puts  in  permanant  form  all  these  once 
supposed  trifling  details,  has  performed  an 
invaluable,  if  not  an  imperishable,  seivice. 
The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man.  It  is 
the  one  inexhaustible  fountain  of  real  knowl- 
edge ;  and  the  "  man"  that  is  best  studied  is 
your  own  immediate  forefathers  or  predeces- 
sors.    To  learn    and   know  them   well  is  to 


13 


HISTORY  OF   CAIRO. 


know  all  you  can  learn  of  the  human  family. 
To  solve  the  complex  problem  of  the  human 
race  does  not  so  much  consist  in  trying  to 
study  all  the  living  and  the  dead,  as  in 
mastering,  in  ^^o  far  as  it  is  possible,  the 
chosen  few. 

Many  thousands  of  years  ago,  preparations 
first  began  to  be  made  for  a  habitation  for 
man  upon  the  very  spot  now  occupied  by  the 
city  of  Cairo.  The  uplift  of  the  rocks  that 
formed  the  first  dry  laTi  I  upon  the  continent 
in  and  about  the  Huron  region  had  pro- 
ceeded slowlv  \.\  their  southwesterly  direc- 
tion for  a  very  long  time.  This  was  then  a 
part  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  it  was  slow 
and  very  gradual  the  uplift  went  on,  and  the 
waters  of  the  Gulf  receded  south  of  the  junc- 
tion of  the  two  rivers,  and  the  Lower  Missis- 
sippi River  began  to  form.  From  Freeport 
southward,  along  the  line  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad,  there  is  a  gi-adual  descent  to 
the  valley  of  the  Big  Muddy  River,  in  Jack- 
son County,  where  the  level  of  the  railroad 
grade  is  only  fifty-five  feet  above  that  of  the 
river  at  Cairo.  At  that  point,  there  is  a  sud- 
den rise  of  nearly  seven  hundred  feet,  the 
only  true  mountain  elevation  in  Illinois.  It 
runs  entirely  across  the  southei'u  portion  of 
the  State,  finally  crosses  the  Ohio,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Shawneetown,  and  then  is  [lost 
beneath  the  coal  measures  of  Kentucky. 
The  forces  beneath  the  surface  made  this  up- 
lift, and  it  is  supposed  by  geologists  that 
this  must  have  taken  place  before  the  Gulf 
receded  below  the  present  junction  of  the 
rivers. 

Caii-o  stands  upon  an  alluviiun  and  drift  of 
about  thirty  feet  in  depth,  and  while  it  prob- 
ably was  many  centi:vfies  ingathering  here  so 
as  to  rise  above  the  face  of  the  waters,  yet  it 
has  been  here  a  comparatively  long  time,  as 
is  evidenced  by  the  immense  trees  of  oak, 
and    walnut,  and   many  others  that  do   not 


grow  in  swamps  or  grounds  that  more  than 
occasionally  ovei'flow,  and  beneath  these 
great  trees  that  have  braved  the  storms  of 
hundreds  of  years  has  been  found  the  re- 
mains, deep  in  the  soil,  of  other  great  forests 
that  had  preceded  the  one  found  here  by  the 
first  discoverers.  It  takes  the  geological 
seons  to  prepare  the  way  for  man's  coming, 
and  man  can  only  come  when  the  prepara- 
tions for  his  reception  are  complete. 

Mr.  Jacob  Klein,  the  brick-maker  of  Cairo, 
and  who  has  carried  on  this  business  success- 
fully the  past  nineteen  years,  determined 
three  years  ago  to  try  the  experiment  of  get- 
ting pure  water  by  digging.  He  has  sunk 
three  wells;  the  first  was  sixty-five  feet  deep 
where  it  struck  [a  heavy  bed  of  gravel  and 
promised  an  abundant  supply  of  water,  but 
the  very  dry  season  of  three  years  ago  his 
water  supply  was  short.  He  then  had  the 
second  well  sunk.  This  is  100  feet  deep, 
and,  like  the  first,  stopped  in  the  gravel. 
Not  still  satisfied,  Mr.  K.  contracted  for 
the  third  Well,  to  be  put  down  with  a  two 
and  a  half  inch  pipe.  The  contract  called 
for  a  well  300  feet  deep.  The  contractor 
went  down  206  feet  and  stopped,  and  then 
IMi'.  Klein  took  up  the  work  himself  and  car- 
ried it  to  218  feet,  when  he  struck  the  rock. 
A  bed  of  white  clay  was  encountered,  five  feet 
thick,  resting  upon  the  rock.  Here,  clearly, 
was  once  the  bed  of  the  river.  From  the  clay, 
which  is  213  feet  below  the  surface,  the  strata 
are  coarse  sand  and  seams  of  coarse  gravel 
until  the  alluvium  of  the  surface  is  reached. 
Mr.  Klein  reached  an  inexhaustible  supply  of 
pure,  soft  water,  which  stands  within  fifteen 
feet  of,  the  siu-f ace  at  all  seasons  of  the  year, 
I  and  for  all  pui'poses  is  as  fine  water  as  was 
I  ever  found.  It  is  described  to  be  as  soft  as 
!  rain  water  and  clear  and  cold,  and  is  never 
I  affected  by  the  stage  of  waters  in  ^the  river. 
It  never  flows  during  a   long  stage  of  high 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


13 


water,  as  do  the  shallow  wells  when  the  town 
begins  tx)  fill  with  sipe  water,  ^li-.  Klein  is 
satisfied  that  fron^ten  to  twenty  feet  farther 
do\^n,  which  will  pass  through  the  rock  he 
has  now  reached,  will  give  him  a  flowing 
artesian  well,  and  this  improvement  he  has 
in  contemplation  of  making  the  present  or 
next  year.  This  is  the  first  real  effort  ever 
made  here  to  get  pure  well  water,  and  has 
demonstrated*  the  fact  that  it  is  beneath  us, 
in  inexhaustible  quantities  and  of  the  very 
best  quality. 

Without  the  attention  being  specially 
called  to  the  fact,  there  are  very  few  people 
who  would!  suppose  that  the  white  man  had 
come  almost  in  what  is  a  subui'b  now  of 
Cairo,  and  built  his  fort  and  fought  the 
"  redskins  "  one  hundred  and  two  years  ago; 
yet  such  is  the  fact.  Fort  Jefferson  is  one  of 
the  favorite  picnic  i-esorts  of  the  people  of 
Cairo.  It  is  only  six  miles  below  here,  and 
across  on  the  Kentucky  shore.  To  the  gay 
party  starting  out  for  a  festival  day,  it  is  but 
little,  if  anything,  more  than  merely  cross- 
ing the  river  into  Kentucky  to  go  to  Fort 
Jefferson.  How  many  of  all  oui-  people,  es- 
pecially the  young,  know,  when  they  wander 
about  the  place,  that  they  are  upon  historic 
ground?  Let  us  tell  them  something  of  its 
tragic  story,  and  when  they  next  stroll  about 
in  its  grateful  shades  and  resting  places,  let 
them  look  for  the  fast  fading  landmarks  of 
the  old  fort,  and  remember  that  Mrs.  Capt. 
Piggott  and  many  other  noble  souls  lie  buried 
there;  and  also  let  them  recall  the  heroic 
efforts  of  those,  not  only  who  died  that  ^we 
might  live,  but  of  those  who  so  heroically 
struggled  to  drive  back  the  red  fiends. 

This  fort  was  erected  by  George  Rogers 
Clark,  under  the  direction  of  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, in  1781.  Jefferson  was  then  'Governor 
of  Virginia,  and,  being  advised  the  Spanish 
Crown  would  attempt  to  set  up  a  claim  to 


the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
he  took  this  step  to  foil  the  design. 

Immediately  after  the  erection  of  the  fort, 
Clark  was  called  away  to  the  frontiers  of 
Kentucky,  but  was  succeeded  by  Capt.  J  ames 
Piggott. 

Immigration  to  the  fort  was  encouraged, 
and  several  families  settled  at  once  in  its 
vicinity,  and  for  a  living  proceeded  to  culti- 
vate the  soil.  For  a  short  time,  the  settle- 
ment flourished.  During  1781,  however,  the 
Chickasaw  and  Choctaw  Indians  became  ex- 
ceedingly incensed  at  the  encroachments  of 
the  whites  (their  consent  for  the  [erection  of 
the  fort  not  having  been  obtained),  and  they 
commenced  an  attack  upon  the  settlers  in  the 
neighboi'hood.  The  whole  number  of  war- 
riors belonging  to  these  tribes  at  that  time 
was  about  twelve  hundred,  including  the 
celebrated  Scotchman  Calbert,  whose  pos- 
terity figured  as  half-breeds.  As  soon  as  it 
was  decided  an  attack  would  be  made  upon 
the  fort  by  the  Indians,  a  trusty  messenger 
was  dispatched  to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  for 
further  supplies  of  ammunition  and  provisions. 

The  settlement  and  fort  were  in  great  dis- 
tress— at  the  point  of  starvation,  indeed — 
and  succor  could  not  be  obtained  short  of  the 
Falls  or  Kaskaskia. 

The  Indians  'approached  the  settlement  at 
fii'st  in  small  parties,  and  succeeded  in  kill- 
ing a  number  of  the  settlers  before  they 
could  be  moved  to  the  fort.  Half  the  people, 
both  in  the  fort  and  its  vicinity,  were  help- 
less from  sickness,  and  the  famine  was  so  dis- 
tressing that  it  is  said  pumpkins  were  eaten 
as  soon  as  the  blossoms  had  fallen  off  the 
vines.  The  Indians  continued  their  mui'der- 
ous  visits  in  squads  for  about  two  weeks  be- 
fore the  main  army  of  "  braves"  reached  the 
fort.  The  soldiers  aided  and  received  into 
the  fort  all  the  white  population  that  could 
be  moved. 


14 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


In  the  skirmishes  to  which  we  have  al- 
luded, a  white  man  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Indians,  who,  to  save  his  life,  exposed 
the  true  state  of  the  garrison.  The  infor- 
mation seemed  to  add  fury  to  the  passions  of 
the  savages. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  main  body  of  the 
savages,  under  Calbert,  the  fort  was  besieged 
three  days  and  nights.  Dvu-ing  this  time,  the 
suffering  and  misery  of  the  garrison  were  ex- 
t'-emely  great.  The  water  had  almost  given 
out;  the  river  was  falling  rapidly,  and  the 
water  in  the  wells  receded  with  the  river. 
The  supply  of  provisions  was  qiiite  exhausted, 
and  sickness  raged  to  such  an  extent  that  a 
veiy  large  number  could  not  be  moved  from 
their  beds.  The  wife  of  Capt.  Piggott  and 
several  others  died,  and  were  bui'ied  within 
the  walls  of  the  fort  while  the  savages  were 
besieging  the  outside.  It  seemed  reduced  to 
a  certainty,  at  this  junctui'e,  that,  unless  re- 
lief came  speedily,  the  garrison  would  fall 
into  the  hands'  of  the  Indians  and  be  mur- 
dered. 

The  white  prisoner  now  in  the  hands  of 
the  Indians  detailed  the  true  state  of  the 
fort  He  told  his  captors  that  more  than 
half  its  inmates  were  sick,  and  that  each  man 
had  not  more  than  three  rounds  of  ammuni- 
tion, and  that  the  garrison  was  quite  desti- 
tute of  water  and  provisions.  On  receiving 
this  information,  the  whole  Indian  army  re- 
tired about  two  miles  to  hold  a  council.  In 
a  few  hours,  Calbert  and  three  chiefs,  with 
a  flag  of  truce,  were  sent  back  to  the  fort. 

When  the  inmates  of  the  fort  discovered 
the  flag,  they  sent  out  Capt.  Piggott,  Mr. 
Owens  and  another  man,  to  meet  the  Indian 
delegation.  The  parley  was  conducted  under 
the  range  of  the  guns  of  the  garrison. 

Calbert  demanded  a  surrender  of  the  fort 
at  discretion,  urging  that  the  Indians  knew 
its  weak  condition,  and  that  an  unconditional 


surrender  might  save  much  bloodshed.  He 
further  said  that  he  had  sent  a  force  of  war- 
riors up  the  Ohio,  to  intercept  the  succor  for 
which  the  whites  had  sent  a  messenger.  He 
gave  the  assurance  that  he  would  do  his  best 
to  save  the  lives  of  the  prisoners,  except  in 
the  case  of  a  few  whom  the  Indians  had 
sworn  to  butcher.  He  gave  the  garrison  one 
hour  to  form  a  conclusion. 

The  delegates  from  the  whites  promised 
that  if  the  Indians  would  leave  the  country, 
the  inmates  of  the  fort  would  abandon  it  with 
all  haste.  Calbert'agreed  to  submit  this  prop- 
osition to  the  council,  and  was  at  the  point 
of  returning  when  a  Mr.  Music,  whose  fam- 
ily had  been  cruelly  murdered,  and  another 
man  at  the  fort,  fired  upon  him  and  wounded 
him  somewhat  severely, 

The  warriors  were  engaged  a  long  time  in 
council,  and,  by  almost  a  seeming  interposi- 
tion of  Providence,  the  long- wished- for  suc- 
cor arrived  during  the  time  in  safety  from 
the  "Falls."  The  Indians  had  struck  the 
river  too  high  up,  and  thereby  the  boat  es- 
caped The  provisions  and  men  were  hui-ried 
into  the  iort,  a  new  spirit  seemed  to  possess 
every  one,  and  active  exertions  were  at  once 
made  to  place  the  fort  in  position  for  a  stcut 
resistance.  The  sick  and  the  small  children 
were  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  harm,  and 
all  the  women  and  the  'children  of  any  con- 
siderable size  were  instructed  in  the  art  of 
defense. 

Shortly  after  dark,  the  Indians  attempted 
to  steal  on  the  fort  and  capture  it;  but  in 
this  being  most  decidedly  frustrated,  they 
assaulted  the  garrison  and  tried  to  storm  it. 
The  cannon  had  been  placed  in  proper  posi- 
tion to  rake  the  walls,  so  when  the  "  red- 
skins "  mounted  the  ramparts,  the  ^cannon 
swept  them  off  in  heaps.  The  Indians,  with 
hideous  yells,  and  loud  and  savage  demon- 
strations, kept  up  a  streaming  fii'e  from  their 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


15 


rifles  upon  the  garrison,  which,  however,  did 
but  little  execution.  In  this  manner  the  bat- 
tle raged  for  hours;  but  at  last  the  Indians 
were  forced  to  fly  fi-om  the  deadly  cannon  of 
the  fort  to  save  themselves  from  destruction. 
Calbert  and  other  chiefs  rallied  them  again, 
but  the  same  result  followed;  they  were 
again  forced  to  fly,  and  all  further  efforts  to 
rally  them  proved  ineffectual. 

The  whites  were  in  constant  fear  that  the 
fort  would  be  fired  by  the  Indians.  This, 
indeed,  was  their  gi-eatest  fear.  At  one  time 
a  huge  savage,  painted  for  the  occasion, 
gained  the  top  of  one  of  the  block-hoiises  and 
was  applying  fire  to  the  roof,  when  he  was 
shot  dead  by  a  white  soldier.  His  body  fell 
on  the  outside  of  the  wall,  and  was  can-ied 
off  by  his  comi-ades. 

The  Indians,  satisfied  they  could  not  capt- 
ure the  fort,  abandoned  the  siege  entirely, 
and,  securing  their  dead  and  wounded,  left 
the  country.  A  large  number  of  them  had 
been  killed  and  wounded,  while  none  of  the 
whites  had  been  killed,  and  only  a  few 
wounded.  The  whites  were  'rejoiced  at  this 
turn  in  affairs,  as  the  number  of  Indians, 
and  their  ability  to  continue  the  siege,  were 
calculated  to  terrify  them. 

AVith  all  convenient  speed,  the  fort  was 
abandoned.  Many  of  the  soldiers,  together 
with  settlers  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
fort,  moved  to  Kaskaskia.  They  proved  the 
first  considerable  acquisition  of  American 
population  in  Illinois.  Since  then,  Fort  Jef- 
ferson has  remained  abandoned,  and  is  now 
but  marked  by  here  and  there  certain  shape- 
less moiuids  and  piles  of  debris  that  are  in- 
distinguishable unless  pointed  out  to  the 
stranger.  But  this  spot  will  ever  retain  a 
great  interest  to  Americans,  at  least  as  long 
as  the  struggles  and  privations  of  those  who 
pioneered  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  retain 
a  place  in  the  memory  of  the  American  people. 


While  it  is  true  that  this  first  attempt  of  the 
white  men  to  make  a  habitation  and  a  home 
within  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Cairo 
was  abandoned  and  the  people  dispersed,  the 
most  of  them  coming  to  Illinois  and  making 
their  homes  in  Kaskaskia,  it  was  not  wholly 
a  failure  in  behalf  of  civilization.  The  little 
band,  as  brave  and  true  heroes  as  ever  fought 
upon  the  immortal  fields  of  Thermopylae, 
had  accomplished  a  great  purpose — they  had 
withstood  the  murderous  midnight  attack  of 
the  bloody,  yelling  fiends  and  drove  them 
off.  They  taught  him  a  bloody  lesson,  yet 
that  is  the  only  school  a  savage  will  learn  in. 
This  siege  and  battle  were  the  first  great  step 
in  making  the  shores  of  these  rivers  habit- 
able, and  even  though  the  fort  was  dismantled 
and  abandoned,  it  is  quite  true  it  taught  the 
savage  to  respect  the  power  of  the  white 
man.  It  was  not  a  long  time  after  this  de- 
ciding battle  that  we  find  the  white  man  in 
his  flat-boats,  and  soon  in  his  keel-boats,  in  a 
small  way  commencing  to  carry  on  that  great 
commerce  that  has  since  so  filled  the  rivers, 
and  dotted  their  shores  with  the  pleasing  evi- 
dences of  civilization.  This  commerce  of 
the  flat-boat,  the  keel  boat  and  the  pirogue, 
continued  to  slowly  increase  and  perform  the 
scanty  commerce  of  the  day,  until  finally  the 
steamboat  ^  came,  bearing  upon  its  decks  the 
great  human  revolution,  that  stands  un- 
equaled  in  importance,  and  that  will  go  on 
in  its  gi-eat  effects  forevei'. 

In  1795,  William  Bird,  then  a  mere  child, 
in  company  with  his  father's  family,  landed 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers.  This  family  remained  here  only  a 
short  time,  and  then  went  to  Cape  Girardeau, 
where  they  resided,  and  in  1817  William 
Bird  applied  at  the  land  office  in  Kaskaskia 
and  entered  the  land  mentioned  in  another 
part  of  this  chapter.  This  family  were  the 
first  white   people,  so  far  as    can  be  now  as- 


16 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


certained,  that  "ever  put  foot  upon  the    spot 
now  called  Cairo. 

December  18,  1811. — The  anniversary  of 
this  day  the  people  of  Cairo  and  its  vicinity 
should  never  forget.  It  was  the  coming  of 
the  first  steamboat  to  where  Cairo  now  is — 
the  New  Orleans,  Capt.  Roosevelt,  Command- 
ing. It  was  the  severest  day  of  the  great 
throes  of  the  New  Madrid  earthquake;  at  the 
same  time,  a  fiery  comet  was  rushing  athwart 
the  horizon. 

In  the  year  1809,  Robert  Fulton  and  Chan- 
cellor Livingston  had  commenced  their  im- 
mortal experiments  to  navigate  by  steam  the 
Hudson  River.  As  soon  as  this  experiment 
was  crowned  with  success,  they  turned  their 
eyes  toward  these  great  Western  water-ways. 
They  saw  that  here  was  the  greatest  inland 
sea  in  all  the  world,  but  did  they,  think  you, 
prolong  their  vision  'to  the  present  time,  and 
realize  a  tithe  of  the  possibilities  they  were 
giving  to  the  world  ?  They  unrolled  the  map 
of  this  continent,  and  they  sent  Capt.  Roose- 
velt to  Pittsburgh,  to  go  over  the  river  from 
there  to  New  Orleans,  and  report  whether  they 
could  be  navigated  or  not.  He  made  the  in- 
spection, and  his  favorable  report  resulted  in 
the  immediate  construction  of  the  steamer 
New  Orleans,  which  was  launched  in  Pitts- 
burgh in  December,   1811. 

Could  Capt.  Roosevelt  now  come  to  us  in 
his  natural  life,  and  call  the  good  people  of 
Cairo  together  and  relate  his  experiences  of 
the  day  he  passed  where  Cairo  now  stands, 
it  would  be  a  story  transcending,  in  thrilling 
interest,  anything  ever  listened  to  by  any  now 
living.  All  fiction  ever  conceived  by  busy 
brains  would  be  tame  by  the  side  of  his  truth- 
ful narrative.  His  boat  passed  out  of  the 
Ohio  River  and  into  the  Mississippi  River 
in  the  very  midst  of  that  most  remarkable 
convulsion  of  nature  ever  known — the  great 
New  Madrid  earthquake.     As  the  boat  came 


down  the  Ohio  River,  it  had  moored  opposite 
Yellow  Banks  to  coal,  this  having  been  pro- 
vided some  time  previously,  and,  while  load- 
ing this  on,  the  voyagers  were  approached  by 
the  squatters  of  the  neighborhood,  who  in- 
quired if  they  had  not  heard  strange  noises 
on  the  river  and  in  the  woods  in  the  course 
of  the  preceding  day,  and  perceived  the 
shores  shake,  insisting  they  had  repeatedly 
felt  the  earth  tremble.  The  weather  was  very 
hot;  the  air  misty,  still  and  dull,  and  though 
the  sun  was  visible,  like  an  immense  glowing 
ball  of  copper,  his  rays  hardly  shed  more 
than  a  mournful  twilight  on  the  surface  of 
the  water.  Evening  di'ew  nigh,  and  with 
it  some  indications  of  what  was  passing 
around  them  became  evident,  for  ever  and 
anon  they  heard  a  rushing  sound,  violent 
splash,  and  finally  saw  large  portions  of  the 
shore  tearing  away  from  the  land  and  laps- 
ing into  the  watery  abyss.  An  eye-witness 
says:  "  It  was  a  startling  scene — one  could 
have  heard  a  pin  drop  on  deck.  The  crew 
spoke  but  little;  they  noticed,  too,  that  the 
comet,  for  some  time  visible  in  the  heavens, 
had  suddenly  disappeared,  and  every  one  on 
board  was  thunderstruck." 

The  next  day  the  portentous  signs  of  this 
terrible  natural  convulsion  increased.  The 
trees  that  remained  on  shore  were  seen  wav- 
ing and  nodding  without  a  wind.  The  voy- 
agers had  no  choice  but  to  pursue  their  course 
down  the  stream,  as  all  day  this  violence 
seemed  only  to  increase.  They  had  usually 
brought  to,  under  the  shore,  but  at  all  points 
they  saw  the  high  banks  disappearing,  over- 
whelming everything  near  or  under  them, 
particularly  |many  of  the  siuall  craft  that 
were  in  use  in  those  days,  carrying  down  to 
death  many  and  ;many  who  had  thus  gone  to 
shore  in  the  hope  of  escaping.  A  large  island 
in  mid-channel,  which  had  been  selected 
by  the   pilot  as  the   better   alternative,   was 


HISTORY    OF   CAIRO. 


17 


sought  for  in  vain,  having  totally  disap- 
peared, and  thousands  of  acres,  constituting 
the  surrounding  country,  were  found  to  have 
been  swallowed  up,  with  their  gigantic 
growths  of  forest  and  cane. 

Thus,  in  doubt  and  terror,  they  proceeded 
hour  after  hour  until  dark,  when  they 
found  a  small  island,  and  rounded  to,  moor- 
ing at  the  foot  of  it  Here  they  lay,  keeping 
watch  on  deck  dm'ing  the  long  night,  listen- 
ing  to  the  sound  of  waters  which  roared  and 
whirled  wildly  around  them,  hearing,  also, 
from  time  to  time,  the  rushing  earth  slide 
from  the  shore,  and  the  commotion  of  the 
falling  mass  as  it  became  engulfed  in  the 
river.  Thus,  this  boat,  during  the  intensity 
of  the  earthquake,  was  moored  almost  in 
sight  of  Cairo;  practically,  it  was  at  Cairo 
during  the  worst  of  the  thi-ee  worst  nights. 

Yet  the  day  that  succeeded  this  awful  night 
brought  no  solace  in  its  dawn.  Shock  fol- 
lowed shock,  a  dense  black  cloud  of  vapor 
overshadowed  the  land,  through  which  no  sun- 
beam found  its  way  to  cheer  the  desponding 
heart  of  man.  It  seems  incredible  to  us  that 
the  bed  of  the  river  could  be  so  agitated  as  to 
lash  the  waters  into  yeasty  foam,  until  the 
foam  would  gather  in  great  bodies,  said  to 
be  larger  than  floiir  barrels,  and  float  away. 
Again,  it  is  still  more  incredible  to  be  told 
that  the  waters  of  the  two  rivers  were  turned 
back  upon  themselves  in  swift  streams,  but 
these,  and  much  more,  are  well-established 
facts.  It  is  impossible  now  to  depict  all  the 
wonderful  phenomena  of  this  world's  won- 
der. There  were  wave  motions,  and  perpen- 
dicular motions  of  the  earth's  surface,  and 
there  were,  judging  from  eftects,  as  well  as 
testimony  of  those  who  witnessed  it,  sudden 
risings  and  bursting  of  the  earth's  crust,  from 
whence  would  shoot  into  the  air  many  feet 
jets  of  water,  sand  and  black  shale. 

Just  below  New  Madrid,  a  flat-boat  belong- 


ing to  Eichard  Stump  was  swamped,  and  six 
men  were  drowned.    Large  trees  disappeared 
under  the  ground,  or  were  cast  with  fright- 
ful violence    into   the   river.     At   times  the 
waters  of  the  river  were   seen  to  rise  like  a 
wall  in  the  middle  of   the  stream,  and  then 
suddenly  rolling  back,  would  beat    against 
either  bank  with  terrific  force.    Boats  of  con- 
siderable size  were  "  high  and  dry"  upon  the 
shores  of  the  river.     Frequently  a  loud  roar- 
ing and  hissing  were  heard,  like  the  escape 
of  steam  from  a  boiler.    The  air  was  impreg- 
nated with  sulphurous  effluvium,  and  a  taste 
of  sulphur  was  observed  in  the  water  of  the 
river   and   the   neighboring   springs.      Each 
shock  was  accompanied  by  what  seemed  to  be 
the  reports  of  heavy  artillery.     A  man  who 
was  on  the  river  in  a  boat  at  the  time  of  one 
of  the  shocks  declared  that  he  saw  the  mighty 
Mississippi    cut  in    twain,  while  the   waters 
poured  down  a  vast  chasm  into  the  bowels  of 
the  earth.     A   moment  more  and  the  chasm 
was  tilled,  but  the  boat  which  contained  this 
witness    was    crushed    in    the    tumultuous 
effort  of  the  flood  to  regain  its  former  level. 
The  town  of  New  Madrid,  that  had  stood  upon 
a  blufif  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  above  the  high- 
est water,  sank   so  low,  that  the  next  rise  of 
the  water  covered  it  to  the  depth  of  five  feet. 
So   far  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  but  one 
person  has  put  upon  record  his  observations 
who  saw  it  upon  land.     This  was  Mr.  Bring- 
•ier,  an  engineer,  who  related  what  he  saw 
to  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  in  1846.     This  account 
represents   that   he   was  on   horseback  near 
New   Madrid,    when   some   of   the    severest 
shocks  occurred,  and  that,  as  the  waves  ad- 
vanced, he   saw  the   trees   bend    down,   and 
often,  the  instant  afterward,  when  in  the  act 
of  recovering  their  position,  meet  the  boughs 
of  other  trees  similarly  inclined,  so  as  to  be- 
come    interlocked,    being      prevented   from 
rio-hting  themselves  again.    The  transit  of  the 


18 


HISTORY  OF   CAIRO. 


waves  through  the  woods  was  marked  by  the 
crashing  noise  of  countless  branches,  first 
heard  on  one  side  and  then  the  other;  at  the 
same  time,  powerful  jets  of  water,  mixed 
with  sand,  loam,  and  bituminous  shale,  were 
cast  up  with  such  impetuosity  that  both 
horse  and  rider  might  have  perished  had  the 
swelling  and  upheaving  ground  happened  to 
burst  immediately  beneath  them.  Some  of 
the  shocks  were  perpendicular,  while  others, 
much  more  desolating,  were  horizontal,  or 
moved  along  like  great  waves;  and  where  the 
principal  fountains  of  mud  and  water  were 
throwD  up,  circular  cavities,  called  "sink 
holes,"  were  formed.  One  of  the  lakes  thus 
formed  is  over  sixty  miles  long  and  from 
three  to  twenty  miles  wide,  and  in  places 
fifty  to  one  hundred  feet  deep.  In  sailing 
over  the  sui'face  of  this  lake,  one  is  struck 
with  astonishment  at  beholding  the  gigantic 
trees  of  the  forest  standing  partially  exposed 
amid  the  waste  of  waters,  like  gaunt,  mysteri- 
ous monsters;  but  this  mystery  is  still  in- 
creased on  casting  the  eye  into  the  depths, 
to  witness  cane-brakes  covering  its  bottom, 
over  which  a  mammoth  species  of  tortoise  is 
sometimes  seen  dragging  its  slow  length 
along,  while  millions  of  fish  sport  through 
the  aquatic  thickets  — the  whole  constituting 
one  of  the  remarkable  features  of  American 
scenery. 

In  that  part  of  the  country  that  borders 
upon  what  is  called  the  "sunk  country" — that 
is,  depressions  upon  which  lakesdidnot  form 
— all  the  trees  prioi:  to  the  date  of  the'great 
earthquake  are  dead.  Their  leafless,  barkless, 
and  finally  branchless  bodies  stood  for  many 
years  as  noticeable  objects  and  monuments  of 
the  earth's  agitation,  that  was  to  that  terrific 
extent  as  to  break  them  and  wholly  loosen 
from  them  the  supporting  soil. 

As  before  stated,  the  severest  shocks  were 
the  first  three  days,  but  they  lasted  for  thi-ee 


months.  In  many  sections,  the  people  dis- 
covered the  opening  seams  ran  generally  in 
a  parallel  course,  and  they  took  advantage  of 
this  by  felling  trees  at  right  angles,  and  in 
severe  shocks  even  the  children  learned  to 
cling  upon  these,  and  thus  many  were  saved. 

Were  we  wrong  in  stating  that  the  coming 
of  the  first  steamboat  to  Cairo  was  a  most 
memorable  event? 

Such,  indeed,  faintly  described,  were  some 
of  the  smToundings  amid  which  the  steamer 
New  Orleans  rode  out  of  the  troubled  waters 
of  the  Ohio  and  into  the  yet  worse  troubled 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  Siver.  It  was 
natiu'e's  grandest  exhibition.  It  was  the 
coming  of  the  first  steamboat  in  such  awful 
surroundings  that  made  such  a  strange  meet- 
ing  of  the  excited  energies  of  nature  and  a 
human  thought — a  silent  thought  of  man's 
brain  fashioned  into  a  steam  engine,  propel- 
ling a  boat  by  this  new  idea  upon  the  West- 
ern waters!  What  grandeur,  and  awful  force 
and  terror  in  the  one,  and,  compared  to  it 
how  feeble  and  insignificant  the  human  prod- 
uct! How  one,  in  its  terrific  grandeur,  could 
change  the  whole  face  of  our  country  in  a 
moment,  and  make  the  feeble  steamboat  ap- 
pear as  insignificant  as  the  cork  upon  the 
storm-tossed  ocean.  A  strange  meeting  of 
the  two — those  two  things  in  the  world  which 
are  so  misread,  and  have  been  so  long  mis- 
understood by  men!  When  nature  puts  on 
her  suit  of  riot  and  force  and  begins  the 
play  of  those  fantastic  tricks,  men's  souls 
are  affrighted,  and  they  fall  upon  their  knees 
— rthose,  often,  who  never  did  so  before — and 
their  feeble  voices  of  supplication  would  ap- 
pease the  storm  or  stop  the  earth's  throes. 
The  unusual  display  of  the  forces  of  nature 
appal  men,  and  they  worship  what  they  con- 
ceive to  be  irresistible  power.  Hence,  a 
country  of  earthquakes,  tornadoes,  cyclones 
and  storms  is   very   religious,  and   generally 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


19 


full  of  superstition.  A  couDtry  where  lurks 
danger  and  perils  upon  every  hand  unseen — 
dangers  that  accumulate  like  the  horrors  of 
the  nightmare — will  produce  in  the  human 
mind  little  else  than  superstition  and  quak- 
ing fears;  the  horrible  di'ead  ingulfs  them 
like  a  living  hell,  till  the  very  soul  responds 
to  the  hideous  surroundings.  Man  is  so  con- 
stituted, he  will  bow  down  and  worship  what 
he  fears,  especially  when  it  is  an  unseen,  re- 
sistless power,  displayed  in  such  appalling 
force  as  to  enfeeble  and  dwarf  his  intellect. 

The  ignorant  squatters  along  the  river — 
that  is,  some  of  them — had  only  known  that 
the  first  steamboat  and  the  great  eai'thquake 
had  come  here  together.  It  was  firmly  be- 
lieved that  it  was  this  flying  in  the  face  of 
God,  and  making  a  boat  run  with  "  bilin' 
water,"  that  caused  the  earthquake.  "  Pre- 
sumptuous man  had  boiled  the  water,  when, 
if  God  had  wanted  it  to  boil,  he  would  have 
so  made  it. "  People  had  navigated  the  river 
in  flat-boats,  keel-boats  and  canoes,  and  under 
these  the  glad  rivers  went  singing  to  the  sea. 
But  Jman  must  come  with  his  fire  boat,  and 
the  earth  went  into  convulsions,  and  ten'or 
and  desolation  brooded  over  the  land.  God 
was  mysterious,  and  man  presumptuous. 
The  earth  indeed  trembled  when  He  frowned, 
and  man  must  learn  to  be  meek  and  humble; 
he  was  but  as  the  grass  that  was  mowed  down 
by  the  scythe — a  breath,  a  passing  vapor. 

But  even  the  less  ignorant  of  men — could 
he  comprehend  that  in  this  boat  was  a  great 
human  thought,  a  wonderful  invention  of 
man?  He  could  see  the  weak  hands  of  men 
guiding  and  controlling  it.  It's  a  mere  toy 
and  child's  play,  and  he  looks  at  it  a  moment 
in  childish  curiosity,  perhaps  smiles  ap- 
provingly upon  it.  It's  all  a  momentary 
pastime  with  him.  It's  too  feeble  to  do  more 
than  receive  a  passing  notice. 


Think  of  it!  The  thoughts  and  inventions 
of  genius  are  the  one  only  powerful  thing 
among  men — they  and  their  effects  alone 
endure  forever.  All  else  passes  away  and  is 
forgotten.  In  a  little  while,  only  the'  traces 
of  the  great'earthquake,  even,  can  be  found 
and  pointed  out,  while  the  steam  engine  has 
been  the  first,  the  great  power  that  has  done 
more  for  civilization  and  human  advancement 
in  the  past  fifty  years  than  all  else  combined. 
From  this  one  feeble,  imperfect  boat  has 
come  the  world's  Armada,  that  now  plows 
the  waves  of  every  river  and  sea,  until  the 
busy  world  upon  the  waters  and  its  wealth 
of  nations  almost  equals  that  upon  land.  It 
is  ever  present — ever  living — ever  growing 
in  might,  power  and  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
human  family.  The  earthquake,  in  its  efifects 
upon  mankind,  compared  to  the  engine,  was 
as  the  mote  to  a  world — a  di-op  of  water  com- 
pared to  the  ocean.  No  one  thing  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  human  family  has  so  contributed  to 
the  good  of  the  human  race,  as  the  engine  be- 
cause it  opened  the  way  and  made  possible  the 
sweeping  advance  of  the  past  three-quarters  of 
a  century.  Remember, since  the  engine  came, 
the  average  of  human  life  has  been  increased 
ten  years;  man  knows  now,  where  he  guessed 
and  feared  before.  In  no  century,  in  all  the 
world's  history,  has  civilization  made  such 
great  strides  forward  as  this.  It  made  possible 
all  those  comforts  and  necessities  we  now  en- 
joy. It  has  lightened  the  laboi's  and  burdens  of 
men,  and  given  the  mind  a  chance  to  work.  It 
has  cheapened  food,  clothing,  books  and  in- 
telligence itself,  and  is  gathering  momentum 
as  it  goes.  "Who  may  guess,  who  may  dream 
of  the  ^'et  benign  and  good  effects  to  man 
that  lay  hidden  in  that  gi-and  and  sublime 
thought  of  Fulton's  that  gave  us  the  power 
of  steam  ? 

Then,  indeed,  what  a   great,  what  an   im- 


20 


HISTOKY  OF  CAIRO. 


mortal  thing,  was  the  first  steamboat  upon 
the  Western  waters!  What  a  temporary 
thing  was  the  earthquake  that  received  it! 

Had  the  18th  day  of  December,  1811,  only 
been  signaled  by  any  one  of  the  three  events 
above  referred  to,  it  would  have  constituted 
it  a  memoi'able  day.  But  the  wonderful  com- 
bination of  events  makes  it  out  most  prom- 
inently in  the  calendar,  as  a  day  calling  up 
the  most  vivid  and  important  recollections  of 
any  other  in  the  country's  history.  Suitable 
monuments  along  the  river  from  Pittsburgh 
to  New  Orleans  should  be  placed  sacred  to 
the  memory  of  Capt.  Roosevelt. 

As  soon  as  the  steamboat  New  Orleans  had 
made  its  successful  trip  from  Pittsburgh  to 
New  Orleans  and  return,  the  commerce  of 
the  Western  waters  really  began  to  grow,  and 
although  it  was  six  years  after  this  success- 
ful steam  voyage  on  the  Ohio  before  a  steam- 
boat attempted  the  waters  of  the  Upper  Mis- 
sissippi as  far  as  St.  Louis,  yet  Cairo  soon 
began  to  attract  the  attention  of  river  and 
commercial  men  as  an  important  trans-ship- 
ping point. 

The  steamboat  Orleans  was  furnished 
with  a  propelling  wheel  at  the  stern  and  two 
masts;  for  Fulton  believed,  at  that  time,|,that 
the  occasional  use  of  sails  would  be  indis- 
pensable.   Her  capacity  was  a  hundred  tons. 

The  first  appearance  of  this  steamboat 
upon  Western  waters  produced,  as  the  reader 
may  suppose,  not  a  little  excitement  and 
admiration.  A  steamboat,  to  common  observ- 
ers, was  almost  as  great  a  wonder  as  a  flying 
angel  would  be  at  present.  The  banks  of 
the  river,  in  some  places,  were  thronged  with 
spectators,  gazing,  in  speechless  astonish- 
ment, at  the  puffing  and  smoking  phenome- 
non. The  average  speed  of  this  boat  was 
only  about  three  miles  per  hour.  Before  her 
ability  to  move  through  the  water  without 
the  aid  of  sails  or  oars  had  been  exemplified, 


comparatively  few  persons  believed  she  could 
possibly  be  made  to  answer  any  purpose  of 
real  utility.  In  fact,  she  had  made  several 
voyages  before  the  general  prejudice  began 
to  subside,  and  for  some  months  many  of  the 
river  merchants  preferred  the  old  mode  of 
transportation  with  all  its  risks,  delays  and 
extra  expense,  rather  than  make  use  of  such 
a  contrivance  as  a  steamboat,  which,  to  their 
apprehensions,  appeared  too  marvelous  and 
miraculous  for  the  business  of  every-dav  life. 
How  slow  are  the  masses  of  mankind  to 
adopt  improvements,  even  when  they  appear 
to  be  most  obvious  and  unquestionable! 

The  second  steamboat  of  the  West  wars  a 
diminutive  vessel  called  the  Comet.  She  was 
rated  at  twenty-five  tons.  Daniel  D.  Smith 
was  the  owner  and  D.  French  the  builder  of 
this  boat.  Her  machinery  was  on  a  plan  for 
which  French  had  obtained  a  patent  in  1809. 
She    went  to    Louisville    in   the   summer  of 

1813,  and  descended  to  New  Orleans  in  the 
spring  of  1814  She  afterward  made  two 
voyages  to  Natchez,  and  was  then  sold,  taken 
to  pieces,  and  the  engine  was  put  up  in  a 
cotton  factory. 

The  Vesuvius  was  the  next  boat  in  the 
record.  She  was  built  by  Fulton  in  Pitts- 
burgh, for  a  company,  the  members  of  which 
resided  in  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  New 
Orleans.  She  was  under  Capt.  Frank  Ogden, 
and  went  to  New  Orleans  in  the  spring  of 

1814.  From  New  Orleans,  she  started  for 
Louisville  in  July  of  the  same  year,  but  was 
grounded  on  a  bar,  seven  hundred  miles  up 
the  river,  where  she  remained  until  the  3d 
of  December  following,  when,  being  floated 
off  by  the  tide,  she  returned  to  New  Or- 
leans. In  1815-16,  she  made  trips,  for  sev- 
eral months,  from  New  Orleans  to  Natchez, 
under  the  command  of  Capt.  Clement. 
This  gentleman  was  succeeded  by  Capt, 
John  De  Hart,  and   while   approaching  New 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


21 


Orleans  with  a  valuable  cargo  on  board,  she 
took  fire  and  burned  to  the  water's  edge. 
After  being  submerged  several  months,  the 
hull  was  raised  and  refitted.  She  was  after- 
ward in  the  Louisville  trade,  and  condemned 
in  1819. 

The  Enterprise  was  the  next  boat  in  the 
West.  She  was  built  at  Brownsville,  Penn., 
by  D.  French,  under  his  patent,  and  was 
owned  by  several  residents  of  that  place. 
This  was  a  small  boat  of  seventy-five  tons. 
She  made  two  voyages  to  Louisville  in  1814, 
under  the  command  of  Capt.  J.  Gregg.  On 
the  1st  of  December  in  the  same  year,  she  con- 
veyed a  cai'go  of  ordnance  stores  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  New  Orleans.  While  at  the  last- 
named  port,  she  was  pressed  into  seiwice  by 
Gen.  Jackson.  When  engaged  in  the  public 
service,  she  was  eminently  useful  in  trans- 
porting troops,  arms,  ammunition  and  stores 
to  the  seat  of  war.  She  left  New  Orleans  for 
Pittsburgh  on  the  6th  of  May,  1815,  and 
reached  Louisville  after  a  passage  of  twenty- 
five  days,  thus  completing  the  fii'st  steam- 
boat voyage  ever  made  from  New  Orleans  to 
Louisville.  But  from  the  fact  that  the 
waters  were  very  high,  and  she  run  all  the 
cut-offs  and  over  fields,  etc.,  this  experi- 
mental trip  was  not  satisfactory,  the  public 
being  still  in  doubt  whether  a  steamboat 
could  ascend  the  Mississippi  when  the  river 
was  confined  within  its  banks,  and  the  cur- 
rent as  rapid  as  it  generally  is. 

Such  was  the  state  of  public  opinion  when 
the  steamboat  Washington  commenced  her 
career.  This  vessel,  the  fifth  in  the  cata- 
logue of  Western  steamboats,  was  constructed 
under  the  personal  superintendence  and 
direction  of  Capt.  Henry  M.  Shreve.  The 
hull  was  built  at  Wheeling,  Va.,  and  the 
engines  were  made  at  Brownsville,  Penn. 
The  entire  construction  of  the  boat  couiprised 
various    innovations,  which  were 


suggested 


by  the  ingenuity  and  experience  of  Capt. 
Shreve.  The  Washington  was  the  first  "two 
decker"  on  the  Western  waters.  The  cabin 
was  placed  between  the  decks.  It  had 
been  the  general  practice  for  steamboats  to 
carry  their  engines  in  the  hold;  in  this  par- 
ticular Capt.  Shreve  made  a  new  arrange- 
ment, by  placing  the  boiler  of  the  Washing- 
ton on  deck,  and  this  plan  was  such  an  ob- 
vious improvement  that  all  the  steamboats 
on  the  waters  retain  it  to  the  present  day. 
The  engines  constructed  under  Fulton's  pat- 
ent had  upright  and  stationary  cylinders;  in 
French's  engines  vibrating  cylinders  were 
used.  Shreve  caused  the  cylinders  of  the 
Washington  to  be  placed  in  a  horizontal 
position,  and  gave  the  vibrations  to  the  pit- 
man, Fulton  and  French  used  single  low- 
pressure  engines;  Shreve  employed  a  double 
high-pressure  engine,  with  cranks  at  right 
angles,  and  this  was  the  first  engine  of  that 
kind  ever  used  on  the  Western  waters.  Mr. 
David  Prentice  had  previously  used  cam 
wheels  for  working  the  valves  of  the  cylinder. 
Capt  Shi'evo  added  his  great  invention  of 
the  cam  cut-off,  with  flues  to  the  boilers,  by 
which  three-fifths  of  the  fuel  was  saved. 
These  impr  vements  originated  with  Capt, 
Shreve,  but  although  they  have  been  in  uni- 
versal use  for  a  long  [time,  their  origin  has 
not  been  properly  credited  to  the  rightful 
inventor. 

On  the  24th  day  of  September,  1816,  the 
Washington  passed  over  the  Falls  of  Ohio  on 
her  first  trip  to  New  Orleans,  and  returned  to 
Louisville  November  following.  While  at 
New  Orleans,  the  ingenuity  of  her  construc- 
tion excited  the  admiration  of  the  most  in- 
telligent citizens  of  that  place.  Edward 
Livingston,  after  a  critical  examination  of 
the  boat  and  her  machinery,  remarked  to  Capt. 
Shi'eve,  "You  deserve  well  of  your  country, 
young  man;    but   we    [referring    to  Fulton 


32 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


and  Livingston's  monopoly]  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  beat  you  [in  the  courts]  if  we  can." 

An  accumulation  of  ice  in  the  Ohio  com- 
pelled the  Washington  to  remain  at  the 
Falls  until  March  12, 1817.  On  that  day  she 
commenced  her  second  trip  to  New  Orleans. 
She  accomplished  this  trip  and  returned  to 
Shippingsport,  at  the  foot  of  the  Falls,  in 
forty-one  days.  The  ascending  voyage  was 
made  in  twenty-five  days,  and  from  this  voy- 
age all  historians  date  the  commencement  of 
steam  navigation  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
It  was  now  practically  demonstrated,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  public  in  general,  that 
steamboats  could  ascend  this  river  in  less 
than  one-fourth  the  time  which  the  bai'ges 
and  keel  boats  had  required  for  the  same 
purpose.  This  feat  of  the  Washington  pro- 
duced almost  as  much  popular  excitement 
and  exultation  in  that  region  as  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans.  The  citizens  of  Louisville 
gave  a  public  dinner  to  Capt.  Shreve,  at 
which  he  predicted  the  time  would  come 
when  the  trip  from  New  Orleans  to  Louis- 
ville would  be  made  in  ten  days.  Although 
this  may  have  been  regarded  as  a  boastful 
declaration  at  that  time,  the  prediction  has 
been  more  than  fulfilled;  for  as  early  as 
1853,  the  trip  was  made  in  four  days  and 
nine  hours. 

After  that  memorable  voyage  of  the  Wash- 
ington, all  doubts  and  prejudices  in  reference 
to  steam  navigation  were  removed.  Shipyards 
began  to  be  established  in  every  convenient  lo- 
cality, and  the  business  of  steamboat  build- 
ing was  vigorously  prosecuted.  But  a  new 
obstacle  now  presented  itself,  which  for  a 
time  threatened  to  give  an  effectual  check 
to  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and  progression 
which  had  just  been  developed.  We  refer  to 
the  claims  made  by  Fulton  and  Livingston 
to  the  exclusive  right  of  steam  navigation  on 
the  rivers  of  the  United  States.      This  claim 


being  resisted  by  Capt.  Shreve,  the  Washing- 
ton was  attached  at  New  Orleans,  and  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Sheriff.  When  the  case 
came  for  adjudication  before  the  District 
Court  of  Louisiana,  that  tribunal  promptly 
negatived  the  exclusive  privileges  claimed 
by  Livingston  and  Fulton,  which  were  decided 
to  be  unconstitutional.  The  monopoly  claims 
of  L.  and  F.  were  finally  withdrawn  in  1819, 
and  the  last  restraint  on  the  steamboat 
navigation  of  the  Western  rivers  was  thus 
removed,  leaving  AVestern  enterprise  and 
energy  full  liberty  to  carry  on  the  great  work 
of  improvement.  This  work  has  been  so 
progressive,  that  at  one  time  no  less  than  800 
steamboats  were  in  operation  on  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Rivers;  and  here  this  mode  of 
navigation  has  been  carried  on  to  a  degree 
of  perfection  unrivaled  in  any  other  part  of 
the  world. 

In  the  year  1818,  William  Bird,  now  de- 
ceased, entered  the  extreme  point  of  land  on 
the  peninsula  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
two  rivers,  and  known  in  the  Congressional 
Survey  as  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section 
25,  and  all  of  Fractional  Section  36,  the  two 
tracts  aggi'egating  about  three  hundred  and 
sixty  acres;  but  for  some  years  the  land  lay 
unimproved  and  neglected.  From  this 
ownership  by  Mr.  Bird,  the  locality  took  the 
name  of  Bird's  Point,  by  which  name  it  was 
designated  for  nearly  twenty  years. 

Shortly  after  Bird's  entry,  a  company  was 
formed,  at  the  head  of  which  was  a  man 
named  Comegys,  and  apparently  in  good 
faith  set  about  the  work  of  building  a  city 
here  that  should  anticipate  the  wants  of 
men  and  commerce  for  all  time  to  come. 
They  obtained  a  charter  for  that  purpose, 
under  the  name  and  style  of  the  "City  and 
Bank  Company  of  Cairo."  This  company 
foresaw  the  Illinois  Central  Eailroad,  and 
here,  so  far  as  the  facts  can  now  be  gathered, 


HISTOKY  OF  CAIRO. 


23 


was  the  first  tangible  idea  of  this  great  rail- 
road put  forth  to  the  world.  There  was  no 
Chicago  then  to  build  a  road  to;  there  was 
little  or  nothing  in  the  central  or  northern 
portion  of  the  State  demanding  highway 
privileges  and  commercial  rights,  and  yet 
the  idea  was  formulated  that,  in  the  course  of 
time,  was  worked  out  to  h  most  successful  issue. 
The  particulars  of  this  corporation,  and  its 
struggles  and  its  end,  are  given  in  another 
chapter.  Sufficient  to  say  here,  that  the  com- 
pany ceased  to  exist,  and  had  left  untouched 
the  great  old  forest  trees  that  covered  the 
town  site  when  first  discovered.  This  first 
failure  had  hardly  attracted  any  public  at- 
tention to  Cairo.  The  majority  who  had 
come  to  know  the  country  believed  that  a 
city  would  arise  somewhere  here  on  the  pen- 
insula, but  they  were  mostly  convinced  that 
it  must  be  built  back  upon  the  hills,  and  not 
upon  the  point  that  all  could  see  was  subject 
to  frequent  inundations.  Henry  L.  Webb 
and  a  few  others,  therefore,  had  started,  as 
far  back  as  1817,  the  town  of  Trinity,  at  the 
mouth  of  Cache  River,  six  miles  above  Cairo, 
on  the  Ohio  River.  This  had  grown  to  be  a 
steamboat  landing,  and  in  very  early  times 
the  place  could  boast  a  boat  store,  a  tavern,  a 
bar  and  a  billiard  soloon,  but  for  ten  years 
after  this  first  abortive  attempt  to  settle, 
"  the  smoke  of  no  adventurer's  hovel  gave 
gloom  to  Cairo's  canopy,"  and  the  unbroken 
silence  remained  with  the  "  neck  of  the 
woods,"  where  the  future  Cairo  was  to  be. 

In  1828,  John  and  Thompson  Bird,  the 
sons  of  William  Bird,  made  the  first  improve- 
ment here.  They  selected  the  spot  a  few 
hundred 'feet  south  of  the  present  Halliday 
House,  and,  bringing  their  slaves  over  from 
Missouri,  threw  up  a  sufficient  embankment 
to  protect  a  building  which  they  erected 
about  twenty-five  by  thirty-five  feet  in 
dimensions,    and    in  a    short  time  after  the^ 


erected  another  building,  between  this  and 
the  river,  which  was  about  twenty  feet 
square,  and  was  placed  on  piles,  as  a  security 
against  the  water.  The  first  building  was  a 
tavern,  and  the  latter  a  store,  and  for  several 
years  it  was  only  the  chance  flat- boatman  that 
circumstances  compelled  to  land  here  and 
get  a  few  supplies  for  his  crew  that  fur- 
nished customers  to  these  Alexander  Selkirks. 
Bacon,  whisky  and  flour  were  the  only  com- 
modities wanted  by  any  of  the  customers  of 
those  days.  The  next  season  after  the  Birds 
had  taken  possession,  a  wood-chopper  put  up 
a  shanty  near  their  imjuovement,  and  in  this 
he  lived  and  chopped  wood,  and  piled  it  on 
the  bank,  waiting  for  some  boat  to  come 
along  and  want  it.  The  wood-chopper  made 
a  very  little  impression  on  the  big  trees 
around  him,  and  the  Birds  had  only  a  small 
spot  cleared  and  cleaned  off,  so  as  to  have  a 
little  breathing  room,  as  well  as  a  place  to 
receive  and  pass  out  the  goods  they  handled. 
In  1831,  only  about  five  acres  had  been  cut 
away,  and  this  lay  in  a  narrow  strip  along 
the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  and  extended  no 
fui'ther  north  than  to  about  where  is  now 
Second  street.  Until  1835,  Trinity  continued 
to  be  the  commanding  and  promising  point. 
In  this  year,  Messrs.  Breese,  Swanwick, 
Baker,  Gilbert  and  others  began  to  give  the 
point  their  open  attention,  and  they  entered 
several  thousand  acres  of  land,  including  all 
that  portion  between  the  two  rivers  up  to 
and  beyond  Cache  River.  They  had  in  view 
the  future  possibilities  of  the  place  as  a  point 
for  a  city,  but  having  secvu'ed  the  land,  mat- 
ters remained  quiet  for  some  time.  The  next 
step  taken  was  on  the  IGth  day  of  January, 
1830,  when  a  charter  was  granted  a  com- 
pany, by  the  Illinois  Legislature,  to  build 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad. 

February   27,  1837.   the  State   of  Illinois 
passed  the  General  Improvement  Bill — better 


24 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


known  to  the  immediate  posterity  of  these 
early  statesmen  as  the  General  Insanity  Bill 
— which  resulted  in  a  wide-spread  bankruptcy, 
and  seriously  threatened,  at  one  time,  to  ruin 
the  State  for  nearly  all  time  to  come.  This 
State  scheme  df  making  all  the  improvements 
swallowed  up  all  charters  that  had  been 
granted  to  private  parties,  and,  among  the 
others,  the  charter  for  the  construction  of  th6 
Illinois  Central  Railroad;  and,  as  a  specimen 
of  what  aji  insane  State  could  do,  the 
Legislatui'e  appropriated  (not  having  a  dol- 
lar, it  seems,  in  the  treasury)  $3,500,000  for 
the  building  of  this  last-named  road. 

On  the  4th  day  of  March,  1S37,  the  Cairo 
City  &  Canal  Company  was  chartered  by 
the  Illinois  Legislature.  This  was  the  final 
act  and  organization  that  led  to  founding  a 
city  here,  and  of  the  charter  and  laws  and  the 
official  acts  of  the  company,  and  their 
failures,  etc. ,  we  refer  the  reader  to  another 
chapter,  where  these  matters  are  given  in 
their  order  and  at  length. 

This  company  purchased,  on  credit,  vast 
bodies  of  land,  including  the  Bird  tract,  and 
pretty  much  all  lands  on  the  peninsula,  to 
and  beyond  Cache  River.  The  master-spirit 
of  the  enterprise,  as  soon  as  it  was  success- 
fully started,  was  Darius  B.  Holbrook,  of 
Boston.  The  company,  apparently,  cared 
not  what  price  it  agreed  to  pay  for  the  land; 
so  the  title  was  secured,  that  seemed  enough. 
The  daring,  and  doubtless  unscrupulous, 
leader  of  this  company,  even  in  those  days  of 
little  money  and  natural  economy,  seemed  to 
talk  and  think  of  money  in  sums  of  never 
less  than  millions.  He  expected  to  borrow 
immense  sums,  and  stake  these  over-bar- 
gained lands  as  the  security  for  the  vast 
amount  of  money  wherewith  to  improve  the 
lands  and  build  the  city;  and,  remarkable  as 
it  may  be,  did  so  borrow  money,  and  had 
arranged  for  it  to  be  advanced  by  the  million, 


sure  enough.  While  such  success  shows 
there  must  have  been  method  in  his  madness, 
yet  his  whole  idea,  after  he  had  secured  the 
money,  was  a  piece  of  madcap  folly.  When 
he  found  it  possible  to  find  other  men  to 
furnish  the  money  for  him  to  expend,  he  was 
at  once  seized  with  the  idea  that,  with  money 
enough,  he  could  build  a  great  city,  and  the 
whole  thing,  when  completed,  would  be  as 
much  of  a  private  piece  of  property  as  would  be 
a  large  factory,  steam  mill,  or,  for  that  matter, 
a  block  of  private  residences.  His  theory 
was  to  se]  1  no  property  about  the  town,  except 
the  bonds  and  stocks.  No  one  could  buy  a 
lot  and  build  upon  it  and  own  it.  You  could 
not  buy  an  inch  of  the  city  grounds;  but  you 
could  buy  the  bonds,  and,  upon  this  insane 
idea,  he  went  to  Europe  and  hypothecated 
the  city  bonds  to  the  amount  of  more  than 
$2,000,000,  and  returned  to  Cairo  with  the 
first  installment  of  this  money,  and  com- 
menced the  stupendous  work  upon  a  stupen- 
dous scale.  The  only  parallel  to  the  vast 
scheme  was  the  State's  craze  on  the  internal 
improvement  folly.  It  is  amusing  to  conjec- 
ture what  Holbrook  would  have  done  had  he 
been  backed  by  a  limitless  supply  of  money. 
He  evidently  would  have  left  some  wrecks 
here,  the  like  of  which  the  world  had  never 
seen,  while  his  cold,  selfish,  Yankee  instincts 
would  have  made  a  heavy  per  cent  of  all  the 
money  that  passed  through  his  hands  stick 
in  his  fingers.  Thus,  iu  the  end,  he  would 
have  grown  immensely  rich;  but  it  is  not  at 
all  certain  he  ever  would  have  erected  a  town 
here. 

When  he  roturned  from  Europe,  he  issued 
a  flaming  address — a  kind  of  open  letter  ad- 
dressed to  all  the  world — full  of  as  much 
fulsome  nonsense  and  after  the  style  of  Na- 
poleon's address  to  his  soldiers.  It  can  only 
be  guessed  why  he  issued  these  flaming  ad- 
dresses.    He  was  not  seeking  purchasers  for 


o^ 


/ 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


his  town  property,  for  he  had  nothing  to  sell, 
and  the  addresses  were  not  got  up  to  draw 
renters.  The  only  excuse  there  can  be  for 
their  existence  was  to  brag  on  himself,  and, 
in  the  common  slang,  "blow  his  own  horn." 

If  Cairo  has  had  any  parallel,  either  in  its 
commencement  or  in  much  that  has  occurred 
in  its  history  during  its  progress,  we  are  not 
aware  of  it.  Its  very  first  building  was  a 
tavern,  its  second  a  store,  and  then  came  the 
first  natural  growth — the  woodman' s  shanty. 
Then  the  next  effort  was  to  found  a  city  by 
starting  a  wild-cat  bank,  and  then  came  Hoi- 
brook  and  his  idea  of  a  city  and  the  inhabitants 
all  stockholders,  while  he  and  his  company 
were  the  real  owners.  But  Holbrook  was  at 
least  in  earnest  about  the  building  of  levees 
around  the  town,  to  keep  out  the  water.  As 
soon  as  be  secm-ed  the  money,  he  made  con- 
tracts with  S.  &  H.  Howard,  J.  H.  McMurry, 
Murphy  and  others,  and  these  contractors 
brought  on  laborei's  here  in  large  numbers. 
Many  of  these  brought  their  families,  and, 
in  hastily  constructed  shanties  and  huts,  they 
went  to  living,  "keeping  boarders,"  and  put- 
ting on  those  airs  which  belong  to  a  city  that 
has  grown  in  a  night.  Mr.  Walter  Falls  had 
a  store  on  a  boat,  moored  at  the  levee,  but  its 
capacity  for  furnishing  supplies  was  wholly 
inadequate,  and  passing  boats  were  called 
upon  to  help  fm'nish  the  people  with  some  of 
the  necessaries  of  life.  The  State  also  threw 
a  large  number  of  men  here  to  work  on  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  so  that  the  demand 
for  flour,  bacon  and  coffee  was  still  increased 
to  that  extent  that  often  loaded  flat-boats 
would  stop  here,  and  sell  out  the  cargoes 
they  had  intended  for  farther  south. 

A  population  reaching  2.000  souls  were 
thus  thrown  suddeuly  together,  and  affairs 
had  much  the  appearance  of  one  of  those 
mining  towns  that  jump  into  existence  so 
suddenly,  and   sometimes  seem  to   jump  out 


quite  as  quickly.  But  the  people  believed 
everything  was  permanent;  they,  therefore, 
proceeded  in  due  form  to  organize  a  regular 
form  of  government,  and  appoint  the  neces- 
sary officers  to  carry  out  its  edicts.  As  Jus- 
tices of  the  Peace,  Mr.  Mai'sh  and  ]Mr.  Mc- 
Cord  were  chosen,  and  two  lawyers  decorated 
a  couple  of  shanty  doors  with  their  shin- 
gles; these  were  Mr.  Gass  (good  legal  name) 
and  a  JNIr.  McCrillis.  A  post  office  was  at 
once  established,  and  Squire  Marsh  was  ap- 
pointed Postmaster.  In  addition  to  being 
Postmaster,  he  had  to  receive  and  forward  all 
mails,  and  in  a  short  time  this  task  was 
worth  three  or  foiu*  times  the  whole  salary  of 
the  office.  A  Dr.  Cummings  hung  out  his 
banner  on  the  outer  walls,  and  called  the  sick 
and  afflicted  to  come  to  him  for  quinine  and 
calomel.  The  Catholic  element,  mindful  of 
their  religious  obligations,  set  about  the  prep- 
aration of  a  place  for  the  public  worship 
of  God.  As  they  were  limited  alike  in  means 
and  building  materials,  and  as  they  desired 
to  siibserve  only  a  temporary  purpose,  they 
satisfied  themselves  with  a  rough,  board- 
roofed  shanty  in  the  depths  of  the  convenient 
woods.  In  the  forks  of  one  of  the  trees  over- 
shadowing their  unpretending  chvu'ch  build- 
ing, they  suspended  a  bell,  and  this,  every 
Sunday  morning  and  evening,  rang  out 
through  the  deep  woods  and  over  the  face  of 
the  suiTounding  waters  the  call  of  "  Come, 
and  let  us  worship."  •  Such  was  the  first 
organization  of  municipal,  governmental  and 
church  matters  in  Cairo,  as  well  as  the  first 
lawA'ers.  and  the  first  doctor  and  the  first 
people.  Such  was  the  young  city  at  the 
commencemeut  of  the  year  1841.  At  this 
time,  the  firm  of  Bellews,  Hathaway  &  Gil- 
bert secui'ed  a  charter  for  iron  works,  and 
they  opened  their  establishment.  It  was  filled 
with  all  the  finest  machinery  that  could  be 
procured  in  England.   At  the  time,  it  ranked 


38 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


among  the  completest  establishments  of  its 
kind  in  the  United  States,  and  as  it  was  run 
to  its  fullest  capacity,  it  gave  Jabor  to  a  large 
force  of  men.  These  works  were  erected  about 
where  is  now  the  corner  of  Twelfth  street  and 
the  Ohio  levee.  Near  the  iron  works  were 
two  large  saw  mills,  of  great  capacity  each, 
and  they  were  busily  at  work  converting  the 
big  trees  of  the  adjacent  forest  into  lumber 
for  building  jDurposes  and  railroad  timbers. 
The  company  had  revived  the  old  City  Bank 
of  Cairo — a  bank  of  issue,  and,  by  law,  was 
temporarily  located  at  Kaskaskia,  and  this 
money  was  scattered  profusely  about  the 
town.  By  some  favored  arrangement,  the 
money  of  this  wild-cat  bank  was  taken  at  the 
Kaskaskia  Land  Office,  while  much  better 
money  from  Indiana  and  Ohio  was  refused 
there.  The  company  had  erected  a  long 
frame  hotel  at  the  point—  its  great  length, 
and  its  verandas  extending  fi'om  one  end  to 
the  other,  all  painted  white,  made  it  a  con- 
spicuous landmark  in  approaching  Cairo.  Its 
landlord  was  a  man  named  Jones,  and  in 
these  flush  times  it  was  at  all  times  thronged 
with  the  chief  men  of  the  town  and  travelers 
awaiting  the  arrival  and  departure  of  boats 
to  carry  them  on  their  intended  way.  A 
planing  mill  of  mammoth  proportions  was 
erected  near  the  corner  of  Eighth  and  Com- 
mercial streets.  Two  brick-yards,  each  sup- 
plied with  the  latest  patents  for  turning  out 
brick  by  the  many  thousand  daily,  from  diy, 
compressed  earth,  were  erected.  These  were 
then  located  in  what  is  called  Upper  Cairo. 
The  company  had  erected  a  dry  dock,  at  a 
cost  of  over  $35,000,  and  notwithstanding 
a  heavy  force  of  carpenters  were  erecting 
buildings  in  every  direction,  yet,  so  m-gent 
was  the  demand  for  houses  of  any  and  every 
kind,  that  Col.  Falls  had  moored  at  the  levee 
the  hull  of  the  steamer  Peru,  and  a  IVIr. 
Thompson    had   also   brought   the   steamer 


Asia  to  the  wharf  for  the  same  purpose.  In 
short,  the  entire  levee  soon  became  a  compact 
mass  of  wharf- boat  hotels,  stores,  residences, 
boarding-houses  and  business  places  of  every 
kind.  Here  was  a  little  busy  city  on  boats 
moored  to  the  shore.  Everything  and  every- 
where about  Cairo  bespoke  a_marvelous  thrift 
— all  was  at  high  pressure,  and  the  wonder 
of  the  age  had  come  at  last.  And  all  over 
the  land  the  contagion  spread.  Along  the 
rivers,  from  Pittsbui'g  and  St.  Louis  to  Xew 
Orleans  its  name  grew,  and  crossing  the 
Alleghanies  and  over  the  Eastern  States,  and, 
pushed  by  the  great  banking-house  of  Wright 
&  Co.,  of  London,  which  had  taken  over 
$2,000,000  in  the  Cairo  bonds,  and  who  were 
interested  in  advertising  it  all  over  Europe 
in  the  most  unqualified  and  extravagant 
terms,  until  apparently  the  large  portion  of 
the  civilized  world  looked,  at  least,  and  as- 
certained where  this  remarkable  young  city 
was  located  on  the  world's  map.  Never  was 
more  thorough,  elaborate  or  expensive  adver- 
tising done  for  any  place  than  that  for  Cairo. 
Flaming  prospective  views  of  the  city  in 
splendid  lithographs  were  hung  upon  the 
walls  of  steamboats,  hotels,  halls  and  other 
public  places,  and  to  all  these  were  added 
the  potency  of  a  great  young  State,  advertis- 
ing, by  its  legislative  acts,  this  great  South  Sea 
Bubble,  or,  as  Cairo  was  modestly  then 
called  in  the  proclamations  of  Holbrook,  the 
"  great  commercial  and  manufacturing  mart 
and  emporium." 

The  State  had  literally  bankrupted  itself, 
and  perforce  wound  up  its  Utopian  schemes. 
Its  folly  had  very  nearly  universally  bank- 
rupted the  entire  people.  The  whole  coun- 
try was  ripe  for  a  panic  and  contraction,  and 
the  probe  of  a  solid  specie  basis  pricked,  of 
course,  the  Cairo  bubble,  and  the  crash  of 
tumbling  air  castles,  and  the  haK-comj)leted 
real  ones,  carried  everything  with  them,  and 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


29 


left  the  Cairo  City  k  Canal  CompaBy 
biiried  beneath  a  mountain  of  debris.  We 
have  already  shown  the  inherent  defects 
there  were  in  the  Holbrook  idea  of  founding 
and  building  a  great  city,  but  in  a  sketch  by 
M.  B.  Harrell,  published  in  1864,  he  gives 
the  following  as  his  conclusions  as  to  the 
immediate  and  remote  causes  of  the  collapse 
of  the  town: 

"  There  are  many  causes,"  he  says,  "which 
contributed  to  the  downfall  of  Cairo,  but  the 
chief  cause  alleged  is  the  failui'e  of  the  house 
of  Wright  &  Co.,  London,  through  whom 
the  company  anticipated  continued  loans. 
But  this  is  by  no  means  the  sole  cause.  The 
suspension  of  work  on  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  the  great  artery  of  trade  and  traffic 
upon  which  so  much  depended,  and  the  gen- 
eral abandonment  of  the  system  of  public 
works  inaugurated  by  the  State  in  1837, 
seemed  to  affect  the  piablic  at  large,  and 
so  seriously  enervated  the  enterprise  of  Cairo. 
And,  again,  it  is  directly  taught,  by  the  his- 
tory of  the  whole  country,  that  no  man,  set  of 
men  or  corporation,  can  create  and  success- 
fully conduct  such  a  monstrous  monopoly  as 
that  attempted  at  the  contiuence  of  these 
rivers  by  D.  B.  Holbrook  &  Co.  Even  per- 
sonal liberty  and  freedom  of  thought  were 
broucjht  in  direct  antafjconism  to  this  sinofu- 
lar  undertaking.  The  proje^it  amounted  to 
no  more  nor  less  than  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  these  men  to  build,  own  and  direct  a  city 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River.  At  no  price, 
in  no  shape  or  form,  could  a  resident  of  this 
city,  under  the  Holbrook  auspices,  become  a 
freeholder.  He  could  not  piirchase,  he  could 
not  lease,  or  otherwise  acquire  a  title  in  a 
single  foot  of  ground  within  the  proposed 
city.  If  he  occupied  a  dwelling,  this  com- 
pany owned  it,  and  consequently  he  lived  in 
it  only  during  the  pleasiu'e  of  this  *  Lord  of 
the  manor.'      If  ordered  to  vacate,  he  could 


not  quarter  himself  in  a  hotel  or  boarding- 
house  and  bid  his  persecutor  defiance,  for 
even  that  was  held  by  the  all- pervading 
power.  No  house  or  hotel  anywhere  within 
the  prescribed  limits  of  the  corporation  could 
be  erected  or  destroyed,  imless  Holbrook  ex- 
ercised the  power  of  controlling  the  manner 
and  means,  and  designating  the  time  and 
place  for  such  erection  or  destruction.  And 
his  powers,  or  what  is  the  same  thing, 
the  powers  of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Com- 
pany, terminated  not  here.  A  coi'rupt  or  an 
imbecile  Legislature  conferi-ed  upon  that 
company  the  dangerous  authority  to  establish 
all  the  rules  and  regulations  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  municipality  that  a  ^Ihyor  and  a 
Board  of  Councilmen,  selected  from  amongst 
the  people  might,  as  a  body,  establish.  It 
was  for  D.  B.  Holbrook,  or  what  is  the  same, 
the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  to  define 
offenses  and  prescribe  their  punishment;  to 
declare,  by  fixing  wharfage  at  a  rate  that 
would  amount  to  a  prohibition,  that  steam- 
boats should  cease  landing  at  this  delta:  to 
say  what  style  of  living  or  existing  should 
amount  to  vagabondage,  and  affix  the  penal- 
ty; to  declare  a  levy  of  taxes,  and  enforce  its 
collection;  and  to  expend  these  taxes  as  he 
elected,  whether  for  the  advantage  of  the 
piiblic  or  the  fiu-therauce  of  the  aims  of  his 
bantling,  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company. 
In  short,  D.  B.  Holbrcjok,  as  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company,  at  a  late  hour  in  his 
career  here,  to  wit,  on  the  17th  February, 
1871,  were  clothed  by  the  then  sitting, 
thoughtless  or  villainous  Legislature  of 
Illinois,  with  all  the  powers  conferi-ed  upon 
the  Board  of  Aldei-men  of  the  City  of  Quincy, 
as  defined  between  the  First  and  Forty-fifth 
Sections  of  the  charter  of  that  city;  an<l  these 
grants  of  power  the  same  Legislature  con- 
firmed for  a  period  of  ten  years.  It  is,  per- 
haps true  that  he  never  exercised    any  legal 


30 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


despotism,  or  felt  any  disposition  to  exercise 
it,  but  the  mere  reposition  of  such  alarming 
privileges  in  one  man,  and  that  man  charged 
with  the  control  of  the  material  affairs  of  the 
city,  could  have  but  exercised  a  most  enervat- 
ing and  desti-uctive  influence  upon  the  proj- 
ect in  hand,  and  of  itself  ultimately  insured 
the  overthrow  and  destruction  of  the  enter- 
prise." 

From  1839  to  1841,  a  little  more  than  two 
years  of  Cairo's  first  glory,  there  ^  was  spent 
here  by  Holbrook's  company,  or  the  founda- 
tions laid  for  spending,  the  whole  of  the 
$1,250,000  that  he  had  arranged  for  in 
Europe,  and  when  to  this  is  added  the  actua  1 
expenditures  made  by  the  State,  and  the  pros  ■ 
pective  future  expenditure  of  the  $3,500,000 
by  the  State  on  the  Illinois  Central  road, 
the  wonder  is  ^there  were  not  more  than  two 
thousand  people  gathered  here.  Nearly  every 
one  of  these  must  have  been  needed  as  em- 
ployes in  the  vast  enterprises  commenced 
and  projected.  When  the  work  was  stopped 
by  Holbrook's  company,  the  two  levees  run- 
ning along  the  shores  of  eacli  river,  joining  at 
the  south  end  and  forming  a  levee,  were  com- 
pleted, and  were  of  a  height  and  strength  then 
determined  by  the  company' s  engineers  to  be 
amply  sufficient  for  protection  from  inunda- 
tion. The  base  of  the  levee  was  forty  feet,  a 
top  width  of  twelve  feet,  with  an  easy  descent 
on  the  outside  of  one  foot  perpendicularly  to 
seven  feet  horizontally.  In  1843,  Mr.  M.  A. 
Gilbert  constructed  the  cross  levee.  As  said 
above,  a  splendid  dry  dock  and  ship -yard 
had  been  established,  and,  under  the  super- 
intendence of  Capt.  Garrison,  a  well-known 
river  man,  the  steamer  Tennessee  Valley  had 
fceen  built,  and  the  iron  work  for  this  vessel 
had  been  turned  out  by  the  Cairo  Foundry 
Works,  and  thus  a  complete  vessel,  of  first- 
class  quality,  had  been  fitted  out  and  wholly 
completed  by  Cairo  skill  alone. 


As  the  existence  of  Cairo,  under  Holbrook's 
auspices,  ran  only  through  about  three  years, 
and  as  much  of  that  time  was  exhausted  in 
the  procurement  of  lands  and  means  to  im- 
prove them,  and  in  the  erection  of  saw  mills 
and  the  opening  of  quarries  and  brick-yards 
to  provide  building  materials,  but  few  build- 
ings were  erected,  whether  for  residence  or 
business  houses.  According  to  the  best  data 
to  be  obtained,  we  have  it  represented  that 
the  first  building  put  up  by  the  company  was 
the  additioE  to  the  Cairo  Hotel,  situated  on 
the  point;  then  the  Bellews  House  was  erected 
next;  then  the  machine  shops;  Holbrook's 
spacious  residence,  on  the  spot  now  occupied 
by  the  Halliday  House;  the  planing  mills, 
and  some  twenty  cottages.  These,  with  a 
number  of  shanties,  that  stood  at  the  mercy 
of  Holbrook,  as  his  order  to  tear  them  down 
at  any  time  would  have  been  like  the  edict  of 
a  tyrant,  were  the  sum  total  of  Cairo's  im- 
provements in  this  line  even  in  this  zenith  of 
her  glory.  But  a  great  many  others  were 
contemj)lated,  and  a  few  had  been  commenced 
before  the  crash  came.  An  immense  stone 
foundation,  near  what  is  now  the  corner  of 
Sixth  street  and  the  Ohio  levee,  was  nearly 
completed,  upon  which  was  to  be  erected  the 
"  Great  London  Warehouse, "  that  was  to 
eclipse,  in  point  of  size,  elegance  and  general 
finish,  the  monster  warehouse  of  like  name 
in  the  City  of  London. 

The  intentions  of  Holbrook's  company,  in 
regard  to  future  building  operations,  is  prob- 
ably truthfully  shadowed  forth  in  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  one  of  the  circulars  issued 
about  the  time  when  the  prospects  for  the 
town  were  the  fairest: 

"  The  demand  for  bailding  for  every  pur- 
pose and  every  description,  encourages  the 
company  to  use  all  the  labor  and  force  which 
can  be  advantageously  employed  to  meet 
these  apiilieations — in  fact,  the  conclusion  is 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


31 


iresistible,  that  the  proper  and  requisite 
number  of  dwellings  and  places  for  business 
ai-e  only  wanting  at  Cairo  to  seom-e  a  popula- 
tion equal  in  number  and  character  to  any 
town  in  the  West;  and  it  will  be  evideot  to 
every  one  that  the  advantages  which  the  com- 
pany possess  for  building  are  very  great, 
having  their  own  forests  of  timber,  saw  mills, 
quarries  of  stone,  lime  and  brick  yards,  and 
every  other  material  required  is  obtainable 
in  large  quantities,  and  consequently  at  a 
reduced  price ;  and  eveiy  kind  of  labor  which 
can  be  done,  to  save  advantage,  by  use  of 
steam  power  and  machinery,  will  be  adopted 
by  the  company  and  made  available." 

This  is  appropriately   chapter  one  of   the 
history   of   Cairo.     Abortive    as    the   grand 


effort,  or  "splurge,"  to  use  a  more  truthful 
description  of  the  occasion,  was,  it  was  the 
one  final  effort  to  lay  the  foundation  upon 
which  the  present  superstructure  stands.  A 
generation  has  passed  away  since  that  time, 
and  of  all  the  struggling,  active,  busy  throng 
that  were  parties  to  this  stirring  [and  hope- 
ful period,  there  are  but  very  few  now  left 
us  to  tell  over  the  story,  and  recall  the  hopes 
and  fears  and  trials  and  triumphs  that  ani- 
mated their  bosoms  in  those  young  days  of 
their  lives  and  of  the  city's  life.  The  story 
is  a  remarkable  one  and  fiill  of  interest,  and 
contains  a  lesson,  when  properly  'read,  that 
none  can  afford  to  pass  by  unnoticed,  and  that 
all  may  contemplate  with  pleasui'e  and 
profit. 


CHAPTER  11. 


CRASH  OF  THE  CAIRO  CITY    AND    CANAL  COMPANY  IN    1841— THE    EXODUS    OF   THE    PEOPLE- 
PASTIMES  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THOSE  WHO  REMAIN— JUDGE  GILBERT— HOW  A  RIOT 
WAS    SUPPRESSED— BRYAN    SHANNESSY— GRADUAL    GROWTH    OF    THE 
TOWN  AGAIN— THE  RECORD    BROUGHT  DOWN  TO  1853,  ETC. 


IN  the  preceding  chapter  we  told  of  the 
first  gathering  of  the  people  here,  and  on 
what  a  grand  scale  they  went  to  work  to 
build  a  great  city.  How  the  Cairo  City  & 
Canal  Company  literally  took  charge  of 
everything,  and,  by  a  profuse  display  of 
money,  and  work  and  high  wages,  it  in- 
duced many  hundreds  of  people  to  come  and 
cast  their  fortunes  with  the  rising  young  city; 
and  how  in  a  moment,  when  all  seemed  the 
most  promising  and  cheerful,  the  whole 
thing  vanished  like  a  pricked  bubble,  and 
leaving  nothing  but  grief  and  pain  for 
promised  joy  to  the  many  himdreds  who  felt 
they  had  been  lured  into  the  wilds  by  false  rep- 
resentations, and  bitterness  and  disappoint- 


ment took  the  place  of  hope  and  promise' 
As  already  intimated,  when  the  crash  came 
there  had  gathered  here  about  two  thousand 
people,  and  they  were  proceeding  rapidly  to 
gather  about  them  all  the  appliances  of  civil- 
ized and  municipal  life.  A  man  named  T. 
J.  Gass,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
was  teaching  the  first  school  in  Cairo.  It 
was  a  pay  school,  taught  in  a  hastily  con- 
structed building  near  where  is  now  the  cox-- 
nerof  Twelfth  street  and  Washington  avenue. 
But  when  the  failure  of  the  city  company 
came,  everything  of  a  public  natiu-e,  and 
even  every  private  enterprise,  stopped,  and 
the  work  of  depopulating  at  once  set  in  and 
went  forward  with  almost  as  much  celerity  as 


32 


HISTOKY  OF  CAIKO. 


had  its  gathering  of  people  the  year  before. 
The  post  office,  Col.  Walter  Falls,  Postmas- 
ter, continued.  It  is  said,  as  an  evidence 
that  the  few  left  here  were  not  writing  to 
their  friends  for  money  to  get  away,  that  his 
salary  often  amounted  to  as  much  as  $2. 15 
per^quarter.  The  Catholic  Church,  the  only 
one  regularly  established  here  at  that  time, 
continued  its  work.  The  foundry  tried  to 
brave  the  storm,  and  continued  to  run  when 
all  else  had  apparently  stopped  forever,  but 
the  cross  levee  was  not  yet  constructed,  and 
the  floods  came  in  1842,  and,  on  the  22d  day 
of  March  of  that  year,  it  put  out  its  fur- 
naces, and  forever  afterward  partook  of  the 
universal  abandonment  to  quietude  and  decay. 
Col.  Falls  did  continue  his  store,  on  his 
wharf-boat  and  his  wharf-boat  business  until 
1846  or  1847,  when  he  quitted  the  town  and 
removed  to  a  place  once  called  "  Ohio  City," 
on  the  Missouri  shore,  a  short  distance 
below  Cairo. 

So  rapidly  did  the  process  of  depopulation 
go  on  that  in  a  few  months  there  were  not 
more  than  a  score  of  families  left.  The  flam- 
ing forges,  the  flying  wheels,  the  clangor  of 
machinery  and  the  "music  of  the  hammer 
and  the  saw"  had  died  away,  and  given  place 
to  a  quiet  that  could  not  have  been  far  sur- 
passed had  nature  set  upon  the  city  the  very 
signet  of  eternity . 

And  now  commenced,  on  the  part  of  those 
who  held  unsatisfied  claims  against  the  com- 
pany, a  legal  effort  to  secure  their  own. 
Judgments  were  rendered,  executions  issued, 
and  every  article  of  movable  property  left 
or  abandoned  by  the  company,  not  excepting 
the  fine  machinery  of  the  mills,  shops  and 
foundries,  was  seized  upon  and  sold  for  a 
mere  trifle  under  the  hammer  at  public  sale. 
The  dry  dock  was  either  cut  loose,  or  the 
high  waters  of  1842  swept  it  away  in  the 
flood,    and  as   it  approached  the  Kentucky 


shore  it  was  seized  under  an  execution  for 
debt,  sold,  and  taken  to  New  Orleans  and 
used  at  Algiers  until  the  war,  when  the  rebels 
converted  it  into  one  of  their  first  formidable 
war  vessels. 

For  more  than  a  year,  the  Cairo  City  & 
Canal  Company,  as  if  overpowered  by  their 
complete  failure,  appeared  utterly  careless  of 
the  wreck  they  had  left  behind  them.  The 
company  had  gone  and  chaos  came,  and  there 
seemed  to  be  no  one  left  to  look  after  or  care 
for  its  property  or  its  rights  here.  People 
moved  into  the  houses  that  were  deserted  at 
will,  where  they  had  no  landlord,  no  rents, 
no  taxes,  nor  no  care  how  soon  it  fell  into 
decay  or  was  used  piece-meal  for  kindling  the 
matutinal  fires.  The  same  with  the  land; 
whoever  first  fancied  to  take  possession  and 
cultivate  any  cleai*ed  portion,  did  so  without 
let  or  hindi'ance.  We  have  spoken  of  the 
dangerous  powers  the  Legislatui'e  had  placed 
in  Holbrook's  hands.  Upon  the  sudden  dis- 
appearance of  this  autocrat,  with  his  excess 
of  law  and  authority,  the  people  were  left  at 
the  other  extreme,  and  possession  now  was 
sovereign,  and,  as  a  rule,  every  man  was  a 
law  unto  himself. 

Judge  Miles  A.  Gilbert  was  the  first  per- 
son to  come  to  Cairo  after  the  collapse,  and 
act  as  agent  and  representative  of  the  com- 
pany, to  the  extent  of  protecting  its  property 
and  his  own,  of  which  he  had  large  quanti- 
ties, as  well  as  a  considerable  holder  in  the 
stocks  of  the  company.  A  detailed  account 
of  what  he  found  here,  and  the  spirit  and 
moods  of  the  people  in  their  anger  at  Hol- 
brook  and  his  company,  could  they  be  fully 
given,  would  read  like  a  Western  early-day 
romance.  And  of  all  the  men  it  was  possible 
to  send  here  to  speak  peace  to  the  brewing 
storm,  and  stay  the  uplifted  hands  of  vio- 
lence, he  was  the  only  one.  His  unflinching 
integrity,  his  ripe    judgment,  and  his  mild. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


33 


and  firm  and  fair  treatment  of  all  questions 
that  arose  between  the  people  and  the  com- 
pany were  productive  of  results  that  must 
have  saved  even  bloodshed  at  times,  and  at 
all  times  it  was  a  protection  to  the  property  of 
the  place,  as  well  as  to  the  angered  and  out- 
raged people  who  clamored  for  the  pay  due 
them. 

Judge  Gilbert  may  justly  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  active  and  leading  spirits  engaged 
in  the  early  enterprise  of  founding  the  city 
of  Cairo,  and  the  only  one  of  the  early 
founders  of  the  city  now  living.  He  was 
born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  January  1,  1810; 
came  to  Kaskaskia,  111.,  June  8,  1832,  with 
a  large  stock  of  goods;  merchandized  there 
eleven  yeai-s;  November  17,  1836,  married 
Ann  Eliza  Bakei',  eldest  daughter  of  Hon. 
David  J.  ^Baker,  Sr.,  at  Kaskaskia,  111. 
April,  1843,  he  removed  to  Cairo,  and  took 
charge  of  all  the  property  there  owned  by 
the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  as  their 
agent.  The  company  had  just  failed,  and  a 
great  number  of  men,  in  consequence,  thrown 
out  of  employment,  were  in  a  wild,  ungovern- 
able state,  making  a  great  noise  about  their 
pay.  Judge  Gilbert's  gi-eat- grandfather  was 
Abraliam  Gilbert,  who  died  at  Hamden  in 
1718,  and  was  the  grandson  of  Josiah  Gil- 
bert, who,  with  three  other  brothers,  came 
from  Norfolk,  England,  to  America  in  1640, 
and  settled  near  New  Haven,  Conn. ;  so  that 
Judge  Gilbert's  lineage  is  traceable  directly 
back  to  the  "  Gilberts  of  Norfolk,"  England, 
whose  coat  of  arms  bore  the  motto  Tenax 
propositi — firm  of  pni-pose;  and  there  is,  per 
haps,  nothing  more  illustrative  of  this  trait 
of  character  in  Judge  Gilbert,  in  his  long, 
honorable  and  active  life,  or  better  illustra- 
tive of  the  condition  of  affairs  at  Cairo,  im- 
mediately following  the  failvu'e  of  the  Cairo 
City  &  Canal  Company,  than  his  bold,  de- 
termined and  successful  defense  of  the  prop- 


erty of  the  company  he  came  to  Cairo  to 
protect  and  preserve,  as  against  the  enraged 
mob  of  workmen  he  found  fiercely  demand- 
ing everything,  and  threatening  an  open  out- 
break, and,  by  mob  violence,  to  seize  and 
sacrifice  all  within  reach.  This  was  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  when  Judge  Gilbert  arrived 
in  the  spring  of  1843,  and  his  first  work  was 
to  set  about  the  most  active  efforts  to  thwart 
the  threatened  mob.  Had  he  reached  the 
grounds  sooner,  it  is  probable  he  could  have 
influenced  the  leaders  and  prevented  an  out- 
break. Here  were  a  great  number  of  men  sud- 
denly thrown  out  of  employment;  they  had 
grown  clamorous  and  turbulent,  and  they  de- 
termined to  break  into  the  company's  machine 
and  carpenter  shops,  a  large  building, 
150x200  feet  in  dimensions,  and  filled  with 
the  most  expensive  machinery,  which  was 
attached  to  and  formed  part  of  the  building, 
and  in  law  formed  a  part  of  the  realty,  and 
had  to  be  so  treated  as  regards  attachments 
or  executions.  The  tui-bulents  went  to  Judge 
Gilbert,  and  demanded  that  he  allow  them  to 
enter  the  building  and  detach  the  machinery 
and  sell  it  under  execution.  He  had  n6 
authority  to  grant  the  request,  and  so  in- 
formed them.  They  swore  they  would  take 
it  at  all  hazards,  when  he  informed  them  he 
was  here  to  protect  the  property,  and  he 
would  do  so  against  friend  or  foe.  The 
leaders  retired  in  great  anger  from  the  in- 
terview, and  at  once  began  to  gather  their 
mob.  Judge  Gilbert,  realizing  what  was 
coming,  selected  four  laboring  men,  upon 
whom  he  could  fully  rely,  hired  them  and 
armed  them,  and  the  five  men  entered  the 
building  and  hastily  barricaded  the  doors  and 
windows  as  best  they  could,  and  took  their 
respective  positions  at  ^such  places  as  the  at- 
tacking party  would  have  to  approach.  They 
had  hardly  had  time  to  do  so  when  the  mob, 
in  gi-eat  force,  approached  the  front  or  main 


34 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


entrance;  failing  to  open  this,  they  tried  the 
windows,  but  finding  them  secm-ely  fastened 
they  procured  a  ladder.  Judge  Gilbert,  from 
the  second  story  window,  addressed  the 
crowd,  and  his  quiet,  firm,  yet  pleasant  man- 
ner secured  their  close  attention.  ITe  told 
them  he  was  their  friend,  and  not  their 
enemy;  that  it  would  deeply  pain  him  to 
hurt  or  injiu-e  any  one  of  them  in  any  way, 
but  that  he  had  been  placed  there  to  protect 
the  property,  and  protect  it  he  would,  to  the 
extent  of  his  life.  He  advised  them  to  go 
peaceably  home,  and  await  the  results  of  the 
negotiations  of  the  President  of  the  com- 
pany, who  was  then  in  New  York,  and  nego- 
tiating for  money  wherewith  to  pay  every  one 
of  them  every  cent  the  company  owed  them. 
He  showed  them  that  they  were  violating  the 
law,  and  that,  instead  of-  thus  righting  their 
wrongs,  they  were  putting  themselves  in  the 
position  to  be  punished  by  law;  that  the  law 
was  his  protection;  it  was  with  him  in  his 
effort  to  protect  property,  and  this  made  his 
apparent  helplessness  and  weakness  strong 
enough  to  resist  and  riepel  even  their  over- 
powering numbers.  He  frankly  told  them 
they  could  not  come  into  the  building  while 
he  was  alive,  and  that  for  them  to  kill  him 
in  order  to  get  in  would  be  murder,  for  which 
they  would  be  hung.  He  m'ged  them  to 
peaceably  go  away,  and  concluded  by  in- 
forming them  that  he  would  kill  the  ih'st 
man  who  entered  the  building.  This  quiet 
and  sensible  talk  had  a  marked  influence  on 
the  crowd;  the  leaders  called  them  away, 
and  they  retired  a  short  distance  to  hold  a 
council.  After  much  parleying,  and  a 
bounteous  supply  of  fighting  whisky,  they  re- 
turned to  the  charge,  more  fiuuous  than  ever. 
They  surrounded  the  building,  cursing, 
swearing  and  howling  their  rage,  like  in- 
furiated beasts,  and  calling  upon  each  other 
to  kill    Judge  Gilbert  and   his  four   faithful 


companions  and  take  the  machinery  and  con- 
tents and  destroy  the  building.  The  front  of 
the  building  was  upon  or  against  the  levee, 
and  the  rear  of  it  stood  about  ten  feet  above 
the  ground,  and  here  was  a  large  trap -door, 
used  for  the  purpose  of  taking  in  and  pass- 
ing out  the  most  curaberseme  articles  of 
goods.  The  mob  succeeded  in  breaking  and 
pushing  up  and  open  this  trap-door,  and 
then  they  attempted  to  "boost"  their  men  up 
through  this.  Judge  Gilbert  was  at  the  spot 
by  the  time  they  had  the  trap  open,  and  again 
appealed  personally  to  some  of  the  leaders 
and  begged  them  to  go  away.  He  showed 
them  he  was  armed  with  firearms  and  a  stout 
hickory  club,  and  told  them  he  alone  coald 
kill  them  as  fast  as  they  could  show  their 
heads  above  the  floor,  and  informed  them  he 
would  certainly  do  so.  Several  ventured  to 
put  up  their  hands  and  clasp  the  upper  side 
of  the  floor,  but  a  sharp  rap  from  the  hickory 
club  made  them  quickly  take  them  down 
again.  Finally,  after  trying  all  manner  of 
means  to  efifect  an  entrance,  they  persuaded 
one  poor  fellow,  who  was  much  under  the  in- 
fluence of  liquor,  to  let  them  push  him  up 
through  the  floor.  He  was  warned,  as  he 
started  up,  not  to  attempt  it,  but,  nothing 
daunted,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  shoved 
forward.  He  received  a  light  blow  from  the 
club,  and  it  affected  him  so  little  that  the 
crowd  cheered  and  pushed  him  the  harder. 
The  club  was  then  rained  upon  his  head  fast 
and  furious,  and  finally  he  yelled  in  agony 
to  be  lowered  instantly  or  he  would  be  killed 
sure  enough,  and  he  was  let  down.  This 
man's  dreadful  experience  sobered  him,  and 
also  seems  to  have  had  the  effect  of  sobering 
the  crowd.  A  feeble  effort  was  made  to  call 
out  other  volunteers  to  go  up,  but  to  this  there 
was  no  response.  They  began  to  fall  away 
in  small  squads,  but  the  majority  lingered 
around  the  building   until   after  dark,  when 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


35 


they  all  left,  and  quiet  reigned  supreme  once 
more.  Judge  Gilbert  and  bis  four  men  re- 
mained on  guard  all  night,  and  it  can  well 
be  imagined  they  did  not  even  sleep  by 
relays.  They  stayed  close  upon  duty  for 
several  days,  until  the  leaders  of  the  mob 
(something  they  should  have  thought  of  tirst) 
advised  vrith  attorneys,  and  concluded  a  mob 
v^as  not  the  true  remedy  for  their  wrongs. 

This  episode  is  properly  a  histoiy  of  the 
trying  times  in  Cairo,  but  it  well  answers  the 
double  purpose  of  illustrating  the  temper  of 
the  people  when  Judge  Gilbert  came  here 
to  take  possession  of  the  Cairo  City  Canal 
Company's  interests,  as  well  as  something  of 
the  iron  there  was  in  the  Judge's  nature,  and 
which  constituted  him  the  right  man  in  the 
right  place. 

Judge  Gilbert  had  the  cross  levee  built  in 
1843,  and  had  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
levees  repaired,  inclosing  about  six  hundred 
acres  of  land,  so  strong  and  permanent  that 
it  secured  Cairo  from  inundation  during  the 
great  flood  of  1844.  He  remained  there  for 
three  years;  was  one  of  the  original  pur- 
chasers of  the  land,  from  Government,  on 
which  the  city  is  now  biiilt;  was  identified 
with  all  the  charter  railroads  and  organiza- 
tions of  the  city,  as  either  Pi-esident,  Direc- 
tor or  stockholder,  up  to  the  appointment  of 
Samuel  Staats  Taylor  as  agent  of  the  Trustees 
(Thomas  S.  Taylor  and  Charles  Davis),  He 
then  moved  to  Ste.  Genevieve  County,  Mo. , 
where  he  had  large  landed  interests;  laid  oflf 
a  town  thereon,  and  called  it  "Ste.  Mary," 
now  a  flourishing  village  of  several  hundred 
inhabitants,  where  he  has  resided  ever  since, 
and  still  resides  at  his  homestead,  "Oakwood 
Villa,"  situated  upon  a  beautiful  hill  over- 
looking the  village,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  with  a  splendid  view  of 
the  river  for  many  miles  each  way.  He  has 
been  an    active,  energetic  man  ail    his  life; 


has  been  for  many  j-ears,  and  still  is,  though 
now  over  seventy-three  years  of  age,  one  of 
the  leading  and  most  influential  citizens  of 
Ste.  Genevieve  County,  with  a  high  character 
for  honesty  and  integrity,  and  [n  kindness, 
hospitality  and  generosity  poverbial  among 
those  who  know  him.  He  was  elected  Judge 
of  the  County  and  Probate  Courts  of  the 
county  three  successive  terms — twelve  years 
— and  so  well  did  he  manage  the  afifairs  and 
finances  of  the  county  and  discharge  the  du- 
ties of  the  ofiice  that  he  was  strongly  urged 
to  accept  another  election  to  the  office,  but 
declined.  In  politics,  Judge  Gilbert,  since 
the  disruption  of  the  old  Whig  party,  has 
been  a  Democrat,  but  strongly  opposed  the 
secession  movement  in  Missouri.  The  first 
Union  resolutions  in  his  county  were  drav^n 
up  by  him,  advocating  to  "stick  to  the  Union," 
and  that  "secession  would  prove  the  death- 
knell  of  slairery." 

In  1800,  during  the  secession  excitement 
in  Missouri,  the  State  Convention  was  called, 
to  detei'mine  whether  Missoui'i  should  secede 
or  remain  in  the  Union,  Judge  Gilbert  took 
an  active  part  in  seciu'ing  Union  delegates 
from  his  district,  against  powerful  opposi- 
tion, and  it  was  largely  through  the  ,  influ- 
ence of  his  pen  and  management  that  Union 
delegates  were  elected  from  his  Congression- 
al District.  At  the  Congressional  District 
Convention,  it  is  said  that  he  sat  up  all 
night,  wrote  the  Union  circular  address  to 
the  people,  got  it  printed,  and  had  it  circu- 
lated all  over  the  district  by  12-o'clock  next 
day,  and  before  the  secessionists  (and 
seceders  from  that  convention)  had  their 
circular  printed. 

Judge  Gilbert  still  holds  large  interests  in 
Cairo  and  Alexander  County;  has  two  sons 
living  in  Cairo — William  B.  and  Miles 
Frederick  Gilbert — practicing  law  there. 
His  wife  is  also  still   living,  and  he  has  one 


36 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


married  daughter — Sarah  F.,  wife  of  Thomas 
B.  Whitledge,  residing  with  him  at  Ste. 
Mary,  and  a  prominent  lawyer  of  that  place. 
Judge  Gilbert  makes  frequent  visits  to 
Cairo,  and  takes  great  interest  in  the  pros- 
perity of  the  place,  and  still  has  a  lively 
faith  in  the  future  greatness  of  the  city. 

The  presence  and  control  of  the  company's 
interests  here  by  Judge  Gilbert  was  a  great 
surprise  to  many  who  began  to  look  upon 
themselves  as  old  settlers.  It  was  the  first 
intimation  that  the  abandonment  had  not 
been  so  complete  as  they  had  for  some  time 
supposed.  "When  he  had  completed  the  cross 
levee,  and  had  so  strengthened  the  others  as 
to  protect  the  city,  even  from  the  extraordi- 
nary high  waters  of  the  Mississippi  in  the 
year  1844,  when  Cairo  was  the  only  dry  spot 
from  St.  Louis  to  New  Orleans,  and  when 
these  duties  were  discharged,  he  would  re- 
turn to  business  that  called  him  to  other 
places,  and,  therefore,  his  government  of  the 
people  here  amounted  to  no  more  than  the 
mere  assertion  of  the  company's  title  and 
possession  to  moveable  property,  so  the 
Cairoites  continued  to  occupy  at  will  the  houses 
and  so  much  of  the  land  as  they  pleased, 
without  rents  or  question.  And  they  were 
soon  inclined  to  hoot  at  the  idea  of  any  one 
collecting  rent  from  them.  Was  it  not 
enough  to  live  in  such  a  place  as  Cairo!  And 
thus  they  assured  each  other.  Thus  occupied, 
the  property  fell  far  short  of  furnishing  the 
means  of  paying  the  annual  taxes  levied 
against  it.  For  about  thirteen  years — from 
1841  to  1853 — there  was  little  of  change  in 
Cairo,  except  that  of  slow  decay. 

Mose  Harrell  is  authority  for  the  assertion 
that  the  little  handful  of  people  here — 
as  the  shelter  they  enjoyed,  the  ground 
they  cultivated,  and  the  general  privileges 
they  exercised,  cost    them   nothing,  —  prob- 


ably enjoyed  themselves.  This  inference  is 
strengthened  by  the  recollection  that  daring- 
all  this  time,  they  did,  or  had,  but  little  else 
to  do,  and  Harrell,  therefore,  asserts  (he  was 
one  of  the  jolly  crowd)  "  they  enjoyed  them- 
selves to  a  degree  beyond  -ajiy  other  people, 
so  far  as  he  knew  or  could  hear  or  read  about. " 
In  the  course  of  time,  after  the  crash,  the  mea- 
ger population  left,  of  about  fifty  souls,  had 
increased  to  nearly  two  hundred,  and  the  town 
seemed  to  run  to  wharf-boats,  flats  and  all 
manner  of  water  craft.  The  business  was 
nearly  all  upon  the  water's  edge,  and  there 
was  quite  a  period  when  it  really  looked  as 
though,  as  soon  as  the  few  houses  rotted 
down,  or  were  used  up  for  kindling-wood, 
the  entire  population  and  business  would 
crawl  over  outside  the  levee,  and  become  a 
real  floating  city.  Here  were  the  gathering 
places,  eating  places,  drinking  places  and  the 
center  of  all  the  fun  or  excitement.  People 
wanted  to  see  the  steamboats  land;  they 
wanted  to  go  on  board,  look  around,  and,  by 
examining  the  passengers,  recall  recollections 
of  when  they  were  innocent  members  of  the 
civilized  world. 

There  were  three  wharf-boats  moored  in 
front  of  the  town,  and,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  all  were  doing  a  fair  business,  and 
some  of  them  made  money.  The  Louisiana, 
Henry  Simmons,  proprietor,  lay  about  oppo- 
site what  is  now  Second  street;  the  Ellen 
Kirkman,  Rodney  &  Wright,  proprietors,  was 
just  below  this,  and  the  Sam  Dale,  T.  J. 
Smith  &  Co.,  proprietors,  lay  below  where 
the  Halliday  House  stands.  "  On  the  hill," 
as  the  top  of  the  levee  was  then  called,  were  to 
be  found  the  Cairo  Hotel,  by  S.  H.  Candee,  the 
stores  of  B.  S.  Harrell  and  Oliver  S.  Sayre, 
the  office  of  the  Cairo  Delta  newspaper,  the 
saloon  of  George  L.  Rattlemueller,  and  the 
bakery  of  George  Baumgard.     The  five  last- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


37 


mentioned  were  all  in  the  buildings  erected 
by  Jones  &  Holbrook  on  the  ground  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  Halliday  House. 

About   the  total  population  that  was  left 
here    after   the    exodus,  as   the   names   were 
furnished  us  by  Mr.  Robert  Baird,  who  was 
here  as  early  as    I83l>,  are    the    following — 
premising  there  are  some,  of  course,  thai  Mr. 
Baird  cannot  now  recall,  or   has  wholly  for- 
gotten, and  further  stating  the  explanatory 
fact  that,  of  all  the  earliest  comers  of  Cairo, 
the    only    persons  now    living  of  those  who 
did  not  leave  the  city  in  its  first  panic,  are 
Robert   Baird,  Nick  Devore    and   Mrs.   Pat 
Smith — just  three  persons.      Here  is  the  now 
imperfect  list  of  the  1839-40  comers:    Squire 
Marsh,  Constable   Lee,  Dr.  Cummings,  T.  J. 
Glass,  Mr.    Jones,  Thomas  Eagan,  Mrs.  Pat 
Smith,  D.    W.    Thompson,  who  had  moved 
down  the    hull  of  the  Asia  and  converted  it 
into  a  wharf -boat  and  hotel,  afterward  taking 
oflf  the  cabin  of    the    boat   and  moving  it  to 
Blandville,  Ky. ,  where  he  made  another  hotel 
of  it,  which  was  about  the  first  house  in  that 
place;  Hathaway  &  Garrison,  the  latter  went 
to  California    and  grew  quite  wealthy;  Mr. 
McCoy,  who    afterward   went   to   Iowa;  Dr. 
Gilpin    and    family,  kept  a   boarding-house 
near  where  is  now    the  corner  of    Sixth  and 
levee;  Thomas  Feely,  kept  dairy,  near   cor- 
ner  of   Eighth    and    levee;    Mi'.    Adkins,    a 
butcher;    Mr.    Ferdon,    a    carpenter,    whose 
grown  young  daughter  was  afflicted  with  at- 
tacks of  occasional  insanity.     In  one  of  these 
moods  she    wandered  off,  and   some  distance 
north  of  town  she    came  to  an  old,    deserted 
hut,  and  as   it  was  night   she  entered  it  and 
found  two  deer  inside,  and,  closing  the  door, 
kept  them  there,  and  in  this  strange  company 
the  girl    passed  the  night,   unharmed  and  in 
seeming   content.       The   next   morning   she 
stepped  out  and   fastened   the  door,  and  re- 
porting her  adventure  to  her  father,  he,  in  com- 


pany with  some  friends,  among  whom  was  our 
informant,  Mr.  Baird,  repaired  to  the  hut  and 
secured  the  venison;  next,  a  Mr.  Lyles,  the 
father-in-law  of  Mr.  Miles  F.  Parker,  a 
citizen  of  Cairo;  Mr.  Shutleff,  a  foreman  in 
the  shops;  Tom  Brohan,  a  teamster  and  con- 
tractor; Jacob  Weldon  and  family,  his 
widow  afterward  marrying  Judge  Shannessy; 
Isaac  Lee,  whose  son  Bill  was  for  many 
years  a  Cairo  landmark;  John  Riggs,  a  ma- 
chinist, left  here  afterward  and  went  to  Cali- 
fornia; Ed McKinney,  machinist;  John  Sulli- 
van, tailor;  Mr.  Kehoe,  carpenter  and  kept  a 
boarding-house;  Walter  Falls,  kept  bar  at  the 
hotel  and  afterward  wharf-boat  and  store; 
John  Addison,  carpenter  and  boarding- 
house;  John  Wesley,  shoe-maker;  William 
Holbrook  and  family;  Henry  Ours,  baker  and 
saloon;  George  L.  Rattlemueller,  saloon. 

Pat  Smith  married  Miss  Hennessy,  the 
wedding  taking  place  at  the  residence  of 
Mrs.  Weldon.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon, 
and  at  the  chui-ch  door  Smith  left  his  new 
wife  to  go  along  with  the  crowd,  while  he 
went  to  get  up  his  cows  (he  seems  to  have 
alwa}'s  had  milch  cows).  He  got  his  cows, 
milked,  and  bethought  himself  to  look  up  his 
wife,  and  she  had  gone  visiting  among  her 
friends,  enjoying  herself  very  much  indeed, 
and  partly  to  annoy  and  plague  her  husband, 
and  partly  for  fun;  so  well  did  she  hide  her- 
self that  it  was  late  at  night  before  he  found 
her,  although  he  had  traveled  the  town  over. 
No  proper  history  of  Cairo  will  ever  be 
written  that  omits  the  conspicuous  mention 
of  the  name  of  Judge  Bryan  Shannessy;  nay 
more,  it  must  account  well  for  some  of  his 
acts,  and  much  of  the  remarkable  peculiari- 
ties of  character  that  possessed  him.  For 
the  true  history  of  all  people  is  chiefly  in  the 
candid  picturing  of  the  extraordinary  or 
leading  characters,  who  were  among  the  chief 
promoters  or   factors  of   that  society's  exist- 


38 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


ence.  By  this  we  do  not  mean  the  old  notion 
of  the  history  of  a  people,  where  the  histo- 
rian had  filled  his  whole  duty  when  he  told 
all  the  minutiae  of  the  kings,  princes,  the 
queens  and  princesses,  and  how  they  were 
dressed,  dined,  wined,  and  the  cost  of  the 
latter;  how  they  were  sick,  or  died,  or  were 
buried,  or  were  born,  or  with  other  details 
ad  nauseum.  Or  of  battles,  defeats,  and 
slaughters  and  sieges;  of  famines;  of  chm-ch 
dignitaries  and  State  rulers.  These  things, 
during  the  centuries  alone,  were  history. 
Had  Voltaire  and  Buckle  not  lived,  this 
might  have  been  so  yet,  and  continued  indefi- 
nitely. 

But  now,  the  history  of  a  people,  State  or 
nation  means  the  common  people  as  well  as 
the  notorious — the  history  of  all  alike.  Of 
course  it  is  impossible  to  individually  men- 
tion each  of  the  masses,  as  this  would  make 
it  a  mere  directory  of  names,  but  to  portray 
the  extraordinary  characters  of  those  who 
were  of  the  masses,  who  mingled  with  and 
were  a  part  of  them,  who,  as  it  were,  were 
the  very  outgrowth;  the  immediate  develop- 
ment of  that  community  itself,  is  to  bring  to 
the  reader's  knowledge  one  of  the  best  and 
clearest  hints  of  what  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  were,  how  they  acted,  thought  and 
were  influenced. 

Such  a  representative  we  deem  Mr.  Shan- 
nessy  to  be.  He  came  here  with  the  rush  of 
1840,  as  unpretentious  and  unassuming  an 
Irishman  as  th«  humblest  knight  of  the  wheel- 
barrow in  all  the  crowd  that  were  drawn  here 
by  the  mighty  schemes  of  the  founders  of 
Cairo.  But  there  was  that  stuff  in  him, 
sometimes  called  fate,  faith  or  a  star,  which 
made  him  shape  his  course  very  differently 
indeed  from  the  common  crowd.  He  was  one 
of  the  very  few  who  did  not  flee  when  the 
memorable  crash  of  1841  came,  and  reduced 
the  city,  in  a  few  weeks,  from  a   prosperous 


and  busy  population  of  over  two  thousand  to 
less  than  fifty  souls,  with  no  work,  no  busi- 
ness, nothing,  in  short,  to  do  except  to  oc- 
cupy "the  deserted  houses  of  the  desolate  city. 
Then  Shannessy,  like  the  man  who  said  if  all 
the  world  were  dead  he  would  go  to  Phila- 
delphia and  open  a  big  hotel,  he  opened  a 
boarding-house,  and  in  1853,  while  but  little 
better  than  cockle  and  jimson  weeds  had  un- 
disputed possession  here,  we  find  him  the 
happy  lord  of  a  dingy  boarding-house,  a 
saloon,  a  Squire's  shop,  a  drug  store,  the 
post  office  and  a  doctor's  ofiice.  There  was 
nothiog  else  in  the  place,  or  he  would  have 
had  that.  It  is  said  the  few  natives  of  the 
place  thought  of  calling  on  him  to  preach  to 
them,  but  when  they  talked  it  over  among 
themselves  they  got  afraid  of  the  fiery  thun- 
derbolts he  would  launch  at  them  in  all  his 
seiTQons,  mixed  with  brogue  and  brimstone. 
He  continued  to  hold  office  all  his  long  life. 
When  the  city  had  waxed  great,  he  became 
Associate  County  Judge,  and  he  was  Police 
Magistrate  in  this  city  so  long  that  "  five 
dollars  and  costs "  was  as  natural  to  his 
tongue  and  his  existence  as  breath. 

He  was  a  shrewd,  original,  strong-minded 
man,  who  "  never  went  back  on  a  friend. " 
This  last  trait  is  well  told  by  the  story  of  a 
prominent  lawyer,  who  desired  to  bring  a 
certain  suit,  bat  felt  doubtful  about  the  issue; 
80  he  went  to  the  Squire  and  told  him  freely 
his  dilemma,  and  stated  what  he  supposed  to 
be  the  facts  of  the  case.  The  Squire  told 
him  "  that  sifter  would  hold  water,  dead 
sure. "  The  suit  was  brought,  but  on  trial 
the  defendant  introduced  evidence  that  utter- 
ly destroyed  every  vestige  of  plaintiff's  case. 
The  court  finally  gave  his  decision  in  an 
elaborate  and  learned  opinion,  reasoned 
about  the  law,  the  evidence,  the  world's  his- 
tory, the  flood,  the  pandects,  the  quadrilater- 
al and  the  Schleswig-Holstein  difficulty,  and 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


39 


concluded  by  giving  judgment,  for  the  plain- 
tiff. Everybody  was  amazed,  even  the  plain- 
tiff's attorney.  Afterward,  to  this  attorney, 
he  remarked:  "  That  was  a  very  close  case, 
very  close.  The  closest  case  I  ever  decided 
in  my  life.  In  fact,  I  believe  the  law  and 
the  evidence  were  both  dead  against  you; but 
I  never  go  back  on  a  friend. " 

He  loved  his  friends  as  well  as  he  loved 
office,  and  he  believed  in  being  just  to  them, 
and  this  sometimes  made  strangers  think  they 
had  to  suffer.  But  altogether  he  was  full  of 
good,  kind  traits  of  character.  This  is  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  these  outre  decisions 
never  alienated  his  friends  so  as  to  defeat 
him  at  an  election.  He  reared  a  large  family, 
of  the  very  highest  respectability,  and  de- 
parted this  life  at  a  ripe  old  age  and  full  of 
honors,  and  his  fame  is  growing  greener  in 
the  memories  of  all  his  numerous  friends 
than  is  that  of,  probably,  any  other  man's. 

It  was  this  decade  of  years  in  Cairo's  life 
that  it  acquired  a  wide — if  not  a  world-wide 
— reputation,  as  being  one  of  the  "  hardest  '* 
places  known.  Partly,  this  was  owing  to  the 
natural  reflex  swing  of  the  pendulum  that 
had  been  pushed  too  far  the  other  way  by 
Holbrook  &  Co.,  in  their  extraordinary 
puffing  of  the  place  in  its  first  heyday,  but 
it  is  doubtful  if  this  was  one  of  the  largest 
factors  that  resulted  in  such  gross  injustice 
to  Cairo.  The  wi-iter  distinctly  recollects 
that  the  first  he  ever  heard  of  Cairo  and 
Mound  City'  was  in  the  scorching  lampoons 
that  at  that  time  were  passing  between  Mose 
Harrell  and  Len  Faxon,  on  the  two  rival 
towns.  Doubtless,  like  thousands  of  othei's, 
he  formed  his  idea  of  the  two  places, 
although  he  knew,  of  course,  they  were  the 
essence  of  extravagance,  from  these  mutual 
attacks.  If  he  stopped  to  think  about  it  at 
all,  he  must  have  known  that  the  lanfruajre 
was    Pickwickian   in    the  extreme;    yet,  per- 


haps, like  all  the  world,  who  knew  nothing 
of  their  own  knowledge,  he  must  have  sup- 
posed they  understood  each  other's  weak 
points,  and  made  the  attacks  accordingly. 
For  instance,  the  Mound  City  Emporium 
prints  the  following  neighborly  notice: 

"A  number  of  Cairoites,  impelled,  per- 
haps, by  a  desire  to  see  dry  land — to  stand 
once  more  on  terra  firma — visited  Mound 
City  last  Friday,  ou  the  tug-boat  Pollard. 
They  were  a  cadaverous,  saffron-colored  lot 
of  mortals,  most  terribly  afflicted  with  bad 
hats  and  the  smell  of  onions.  These  poor 
people  inhaled  the  pure  atmosphere  of  our 
highlands  with  an  almost  ravenous  greedi- 
ness, and  on  their  wan  features  would  occa- 
sionally play  a  flush  of  health  as  they  did  so 
that  betokened  they  were  sucking  in  a  flow, 
to  their  physical  and  spiritual  parts,  of  some 
of  that  strong,  buoyant  principle  of  life 
possessed  by  every  Mound  Cityite.  But  from 
this  delightful  recuperative  process  they 
were  summoned  by  the  tap  of  the  boat  bell. 
Descending  from  the  elevation  our  city  oc- 
cupies to  the  landing,  they  boarded  the 
craft,  and  then,  descending  the  Ohio  to  its 
mouth,  they  stopped  and  made  a  further 
descent  of  sixteen  feet  or  more,  which  placed 
them  in  Cairo.  A  further  descent  of  sixteen 
feet  could  not  be  made  on  account  of  heat, 
smoke  and  the  smell  of  brimstone!  That's 
just  the  distance  between  the  two  places!" 

To  this  the  Times  and  Delta  replies:  "The 
Buckeye  Belle  came  down  from  Mound  City 
last  Saturday,  having  on  board  quite  a  num- 
ber of  people  from  that  delectable  village; 
but  the  quarantine  officers  of  our  city  enforced 
the  ordinance  relative  to  steamboats  landinsr 
with  sick  people  on  board,  and  would  not 
permit  her  to  touch,  whereupon,  after  mak- 
ing sundry  ineffectual  attempts  to  land  at 
each  wharf-boat,  she  shoved  out  into  the 
river,  whei'e  all  hands  set  up  one  indignant 


40 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


yell  of  defiance,  and,  'cussing,'  proceeded 
back  to  Mound  City,  where,  we  presume,  tbe 
passengers  were  remanded  back  to  their  re- 
spective hospitals." 

The  Cairo  paper  thus  topographically  talks 
of  its  neighbor: 

"At  last  accounts  from  Mound  City,  the 
principal  portion  of  the  inhabitants  were 
roosting  in  trees.  Some  of  them  sleep  with 
skiffs  by  their  bedsides.  One  of  these  deter- 
mined not  to  be  treed,  procui'ed  two  quarts 
of  'crow  whisky,'  some  bread  and  bacon,  and 
induced  one  or  two  inhabitants  to  go  with 
him,  and  they  have  fortified  themselves  on 
the  '  carbuncle,'  or  mound — the  only  dry 
place  in  the  town — where  they  intend  to 
stay  until  the  waters  subside. 

"  The  principal  occupation  of  the  inhabit- 
ants for  the  past  three  weeks  has  been  every 
half  hour  to  proceed  to  the  river,  punch  a 
stick  in  the  ground  at  the  water's  edge,  see 
how  much  the  water  has  come  up  and.  then 
go  home  and  move  their  cooking  iitensils 
and  '  steds  '  into  the  second  stories  of  their 
houses.  Where  there  are  no  second  stories, 
*as  we  said  before,'  they  'clum'  trees." 

From  the  same  source,  here  are  a  few  re- 
marks on  health: 

"  The  Mayor  of  Mound  City,  in  his  inau- 
gural address,  says  to  the  Council:  'It  will 
soon  be  your  duty  to  purchase,  and  fit  for 
use,  a  sufficient  ground  for  a  public  ceme- 
tery. It  will  take  half  of  the  town  plat  for 
that  pui'pose.'  The  Mayor  means,  we  sup- 
pose, by  '  fitting  for  use,'  that  portions  of  the 
swamp  should  be  fenced  and  filled  up  with 
dirt,  so  as  to  give  it  a  bottom." 

Or  this:  "  We  saw  a  couple  betting  high 
at  draw  poker  the  other  night.  The  ante  was 
two  negroes,  and  the  little  one  had  run  up 
the  pot  to  a  cotton  plantation  and  three 
stern-wheel  boats. 


"  '  I'll  go  you  the  City  of  Sandoval  better,' 
said  the  big  one. 

"  'I'll  see  you  with  Mound  City  and  call 
you.'  said  t'other. 

"'Psahw!  That  ain't  money  enough,' 
said  big  bones. 

"  'Well,  I'll  take  that  back,  and  bet  you 
a  keg  of  tar  and  a  blind  horse.' 

"  '  That'll  do,'  said  big  bones,  '  but  don't 
try  to  ring  in  Mound  City  again,  for  I  want 
to  play  a  decent  game! '  " 

And  in  this  way,  for  about  three  years, 
the  "  sparring  "  in  the  two  papers  went  on, 
never  abating  in  severity  or  intensity  of  ex- 
pression from  the  first  day,  until  all  that 
could  be  said  mean  of  the  two  places  was 
blown  upon  every  wind,  and,  upon  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  dropping  water  wearing  away 
the  hardest  stone,  so  these  persistent  lam- 
poons had,  doubtless,  their  effect  upon  the 
minds  of  the  outside  world.  Then,  to  those 
who  visited  and  saw  the  town,  there  was 
that  unfinished,  half-commenced  hole  dug 
here,  and  half-formed  moiinds  thrown  up 
there,  that  made  up  its  quota  of  reasons  for 
assisting  any  rising  prejudices  in  the  mind 
of  the  beholder,  that  also  aided  in  creating 
prejudices  against  the  place.  Then,  there 
was  still  another  reason  for  the  bad  reputa- 
tion of  Cairo,  that  is  so  curious,  so  extraor- 
dinary, that,  were  it  not  vouched  for  by  the 
best  of  authority  that  was  here,  and  knew 
whereof  it  affirms,  we  could  not  believe  it, 
and  would  give  it  no  notice  in  these  columns. 
We  again  refer  to  M.  B.  Harrell,  as  authority 
on  this  matter,  only  premising  that  in  much 
of  the  practical  jokes  he  was  nearly  always 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fray: 

"  Cairo  then,  and  up  to  a  much  later 
period,  unjustly  bore  a  hard  reputation. 
Stories  of  fiendish  murders  and  robberies  of 
travelers  stopping  in  the   place    were  so  cur- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


41 


rent  over  the  country  that  the  poor  Cairoite 
who  would  attempt  to  contradict  or  correct 
them  was  laughed  and  derided  into  painful 
silence.  Knowing  they  could  not  refute  such 
a  general  and  well-settled  impression,  they 
'  turned  tack,'  and  whenever  they  saw  travel- 
ers exhibiting  foolish  appi'ehensions  of  per- 
sonal danger,  they  would  at  once  set  about 
operating  upon  them.  '  just,'  as  they  would 
say,  '  to  get  even  with  them.'  For  instance: 
"  Two  consumate  dandies  [being  '  dan- 
dies,' it  seems,  was  the  great  crime  they  were 
guilty  of]  fi'om  Pittsburgh,  stopped  upon  one 
of  the  wharf-boats,  to  await  a  passage  to 
New  Orleans,  they  having  arrived  on  a  boat 
that  was  bound  for  St.  Louis.  At  once  it 
became  evident  that  these  young  men  had 
been  fed  upoa  stories  of  Cairo  horrors;  but 
they  tried  fo  show,  nevertheless,  that  they 
could  not  be  scared  by  anything,  however 
dreadful.  Both  had  revolvers  and  bowie- 
knives,  but  that  they  were  unused  to  them 
could  be  told  by  the  practiced  eye  of  a 
Cairoite.  These  weapons  were  freely  ex- 
hibited, and  always  worn  so  as  partly  to  be 
seen  while  concealed  about  their  persons. 
Diligently  did  these  young  men  try  to  im- 
press it  upon  the  people  that  they  would  be 
'ugly  customers'  in  a  hand-to-hand  encoun- 
ter.. To  show  that  they  were  familiar  with 
rough  life,  they  would  swear  voluminously, 
and  occasionally  they  would  drink  brandy, 
etc.,  etc."  These  were  hue  subjects  for  vic- 
tims, and  the  hoodlums  of  tho  village 
gathered  about  them  in  full  force,  and  then 
hours  of  confidential  talk  among  them  would 
occur — care  being  taken  that  the  intended 
victims  should  overhear  every  word,  about  as 
follows : 

"I'll  be ,  Tom,"  remarked  a  rough- 
looking  customer,  as  he  slammed  down  an 
empty  boot  box  beside  the  counter,  "I  hain't 
had   nothin'    as   has    sot   so   hard   onto   mv 


feelio's  as  the  killia' of  that  boy,  sense  the 
day  I  hit  my  old  woman  in  the  breast  with 
the  hatchet.     He  was  a   smart  boy,  and,  by 

,  you  know  he  was;  and  just  to  think  I 

could  git  mad  enough  at  him,  cos  he  failed 
to  lift  the  stranger's  wallet,  to  smash  his 
skull  with  a  oar,  is  positive  distressin'.  But 
I'll  tell  ye,  Tom — give  us  a  drink — that  boy 
"Waxey  shall  be  buried  right.  The  human 
left  into  me  will  see  to  that.  The  cat-fish 
fed  onto  the  old  woman,  but  d — n  the  bite 
shall  they  git  of  "Waxey.  And  now,  Tom, 
have  you  a  longer  box  than  this?  Waxey  is 
five  feet  long,  and  this  is  only  four.  Hain't 
got  none,  hey?  "Well,  'tis  little  'gainst  a 
father's  feelin's,  but  this  box  must  coffin 
him.  I  couldn't  do  no  better,  Tom,  and  you 
know  it,  so  I'll  go  home  now  and  saw  off  his 
legs!" 

Taking  another  di'ink,  the  distressed  fa- 
ther (?)  shouldered  the  box,  and  left  the 
wharf-boat,  chuckling  at  the  efitect  his  story 
had  produced  upon  the  strangers. 

And  now  night  had  gathered  around,  and 
the  usual  crowd  collected  at  Louis'  bar-room, 
which,  it  must  be  known,  was  in  the  store 
and  adjoining  the  depository  for  baggage. 
The  strangers  continued  guard  over  their 
baggage,  and  viewed,  with  trembling,  the 
growing  multitude.  Drinking  followed  the 
arrival  of  each  character,  and  after  several 
glasses  had  been  emptied,  the  following  con- 
versation ensued,  and  all  for  the  strangers' 
benefit,  and  so  arranged  that  they  could  hear 
every  word  of  it : 

"Well.  Boggie,  if  ever  thar  war  a  nicer 
time'n  last  night,  I'm  not  posted.  Them  two 
strangers  what  we  hornswoggled  with  us,  and 
who  danced  with  Spike-foot,  ain't  now  'sash- 
aying' around  here  much.  But  now,  Boggie, 
them  men  fought  tigerish,  I  tell  you!  I 
didn't  know,  till  Bob,  here,  told  me,  that  we 
were  a-goin'  to  mince  'em.     I  didn't,   now. 


42 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


darned  ef  I  did!  And  of  course,  jest  as  soon 
as  he  told  me  that  we  war  a-goin'  to  mince 
'em,  why,  I  stabbed  the  old  one  right  in  the 
small  of  the  back,  like.  3e  had  floored 
Wash  Wiggins,  and  I  guess  was  a-chokin'  of 
Wash,  but  when  he  felt  my  knife  ronch 
against  his  spinal  bone,  why,  it  diverted  his 
attention.  He  cum  at  me  savage;  struck  out 
thickly,  and  kep'  me  clear  out  of  reach  of 
him;  but  Dave,  who  had  got  a  swingle- tree, 
seein'  how  matters  was,  dropped  it  on  the  old 
one's  cranium,  and  a  groan,  a  gurgle  and  a 
little  splash  of  brains  was  all  there  was  that 
followed.  The  old  man  dropped,  and  I, 
thinkin'  he  might  revive  and  suffer,  separ- 
ated his  jugular  and  let  him  bleed  some. 
But  the  other,  I  tell  you  he  was  a  snorter! 
He  knocked  Clark  Ogden  clean  through  the 
winder,  followed,  and  before  anybody  knowed 
it,  dressed  him  off  confounded  handsome. 
As  we  all  had  nothin'  to  do, then,  but  to  make 
way  with  this  chicken,  we  at  once  set  about 
it.  His  first  cut  I  give  him;  the  next  punch 
you  made,  and  then  he  cut  dirt  and  humped 
himself.  Zofe,  there,  caught  him  near  the 
river,  but  havin'  no  weapons,  he  just  held 
him  and  hollered  until  weapons  was  forth- 
coming. The  swipe  that  let  out  his  innards 
would  'a  saved  him;  but  Dave,  you  know, 
stabbed  him  six  times  afterward,  all  over  the 
breast  and  body.  He  fell  then,  and  right  thar 
I  saw  him  lyin'  not  more'n  an  hour  ago. 
Take  the  scrape  altogether,  Boggie,"  con- 
tinued the  speaker,  casting  a  meaning  glance 
at  the  strangers,  "  I  think  it  just  about  as  in 
terestin'  as  any  we'  11  have  'tween  this  and  the 
mornin'." 

Such  was  the  substance  of  the  rigmarole 
intended  to  directly  affect  the  strangers,  and 
it  is  easy  enough  to  believe  the  assertion  that 
they  believed  every  word  they  heard;  and 
the  further  fact  that  they  had  seen  one  of  the 
desperate     men     steal    a  pocket-book   from 


another's  pocket  (a  pre-arranged  affair,  too), 
all  combined,  left  the  two  young  men  ap- 
palled with  horror.  Even  this  devil-may-care 
crowd  noticed,  from  the  actions  of  the  young 
men,  that  they  had  probably  carried  the  joke 
too  far,  and  there  was  danger  of  them  pluQg- 
ing  into  the  river  in  order  to  avoid  the  worse 
fate  they  felt  certain  was  in  store  for  them. 
It  was  about  decided  to  explain  the  joke  to 
them,  but  it  was  dangerous  to  approach  thera 
to  attempt  an  explanation,  as  such  an  ap- 
proach would  be  a  signal  for  them  to  jump 
into  the  waters.  Fortunately,  at  this  moment 
a  boat  approached  and  touched  at  the  land- 
ing, and  instantly  the  two  young  men 
boarded  her,  and  hid  themselves  in  the  cabin 
until  the  boat  pulled  out.  The  vessel  was  on 
its  way  to  St.  Louis,  and  they  were  going  to 
New  Orleans,  but  so  intense  was  their  alarm 
that  they  would  have  taken  a  boat  for  any 
point  in    the  world  to  get    away  from  Cairo. 

It  is  said  that  a  short  time  after  this,  a 
Pittsburgh  paper  reached  Cairo,  in  which  was 
a  letter,  dated  from  St.  Louis,  describing, 
with  shocking  details,  the  bloody  murders  at 
Cairo,  which  we  have  given  above,  the 
writers  not  only  attesting  that  they  saw  them 
committed,  but  they  had  shot  dead  two  of  the 
murderers  themselves,  in  a  perilous  effort  to 
stay  the  butcheries.  The  story  of  the  boy 
corpse  and  the  short  boot  box  went  the  rounds 
of  the  papers  of  the  country,  and  in  seven- 
leagued  boots,  the  Cairo  horrors  traveled 
about  the  world. « 

We  have  given  an  account  of  this  in- 
stance pretty  fiilly.  It  was  only  one  among 
hundreds,  until  the  horrible  stories  from 
Cairo  had  been  familiarized  pretty  much  over 
the  civilized  world.  The  Cairo  people  did 
all  this,  they  said,  in  revenge  for  the  many 
gross  falsehoods  that  had  been  circulated 
about  them  and  their  town.  It  was  a  unique 
mode  of  revenge,  and  was  of  doubtful  virtue, 


/ 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


45 


for  the  outside  world  only  too  readily  be- 
lieved all  tliey  thus  saw,  but  more,  too,  and 
it  soon  fixed  itself  in  the  minds  of  men  as  a 
shocking  reality.  Here  was  another  cause 
of  the  blighted  reputation  of  the  place. 
Add  this  to  the  causes  recited  above,  and 
when  tney  are  combined  it  is  wonderful  that 
all  men  did  not  shun  the  place  as  they 
would  the  lepers'  grounds.  There  is  but  one 
strong  reason  why  they  did  not.  Cairo  was 
the  one  gateway  between  the  North  and  the 
South,  and  through  here  all  must  pass  in 
nearly  all  communications  between  these  two 
regions.  This  forced  men  to  come.  Even 
the  timid  and  trembling  were  compelled 
thus  to  face  the  fearful  imaginary  dangers  of 
the  place,  and  when  thus  forced  into  the 
town,  they  were  like  the  boy  who  finally 
saw  the  preacher,  and  remarked  to  his  mother, 
in  disgust,  "Why,  he's  nothin'  but  a  man;" 
so  the  Cairo  people  were  found  by  these  com- 
pulsory visitors  to  be  nothing  but  human 
beings;  as  quiet,  civil,  well-behaved  and 
honest  as  any  people  in  the  world.  But 
while  a  slander  flies  upon  tireless  wings. 
truth  crawls  in  gyves  and  hobbles,  and  while 
it  is  true  that  "  when  crushed  to  earth  will 
rise  again,"  yet  there  is  no  day  nor  horn- 
fixed  for  the  "  rising  "  to  be  done,  and  as 
" the  eternal  years  are  hers,"  she  generally 
takes  up  the  most  of  them  in  running  down 
a  lie  and  putting  the  truth  triumphantly  in 
its  place. 

[j  t,The  only  school  taught  here  between  1842 
and  1848  was  a  pay  school,  and  only  for  a 
few  months,  by  Mrs.  Peplow.  In  1848,  a 
Sabbath  school  was  started.  It  was  held  in 
the  Cairo  Chapel — an  up-stairs  room  in  the 
Holbrook  House — but  after  a  few  weeks  of 
meager  attendance  and  listless  interests  it 
permanently  closed  up  for  repairs  and  the 
want  of  patronage.    On  the  4th  of  July,  1848, 


under  the  auspices  of  Mrs.  Peplow's  school, 
the  town  held  its  first  national  celebration. 
Dr.  C.  L.  Lind  was  the  Orator  of  the  Day, 
and  Bailey  S.  Harrell  read  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

This  year,  too,  came  the  singing-master — 
the  king  of  the  tuniag-fork,  who  could  read 
the  "  square  notes,"  and  who  was  born  with 
a  hawk-nose,  chewing  plug  tobacco,  and  had 
been  forever  trying  to  marry  the  belle  sun- 
flower of  every  school  he  had  taught  or  at- 
tended. This  particular  one  is  described  as 
a  "  cadaverous,  bacon-colored  old  curmudy- 
oen  named  Winchester. "  He  left  the  town 
in  great  disgust,  so  complete  was  his  at- 
tempted school  a  failure,  and  it  is  supposed 
Cairo  survived  this  calamity  with  greater 
equanimity  than  any  of  her  other  inflictions; 
we  have  no  hesitation  in  calling  his  depart- 
ure a  calamity,  because  from  the  above  de- 
scription it  will  be  seen  he  had  many  of  the 
ear-marks  of  a  gi'eat  and  good  singing-school 
master,  and  yet  he  could  not  sing  his  "squai-e 
notes"  in  Cairo.  His  experience  here  may 
have  given  rise  to  the  little  legend,  "I'm  sad- 
dest when  I  sing." 

About  the  only  relief  to  the  monotony  of 
Cairo  life  began  to  come  as  early  as  1848,  in 
the  promised  revival  of  the  building  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad.  The  subject  was 
stirred  more  or  less  at  every  session  of  the 
Legislatm-e,  and  when  the  news  would  reach 
Cairo  of  what  was  being  done,  a  tremor  of 
excitement  would  pass  around,  and  the  wisest 
heads  would  say,  "Wait  till  next  spring,  and 
the  engineers  will  then  be  along."  There 
seemed  to  be  no  question  of  the  great  work 
being  ultimately  done.  On  this  point  there 
was  neither  dispute  nor  argument,  but  all 
questioning  turned  upon  the  one  pivot, 
When  ?  And  here  the  Cairoites  centered  their 
future  hopes.      But  year  by  year   came  and 

3 


46 


HISTOKY  OF  CAIRO. 


went,  and  no  engineers  showed  themselves, 
and  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  people  would 
rise  and  fall  with  the  seasons. 

In  the  meantime,  Cairo  grew  a  little — just 
a  little  more  than  the  natural  increase  of 
population.  The  few  there  were  here  found, 
eventually,  plenty  to  do,  and  the  steamboat 
trade  had  gradually  gi'own  to  be  of  the  great- 
est importance.  In  the  winter  season,  par- 
ticularly when  navigation  on  the  upper  rivers 
would  be  stopped  by  the  ice,  the  people  of 
Cairo  would  find  themselves  overwhelmed 
by  people,  suddenly  stopped  on  their  way, 
until  all  houses  would  be  filled  to  overflow- 
ing, and  often  hundreds  of  them  woald  go 
into  camp,  and  be  'compelled  to  wait  for 
weeks  for  the  breaking- up  of  the  ice  and  to 
resume  their  journey.  Often  a  boat  would 
thus  land  and  parties  would  hire  rigs  and 
thus  go  on  to  St.  Louis.  Sometimes  others 
would  purchase  saddle-horses,  or  a  wagon  and 
team,  and  depend  upon  selling  for  what  they 
could  get  when  at  the  end  of  their  journey. 
The  boats  going  and  coming  soon  got  so  they 
all  touched  at  this  point,  and  in  those  days 
there  were  great  numbers  of  people  travel- 
ing on  deck,  and  these  would  rush  ashore  in 
great  cx'owds  for  supplies  at  the  baker's, 
butcher's  and  at  the  boat  stores. 

Grp,dually,  too,  Cairo  came  to  be  quite 
a  re-shipping  point  for  St.  Louis,  and  Louis- 
ville, Cincinnati  and  Pittsburgh  freights,  and 
this  gave  abundant  and  profitable  business 
to  the  wharf -boats.  In  these  and  a  hundred 
ways,  business  thrived,  and   money  was  dis- 


tributed among  the  people  sometimes  in 
plentiful  abundance,  and  there]  were  hard- 
working, attentive  business  men  among  them, 
and  all  such  not  only  made  a  living,  but 
generally  were  on  the  highway  to  independ- 
ence and  wealth.  The  social  life  of  the 
place  was  much  like  that  of  the  average 
small  river  towns,  except  the  wags  and  prac- 
tical jokers  noticed  elsewhere,  and  with  this 
further  and  marked  exception,  they  were  a 
big,  warm-hearted,  hospitable,  independent, 
and  a  mind-youi'-own-business  kind  of  peo- 
ple. Perhaps  no  community  was  ever  more 
wholly  free  from  that  tea-table,  back-biting 
species  of  gossip  and  slander,  and  prying 
into  other  people's  private  aflairs,  than  were 
the  people  of  Cairo.  They  were  a  just,  gen- 
erous and  true  people,  and  so  marked  was 
this  characteristic  from  the  first,  that  they 
have  left  their  impress  in  these  respects,  ap- 
parently, upon  the  town.  The  first  comers 
are  nearly  all  gone,  the  descendants  of  only 
a  few  remain;  and  yet,  whosoever  knows  the 
people  of  Cairo  well,  may  count  as  his  friend 
many  as  true  people  as  were  ever  got 
together  before  in  the  same  sized  "commu- 
nity. 

This  concludes  the  second  natural  division 
in  the  eras  of  Cairo's  history,  to  wit,  the 
decade  between  the  collapse  of  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company  and  the  revival  of  the 
prospects  of  Cairo  by  the  actual  commence- 
ment of  work  on  the  Central  Railroad,  and, 
therefore,  is  an  appropriate  ending  of  the 
chapter. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


47 


CHAPTER  III. 


Cairo  platted— first  sale  of  lots— the  foundation  of  a  city  laid— beginning  of 

WORK  ON  the  central  RAILROAD— S.  STAATS  TAYLOR  — CITY  GOVERNMENT  ORGANIZED 

AND  WHO  WERE  ITS  OFFICERS  — INCREASE  OF    POPULATION  — THE   WAR— SOLDIERS 

IN  CAIRO— BATTLE  OF  BELMONT— WAIF  OF  THE  BATTLE-FIELD— "  OLD  RUBE" 

—  RILLING    OF    SPENCER  — OVERFLOW    OF     08- WASH     GRAHAM     AND 

GEN.  GRANT  — A  FEW  MORE  PRACTICAL    JOKES,    ETC,  ETC. 


IN  the  preceding  chapter.s  we  have  traced  the 
efforts  to  found  and  build  a  city  here,  and 
the  social  and  business  life  of  the  people,  as  best 
we  could,  down  to  the  year  1852.  We  found 
that  from  1841  to  1851 — more  properly  to  1853 
— was  the  long  period  of  stagnation,  marked 
only  by  the  natural  decay  of  time,  and  the 
small  damages  that  it  was  possible  to  accrue  to 
the  place  from  a  succession  of  high  waters  in 
the  rivers.  Miserable  little  levees,  about  eight 
feet  high,  girdled  about  the  town,  winding  with 
the  bends  of  the  stream,  or  jogged  into  short 
angles,  in  the  language  of  a  Mound  City  paper 
of  the  earl}-  times,  the  "  broken  ribs"  levee. 
From  the  first  attempted  founding  of  the  cit}' 
by  the  Cairo  Cit}-  &  Canal  Company  down 
to  1851,  the  company  clung  pertinaciously  to 
Holbrook's  first  idea  of  never  selling  a  foot  of 
the  land — only  leasing  upon  the  most  rigid 
and  arbitrary  terms.  The  agent  and  attor- 
ney-in-fact of  the  propeil}'  trustees,  S.  Staats 
Taylor,  Esq.,  arrived  in  Cairo,  September,  1851. 
He  came  with  instructions  and  the  power  to 
inaugurate  some  new  and  healthy  ideas  for  the 
compan}^  and  for  the  good  of  the  people  and 
the  town.  But  his  first  and  most  difficult  task 
was  to  obtain  peaceable  possession  of  the  com- 
pany's property.  The  residents  had  much  of 
it  in  possession,  and  so  long  had  they  occupied 
it  without  landlord,  rents  or  taxes  that  they 
felt  encouraged  to  treat  the  company's  preten- 
sions to  ownership  with  indifference  and  con- 
tempt.    Then,  other  parties  from  the  outside 


had  noticed  the  apparent  abandonment  of  the 
place  by  the  company  in  1841,  and  they 
pounced  upon  the  rich  flotsam  like  buzzards 
upon  a  dead  carcass,  and  bj-  all  manner  of 
Sheriffs  titles,  tax  deeds,  and  even  bogus 
deeds,  attempted  to  secure  both  possession  and 
title,  some  to  the  whole  and  some  to  large  por- 
tions of  the  land  within  the  city  limits.  One 
instance,  called  the  ■'  Holmes  claim,"  may 
serve  as  an  illustration  of  some  of  the  many 
difficulties  that  the  company  encountered  in 
regaining  what  they  had  apparently  aban- 
doned. The  company  had  acquired  title  to  a 
large  portion  of  the  southern  part  of  the  city 
by  purchase  from  the  heirs  of  Gov.  Bond. 
These  heirs  had  made  separate  deeds,  one  of 
them,  Elizabeth  Bond,  had  executed  her  j)rop- 
er  deed  to  her  interests  in  the  land  and  this 
deed  Holbrook  had  carelessly  carried  in  his 
pocket  and  neglected  to  put  it  upon  the  record, 
until,  in  the  course  of  time,  it  was  mislaid  and 
forgotten.  Holmes  was  a  brother-in-law  of 
Miss  Bond,  and  in  some  way  he  ascertained 
p]lizal)elh's  deed  was  not  on  record.  He  went 
to  Thebes,  then  the  count}'  seat,  examined 
the  records,  and,  being  dul}-  prepared,  at  once 
placed  a  deed  upon  record  from  Elizabeth 
Bond  to  himself,  conve3'ing  all  her  right,  title 
and  interest  in  Cairo.  This  conveyance  in- 
cluded about  one  hundred  acres  in  the  south- 
west portion  of  the  city.  The  corapaii}-  ap- 
pealed to  the  courts  ;  the  case  went  into  the 
United   States  Court,  and  there  it  stayed   for 


48 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


twenty-three  years  before  being  finally  adjudi- 
cated and  settled.  Five  different  trials  before 
juries  resulted  in  three  verdicts  in  favor  of  the 
compan3\  and  two  in  favor  of  Holmes — as  the 
boys  would  sa\-,  "  the  best  three  in  five." 
There  was  no  question  but  the  chain  in  the  re- 
cord-title was  with  Holmes,  but  the  compau}' 
based  their  claim  and  relied  wholl}'  upon  color 
of  title  and  seven  years'  possession  and  the 
payment  of  taxes.-  Upon  this  claim  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  gave  the 
company  the  land  and  settled  the  question  for- 
ever. 

As  said,  1851  dawned  a  new  era  upon  Cairo. 
It  came  to  be  known  that  the  law  had  passed 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  that  would 
at  last  secure  the  building  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Eailroad,  and  this  was  cheering  news  to  the 
good  people  of  the  town,  and  of  the  whole 
State.  In  1851,  the  advance  guard — the  en- 
gineers— put  in  their  cheerful  appearance,  and 
bright  and  early  one  morning  a  squad  of  them 
were  to  be  seen  trimming  out  a  passage  wa}' 
in  the  bush  and  undergrowth  and  hoisting  flag- 
poles here  and  there,  and  peeping  knowingh' 
through  instruments,  and  the  children  shouted 
to  each  other  that  the  railroad  had  come  at 
last.  The  almost  expiring  hopes  of  the  older 
people  were  revived  to  the  highest  pitch  once 
more.  Yet  the  onward  move  of  the  towu  itself 
loitered,  and,  until  1854,  there  was  no  change 
among  the  residents,  and  but  few  accessions  to 
the  population  or  improvements  of  the  town. 
The  causes  for  this  were  the  difficulties  about 
the  possession  and  titles  above  noticed.  Here 
were  three  years  in  the  historical  life  of  the 
city  that  may  be  briefl}-  passed  over,  the  real 
history-,  if  any,  that  was  made  during  that 
time,  was  exclusively  concerning  the  Central 
Railroad,  and  will  be  found  in  the  chapter  giv- 
ing an  account  of  that  enterprise. 

Mose  Harrell,  in  his  sketch  of  Cairo,  justly, 
we  think,  insists  that  for  the  ••'real  commence- 
ment of  Cairo  we  are  not  authorized  to  go  be- 


hind that  period "  (1854).  The  many  years 
consumed  by  monopolies  in  futile  attempts  to 
build  up  fhe  place,  and  the  greater  number  of 
years  of  non-action,  cannot  be  fairl}-  added  to 
the  real  age  of  the  place,  as  during  the  whole 
of  that  time  public  capital  and  energ\-  were 
not  onlj'  not  invited  to  come  to  Cairo,  but  ab- 
solutely forbidden  an}-  kind  of  foothold  what- 
ever. Fairness,  then,  will  fix  the  birth  of  the 
cit}'  at  that  exact  period  when  it  became 
possible  and  allowable  for  those  essential  ele- 
ments of  prosperity  to  take  hold  of  the  under- 
taking, and  to  operate  without  fetter  or  tram- 
mel— and  not  before  that  period. 

The  Agent,  Mr.  Taylor,  had  finally  got  such 
sufficient  possession  of  the  property,  and  had 
platted  and  laid  oft'  the  town  anew,  that  on  the 
4th  day  of  September,  1854,  the  lots  were  of- 
fered for  sale.  On  the  morning  of  that  day, 
Peter  Stapleton  purchased  the  lot  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Third  street  and  Commercial  avenue, 
where  he  at  once  erected  a  substantial  and  per- 
manent residence  and  business  house.  This 
was  the  first  sale  ever  made  of  a  lot  in  Cairo  ; 
it  was  the  first  step  in  the  real  cit}'  building 
that  has  gone  on  steadily  from  that  day  to  the 
present  time.  The  price  paid  for  the  lot  was 
SI, 250,  not  far  from  what  the  unimproved  lot 
would  be  rated  at  now.  This  purchase  was 
soon  followed  by  others,  including  Mrs.  Can- 
dee,  John  Howlev.  M.  B.  Harrell  and  the 
grounds  on  which  were  erected  the  Taylor 
House  (burned  down  with  several  other  build- 
ings in  i8G0).  The  people  were  now  buying 
the  lots  and  building  up  the  town,  and  it  was 
no  longer  Holbrook  and  his  iron-cast  monopo- 
h" ;  and  now  the  good  work  went  on  with  ra- 
pidity, and  within  a  year  from  the  day  that 
Stapleton  purchased  his  lot,  so  actively  had 
the  work  gone  on.  that  a  large  number  of  build- 
ings were  erected  and  in  the  course  of  erection. 
and  the  streets  and  avenues  come  to  be  well 
defined  by  the  buildings  that  reared  their  fronts 
alons:   the  streets  and    at    the   corners.     But 


HISTORY    OF   CAIRO. 


49 


at  this  time  no  improvements  had  been  erected 
on  the  Ohio  levee.  The  company  saw  proper 
to  put  restrictions  hei'e,  and  would  onlj-  stipu- 
late that  no  other  building  except  brick,  iron 
or  stone  should  be  built  thereon.  All  these 
front  lots  wei'e  regarded  as  the  valuable  ones 
of  the  town.  Williams'  brick  block  had  been 
put  up  on  the  levee,  and  it  stood  alone  until 
quite  an  amount  of  buildings  had  been  placed 
on  Third  and  Fourth  streets  and  Commercial 
avenue.  Time  soon  demonstrated  the  foolish- 
ness of  these  restrictions,  as  few  purchasers,  be- 
fore becoming  acquainted  with  the  city,  its  busi- 
ness, the  character  and  permanency  of  its  pro- 
tective embankments,  the  health  of  the  people, 
etc.,  felt  disposed  to  erect  either  ver}'  fine  or 
expensive  buildings,  and  these  barriers  were 
brushed  away  and  the  lots  on  the  levee  put 
upon  sale  upon  the  same  terms  as  the  others 
of  the  town. 

Then  came  the-  hosts  of  eager  purchasers,  in 
response  to  the  word  that  went  out  that  lots  in 
Cairo  were  upon  the  market  without  restric- 
tions, and  upon  terms  that  were  regarded  as 
just  and  liberal.  Another  proof,  were  an}- 
proof  needed,  that  no  man  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  or  London  can  manage  and  build 
a  great  city  either  out  here  in  Cairo  or  any- 
where  else,  where  he  is  not  present  and  a  part 
of  the  community.  As  seen  by  the  purchase 
price  of  Stapleton's  lot,  the  property  was  gen- 
erall}'  placed  at  a  high  figure,  but  when  the 
property  on  the  levee  was  thrown,  unrestricted, 
upon  the  market,  the  figures  were  increased, 
and  were,  in  fact,  enormously  high  ;  yet  the 
sales  were  numerous,  the  most  buying  for 
improvement,  and  man}-  for  speculation,  even 
at  these  high  figures.  Then,  indeed,  came  the 
race  in  putting  up  buildings — the  wants  of 
builders  putting  to  the  test  the  numerous  saw 
mills  in  the  county,  and  calling  fi'om  abroad 
hosts  of  mechanics  and  laborers.  A  great  vari- 
ety'of  business  enterprises  were  inaugui'ated, 
business,   both   commercial    and    mechanical, 


grew  apace ;  drays  and  other  vehicles  rattled 
over  the  wharf  and  the  streets,  and  the  features 
of  a  young  and  thrifty  city  began  to  be  visible 
everywhere. 

In  another  part  of  this  work  we  have  given 
some  account  of  the  rather  loose  and  inefficient 
general  city  government  that  had  been  adopted 
by  the  people,  after  the  dethronement  of  the 
Czar  of  all  the  Cairos,  Holbrook.  and  the  tak- 
ing of  the  reins  of  government  into  the  hands 
of  the  few  people  left  here.  Early  in  1855,  so 
rapid  had  been  the  growth  of  the  place,  and  so 
apparent  the  gi'owing  necessit}',  that  the 
citizens  met  in  mass  convention,  in  the  Central 
Railroad  depot,  and  there  determined  that  until 
a  special  charter  could  be  obtained  from  the 
Legislature,  that  the  cit}^  should  be  incorpor- 
ated under  the  general  incorporation  laws. 

In  pursuance  of  this  determination,  the  fol- 
lowing were  chosen,  at  a  general  election. 
Trustees  for  the  ensuing  3'ear  :  S.  Staats  Tay- 
lor, John  Howley,  Peter  Stapletou,  Lewis  W. 
Young,  B.  Shannessy  and  M.  B.  Harrell. 

This  board,  at  once  proceeded  to  put  in  place 
the  wheels  and  pulleys  and  bauds  and  cogs  of 
an  elaborate  and  complete  general  government. 
It  enacted  voluminous  ordinances  and  fulmi- 
nated its  edicts.  The  quiet  and  health  of  the 
cit}-  was  their  one  ambition.  Mose  Harrell 
commenced  to  stud}-,  with  avidity,  the  laws  of 
hygiene  under  Shannessy,  and  John  Howley 
and  Stapletou  purchased  diagrams  and  charts 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  a 
view,  perhaps,  of  settling,  by  a  great  com- 
promise, the  questions  that  were  agitating  the 
wharves  and  wharf-boats,  mails,  transfers,  etc. 
But  the  people,  from  some  inscrutable  cause, 
would  continue  to  look  upon  the  whole  proceed- 
ing as  a  "  good  joke,"  and  the  ordinances 
were  not  enforced — remained,  in  a  monumental 
way,  a  dead  letter  upon  the  journal  of  the 
board's  proceedings. 

On  iSIarch  9, 1856,  imperious  necessity  called 
out   another   eflfort   at  a    cit}'  Government — 


50 


HISTORY  OF   CAIRO. 


spelled  with  a  big  Gr — and  anotlier  electiou  was 
held,  when,  besides  a  Board  of  Trustees,  a 
Police  Magistrate  was  elected,  in  the  person  of 
Robert  E.  Yost,  Esq.  At  the  first  meeting  of 
the  board,  Thomas  Wilson,  Esq.,  was  made 
President ;  James  Kenedy,  Marshal  ;  Isaac  L. 
Harrell,  Clerk;  George  D.  Gordon,  Wharf- 
master,  and  all  other  matters  closely  scru- 
tinized, to  put  the  machinery  of  the  government 
into  successful  operation. 

But  again,  this  year,  there  was  not  a  great 
deal  of  government  in  active  play,  except  in 
the  matter  of  the  ordinance  department :  these 
were  ably  composed,  and  they  did  ''  sound  so 
grand  "  on  the  river's  bank,  but  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  Marshal,  to  run  in  a  few  unfortu- 
nates before  the  Police  Magistrate — these  two 
officers  reporting,  as  their  year's  work,  the 
munificent  collection  of  fines,  etc.,  of  $355 — 
and  this  was  added  to  the  Wharfmaster's  year's 
report  of  $331.50  wharfage,  making  in  all,  for 
those  three  officers,  the  munificent  sum  of 
$686.50;  of  itself,  not  a  verj-  enormous  salaiy, 
but  then  there  were  the  honors,  which  may 
run  the  sum  total  into  the  thousands. 

In  addition  to  the  fines  and  wharfage,  the 
city  this  3-ear  derived,  from  grocer}-  and  other 
licenses,  $2,250.50  ;  from  taxes,  12,325.78. 

The  entire  real  and  personal  property  of 
the  citv  then  was  valued,  for  the  purpose  of 
taxation,  at  a  fraction  over  $450,000.  There 
were  twenty-eight  licensed  saloons  in  the  city, 
two  billiard  saloons,  and  nine  licensed  drays. 
The  records  tell  the  story  of  how  rapidly 
a  solid  and  flourishing  city  was  rising  out  of 
the  debris  of  the  wreck  of  1841,  when  the  City 
of  Cairo  &  Canal  Company  carried  all  down 
in  its  general  wreck  and  ruin.  The  music  of 
the  hammer  and  the  saw  was  heard  upon  every 
side,  and  to  all  these  was  added  the  cheering 
scream  of  the  locomotive  whistle,  and  the 
heyda}'  of  flush  times  once  more  began  to 
come  to  Cairo. 

Before     passing    again,     however,    to    the 


material  aflairs  of  the  cit}-,  we  choose  to  incor- 
porate here  the  details  of  the  most  notable 
occurrence  that  disturbed  the  quiet  or  marred 
the  dignity  of  Cairo.  This  was  the  mobbing 
of  the  desperate  negro,  Joseph  Spencer,  which 
took  place  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1855.  A 
citizen  of  Cairo,  George  D.  Gordon,  we  believe, 
had  instituted  legal  proceedings  against  the 
negro  for  trespass,  and  a  writ  had  been  issued 
for  his  apprehension.  It  was  served  upon  him 
and  he  informed  the  officer  that  he  would  be  at 
the  Justice's  office  in  a  few  minutes.  Instead 
of  quietl}-  submitting  himself  to  the  law,  like  a 
rational  being,  he  procured  a  keg  of  powder, 
and  with  this  under  his  arm  he  repaired  to  the 
court  of  justice.  This  office  was  in  a  room  on 
the  first  floor  of  the  Cairo  Hotel,  the  upper  rooms 
being  occupied  by  guests,  including  many 
women  and  children.  Arrived  at  the  Squire's 
office,  and  seating  himself  upon  the  keg,  and 
immersing  the  muzzle  of  a  cocked  pistol  far 
into  the  powder,  the  audacious  negro  dictated 
his  own  terms  to  the  officer,  which  were,  that 
judgment  should  be  instantly  pronounced  in 
his  favor,  and  the  suit  thrown  out  of  court,  or 
he  would  "  fire,  and  blow  to  h — 11  the  building 
and  every  one  in  it !  "  It  was  evident,  from 
his  wicked  eye  that  he  would  do  as  he  said, 
and  scores  of  unsuspecting  persons  in  the 
rooms  above  would  have  been  blown  to  atoms. 
The  hangers-on  in  the  court  room,  as  well  as 
the  officers  present,  adjourned  themselves  out 
of  the  doors  and  windows  in  rapid  confusion. 
Word  of  this  infernal  outrage  being  generally 
circulated,  a  lai'ge  number  of  citizens  and 
strangers  gathered,  and  determined  that,  at 
least,  such  a  dangerous  character  should  at 
once  leave  the  city.  The  negro  had  a  hotel 
wharf-boat  moored  to  the  shore,  where  he  kept 
a  tavern  of  no  mean  pretensions,  and  where 
many  of  the  sojourners  here  in  their  travels 
have  stopped  and  been  entertained.  But  the 
reputation  of  the  place  was  becoming  infamous, 
and  circumstances   had  caused  manv  to   sus- 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


51 


pect  that  in  the  name  of  caring  for  travelers, 
crimes  of  the  deepest  cast  had  long  been  going 
on  in  Spencer's  boat.  Strangers  had  been 
known  to  repeatedl}'  stop  there  and  were  never 
seen  or  heard  of  again  after  going  to  bed.  The 
bedrooms  ran  along  the  building  on  either 
side,  with  a  hallway  in  the  center,  and  it  was  1 
ascertained  that  under  each  bed,  in  every  room, 
was  a  trap-door,  with  the  cai'pet  so  neatly  fitted 
over  this  that  it  could  not  be  discovered  with-  i 
out  the  closest  inspection,  and  by  this  arrange- 
ment a  person  could  enter,  from  the  hull  below, 
and  pass  from  one  room  to  the  other  without 
ever  going  in  or  out  at  a  room  door. 

Spencer  was  waited  upon  b}'  a  few  represent- 
ative citizens  and  informed  of  the  determination 
of  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  as- 
sured that  he  should  be  safely  conve3^ed  across 
the  river.  The  negro  consented  to  this,  pro- 
vided one  or  two  of  the  delegation,  whom  he 
named,  would  go  in  the  skiff  with  him,  and  to 
this  they  agreed.  In  the  meantime  a  great 
crowd  had  gathered  on  the  levee  above  Spen- 
cer's boat.  Some  parties  in  the  crowd,  when 
they  learned  that  these  men  were  going  to  cross 
the  river  with  the  negro,  went  to  them  and  ad- 
vised them  not  to  do  so,  and  thereupon  they 
declined  to  go,  and  then  Spencer  not  only  de- 
clined to  go,  but  mocked  and  defied  the  people 
he  had  so  signally  outraged.  An  hours  time 
was  given  him  for  preparation  to  leave — then 
another  hour  ;  but  instead  of  employing  the 
time  for  such  an  end,  he  used  it  in  preparing 
himself  for  resistance.  He  now  concealed  him- 
self in  his  boat  and  refused  to  have  intercourse 
with  any  one.  The  crowd  grew  greatly  incensed 
and  they  determined  to  force  the  negro  to  leave 
at  all  hazards.  They  made  a  rush  for  the  room 
where  he  was  concealed  and  forced  the  door, 
but  he  had  escaped  through  his  secret  trap- 
door as  they  entered.  The^'  were  soon  notified, 
however,  of  his  whereabouts,  by  the  report  of  his 
shot-gun  from  another  room,  the  charge  of  the 
gun  taking  effect  in  the  breast  and  shoulder  of 


one  of  the  party,  producing  a  wound  of  which  the 
man  died  some  time  after.   We  can  find  no  one 
now  able  to  recall  the  name  of  this  man,  he  being 
almost  an  entire  stranger.    He  was  a  river  man, 
and  either  a  pilot  or  engineer.     When  this  shot 
was  fired,  the  crowd  rushed  to  the  room  and 
broke  it  open,  but  the  room   was  vacant ;  and 
while  the  assailants  were  bewildered  about  the 
negro's  second  strange  disappearance,  the  re- 
port of  his   gun  was  again  heard.     This  shot 
wounded  the  well-known  citizen,  Ed  Willett,who 
was  innocently  on  board  the  boat,  not  joining  in 
the  assault,  but  endeavoring  to  save  the  furni- 
ture.    This  last  shot  enraged  the  people  in  an 
instant  into  a  fierce  mob  that  cried  aloud  for 
blood  and  that  now  nothing  else  would  appease. 
The  boat  was  torn  from  its  moorings  and  towed 
out  into  the  river,  and  in  full  view  of  at  least 
a  thousand  people  set  on  fire,  and  in  less  than 
thirty    minutes  burned    to   the    waters'  edge. 
But  while  this  work  was  in  progress  the  desper- 
ate and  now  doomed  negro  was  not  idle.     He 
evidently  felt  that  he  must  die,  but  seemed  de- 
termined  to  sell  his  life  dearly.     Upon  those 
who  towed  his  boat  into  the  stream,  upon  those 
who  applied  the  torch,  and  upon   those  who 
filled  the  scores  of  skiffs  which  dotted  the  Ohio 
River,  he  fired  repeated  rounds  and  scarcely  ever 
without  effect.     Exhausting  his  shot  or  projec- 
tiles, he  charged  his  piece  with   stone-coal  and 
fired  that  upon  his  assailants,   as  long  as  the 
eager  flames  allowed  him  to  resist  at  all.    And 
now  the  advancing  element  had  fully  shrouded 
the  upper  works  of  the  boat,  leaving  only  a  plat- 
form on  the  stern  to  be  enveloped.     Many  had 
concluded  the  wretched  creature  had   perished 
in  the  flames,  and  as  they  were  about   to  turn 
from    the   sickening  sight  there   was  a   crash 
of  glass  heard  in  the  great  bulk  of  flame.     In 
an  instant   afterward   Spencer   appeared  upon 
the  stern,  in  full  view  of  the  great  crowd,  and  of 
[  his  wife  upon  the  wharf-boat,  and,  looking  defi- 
antly at  all,  he  placed  his  hand  upon  his  breast 
,  and  leaped  headlong  into  what  he  then  must 


52 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


have  considered  the  '•  friendl}^  waters  of  the 
Ohio."  Long  and  anxiously  the  crowd  looked 
for  his  appearance  to  the  surface,  but  the  wa- 
ters had  closed  over  him  once  and  forever. 
Thus,  calling  destruction  on  his  own  head,  per- 
ished the  desperate  negro,  Joseph  Spencer. 

For  weeks  and  months  afterward  the  news- 
papers of  the  country  made  allusion  to  the  affair 
as  a  ''  characteristic  mob,"  giving  it  more  shapes 
than  Proteus,  every  writer  who  took  it  in  hand, 
molding  it  exactly  to  his  own  liking.  Mose 
Harrell,  who  was  an  eye  witness  to  the  whole 
sad  affair,  and  who  was  daily  receiving  in  his 
exchange  papers  from  all  over  the  couutr}^  at- 
tempted to  summarize  the  accounts  and  recon- 
cile them  all  into  one  straight,  consistent  story, 
and  here  is  the  remarkable  result : 

*'  Joseph  Spencer,  an  eminent  colored  divine, 
whose  desperate  character  made  him  the  terror 
of  the  community,  and  whose  deeds  of  blood 
and  acts  of  Christian  piety  gave  him  great  emi- 
nence, was  recently  killed  by  a  mob  in  Cairo 
under  the  following  justifiable  and  bloodthirsty 
circumstances  :  Mr.  Spencer,  while  conducting 
a  prayer  meeting  on  his  boat,  which  was  reek- 
ing in  the  blood  of  his  murdered  victims,  was 
shot  down  by  a  disguised  mob  of  well  known 
citizens,  who,  without  premeditation,  had  assem- 
bled shortly  after  dark  on  the  morning  of  the 
bloody  day  for  the  hellish  and  authorized  pur- 
pose. These  negro  drivers,  who  had  just 
arrived  on  a  Mississippi  steamer,  then  seized 
him  while  in  the  act  of  getting  down  to  a  game 
of  "  old  sledge"  with  a  distinguished  Method- 
ist minister  from  Cincinnati,  tied  him  to  a 
convenient  tree,  and  there  burned  him  until  the 
waters  of  the  Ohio  closed  over  him  forever. 
His  boat,"upon  which  he  remained  until  the  last 
moment,  was  then  towed  to  the  middle  of  the 
Ohio  River,  where  it  sunk  against  the  Ken- 
tucky shore,  b}'  applying  the  flaming  torch  to 
the  cabin. 

"  A  more  diabolical  and  fiendish  act  of  mer- 
ited punishment  never  disgraced  a  community 


of  incarnate  fiends  of  high  respectability  more 
signall}'  than  has  this  act  of  damnable  but 
richly  deserved  retribution  disgraced  all  con- 
cerned in  it,  not  excepting  the  victim  himself, 
who  was  seen  at  Memphis  receutlj^,  swearing 
vengeance  dire  against  his  sanctimonious  mur- 
derers." 

Thus,  from  Joe  Spencer  to  Eliza  Pinkston, 
the  "  bloody  shirt"  floated  in  ample  folds  all 
over  the  North,  while  the  "  mud-sills"  and  the 
"corner-stone  of  slavery,"  equally  ripened 
and  flourished  at  the  South.  And  of  a  nation's 
throes,  coming  of  these  infinitesimal  circum- 
stances, a  Lincoln's  fame  was  born,  and  the  way 
was  prepared  for  that  "  ambitious  3'outb  who 
fired  the  Ephesian  dome,"  to  assassinate  Lin- 
coln in  a  theater,  on  G-ood  Friday,  of  1865  ;  and 
the  hanging  of  an  innocent  woman  ;  and  the 
second  assassination  of  a  President,  and  the 
hanging  of  an  insane  man.  These  are  the  skele- 
ton, surface  results,  but  beneath  that  ghastly 
covering  who  will  ever  know,  who  can  ever  in  his 
wildest  imaginings  conceive  the  blighted  virtue, 
the  ruined  names,  the  crushed  hearts,  the 
ghastly  corpses,  the  unspeakable  agony  and 
woe,  that  ran  over  this  people  like  a  consum- 
ing conflagration  !  It  is  well  for  the  mental 
health  of  the  human  race  that  the  charity  of 
oblivion  rests  so  deeply  upon  the  sickening 
story  that  it  ma}'  never  be  told.  Joe  Spencer 
was  nothing  but  a  wretched,  desperate,  igno- 
rant and  brutal  negro,  whose  life  was  a  constant 
menace  to  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact ; 
yet  the  century  had  been  preparing  the  way 
for  even  this  vile  wretch,  and  it  culminated  in 
his  self-sought  destruction  into  a  power  for 
evil  which  may  run  on  for  3'et  a  hundred  years. 
Nothing  is  clearer  than  that  it  was  the  right 
way,  the  high  and  solemn  duty  of  the  people 
of  Cairo  to  either  drive  off  or  kill  the  danger- 
ous, bad  negro.  They  should  have  done  this 
long  before  they  did,  and  if  it  was  necessary  to 
kill  him  in  order  to  get  rid  of  him,  he  was  en- 
titled to  no  more  considex-ation  than  a  snake 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


58 


or  a  rabid  clog.  But  when  he  could  stand  at 
bay  no  longei*,  he  placed  heav}-  irons  about  his 
neck  and  plunged  into  the  river,  with  his  dead- 
ly gun  in  his  hands,  and,  thus  prepared,  he 
fully  determined  never  to  rise  again,  but  his 
conjured  ghost  was  impressed  into  the  service 
of  aiding  in  the  bloody  preparations  for  the 
carnival  of  death  that  was  so  soon  to  follow 
after  his  destruction. 

In  a  preceding  chapter,  we  had  occasion  to 
notice  the  penchant,  the  genius  rather,  of  the 
young  men  of  Cairo,  that  was  so  fully  devel- 
oped in  those  dull  years  following  the  disper- 
sion of  the  people  here  in  1841.  So  ingi-ained 
had  this  become,  that  now,  when  the  flush 
times  again  came  to  Cairo,  and  work  and  busi- 
ness crowded  upon  them  from  every  side,  they 
would  steal  these  golden  moments  whenever 
opportunit}'  presented  itself  to  again  indulge 
in  their  favorite  pastime. 

The  Legislature  had  organized  a  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  for  Cairo,  and  appointed  Isham 
N.  Haynie,  Judge.  He  came  to  Cairo  to  hold 
his  first  term  of  court,  and  a  court  room  had 
been  secured  in  the  Springfield  Block.  He  had 
not  more  than  fairly  opened  the  session  when 
the  "  boys"  opened  a  similar  court  in  the  other 
end  of  the  block,  and  they  had  all  the  officials 
and  paraphernalia  of  a  most  August  court. 
The  officer  of  Judge  Haynie's  Court  would 
stick  his  head  out  of  the  window  and  call  a 
juror,  attorne}',  or  witness,  and  so  would  the 
official  at  the  moot  court,  only  the  bogus  one 
would  call  louder,  oftener,  and  a  greater  num- 
ber of  names,  and  the  bailiffs  were  flying 
around  the  streets  summoning  witnesses, 
jurors  and  parties  to  come  into  court  instan- 
ter.  The  bogus  grand  jury  held  prolonged 
sessions,  and  as  the  bailiffs  well  understood 
who  to  summon  as  witnesses,  and  as  the  jurors 
well  understood  what  questions  to  ask  such 
witnesses,  it  was  a  roaring  farce  from  morn 
till  night,  particularly  the  revelations  the}' 
drew  out  of  an  old  chap  whose  shebang  was 


down  on  the  point,  and  who  sold  ice  principal- 
1}'.  From  day  to  da^-  this  immense  burlesque 
went  on.  and  many  names  of  the  best  people 
began  to  be  compromised  ^dly.  Judge 
Haynie  finall}-  took  notice  of  the  matter,  and  a 
United  States  Marshal  making  his  appearance 
with  writs,  frightened  the  "  boys"  seriously, 
and,  in  fact  it  resulted  in  driving  several  of 
them  temporarily  out  of  town,  until  the  matter 
was  finally  fixed  up  in  some  wa}',  and  their 
thoughtless  acts  were  excused. 

A  more  innocent  and  comical  joke  was 
worked  ofl"  by  John  Q.  Harmon  and  Mose 
Harrell.  They  were  both  j'oung  fellows,  and 
Mose  was  clerking  in  his  brother's  store — a 
place  of  great  resort  for  the  old  fellows  who 
delighted  to  loaf,  and  chew  tobacco  and  "  swap 
lies,"  and  absorb  the  heat  of  the  stove  in  cold 
weather.  To  move  these  fellows  from  the 
warm  fire  and  clear  the  8tore-roon»  was  the 
project  set  about  by  these  boys.  Harmon  had 
got  a  suppl}'  of  sand  and  had  it  carefull}' 
wrapped  in  a  good  sized  bundle,  and  seeking 
the  time  when  the  loafers  were  thickest  about 
the  store,  he  walked  in  with  his  package  in  his 
hand.  He  addressed  Mose,  in  a  tone  that  all 
could  hear,  telling  him  he  was  going  hunting, 
that  he  had  all  the  powder  he  wanted,  display- 
ing his  three  or  four  pounds  of  sand,  and  went 
on  to  tell  Harrell  that  he  wanted  some  shot  and 
would  pay  for  it  in  a  few  days,  etc. 

"  No  sir  !"  said  Harrell,  "  if  3"0U  have  no 
money,  you  cannot  get  an}-  shot." 

"Well,"  says  Harmon,  "you  need  not  be  so 
short  about  it.     I'll  pay  3'ou  next  week." 

And  from  the  first  the  words  grew  more 
bitter  and  loud,  and  soon  the  two  quarrelers 
had  the  entire  attention  of  the  house.  In  the 
meantime,  Harmon  had  wedged  his  vra,y  close 
up  to  the  door  of  the  red-hot  stove,  when,  Lhe 
quarrel  going  on  still,  he  opened  the  stove 
door  and  bitterly  said :  "  Well,  if  I  can't  get 
any  shot,  I  don't  want  any  powder !"  and 
heaved   the   bundle   into   the   stove.     Such  a 


54 


HISTORY  OF   CAIRO. 


hurried  exit — some  of  them  not  taking  time  to 
rise  from  their  chairs  to  run,  but  tumbling 
backward  and  rolling  to  the  door,  and  all 
were  upon  the  streets  in  such  a  frightful  race 
to  get  awa}'  they  did  not  take  time  to  look 
back  at  the  building  which  every  instant  they 
expected  would  be  blown  sky  high,  until  the}' 
ran  so  far  they  were  fagged  out.  In  the 
meantim'e,  John  and  Mose  were  fairly  rolling 
over  the  floor  in  explosions  of  laughter.  It 
was  several  days  before  the  old  loafers  would 
venture  within  half  a  mile  of  Harrell's  store. 

During  the  winter  of  1857,  the  city  was 
specially  incorporated  by  the  Legislature,  *and 
on  the  9th  day  of  March  following  the  first 
Council,  under  the  charter,  met  for  organiza- 
tion and  business.  The  following  gentlemen 
formed  the  Council : 

Maj'or,  S.  Staats  Taylor ;  Aldermen,  Peter 
Stapletor^  Peter  Neff,  Patrick  Burke,  Roger 
Finn,  John  Howle}^,  Harry  Whitcamp,  C.  Os- 
terloh,  C.  A.  Whaley,  William  Standing,  Cor- 
nelius Manly,  Martin  Eagan  and  T.  N.  Graff- 
ney. 

As  the  city  officers  were  not  elected  by  the 
people  at  that  time,  the  Council  elected  John 
Q.  Harmon,  City  Clerk  ;  H.  H.  Candee,  Treas- 
urer ;  and  Thomas  Wilson,  Marshal. 

The  Board  of  Aldermen  disapproving  of  the 
work  of  their  predecessors,  by  a  simple  resolu- 
tion, wiped  from  the  books  every  general  and 
special  enactment  found  in  force,  leaving  no 
vestige  of  the  old  board's  wisdom  or  folly  in 
operation,  save  only  such  enactments  as  con- 
ferred rights  or  privileges  for  a  specified  time  or 
special  nature.  The  whole  city  government 
was  remodeled — an  entire  new  set  of  ordi- 
nances, relating /to  ever}'  legitimate  subject, 
being  framed  and  adopted.  They  assumed  all 
responsibility,  willing  to  take  the  credit  arising, 
or  the  shower  of  condemnation  following  the 
new  order  of  things.  The  charter  was  broad 
and  liberal  in  its  provisions,  and  under  it,  with 
ver}'   few   and    immaterial    amendments,    the 


usual  work  doubtless  of  "  governing  too  much" 
has  gone  on  smoothl}-^  ever  since. 

S.  Staats  Ta3'lor  filled  the  oflflce  of  Mayor  six 
times,  viz. :     During  1857-58-59-60  and    63. 

H.  Watson  Webb  was  Mayor  during  1862, 
being  elected  without  opposition.  J.  H.  Ober- 
ly  in  1869. 

In  1864,  David  J.  Baker,  one  of  the  present 
Judges  of  the  Circuit  Court,  wa,^  elected  Mayor. 

During  the  years  1857-58-59-60  and  61, 
John  Q.  Harmon  held  the  office  of  City  Clerk. 
He  was  succeeded  by  A.  H.  Irvin,  who  held  it 
seven  3'ears.  J.  P.  Fagan,  elected  1868  ;  Pat- 
rick Mockler,  1869  ;  Mockler  was  suspended 
and  T.  Nail}',  appointed  to  fill  out  his  term  ; 
John  Brown  was  then  elected.  N.  J.  Howley,  in 
1870,  held  it  four  terras  ;  1872,  W.  H.Hawkins; 
1875,  W.  K.  Ackley;  James  W.  Stewart,  1876; 
John  B.  Phillis,  1877  ;  D.  J.  Fpley,  1879  ;  re- 
elected in  1881,  and  again  in  1883. 

The  following  were  the  City  Treasurers  in  the 
order  in  which  they  are  named  :  H.  H.  Candee, 
Louis  Jorgensen,  John  H.  Brown,  B.  S.  Harrell, 
A.  C.  Holden,  Peter  Stapleton,  John  Howley, 
J.  B.  Taylor,  who  held  the  office  until  1872, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Robert  A.  Cunningham  ; 
in  1875,  B.  F.  Blake  was  elected  ;  then  F.  M. 
Stockfleth,  and  then  B.  F.  Parke  ;  in  1879,  E. 
Zezonia  ;   1881,  Thomas  J.  Curt. 

The  City  Marshals  were  Thomas  Wilson,  D. 
C.  Stewart,  P.  Corcoran,  R.  H.  Baird,  Martin 
Egan,  John  Hodges,  Jr. 

In  addition  to  the  City  Marshals  above  given 
we  may  mention  M.  Bambrick,  Andrew  Kane- 
City  Attorneys — H.  Watson  Webb,  who  filled 
the  office  for  four  successive  terms,  and  was 
again  re-elected  in  1863  and  1864.  In  1871,  P. 
H.  Pope  was  elected,  and  re-elected  in  1872.  In 
1873,  H.  Watson  Webb  was  again  elected.  In 
1875,  H.  H.  Black,  was  elected,  and  re-elected  in 
1876  ;  1877,  William  Q.  McGee  ;  1879,  W.  E. 
Hendricks,  and  re-elected  the  next  term. 

Police  Magistrates —B.  Shannessy,  who  held 
the  office  successively  from  1857  to  1864,  Fred- 


HISTOKY  OF  CAIRO. 


'  55 


oline  Bross  was  elected  in  1865.  In  1876, 
two  Police  Magisti-ates  were  elected  to  this 
office.  J.  J.  Bird  in  1880  ;  Bird  resigned  and 
George  E.  Olmstead  was  elected  ;  in  1881, 
Alfred  Comings  was  elected. 

In  1863,  for  the  first  time  the  Council  pro- 
vided for  the  office  of  Cit)'  Surve3-or,  and  the 
Board  elected  August  F.  Taylor  to  that  posi- 
tion. Mr.  Thrupp  has  filled  the  position  almost 
continually. 

In  addition  to  the  Mayors  above  enumerated, 
Thomas  Wilson  filled  the  office  in  1870  ;  John 
M.  Lansden,  1871  ;  re-elected  in  1872  ;  in  1873, 
John  Wood  ;  1874,  B.  F.  Blake  ;  1875,  Henry 
Winters  ;  re-elected  1877  ;  and  in  1879,  M.  B. 
Thistlewood  was  elected  and  re-elected  in  1881. 
The  present  officers  just  elected,  will  be  found 
complete  in  another  chapter. 

Cairo  was  always  "diabolically  Democratic," 
at  least  until  the  "  man  and  brother"  from  the 
cotton-fields  and  jungles  of  the  South  parted 
company  with  the  swamp  alligators  and  tooth- 
some possoms  of  that  region  and  came  upon 
the  town  like  the  black  ants  of  his  native  Af- 
rica. The  town  sits  upon  that  point  of  land  in 
Illinois  that  is  wedged  away  down  between 
what  wei'e  the  two  slave  States  of  Missouri  and 
Kentucky.  So  cosmopolitan  were  the  Cairo 
people  that  they  were  impatient  of  the  bawl- 
ings  and  crockodile  tears  of  the  Abolitionists, 
and  the  equally  idiotic  oaths  about  the  divine 
institution  of  slaver}'.  And  hence  the}'  were 
equally  abused  by  both  sides  of  the  fanatics 
and  fools.  Among  other  most  horrid  slanders 
that  ran  their  perennial  course  through  the  col- 
umns of  many  Northern  papers,  was  the  one 
that  Cairo  was  ready  and  eager  to  mob  and  kill 
every  "  loyal  "  man  who  happened  to  be  found 
in  the  place.  One  flaming  story  was  added  to 
the  Spencer  mobbing,  about  a  little  preacher 
named  Ferree,  who  attempted  to  make  an  Abo- 
lition speech  in  Cairo  and  was  odorously  egged, 
etc.  The  whole  thing  was  only  one  of  the  man}' 
slanders  upon  Cairo. 


In  the  campaign  of  1856,  a  noted  negroite, 
from  the  office  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  came  to 
Cairo  to  make  a  Fremont  speech.  His  paper  had 
published  tomes  of  the  Cairo  slanders,  and 
dwelt  long  and  lovingly  on  the  Spencer  and 
Ferree  mobs.  After  the  distinguished  orator 
arrived  in  Cairo  he  ran  his  eye  over  the  columns 
of  his  paper,  of  which  he  carried  a  file  that  was 
filled  with  .sectional  slanders, and  he  became  nerv- 
ous, and  actually  worked  upon  his  own  fears  un- 
til he  began  to  seriously  believe  many  of  his 
own  published  lies.  He  thought  the  people  would 
mob  him.  He  locked  himself  in  his  room  and 
sent  for  the  Republican  leaders,  and  informed 
them  he  was  afraid  to  attempt  to  speak  in  Cairo. 
These  men  assured  him  there  was  no  danger, 
but  he  would  not  be  satisfied  until  nearly  every 
leading  Democrat  in  the  town  had  been  sent 
for,  and  they  all  pledged  themselves'and  staked 
their  lives  upon  his  entire  safety  and  immunity 
from  all  danger.  Then,  though  still  nervous, 
he  consented  to  go  on  with  the  meeting.  When 
the  hour  for  the  meeting  had  come  the  hall  was 
packed  with  people,  although  there  were  not  a 
score  of  Republicans  in  the  place.  The  speaker, 
with  his  escort,  appeared  upon  the  platform, 
was  introduced  and  received  with  hearty  cheers. 
He  commenced  his  speech,  and  the  attention  of 
the  crowd  was  close  and  respectful,  and  upon  the 
speaker's  slightest  allusion  to  anything  patriotic 
or  of  a  spread-eagle  nature,  prolonged  cheers 
would  greet  his  words.  His  exordium  had  been 
splendidly  pronounced  and  speaker  and  audi- 
ence were  en  rapport,  and  thus  encouraged  the 
orator  was  rising  to  the  occasion  in  some  of  the 
most  eloquent  slanders  of  the  South  that  ever 
greeted  eager  and  lengthened  ears,  when  all 
at  once,  Sam  Hall,  who  sat  nearly  in  the  front 
row  of  benches,  jumped  to  his  feet,  turned 
around  with  his  back  to  the  speaker  and  facing 
the  audience,  and  placing  his  hand  significantly 
to  his  hip  pocket,  in  a  clear  and  distinct  voice, 
said  :  "  I'll  shoot  the  first  son-of-a-sea-cook  that 
throws  an  egg  !  "     These  words  struck  the  ora- 


56 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


tor's  ears  like  the  crack  of  doom  ;  his  big 
speech,  even  articulation,  was  frightened  out  of 
him  ;  he  was  so  nervous  that  he  could  no  longer 
stand,  and  silence,  with  an  exceptional  here  and 
there  men  clearing  their  throats  and  suppress- 
ing the  "  audible  smiles  "  of  those  who  knew 
what  the  inveterate  wag,  Sam  Hall,  meant,  was 
intense,  and  the  speaker  hurriedly  passed  out 
of  the  rear  door  of  the  hall,  and  made  fast  time 
to  his  hotel,  and  was  on  the  first  train  out  of 
town,  and  for  weeks  the  Chicago  Tribune  wrung 
the  changes  on  "  Another  Cairo  Mob — Free 
Speech  Suppressed,"  etc. 

Among  the  early  and  long  time  institutions 
of  Cairo  was  "  Old  Rube,"  the  innocent  ad- 
vance guard  of  the  whole  "  coon  "  tribe,  that 
have  since  been  inflicted  upon  Cairo.  Old 
Rube  was  a  rather  quiet,  well-behaved  darkey, 
who  did  chores  about  town,  acted  as  "mud- 
clerk  "  for  most  of  the  saloons,  was  always, 
when  he  could  catch  an  audience  or  listener  on 
the  street,  talking  learnedly  about  the  Scriptures, 
and  had  a  great  weakness  for  chicken-roosts. 
"  Old  Rube  "  was  a  more  modest  Ethiopian 
than  his  modern  kind,  at  least  he  never  at- 
tempted to  turn  the  Cairo  white  children  out 
of  their  schools,  and  have  himself  installed  in 
their  places.  His  extraordinar}'  ideas,  and  his 
amusing  way  of  putting  them,  made  him  not 
only  tolerated  b}-  all  young  and  old  of  the 
place,  but  they  afforded  much  innocent  pas- 
time. He  was  one  morning  doing  his  usual 
clerking  in  the  new  telegraph  office,  when  it 
was  run  by  Mose  Harrell.  The  only  telegraph 
instruments  in  those  days  were  the  old- 
fashioned  kind,  that  were  wound  up,  and  used 
long  strips  of  paper.  In  sweeping  about  the 
instrument,  which  was  wound  up,  in  some  way 
he  touched  it,  and  it  commenced  to  run  down. 
He  realized  what  he  had  done  and  was  greatly 
frightened  as  he  saw  the  weight  slowly  descend 
toward  the  floor.  In  some  way  he  got  it  into 
his  woolly  pate  that  when  the  weight  struck  the 
floor  an  explosion  would  follow,  and  he  thought 


it  would  blow  the  whole  world  into  smithereens. 
On  a  full  run  he  started  to  hunt  Mose,  and 
when  he  found  him,  told  him  what  was  going 
on.  Mose  in  apparent  fright,  rushed  back 
with  Rube  to  the  office,  and  just  as  they  entered 
the  machine  had  run  down  and  stopped,  of 
course,  just  before  the  weight  touched  the  floor. 
He  made  Rube  believe  he  was  just  there  at 
the  last  moment,  and  conflrmed  the  darkey's 
idea  and  enlarged  them  greatly  b}^  showing 
him  how  the  explosion,  commencing  at  Cairo, 
would  have  blown  awa}'  entirely  St.  Louis, 
Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Pittsburgh  and  in  fact  all 
the  leading  cities  of  the  world.  For  the  re- 
mainder of  Rube's  life  he  told  over  this  thrill- 
ing stor}-  in  which  he  and  Mose  Harrell  were 
such  conspicuous  actors,  always  adding  some 
embellishments  to  the  story,  and  ever}'  time 
going  a  little  more  learnedly  into  the  scientific 
intricacies  of  electricity.  In  discussing  the 
Scriptures,  he  evidently  believed  that  the'  story 
of  Jonah  and  the  whale,  and  Noah  and  his  ark, 
were  about  the  sum  total  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness. He  believed  it  a  religious  duty  to 
smoke  a  strong  pipe,  because  had  Jonah 
not  had  his  pipe  and  matches  in  his  pocket, 
after  the  whale  swallowed  him,  and  was  swim- 
ming oflT  for  a  general  frolic  with  the  other 
whales,  he  would  never  have  been  cast  ashore. 
Explaining  one  day  on  the  streets  all  about 
how  Noah  constructed  the  Ark,  how  long  it 
took  him,  and  how  much  material  there  was  in 
it.  The  question  was  asked,  ''Where  did  he 
get  his  nails  ?  "  "  Wh}-,  in  Pittsburgh,  of  course, 
you  fool  you!  Whar  could  he  get  'em  if  not  dar?" 
He  believed  heaven  a  place  made  up  exclusive- 
ly of  chicken  roosts,  and  where  there  was 
nothing  higher  for  them  to  roost  upon  than  a 
common  rail  fence.  Every  one  kindly  tolerated 
the  ignorant  and  innocent  old  man,  gave  him 
alwa3'S  plenty  to  eat,  and  he  dressed  himself 
j'ear  in  and  out  with  the  old  clothes  of  which 
he  always  had  an  immense  supply.  In  his 
young  days,  he  had  been  one  of  the  innumera- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


57 


ble  servants  of  George  Washington,  at  all 
events  he  had  told  the  story  until  he  un- 
doubtedl}'  believed  it,  and  he  al\va3-s  respect- 
fully spoke  of  him  as  "  Mas'r  George."  He  was 
a  stanch  Republican  from  the  formation  of 
that  part}',  and  was  a  regular  attendant  upon 
its  meetings  in  Cairo,  j'et  his  associates  and 
friends  were  exclusivel}'  Democrats.  He  never 
expected  or  apparently'  wanted  to  vote,  and 
sometimes,  like  perhaps  a  majorit}'  of  the  white 
voters,  got  his  religion  and  politics  so  mixed 
up  that  he  could  not  disentangle  them.  x\nd 
often  when  the  question  was  suddenly  sprung 
upon  him  he  could  not  tell  "  Mas'r  Linkum  " 
from  the  ark,  nor  Noah  from  the  whale,  but, 
to  his  credit  be  it  said,  this  mental,  political 
and  religious  confusion  but  rarely  took  pos- 
session of  the  old  man,  except  after  he  had 
cleaned  and  righted  up,  and  purified  and 
sweetened  his  usual  morning  round  of  the  dog- 
geries. He  has  long  since,  if  his  theories  were 
all  correct,  had  a  touch  of  experience  of  those 
other  worlds,  about  which  while  here  he  talked 
so  much,  and  dreamed  such  vague  and  incoher- 
ent dreams.  He  rests  beneath  the  willow  tree. 
1^58 — Cairo  Inundated. — For  the  second 
time  a  widespread  disaster  overwhelmed  Cairo, 
and  under  circumstances  in  some  respects  very 
similar  to  that  of  1841.  But  this  time  it  was 
water.  On  Saturday,  June  13,  1858,  at  about 
the  hour  of  5  P.  M.,  the  levee  gave  away  on 
the  Mississippi  side  of  the  town,  near  its  inter- 
section with  the  embankment  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad.  For  several  days  previous 
it  had  been  predicted  b}'  many  who  had  closel}' 
watched  the  progi-ess  of  the  flood,  and  who 
were  familiar  with  the  character  of  the  levees, 
that  the  town  was  in  constant  danger.  The 
people  were  warned  of  the  peril ;  but  lulled  into 
a  feeling  of  security  by  the  fact  that  during  the 
fifteen  j-ears  past  they  had  escaped  sul)mersion, 
and  by  assurances  of  the  reckless  that  all  was 
safe,  they  paid  no  attention  whatever  to  the 
warning  regarding  it,  only  as   the  bugbear  of 


panic-makers.  As  a  consequence,  the  flood 
came  upon  many  of  the  people  unexpectedly, 
leaving  them  only  time  to  escape  with  their 
lives. 

The  break,  it  is  now  known,  resulted  from  the 
defective  construction  of  the  works  by  the  un- 
principled contractor  who  made  the  embank- 
ment. The  water  was  more  than  a  foot  below  the 
top  of  the  Igvee,  and  up  to  the  moment  of  the 
break  gave  no  sign  of  the  coming  disaster. 
The  waters  rushed  through  with  a  great  roar, 
carrying  with  them  the  embankment  in  great 
sections,  and  in  places  with  such  force  and 
violence  as  to  uproot  trees  and  stumps  in  its 
course. 

A  force  of  500  men  were  as  soon  as  possible 
placed  upon  what  is  known  as  the  "  Old  Cross 
Levee,"  an  embankment  running  from  the  Ohio 
to  the  Mississippi  in  the  upper  portion  of  the 
city,  with  the  hope  that  they  would  be  able  to 
fill  up  the  openings  which  had  been  cut  on  the 
line  of  the  streets  and  stop  the  flood  of  this 
embankment.  But  the  waters  poured  in  so 
rapidly  and  came  with  such  a  strong  current 
that  this  attempt  was  reluctantly  but  necessa- 
ril}'  abandoned. 

A  lady  resident,  still  of  the  citj'  of  Cairo, 
who  was  here  at  the  time,  gave  the  writer  a 
most  graphic  description  of  the  scenes  imme- 
diately following  the  break  in  the  levee.  Gen- 
erally the  women  and  children  only  were  at 
the  houses — the  men  at  their  business,  many 
trying  to  move  their  goods  and  perishable  arti- 
cles to  safe  places  in  upper  stories,  where  they 
could  get  these,  and  3'et  man}-  others  were  out 
upon  the  levees  trying  in  vain  to  stop  the 
waters.  It  was  after  G  o'clock  when  a  man 
came  galloping  down  the  main  street,  horse 
and  rider  covered  with  mud  and  calling  out  at 
the  top  of  his  voice,  "  The  levee  is  broken — 
flee  for  your  lives !"  In  a  few  minutes  the 
waters  were  seen  stealing  along  the  sewers  and 
low  places  in  the  streets,  winding  about  the 
houses  and  the  people  like  an   anaconda.     The 


58 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


poor  women  and  children  were  generally  wring- 
ing their  hands  and  crying  in  utter  helplessness. 
She  says  she  saw  one  poor  woman  with  a  piece 
of  stove-pipe  under  one  arm  and  a  cheap  look- 
ing-glass under  the  other,  on  her  way  to  the 
Ohio  Levee,  followed  by  a  brood  of  five  or  six 
children,  and  all  weeping  in  the  greatest  dis- 
tress. Confusion  was  turned  loose,  and  while 
all  were  in  the  greatest  fear  and  apprehension, 
yet  it  was  those  whose  houses  were  low,  one- 
storied  concerns  and  in  low  places,  that  death 
to  them  and  their  little  dependent  ones  seemed 
staring  them  in  the  face.  Generally  those  who 
were  in  houses  of  two  stories  concluded  to  stay 
at  home  and  were  busy  moving  everything  into 
the  second  stor}". 

Soon  through  the  streets  in  great  force  came 
the  muddy  waters,  carrying  upon  its  bosom  logs, 
fences,  trees  and  lumber,  and  presenting  a  scene 
that  oppressed  the  stoutest  heart ;  and  night 
settled  upon  the  sad  scene,  and  in  the  darkness 
and  soon  in  the  water  itself,  were  families  mak- 
ing their  way  to  the  Ohio  Levee.  By  daylight 
Sunday  morning,  there  was  no  dr}^  land  to  be 
seen  inside  the  levees,  and  bj-  noon  of  that  day 
the  waters  inside  were  of  the  height  of  the 
rivers.  As  far  as  the  eye  could  see  the  spec- 
tator behold  naught  but  a  sea  of  turbid  water 
and  a  scene  of  confusion  and  ruin. 

Some  of  the  one-stor}-  buildings  in  the  low 
grounds  of  the  town  presented  only  their  roofs 
above  the  water  ;  a  few  light  and  frail  ones 
had  left  their  foundations,  and  yet  a  few  othei's 
had  careened,  while  every  building  of  this 
character  had  been  abandoned  at  an  early  hour 
by  their  occupants. 

In  ever}-  quarter  of  the  city  skiffs,  canoes 
and  floats  of  every  kind  plied  industriously 
from  house  to  house  and  were  engaged  in  re- 
moving women  and  children,  furniture,  goods, 
etc.,  to  the  Ohio  Levee.  The  plank  walks  were 
sawed  into  convenient  sections  and  used  as 
floats,  and  every  imaginable  species  of  craft 
were  improvised  for  the  occasion. 


Altogether  about  500  persons  were  driven 
from  their  homes,  and  the  little  strip  of  the 
Ohio  Levee,  the  only  dr^'  spot  for  miles  around, 
was  crowded  with  men,  women  and  children, 
dogs,  cattle,  plunder,  wagons,  cars,  etc.,  from 
one  end  to  the  other.  Every  nook  and  corner 
of  the  warehouses  were  crowded  to  excess 
with  the  houseless  and  their  plunder,  and  the 
cars  on  the  railroad  track  were  all  similarly 
occupied.  Many  made  their  way  in  rafts 
and  skiffs  and  also  left  on  steamboats  for  the 
highlands,  and  many  of  these  stood  aloof  from 
"  health  and  fortune  "  by  making  their  absence 
permanent. 

Some  families  were  made  destitute  by  the 
flood,  but  these  were  so  promptly-  provided  for 
by  the  more  fortunate  citizens  that  no  real 
cases  of  suffering  ensued.  Charity  was  offered 
the  people  from  other  cities,  but  the  plucky 
Cairoites  said  "No  ;  we  can  and  are  providing 
for  our  own  people." 

We  can  get  no  reliable  estimate  of  the  dam- 
age financially  that  the  people  of  the  town  suf- 
fered. Many  poor  people  whose  loss  in  dollars 
and  cents  was  small,  yet  to  them  it  was  great 
because  it  was  their  all.  But  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, and  considering  that  the  visitation 
was  upon  the  entire  town,  and  each  one  lost 
more  or  less,  the  aggregate  was  not  large,  not 
near  so  large  in  property-  as  in  the  disrupting 
of  established  business,  the  destruction  of  con- 
fidence and  the  general  bad  odor  it  attached  to 
Cairo's  already  grievous  burdens  in  this  respect. 
It  was  the  suffering  by  the  cit}',  as  a  cit}-,  that 
brought  more  damage  than  all  the  water  in- 
flicted. The  general  revulsion  that  followed, 
the  depreciation  of  property,  the  loss  of  con- 
fidence— these  formed  a  sum  of  damages  that 
cannot  be  estimated  in  dollars. 

There  was  no  perceptible  rise  in  the  rivers 
after  the  breaking  of  the  levee,  and  the  waters 
began  rapidly  to  recede.  In  less  than  two 
weeks  the  city  was  dry  again,  and  every  da}- 
the  citizens  were  returning  to  their  homes;  logs 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


5» 


and  rubbish  were  cleared  from  the  streets, 
houses  were  repaired  and  re  painted,  and  fences 
re-built,  and  but  a  few  months  had  passed 
when  the  prominent  marks  of  the  flood  had 
been  cleared  away — wiped  out  forever. 

The  two  3'ears  following  the  submersion  of 
Cairo  formed  probabh-  the  most  trying  period 
of  her  histor}-.  Real  estate  dropped  its  former 
high  figures,  and  purchasers  could  buy  at  al- 
most their  own  figures,  but  the  shock  public 
confidence  had  received  pi'evented  investments, 
and  business  being  in  a  measure  deadened,  there 
was  no  incentive  for  improvement  strong 
enough  to  move  to  action  those  who  had  for- 
merly invested.  Rival  interests  eagerly  pro- 
claimed the  downfall  of  the  city,  and  confident- 
ly predicted  it  would  never  attempt  to  rise 
again,  and  there  were  many  in  Cairo  and  out  of 
it  who  were  ready  to  believe  the  blow  had 
proved  effectually  crushing.  But  the  repair- 
ing, widening  and  strengthening  the  levees  and 
expending  vast  sums  in  this  work,  soon  created 
abetter  feeling  at  home  and  helped  to  inspire 
confidence  abroad,  and  by  the  end  of  the  sec- 
ond year  after  the  overflow,  property  had  about 
regained  its  former  value  and  the  business  of 
the  place  its  accustomed  tone;  and  as  time 
wore  on,  and  the  heights  and  proportions  of 
the  levees  increased,  confidence  in  the  habita- 
bleness  of  the  locality  gained  its  original 
standard. 

In  1861,  Cairo  had  recovered  wholly  from 
the  overflow,  and  her  population  had  increased 
to  a  little  over  2,000  souls,  the  census  of  18(10 
showing  a  population  for  Alexander  County  of 
a  little  over  4,000.  The  town  had  recovered 
slowly,  but  its  foundations  had  been  solidly 
built  and  the  levees  had  been  made  the  strong- 
est and  safest  in  the  world. 

In  April,  18G1,  the  great  civil  war  was  fully 
inaugurated.  The  majority  of  the  people 
of  Cairo  "  knew  no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no 
West,  but  the  Union,  the  whole  Union,  one  and 
inseparable,   now    and    forever."      They    had 


hoped,  up  to  the  last  hour,  that  in  some  way 
the  bloody  issue  would  be  spared  the  country 
once  more.  A  military  company,  armed  and 
uniformed,  and  composed  of  nearly  all  the 
young  men  of  the  town,  met  and  drilled  at 
their  hall  regularly  every  week.  They  met  one 
evening,  and  after  their  usual  exercises  they 
engaged  in  a  social  meeting  and  talked  over 
the  then  absorbing  subject  of  the  war.  It  was 
evident  that  it  was  then  upon  the  country. 
Lincoln  had  called  for  75,000  troops,  and 
Seward  had  proclaimed  that  it  would  be  fought 
out  in  ninety  days.  Several  of  the  Cairo  braves 
made  "talks,"  and  the  meeting  finall}'  passed 
some  "  armed  neutralit}'  "  resolutions  and  ad- 
journed. During  all  that  night  the  incoming 
trains  were  freighted  with  United  States  sol- 
diers, and  when  the  Cairo  soldiers  got  up  in  the 
morning,  the  streets  and  woods  were  full  of 
them.  And  the  Cairo  companj-  never  met 
again.  It  is  due  the  Cairo  boys  to  say  that 
about  every  one  of  them  joined  the  Union 
arm}-,  and,  still  more  to  their  credit,  it  is  said 
tliat  every  one  of  them  rose  to  honorable,  and 
many  of  them  to  eminent  promotions. 
The  immediate  effect  of  the  occupation 
of  the  place  by  the  militar}-  was  to  check  im- 
provements and  paralyze  business.  This 
largel}-  resulted  from  the  fact  that  some  of  the 
early  commandants  of  the  place  were  ignorant 
fanatics,  and  who  proposed  to  treat  ever}' 
Democrat  as  a  traitor,  and  visit  all  with  a 
heavy  hand.  Then,  the  further  fact,  that 
neither  the  Government  nor  troops  had  any 
money  here  at  that  time,  and  the  business 
means  of  the  city  were  absorbed  in  advancing 
supplies  on  credit.  But  when  the  Government 
commenced  distributing  money  here  to  the 
troops  and  its  creditors,  then  a  far  more  grat- 
ifying condition  of  affiirs  was  at  once  inaugu- 
rated. Our  merchants,  mechanics  and  laborers 
were  reimbursed  for  what  they  had  advanced, 
and  at  once  an  unusual  activity  not  only 
marked  every  department  of  business,  but  new 


60 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


branches  of  trade  were  introduced,  the  old 
ones  were  multiplied  and  a  vigor,  which  had 
never  before  been  felt,  characterized  the  entire 
city.  Cairo  was  the  great  gateway  between 
the  North  and  the  South.  It  was  a  military 
post  of  vast  importance.  Thousands  of  soldiers 
were  stationed  here,  forts  erected,  and 
still  other  thousands  of  soldiers  were 
daily  passing  through  the  place.  Green- 
backs were  plenty  and  morals  became  scarce. 
Many  unblushing  outrages,  which  were  never 
punished,  were  committed  upon  citizens  by 
the  demoralized  soldiers.  But  the  war  adver- 
tised Cairo  more  than  had  all  else  in  her  his- 
tory as  an  important  and  commanding  point 
on  the  continent,  and  business  and  capital  was 
attracted  here  in  an  unparalleled  degree.  And 
by  the  spring  of  1863,  Cairo  was,  for  the  third 
time,  in  the  glories  of  flush  times.  New  houses 
were  going  up  on  every  hand  that  were  always 
rented  before  finished,  and,  for  a  village,^ often 
at  enormous  figures  ;  but  the  new-comers  were 
on  a  race  for  some  place  to  shelter  their  fam- 
ilies, and  they  rarely  hesitated  about  the  price 
of  the  rent.  Everybody  was  making  money, 
and  spending  it  freely  and  lavishly.  The  evi- 
dences of  this  were  well  given  in  the  swarms  of 
gamblers  that  came  here  and  were  busy 
plying  their  vocation,  until  finally,  so  systemat- 
ically were  they  robbing  the  soldiers,  that  rigid 
military  orders  were  issued  in  regard  to  them, 
and  some  were  put  in  irons. 

Gen.  Prentiss  came  here,  we  believe,  in 
charge  of  the  first  arrivals  of  soldiers,  and 
assumed  the  command  of  the  post.  He  was 
superseded  by  Gen.  Grant,  who  was  here  so 
long  that  he  almost  became  a  citizen.  He  had 
his  oflSce  in  the  bank  building,  on  Ohio  levee, 
now  occupied  as  a  law  office  by  Green  &  Gil- 
bert. The  present  old  settlers  of  Cairo  all 
came  to  know  Grant  quite  well  while  he  was 
here.  John  Rawlins  came  here  with  Grant  and 
was  his  factotum  in  office  headquarters,  and 
"Washington  Graham,  a   citizen  and   business 


man  of  Cairo,  was  Grant's  factotum  outside. 
Graham  had  extensive  business  ambition,  and 
he  was  shrewd  enough  to  know  and  under- 
stand Gen.  Grant  and  quickly  formed  the 
closest  intimacy  with  him.  He  spent  his  money 
on  the  General  like  a  prince,  and  he  was  soon 
the  power  behind  the  throne.  He  bought  the 
best  of  cigars  b}'  the  wholesale,  and  constantly 
kept  the  liquid  commissary  department  at 
headquarters  abundantly  supplied.  Wash- 
ington Graham,  had  he  lived  during  the  war, 
would  have,  beyond  doubt,  extended  his  in- 
fluence and  power  just  as  Grant  was  advanced 
along  the  line  of  promotion.  He  was  a  man  of 
genial  nature,  strong  social  powers,  and  shrewd 
sense — exactly-  the  kind  of  man  who  liked  to  be 
the  power  behind  the  throne,  and  wielding  that 
power,  when  opportunitj'  ofiered.  to  put  money 
in- his  purse,  and  to  make  the  fortune  of  his 
friends  and  pull  down  remorselessly'  his 
enemies.  He  soon  became  essential  to  the 
Grant  party  in  all  its  junketing  on  the  rivei's, 
and  was  a  member  of  headquarters'  mess  on 
the  steamboat  in  the  expedition  to  Paducah 
and  to  Fort  Donelson.  Grant  liked  him  and 
his  liberal  ways  from  the  first  of  their  acquaint- 
ance, and  when  he  was  stricken  down  with  con- 
sumption and  went  to  his  friends  in 
St.  Louis  to  die,  it  must  have  seemed  to 
Gen.  Grant  a  serious  aflliction.  The 
General  must  have  loved  all  jolly,  liberal  men. 
No  man  in  the  world  could  play  his  role  better 
than  Washington  Graham.  Gen.  Grant's  family 
were  here  for  some  time  with  him,  and  had 
living-rooms  across  the  hall  from  his  head- 
quarters. At  that  time  the  family  seemed  to 
be  very  plain,  unpretending  people.  Bill 
Shuter's  extensive  establishment  was  the  alma 
mater  of  much  of  the  enthusiastic  patriot- 
ism of  those  days,  as  well  as  some  of  the 
early  strategic  movements  of  the  war  in  the 
West. 

Among  the  first  military  movements  of  Gen. 
Prentiss  after  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the 


v 


U'^^/enuz^^ 


^t 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


63 


forces  at  Cairo,  numbering  4,800  men,  was  to 
formally  demand  the  arms  of  the  Cairo  Guards. 
As  the  compan}'  had  dissolved  into  the  air  im- 
mediately upon  the  coming  of  the  soldiers,  the 
General  could  find  no  one  to  respond  to 
his  flag  of  truce  demanding  an  unconditional 
surrender  of  the  ordnances.  But  he  found  the 
keys  to  the  armory,  and  the  deadly  weapons  of 
war  were  taken  possession  of  in  the  name  of  the 
United  States  and  turned  over  to  arm  the 
Union  soldiers. 

The  next  and  much  more  important  move- 
ment was  to  look  out  for  the  steamers  C.  E. 
Hillman  and  John  D.  Perry,  which  he  had  been 
notified  by  Gov.  Yates  had  been  loaded  with 
arms  and  ammunition  and  were  on  their  way 
South  with  their  cargoes.  When  the  boats' 
reached  Cairo  they  were  boarded  and  brought 
to  the  wharf  A  large  number  of  arms  and 
ammunition  were'seized  and  confiscated — a  pro- 
ceeding, at  the  time  informal,  but  it  was  after- 
ward approved  by  the  Secretary'  of  War. 

Gen.  Grant's  first  battle  in  the  war  was  Bel- 
mont, Mo.,  a  point  nearly  opposite  Columbus, 
K3'.,  where  the  rebels  were  in  strong  force,  and 
had  detached  a  small  portion  of  the  Columbus 
forces  to  occupy  Belmont.  Gen.  Grant  conclud- 
ed it  would  be  an  immense  piece  of  strategy- 
to  capture  Belmont,  and  thus  relieve  that  por- 
tion of  Missouri,  and  to  some  extent  intercept  all 
communications  between  the  rebel  forces  of 
Kentucky  and  Missouri.  So  a  fleet  of  boats 
sailed  down  the  river,  and  a  part  of  the  force 
marched  down  by  land  from  Bird's  Point — 
the  force  from  the  river  to  land  and  attack  in 
front,  and  the  land  force  to  come  up  in  the  rear, 
and  thus  pocket  the  enem}'.  The  whole  scheme 
was  well  devised,  and  the  river  force,  reaching 
the  grounds  long  before  the  land  force,  and 
so  eager  were  oflBcers  and  men  for  blood 
and  glory,  that  they  at  once  attacked.  The 
river  forces  were  under  the  immediate  com- 
mand of  Gen.  Grant.  They  were  hastily 
deploved  from  the  boats,  a  short  distance  above 


Belmont,  formed  in  battle  line,  opened  fire,  and 
charged  upon  the  enem3''s  encampment  and 
captured  it.  But  the  teats  were  empt}-,  mostly, 
and  all  hands  were  in  deep  indignation  at  the 
enemy  for  running  awa3'  in  such  a  dastardl}' 
manner.  And  the  soldiers  fell  to  work  ripping 
up  fhe  tents,  and  prying  into  the  culinar}'  affairs 
of  the  enem3''s  camp,  and  exulting  over  their 
easj'  victory.  Just  when  they  had  become 
prett}'  well  scattered  over  the  grounds,  the 
enemy  suddenly'  emerged  from  the  woods,  and 
at  short  range,  opened  a  galling  fire.  The  ad- 
vance of  the  land  forces  just  then  appeared, 
and  for  a  few  minutes  the  battle  raged  fiercely 
— the  rebels  charged,  and  the  Union  forces  fled 
to  the  boats,  and  in  a  dreadfull}'  un-dress-pa- 
rade  fashion,  and  amid  flying  bullets  the  boats 
were  loaded  and  steamed  back  io  Cairo.  From 
the  manner  in  which  the  boats  had  been  sprin- 
kled with  shot,  from  buckshot  to  birdshot,  and 
from  many  of  the  wounds  in  the  clothes  of  the 
federals,  the  enemy  must  have  been  mostly- 
armed  with  shotguns  and  fowling  pieces.  The 
land  forces  continued  to  return  in  straggling 
squads,  to  Bird's  Point  for  a  week,  as  some  of 
them  got  lost  in  the  river  bottoms.  The  fed- 
eral forces  had  simply  walked  into  a  trap  that 
had  been  set  for  them,  and  the}'  escaped  b}'  the 
"  skin  of  the  teeth." 

An  incident  of  this  battle  is  worth  relating. 
When  the  Union  forces  captured  the  enemy's 
camp,  as  stated  above,  the}'  found  nobody  at 
home,  but  they  did  find  a  female  baby 
about  three  months  old,  sleeping  peacefully  on 
the  bare  ground,  amid  the  roar  of  battle  and 
the  whistling  bullets  that  played  thick  and  fast 
all  around  it.  There  was  no  one  to  claim  it, 
and  a  good  Caii'o  citizen  took  the  babe  in  his 
arms  and  brought  it  to  Cairo,  whei'e  it  was 
taken  in  charge  by  Father  Lambert,  and  a 
home  provided  for  the  little  trophy  of  war. 
Nothing  could  ever  be  learned  concerning  the 
child,  although  every  exertion  was  made  to  do 
so.     It  was  duly  christened   a  Christian,  and 


64 


HISTORY  OF  CAIEO. 


named  "  Belmont  Lambert."  The  supposition 
is,  that  in  the  attack  and  firing  upon  the  camp, 
the  mother  of  the  child  had  been  killed,  and  as 
the  father  must  have  been  a  rebel  soldier,  it  is 
probable  he  was  killed  in  this  battle,  or  in 
some  other  soon  after,  and  it  may  be  that  no 
one  of  this  father,  mother  and  babe  ever  knew 
what  became  of  the  others.  We  know  nothing 
of  the  history  of  Belle  Lambert,  after  she  was 
provided  for  here  in  Cairo,  as  an  infant.  If 
alive  now,  she  is  a  gi-own  woman,  twenty-two 
years  old.  What  a  dream  the  strange  story  of 
her  life  must  be  to  her.  How  she  must  have 
employed  heavy  hours  of  her  young  life  in 
peering  at  every  lineament  of  her  features  in 
the  glass,  trying  to  discover  traces  of  her  un- 
known father  and  mother,  and  having  fixed 
them  in  her  mind,  as  she  supposed,  how  eagerly 
would  she  scan  every  strange  face  she  met,  in 
the  vain  hope,  in  all  this  multitude,  of  finding 
the  long-lost  and  ideally  formed  and  loved 
mother  or  father.  Is  there  a  mothers  heart  in 
all  the  world  that  is  not  melted  at  the  story  of 
this  lost  babe — the  little  angel  waif,  found  un- 
harmed in  the  midst  of  slaughter  and  blood — a 
little  flower  of  peace  and  love,  sleeping  sweetly 
amid  all  its  hideous  surroundings. 

But  to  refer  again,  briefly,  to  the  Belmont 
battle  :  There  is  a  part  of  that  storj'  that  is 
furnished  us  b}'  a  prominent  and  reliable  gen- 
tleman of  Cairo,  William  Lornegan,  who  was 
acting  mate  on  the  transport,  Montgomery,  that 
has  never  been  told  in  print,  and  that  will  some 
day  be  essential  to  the  truth  of  history.  He 
says  that  one  afternoon  while  the  Montgomery 
was  anchored  in  front  of  Cairo.  Wash  Oraham 
came  on  board  and  ordered  the  Captain  to  coal 
at  once,  and  drop  down  to  Fort  Holt,on  the  Ken- 
tucky side,  and  that  when  he  received  the  signal 
from  the  flag-boat  he  was  to  swing  out  into  the 
stream  and  follow.  The  Captain  asked  Graham 
what  the  signal  was  to  be,  and  was  answered, 
"five  whistles."  Then,  for  the  first  time,  word 
passed  around  with  the   crew   that   they   were 


going  to  attack  Columbus.  Before  that,  they 
supposed  the}-  were  going  to  be  loaded  with 
soldiers,  and  take  them  to  Cape  Girardeau,  as 
they  had  made  a  trip  or  two  of  this  kind  al- 
ready. These  troops,  it  was  afterwai'd  known, 
were  to  march  by  land,  and  come  upon  Bel- 
mont, in  conjunction  with  the  water  forces,  and 
the  Bird's  Point  forces.  A  force  had  been  sent 
out  from  Fort  Holt  to  make  a  similar  detour 
upon  Columbus  from  the  east.  Thus,  by  three 
columns,  a  land  force  on  each  side  of  the  river 
and  a  fleet  of  transports  and  two  gunboats  by 
the  river,  the  two  places,  Columbus  and  Bel- 
mont, were  both  to  be  captured.  In  accordance 
with  instructions,  the  flag-boat  passed  down  by 
Fort  Holt  about  4  o'clock,  P.  M.,  and  gave  the 
*five-whistle  signal,  and  the  fleet  of  five  trans- 
ports and  two  gunboats  sailed  down  the  river. 
Going  about  half  way  to  Columbus,  the}'  round- 
ed to  and  tied  up  for  the  night.  The  next 
morning  the  fleet  dropped  down  in  full  view  of 
the  Columbus  bluflfs,  all  over  which  were 
mounted  the  rebel  cannon,  commanding  the 
river.  About  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the 
forces  were  disembarked,  and  were  marched 
toward  Belmont.  The  gunboats  dropped  down 
a  short  distance  below  the  fleet,  and  fired  upon 
Columbus,  the  guns  from  the  fort  promptly  re- 
sponding, sending  their  balls,  from  the  first  shot, 
closely  about  the  transports — one  ball  falling 
just  at  the  stern  of  the  Montgomery,  and  splash- 
ing the  water  over  the  deck.  The  fleet  moved 
out  from  this  point,  and  took  a  position  two 
and  a  half  miles  further  up  the  river  in  a  safe 
bend,  and  there  listened  at  the  progress  of  the 
fight  at  Belmont.  The  opening  musketry  was 
not  of  long  duration,  and  then  there  was  a  long 
cessation,  and  the  firing  again  commenced. 
Mr.  L.  tells  us  that  he  saw  nothing  of  the  fight 
at  Belmont,  and  only  learned  from  hearing  the 
soldiers  talk  about  it,  that  the  enemy  threw  a 
force  across  the  river  from  Columbus,  and  re- 
newed the  fight.  He  says  the  first  signs  he 
noticed  from  the  battle-ground  was  about  sun- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


65 


down,  when  two  soldiers  appeared  at  the  boat, 
one  leading  and  helping  the  other,  who  had 
been  wounded  in  the  arm.  Thej-  reported  that 
the  rebels  had  crossed  over  from  Columbus,  and 
were  "  cutting  our  men  all  to  pieces.'  The 
transports  at  once  dropped  down  to  the  point 
where  they  had  landed  the  night  before,  so  as 
to  permit  our  forces,  whom  the}'  learned  were 
in  full  retreat  before  the  enemy,  to  get  on' 
board.  By  the  time  the\-  had  landed  it  was 
dark,  and  b}'  this  time,  our  forces  were  coming, 
pell-mell — rank  and  file — officers  and  privates, 
in  one  indiscriminate  mass  on  board  the  boats. 
In  the  confusion,  some  one  from  the  hurricane 
deck  gave  the  mate  the  order  to  haul  in  his  gang 
plank  and  cast  loose.  This  was  only  done, 
when  the  Captain  of  the  boat  ordered  the  gang 
I)lank  run  out  again,  so  as  to  permit  the  fast- 
coming  soldiers  to  get  on  board.  This  was 
done,  and  then  almost  immediately  the  order 
was  again  given  to  cast  loose,  and  this  was 
obej-ed,  and  the  boat  steamed  up  the  river. 
The  whole  fleet  was  on  its  way,  and  the  banks 
of  the  river  were  lined  with  rebels,  pouring 
a  hot  fire  into  the  boats.  The  rebels  sent 
a  battery  across  a  bend  up  the  river,  intend- 
ing by  this  movement  to  capture  or  sink 
the  entire  fleet.  As  good  fortune  would 
have  it,  they  only  reached  their  position 
just  as  the  boats  passed,  but  so  closel}' 
had  the}-  pursued  them  that  they  fired  a  num- 
ber of  shots  at  the  fleet.  Mr.  L.  thinks  that 
had  the  fleet  been  dela3-ed  thirty  minutes  longer, 
the  capture  of  the  Union  army  and  fleet  would 
have  been  complete.  A  number  of  soldiers 
were  left  on  the  bank,  and  they  made  their  way 
to  Bird's  Point,  as  best  they  could,  and  for  days 
and  days  these  stragglers  were  coming  in.  Mr. 
L.  says  the  fact  of  our  forces  not  all  being  able 
to  get  on  the  boats  was  painfull}-  manifested  to 
his  mind  at  the  time  by  a  conversation  he 
heard  Gen.  Logan  have  with  some  other  officer. 
Logan  denounced  what  he  called  deserting  these 
men  to  their  fate,  and  was   insisting  the   fleet 


should  return  and  lake  them  on  board.  Mr.  L. 
says  when  he  heard  this,  he  made  up  his  mind 
he  would  swim  ashore  and  walk  home,  rather 
than  go  back. 

Wash  Graham  seems  to  have  been  the  acting 
Admiral  of  the  fleet,  and  so  far  as  its  actions 
were  concerned, he  managed  his  part  of  the  battle 
with  skill  and  success.  Upon  the  return  of  the 
army  to  Cairo,  everybody  seemed  to  be  laboring 
for  several  days  under  a  general  kind  of  nebulous 
demoralization.  But  in  a  short  time  the  troops 
were  called  back  to  Cairo,  Bird's  Point  and  Fort 
Holt,  and  the  most  of  them  put  upon  transports 
and  sent  to  Paducah,  Ky.  The  history  of 
Grant's  expedition  up  the  river  and  the  fights  at 
Fort  Henry,  Heiman  and  Fort  Donelson  are  a 
part  of  the  war  history  of  the  country,  and 
are  not  properly  to  be  considered  as  an  essential 
part  of  the  history  of  Cairo  ;  although  Cairo 
was  the  base  from  which  the  expedition  started 
and  on  which  it  relied  for  material  support. 
And  although  it  is  also  true  that  there  are  men 
still  living  in  Cairo  who  were  in  thatexpedition? 
and  who  were  boat  officers  on  the  boat  that  car- 
ried Gen.  Grant,  Wash  Graham  and  staff",  and 
whose  recollection  of  much  of  the  behind-the- 
curtain  facts  that  took  place  on  that  boat,  are 
essential  to  the  truth  of  history,  yet  we  do  not 
care  to  lumber  the  story  of  the  city  of  Cairo 
with  them,  but  to  the  war  historians  who  are  to 
come — those  who  do  not  care  to  write  a  partisan 
account  of  the  war,  there  may  be  found  val- 
uable mines  of  truth  among  the  war  survivors 
at  Cairo. 

In  another  chapter,  we  give  a  toleralily  broad 
insinuation  of  the  kind  of  men  among  the  first 
commandants  of  the  post  Cairo  had  during  the 
early  war  times.  Col.  Boohfort  was  a  crank 
and  in  his  dotage  ;  he  was  a  silly  old  vicious 
creature. threatening  everybody — "I'll  have  you 
shot,  sir  !  Have  you  shot  !  "  or  in  his  more 
rational  moods  threatening  to  put  them  in  irons. 
He  had  a  whole  company  of  his  own  men  ar- 
rested one  day  and  was  going  to  have  them  shot 


66 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


as  usual,  because  in  ridiug  b}-  their  camp  he 
heard  them  singing  "  My  Mary  Ann, "'  when  it 
turned  out  that  that  was  his  wife's  name.  A 
Cairo  butcher's  team  ran  awaj-  one  day  and  at 
full  speed,  the  driver  trying  his  best  to  stop 
them,  they  ran  across  his  parade  grounds,  and 
when  the  old  man  saw  his  sacred  grounds  thus 
sacrilegiously  invaded,  he  screamed  at  the  poor, 
helpless  driver  as  far  as  he  could  see  him,  "  I'll 
have  you  shot  !  Arrest  that  man  !  etc. "  The 
people,  however,  soon  learned  that  he  was  as 
vain  as  he  was  weak,  and  they  wound  him 
around  their  finger  by  a  little  fulsome  flattery 
and  bragging  on  him  as  being  the  greatest  Gen- 
eral in  all  the  world.  Yet  his  presence  was  a 
dreadful  affliction  to  the  place.  They 
greatly  feared  and  despised  him,  and  there 
were  few  in  the  town  but  that  rejoiced  when  he 
was  taken  away.  His  successor  was,  we  believe. 
Gen.  ^leredith,  of  Indiana — a  soldier  and  a 
gentleman,  and  better  still,  a  man  of  good  sound 
sense.  His  presence  gave  cheer  and  hope  again 
to  the  people,  and  once  more  men  could  go  and 
come  from  their  homes  to  their  business  with- 
out fear  and  trembling.  The  result  was,  the 
business  and  the  prospects  of  the  town  were 
soon  in  the  most  flourishing  condition.  Then, 
some  of  the  commandants  of  the  post  in  the 
town  were  sometimes  cursed  with  painfully  offi- 
cious and  dishonest  Provost  Marshals.  And 
when  one  of  these  fellows  was  in  command  of 
the  Provost  guards  that  patroled  the  city,  and 
did  police  duty,  he  had  it  in  his  power  and  some- 
times did  perpetrate  scandulous  outrages  upon 
private  citizens.  The}"  were  blackmailers, 
clothed  with  power  to  compel  terms  from  their 
victims.  The  people  had  to  appease  these  sharks 
bj-  frequent  voluntari/  subscriptions  to  buy  pres- 
ents from  their  admirers,  in  the  way  of  fine 
swords,  horses,  watches,  and  champagne,  cigars 
and  whisky.  These  subscriptions  were  taken 
up  b}-  passing  around  a  subscription  paper,  and 
each  man  would  put  down  his  name  and  not 
less    than    S5,    and    thus    he    paid    his   tax 


to  be  let  alone  so  that  he  could  carry  on  his 
business.  It  is  incredible  how  many  ways  these 
rascals  could  invent  to  bring  men  face  to  face 
with  the  alternatives  of  blood-moue}',  or  iron 
manacles.  A  specimen  that  may  illustrate  all: 
A  large  lot  of  rebel  prisoners  were  passing 
through  town,  after  the  Fort  Donelson  fight, 
and  they  were  standing  in  front  of  the  business 
houses  on  the  levee;  the  weather  was  wretched, 
and  the  poor  creatures  were  the  picture  of  dis- 
comfort ;  they  wanted  clothing,  food,  and,  es- 
pecialh',  tobacco.  At  a  tobacco  store  where 
several  prisoners  had  begged  a  little  tobacco, 
two  or  three  rebel  officers  entered  "and  wanted 
some  of  the  weed,  and  all  the  mone}-  they  had 
was  Confederate  bills.  The  tobacco  was^iven 
to  them,  onl}-  a  few  plugs,  and  the  Confederate 
money  was  taken  as  a  curiosity.  The  Provost- 
Marshal  a  few  days  after  arrested  the  members 
of  the  firm  and  fined  them  $100  for 
taking  Confederate  money.  They  paid  the 
bill,  and,  of  course,  the  Government  never  saw 
a  cent  of  the  money.  "  Oh,  patriotism  !  patriot- 
ism !  what  atrocities  have  been  committed  in 
thy  name."  Another  instance  of  legal  honesty 
will  suffice  for  our  purpose,  without  any  further 
reference  to  the  thousands  of  others  of  a  char- 
acter incomparably  worse  :  An  official  ap- 
proached a  merchant  and  wanted  to  buy  fort}- 
or  fifty  suits  of  clothes.  He  said  he  did  not 
care  what  they  were  so  they  were  cheap,  very 
cheap,  anything,  any  style,  second-hand  or 
rebel  captured  uniforms,  or  anything  else  that 
could  be  classed  as  suits.  The  goods  were 
promptly  got  ready  for  delivery  at  about  §2  50 
a  suit.  The  officer  looked  at  them,  took  them 
and  instructed  the  merchant  to  make  out  his 
bill  at  §22.50  a  suit.  And  upon  his  paying  in 
cash  the  difference  in  the  real  price  and  the 
bill,  he  received  his  voucher  for  the  whole 
amount. 

When  the  Union  forces  wrested  the  Missis- 
sippi river  from  the  grasp  of  the  rebels,  and 
made  this  orreat  hi^hwav  again  a  free  channel 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


67 


of  travel  and  commerce,  then,  indeed,  were  the 
floodgates  of  prosperity  once  more  opened  to 
Cairo,  and  the  town  as  the  gateway  between  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  the  South  was  the  busiest 
place  of  its  size  on  the  continent.  On  every 
train  and  on  ever}'  steamboat  the  tide  of  hu- 
manity poured  through  the  town.  The  steam- 
boats, freighted  to  the  very  waters  edge,  going 
and  coming,  filled  the  rivers,  and  da}-  and  night 
they  were  struggling  and  almost  fighting  for 
room  at  our  wharves  to  load  and  unload  their 
cargoes.  The  Ohio  levee,  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  was  covered  with  freight  in  great  rows 
and  piles  in  bewildering  quantities.  The  marine- 
ways  and  docks  from  here  to  Pittsburgh  were 
building  boats  as  fast  as  they  could,  and  every 
da}',  almost,  new  and  elegant  ones  rounded  to 
at  our  wharf,  and  yet  they  were  wholly  inad- 
equate to  carry  the  immense  merchandise  that 
was  awaiting  shipments.  The  railroads  were 
taxed  until  they  cried  "  peccavi !  "  And  it  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  property  amounting  to 
millions  of  dollars  awaited  shipment  over  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  at  stations  where  there 
being  no  room  in  the  depots,  it  was  exposed  to 
the  weather  and  rotted.     To  all  this  there  came 


a  corresponding  horde  of  people  to  Cairo — per- 
manent and  temporary  sojourners.  The  hotels, 
boarding  houses,  tenement  and  everything  in 
the  shape  of  a  house  was  crowded  to  suffocation  ; 
new  houses  were  at  once  being  rapidly  con- 
structed and  the  universal  cry  was  for  more. 
Rents  went  to  fanciful  figures,  and  in  a  short 
time  it  was  impossible  to  tell  how  many  people 
were  here.  Lots,  leases,  houses,  rents  and 
nearly  all  Cairo  property  went  balooning  away 
in  a  gay  style — sailing  up  and  up  as  grandly 
and  to  as  dizzy  heights  as  a  Fourth  of  July 
orator's  eagle.  As  said,  the  transient  pop- 
ulation was  immense.  In  1864,  it  was  even  es- 
timated, counting  the^floating  population,  that 
there  were  nearly  12,000  people  here,  although 
the  vote  at  that  time  had  never  reached  a  thou- 
sand. In  other  words,  the  population  was 
estimated  greater  then  than  the  census  has  smce 
shown  it  to  be,  although  the  last  general  elec- 
tion showed  there  were  over  1,800  voters.  In 
other  words,  the  census  of  1880  shows  a  pop- 
ulation of  a  little  less  than  10,000  people.  And  it 
is  estimated  now  that  the  actual  number  of  in- 
habitants here  is  a  fraction  over  12,000. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


DECIDEDLY  A  CAIRO  CHAriER— CAIRO  AND  ITS  DIFFERENT  BODIES  POLITIC  AND  CORPoRATE- 

CAIRO   CITY    AND   BANK    OF   CAIRO  — CAIRO    AND    CANAL    COMPANY  — CAIRO    CITY 

PROPERTY— TRUSTEES  OF  THE  C.\IRO   TRUST    PROPERTY— THE    ILLINOIS 

EXPORTING    COMPANY  — D.    B.    HOLBROOK— JUSTIN    BUTTEll- 

FI ELD— RECAPITULATION,  ETC.,   ETC. 


AT  a  time  simultaneous  with,  or  just  prior 
to,  the  coming  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  delta  formed  by  the  jimction  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Ohio  Rivers  began  to  attract  the 
attention  of  far-seeing  men,  as  one  of  the 
futiu'e  important  points  upon  the  continent. 
And  from  the  time  the  fii'st  white  man's  eyes 


ever  beheld  it,  210  years  ago,  as  Joliet  and 
Marquette  and  their  little  party,  consisting 
of  five  men  besides  themselves,  floated  around 
the  point  of  land  that  forms  the  extreme 
southern  limit  of  Illinois,  and  with  joy  and 
gladness  beheld  the  beautiful  blue  Ohio 
River,  and  by  this,  their   marvelous   voyage 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


of  discovery,  placed   this    great    Mississippi 
Valley  under  the    segis  of  France  and  Papal 
Christendom,   and  thereby  inaugurated  that 
tremendous   world's    drama   that   continued 
during  more   than    ninety  years,    in   which 
France  and  the  Church  were  such  conspicuous 
actors;  we  say,  from  this  date  on,  the  little  strip 
of  land  on  which  the  city  of  Cairo  stands  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  men,    and  presented 
something  of  its  prospective  importance  to  the 
entire    Christian  world.     At  the  time  of  its 
discovery,    nearly  all    nations   were  more  or 
less    involved    in  wars  of    conquest    and  in- 
vasion— those  mighty  struggles    for  suprem- 
acy  in   civilization,  that  were  the  most  im- 
portant factors  in  the  present  advanced  state 
of    mankind,    and   especially    that    splendid 
civilization  that  has   been  spread    broadcast 
over   the   world   by  the   Anglo-Saxon   race. 
Hence,  for  more  than  a  century  after  the  dis- 
covery of    the  point  of    junction   of   the  two 
great  rivers,  situated  almost  in  the  center  of 
the  inhabitable  portions  of  the  continent  of 
North  America,  its  transcendent  importance, 
in  a  military  point  of  view,  were  studied  and 
well     comprehended    by     all    the    military 
powers  of  Europe.     Its  wonderful  undevel- 
oped and  almost  unclaimed  commercial  value 
and  inexhaustible  productions  were  but  little 
considered  until   the  long  Revolutionary  war 
had  been  fought  out,  and  peace  had  begun  to 
win  those  triumphs  that  have  resulted  in  the 
present  rich  and  prosperous  nation  of  more 
than  fifty  millions  of  people. 

A  lai'ge  number  of  incorporation  acts,  dat- 
ing back  even  to  the  TeiTitorial  times  of 
Illinois,  have  been  enacted,  and  a  somewhat 
extended  notice  of  these  legislative  doings 
is  made  of  great  importance,  from  the  fact 
that  in  the  attempt  to  make  laws  for  found- 
ing a  city  here  there  resulted  the  most  im- 
portant legislation,  in  both  the  State  Legis- 
lature and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 


for  the  entii'e  State  of  Illinois,  that  have 
ever  been  placed  upon  the  statute  books; 
wise  laws,  that  have  brought  Illinois  from 
a  sparsely  settled,  banki'upt  and  unpromis- 
ing waste  and  wilderness,  to  the  position  of 
the  first  State  in  the  Union  in  many  of  the 
leading  agricultiu-al  products,  as  well  as  in 
railroads  and  all  that  tends  to  make  a  rich, 
prosperous  and  happy  people. 

On  the  9th  day  of  January,  1818,  the  Ter- 
ritorial   Legislature  concluded  the  time  had 
come  that  imperatively  demanded  that  a  city 
be  founded  here,  and  on  that  day  it  passed 
an  act  for  the  incorporation  of  the  "City  and 
Bank  of  Cairo  in  the  State  of  Illinois;"  the 
incorporators,  consisting  of  John  G.  Comyges, 
Thomas     H.    Harris,     Thomas    F.     Herbert, 
Shadrach     Bond,    Michael     Jones,    "Warren 
Brown,  Edward  Humphreys  and  Charles  W. 
Hunter,  who  had    entered  a  certain  tract  of 
land  between  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers 
and  near  the    junction  of   the   same.      This 
land  included  Fractional  Sections  14,  15,  22, 
23,  24,  25,    26,  and  the  northeast   fractional 
quarter  of  Section  27,  Town  17  south.  Range 
1  west,    and   contained   about    1,800    aci*es. 
The  act  of  incoi'poration  is  ushered  into  the 
world  by  the  following  grandiloquent  stump 
speech:     "  And  whereas,  the  said  proprietors 
represent  that  there  is,  in  their  opinion,  no 
position  in  the  whole  extent  of  these  "Western 
States  better   calculated,  as    it  respects  com- 
mercial   advantages  and   local  supply,  for  a 
great  and   important  city,  than  that  afi'orded 
by  the  junction  of  those  two  great  highways, 
the  Mississippi  and    Ohio  Rivers.     But  that 
nature,  having   denied  to  the  extreme  point 
formed  by  their  union,  a  sufi&cient  degree  of 
elevation  to  protect  the  improvements  made 
thereon,    from  the   ordinary    inundations  of 
the   adjacent   waters,  such   elevation  is  to  be 
found  only  upon  the  tract   above  mentioned 
and  described.     [It  must  be  borne  in  mind 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


that  this  is  one  way  of  putting  it  that  the 
town  site  only  commenced  at  the  north  line 
of  Bird'p  land,  which  was  not  included  in 
the  town  plat.]  So  that  improvements  and 
property  made  and  located  thereon  [no  sem- 
blance of  levees  then  made]  may  be  deemed 
perfectly  safe  and  absolutely  secure  from  all 
such  ordinary  inundations,  and  liable  to  injury 
only  from  the  concurrence  of  unusually  high 
and  simultaneous  inundations  in  both  of  said 
rivers,  an  event  which  is  alleged  but  rarely 
to  happen,  and  the  injurious  consequenijes  of 
which  it  is  considered  practicable,  by  proper 
embankments,  wholly  and  effectually  and 
permanently  to  obviate.  And  whereas,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  a  city  erected  at,  or  as  near 
as  practicable,  to  the  junction  of  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Rivers,  provided  it  be  thus 
secured  by  sufi&cient  embankments,  or  in 
such  other  way  as  experience  may  prove  most 
efficacious  for  that  purpose,  from  every  such 
extraordinary  inundation,  must  necessarily 
become  a  place  of  vast  consequence  to  the 
prosperity  of  this  growing  Territory,  and,  in 
fact,  to  that  of  the  greater  part  of  the  in- 
habitants of  these  Western  States.  And 
whereas,  the  above-named  proprietors  are 
desirous  of  erecting  such  city,  under  the 
sanction  and  patronage  of  the  Legislature 
of  this  TeiTitory,  and  also  of  providing  by 
law  for  the  security  and  prosperity  of  the 
same,  and  to  that  end  propose  to  appropriate 
one-third  part  of  all  money  arising  from  the 
sale  and  disposition  of  the  lots  into  which 
the  same  be  surveyed,  as  a  fund  for  the  con- 
struction and  preservation  of  such  dykes, 
levees  and  other  embankments  as  may  be 
necessary  to  render  the  same  perfectly 
secui-e;  and  also,  if  such  fund  shall  be 
deemed  sufficient  thereto,  for  the  erection  of 
public  edifices  and  such  other  improvements 
in  the  said  city  as  may  be,  from  time  to  time, 
considered  expedient  and  practicable,  and  to 


appropriate  the  two-thirds  part  of  the  said 
purchase- moneys  to  the  operation  of  bank- 
ing. And  whereas,  it  is  considered  that  an 
act  to  incorporate  the  said  proprietors  and 
their  associates,  viz.,  all  such  persons  as 
shall,  by  purchase  or  otherwise,  hereafter 
become  proprietors  of  the  tract  above  men 
tioned  and  described,  as  a  body  corporate 
and  politic,  while  it  guarantees  to  all  those 
who  may  become  freeholders  or  residents 
within  the  said  city  the  fullest  security  as 
to  their  habitations  and  property,  will  at  the 
same  time  concentrate  the  views  and  facili- 
tate the  operations  of  the  said  proprietors 
and  their  said  associates  in  rendering  the 
said  city  secure  from  all  such  inundations  as 
aforesaid,  and  in  promoting  the  internal 
prosperity  of  the  same. "  After  this  extraor- 
dinary line  of  whereases,  the  Legislature  pro- 
ceeds to  regularly  incorporate  the  "  City  and 
Bank  of  Cairo" — the  city  to  be  here,  at  the 
junction  of  the  rivers,  and  the  bank  tempo- 
rarily to  be,  and  transact  business  in,  the  town 
of  Kaskaskia,  giving  the  body  corporate  the 
title  of  the  "  President,  Directors  and  Com- 
pany of  the  Bank  of  Cairo, "  requiring  John 
Gr.  Comyges  and  his  associates,  within  the 
space  of  nine  months  from  the  passing  of  this 
act,  to  proceed  to  lay  off,  on  such  town  site, 
a  city,  to  be  known  and  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  Cairo;  which  shall  consist  of  not 
less  than  2,000  lots,  each  lot  being  not  less 
than  sixty-six  feet  wide  and  120  feet  deep, 
and  the  streets  of  said  city  to  be  not  less  than 
eighty  feet  wide,  and  to  run,  as  near  as  may 
be,  at  right  angles  to  each  other;  that  the 
price  of  the  said  lots  shall  be  fixed  and 
limited  at  $150  each,  and  appropriating  the 
money  arising  from  the  sale  of  lots  as  fol- 
lows. Two-thirds  part  thereof,  that  is  to 
say,  the  sum  of  $100  on  each  lot  sold,  shall 
constitute  the  capital  stock  of  the  bank; 
dividing  the  capital  stock  into  twice  as  many 


70 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


shares  as  there  are  lots,  the  one-half  of  which 
shares  shall  belong  to  the  purchasers  of  said 
lots,  in  the  proportion  of  one  share  to  each 
lot,  and  the  remaining  of  the  shares  shall 
be  the  property  of  the  said  John  G.  Corny ges 
and  his  associates,  their  heirs  and  assigns,  in 
proportion  to  the  interest  they  may  hold  in 
the  same  respectively;  the  remaining  one- 
third  part  of  the  piu'chase- money  to  consti- 
tute a  fund  to  be  exclusively  appropriated  to 
the  security  and  improvement  of  said  city; 
the  said  Comyges  and  associates  are  author- 
ized to  appoint  so  many  commissioners  as 
they  may  deem  necessary,  to  receive  sub- 
scriptions for  the  purchase  of  lots;  they  are 
required,  upon  any  person  applying  to 
make  such  purchase  of  subscription,  to  direct 
the  person  so  applying  to  deposit  to  the  credit 
of  the  Bank  of  Cairo,  in  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  the  nearest  chartered 
bank,  one-third  of  the  purchase  money,  in 
three  and  six  months'  payments.  Then  it 
provides  that  no  subscription  shall  be  re- 
ceived from  any  person  for  more  than  ten  of 
said  lots.  When  oOO  lots  have  been  sub- 
scribed for,  the  Commissioners  are  to  call  a 
meeting  of  such  subscribers  at  Kaskaskia,  and 
elect  from  their  body  thirteen  Directors,  who 
were  to  hold  office  one  year,  and  then  these 
Directors  are  to  choose,  by  ballot,  a  Presi- 
dent; authorizing  them  to  prescribe  by-laws 
and  regulations,  and  defining  the  duties  of 
the  officers;  the  Directors  are  at  once  to  dis- 
tribute by  lot  among  the  subscribers,  the 
niimber  each  is  entitled  to  receive,  anc?  to 
make  deeds  therefor  upon  full  and  final 
payment,  and  they  are  imperatively  required 
to  receive  all  moneys  deposited  to  their  credit 
in  other  banks,  and  thereupon  to  "commence 
their  operations  as  a  banking  company." 
Provision  is  then  made  that  the  total  amount 
of  debts  which  the  bank  may  at  any  time 
owe   shall    not    exceed  twice   the  amount  of 


the  capital  stock  actually  paid  into  said  bank; 
making  the  bills  of  credit,  under  the  seal  of 
the  corporation,  assignable  by  indorsement, 
as  well  as  making  all  bills  or  notes  which 
may  be  issued  by  the  corporation,  in  pay- 
ment, though  not  under  seal,  binding  and 
obligatoi'y  as  upon  any  private  person  or  per- 
sons; the  bank  is  required  to  make  half-year- 
ly dividends  of  profits;  requiring  each  Cash- 
ier, before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his 
office,  to  give  bond  and  security  to  the  amount 
of  SlOjOOO,  and  each  clerk  in  the  bank  to 
give,  like  bond  to  the  amount  of  .f  2,000;  lim- 
its the  interest  on  loans  made  by  the  bank 
to  six  per  cent.  It  then  provides  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  three  of  the  Directors,  a  Com- 
mittee, to  have  the  charge  and  management 
of  all  that  portion  of  the  purchase  moneys 
above  set  apart,  and  appropriated  as  a  fund 
for  the  security  and  improvement  of  said 
city;  and  which  fund,  or  such  portion  there- 
of as  the  said  Committee  shall  deem  proper 
and  advisable,  shall  be  invested  in  stock  of 
said  bank,  the  said  Directors  being  author- 
ized and  required  to  add  to  the  capital  stock 
so  many  shares  as  shall  be  sufficient  to  take 
in  the  same,  at  the  par  value  of  the  stock. 
Section  20  explicitly  requires  that  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  the  Directors,  immediately  after 
their  election,  to  appoint  tiu'ee  persons  not 
of  their  own  body,  but  who  shall  be  remov- 
able at  the  pleasure  of  the  Directors,  who 
shall  be  citizens  of  Illinois,  and  even  res- 
idents of  Cairo,  if  competent  and  judicious 
persons  can  be  found  in  the  city,  who  shall 
be  styled  "  The  Board  of  Secm-ity  and  Im- 
provement of  the  City  of  Cairo,"  which 
board,  or  a  majority  thereof,  shall,  under 
the  sanction  of  the  Directors  of  the  said 
bank  first  had  and  obtained,  direct  and 
superintend  the  construction  and  preserva- 
tion of  such  dykes,  levees  and  embankments 
as  may  be   necessary  for  the   security  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


71 


city  of  Cairo,  and  every  part  thereof,  from 
all  and  every  inundation  which  can  possibly 
affect  or  injiu'e  the  same;  and  the  erection, 
fiom  time  to  time,  of  such  public  works  and 
improvements  as  the  state  of  such  fund  will 
justify.  They  ai-e  authorized  to  increase  the 
cai')ital  stock,  but  it  shall  never  exceed  the 
sum  of  $500,000.  Section  23  commands 
that  the  corporation  shall  not  at  any  time 
suspend,  or  refuse  payment  in'gold  and  silver 
for  any  of  its  notes,  bills  or  obligations,  nor 
any  moneys  received  on  deposit  in  the  bank 
or  in  its  office  of  discount  and  deposit,  and 
if  at  any  time  such  default  is  made,  then 
the  bank  shall  forfeit  12  per  cent  per  annum 
from  the  time  of  such  demand.  The  twenty- 
foui'th  and  last  section  declares  this  to  be  a 
public  act,  "and  that  the  same  be  construed  in 
all  courts  and  places  benignly  and  favor- 
ably." 

Such  was  the  gi'and  scheme  of  the  Illinois 
Territory  for  founding  here  a  city.  To  some 
extent,  it  was  running  counter  to  the  world's 
experience,  namely,  to  start  the  bank  and 
the  embryo  city  at  one  and  the  same  time, 
and  require  the  bank  to  build  the  city  and 
the  city  make  rich  and  strong  the  bank.  It 
was  a  species  of  legislative  financial  wisdom 
that  might  be  likened  unto  the  old  saying  of 
making  one  hand  wash  the  other.  They  pro- 
longed their  vision  into  their  future  and  our 
present  time,  and  dreamed  golden  day-dreams 
of  all  Illinois — at  least  all  the  part  of  it 
soiith  of  Kaskaskia.  They  thought,  perhaps, 
of  Romulus  and  Eome  and  the  she- wolf ;  of 
St.  Petersburg  and  Peter  the  Great;  of  Ven- 
ice and  her  gondoliers,  and  her  soft  moon- 
light and  music;  of  Alexandi'ia,  in  Lower 
Egypt,  with  her  great  forests  of  masts  in  her 
harbor,  and  her  temples  and  towers  and 
steeples  and  minarets  glittering  in  the  morn- 
ing sun — the  proud  mistress  of  the  world,  in 
wealth,  commerce,  intelligence,  prowess  and 


glory — and  their  souls  were  fired  with  no 
less  an  ambition  than  to  rival  and  surpass  all 
these,  and,  therefore,  to  found  and  build  here 
a  great  and  eternal  city.  They  knew  of  the 
Egyptian  Cairo,  lying  midway  between  Eu- 
rope, Asia,  the  Mediterranean  Sea  and  the 
north  of  Africa;  of  St.  Petersbiu-g,  where  the 
Gulf  of  Finland,  ,  the  Black  Sea  and  the 
White  Sea,  the  Baltic  and  the  Caspian  pour 
in  their  wealth  upon  *^her,  through  the  Dnie- 
per and  Dniester,  the  Neva,  the  Dwina  and 
the  Volga,  with  all  their  ten  thousand  reser- 
voirs, by  the  help  of  her  great  canal  system, 
giving  her  a  direct  navigation  of  4,000  miles, 
fi'om  St.  Petersburg  to  the  borders  of  China. 
They  looked  upon  New  York  and  her  vast 
navigation;  upon  New  Orleans,  whose  waters 
di'ained  a  great  empii'e.  They,  doubtless, 
unrolled  the  world's  map,  and  'there  noticed 
that  there  are  certain  points  that  engage  the 
attention  of  mankind;  that  these^'points  are 
centers  of  civilization,  and  in  all  time  they 
have  been  found  where  vast  bodies  of  water 
meet,  and  large,  populous  and  fertile  terri- 
tories converge,  giving  the  most  favorable 
conditions  for  colonization,  supply  and  de- 
fense. There  cannot  be  a  doubt  that,  in  the 
estimate  they  put  upon  the  natural  point  at 
Cairo,  they  were  wholly  cori'ect,  however 
much  they  may  have  been  mistaken  in  the 
legislative  machinery  they  deemed  it  wise  to 
put  in  motion  to  start  into  being  the  young 
city. 

John  R.  Corny ges  was  the  moving  and  mas- 
ter spirit  in  the  inception  and  origin  of  the 
"  City  and  Bank  of  Cairo"  scheme.  He  at- 
tended upon  the  Legislature,  and  unfolded 
his  vast  enterprise  in  such  glowing  terms  that 
that  body  made  haste  to  grant  his  every  re- 
quest. He  must  have  inspired  those  won- 
derfully-constructed "  whereases  "  that  were 
enacted  into  a  law.  And  it  must  have  been 
his  busy  brain  that  conceived   the   dashing 


73 


HISTOEY  OF  CAIRO. 


idea  of  first  founding  a  wild-cat  bank  in  the 
wild  jungles,  the  oozing  mai-shes  and  among 
the  festive  frogs  of  the  Delta,  and  upon  this 
South  Sea  Bubble  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  • 
great  city,  where  men  should  "  build  for  the 
ages  unafraid. " 

This,  the  earliest  effort  to  start  a  city  here, 
to  fix  a  "  base  whereon  these  ashlars,  well 
hewn,  may  be  laid,"  although  so  generously 
aided  by  the  Territorial  Legislature,  came  to 
naught,  by  the  death  of  Comyges,  just  as  he 
was  about  to  visit  the  capitalists  of  Europe, 
to  enlist  their  aid  and  interests  in  the  grand 
and  promising  scheme.  The  company  had 
entered  the  land  on  the  old  credit  system, 
and  had  sui'veyed  and  platted  the  town,  and 
were  pushing  every  department  under  favor- 
ing prospects,  when  the  sudden  death  of  their 
organizer  and  leader,  when  there  was  no  one 
to  take  his  place,  spread  such  general  doubts 
and  dismay  among  the  stockholders,  that  the 
enterprise  collapsed  and  passed  away,  and 
the  title  to  the  land  reverted  to  the  Govern- 
ment. 

A  pai't  of  the  interest  that  now  attaches  to 
this  original  Cairo  Company  is  the  record  it 
made  as  to  the  knowledge  men  possessed 
sixty-five  years  ago,  as  to  the  high  waters  in 
our  rivers,  and  how  much  we  have  learned  by 
the  intervening  experiences  between  then  ana 
now.  In  the  prospectus,  it  stated  to  the  world : 
"It  remains  only  to  be  shown  that  the  want, 
in  this  tract,  of  sufficient  material  elevation 
presents  but  an  inconsidrable  obstacle  to  its 
future  greatness.  To  prove  this  fact,  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  advert  to  the  provisions 
contained  in  the  charter  and  the  report  of 
the  Surveyor,  Maj.  Duncan,  who,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  proprietors,  undertook  to  run 
the  exterior  limits  and  to  ascertain  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  ground;  from  which  report  it 
will  appear  that  an  embankment  of  the 
average   height  of    five  feet   will   secure   it 


effectually  against  the  highest  swells  in  both 
rivers.  It  may  here  be  proper  to  state  that 
much  of  this  tract  is  already  high,  and  quite 
as  eligible  for  warehouses  and  other  build- 
ings as  many  of  the  most  flourishing  stations 
on  the  Ohio."  They  carefully  estimated, 
from  their  engineers'  reports,  that  $20,000 
would  build  all  the  levees  around  Cairo  to 
forever  secure  it  against  any  possible  waters 
in  the  rivers. 

Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company. — On  the 
4th  of  March,  1837,  the  Illinois  Legislatui-e 
incorporated  Darius  B.  Holbrook,  Miles  A. 
Gilbert,  John  S.  Hacker,  Alexander  M.  Jen- 
kins, Anthony  Olney  and  William  M.  Wal- 
ker as  a  body  corporate  and  politic,  under 
the  name  of  the  "Cairo  City  &  Canal  Com- 
pany;" giving  the  usual  powers  of  a  charter 
company,  and  to  own  and  hardle  real  estate, 
but  providing  that  "  the  real  estate  owned 
and  held  by  said  company  shall  not  exceed 
the  quantity  of  land  embraced  in  Fractional 
Township  17,  in  Alexander  County,  and  the 
said  corporation  are  hereby  authorized  to  piu-- 
chase  said  land,  or  any  part  thereof,  but 
more  particularly  the  tract  of  land  incorpo- 
rated as  the  city  of  Cairo,  and  may  proceed 
to  lay  off  said  land,  or  any  part  of  the  land  of 
said  Township  17,  into  lots  for  a  town,  to  be 
known  as  the  city  of  Cairo,  and  whenever  a 
plan  of  said  city  is  made,  the  company  shall 
deposit  a  copy  of  the  same,  with  a  full  de- 
scription thereof,  in  the  Recorder  of  Deeds' 
office  in  the  C  unfy  of  Alexander.  *  *  * 
And  the  said  corporation  may  construct 
dykes,  canals,  levees  and  embankiuents  for 
the  sec;u-ity  and  preservation  of  said  city  and 
land  and  all  improvements  thereon,  from  all 
and  every  inundation  which  can  possibly 
affect  or  injui*e  the  same,  and  may  erect  such 
works,  buildings  and  improvements  which 
they  may  deem  necessary  for  promoting  the 
health  and  prosperity  of  said  city.     And  for 


HISTORY  OF  CAIKO. 


73 


draining  said  city,  and  other  purposes,  said 
corporation  may  lay  off  and  construct  a  canal, 
to  unite  with  Cache  Kiver,  at  such  point  of 
such  river  as  the  company  may  deem  most 
eligible  and  proper,  and  may  use  the  water  of 
sa^id  river  for  said  canal,  running  to  and 
through  said  city  of  Cairo,  as  said  company 
may  direct.  *  *  *  *  The  capital  stock 
of  the  company  shall  consist  of  20,000  shares, 
and  no  greater  assessment  shall  be  laid  upon 
any  shares  in  said  company  of  a  greater 
amount  than  §100  each  share.  And  the  im- 
mediate government  and  direction,  of  the 
affairs  of  said  company  shall  be  vested  in 
a  board  of  not  less  than  five  Directors,  who 
shall  be  chosen  by  the  members  of  the  cor- 
poration in  manner  hereinafter  provided,  a 
majority  of  whom  shall  form  a  quorum  for 
the  transaction  of  business;  shall  elect  one 
of  their  number  to  be  President  of  the 
Board,  who   shall    also  be   President  of   the 


company. 


*     *     *     * 


The  President  and 


Directors  for  the  time  being  are  hereby  au- 
thorized and  empowered,  by  themselves  or 
their  agents,  to  execute  all  powers  herein 
gi'anted  to  the  company,  and  all  such  other 
powers  and  authority  for  the  management  of 
the  affairs  of  the  company  not  heretofore 
granted,  as  may  be  proper  and  necessary  to 
carry  into  effect  the  object  of  this  act,  and  to 
make  such  equal  assessments,  from  time  to 
time,  on  all  shares  of  said  company  as  they 
may  deem  expedient  and  necessary,  and 
direct  the  same  to  be  paid  m  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  company;  and  the  Treasurer  shall  give 
notice  of  all  such  assessments,  and  in  case 
any  subscriber  shall  neglect  to  pay  his  as- 
sessment for  the  spice  of  thirty  days  due 
notice  by  the  Treasurer  of  said  company,  the 
Directors  may  order  the  Treasurer  to  sell 
such  share  or  shares  at  public  auction,  after 
giving  due  notice  thereof,  to  the  highest 
bidder,  and  the  same  shall  be  transferred  to 


the  purchaser,  and  such  delinquent  subscriber 
shall  be  held  accountable  to  the  company  for 
the  balance.  *  *  *  *  ^  toll  is  hereby 
granted  and  established,  for  the  benefit  of 
said  company,  upon  all  passengers  an  d  prop- 
erty of  all  descriptions  which  may  be  con- 
veyed or  transported  upon  the  canal  of  the 
company,  upon  such  terms  as  may  be  agreed 
upon  and  established,  from  time  to  time,  by 
the  Directors  of  said  company.  That  the 
company  shall  not  be  authorized  by  this  act 
to  erect  or  construct  any  dam  or  dams  upon 
or  across  Cache  River,  for  the  purpose  afore- 
said, until  they  shall  first  have  obtained  the 
consent  of  the  County  Commissioners'  Court 
of  Alexander  County,  which  consent .  so  ob- 
tained shall  be  entered  upon  the  recoi'ds  of 
said  court;  and  whenever  the  route  on  said 
canal  shall  be  located,  the  company  shall 
have  recorded  a  plan  and  description  thei*eof 
in  the  office  of  the  Recorder  of  Deeds  and 
the  office  of  said  County  Commissioners' 
Court,  in  Alexander  County.  The  said  com- 
pany shall  be  holden  to  pay  all  damages  that 
may  arise  to  any  person  or  corporation,  by 
taking  their  land  for  said  canal  or  any  other 
invrpose  when  it  cannot  be  obtained  by  volun- 
tary agreement,  to  be  estimated  and  re- 
covered in  4he  manner  provided  by  law,  for 
the  recovering  of  damages  happening  by  lay- 
ing out  highways.  When  the  lands,  or 
other  property  or  estate  of  any  femme-covert, 
infant  or  person  non  comj)os  mentis,  shall  be 
wanted  for  the  purposes  and  objects  of  the 
company,  the  guardian  of  said  infant  or  per- 
soni  non  compos  mentis,  or  husband  of  such 
femme-covert,  may  release  all  damage  and 
interest  for  and  in  such  lands  or  estate 
taken  for  the  company  as  they  ^might  do  if 
the  same  were  holden  by  them  in  their  own 
right  respectively  This  act  shall  be  deemed 
and  taken  as  a  public  act.  It  shall  continue 
in  force   for  the  term  of   twenty-five   years 


74 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


from  the  passage  thereof.  The  final  section 
requires  that  -unless  §20.000  is  expended  on 
the  canal  within  five  years  from  the  date  of 
the  act,  it  shall  be  forfeited.  In  February, 
1839,  the  Legislature  amended  that  act  as 
follows:  "  "that  the  said  Cairo  City  & 
Canal  Company  shall  not  be  obliged,  as  au- 
thorized by  its  charter,  to  lay  ofi"  and  con- 
struct a  canal  to  unite  with  Cache  River, 
should  the  same  be  deemed  injurious  to  the 
health  of  the  city — and  the  twelfth  section  of 
said  act.  which  requires  a  certain  amount  to 
be  expended  on  said  canal  within  five  years, 
is  hereby  repealed." 

We  have  given  verbatim  enough  of  this 
remarkable  charter,  in  its  ultimate  results 
one  of  the  most  important  that  .was  ever 
gi-anted  by  the  State  of  Illinois,  for  the 
reader  to  see  for  himself  that  it  is  one  of 
two  things,  namely,  either  the  most  amazing 
in  the  complete  simplicity  of  its  author's 
ideas,  or  Machiavelian  in  its  transcendant 
ability  to  hide  the  iron  hand  beneath  the  vel- 
vet glove.  No  State  document  was  ever 
drafted  that  could  look  more  innocent,  and 
at  the  same  time  appropriate  to  itself  com- 
plete and  sovereign  and  autocratic  powers, 
in  the  name  of  building  a  canal  from  the 
mouth  of  Cache  River  to  and  through  the 
city  of  Cairo  to  the  extreme  southern  point 
of  land.  If  the  company  ever  thought  of 
building  a  canal  from  the  mouth  of  Cache 
through  the  city,  they  would  not  only  have 
to  curve  it  several  times  on  its  route,  to  keep 
the  canal  from  running  into  the  river,  but 
they  must  have  known  they  would  Lave  to 
erect  great  and  sti'ong  artificial  levees  on 
both  sides  of  their  canal  to  prevent  both  rivers 
from  rushing  from  their  long-occupied  beds, 
with  an  angry  roar,  souse  into  the  canal.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  they  never  did  contemplate 
building  the  canal,  then,  indeed,  is  its  mas- 
terly shrewdness   patent  at  a   glance.     Cer- 


tainly, even  an  Illinois  Legislature  would 
have  discovered  the  cat  in  the  meal-tub  had 
the  incorporators  gone  before  them  and 
asked  for  a  charter  to  found  a  city,  and, 
without  any  canal  attachment,  asked  for  such 
complete  powers  of  the  right  of  eminent 
domain  over  private  property,  real  and  per- 
sonal! If  they  ever  intended  to  build  a 
canal,  they  were  soon  cured  of  that  hallucina- 
tion, as  is  shown  by  the  amendment  of  1S39, 
which  simply  permits  the  whole  canal  scheme 
to  be  dropped,  and  yet  leaves  all  the  great 
powers  that  were  originally  gi-anted  the  com- 
pany intact.  So  far  as  can  now  be  ascer- 
tained, the  company  never  abused  or  exer- 
cised to  the  ill  of  any  one  these  powers  con- 
ferred by  the  charter.  If  there  was  a  pur- 
pose Im'king  beneath  the  fair  face  of  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  new  city,  it,  perhaps, 
was  not  in  the  idea  of  its  author  to  use  it  to 
wrong  or  oppress  any  private  citizen,  and  it 
would  only  be  invoked  as  a  last  resort  to  pro- 
tect the  vital  welfare  of  the  future  city. 

As  stated  above,  this  Caii'o  City  &  Canal 
Company  charter  became  a  law  March  4, 
1837,  and  not  March  4,  1838,  as  probably 
the  compositor  made  Mose  Harrell  say,  in  a 
sketch  of  early  Cairo  that  he  published  a  few 
years  ago.  The  date  is  important,  because 
on  June  7,  1837,  "The  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company,"  which  had  been  incorpor- 
ated January  16,  1836,  and  authorized  to 
construct  a  railroad,  commencing  at  or  near 
the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers,  and  extending  to  Galena,  released  all 
its  rights  back  to  the  State  of  Illinois,  con- 
ditioned, however,  that  "the  State  of  Illinois 
shall  commence  the  conetruction  of  said  rail- 
road within  a  reasonable  |time,  and  to  com- 
mence at  the  city  of  Cairo  and  build  north 
to  Galena." 

On  the  27th  day  of  June,  1837,  there  was 
an  agreement  entered  into  between   the  orig- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


75 


inal  Illinois  Central  Kailroad,  by  A.  M. 
Jenkins,  its  President,  and  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company,  by  D.  B.  Holbrook,  its 
President,  by  which  it  was  stipulated  the 
railroad  to  be  constructed  by  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  "  shall  be  commenced  at 
such  point  in  the  city  of  Cairo  as  the  Cairo 
City  &  Canal  Company  may  fix  and  direct. 
This  release  of  the  Central  Railroad  of  its 
franchise  back  to  the  State  was  caused  by 
the  wild  craze  that  had  taken  possession  of 
the  entire  State  on  the  great  internal  im- 
provement system,  that  bo  quickly  landed  the 
Commonwealth  in  bankruptcy,  and  abruptly 
stopped  all  State  progress  fox  several  years. 
This  was  a  sad  and  severe  lesson  to  the 
young  State,  but  probably  in  the  end  it  was 
for  the  best.  On  the  same  day  of  the  above 
agreement,  namely,  20th  June,  1837,  the  Cairo 
&  Canal  Company  having  obtained,  by 
purchase,  the  lands  in  Town  17  south,  Range 
1  west,  on  a  portion  of  which  had  been  laid 
out  the  city  of  Cairo,  mortgaged  the  entire 
property  to  the  New  York  Life  Insurance 
&  Trust  Company,  to  secvu*e  certain  loans 
and  moneys  advanced  by  English  capitalists. 
The  release  made  by  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company  was  accepted  by  the 
State,  on  the  conditions  imposed,  and  the 
State  commenced  at  Cairo  the  construction 
of  the  railroad,  which  the  railroad  company 
had  been  authorized  to  construct  to  Galena; 
and  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company 
pressed  forward  the  improvements  it  was 
making,  upon  which,  up  to  February  1, 
1S40,  it  had  expended,  of  boiTowed  money, 
about  $1,000,000.  It  had  erected  mills, 
various  workshops  atfl  houses  for  its  em- 
ployees, and  there  had  congregated  here  about 
1,500  souls.  But  on  February  1,  1840,  the 
great  internal  improvement  system,  which 
had  been  inaugiu'atod  by  the  infatuated  State 
Legislature  of  1837,  was  repealed,  and  the 


work  upon  the  Illinois  Central  stopped,  after 
the  State  had  expended,  as  stated,  over 
$1,000,000.  While  the  bursting  of  this 
bubble  seriously  crippled,  financially,  the 
entire  people  of  the  State,  it  was  especially 
disastrous  at  Cairo.  It  was  the  work  upon 
the  railroad  that  had  brought  the  people 
here,  and  when  not  only  the  State  was  bank- 
rupt, but  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company 
was  insolvent,  the  railroad  defunct,  the 
banker  of  the  company  in  England  had 
failed,  and  all  work  and  improvements  were 
abandoned,  the  people  fled,  and  desolation 
brooded  over  the  town,  where  now  "the 
spider  might  weave,  unmolested,  his  web  in 
her  palaces,  and  the  owl  hoot  his  watch  song 
in  her  temples." 

On  March  6,  1843,  the  Legislatm-e  passed 
an  act  to  incorporate  the  Great  Western 
Railway  Company.  "While  this  was  a  rail- 
road charter,  authorizing  the  construction  of 
a  railroad  upon  the  line  of  the  original 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  yet  it  was,  in  fact, 
a  re-incorporation  of  the  Cairo  City  & 
Canal  Company.  After  the  enacting  clause, 
it  says:  "That  the  President  and  Directors 
of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company  (in- 
corporated by  the  State  of  Illinois)  and  their 
successors  in  office  be  and  they  are  hereby 
made  a  body  corporate  and  politic  under  the 
name  and  style  of  the  '  Great  Western  Rail- 
way Company,'  and  under  that  name  and 
style  shall  bo  and  are  hereby  made  capable, 
in  law  and  equity,  to  sue  and  be  sued,  de- 
feud  and  be  defended,  in  any  court  or  place 
whatsoever,  to  make,  have  and  use  a  common 
seal,  the  same  to  alter  and  renew  at  pleasure, 
and  by  that  name  and  style  be  capable  in 
law  of  contracting  and  being  conti  acted 
with,  of  purchasing,  holding  and  conveying 
away  of  real  estate  and  personal  estate  for 
the  pui-poses  and  uses  of  said  corporation; 
and  shall   be  and  are   herebv  invested  with 


76 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


all  the  powers,  privileges  and  immunities, 
which  are  or  may  be  necessary  to  carry  into 
eflect  the  object  .and  pui-poses  of  ^this  act,  as 
hereinafter  set  forth;  and  the  said  corpora- 
tion ai*e  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to 
locate,  construct  and  finally  complete  a  rail- 
road, commencing  at  the  city  of  Cairo, 
thence  north  by  way  of  Vandalia,  etc.," 
almost  exactly  as  specified  in  the  charter  of 
the  original  Illinois  Central  Railroad. 

This  act  of  incorporation  was  mei'ely  the 
grafting  into  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Com- 
pany a  railroad  franchise,  which  in  no  single 
clause  diminished  the  original  powers  of  the 
Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  but  enlarged 
and  extended  them  throughout  the  entire 
length  of  the  State.  So  completely  were  the 
two  companies  made  one,  indeed,  so  fully  was 
the  railroad  merged  into  and  absorbed  by 
the  canal  company,  that  the  officers  of  the 
city  company,  including  the  President  and 
Directors,  were  made  the  officers  of  the  rail- 
road by  the  legislative  act.  It  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  State  had  expended 
over  $1,000,000  in  work  upon  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  and  all  this  was  turned 
over  to  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company 
and  the  Great  Western  Railroad  (all  one  and 
the  same  thing)  and  this  was  turned  over  to 
the  new  company  in  the  following  rather 
loose  language,  in  Section  12  of  the  incor- 
poration act:  "The  frovernor  of  this  State  is 
hereby  authorized  and  required  to  appoint 
one  or  more*  competent  persons  to  estimate 
the  present  value  of  any  work  done,  at  the 
expense  of  the  State,  on  the  Central  Rail- 
road; also  of  any  materials  or  right  of  way; 
and  whatever  sum  shall  be  fixed  upon  as  the 
value  thereof,  by  said  persons,  shall  be  paid 
for  by  the  company,  in  the  bonds  or  other 
indebtedness  of  the  State,  any  time  during 
the  progress  of  the  road  to  completion,  and 
any  contract   entered    into  under  the  seal  of 


the  State,  signed  by  the  Governor  thereof, 
shall  be  legal  and  binding,  to  the  full  intent 
and  purpose  thereof,  on  the  State  of  Illinois," 

Section  14,  with  equal  State  liberality  and 
vagueness,  goes  on  to  specify  that  whenever 
the  whole  indebtedness  of  the  company  shall 
be  paid  and  liquidated,  the  Legislature  of 
the  State  ^  of  Illinois,  thereafter  then  in 
session,  shall  have  the  power  to  alter,  amend 
or  modify  this  act,  as  the  public  good  shall 
require,  and  also  that  of  the  City  of  Cairo 
&  Canal  Company;  and  the  eleventh  section 
of  the  act  incorporating  the  said  Cairo  Citi/ 
&  Canal  Company,  which  limits  its  charter 
to  twenty  years,  be  and  the  said  section  is 
hereby  repealed,  and  this  act  be  and  is  de- 
clared a  public  act,  and  as  such  shall  be 
taken  notice  of  by  all  courts  of  justic  ■  in  the 
State,  etc. 

Two  years  after  this,  March  3,  1845,  the 
Legislature  repealed  the  act  incoi-porating 
the  Great  Western  Railroad  Company.  This 
repealing  law  like  all  other  legislation  upon 
that  subject,  was  no  doubt  passed  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  railroad  company,  or  rather  of 
the  Cairo  Cit}^  &  Canal  Company.  On  its 
face,  it  has  the  appearance  of  a  design  to 
give  back  to  the  State  all  its  rights  and 
privileges  except  those  pertaining  to  the 
founding  of  a  city  here  and  the  construction 
of  a  canal  from  Cache  to  and  through  Cairo. 

But  on  February  10,  1849,  the  Legislature 
passed  another  law,  which  repealed  the  re- 
pealing act,  and  starts  out  by  saying  that 
the  President  and  Directors  of  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company,  under  the  name  and 
style  of  the  "  Great  Western  Railway  Com- 
pany," chartered  Mf^eh  6.  1843,  and  that 
William  F.  Thornton,  Willis  Allen,  Thomas 
G.  C.  Davis,  John  Moore,  John  Huffman, 
John  Green,  Robert  Blackwell,  Benjamin 
Bond,  Daniel  H.  Brush,  George  W.  Pace, 
Walter   B.  Scates,  Samuel   K.  Casey,  Albert 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


77 


G.  Caldwell,  Humphrey  B.  Jones,  Charles 
Hoyt,  Ira  Minarcl.  Charles  S.  Hempstead, 
John  B.  Chapin,  Uri  Osgood,  H.  D.  Berley, 
Hemy  Corwith,  I.  C.  Pugh,  John  J.  Mc- 
Graw,  Onslow  Peters,  D.  D.  Shumway,  Jus- 
tin Butterfield,  John  B.  Turner,  Mark  Skin- 
ner and  Gavion  D.  A.  Parks  be  associates 
with  said  company  in  the  construction  of 
said  railroad,  and  are  empowered  and 
reinstated,  with  all  the  powers  and  privileges 
contained  in  said  act  of  incorpoi-ation, 
and  are  also  subject  to  all  restrictions 
contained  in  said  act  of  incoporation — the 
act  in  force  March  3.  1845,  which  repealed 
the  charter  of  the  company,  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.  This  reviving  act  then 
proceeds  to  extend  the  privileges  of  the  Cairo 
City  &  Canal  Company  in  a  most  liberal 
manner.  It  authorizes  them  to  construct  the 
Great  Western  Eailroad  from  the  teiTaina- 
tion  set  forth  in  the  said  charter,  at  or  near 
the  termination  of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan 
Canal  to  the  city  of  Chicago.  Section  3  is 
important  enough  to  give  it  entire,  as  follows: 
"And  the  right  of  way  the  State  may  have 
obtained,  together  with  all  the  work  and  sur- 
veying done  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  and 
materials  connected  with  said  road,  Mng  be- 
tween the  termination  of  the  Illinois  & 
Michigan  Canal  and  Cairo  City,  are  hereby 
granted  to  said  company  upon  conditions  as 
follows:  Said  company  shall  take  posses- 
sion of  ^said  road  within  two  years  of  the 
passage  of  this  act,  and  as  far  as  practicable 
preserve  the  same  from  injury  and  dilapida- 
tion; and  said  company  shall,  within  two 
years  from  the  passage  of  this  act,  expend 
$100,000  in  the  construction  of  said  road, 
and  $200,000  for  each  year  thereafter,  until 
said  road  shall  have  been  completed  from  the 
city  of  Cairo  to  the  city  of  Chicago. 

Sec  4.     The    Governor    of    the    State   of 
Illinois  is  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  I 


to  contract  with  and  agree  to  hold  iu  trust, 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  said  Great  West- 
ern Railway  Company,  whatever  lands  may 
be  donated  or  thereunto  seciu-ed  to  the  State 
of  Illinois  by  the  General  Government,  to 
aid  in  the  completion  of  the  Central  or  Great 
Western  Railroad  from  Cairo  to  Chicago, 
subject  to  the  conditions  and  provisions  of 
the  bill  granting  the  lands  by  Congi-ess, 
and  the  said  company  is  hereby  authorized 
to  receive,  hold  and  dispose  of  any  and  all 
lands  secui'ed  to  said  company  by  donation, 
pre-emption  or  otherwise;  subject,  however, 
to  the  provisions  of  the  eighteenth  section  of 
its  charter.  [This  clause  was  to  the  effect 
that  all  lands  coming  into  the  hands  of  the 
company,  not  required  for  use,  security  or 
construction,  should  be  sold  by  the  company 
within  live  years,  or  revert  to  the  Govern- 
ment.] Provision  was  then  further  made  that 
the  Governor  should,  from  time  to  time,  as 
the  company  progressed  with  the  work,  des- 
ignate in  writing  the  proportion  of  such 
lands  donated  by  Congress  to  be  sold  and  dis- 
posed of. 

In  order  to  complete  the  list  of  incorpo- 
ration acts,  that  had  a  direct  reference  to  the 
owners  and  proprietors  of  the  city  of  Caii'o, 
it  is  proper  here  to  explain  that  on  January 
18,  1836,  the  Legislature  incorporated  the 
Illinois  Exporting  Company.  The  act  states 
that  "all  such  persons  as  shall  become  sub- 
scribers to  the  stock  hei-eiuafter  described, 
shall  be  and  they  are  hereby  constituted  and 
declared  a  body  politic  and  corporate."  It 
proceeds  to  enable  the  President  and  Direct- 
ors of  the  company  to  "carry  on  the  manu- 
facture of  agricultural  products;  erect  mills 
and  buildings;  export  their  products  and 
manufactures,  and  enter  into  all  contracts 
concerning-  the  management  of  their  prop- 
erty. The  capital  stock  is  §150,000,  and 
may  be  increased  to  $500,000;  meetings  and 


78 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


general  places  of  business  of  the  company  to 
be  at  Alton ;  may  select  any  other  place  of 
business;  may  erect  mills,  etc.,  in  any  county 
in  the  State,  by  permission  of  the  County 
Commisisoners'  Court.  James  S.  Lane, 
Thomas  G.  Howley,  Anthony  Olney,  John 
M.  Krum  and  D.  B.  Holbrook  are  appointed 
Commissioners  to  obtain  subscription  to  the 
capital  stock  of  the  company;  any  one  could 
become  a  subscriber  by  paying  $1.  Provided, 
the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  in  no  case 
extend  to  the  counties  of  Edgar,  Green  and 
St.  Clair,  etc.,  etc. 

On  September  29,  1846,  in  consequence  of 
the  general  and  financial  disasters,  resulting 
from  panic  and  widespread  bankruptcy 
throughout  the  commercial  world,  the  pai'ties 
interested  in  Cairo,  the  mortgagees,  judg- 
ment creditors,  owners  in  fee  and  otherwise 
interested,  after  a  series  of  consultations, 
agi-eed  and  did  form  and  create  the  "  Trust 
of  the  Cairo  City  Property,"  conveying  the 
property  to  Thomas  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Charles  Davis,  of  New  York,  as  Trustees. 

On  May  10,  1876,  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo 
City  property,  having  expended  in  making 
material  improvements  about  Cairo  $1,307,- 
021.42,  of  which  $184,505.64  was  expended 
upon  the  levee  running  along  the  Ohio  River, 
and  $149,973.23  upon  the  levee  running 
along  the  Mississippi  River,  and  $70,445.06 
upon  the  protection  of  the  Mississippi  River 
bank,  and  $571,534.08  upon  general  improve- 
ments, and  $330,553.41  upon  taxes  and  as- 
sessments, found  themselves  unable  to  pay 
two  loans  obtained  from  Hiram  Ketchum, 
of  New  York — one  on  October  1,  1863,  for 
$250,000,  and  the  other  on  October  1,  1867, 
for  $50,000,  to  secure  which,  mortgages,  of 
the  dates  given,  had  been  executed.  The 
mortgages  were,  therefore,  foreclosed,  and 
the  property  of  the  Trust  of  the  Cairo  City 
Property  sold  to  the  bondholders  under  the 


mortgage,  and  a  new,  and  the  present,  trust 
was  formed,  called  the  Cairo  Trust  Property, 
under  the  control  and  management  oE  Col. 
S.  Staats  Taylor  and  Edwin  Parsons,  the 
Trustees. 

On  the  14th  of  February,  1841,  the  Legis- 
lature passed  an  act  conferring  upon  the 
Cairo  City  &  Catial  Company  "all  the 
powers  conferred  upon  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men of  the  City  of  Quincy,  as  defined  be- 
tween the  fii'st  and  forty-fifth  sections  ol  the 
charter  of  that  city,"  and  these  grants  were 
confirmed  for  ten  years. 

It  is  possible  there  were  other  laws  passed 
for  the  benefit  of  the  many  charter  companies 
that  depended  and  hinged  upon  the  Cairo 
City  &  Canal  Company,  but  we  have  not, 
so  far,  found  them.  But  in  all  these  acts 
and  doings,  one  fact  is  distinctly  seen :  Many 
people  believed  that  it  was  all,  practically, 
the  work  of  D.  B.  Holbrook,  and  that,  as  a 
rule,  up  to  the  time  that  his  path  was  crossed 
by  Judge  Douglas,  the  names  of  D.  B.  Hol- 
brook and  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company 
were  practically  one  and  the  same  thing. 
He  was  certainly  a  man  of  great  activity  of 
intellect,  shrewdness  and  untiring  industry, 
and  while  all  conceded  him  this,  yet  many 
deemed  him  utterly  selfish,  and  indifferent 
to  all  interests  except  his  own,  and  that  he 
was  a  shrewd  and  dangerous  marplot,  who 
brought  evil  to  Cairo  by  his  reckless  greed 
of  power  and  money.  In  speaking  of  the 
crash  that  came  upon  Cairo  in  1841,  Mose 
Harrell,  among  other  things,  enumerated,  as 
the  chief  cause  thereof,  to  have  been  the  fail- 
ure of  the  banking-house  of  Wright  &  Co., 
London,  through  which  continuous  loans  to 
the  City  Company  were  anticipated;  the  sus- 
pension of  work  on  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, upon  which  so  much  trade  depended, 
and  the  general  abandonment  of  the  system 
of  public  works  inaugurated  by  the  State  in 


'^.i- 


im^ 


4 


/J      i>f^' 


m-L^.cM,  X-/ix^ 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


81 


1837,  and  he  says:  "  Possibly  another  reason 
was  the  monopoly  of  which  Holbrook  was  the 
head.  Under  his  rule,  no  person  could  be- 
come a  freeholder  in  the  city;  ground  there 
could  not  be  purchased  or  leased;  all  the 
dwellings  were  owned  by  the  company;  no 
one  could  live  in  the  city,  unless  at  the  pleas- 
ure of  Holbrook,  as  even  the  hotels  were  the 
property  of  the  company.  More  than  that, 
the  company  were  empowered  (with)  all  the 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  municipal  gov- 
ernment, such  as  a  Mayor  and  Common 
Council  might  establish.  The  company  could 
declare  a  levy  of  taxes  and  enforce  its  col- 
lection, and  could  expend  the  money  as  it 
chose."  In  a  letter  published  in  the  New 
York  Herald,  and  of  date  October  3,  1850, 
we  extract  the  following:  "  In  1835,  Mr.  D. 
B.  Holbrook,  originally  from  Boston,  pro- 
cured from  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of 
Illinois  his  first  charter  for  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company,  and  he  also  procured  a 
charter  for  the  Central  Kailroad  Company, 
from  Cairo  to  Galena.  He  subsequently  ob- 
tained a  third  charter,  for  the  Illinois  Ex- 
porting Company,  with  authority  to  carry  on 
transportation  by  land  and  water,  and  to  in- 
sure against  risks  from  fii'e  and  water,  and 
to  carry  on  manufacturing  business  gener- 
ally. He  also  purchased  and  revived  a  de- 
funct bank  charter,  known  as  the  Cairo  Bank, 
and  one  or  two  others  I  cannot  specify.  Mr. 
Holbrook  at  once  organized  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company;  took  the  stock  himself, 
and  had  himself  elected  President;  also  or- 
ganized the  Central  Railroad  Company,  by  a 
nominal  payment  of -SI  per  share  (which  was 
never  paid  in,  but  a  note  given  in  lieu  of  the 
money),  and  elected  himself  President.  He 
also  organized  the  Illinois  Exporting  Com- 
pany, in  the  same  mode;  and  also  organized 
the  Cairo  Bank,  and  put  one  of  his  instru- 
ments at  the  head  of  it.     Subsequently,   D. 


B.  Holbrook,  as  President  of  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company,  entered  into  a  contract 
with  D.  B.  Holbrook,  as  President  of  the 
Central  Bailroad  Company;  and  D.  B.  Hol- 
brook, as  President  of  the  Central  Railroad 
Company,  further  contracted  with  D.  B.  Hol- 
brook, of  the  Illinois  Exporting  Company, 
and  D.  B.  Holbrook,  as  President  of  that 
company,  contracted  with  D.  B.  Holbrook,  as 
President  of  each  of  the  other  companies, 
that  each  of  said  companies  might  exercise  all 
and  singular,  the  rights,  privileges  and 
powers  conferred  by  law  upon  either;  by 
which  all  companies  were  to  be  consolidated 
into  one,  and  exercise  the  several  powers  con- 
ferred upon  each.  *  *  *  *  jn  1S36, 
the  Illinois  Legislature  adopted  its  mam- 
moth system  of  internal  improvement,  and 
among  other  enterprises,  commenced  the 
construction  of  a  Central  Railroad  as  a  State 
work,  Mr.  Holbrook  having  surrendered 
his  charter  for  that  purpose.  After  having 
spent  about  $1,000,000  on  |the  road,  the 
credit  of  the  State  failed,  and  the  system  was 
abandoned.  A  charter  was  subsequently 
granted  bj'  the  Legislature  to  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company,  by  which  that  company 
was  authorized  to  construct  the  Central  Rail- 
road. At  the  last  regular  session  of  the 
Legislatm-e,  while  a  bill  was  pending  before 
Congress,  making"  a  grant  of  land  to  the 
State,  in  aid  of  the  construction  of  the  rail- 
road, a  law  was  passed,  transferring  to  the 
said  company  the  right  of  way,  and  all  the 
work  which  had  been  executed  by  the  State 
at  the  cost  of  $1,000,000,  together  with  all 
the  lands  which  had  been,  or  should  here- 
after be,  granted  by  Congress  to  the  State  in 
aid  of  the  constniction  of  said  railroad. 
How  this  act  was  passed  remains  a  mystery, 
as  its  existence  was  not  known  in  Illinois 
until  Judge  Douglas  brought  it  to  light  in  a 
speech  at  Chicago   in  October  last.     In  that 


83 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


speech,  Judge  Douglas  denounced  the  whole 
transaction  as  a  fraud  upon  the  Legislature 
and  the  people  of  the  State,  and  declared 
that  he  would  denounce  it  as  such  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  if  an  application 
was  ever  made  to  that  body  for  a  grant  of 
land,  whilst  the  Holbrook  charters,  and  es- 
pecially the  act  referred  to,  remained  in 
force." 

Tlae  letter  proceeds  to  give  an  account  of 
how  Judge  Douglas  finally  compelled  Hol- 
brook and  his  company  to  execute  a  complete 
release  of  their  charter  to  the  State,  and 
then  says:  "But  for  the  execution  of  the  re- 
lease by  Mr.  Holbrook,  and  the  surrender  of 
all  claims  to  any  railroad  charter,  or  rights 
and  privileges  under  any  act  of  the  Illinois 
Legislature  on  the  subject,  the  grant  of  land 
would  never  have  been  ,made  by  Congi-ess. 
Thus  it  appears  that  Mr.  Holbrook  has  no 
charter  for  a  railroad  in  Illinois,  and  no 
claims  to  the  lands  which  have  been  granted, 
unless  the  State  of  Illinois  refuses  to  accept 
the  release,  or  makes  a  new  grant  to  D.  B. 
Holbrook,  which,  unless  its  members  are 
crazy,  it  is  not  likely  to  do.  I  have  deemed 
it  necessary  to  make  this  exposition  of  the 
facts  in  the  case,  in  order  ,that  capitalists  in 
New  York  and  elsewhere  may  not  labor  under 
eiToneous  impressions  in  regaixl  to  so  impor- 
tant a  matter,  affecting  alike  the  honor  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  and  that  of  Congress." 

A  full  and  complete  account  of  the  nego- 
tiations, correspondence,  etc.,  that  ^resulted 
in  this  important  transaction,  will  be  found 
in  another  chapter  in  the  account  of  the 
building  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad. 
We  give  here  these  extracts  from  the  letter  of 
"An  Illinois  Bondholder,"  merely  to  show 
the  tenor  of  the  attacks  that  were  in  that  day 
made  upon  Holbrook,  and  the  wide  and  pro- 
found sensation  the  appearance  of  this  ex- 
traordinary financier  made  all  over  the  coun- 


try.    The  reader  (^can  now  readily  see  there 
are  many  historical    inaccuracies  in  the  let- 
ter, yet,  at  the  time  it   was  published,  it  was 
a  strong  document,  and   had  evidently  been 
carefully   prepared    by  some  one   who   had 
studied  well  the  subject.     It  is  possible  the 
writer  was  a  jealous  rival  of  Holbrook's,  and 
one  who  conceived  that  his  own  success  could 
only  be  accomplished   by  first  pulling  down 
Holbrook  and  his  company.    Certainly,  there 
is  too  much  feeling  displayed  in  these  attacks 
upon  this  remarkable  man  by  his  cotempo- 
raries,  to  cause  all  their  statements  about  his 
unholy   purposes   to   be   now    implicitly  re- 
ceived, and    given  to   the   world  as    attested 
facts.     A  patient  and  impartial  investigation 
of  the  times,  and  the  general  circumstances 
surrounding   D.  B.   Holbrook  and  his    asso- 
ciates in  the  Cairo  City   &  Canal  Company, 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  seek- 
ing sincerely  to  improve  the  great  West,  and 
to  build  here  in  Illinois  great  cities  and  rail- 
roads, and   that    neither  the    glory    nor    the 
blame,  nor  the  wise  and  beneficial  acts,  nor 
the  mistakes  of   the   company   properly  be- 
longed wholly  to  Holbrook,  as  were  so  widely 
charged  in  his  day  of  activity  here.     His  as- 
sociates  and   co-Jncorporators    in  the    Cairo 
City  &  Canal  charter  were  among  the  most 
eminent,  patriotic  and  just  men  in  the  State 
in  their  day.     They  have  mostly  passed  from 
earth,  and  all   have  ceased    from  the   active 
struggles  of  life,  and  of  Breese,  and   Casey, 
and  Judge  Jenkins  and  Miles  A.  Gilbert,  the 
only   one    living,   and   the    many   other    co- 
laborers   in  the   early  work  of  improvements 
in  Illinois,  their  untarnished  [memories  will 
ever  remain  a   rich    legacy  to   the   people  of 
Illinois.    The  finger  marks  of  these  men  will 
ever   remain  upon    the  early   history  of   the 
i  State.     Each  one  of  them  worked  in  his  own 
chosen  or    allotted  sphere,  yet   in  harmony 
with  his    other    incorporators,    and   together 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


S3 


they  thought  out  and  worked  out  causes  here, 
whose  effects  Avill  endiu'e  perpetually. 

As  remarked  in  the  early  j)ortion  of  this 
chapter,  the  act  granting  the  charter  of  the 
City  of  Cairo  &  Canal  Company  was  the 
first  step  in  attracting  the  attention  of  many 
of  the  leading  men  of  the  nation  to  this  great 
natui'al  commercial  point,  and  that  attention 
once  arrested,  and  the  lakes  of  the  North  and 
the  waters  of  the  great  rivers  at  once  made 
plain  the  fact  that  they  must  be  joined 
together  by  railroads,  had  set  busy  minds  to 
thinking  how  this  immense  work  could  best 
be  done,  or,  for  that  matter,  done  at  all. 
Men  were  stiidying  the  maps  with  the  care 
and  diligence  which  warriors  give  these 
things  with  reference  to  their  marches,  re- 
treats or  battle  grounds. 

In  the  latter  days  of  Judge  Breese's  life, 
he  claimed  that  he  had  promulgated  the  idea 
of  a  Government  land-grant  in  aid  of  the 
construction  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad. 

There  is  an  abundance  of  evidence  that 
not  only  Judge  Breese,  but  that  many  others 
were  giving  it  close  attention.  But,  com- 
mencing with  Judge  Breese,  and  following 
along  all  the  now  existing  records,  lottei's 
and  publications,  we  find  they,  one  and  all, 
fell  short  in  the  full  completion  of  the  idea 
of  a  land  donation  in  this:  They  advocated 
donating  the  lands  by  pre-emption,  and  not 
as  in  the  form  the  act  was  finally  passed  by 
Judge  Douglas  as  a  direct  and  absolute 
transfer  of  the  title  in  fee  to  the  railroad, 
upon  its  conforming  to  the  prescribed  condi- 
tions. Nearly  all  the  people  of  Illinois  bad 
discussed  the  subject  in  social  life,  in  the 
press  and  in  public  meetings  held  in  .the 
counties  along  the  route  of  the  pi'oposed 
railroad,  but  the  pre-emption-donation  idea 
only  prevailed,  and  the  first  time  the  thought 
of  a  direct  title  in  fee  was  put  forth  by 
Mr.  Justin  Butterfield,  January  18,  1848,  in 


a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Chicago, 
which  he  had  called  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering the  feasibility  of  constructing  h  rail- 
road to  connect  the  Tpper  and  Lower  Mis- 
sissippi with  the  Great  Lakes  of  the  North, 
and  to  recommend  to  Congress  that  a  grant  of 
lands  should  be  made  to  the  State  of  Illinois 
for  that  purpose.  The  meeting  was  presided 
over  by  Thomas  Dyer,  Esq. ,  and  Dr.  Brainord 
acted  as  Secretary.  Col.  K.  J.  Hamilton, 
Justin  Butterfield,  M.  Skinner,  A.  Hunting- 
ton and  E.  B.  AVilliams  were  appointed,  by 
the  chair,  a  Committee  to  report  resolutions, 
and  they  reported  the  following,  which  had 
been  prepared  by  Mr.  Butterfield.  which 
were  unanimously  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  the  great  and  almost  in- 
credible increase  in  wealth,  population  and 
commerce  of  the  great  valley  of  the  West, 
duriiig  the  last  ten  years,  as  clearly  exhibited 
by  oflficial  reports  submitted  to  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  appears  to  recjuire.  on 
the  part  of  that  enlightened  body,  a  cori-e- 
sponding* attention  to  its  wants  an  1  necessi- 
ties. 

Resolved,  That  the  grant  of  public  lands 
by  Congress,  for  the  purpose  of  opening  or 
improving  avenues  of  commerce  in  their 
State  jurisdiction,  has  been  approved  by  the 
wisest  and  most  experienced  of  our  states- 
men, and  has  been  eminently  beneficial  to 
the  States  and  the  Union. 

Resolved,  That  a  railroad,  to  connect  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Mississippi  with  the  great 
lakes,  would  be  a  work  of  great  importance, 
not  only  to  the  agricultural  and  commercial 
interests  of  the  State,  but  to  all  portions  of 
the  United  States  interested  in  the  commerce 
of  the  lakes  and  the  Western  rivers. 

Resolved,  That,  in  a  military  point  of  view, 
as  well  as  for  the  speedy  and  economical 
transportation  of  the  mails  (objects  eminent- 
ly connected  with  the  general  welfai'e  and 
common  defense),  such  a  road  would  be  un- 
questionably of  national  importance,  and 
therefore  deserving  of  aid  from  the  National 
Legislature. 

Resolved,  That  om-    Senators    and    Repre- 


84 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


sentatives  in  Congress  of  the  United  States 
be  requested  to  use  their  best  exertions  to 
secure  the  passage  of  a  law,  granting  to  the 
State  of  Illinois  the  right  of  way  and  public 
lands,  for  the  constraction  of  a  railroad  to 
connect  the  Upper  and  Lower  Mississippi 
with  the  lakes  at  Chicago,  equal  to  every  al- 
ternate section  for  five  miles  wide  on  each 
side  of  said  road. 

Upon  these  resolutions,  Mr.  Butterfield  de- 
livered an  able  address,  which  he  read  from 
manuscript;  from  which  we  make  the  fol- 
lowing extracts:  "The  locomotive,  whose 
speed  almost  annihilates  time  and  distance, 
has  introduced  a  new  era  in  travel,  in  trans- 
portation and  fn  commercial  interchanges. 
It  is  in  successful  operation  in  most  of  the 
nations  of  Europe,  and  in  most  of  the  Ameri- 
can States,  Illinois  excepted — a  level,  cham- 
paign country,  better  adapted  by  natm'e  for 
its  use  than  any  other  State  or  country  of 
equal  extent  in  the  world.  Why  we  should 
be  so  far  behind  the  age,  in  the  adoption  of 
this  great  improvement,  it  is  unnecessary 
now  to  inquire.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  in  the 
years  1836  and  1837,  when  we  were  compara- 
tively weak  and  feeble  in  population,  in  pro- 
ductive industry  and  pecuniaiy  resources,  we 
madly  and  wildly  rushed  into  a  gigantic  and 
ill-digested  system  of  internal  improvements 
altogether  beyond  our  ability.  We  j^rojected 
more  than  thirteen  hundred  miles  of  railroad; 
we  borrowed  millions  of  money,  and  sowed 
it  broadcast;  our  money  was  soon  expended, 
and  our  credit  gone;  in  the  great  re-action  of 
1839  and  1840,  desolation  swept  over  the 
land,  and  the  moldering  ruins  and  crumbling 
monuments  of  public  works  are  all  that  now 
remain  of  our  once  magnificent  system  of  in- 
ternal improvements.     *     *     *     * 

"  The  extent  of  steam  navigation  upon  the 
Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  is  rising  of 
16,000  miles,  giving  a  coast  of  over  32,000 
miles,     *     *     a  large  portion  of  which  is  as 


fertile  as  the  Valley  of  the  Nile,  and  capable 
of  sustaining  a  population  as  dense  as  that 
of  England,  and  is  now  settling  and  im- 
proving with  unparalleled  rapidity.  The 
Middle  and  Eastern  States,  and  many  of  the 
nations  of  Europe,  are  the  great  hives  that 
are  sending  forth  their  swarms  to  populate 
our  Western  lands;  year  after  year,  in  ever- 
increasing  numbers,  they  come,  and  truly 
demonstrate  that  '  Westward  the  march  of 
empire  takes  its  way.'  But  who  can  foresee, 
who  can  calculate,  the  immense  trade,  travel 
and  commerce  that  will  be  done  upon  the 
Western  lakes  and  rivers  when  their  banks 
and  coasts  shall  be  settled  with  half  the 
density  with  which  Europe  is  populated? 

"  It  is  proposed  to  construct  a  railroad  to 
connect  the  Upp^r  and  Lower  Mississippi 
with  the  Great  Lakes;  this  railroad  to  com- 
mence at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi Rivers  at  Cairo,     *     *     *     * 

"  Cairo  is  the  most  favorable  point  for  th  e 
southern  tei'minus  of  this  road,  as  the  navi- 
gation of  both  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers,  above  Cairo,  is  often  obstructed  by 
ice  in  the  winter  and  by  low  water  in  the 
summer;  but  from  Cairo  to  New  Orleans 
there  is  an  uninterrupted  navigation  all  sea- 
sons of  the  year.  *  *  *  *  The  i-ailroad 
is  important  to  our  national  defense.  I  be- 
lieve it  is  regarded  by  military  men,  that  in 
case  of  a  war  with  a  maritime  power,  like 
England,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the  south, 
and  that  portion  of  our  country  bordering 
upon  Canada  in  the  north  are  our  weakest 
frontiers;  and  in  the  event  of  such  a  war,  it 
will  be  necessary  for  our  defense  to  marshal 
our  naval  forces,  so  as  to  maintain  our  mari- 
time ascendency  in  the  Gulf  and  on  the  lakes. 
That  it  is  viewed  in  this  light  by  the  Govern- 
ment, may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that 
about  three  years  ago  the  project  of  the 
United  States  constructing  a  ship  canal,  be- 


HISTORY   OF  CAIRO. 


85 


tween  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Mississippi, 
was  agitated  in  Congress,  and  resulted  in 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  sending  out  one  of 
our  most  distinguished  naval  commanders, 
and  the  chief  of  the  Engineer  Corps,  to  in- 
vestigate   the    practicability    of   the    meas- 

i-iY^fi  ^  "T^  ■^  ■^ 

"  AVe  ask  the  Government  to  make  a  dona- 
tion of  public  lands  to  the  State  of  Illinois, 
to  aid  in  the  construction  of  this  railroad, 
equal  to  every  alternate  section,  for  a  space 
of  five  miles  wide  on  each  side  of  it.  *  *  * 
"We  do  not  ask  for  this  land  to  be  given  to 
any  private  or  chartered  company,  that  they 
make  gain  or  speculation  out  of  it,  but  we 
ask  for  it  to  be  donated  •  to  this  State,  in 
trust,  to  be  used  in  the  constiiiction  of  a 
great  public  work,  that  will  shed  its  benefits 
upon  the  whole  of  our  common  country,  that 
will  bind  us  together  in  the  golden  bands  of 
commerce,  and  be  om*  greatest  blessing  in 
time  of  peace,  as  well  as  our  surest  defense 
in  time  of  war."     *     *     * 

The  address  concludes  with  the  following 
sentence  :  "  In  the  winter  season  there  ac- 
cumulates upon  the  hands  of  our  merchants 
produce  to  the  amount  of  about  one-half  mill- 
ion of  dollars,  which  lies  dead-weight  upon 
their  hands  for  three  or  four  months,  until 
the  opening  of  the  navigation  of  the  lakes. 
Our  merchants,  in  the  meantime,  receive  in- 
formation by  telegi-aph  of  the  rise  and  fall 
of  produce,  but  cannot  avail  themselves  of 
the  benefits  of  the  lightning,  either  to  buy 
or  sell.  Here  the  produce  is,  and  must  re- 
main, under  the  inexorable  decree  of  nature, 
locked  up  bj  the  ice.  Construct  this  rail- 
road, give  Chicago  a  southern  outlet  for  her 
produce  in  the  winter,  and  it  is  all  she  asks." 

The  resolutions  adopted  by  this  meeting, 
and  the  speech  made  by  Mr.  Butterfield, 
were  printed  in  pamphlet  form^  and  were 
sent  to  the  different  counties  along  the    line 


of  the  proposed  road,  with  requests  that  i)ub- 
lic  meetings  should  be  held  at  each  county 
seat,  for  the  pm'pose  of  creating  a  public 
sentiment  in  favor  of  the  Congressional  land- 
grant  project,  and  of  requesting  the  Illinios 
Delegates  in  Congress  to  support  it.  This 
work  among  the  people  of  Illinois,  in  order 
to  influence  to  activity  the  members  of  Con- 
gress, was  necessary  and  proper,  and  attended 
with  much  labor  and  considerable  expense, 
and  the  preceding  circumstances  that  brought 
both  of  these  about  were  the  following:  The 
Bank  of  the  United  States  of  Pennsylvania, 
located  at  Philadelphia,  had  become  the 
owner  of  large  interests  in  "Western  real  es- 
tate, as  well  as  a  large  number  of  the  bonds 
of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  and  the 
holder  of  much  of  the  land  of  the  company 
as  security  for  loans  advanced.  It  was,  there- 
fore, largely  interested  in  Cairo.  In  the 
year  1843,  it  sent  its  confidential  clerk.  S. 
Staats  Taylor,  to  the  West,  to  look  after  its 
interests.  Mr.  Taylor  made  his  head(^uarter8 
in  Chicago,  and  had  his  office,  during  that 
time,  with  Justin  Butterfield.  This,  prob- 
ably, was  the  main  cause  of  deeply  interest- 
ing the  latter  in  the  railroad  project  from 
Chicago  to  Cairo.  Then,  the  bank's  interests 
in  the  "West  caused  it  to  take  a  deep  concern 
in  the  progress  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and 
especially  of  Cairo  and  its  vicinity,  and  it 
therefore  provided  the  necessary  funds  to  de- 
fray these  first  and  necessary  expenses.  In 
fact,  it  is  now  well  understood  that  the  start- 
ing point  in  the  building  of  the  Central  road 
and  the  city  were  made  originally  a  tangible 
fact  and  the  expenses  defrayed  in  getting  the 
law  passed  by  Congress,  by  the  hypotheca 
tion  of  a  strip  of  land  in  the  city  of  Cairo, 
running  from  river  to  river,  and  long  known 
as  the  "Holbrook  strip."  This  strip  of  land 
is  what  is  now  Tenth  street  to  Twelfth  street, 
inclusive. 


86 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Mr.    Justin   Butterfield   was    one    of    the 
large-minded,  public-spirited  men  of  Illinois, 
who    was    profoundly   interested    in  the  de- 
velopment and  welfare  of  his  adopted  State, 
and  while  he  did  not  lay  claim  to  the  patern 
ity  of  the   advanced  idea    that   perfected  the 
land-grant  to  the  railroad,  and  made  it  such 
a  great   and   complete  success,  yet  as  he  had 
stated  to  his  office   companion,  Col.  Taylor, 
he  bad  first  heard  the  idea  advanced  at  some 
of  the  county  meetings  he  had  held,  and  his 
active  mind  was  ready  to  take  it  at  once  in  its 
entirety,  to  see    its  value  and   to  boldly  and 
ably   push  it   forward  to  its    final    triumph. 
Certainly,  the  Central  road  had  no  better  or 
abler  friend  than  was  Justin  Butterfield,  who, 
singularly  enough,  was  the  Commissioner  of 
the  GeneralLand  Office  during  the  building 
of  the  railroad,  and  in  that  position  was  con- 
stantly called  upon  to  guard  the  State's,  the 
road's  and   the  Government's   interest  in  the 
matter  of  the  land  grant  of  the  road.     Prob- 
ably for  his  incorruptible  discharge  of  these 
duties,  he  was  savagely  attacked  in   some  of 
the  public  jirints,  and  on  April  24,  1852,  he 
repelled  these  slanders  in  an   open  letter  to 
the  country,  which  opens  with  the  following 
explanatory   sentence:       "  During   the   past 
and   present    months,    various     publications 
have    appeared    in     the   Chicago    Democrat 
(John     "Wentworth's     paper),     charging    J. 
Butterfield,    Commissioner   of    the    General 
Land  Office,  with  having   been   actuated  by 
deadly  hostility  against  the  Illinois   Central 
Railroad  Company;  of  unwarrantably  delay- 
ing and   procrastinating   the    adjustment  of 
the  grant  of  lands;  of  attempting  to  kill  the 
Chicago  branch,  by  deciding  that  it   should 
have   diverged  from   the    main   trunk  at  the 
junction  of  the  canal  and  river  at  Peru,  and 
that  the    act  of    the    Legislatm-e,   providing 
that  it   should  not   diverge   from  any    point 
north  of    39  degrees,  30   minutes,  was  void; 


and  of  corruptly  making  various  other  de- 
cisions in  the  progress  of  the  adjustment  of 
that  grant,  adverse  to  the  rights  of  that  com- 
pany, from  which  an  appeal  was  taken  to  the 
Secretary,  and  Mr.  Butterfield  overruled  in 
all  his  objections;  but  that  things  went  on 
so  slowly,  that  the  Directors  of  the  company 
laid  their  case  before  the  President,  who  at 
once  wdered  Mr.  Butterfield  to  put  the  whole 
force  of  his  office  upon  the  work,  if  necessary 
to  its  execution;  and  that  after  this  Mr.  B. 
changed  his  whole  course  of  conduct,  etc. " 

After  giving  this  summary  of   the  charges 
against   him,   he   proceeds    to  say  in    reply: 
"  Had  these  publications  been  confined  to  the 
scurrilous     sheets    issued    by   the   notorious 
editor   of    that   paper,    I   should   not    have 
noticed  them;  bat  these   falsehoods  are  told 
with  such  apparent  candor  and  circumstan- 
tial detail,  that  some   respectable   papers,   I 
observe,  have  been  imposed  upon,  and  copied 
them."     He  then  gives  a  brief  and  succinct 
history  of  the  grant,  and  the  transactions  un- 
der   it,    and  then  sums  up    the    six   distinct 
falsehoods  in  the  charges,  denies  and  refutes 
j  them  in  detail,  and  thus   concludes  his  inter- 
1  esting  letter:     "  The  route  of  the  old  Central 
Railroad,  as   established  in    1836,  was    from 
i  Cairo,  via  Vandalia,    Shelbyville,    Decatur, 
:  Bloomington,  Peru  and  Dixon,  to  Galena;  it 
did    not   touch   within    about  one     hundred 
'  miles  of  Chicago. 

"  A  project  was  devised  and  published,  in 

the  latter  part  of  1847,  for  a  railroad  leading 

directly    from    Cairo   to   Chicago,  and  from 

thence  to  Galena,  recommending  an  applica- 

'■  tion  to  Congress  for  a    grant  of    lands  to  be 

made  to  the  State,  in    alternate   sections,  to 

aid    in   its   construction.         Judge   Dickey, 

j  James   H.    Collins,    Thomas  Dyer  and  hun- 

j  di-eds  of  other  citizens  of  Chicago  and  other 

1  portions  of  the  State,  will  recollect  who  was 

'  the    author  of   the    project!     To    whom  did 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


87 


the  newspapers  of  that  day  ascribe  it? 
"Who,  at  his  own  expense,  got  up  and  circu- 
lated petitions  far  and  wide  to  Congress 
for  a  donation  of  lands  to  the  State  for  this 
purpose  ?  Who  called  the  first  meeting  that 
was  ever  held  in  the  State  on  the  subject  of 
a  railroad  direct  from  Cairo  to  Chicago? 
An  address  which  I  had  the  honor  to  make 
on  that  occasion,  giving  my  views  of  the  im- 
mense importance  of  the  work  and  urging 
its  prosecution,  was  published  and  circu- 
lated. 

"  Those  who  have,  for  years  past,  known 
my  sentiments  and  humble  services  in  favor 
of  internal  improvements,  and  especially  for 
a  direct  communication  between  Chicago 
and  Cairo  by  railroad,  can  judge  of  the  prob- 
ability of  my  having  attempted  to  strangle 
the  project  on  the  eve  of  its  accomplishment! 
The  charge  emanates  from  one  whose  name 
and  character,  wherever  he  is  known,  is  a 
sovereign  antidote  for  all  the  poison  he  can 
distill. 

"  Although  famous  at  the  Capitol,  in  the 
adjustment  of  '  Congressional  stationery,'  in 
which  vocation  'he  can't  be  beat,'  he  is  evi- 
dently a  great  novice  in  the  adjustment  of 
railroad  grants." 

Recapitulation. — In  their  chronological 
order,  we  give  the  corporation  acts,  as  they 
were  passed  by  the  different  Legislative  bod- 
ies, that  had  in  view  the  buildincj  of  the 
city  of  Cairo,  and  that  are  refen-ed  to  at 
length  in  the  preceding  part  of  this  chapter. 

January  9,  1817 — John  G.  Comyges  and 
associates  were  incorporated  by  the  Territo- 
rial Legislature  of  Illinois,  as  the  "President, 
Directors  and  Company  of  the  Bank  of 
Cairo,"  and  authorized  to  build  a  city  upon 
the  lands  entered  by  them. 

January-  16,  1836— D.  B.  Holbrook,  A.  M. 
Jenkins,  M.   A.  Gilbert  and  others  were  in- 


corporated by  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  as 
the  "Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company." 
authorizing  the  company  to  construct  a  rail- 
road, "  commencing  at  or  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio  River,  and  thence  north,  to  a  point 
on  the  Illinois  River,  at  or  near  the  termina- 
tion of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,"  with 
the  privilege  of  extending  the  road  from  the 
Illinois  River  to  Galena. 

February  27,  1837 — Act  passed  by  the 
Legislatui-e,  of  Illinois,  "  to  establish  and 
maintain  a  General  System  of  Internal  Im- 
provement," and  "providing  for  a  Board  of 
Public  Works,"  and  directing  and  ordering 
the  construction  of  a  raih'oad  from  the  city 
of  Cairo,  at  or  near  the  confluence  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  to  ^some  point 
at  or  near  the  southern  termination  of  the 
Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  via  Vandal ia, 
Shelby ville,  Decatur  and  Bloomington,  thence 
via  Savanna  to  Galena,  and  appropriating  for 
the  construction  of  said  railroad  the  sum  of 
$8,500,000. 

March  4,  1837— A.  M.  Jenkins,  D.  B.  Hol- 
brook, M.  A.  Gilbert  and  others  were  incor- 
porated as  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company, 
and  were  authorized  to  pui'chase  and  sell  land 
in  Township  17  south,  Range  1  west,  in  Alex- 
ander County,  and  to  build  a  city  thereon,  to 
be  called  the  city  of  Cairo.  This  act 
amended  February,  1839. 

June  7,  1837 — The  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company  released  and'  gave  back  to  the 
State  the  right  to  constnict  "  a  railroad,  com- 
mencing at  or  near  the  confluence  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivei"S,  and  extending 
to  Galena,  conditional,  however,  that  the  said 
State  of  Illinois  shall  commence  the  con- 
struction of  said  railroad,  within  a  reasonable 
time,  from  the  city  of  Cairo." 

June  26,  1837 — Anagi-eement  entered  into 
between  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  by  its 
President,  A.  M.  Jenkins,  and  the  Cairo  City 


88 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


&  Canal  Company,  by  D.  B.  Holbrook,  its 
President,  that  the  railroad  to  be  constructed 
by  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company 
"  shall  commence  at  such  point  or  place  in 
the  city  of  Cairo,  as  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal 
Company  may  fix  and  direct." 

June  26,  1837— The  Cairo  City  &  Canal 
Company  mortgaged  its  lands  in  Township 
17  south.  Range  1  west,  of  the  Third  Principal 
Meridian,  on  a  portion  of  which  the  city  of 
Cairo  had  been  platted  and  laid  out,  to  the 
New  York  Life  Insurance  &  Trust  Company, 
as  security  for  loans  secured  from  English 
capitalists. 

February  1,  1840 — The  act  to  establish 
and  maintain  a  General  System  of  Internal 
Improvements,  passed  February  27,  1837, 
was  repealed  by  the  Legislatiu-e,  and  the 
work  on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
stopped;  building  a  city  here  stopped,  and,  to 
complete  Cairo's  disasters,  the  company's 
banker  in  London  failed,  and  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company  were  hopelessly  bankrupt, 
and  the  nearly  fifteen  hundred  people  that 
had  gathered  here  dispersed,  and  desolation 
brooded  over  the  land. 

March  6,  1843— The  President  and  Direct- 
ors of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company  were 
incorporated  as  the  Great  Western  Railway 
Company,  and  authorized  to  construct  a 
railroad,  "  commencing  at  the  city  of  Cairo, 
in  Alexander  County, 111., and  thence  north,  by 
way  of  Vandalia,  Shelbyville,  Decatur  and 
Bloomington,  to  a  point  on  the  Illinois 
River  at  or  near  the  termination  of  the 
Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,"  and  to  extend 
the  main  road  to  Galena. 

March  6,  1845 — The  last  above-mentioned 
act  repealed  by  the  Legislature. 

September  29,  1846— The  bondholders, 
creditors  and  owners  of  the  City  of  Cairo  & 
Canal  Company  franchise,  organized  The 
Trust  of  the  Cairo  Property,  and  all  the  com- 


pany's property  in  Town  17  south,  Rauge  1 
west,  was  conveyed  to  Thomas  Taylor,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  Charles  Davis,  [of  New 
York,  as  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Prop- 
erty. 

February  10,  1849— The  President  and 
Directors  of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Com- 
pany, with  others,  rechartered  and  rein- 
stated as  the  Great  Western  Railway  Com- 
pany, with  all  the  powers  conferred  by  the 
act  of  March  6,  1843,  and  the  Governor  of 
the  State  authorized  to  hold  in  trust  for  the 
Great  Western  Railway  Company  whatever 
lands  might  be  donated  or  thereafter  secured 
to  the  State  of  Illinois  b_y  the  General  Gov- 
ernment to  aid  in  the  construction  and  com- 
pletion of  the  Illinois  Central  or  the  Great 
Western  Railroad  from  Cairo  to  Chicago. 

December  24,  1849 — Release  executed  by 
the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company  to  the  State 
of  Illinois,  of  the  charter  of  the  Great  West- 
ern Railway  Company,  upon  the  condition 
that  the  State  would  build  "within  ten  years 
from  January  1,  1850,  a  railroad  from  Cairo 
to  Chicago,  and  that  the  southern  terminus 
should  be  the  city  of  Cairo. 

September  20,  1850 — An  act  of  Congress, 
granting  to  the  State  of  Illinois  the  alternate 
sections  of  land,  for  sixteen  sections  in 
width,  on  each  side  of  the  railroad  and  its 
branches,  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad 
from  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Illinois  & 
Michigan  Canal  to  a  point  at  or  near  the 
junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers, 
with  branches  to  Chicago  and  Galena. 

September  20,  1850 — Release  by  the  Cairo 
City  &  Canal  Company  of  the  charter  of  the 
Great  Western  Railway  Company  to  the 
State,  and  the  acceptance  of  the  same  by  the 
State  of  Illinois. 

February  30,  1851 — The  act  of  incorpora- 
tion of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  passed 
by  the   Legislature,  and   providing  for    the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


89 


conveyance  to  Trustees  the  lands  donated  by 
the  General  Government  to  the  State. 

Jnne  11,  1851 — An  agreement  between  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  and  the  Trustees  of 
the  Cairo  City  Property,  for  the  railroad  to 
construct  and  maintain  levees  around  the 
City  of  Cairo,  in  consideration  of  conveyance 
to  the  railroad  company  of  certain  lands  in 
the  city  of  Cairo,  specifying  the  levees  were 
to  be  about  seven  miles  long,  and  to  inclose 
about  thirteen  hunch'ed  acres  of  laud  on  the 
point. 

September  15,  1853 — The  city  of  Cairo 
was  platted  and  laid  out  and  recorded  by  the 
Cairo  City  Property,  and  the  first  lot  sold  to 
Peter  Stapleton. 

October  15,  1853 — Deed  executed  by  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  to  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  for  the  land  speci- 
fied in  the  agreement  of  the  road  to  construct 
and  maintain  levees. 

May  31,  1855 — An  additional  agreement 
entered  into  between  the  Cairo  City  Property 
and  the  Central  road,  by  which  the  road 
agreed  to  "construct  and  maintain  new  pro- 
tective embankment,  to  prevent  the  abrasion 
of  the  Mississippi  levee."  This  agreement 
materially  changed  that  of  June  11,  1851. 

June  12,  1858 — This  new  embankment, 
constructed  on  the  Mississippi  River,  gave 
way,  and  the  city  was  inundated. 

October  12,  1858- The  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  having  restored  the  levees  to  the 
condition  they  were  in  before  the  overflow, 
were  informed  that  the  reconstruction  of  the 
levees  did  not  fulfill  their  agreement,  and  the 
road  was  notified  to  widen  and  strengthen 
the  works  to  at  least  a  width  of  twenty  feet 
on  the  top  of  the  levees,  with  a  slope  on  each 
side  of  one  foot  perpendicular  to  five  feet 
horizontal,  and  the  entire  levees  to  be  raised 
two  feet  higher  than  the  old  levees. 

October  29,  1858~Foi-mal  notice  given  by 


the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  to 
the  Illinois  Central  i-oad,  that,  in,  conse- 
quence of  the  road's  failure  and  refusal  to 
strengthen  the  levees,  according  to  their  con- 
tract, the  Trustees  would  at  once  proceed  to 
do  the  work  and  hold  the  railroad  company 
responsible  for  the  reimbursement  of  all 
costs  of  the  same,  with  interest. 

October  1,  1863 — Mortgage  executed,  by 
the  Trustees  of  Cairo  City  Property,  to  Hiram 
Ketchum,  Trustee,  to  all  the  property  of  the 
Trust  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  as  a  secur- 
ity for  a  loan  of  $250,000. 

October  1,  1867 — An  additional  mortgage, 
by  the  same  parties  last  above-named,  upon 
the  same  propei'ty,  for  an  additional  loan  of 
150,000. 

July  18,  1872 — Suit  commenced  by  the 
Cairo  City  Property  against  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad,  for  $250,000,  money  expended 
by  the  city  company  upon  the  levees.  The 
suit  was  compromised  by  the  payment  by  the 
railroad  of  $80,000,  and  the  conveying  back 
by  deed  to  the  Cairo  City  Property,  of  397 
acres  of  the  487  acres  that  had  been  conveyed 
to  the  railroad,  in  consideration  that  the  road 
would  construct  protective  levees.  By  this 
settlement,  the  railroad  was  released  from 
any  further  obligations  in  regard  to  the 
levees. 

May  10,  1876— The  Cairo  City  Property, 
being  unable  to  pay  the  loans  negotiated  in 
1863  and  1867,  the  mortgages  were  fore- 
closed, and  the  property  of  the  Trust  sold  to 
the  bondholders  under  the  mortgage. 

January  20,  1876 — A  new  Trust  formed, 
called  the  Cairo  City  Trust  Property,  under 
which  the  property  is  now  managed  by  S. 
Staats  Taylor .  and  Edwin  Parsons,  Trustees. 

The  finale  of  all  this  is,  there  was  much 
more  legislation  than  city  or  railroads  con- 
structed It  is  an  evidence  that  the  way 
cities  are  built   is  not  by  cunning  or  strong 


90 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


legislative  acts,  but  by  strong,  enterprising, 
busy  men;  not  by  powerful,  speculative  cor- 
porations, but  by  independent  individuals; 
not  by  anticipating  the  incomiug  rush  of  the 
thousands  who  make  it  a  metropolis,  and  dis- 
counting in  advance  the  per  capita  profits  of 
their  coming,  but  by  voluntary  acts  of  each 
one,  actinor  in   ignorance  and  unconcern  of 


what  the  future  is  or  may  be  of  the  place — 
the  busy,  enterprising  men  of  small  capital 
and  vast  energy.  These  are  the  broad  and 
strong  foundations  of  all  great  cities  that 
have  ever  yet  been  built  in  this  country.  It 
is  the  antipodes,  in  everything  of  a  movement 
to  found  a  city,  to  be,  when  completed,  the 
property  of  a  chartered  corporation. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  LEVEES— HOW  THE  TERRITORIAL  LEGISLATURE  BY  LAW  PLACED  THE  NATURAL  TOWN  SITE 
ABOVE  OVERFLOWS— FIRST  EFFORTS  AT  CONSTRUCTING  LEVEES— ENGINEER'S  REPORTS  ON 
THE  SAME— ESTIMATED  HEIGHT  AND  COSTS— THE  FLOODS— THE   CITY  OVERFLOWED 
—GREAT  DISASTER,  THE  CAUSE  AND   ITS    EFFECTS— THE    LEVEES  ARE  RECON- 
STRUCTED AND  THEY  DEFY  THE    GREATEST    WATERS   EVER    KNOWN. 


IN  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  at- 
tempted to  give  a  succinct  account  of  the 
many  charter  and  other  corporation  laws 
passed  in  reference  to  founding  the  city  of 
Cairo,  commencing  with  the  first  act  of  the 
Illinois  Territorial  Legislature,  of  June  9, 
1818,  and  in  chronological  order  tracing 
these  acts  down  to  date.  Following  this,  in 
the  natural  order,  would  be  a  similar  account 
of  the  construction  of  the  city's  levees,  from 
the  first  little  rude  embankments  of  William 
Bird  around  his  little  trading  house,  to  the 
present  more  than  seven  miles  of  the  finest, 
and  probably  the  most  solid,  protective  em- 
bankments in  the  world. 

In  the  year  1828,  John  and  Thompson 
Bird  brought  their  slaves  over  from  Missoui-i, 
and  built  an  embankment  around  the  hotel 
that  then  was  the  solitary  building  in  Cairo; 
which  stood  a  short  distance  below  the  pres- 
ent Halliday  House.  It  was  a  frame  build- 
ing, about  twenty-five  by  thirty-five  feet  in 
dimensions.  This  levee  seems  to  have  ful- 
filled its  purposes  well,  and  for  years  kept 
out  the  waters.     The  same  parties  soon  after 


erected  another  building,  for  a  store,  and  as 
this  was  just  outside  the  levee,  it  was  perched 
on  posts  that  were  high  enough  to  keep  it 
from  the  raging  waters. 

For  the  particulars  of  the  next  attempt  to 
construct  levees  we  are  indebted  to  the  now 
venerable  Judge  Miles  A.  Gilbert,  of  Ste. 
Mary's,  Mo.,  who  gives  us  his  recollections 
of  the  acts  and  doings  of  the  old  City  & 
Bank  of  Cairo  Company.  He  says:  "  John 
C.  Comyges,  the  master  spirit  of  this  enter- 
prise, had  just  perfected  his  plans  to  go  over 
to  Holland,  and  bring  to  Cairo  a  shipload  of 
Dutch  laborers,  to  build  the  dykes  or  levees 
around  the  city,  when  he  was  taken  sick  and 
soon  died,  when  the  other  incorporators, 
becoming  discouraged,  the  enterprise  was 
finally  abandoned.  In  those  days  (1818),  the 
public  lands  were  purchased  from  the  Gov- 
ernment, under  a  credit  system  of  $2  per 
acre— 50  cents  in  cash  paid,  and  $1.50  on 
timp.  If  the  $1.50  was  not  promptly  paid 
at  maturity,  the  land  reverted  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  50  cents  per  acre  paid  was 
forfeited,  and  the  land  became  again  subject 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


91 


to  entry.  In  1835,  Judge  Sidney  Breese, 
Miles  A.  Gilbert  and  Thomas  Swanwiok  re- 
entered these  lands,  the  object  being  to  revive 
the  old  charter  of  the  City  &  Bank  of  Cairo 
Company,  of  1818,  which  had  not  yet  expired 
by  limitation  of  its  charter.  In  order  to  gain 
influence  to  eft'ect  this  purpose,  Miles  A.  Gil- 
bert and  Thomas  Swanwick  sold  an  undivided 
interest  to  Hon.  David  J.  Baker,  Hon.  Elias 
K.  Kane.  PieiTe  Mesnard  and  Darius  B.  Hol- 
brook."  [Then  follows  an  account  of  the 
chartering  of  the  original  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  and  the  Internal  Improvement  Sys- 
tem, and  the  final  release  of  the  railroad 
charter  to  the  State.  For  particulars  see  pre- 
ceding chapter. — En.]  "  Judge  Gilbert  in- 
forms us  that  one  of  the  conditions  of  the 
Central's  release  to  the  State  was,  the  State 
should  build  a  road  upon  the  proposed  line 
and  establish  a  depot  in  the  city  limits,  and 
the  city  company  was  to  deed  the  railroad 
t«;n  acres  of  land  for  depot  purposes,  which 
deed  was  duly  made. 

"In  1838,  D.  B.  Holbrook,  the  President  of 
the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  went  to 
England  and  negotiated  a  loan  or  hypotheca- 
tion of  the  company's  bonds,  to  the  amount 
of  155,800  pounds  sterling.  On  his  return, 
he  revived  and  organized  the  Cairo  City 
Bank,  which  was,  as  required  by  law,  for  the 
time  being,  located  at  Kaskaskia,  when  work 
was  commenced  at  Cairo  upon  a  large  and 
extravagant  scale.  Anthony  Olney  was  ap- 
pointed General  Superintendent.  A  large 
force  was  set  to  work,  building  the  levees 
around  the  city. 

"  Foundries,  machine  shops,  workshops, 
boarding-houses  and  dwellings  went  up  as  if 
by  magic.  But  in  the  midst  of  this  general 
and  cheerful  prosperity,  the  banking-house 
of  Wright  &Co.,  of  London,  failed.  The  im- 
mediate cause  of  the  suspension  at  Cairo 
was  the  failure  of  Wright  &  Co.  to  meet  the 


di'af  ts  then  drawn  on  them  by  the  Cairo  City 
&  Canal  Company,  and  that  were  on  their 
way  to  England.  Had  the  failure  been  ]X)st- 
poned  sixty  days  longer,  and  the  existing 
drafts  been  honored,  the  Cairo  Company 
could  have  met  all  its  contracts  thereafter 
incurred,  by  a  little  prudence,  and  the  com- 
pany have  been  made  self-sustaining.  D.  B. 
Holbrook  made  every  effort  in  his  power  to 
raise  means  to  pay  and  secure  those  whom 
the  company  owed  at  Cairo,  but  distrust  had 
seized  every  one,  and  the  result  was  the  com- 
pany, bank,  and  all  work  su-spended.  Fol- 
lowing this,  recklessness  and  mob  law 
reigned  supreme" — idleness,  rioting,  de- 
moralization and  drunkenness  held  sway, 
and  the  seethingr,  roaring  mob  were  as  a  den 
of  mixed  wild  beasts,  where  only  the  fierce 
and  bloodthirsty  passions  were  manifested  or 
to  be  met.  Here  was  the  rapidly  gathered 
together  young  city,  of  about  two  thousand 
people,  plain  laborers  mostly,  many  skilled 
mechanics, boarding-house  keepers,  engineers, 
merchants,  traders,  contractors,  and  the 
women  and  children.  Their  incipient  city 
fringed  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  Kiver, 
where  the  gi'eat  old  forest  trees  had  been 
felled  along  the  edges  of  the  river  bank  to 
make  room  for  this  little  border  of  mosaic 
work  of  civilization  in  the  far  West.  The 
young  town  was  in  all  its  bewildering  new- 
ness and  freshness — that  unfinished  confusion 
on  a  fresh  bank  of  earth  here,  a  ditch  there ;  a 
rough,  stumpy,  newly  blazed  road  or  trail, 
hardly  yet  cut  by  its  first  wagon  tracks,  lead- 
ing nowhere;  newly- built  houses  dotted  here 
and  there  as  though  di-opped  at  random  from 
the  skies,  without  reference  to  their  ever  tak- 
ing their  positions  in  streets  or  regularity,  so 
new,  too,  were  they,  that  a  blanket,  a  jiiece  of 
cai'pet  or  a  quilt  did  duty  for  a  door,  and  upon 
every  hand  were  other  still  newer  houses  in 
every  stage  of  building,  fi'om   the  few  half- 


9-2 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


hewn  logs  that  lay  scattered  over  the  ground 
and  obstructing  the*  passage-ways,  to  those 
with  the  new  board  roof  being  nailed  on; 
workshops,  boarding-houses,  hotels,  foun- 
dries, in  short,  a  great  city  was  almost 
magically  being  built  in  the  wild  forests, 
and  simultaneously  a  great  railroad  was 
being  built  in  the  city,  and  happy  and  busy 
men  were  working  out  this  apparently  inex- 
tricable confusion,  and  bringing  order  and 
symmetry  out  of  disorder,  when  the  crash 
came,  and  hope  and  confidence  fled  from  the 
people;  all  labor  instantly  ceased,  and  whole 
families  swarmed  from  their  homes,  cabins 
and  tents,  after  the  fashion  of  angry  bees 
when  a  stick  is  thrust  into  their  hive.  Hol- 
brook's  fair  promises  were  scouted,  the  law 
of  the  land  ridiculed,  and  pell-mell  the  mob 
commenced  an  indiscriminate  sacking  of  all 
public  or  city  company  property.  They 
mostly  must  have  found  but  little  comfort  in 
this,  as  there  was  little  or  nothing  that  could 
be  converted  to  private  use  that  would  be  of 
any  value,  and  hence  the  robberies  or  appro- 
priations must  often  have  been  after  the 
fashion  of  the  soldier,  who  started  on  the 
march  to  Georgia,  and  the  first  day  out  dis- 
covered the  highways  and  the  by-ways,  the 
fields  and  the  woods  were  full  of  bummers, 
who  were  stealing  everything  as  they  went. 
Piqued  at  his  being  behind  ^the  early  birds, 
he  looked  about  him  for  something  to  steal, 
when  the  only  thing  he  could  find  left  was  a 
plow.  This  he  shouldered,  and  in  happiness 
resumed  his  march.  After  tusrscins:  in  sore 
agony  and  distress  under  his  load  of  loot  for 
a  few  miles,  he  overhauled  his  elder  patriotic 
brother,  stranded  by  the  wayside  from  a 
grindstone  that  he  had  appropriated  a  few 
miles  back.  These  two  patriots,  as  it  ia  right 
and  proper  they  should  be,  are  now  on  the 
penson  list,  for  permanent  disability — not 
for  wounds  received  in  battle,  but  for  strains 


in  transporting  from  the  Southern  Confeder- 
acy the  sinews  of  war. 

Mr;  Anthony  Olney,  the  Superintendent, 
attempted  to  stay  the  storm  and  protect  the 
property,  but  soon  saw  how  futile  his  efforts 
were,  and  he  quit  serious  efforts  in  that  di- 
I'ection.     He  died  a  short  time  after  this. 

Soon  those  to  whom  the  Cairo  City  & 
Canal  Company  was  indebted  began  to  make 
efforts  to  collect  their  money  by  law.  They 
attached  everything  they  could  find  belonging 
to  the  company,  which  was  sold  at  public 
sale  for  a  mere  trifle.  For  nearly  two  years 
the  place  was  abandoned  by  all  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  company,  and  the  mob  and 
the  officers  of  the  laws  had  effectually  dis- 
posed of  all  the  company's  property. 

In  1838,  just  previous  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  improvements  noted  above,  the 
city  company  issued  the  following  circular: 

"  The  President  of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal 
Company,  having  made  arrangements  in 
England  for  the  funds  requisite  to  carry  on 
their  contemplated  improvements  in  the  city 
of  Cairo,  upon  the  most  extensive  and  liberal 
scale,  it  is  now  deemed  proper  to  'give  pub- 
licity to  the  objects,  plans  and  other  matters 
connected  with  this  great  work,  in  order  that 
every  one  who  feels  an  interest  or  has  pride  in 
the  success  of  this  magnificent  public  enter- 
prise, may  properly  understand  and  appre- 
ciate the  motives  and  designs  of  the  project- 
ors. 

"  The  company,  from  the  commencement 
determined  to  withhold  from  sale,  at  any 
price,  the  corporate  property  of  the  city,  un- 
til it  should  be  made  manifest  to  the  most 
doubting  and  skeptical,  the  perfect  practica- 
bility of  making  the  site  of  the  city  of  Cairo 
habitable.  This  being  now  fully  established, 
by  the  report  of  the  distinguished  engineers, 
Messrs.  Strickland  &  Taylor,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  also  by  that  of  the  principal  en- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


93 


gineers  of  the  State  works  of  Illinois,  the 
company  are  (?)  proceeding  in  the  execution 
of  their  ( ?)  plans,  as  set  forth  in  their  pros 
pectus,  viz.:  To  make  the  levees,  streets 
and  embankments  of  the  city;  to  erect  ware- 
houses, stores  and  shops  convenient  for  every 
branch  of  commercial  business;  diy  docks; 
also  buildings  adapted  for  every  useful  me- 
chanical an  manufacturing  purpose,  and 
dwelling-houses  of  such  cost  and  description 
as  will  suit  the  taste  and  means  of  every 
citizen — which  course  has  been  adopted  as 
the  most  certain  to  secure  the  destined  popu- 
lation of  Cairo,  within  the  least  possible 
time.  The  company,  however,  wish  it  fully 
understood,  that  it  is  far  from  their  desire 
or  intention  to  monopolize,  or  engage  in  any 
of  the  various  objects  of  entei'prise,  trade  or 
business  which  must  of  necessity  spring  up 
and  be  carried  on  with  great  and  singular 
success  in  this  city;  it  being  their  governino- 
motive  to  offer  every  reasonable  and  proper 
encouragement  to  the  enterprising  and  skill- 
ful artisan,  manufactui-er,  merchant  and  pro- 
fessional man  to  identify  his  interests  with 
the  growth  and  i)rosperity  of  the  city.  When 
the  company  makes  sales  or  leases  of  prop- 
erty, it  will  be  on  such  liberal  terms  as  no 
other  toAvn  or  city  can  offer,  possessing  like 
advantages  for  the  acquisition  of  that  essen- 
tial means  of  human  happiness — wealth. 
The  President  of  the  company  is  fully  em- 
powered, whenever  he  shall  deem  it  expedi- 
ent, to  sell  or  lease  the  property,  and  other- 
wise to  represent  the  general  interests  and 
aflairs  of  the  company." 

This  proclamation  was  the  work  of  the 
President,  Holbrook,  and  it  was  the  aims, 
hopes,  ambitions  and  intentions  of  the  com- 
pany, as  he  was  willing  and  eager  for  all  the 
world  to  see  and  know  them.  In  this  mani- 
festo, Mr.  Holbrook  feels  constrained,  in  the 
name  of  the  company,  to  say,  "  that  it  is  far 


from  their  desire  or  intention  to  monopolize 
or  engage  in  any  of  the  various  objects  of 
enterprise,  trade  or  business,  which  must  of 
necessity  spring  up,  etc. "  It  was  only  after 
the  calamitous  crash  came  that  people  re- 
membered there  had  been  anything  reallv 
said  in  the  President's  circular  except  that 
"  the  President  of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal 
Company,  having  made  arrangements  in 
England  for  the  funds  requisite  to  carry  out 
their  contemplated  improvements  in  the  city 
of  Cairo,  upon  the  most  extensive  mid  iiberal 
scale,  etc." 

The  subject  of  "funds"  was  all  that  caught 
the  eye  of  the  hopeful  comer  to  Cairo,  and 
the  liberal  and  extensive  works  of  buildim^- 
thfi  foundations  of  the  city,  that  caused  the 
money  to  pour  out  to  the  people  in  a  golden 
stream,  were  abundant  evidences  to  all  the 
Avorld  that  the  company  had  not  only  got  the 
money,  but  were  honestly  putting  it  to  the 
purposes  for  which  they  said  "  they  had 
secui-ed  it "  in  their  circular.  But  in  the 
great  financial  wreck,  that  carried  dowoi  such 
a  wide  circle  of  public  and  private  enter- 
prises, and  that  came  like  a  clap  of  thunder 
from  a  clouldess  sky,  the  larger  portion  of 
the  laborers  that  suffered  from  the  visitation 
looked  no  further  for  the  source  of  their  woe 
than  to  Holbrook  and  his  circular.  And  no 
doubt  that  here  was  the  origin  of  the  distrust 
of  this  man  and  his  schemes,  that  eventually 
widely  spread,  and  entered  deeply  into  the 
minds  of  men  all  over  our  country,  even  to 
that  extent  that  his  usefulness  ceased,  and 
he  returned  to  his  Boston  home  to  retire- 
ment from  his  struggles,  to  privacy  and 
death. 

When  Holbrook  got  the  money  from  Eng- 
land, he  put  his  engineers  at  once  to  work 
to  ascertain  the  wants  of  the  town  site  in  the 
way  of  protective  embankments  from  the 
waters  of  the  two  rivers  that  laved  the  three 


94 


HISTOHY  OF  CAIRO. 


sides  of  its  shores,  and  when  they  reported, 
he  put  1, 500  laborers  upon  this  work,  which 
he  was  pushing  vigorously  when  the  crash 
came.  The  levees  along  the  two  rivers  had 
been  regularly  made  and  joined  together  at 
the  southern  extremity,  but  the  cross  levee 
on  the  north,  to  connect  the  two  levees  on 
the  shores,  and  thus  encircling  the  entire  city, 
had  not  been  constructed,  and  thus,  practically, 
all  the  work  completed  was  of  little  or  no 
value  without  the  completion  of  the  north 
cross -levee. 

As  stated  above,  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal 
Company,  and  their  Superintendent,  Mr. 
Olney,  had  abandoned  the  town  and  their 
property,  and,  eventually,  so  did  nearly  all 
the  2,000  people  that  had  gathered  here, 
and  so  complete  was  this  exodus  that  it  is 
stated  less  than  fifty  of  them  permanently  re- 
mained. These  seem  to  have  been  an  easy, 
devil-may-care  class  of  men,  who  found 
themselves  the  happy  possessors,  and  for  all 
purposes  of  use  and  occupation,  the  owners 
of  a  great  young  city,  or  the  half-finished 
ground-plans  thereof. 

The  sudden  coming  together  of  what  all 
the  world  thought  to  be  a  young  and  prom- 
ising great  city  was  equaled  only  by  its  sud- 
den, almost  complete  desertion  when  the 
storm  of  adversity  broke  upon  it. 

The  completed  improvements  in  the  town 
were  the  iron  works  of  Bellews,  Hathaway  & 
Gilbert,  which  were  supplied  with  the  best 
English  machinery,  which  were  in  full  oper- 
ation, and  turning  out  much  valuable  prod- 
ucts. This  institution  continued  its  busi- 
ness, running  its  machinery  to  its  full  capac- 
ity until  the  22d  of  March,  18-1:2,  when  the 
floods  of  that  year,  owing  to  the  unfinished 
condition  of  the  levees,  washed  it  away.  This 
flood  at  the  same  time  swept  away  the  dry 
dock,  which  had  been  erected  at  a  cost  of 
over  S35,000,  when  it  was  seized   by  credit- 


ors, taken  to  New  Orleans  and  sold.  The 
City  Company  had  made  a  large  addition  to 
the  Cairo  Hotel,  which  was  thronged  with 
guests  at  all  times,  many  of  them  being 
tourists,  attracted  here  by  the  wide  name  and 
fame  of  Cairo.  Two  large  saw  mills  were 
turning  out  building  lumber  and  steamboat 
timbers.  A  three-story  planing  mill  was 
running  to  its  fullest  capacity.  This  was 
situated  on  the  corner  of  Eighth  street  and 
the  Ohio  levee.  The  steamer  Asia  and  the 
hull  of  the  steamer  Peru  had  been  moored  in 
front  of  the  city,  and  were  made  into  wharf- 
boats  and  hotels.  Holbrook  had  erected  a 
spacious  and  elegant  residence  on  the  spot 
now  occupied  by  the  Halliday  House.  The 
company  had  erected  twenty  neat  and  com- 
modious cottages  during  the  season  of  1841. 

Then  the  numerous  shanties,  cabins  and 
pole-huts,  together  with  the  unfinished  levees 
and  an  unfinished  railroad,  were  the  heirlooms 
that  became  the  possessions  of  the  happy-go- 
lucky  fifty  people  that  remained  here  amid 
the  general  wreck  and  ruin. 

In  April,  1843,  Miles  A.  Gilbert  was  ap- 
pointed Agent  of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal 
Company,  to  take  possession,  care  and  gen- 
eral control  of  its  property  in  the  city.  The 
condition  in  which  he  found  matters  upon  his 
arrival  here,  the  mood  and  temper  and  claims 
of  the  people,  the  lawless  spirit  of  the  mob, 
and  their  primitive  notions  of  the  vested 
rights  to  everything  that  their  occupancy  had 
given  them,  the  episodes  Mr.  Gilbert  en- 
countered, that  drove  him  to  that  "  last  re- 
sort of  nations,"  ai-e  fully  told  in  the  bio- 
graphical sketch  of  him  in  another  part  of 
this  work. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Gilbert  had  vindicated  his 
right  to  the  possession  and  control  of  the 
property,  he  put  a  force  of  laborers  at  work 
constructing  the  cross-levee,  from  the  Ohio 
to  the  Mississippi   levee,  and  this  was  com- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


95 


pleted  during  the  year  1843.  He  also  re- 
paired, strengthened,  raised  and  leveled 
the  old  levees  running  along  the  river  banks. 
The  levees,  as  now  completed,  inclosed 
about  six  hundred  acres  of  ground.  Their 
average  height  above  the  natural  surface  of 
the  land  was   between  seven  and  eight  feet. 

Their  efficacy  as  embankments  to  keep  out 
the  waters  is  well  told  in  the  following  from 
Mr.  Miles  A.  Gilbert:  "  They  kept  out  the 
great  flood  in  the  Missisippi  of  June,  1844. 
Cairo  was  the  only  diy  spot  in  the  river  bot- 
toms to  be  found  between  St.  Louis  and 
New  Orleans.  That  season,  I  had  a  field  of 
corn,  of  many  acres,  planted  inside  the  Cairo 
levee,  which  gi-ew  to  maturity  and  ripened 
into  a  good  crop,  although  the  water  sur- 
rounding the  city  was  about  eight  feet  higher 
than  the  surface  of  the  corn-field." 

The  flood  in  the  Mississippi  River  of  the 
spring  of  1844  was  historical,  and  remains 
to  this  day,  as  marking  the  extreme  height 
to  which  the  waters  of  that  river  have  attained 
since  its  discovery.  The  writer  remembers 
standing  upon  the  high  blufl's  opposite  St. 
Louis,  when  the  waters  of  the  river  stretched 
from  the  base  of  the  hills  like  a  great  sea, 
and  as  he  looked  west  over  the  expanse  of 
waters,  could  see  no  dry  land  except  Monk's 
Mound,  which  was  covered  with  domestic 
animals.  From  Alton  to  New  Orleans,  the 
river  extended  from  the  hills  on  one  side  to 
the  hills  on  the  o})posite  side,  and  probably 
averaged  in  width  between  fifteen  and 
twenty  miles.  The  destruction  of  human 
life,  the  devastation  of  property,  in  all  this 
strip  of  wide  country,  for  twelve  hundred 
miles,  was  appalling.  Houses,  fences  and 
buildings  of  all  kinds  were  washed  away,  and 
a  wide  track  of  desolation  marked  the  whole 
course  of  the  river— -except  within  the  levee 
of  the  city  of  Cairo.  Here,  Miles  A.  Gril- 
bert's  field  of    corn  was    vigorously  pushing 


up  its  heads,  to  look  and  smile,  perhaps, 
upon  the  angry  fljod  that  surrounded  it. 
What  a  triumph  for  the  young  city,  to  fol- 
low, as  it  did,  so  closely  in  time  upon  the 
tracks  of  the  financial  disaster  that  had  swept 
over  it,  and  against  which  no  levees  or  em- 
bankments could  protect  it!  What  a  laurel 
wreath  it  was  for  Miles  A.  Gilbert  and  his 
co-laborers  in  their  heroic  determination  to 
overcome  all  obstacles,  and  build  a  city  here! 

Fi'om  the  hour  that  Mr.  Gilbert  finished 
and  inclosed  the  city  with  a  levee,  there 
has  come  to  the  town  no  disaster  from  the 
high  waters  in  the  Mississippi  River;  and 
yet  the  highest  floods  ever  known  in  that 
river  came  while  the  levees  were  so  con- 
structed and  finished  by  INIr.  Gilbert,  and 
before  they  had  been  raised  to  their  present 
height,  which  is  an  average  of  about  twelve 
feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground  all 
around  the  city,  or,  in  other  words,  five  feet 
in  height  had  been  added  to  the  original 
levees. 

It  is  a  well-established  fact  that  even  the 
fii'st  levees  built  here  would  have  been  an 
abundant  protection  from  any  waters  in  the 
Mississippi  River.  While  this  wonderful 
river,  in  its  onward  surge  to  the  sea,  defies 
and  baffles  the  piiny  arm  of  man  to  guide, 
check  or  control  it,  yet  nature  has  so  arranged 
the  topography  o£  the  country,  thiough 
which  tht>  river  runs  between  this  point  and 
St.  Louis,  that  its  gi'eatest  floods  can  do 
no  hai-m  at  Cairo.  At  Grand  Chain,  the 
river  has  cut  its  bed  down  through  the  solid 
rocks  many  hundreds  of  feet,  and  the  great, 
water-seamed  cliffs  stand  facing  each  other, 
forming  the  narrowest  point,  and  the  highest 
perpendicular  rocky  bluffs  on  either  side  of 
any  other  place  in^the  Lower  Mississippi. 
This  narrow  gorge  holds  back  the  water 
above,  and  allows  it  only  to  pass  through  in 
such  quantities,  that   the   wide  bottoms  that 


96 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


commence  here  take  them  off  as  fast  as  they 
can  come. 

While  this  is  true  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
it  is  not  the  case  with  the  Ohio  Eiver.  The 
same  Grand  Chain  crosses  the  Ohio,  and 
passes  into  Kentucky  a  few  miles  above  here; 
yet  the  river  channel  has  not  been  so  con- 
fined by  steep,  rocky  shores,  but,  upon  the 
contrary,  there  is  quite  a  sufficient  space  for 
the  waters  in  uninterrupted  [volume,'even  at 
the  highest  stages. 

But  recent  experiences  teach  there  has  been 
a  materia]  change  in  the  frequency  and  force 
of  the  high  waters,  especially  in  the  Ohio 
River.  The  great  freshets  in  the  Mississippi 
are  usually  known  as  the  "  June  rise,"  and 
generally  come  from  the  melting  snows  in 
the  Rocky  Mountain  regions,  while  the  Ohio 
Eiver  is  almost  wholly  influenced  by  long- 
continued  heavy  rains  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  Since  1860,  the  drainage  of  the  en- 
tire agricultural  country  in  the  Valley  has 
been  greatly  increased,  until  lagoons  and 
marshes  and  ponds  that  ouce  held  the  rain- 
fall, and  •  allowed  it  to  pass  off  only  by 
evaporation,  are  now  dry  and  well-tilled 
farms.  So  wide  and  thorough  has  general 
drainage  been  inaugurated,  in  sm-face,  and 
subsoil  and  tile  drainage,  that  it  must  greatly 
affect  the  gathering  of  the  waters  to  the  large 
rivers,  and  is,  no  doubt,  one  of  the  large 
factors  in  producing  the  change  that  has 
taken  place  in  the  annual  freshets  in  our  rivers. 
Still  another  alleged  influence  is  the  clearing 
out  of  the  forests  all  over  tbe  country,  and  thus 
taking  from  the  atmosphere  and  the  soil  one 
large  source  of  gathering  and  holding  back 
the  waters.  But  this  last  theory  is  somewhat 
fuddled  by  the  often- advanced  philosophical 
idea  that  the  cutting  away  of  the  forests  re- 
duces the  rainfall,  and  heoce  the  great 
droughts  which  so  severely  afflict  the  country 
at  now  frequent  intervals.     One  or  the  other, 


perhaps  both,  of  these  theories  are  false,  yet 
there  is  one  thing  well  established,  namely, 
that  a  heavily- timbered  country  always  be- 
speaks a  large  rainfall  there,  while  the  treeless 
desert  as  certainly  tells  of  a  cloudless  sky 
and  no  rainfall.  So,  if  the  trees  do  not  pro- 
duce an  increase  in  the  rain,  the  rain  cer- 
tainly does  increase  the  tree  growth. 

When  Miles  F.  Gilbert  had  completed  his 
levees  around  the  city  of  Cairo,  in  1843,  he 
had  walled  the  waters  out,  and  fenced  in  the 
ragged  squad  of  fifty  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren that  constituted  the  population  of  the 
forlorn  city.  This  tattered  remnant  of  peo- 
ple had  taken  and  held  possession  of  the 
houses,  and  the  first  choice  of  hut,  shanty, 
cottage,  Holbrook's  handsome  residence,  or 
mill,  or  factory,  was  to  the  swift  of  foot,  who, 
when  the  exodus  commenced,  could  get  there 
first,  and  acquire  ownership  by  possession. 
They  evidently  looked  upon  Mr.  Gilbert  with 
some  distrust  and  ill-will,  as  he  was  "  not 
regular"  in  this;  he  claimed  there  were  yet 
property  rights  here  of  the  Cairo  &  Canal 
Company,  and  he  further  believed  in  the 
majesty  and  supremacy  of  the  law  of  the 
land.  He  ^ave  his  time  and  labored  faith- 
fully, never,  for  a  moment,  so  doubting  his 
eyes  and  senses  as  to  lose  faitli  in  the  future 
great  destiny  of  Cairo.  From  1843  to  1851 
did  he  continue  thus  to  "hold  the  fort," 
and  protect  the  town  and  build  up  its  inter- 
ests. In  those  eight  long  years  of  decay  and 
dilapidation,  the  population  increased  only 
from  50  to  200  souls.  Except  for  the 
efforts  of  Mr.  Gilbert,  there  was  an  interreg- 
num here,  and  a  prostration  of  the  hopes  of 
the  lown  quite  as  profound  as  was  the  finan- 
cial and  commercial  panic  in  the  country 
generally.  And  all  over  the  West  this  pros- 
tration lasted  until  the  passage  by  Congress 
of  the  bill  for  the  building  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  in  February,  1851. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


99 


April  15,  1851,  S.  Staats  Taylor  succeeded 
M.  A.  Gilbert,  as  Agent  of   the  Trustees  of 
the  Cairo  City  Property.      At  that  time,  only 
about  fifty   acres,  along  the  Ohio  River,  near 
its    confluence   with   the    Mississippi    Eiver 
were  cleared.     The  rest  of  the  grounds  were 
mostly  covered  with  a  dense   growth  of  tim- 
ber.     The  buildings  and  other  improvements 
made    by  the  city    company,    from    1837    to 
1842,  had  nearly  all  fallen  and  decayed,  or 
been    removed.     Only   a    few   buildings  re- 
mained,   and   they    were    in  a    tumble-down 
condition.     The  Central  Railroad  had  made 
arrangements  to   commence  the  construction 
of  its   road,  and    desiring    privileges  within 
the  city  of  Cairo,  and  the  right  of  way  from 
the  north  to  the  south  limits  of  the  town,  on 
June    11,      1851,    Thomas     S.     Taylor    and 
Charles  Davis,  the  Trustees,  living  in  New 
"York,  entered    into  a  contract  with  the  rail- 
road   company   to   construct    and    maintain 
levees  around  the  city.     The  consideration 
paid  the  railroad,  in  addition  to  the  right  of 
way  through  the  city,  was  487  acres  of  land, 
this    land   mostly  on   each  side  of   the  track 
and  the  levees    around  the  city,  with  certain 
tracts  extending  to  the  rivers  on  each  side  of 
the  city.     This  agreement  provided  that  the 
railroad  company  should  encompass  the  city 
with    a    levee  or    embankment    of    adequate 
height  to  exclude  the  waters  of    the   rivers 
at  any  then  known  stage  or  rise  of  the  same; 
that  this  embankment  or    levee  should  be  so 
formed  or   graded  as  to  furnish  a   street  or 
roadway,    as     nearly    level,    transversely,    as 
might  be   deemed  proper,  of    not    less   than 
eighty  feet  in  width,  and,  beyond  the  street 
or  roadway,  to  slope   toward  the   river,  on  a 
descent  of   one    foot  in  five,  to    the    natural 
surface  of  the  land,  which  [slope  was  to  have 
been  continued  toward  the  river,  to  low  water 
mark. 

As  this  agreement  and  contract  was  event- 


ually the  most  important  to  the  city  com- 
pany, to  the  town  and  to  the  railroad,  and 
led  finally  to  misuodorstandings  and  lawsuits 
between  the  two  companies,  and  to  much  dis- 
cussion and  disputes  among  property  holders 
in  the  city,  and  as  they  have  never  been 
properly  understood  by  the  many  interested 
therein,  we  give  them  hei-e  entire,  together 
with  the  correspondence  arising  therefrom 
between  the  railroad,  the  city  company  and 
the  property  holders: 

"  AGREEMENT. 

"  The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
with  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City 
Property.     June  11,  1S51. 

"  Memorandum  of  an  agreement  made  pro- 
visionally, this  11th  day  of  June,  1851.  be- 
tween Thomas  S.  Taylor  and  Charles  Davis, 
of  the  first  part,  and  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company  of  the  second  part. 

"1.  It  is  hereby  mutually  agreed,  that 
proper  deeds,  conveyances  and  instruments 
necessary  to  secure  the  performance  of  this 
agreement,  shall  bo  executed  by  the  respect- 
ive parties  hereto,  when  prepared  in  due 
form  of  law  and  with  accurate  descriptions. 

"  2.  It  is  also  agreed,  that  the  site  of 
Cairo  City,  substantially  as  shown  on  a  map 
thereof  made  by  H.  C.  Long,  dated  June, 
1851,  and  annexed  hereto,  "shall  be  estab- 
lished by  the  parties  of  the  first  part,  and 
maintained  by  them  against  the  abrasion  and 
wear  of  the  waters  of  the  rivers,  and  that  all 
the  constructions,  of  whatever  nature,  for  the 
purposes  of  forming,  maintaining  and  pro- 
tecting the  site  of  the  city,  shall  be  made  by 
and  at  the  cost  of  the  parties  of  the  first 
part. 

"  3.  It  is  agreed,  that  this  site  shall  be 
encompassed  entirely  by  a  levee  or  embank - 
mpnt  of  adequate  height  to  exclude  the 
waters  of  the  rivers  at  any  stage  or  rise  of 
the  same  now  known,  to  be  established,  for 


100 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


the  purposes  of  this  agreement,  by  the  en- 
gineers of  both  parties,  which  shall  be  so 
formed  and  graded  as  to  furnish  a  street  or 
roadway  as  nearly  level,  transversely,  as  may 
be  deemed  proper,  of  not  less  than  eighty 
feet  in  width,  and,  beyond  the  width 
adopted  for  the  level  _  street  or  roadway,  to 
slope  toward  the  rivers,  on  a  descent  of  one 
foot  in  five,  to  the  uatiu-al  surface  of  the  land 
— which  slope  is  to  be  continued  toward  the 
river,  to  a  point  to  be  selected  by  the  en- 
gineers at  low  water  mark;  but  a  level  sur- 
face (transversely)  may  be  introduced  between 
the  slope  of  the  levee  or  embankment  and 
the  slope  down  to  the  low  water  mark,  in  case 
the  width  of  the  bank  between  the  water  and 
the  levee  should  make  it  necessary  or  expedi- 
ent, and  it  should  be  so  arranged  by  the  en- 
gineers of  both  parties.  All  of  which  em- 
bankment, or  levee,  or  slopes,  and  inter- 
mediate level,  if  any  there  be,  shall  be 
made,  formed  and  graded  by  and  at  the  cost 
of  the  parties  of  the  second  part. 

"  4.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  location  of  the 
levee  or  embankment  shall  be  such  as  will 
supply,  from  the  excavation  and  removal  of 
the  earth  forming  the  slope  to  the  low  water 
mark,  all  the  earth  necessary  for  the  forma- 
tion, grading  and  construction  of  the  levee 
or  embankment,  with  only  such  variations  in 
the  places  as  the  engineers  of  both  parties 
may  agree  upoQ  as  absolutely  necessary. 

"  5.  It  is  agi-eed,  that  when  the  levee 
street  is  formed  and  graded,  of  a  width  of 
not  less  than  eighty  feet  on  top,  and  the 
slope  of  the  levee  wharf  formed  and  graded, 
that  the  same  shall  be  considered  as  com- 
pleted under  this  agi'eement,  and  that  no 
further  protection  or  construction,  such  as 
paving,  planking,  etc.,  shall  be  required  of 
the  parties  of  the  second  part;  biit  all  re- 
pairs, works  or  constructions  which  may 
thereafter   become  essential  or  necessary  for 


the  preservation,  maintenance  and  rej^air 
of  the  levee  or  embankment  shall  be  made  by 
and  at  the  cost  of  the  parties  of  the  second 
part;  and  such  as  may  be  essential  and  neces- 
sary for  the  preservation,  maintenance  and 
repair  of  the  level  in  front  of  the  levee  or  em- 
bankment, and  of  the  slopes  or  levee-wharf, 
shall  be  made  by  and  at  the  cost  of  the  parties 
of  the  first  part,  except  in  front  of  those  parcels 
of  land  to  be  appropriated  to  the  parties  of 
the  second  part,  extending  r,o  and  into  the 
waters  of  the  rivers,  where  the  level,  slopes 
or  levee-wharf  shall  be  maintained  and  re- 
paired by  and  at  the  cost  of  the  parties  of 
the  second  part,  but  not  so  far  as  to  dis- 
charge the  parties  of  the  first  part  from  the 
agreement  to  establish  and  maintain  the  site 
of  the  city  No.  2. 

"  6.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  parties  of  the 
second  part  may,  whenever  they  may  see  fit, 
lay  do\vn,  construct  and  operate  a  single  or 
double  line  of  rails,  of  such  form  or  rail, 
gauge  and  manner  of  construction  as  they 
may  deem  judicious,  upon  or  along  the  levee 
or  embankment  or  any  part  thereof;  and 
may  use  the  same  for  the  transportation  of 
passengers,  goodf  and  merchandise,  by  steam 
or  other  power — subject  only  to  such  reason- 
able and  just  rules  and  regulations,  as  to 
the  use  of  their  tracts,  as  may  be  made  and 
imposed  by  the  proper  authorities  of  Cairo 
City  for  the  time  being,  but  no  rules  or  reg- 
ulations shall  be  imposed,  or  if  imposed 
need  be  respected,  which,  in  effect,  would 
essentially  eflfectually  impair  or  entirely  de- 
stroy its  right  of  constructing  and  operating 
the  tracks  on  the  levee  or  embankment. 

"  7.  It  is  agreed,  that  cross-levees  or  em- 
bankments shall  be  made  and  maintained  by 
and  at  the  cost  of  the  parties  of  the  second 
part,  of  adequate  height  and  width  for  the 
purposes  proposed  for  them,  which  shall 
cross  from  the  levee  or   embankment   on  the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


101 


Mississippi  to  that  on  the  Ohio,  one  of  them 
on  and  upon  the  strip  of  land  marked  on  the 
map  A,  and  the  other  on  the  strip  of  land  at 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  city,  marked 
B;  but  no  public  streets  or  highways  are  to 
be  laid  out  upon  these  levees  or  embank- 
ments, except  to  cross  the  same  nearly  or 
exactly  at  right  angles;  and  the  tracks  and 
rails  laid  thereon  are  not  to  be  subject  to  any 
rules  or  regulations  other  than  those  Avhich 
are  imposed  upon  the  parties  of  the  second 
part  by  their  act  of  incorporation  aod  the 
laws  of  the  land. 

"  8.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  parties  of  the 
second  part  shall  proceed  with  due  diligence 
in  the  construction  of  the  crosslevee  or  em- 
bankment on  the  lower  strip  marked  A,  and 
of  the  levee  or  embankment  below  the  same, 
and  entirely  around  the  point  of  the  city,  at 
the  confluence  of  the  rivers,  as  shown  on  the 
map;  but  that  they  may  postpone  to  such 
time  as  they  may  deem  reasonable  and 
proper,  the  construction  of  the  cross-levee  or 
embankment  on  the  upper  strip  of  land, 
marked  B.  and  the  levees  or  embankments 
to  connect  with  those  previously  constnicted 
on  the  lower  portion  of  the  city. 

"9.  It  is  agi'eed,  that  the  parties  of  the 
second  part  may  locate  their  railroad  gfrom 
the  northern  line  of  Cairo  City,  upon  the 
line  of  the  width  of  roadway  [shown  on  the 
annexed  map,  being  100  feet,  to  a  point  to 
be  established  and  fixed  by  the  engineers  of 
the  two  parties,  in  the  northern  line  of  the 
cross  strip  of  land,  marked  A  on  the  annexed 
map,  and  below  and  south  of  that  point  on 
and  over  all  the  land  colored  blue  on  said 
map,  to  be  surveyed  and  described  by  metes 
and  bounds;  and  also  on  and  over  all  the 
lands  colored  blue  on  the  annexed  map, 
above  the  northerly  line  of  the  strip  marked 
A,  on  each  river  to  the  northerly  line  of  the 
city;  and  also  on  and    over  the  strip  of  laud 


marked  B,  including  in  the  preceding  de- 
scription the  station  lots,  depot  grounds  and 
levee  wharves  shown  on  the  said  map. 

"  10.  It  is  agreed,  that  when  the  above 
location  shall  have  been  made  according  to 
law,  that  the  deeds  of  release  and  cession 
shall  be  made,  executed  and  delivered  by  the 
parties  of  the  first  part,  to  the  parties  of  the 
second  part,  inthe  consideration  of  the  agree- 
ment on  their  part  for  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  the  levees,  embankments  and 
slopes  above  described,  of  all  the  lands  and 
premises  to  which  refei'ence  has  heretofore 
been  made,  and  which  are  to  be  particularly 
smweyed  and  accurately  located  and  de- 
scribed, to  hold  the  same  absolutely  in  fee 
simple,  for  the  uses  and  purposes  of  the  said 
railroad  and  its  business,  and  for  the  trans- 
portation of  passengers,  goods  and  merchan- 
dise and  the  station  accommodations,  storage, 
receipt,  delivery  and  safe  keeping  of  the 
same,  and  for  the  machine  and  repair  shops, 
engine  and  car  houses,  turn-tables,  water 
tanks,  and  generally  for  all  the  wants  and 
requirements  of  the  railroad  service,  so  \oncr 
as  the  said  parties  of  the  second  part  shall 
continue  to  use,  occupy  and  operate  tlie  same 
for  the  purposes  above  intended. 

"11.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  parties  of  the 
second  part  may  lay  down,  maintain  and 
operate  their  lines  of  tracks  and  rails,  upon 
the  above -described  lands,  in  such  manner 
and  form  as  they  may  deem  proper;  ami  mav 
use  thereon  steam,  or  other  power  of  any 
kind,  subject  only  to  the  general  liabilities  of 
land -owners  as  to  the  use  of  their  propt'rtv, 
but  exempt  from  any  special  rules  or  obliga- 
tions imposed  or  attempted  to  be  imposed  by 
the  parties  of  the  first  part,  or  any  and  every 
grantees  or  grantee  of  the  Cairo  City  Proper- 

ty. 

"  12.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  tracks  or  lines 
of  rails  of   the   parties  of  the   second   pavt, 


102 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


to  be  laid  down  on  tlie  strip  of  land,  of  100 
feet  in  width,  running  entirely  around  the 
city,  shall  be  laid,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  at 
and  under  each  street  crossing,  upon  the 
natural  level  or  grade  of  the  land,  in  order 
to  gain  as  much  elevation  as  possible  under 
the  bridges  to  bo  erected  by  the  parties  of 
the  first  part,  and  each  at  every  street  cross- 
ing, but  the  grade  may  vary  from  the  natural 
surface  at  all  other  points,  as  the  parties  of 
the  second  part  may  see  fit. 

"13.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  cross  streets 
are  to  be  located  by  the  parties  of  the  first 
part,  across  and  over  the  strip  of  land  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  article,  with  a  space 
of  at  least  400  feet  between  them;  and  are 
to  be  graduated  so  as  to  cross  the  strip  of 
land  on  bridges,  with  at  least  sixteen  feet 
above  the  rails  of  the  parties  of  the  second 
part,  for  the  passage  of  engines,  and  that  no 
crossing  shall  be  laid  out  to  cross  the  tracks 
in  any  other  way  "than  with  sufficient  space 
below  it  for  the  passage  of  engines,  and  that 
no  crossing  through  or  upon  any  of  the  sta- 
tion or  depot  lands. 

"  14.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  parties  of  the 
first  part  are  to  build  and  maintain  all 
the  bridges  or  street  crossings,  at  their  ex- 
pense and  cost,  and  that  the  parties  of  the 
second  part  ai-e  to  drain  and  protect  the  strip 
of  land  above-mentioned,  by  sewers,  drains, 
culverts  and  fences,  at  their  expense  and 
costs. 

"  15.  It  is  agreed,  that  the  parties  of  the 
second  part  shall  release  and  convey  to  the 
parties  of  the  first  part,  all  their  right,  title 
and  interest  of,  in  and  to  a  certain  depot  lot 
in  the  city  of  Cairo,  containing  ten  acres  of 
land,  conveyed  to  them  by  the  State  of 
Illinois  by  deed  dated  the  24th  day  of 
March,  1851,  and  also  of,  in  and  to  all  the 
roadway  of  the  railroad  heretofore  located 
in  the  city  of    Cairo  and  also   conveyed   to 


them  by  the  above-mentioned  indenture,  so 
far  as  the  same  may  not  be  included  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  lands  and  premises, 
which  are  intended  to  be  conveyed  to  the 
parties  of  the  second  part,  under  this  agi'ee- 
ment. 

"  16.  Finally,  it  is  agreed,  that  in  case 
of  the  necessity  of  any  further  covenants 
or  aiTangements,  to  carry  out  the  pui'poses 
of  this  agreement,  or  eq^lanatory  of  the 
same,  but  not  essentially  to  impair  or  mod- 
ify the  same,  that  both  parties  will  proceed 
to  adjust  and  execute  the  same,  in  the  full 
spirit  of  mutual  confidence  in  which  this 
agi-eement  has  been  negotiated  and  settled, 
and  that  in  the  event  of  any  misunderstand- 
ing or  disagreement  of  any  kind,  or  in  any 
way  connected  with  this  agreement,  its  pur- 
poses and  objects,  that  the  points  of  disagree- 
ment and  dispute  shall  be  reduced  to  writ- 
ing, and  in  that  form  submitted  to  the  arbit- 
rament and  decision  of  three  I'efei-ees,  to  be 
chosen  in  the  usual  manner. " 

This  agreement  was  duly  signed  by  Robert 
Schuyler,  President  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company,  and  by  T.  S.  Taylor  and 
Charles  Davis,  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City 
Property. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  vast  consider- 
ation of  lands  and  privileges  granted  to  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  5,000 
shares  of  the  Cairo  City  stock  were  conveyed 
to  the  order  of  the  Directors  of  that  com- 
pany, by  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Prop- 
erty, as  appears  by  the  following  extract 
from  a  circular  published  by  them  in  Novem- 
ber, 1854,  for  the  information  of  the  share- 
holders, and  of  all  others  interested,  or  wish- 
ing to  become  interested  therein: 

"In  the  year  1851,  the  Trustees  made  the 
most  advantageous  arrangements  for  the 
property,  by  which  they  secured  the  con- 
struction  of   the  Illinois    Central   Railroad, 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


108 


from  Cairo,  as  its  southern  terminus,  to 
Chicago  and  Galena;  and  by  which  they 
also  secured  the  completion  of  the  levees  of 
the  most  permanent  character,  and  inclosing 
the  whole  site  of  Cairo,  by  the  said  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company,  and  at  its  ex- 
pense. These  arrangements  were  perfected 
by  the  Trustees,  by  an  authorized  expend- 
itui-e  or  issue  of  5,000  new  shares  in  the 
'Cairo  City  Property,'  and  by  donations  of 
the  land  at  Cairo  needed  for  railroad  and 
other  purposes." 

On  May  31,  1855,  the  following  additional 
memorandum  of  an  agreement  was  made  and 
entered  into  between  Thomas  S.  Taylor,  of  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  and  Charles  Davis,  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  Trustees  of  the  Cairo 
City  Property,  of  the  first  part,  and  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad  Company  of  the 
second  part: 

"  "Whereas,  the  said  parties  did,  on  the 
11th  day  of  June,  1851,  make  and  enter  into 
a  certain  agreement  with  each  other,  relative 
to  the  'deeding  and  conveying  certain  prop- 
erty at  Cairo,  by  the  said  first  to  the  said 
second  party,  and  in  consideration  thereof 
for  the  construction  of  certain  levees  and 
works,  for  the  protection  of  the  said  city  of 
Cairo  from  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi Rivers,  by  the  said  party  of  the 
second  part;  and 

"  Whereas,  the  said  deed  and  conveyances 
have  been  executed,  delivered  and  accepted, 
and  a  part  of  the  levee  to  be  constructed,  on 
the  Ohio  River,  had  been  begun  and  partly 
completed,  and  in  other  respects  said  con- 
tract remains  to  be  executed;  and 

"  Whereas,  for  the  purpose  of  obviating 
misunderstanding,  as  well  as  because  re- 
monstrances seem  to  render  it  expedient,  it 
has  been  deemed  best  to  modify  the  said  con- 
tract in  one  or  two  particulars,  as  well  as  to 


render   more    clear   its  meaning   in    others; 
now,  therefore, 

"  This  Indenture  icitnesseth,  That,  for  the 
consideration  named  in  said  agi-eement,  and 
in  consideration  of  tbe  premises,  and  of  $1 
by  each  of  the  parties  hereto  paid  to  the 
others,  the  receipt  whereof  is  mutually  con- 
fessed, it  is  agi-eed  by  the  said  parties  as  fol- 
lows, to  wit: 

^^  First.  The  said  second  party  agrees  that 
the  levee  on  the  Ohio  River,  now  under  con- 
struction, shall  be  completed  to  low  water 
mark,  which  has  been  designated  and  fixed 
by  the  engineers  of  both  parties,  at  a  point 
forty -two  feet  below  the  grade  line  of  the 
levees,  as  soon  as  the  condition  of  the  river 
will  permit,  and  the  paving  in  front  of  the 
lots  of  land  conveyed  by  the  first  parties  to 
the  said  second  parties,  under  the  agreement 
of  the  11th  of  June,  required  to  be  done  by 
the  parties  of  the  second  part  before  men- 
tioned, shall  be  prosecuted  and  completed  by 
the  second  pai'ties  with  all  convenient  dis- 
patch; and  the  first  parties  shall,  in  like 
manner,  prosecute  and  complete  the  pave- 
ment in  front  of  the  remainder  of  the  said 
levee,  when  completed  as  above. 

"  Second.  The  said  fii'st  party  agrees,  that 
the  completion  of  the  remaining  parts  of  the 
levee  agi'eed  upon  and  described  in  the  said 
agreement  of  June  11,  and  the  constniction 
of  which  was  therein  undertaken  by  the  said 
second  parties,  as  is  herein  agreed,  but  in  no 
way  modifying  the  s&id  original  agi-eement  in 
this  respect,  except  as  to  the  time  of  con- 
structing and  completing  said  levees,  and 
that  upon  the  condition  of  the  construction 
of  protective  embankments,  as  hereinafter 
agreed. 

"  Third.  The  said  party  of  the  second  part 
agree  to  maintain  in  good  repair  the  protec- 
tive   embankment,    now    existing,    from    the 


104 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


point  of  the  confluence  of  the  Rivera  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  to  the  old  cross  embankment,  to 
the  height  of  the  newly- constructed  levee  on 
the  Ohio  River,  except  so  far  as  the  engineers 
of  both  parties  shall  deem  it  advisable  to 
deviate  from  the  present  course  of  the  same; 
and  in  case  it  shall  be  deemed  advisable  to 
deviate  from  it  at  any  point,  the  ,  new  em- 
bankment required  to  be  constructed  by  the 
said  direction  shall  be  constructed  and  main- 
tained by  the  said  party  of  the  second  part, 
to  the  same  height  and  in  the  same  manner  as 
tliey  are  a'equired  to  maintain  the  present 
embaukment. 

"  The  said  second  party  shall  and  will  also 
construct  and  maintain  a  new  protective  em- 
bankment upon  the  Mississippi  River,  from 
a  point  at  the  westerly  end  of  the  old  cross 
embankment,  to  be  fixed  by  the  engineers  of 
both  parties,  upon  a  location  to  be  determined 
by  said  engineers,  to  connect  with  the  ti'ack 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  at  or  near 
the  strip  of  land  marked  'A'  upon  the  map 
or  plan  fixed  to  said  agreement  of  the  11th 
of  June,  A.  I).  1851 ;  and  the  mark  to  be  re- 
quired for  the  construction  and  i-epair  of  the 
embankments  herein  mentioned,  shall  be  com- 
pleted before. the  1st  day  of  December  next. 
"  Fourth.  The  embankments  above  pro- 
vided, but  which  are  only  provisional  and 
temporary,  sitbstituted  for  the  levees  agreed 
to  be  constructed  by  the  said  second  parties, 
shall  be  maintained  and  kept  in  repair  by 
the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  until  the 
levees  by  them  agreed  to  be  constructed  shall 
be  built  in  the  manner  and  form  as  prefaced 
in  the  said  agreement  of  11th  June,  1851. 
And  the  said  second  parties  agree  to  construct 
and  complete  the  said  levees  as  fast  as  ^the 
business  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  re- 
quires the  extension  of  the  track  over  and 
upon  any  portion  of  the  bank  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  which  is  to  be  protected  by  such 


embankment,  whether  upon  the  levee  or  on 
the  inner  track,  and  shall  in  like  jnanner 
construct  a  similar  levee  or  levees,  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio,  between  the  land  by  the 
strij)  marked  'A'  upon  the  said  map  or  plan, 
and  the  levee  already  constructed  upon  the 
bank  of  said  river,  as  the  business  of  the 
city  of  Cairo  shall  require  it,  and  the  parties 
of  the  first  part,  or  their  successors,  shall  re- 
quire it  to  be  done. 

******* 

^^ Eighth.  The  parties  of  the  second  part 
shall  examine  the  Mississippi  bank,  on  the 
tract  of  land  conveyed  to  them  for  a  station, 
and  take  all  necessary  steps  to  protect  the 
same  from  further  abrasion  until  the  con- 
struction of  the  permanent  levees,  according 
to  the  said  agreement  of  the  11th  June,  1851, 
at  their  own  expense. 

"  They  shall,  in  like  manner,  examine  and 
protect  the  point  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
where  the  abrasion  has  affected  the  old  em- 
bankment, and  do  what  is  necessary  to  pro- 
tect it  for  the  same  period,  at  their  own  ex- 
pense. 

"  They  shall  also  survey  the  Mississippi 
River  banks  opposite  the  point  nearest  the 
Cache  River,  and  shall  dn  at  their  ex- 
pense, what  is  in  the  report  of  the  sm-veyors 
necessary  to  protect  the  same  from  further 
abrasion  or  inroads;  provided  such  work  shall 
not  exceed  in  expense  the  sum  of  $20,000; 
and  provided  also,  all  the  work  herein  pro- 
vided for,  as  well  as  the  said  provisional 
temporary  embankment,  shall  be  constructed 
under  the  joint  superintendence  of  the  en- 
gineers of  the  two  parties,  and  be  proceeded 
with  as  early  as  practicable." 

This  agreement  concludes  by  specifying 
that  the  original  agreement  is  to  remain  in 
full  force,  except  where  modified  by  this> 

It  is  then  duly  signed  and  acknowledged 
by   W.  H.    Osborn,  President  of  the  Illinois 


IILSTOKY  OF  CAIRO. 


105 


Central    Railroad,    and   by   the   Cairo   City 
Property. 

There  were  many  causes  occm-ring,  be- 
tween the  dates  of  this  first  and  second 
agreement,  that  led,  finally,  to  the  adoption 
of  the  additional  and  explanatory  second 
agreement  between  the  two  interested  par- 
ties, the  leading  ones  of  which  are  yet  the  un- 
written though  important  part  of  the  city's 
history. 

In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  first 
agreement  of  1851,  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, in  a  short  time  after  the  adoption  of 
the  articles,  proceeded  about  the  work  of 
making  new  levees,  "and  to  construct  these  ac- 
cording to  the  terms  of  the  contract. 

In  order  to  the  better  understanding  of 
the  work  done  by  the  road,  it  is  proper  to  ex- 
plain that  the  levees,  as  completed  under 
the  BUj)ervision  of  Miles  A.  Gilbert,  were 
constructed  near  the  banks  of  the  two  rivers, 
ai-d  circling  and  coming  together  at  the  south 
upon  the  line  now  occupied  by  the  levee. 
The  north  cross- levee  was  upon  a  ridge  of 
ground  commencing  near  the  present  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  stone  depot  (about  Tenth 
street),  and  running  directly  west  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  inclosing  about  six  hundred 
acres.  By  the  contract  with  the  Central 
road,  the  north  cross-levee  was  to  be  ex- 
tended, or  caii'ied  north,  so  that  the  levees 
would  inclose  about  thirteen  hundred  acres 
of  ground,  or  to  the  position  substantially  as 
DOW  consti'ucted. 

The  new  levees  along  the  rivers  were  lo- 
cated inside  the  old  levees,  and,  whei'e  prac- 
ticable, their  dirt  was  used  on  the  new  ones. 

The  President  and  Directors  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company  were,  unques- 
tionably, in  good  faith  anxious  to  fulfill  their 
contract;  construct  strong  and  really  protect- 
ive levees;  stop  the  abrasion  of  the  natural 
bank  on  the  Mississippi  side,  and  fui'ther  the 


interest  of  their  road  and  the  city,  and  help 
build  a  great  city  here.  But  their  work  upon 
the  levees  soon  began  to  di'ag;  to  meet  un- 
accountable obstructions;  to  work  at  loose 
pui'poses,  and  often  to  assume  the  appear- 
ances of  undoing  good  work  that  had  been 
before  done,  and  tearing  down  instead  of 
building  up.  This  inexplicable  course  of 
circumstances  would  often  menace  the  very 
existence  of  the  city;  greatly  astound  and 
exasperate  the  Cairo  City  Property,  as  well 
as  the  President  and  Directors  of  the  Central 
road. 

The  secret  of  these  studied  wrongs  that  so 
greatly  injured  the  city,  and  fi'om  the  evil 
effects  of  some  of  them  it  has  hardly  re- 
covered yet,  was  this:  The  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  Central  Railroad — a  man  named  Ash- 
ley— and  it  is  alleged  other  ofiicers,  and 
among  them  R.  B.  Mason,  the  Superintend- 
ent, had  conceived  a  daring  scheme  of  specu- 
lation, whereby  they  purchased  a  great  deal 
of  real  estate  in  and  around  Mound  City, 
and  in  order  to  make  this  valuable  they  un- 
dertook to  destroy  Cairo,  and  thereby  make 
Mound  City  the  actual  terminal  point  of  the 
road.  And  Engineer  Ashley  evidently  an- 
ticipated that  his  official  position  in  con- 
trolling the  work  in  Cairo  would  enable  him 
to  carry  out  this  poi'pose. 

That  such  was  their  cunning  scheme,  which 
Ashley  boldly  attempted,  is  strongly  evi- 
denced by  this  incident,  as  well  as  many 
others  that  occurred  in  the  year  1854,  as 
follows: 

A  contractor  upon  the  levee  work,  named 
Dutcher,  brought  on  a  force  of  six  hundred 
or  more  laborers  to  wox'k  on  the  road  and 
levees,  and  commenced  to  cut  down  the  old 
levees,  and,  as  he  stated,  for  the  purpose 
of  erecting  the  new  ones.  But  the  new  ones 
were  left  with  gi-eat  gaps,  and  often  there 
were  long  stretches  where  there  were  no  ap- 


106 


HISTORY  OF  CAIEO. 


pearance  of  new  embankments  going  up. 
In  the  meantime,  the  high  waters  began  to 
come  down  the  rivers,  and  the  agent  of  the 
Cairo  City  Propex'ty  began  to  realize  that 
Dutcher  was  exposing  the  city.  He  said  all 
he  could  to  change  the  course  of  the  work, 
but  Dutcher  would  only  promise  and  do  noth- 
ing. When  it  became  plain  something  must 
be  done  quickly,  IMr.  Taylor  employed  300 
men  to  work  at  night,  and  bank  off  ,the  ris- 
ing waters,  where  the  levees  had  been  cut 
down.  They  would  go  to  work  in  the  even- 
ing, wheD  Dutcher's  men  would  quit  work. 
After  this  had  gone  on  two  or  three  nights, 
Mr.  Dutcher  claimed  the  city  company  were 
interfering  with  his  work,  and  he  abandoned 
his  contract,  and  turned  adrift  his  force  of 
600  men,  all  of  whom,  of  coui'se,  were  given 
to  understand  that  the  city  company  had 
brought  about  the  troubles.  On  the  third 
night,  when  the  night  laborers  repaired  to 
their  work — the  waters  eveiy  moment  now 
becoming  very  dangerous — they  found  their 
works  and  tools  in  the  possession  of  a  mob  of 
Dutcher's  men,  and  they  were  vowing  and 
swearing  that  no  man  should  do  a  stroke  of 
work  unless  their  whole  force  was  also  em- 
ployed, and  paid  at  the  rate  of  $3  each  per 
night  Such  was  the  emergency,  that  even  to 
delay  and  parley  was  to  sacrifice  the  town,  and 
the  agent  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  ordered 
one  and  all  to  go  to  work.  They  did  so,  and 
this  disastrous  mob  attack,  at  a  critical  mo- 
ment, when  it  could  not  be  resisted,  was  after 
all,  the  means  that  saved  the  city  and  kept  out 
the  waters.  The  strip  of  levee  between  the 
old  and  new  levee  was  the  weak  spot  in  the 
works,  and  so  rapidly  did  the  waters  come 
during  the  night,  that  on  this  place  the  men 
worked  for  hoiu's  in  water  over  twenty  inches 
in  depth.  To  understand  this,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  state  that  there  was  an  old  levee  out- 
side of  this,  and  that  when  the  water  broke 


over  the  outside  levee,  it  came  to  the  new  one 
in  a  swirl  or  circle,  so  that  the  tendency  of 
the  current  was  not  over  the  new  levee.  But 
so  great  was  the  emergency,  and,  thanks  to 
the  mob,  so  abundant  were  the  laborers,  that 
men  were  placed  upon  the  endangered  spot, 
and  actually  so  thickly  were  they  crowded, 
that  human  flesh  formed  an  embankment,  and 
kept  back  the  waters  until  dirt  was  placed 
there,  and  the  levee  made  high  and  stroug 
enough  to  stay  the  waters.  The  riotous  labor- 
ers lingered  about  the  town,  often  threatening 
the  men  at  work  on  the  levees  with  violence; 
openly  threatening  to  bui-n  and  destroy  the 
town,  and  they  were  several  times  caught  at- 
te'mpting  to  cut  the  levees  and,  let  in  the 
water.  The  regular  laborers  had  aruied,  as 
well  as  they  could  possibly,  with  pistols  and 
guns,  and  one  night  the  rioters  fired  a  num- 
ber of  pistol  shots  in  the  direction  of  the 
workmen,  and  it  is  most  fortunate  that  they 
did  not  hit  or  hurt  any  of  them,  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  laborers  had  their  instruction 
to  pay  no  attention  to  their  assailants  unless 
some  of  their  men  were  hurt,  and  in  that 
event  to  charge  upon  them  and  spare  not, 
but  kill  all  they  came  to.  Many  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  town  took  sides  against  the  com- 
pany, and  tui-bulence  continued  to  spread  and 
intensify  and  grow,  and  finally  the  company 
telegraphed  to  St.  Louis  for  a  few  boxes  of 
muskets,  and  when  the  mob  saw  these  arrive, 
and  noticed  they  were  taken  to  the  com- 
pany's ofiice,  the  next  morning  the  roads,  the 
by-ways  and  the  brush,  even,  were  full  of 
Dutcher's  laborers,  with  their  .little  bundles 
on  their  shoulders,  getting  out  of  town  as 
fast  as  they  could.  Dutcher,  when  he  threw 
up  his  contract,  repaired  to  the  nearest  hills, 
up  the  line  of  the  railroad,  and  there  awaited 
news  of  the  drowning  or  burning  of  Cairo, 
and  vapored  and  blowed  his  wrath  at  the 
town,    threatening  to  sue  and   collect  many 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


1C7 


millions  of  dollars  damages   for   interfering 
with  bis  contract  work. 

There  are  many  other  circumstances  that 
go  to  establish  the  fact  that  Ashley  was  not 
only  disloyal  to  the  railroad  company  that 
employed  him,  but  that  he  was  willing  to 
sacrifice  not  only  Cairo,  but  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  road  in  his  schemes  of  speculation 
and  selfishness.  So  plain  did  this  eventually 
become,  that  the  authorities  of  the  railroad 
became  aware  of  his  tricks,  and  they  per- 
emptorily and  curtly  dismissed  him  from 
their  service.  Instead  of  the  city  company 
being  sued  and  made  to  pay  immeasurable 
damages  for  employing  this  large  force  of 
men  to  work  at  night  and  save  the  city,  the 
agent,  Mr.  Taylor,  made  out  a  bill  against  the 
road  for  every  dollar  he  had  expended,  and 
the  I'oad  paid  it,  because  it  was  convinced 
that,  instead  of  interfering  with  Butcher's 
contract  work,  the  company,  by  their  agent, 
w^as  simply  doing  the  work  the  road  had 
bound  itself,  by  solemn  contract,  to  do. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  dastardly  at- 
tempt to  destroy  the  town,  and  probably  all 
in  it,  was  not  understood  at  the  time  by  the 
people;  in  fact,  many  so  completely  misun- 
derstood the  daring  moves  of  the  unholy  con- 
spirators, that  they  not  only  did  not  see  how 
they  and  theirs  had  been  saved,  but  they  took 
sides,  and  many  were  vehement  partisans  of 
Ashley  and  his  followers.  They  believed  that 
the  city  company  had  stood  about  the  town 
like  a  dog  in  the  manger,  and  refused  to  let 
the  railroad  build  the  levees;  and  when  the 
arrival  of  the  muskets  had  dispersed  the  riot- 
ous laborers,  and  di'iven  them  in  panic  away, 
there  were  citizens  left  to  take  up  their  quar- 
rel, and  threaten  the  city  company. 

Another  par  incident,  only  on  a  more  ex- 
tended scale,  was  when  the  United  States 
Marshal  came  down  from  Springfield  to  serve 
writs  upon  the  "  heads  of  the  town  " — lead- 


ing citizens,  as  it  were,  who,  like  pretty 
much  all  of  the  residents,  were  defiant  tres- 
passers upon  the  company's  property,  and 
the  few  leaders  of  whom  the  company  had 
commenced  '  proceedings  against  in  the 
United  States  Court.  When  the  Marshal  ar- 
rived, there  was  a  flutter  of  excitement,  and 
the  mutterings  of  the  threatened  storm  were 
all  around  the  sky.  But  the  Marshal  was 
quiet  and  gentlemanly;  in  truth,  he  seemed  to 
be  about  the  only  one  not  heated  with  great 
excitement.  He  waited  upon  the  parties  for 
whom  he  had  writs;  told  them  that  he  was 
going  up  the  river  for  two  days,  and  then  he 
would  return,  and  they  must  give  bail,  or 
he  would  be  compelled  to  perform  the  pain- 
ful duty  of  putting  them  in  jail.  That  night, 
a  meeting  of  the  people  was  called;  some 
brave,  short  speeches  were  made,  and  finally 
the  meeting  resolved  that  the  city  company 
had  no  right  nor  title  to  any  property  within 
the  city,  and  that  they  would  not  obey  the 
writs  of  the  United  States  Court.  Here  was 
insurrection  and  civil  war!  Oi',  as  it  turned 
out,  a  roaring  farce,  that  surpassed  the  Three 
Tailors  of  Bow  Street,  when  they  issued 
their  proclamation  to  an  astonished  world, 
and  announced  that  "  We,  the  People  of 
England,  etc." 

When  the  oflScer  returned,  and  the 
"  rebels  "  took  a  second  look  at  him,  they 
concluded  to  recognize  his  writs,  and,  under 
solemn  protests,  gave  bail  and  escaped  the 
bastile. 

The  embankments  constructed  by  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad,  under  their  contract, 
did  not  prove  to  be  protective  embankments 
or  levees.  On  June  12,  1858,  they  gave  way, 
and  the  city  was  inundated;  this  inimdation 
was  the  result  solely  of  the  imperfect  con- 
struction of  the  embankment.  Logs  and 
stumps  had  been  put  in  the  levees,  and  this 
furnished    a  route  for   the  waters  until  the 


108 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


dirt  became  so  soft  and  giving,that  it  ceased 
to  be  an  obstruction  to  the  waters,  and  the 
flood  came.  This  destructive  overflow  led  to 
ithe  following  correspondence  between  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  and  the 
Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  and  which 
furnishes  the  only  complete  explanation  of 
the  facts,  and  the  views  of  the  different  in- 
terested parties  at  the  time  that  we  can  now 
procure: 

July  13,  1858,  Charles  Davis,  Esq.,  one  of 
the  Trustees,  addressed  the  President  and 
Directors  of  the  Central  road,  substantially 
as  follows:  "  The  recent  inundation  of  Cairo 
has  particularly  directed  the  attention  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  to  their 
agreements  with  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company,  relative  to  the  construction 
and  maintenance  of  levees  or  protective  em- 
bankments around  the  city  of  Cairo. 

"  At  the  time  of  making  those  agreements, 
the  Trustees  understood,  and  have  ever  since 
understood,  and  have  uniformly  and  repeated- 
ly been  advised  by  various  counsel,  that 
these  agreements  were,  on  the  part  of  your 
company,  not  only  a  legal  undertaking  to 
construct  levees  or  protective  embankments, 
to  the  extent  and  in  the  manner  prescribed  in 
said  agreements,  but  were  also  a  continuing 
and  perpetual  legal  undertaking  to  maintain 
the  same  after  they  had  been  constructed. 

"  The  Trustees  have  received,  both  from 
their  beneficiaries  and  from  purchasers  of  land 
at  Cairo,  very  many  expressions  of  regret  that 
the  levees  and  protective  embankments  have 
proved  insufficient  for  the  pui'pose  of  their  con- 
struction, and  very  many  statements  of  great 
actual  and  prospective  loss  and  damage  to 
such  beneficiaries  and  purchasers,  and  many 
inquiries  whether  the  Illinois  Central  Com- 
pany had  performed  their  agreements  before- 
mentioned.  Their  beneficiaries  have  com- 
municated to  the  Trustees  the  opinion  of  said 


beneficiaries,  that  the  duty  of  the  Trustees  to 
the  said  beneficiaries  required  them  to  de- 
mand, and  by  all  means  in  their  power  to  en- 
force, a  full  and  continual  performance  of 
said  agreements,  and  urgently  request  the 
Trustees  to  give  immediately,  and  in  the  fut- 
ure continue  to  give,  their  attention  to  this 
matter. 

"  Without  now  adverting  to  any  omissions 
in  the  past,  the  recent  inundation  has  done 
much  damage  to  the  levees  and  embankments, 
which,  under  said  agreements,  it  is  the  duty 
of  your  company  to  repair.  The  Trustees 
have  a  telegram  from  Mr.  S.  S.  Taylor, 
dated  at  Cairo,  6th  inst. ,  informing  them 
that  the  sewers  were  all  open,  and  a  portion 
of  the  city  dry,  so  that  work  on  the  levees 
and  embankments  could  be  resumed. 

"  The  Trustees  do  hereby,  in  conformity  to 
the  requests  of  their  beneficiaries,  and  in  as- 
sertion of  their  rights  under  said  agreements, 
request  the  President  and  Directors  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  to  repair 
the  damage  which  has  been  done,  and  also  to 
perform  at  once  whatever  has  been  omitted 
that  is  required  to  be  performed,  under  said 
agreements  for  the  construction  and  main- 
tenance of  levees  and  protective  embank- 
ments around  the  city  of  Cairo. 

"When  the  Trustees  consider  the  importance 
of  the  performance  of  these  agreements  to  the 
compamy  itself,  but  much  more  "when  they 
consider  the  innumerable  and  the  very  heavy 
liabilities  to  which  the  company  is  needlessly 
exposed  by  every  omission  to  perform  agree- 
ments of  such  general  and  public  concern, 
the  Trustees  can  scarcely  believe  that  the 
President  and  Directors  of  the  company  will 
delay  unnecessarily,  or  even  voluntarily 
neglect  to  do  all  that  the  company  has  by 
said  agi'eements  undertaken."  ^ 

To  this,  under  date  15th   July,  185^,  Mr. 
Osborn,   the  President  of   the  Central  I'oad, 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


109 


replies,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  let- 
ter, and  stating  "  it  is  the  intention  of  the 
company  to  repair  the  damage  occasioned 
by  the  late  freshet  to  the  works  at  Cairo,  as 
far  as  is  incumbent  upon  it  under  the  con- 
tracts with  your  company.  I  am  not  aware 
of  any  omission  in  the  performance  of  the 
contract,  and  do  not  understand  that  clause 
of  your  letter  which  requests  this  company 
to  perform  at  once  whatever  has  been  omit- 
ted that  is  required  to,  be  performed  under 
said  agreement  for  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  levees  and  protective  em- 
bankments, etc." 

Under  date  22d,  the  same  month,  Mr.  Os- 
born  again  writes  to  Mr.  Davis,  and  among 
other  things  says :  "  I  am  desirous  to  meet 
the  views  and  wishes  of  your  shareholders, 
but  the  difficulty  is  the  ready  money.  Capt. 
McClellan^has  decided  to  accept,  if  not  al- 
ready done,  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Edwards, 
to  whom  the  price  of  the  unfinished  work  was 
referred,  payable,  $5,000  upon  the  1st  day 
of  September,  and  the  balance  (about  $(3,000) 
on  the  1st  day  of  December.  If  you  will  be 
good  enough  to  postpone  those  payments  un- 
til the  15th  of  January,  I  will  at  once  give 
directions  to  have  a  force  make  the  repairs 
to  the  levee  and  embankments  with  all  prac- 
ticable dispatch." 

On  the  same  day,  by  written  communica- 
tion, Mr.  Davis  accepted  the  terms  and  con- 
ditions proposed  by  Mr.  Osborn. 

Under  same  date,  S.  Staats  Taylor,  in  re- 
ply to  letter  of  inquiry  from  the  Trustee,  Mr. 
Davis,  writes:  "  I  would  state  that,  in  my 
opinion,  an  embankment  twenty  feet  wide  on 
the  top,  with  a  slope  on  each  side  of  one  foot 
perpendicular  to  five  (or  even  four)  feet 
horizontal,  would  be  sufficiently  strong  to 
resist  the  pressui'e  of  any  water  that  cjuld  be 
brought  against  it,  provided  it  was  properly 
constructed.     The   late  high  water  at   Cairo 


has  demonstrated  that  the  levees  are  not  hisrh 
enough,  and  to  make  them  safe  in  this  par- 
ticular they  should  be  at  least  two  feet  (if 
not  three  feet)  higher.  Where  the  levees 
were  up  to  grade,  the  water  in  the  Ohio  was 
within  (me  foot  seven  and  a  half  inches  of  the 
top  of  the  levees,  and  on  the  Mississippi  side 
it  was  still  higher,  bringing  it  within  a 
very  few   inches  of  the  grade. 

"  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  embank- 
ment at  the  place  where  it  bi'oke  was  ren- 
dered weak  and  insecm'e  by  logs  being  buried 
in  or  under  it,  and  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  new  protective  embankment,  both  on  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  Kivers,  was  con- 
structed without  the  natural  sm-face  being 
properly  prepared  by  grubbing  and  plowing, 
so  as  to  allow  the  artificial  embankment  to 
amalgamate  and  firmly  combine  with  the 
natural  ground.  From  a  neglect  to  do  this, 
the  water  during  the  late  high  water  perco- 
lated, and  found  a  passage  in  many  places  in 
considerable  quantities,  between  the  artificial 
embankment,  and  the  natural  gi'ound.  This 
neglect  to  properly  prepare  the  gi'ound  ex- 
isted at  the  time  of  building  the  new  levee 
on  the  Mississippi  last  winter,  and  the  ground 
was  not  only  not  grubbed  or  plowed,  but 
largiB  stumps  were  allowed  to  remain  in  that 
levee,  and  are  there  now,  notwithstanding  my 
notification  at  the  time  to  Capt.  McClelland 
that  they  were  so  allowed  to  remain  there. 
The  contractor  employed  by  the  railroad 
company  last  winter  was  detected  by  myself 
in  bmying  large  logs  in  that  embankment, 
not  merely  allowing  those  to  remain  that  had 
fallen,  when  the  embankment  was  to  be  con- 
structed, but  actually  rolling  others  in  from 
other  places.  When  detected,  those  that 
were  in  view  were  removed,  but  as  a  portion 
of  the  embankment  was  constructed  before 
his  practices   were  known,  the  probability  is 


no 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


that  others  are  yet  in  the  embankment,  de- 
tracting, of  course  from  its  strength  and 
security. " 

A  communication  from  'Mr.  S.  S.  Taylor, 
which  was  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees 
on  the  29th  September,  1858,  is,  to  some  ex- 
tent, a  semi-official  account  of  the  overflow 
of  the  town  in  1858,  and  as  such  deserves  to 
be  placed  upon  a  permanent  record.  It  is 
dated  Cairo,  September  6,  1858.  "  After  the 
last  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1857,  our  city  continued  to  increase  in 
population,  and  improvements  continued  to 
be  made,  the  improvements,  owing  to  the 
financial  crisis,  being  fewer  in  number  than 
during  the  previous  spring  and  winter.  The 
increase  in  population  was,  nevertheless, 
gi-eater  than  at  any  previous  period,  every 
house  and  structure  capable  of  protecting 
population  from  the  elements  becoming  filled 
to  repletion.  This  increase  continued  dur- 
ing the  winter  and  spring,  so  that  at  the 
municipal  election  in  February  last,  in  which 
there  was  no  such  particular  interest  taken 
by  the  people  as  to  bring  out  a  full  vote, 
there  were  over  [four  hundred  votes  polled, 
and  at  the  same  time  it  was  known  that  there 
were  about  two  hundi-ed  and  fifty  residents 
who  did  not  vote,  some  by  reason  of  not 
being  entitled,  and  others  for  want  of  inter- 
est. 

"  It  was  thus  ascertained,  with  a  consider- 
able degree  of  accuracy,  that  at  the  time  of 
the  election  in  February  last,  we  had  at  least 
650  men  residents  here.  It  is  generally  con- 
ceded that  one  in  seven  of  a  population  is  a 
large  allowance  of  voters,  in  many  places  it 
not  being  more  than  one  in  ten.  But  giving 
us  the  largest  allowance,  and  that  may  be 
proper,  inasmuch  as  in  a  new  place  there  is 
always  a  preponderance  of  men,  this  calcula- 
tion will  afford  us  a  population  of  4,500, 
Shortly    after     this     time,    some    inconven- 


ience from  the  accumulation  of  water  within 
our  levees  began  to  be  felt.  This  accumula- 
tion arose  from  excessive  rains.  These  rains 
interfered  somewhat  with  the  filling  in  and 
grading  of  the  Ohio  levee,  and  in  the  early 
part  of  December  we  were  obliged  to  close 
our  sewers,  from  the  waters  in  the  rivers 
having  risen  to  a  level  with  their  outside 
mouths,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
days  in  the  early  spring,  they  remained 
closed  until  they  were  re-opened  after  the 
overflow. 

"  This  state  of  things  continued  until,  and 
was  in  existence  at,  the  time  the  breach  in 
our  levees  occm'red  on  the  12th  of  June  last. 

"As  you  are  aware,  this  breach,  whereby 
the  water  was  first  let  into  the  tovni,  oc- 
curred on  the  Mississippi,  at  the  point  where 
the  levee  on  that  river  leaves  the  river  bank, 
on  the  curve  toward  the  Ohio  River,  and 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  junction  of  the 
two  levees. 

"  At  this  point  where  the  crevasse  fii-st  oc- 
curred, the  levee  was  very  high,  the  filling 
of  earth  being  not  less  than  twelve  feet  high. 

"  In  the  neighborhood  of  the  crevasse,  the 
soil  appears  to  be  sandy,  and  an  undue  quan- 
tity of  that  kind  of  soil  may  have  entered 
into  the  composition  of  tlie  levee  at  that 
point.  An  inspection  of  the  crevasse  also 
shows  that  the  groimd  was  not  properly 
prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  embank- 
ment, it  not  having  been  properly  grubbed, 
as  appears  by  the  roots  and  stumps  still 
standing  in  it,  in  the  ground  where  the  em- 
bankment is  washed  off.  When  the  levee 
broke,  no  one  was  in  sight  of  it,  that  I  can 
ascertain.  Capt.  McClelland,  the  Vice  Presi- 
dent and  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Central  Eail- 
road  and  myself  had  passed  over  it  on  foot 
within  two  hours  before  it  occurred,  and  a 
watchman,  whose  duty  it  was  to  look  after  it, 
was  over  it  about  twenty  minutes  before,  but 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Ill 


to  none  of  us  was  there  any  appearance  of 
weakness.  After  leaving  the  location  about 
twenty  minutes,  and  being  distant  less  than 
one- fourth  of  a  mile,  the  watchman  heard  the 
roaring  of  the  waters  running  through  the 
crevasse,  and  when  I  reached  it,  three- fourths 
of  an  hour  afterward,  the  water  was  running 
through  to  the  full  width  of  300  feet,  and  in 
an  unbroken  stream,  as  if  it  was  to  the  full 
depth  of  the  embankment.  The  probability 
is,  I  think,  that,  aided  by  the  stumps  and 
roots  in  the  embankment,  and  it  is  possible 
some  other  extraneous  substances,  the  water 
had  found  its  way  through  the  base  of  the 
embankment,  and  had  so  far  saturated  it  as 
to  destroy  its  cohesion  with  the  natural 
ground  below,  and  then  the  weight  of  the 
waters  on  the  outside  had  pushed  it  away. 

"  As  you  are  aware,  when  the  contracts  for 
building  the  different  divisions  of  gthe  Illinois 
Central  road  wei-e  originally  let,  in  June,  1852, 
that  for  the  construction  of  the  lower  cross- 
levee  and  the  levees  below  it,  on  both  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Rivers,  was  included  in  the 
letting,  and  was  given  out  to  _Mr.  Richard 
Ellis.  Under  this  contract,  work  was  com- 
menced and  prosecuted  at  various  points,  on 
both  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  from 
September  to  December,  1852,  when  the  con- 
tractor failed,  and  the  work  was  abandoned 
until  December,  1853,  except  on  that  pov- 
tion  along  the  Ohio  River  above  the  freight 
depot.  On  that  section  it  was  continued, 
with  a  view,  apparenth',  of  constructing  an 
embankment  for  the  accommodation  of  their 
railroad  track,  rather  than  for  the  purpose  of 
protecting  the  town  from  inundation,  the  em- 
bankment having  been  built  in  the  same 
manner  as  their  ordinary  railroad  embank- 
ments. The  instructions  given  by  their  en- 
gineer in  charge  of  their  work  at  the  time  it 
was  done  were  the  same  as  those  issued  in 
other  cases  for  the   construction  of  railroad 


embankments,  viz.,  that  while  the  filling 
was  over  four  feet,  the  stumps  were  not  to  be 
removed,  and  no  grubbing  done,  and  I  am 
told  by  the  engineer  in  charge  at  the  time 
the  work  was  done  that  these  instructions 
were  followed,  and  that  the  embankments 
along  the  Ohio  River,  above  the  freight  de- 
pot, was  thus  built  without  the  stumps  being 
removed  or  grubbing  done.  A  portion  of  this 
bank,  at  or  near  the  curve  on  the  Ohio  near 
the  junction  of  the  levee,  is  quite  narrow, 
and  after  our  late  experience  I  should  think 
it  was  far  from  being  secui'e. 

"  At  the  time  of  the  overflow,  a  very  large 
portion  of  our  population  were  obliged  to  go 
away,  from  inability  to  procure  accommoda- 
tions here.  Some,  who  had  two-stoi'ied 
houses,  remained  in  the  upper  story,  but 
most  were  obliged  to  desert  their  dwellings. 
The  population  thus  mostly  scattered  into 
the  neighboring  towns  and  country,  with  the 
exception  of  those  whoi^rocured  accommoda-' 
tion  on  the  wharf  and  flat-boats  and  barges 
at  the  levee.  A  large  portion  of  those  who 
thus  went  away  have  already  returned ;  others 
are  coming  back  daily,  and  if  employment  to 
justify  their  return  can  be  found,  I  am  sat- 
isfied the  great  bulk  of  our  population  will 
shortly  be  back  here  again.  I  think  our 
population  ia  at  least  three  thousand  now, 
if  not  more. 

"  Early  in  the  last  spring,  the  foundry 
buildings  took  fire,  and  were  entirely  con- 
sumed. The  ["establishment  was  just  begin- 
ning to  transact  a  very  successful  and  pro- 
fitable business. 

"  During  the  last  spring,  a  good  ferry  was 
established  between  Cairo  and  the  adjoining 
States  of  Missouri  and  Kentucky,  by  the 
Cairo  City  Feny  Company,  and  a  good  steam 
ferry-boat  fui*nished,  which  makes  regular 
trip?  between  those  States  and  Cairo,  bring- 
ing ti'ade  and  produce  to  it.      Before  the  de- 


112 


HISTORY  or  CAIRO. 


struction,  by  the  late  high  water,  of  the  prod- 
uce of  the  farms  alonor  the  rivers,  a  very 
perceptible  increase  in  the  business  of  the 
city  took  place  from  this  cause,  and  a  re- 
suscitation of  the  business  of  the  adjoining 
country  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  river 
will,  by  the  aid  of  the  ferry,  be  attended  with 
a  corresponding  effect  here. 

"  Portions  of  the  roads  in  the  adjoining 
States  are  so  far  finished  that,  by  the  1st  of 
November,  we  shall  have  a  continuous  rail- 
road from  here  to  New  Orleans,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  river  travel  between  here  and 
Columbus  City,  sixteen  miles  from  here. 
This  road  is  now  finished,  with  the  exception 
of  two  gaps,  of  eighteen  and  six  miles  re- 
spectively, and  these  are  being  rapidly  filled. 
A  steam  ferry-boat  will  commence  running 
from  here  to  Coliimbus,  on  the  1st  of  the 
next  month,  in  connection  with  this  road, 
and  when  the  road  is  completed,  as  it  will  be 
by  November  1,  we  shall  be  within  two  days' 
travel  of  New  Orleans. 

"  The  first  section  of  the  Cairo  &  Fulton 
Eailroad,  in  Missouri,  is  now  pushed  for- 
ward with  energy,  and  that  portion  between 
Bird's  Landing,  opposite  here,  and  Charles- 
ton, a  village  about  fourteen  miles  from  the 
river  (Mississippi),  will  be  in  operation  by 
the  1st  of  December  next  Charleston  is  a 
thrivin  gvillage,  in  a  well-settled,  well-culti- 
vated and  flourishing  section  of  Missouri, 
and  our  connection  with  it  by  railroad  will 
tend  to  increase  considerably  the  business 
and  trade  of  our  town.  As  you  are  aware,  a 
road  was  cut  out  along  the  bank  of  the  Ohio 
Eiverto  Moimd  City  last  fall,  and  a  bridge  • 
across  Cache  River  was  commenced  then,  but 
has  been  delayed  since  by  the  high  water. 
The  construction  of  this  bi'idge  has  been 
since  re-coramenced,  and  the  contractor  in- 
forms me  that  it  will  be  ready  for  use  one 
week  from  next  Saturday.     This  will  give  us 


a  good  road  to  Mound  City,  and,  by  connec- 
tion with  roads  there,  will  give  us  free  com- 
munication with  the  country  and  villages  be- 
yond, and  thus  give  us  a  good  deal  of  trade 
from  those  quarters. 

"  In  consequence  of  the  great  destruction 
of  property  by  high  water  in  the  country 
about  us,  the  farmers  have  but  little  to  sell, 
and  this,  connected  with  the  general  depres- 
sion of  trade,  has  made  it  rather  dull  here; 
notwithstanding  which,  some  improvements 
are  still  going  on  in  our  city.  The  distillery 
which  was  commenced  last  spring  is  being 
pushed  to  completion,  and  will  be  ready  for 
operation  by  the  1st  of  next  month.  Two 
houses — one  a  dwelling,  twenty-five  by  forty, 
two  stories  high,  the  other  for  a  German 
tavern,  twenty-five  by  seventy-five,  and  three 
stories  high — both  commenced  before  the 
overflow,  are  in  process  of  completion.  Two 
others,  one  twenty-five  by  seventy  and  three 
stories  high,  have  been  contracted  for  and 
begun  since  the  overflow,  and  are  nearly 
finished;  and  one  other,  a  dwelling-house, 
contracted  for  since  the  overflow  but  not  yet 
begun. 

"  The  work  of  macadamizing  the  Ohio  levee, 
and  building  the  protecting  wall  at  the  base, 
has  so  far  advanced,  that  about  one  thousand 
feet  of  the  wall,  extending  from  the  lower 
side  of  Fourth  street  to  the  lower  side  of 
Eighth  street,  has  been  completed,  and  for 
about  six  hundred  feet  in  length  additional, 
the  broken  rock  is  placed  for  about  one 
hundi-ed  and  twenty -five  feet  from  the  toj)  of 
the  levee.  The  gi-ading  of  the  levee  with 
earth,  within  the  same  limits,  has  also  been 
prosecuted,  as  the  waters  in  the  rivers  would 
permit.  A  few  weeks  of  favorable  weather 
and  a  favorable  stage  of  water  would  enable 
us  to  complete  the  whole  of  the  grading  and 
macadamizing  of  the  whole  of  the  1,000  feet 
above  the  passenger  depot. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


113 


"  Most  of  tliis  rock  work  was  done  pre- 
viously to  January  1,  1858,  when  the  com- 
munication with  the  quarries  was  interrupted 
by  ice  in  the  INHssissippi;  after  this  difficulty 
was  removed,  the  water  was  so  high  as  to 
cover  the  quarries,  and  has  continued  so  un- 
til the  last  week,  with  a  brief  interval,  dur- 
ing which  we  were  enabled  to  get  down  two 
barge  loads  of  stone,  and  last  week  the  water 
had  so  far  receded  at  the  quarry  as  enabled 
us  to  make  regular  trips  with  the  steamb  )at 
and  barges.  During  the  spring  and  summer, 
the  water  has  been  too  high,  most  of  the 
time,  to  admit  of  much  work  on  the  filling 
and  grading  of  the  Ohio  levee,  between  the 
depots,  according  to  our  arrangements  with 
the  railroad  company,  to  complete  for  them  the 
unfinished  work.  But  at  intervals,  we  were 
enabled  to  do  something,  and  worked  moder 
ately,  as  the  weather  and  water  would  per- 
mit, until, within  the  last  four  weeks,  when 
we  have  pushed  the  work   vigorously. 

"  The  bank  building  belonging  to  Gov. 
Matteson  has  been  [completed  for  several 
weeks,  but  there  do  not  appear  to  be  any  in- 
dications of  an  early  opening  of  the  establish- 
ment, although  I  am  told  the  note-plates 
have  all  been  prepared,  the  officers  engaged 
and  all  other  arrangements  completed  months 
ago  for  the  opening.  This  delay  is  to  be  I'e- 
gretted,  especially  as,  if  the  ground  had  not 
been  occupied  by. Gov.  Matteson,  or  rather  if 
his  declared  intention  had  not  gone  abroad 
through  the  whole  country  round  about,  a 
good  bank  would  have  been  established  here 
last  fall,  by  Mr.  E.  Norton,  one  of  our  old 
citizens,  in  connection  with  his  brother,  the 
Cashier  of  the  Southern  Bank  of  Kentucky, 
established  at  Russellville,  Ky. 

"  In  conclusion,  it  is  very  evident  that 
had  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  constructed 
the  levees,  as  they  should  be  constructed,  and 
not  have  substituted  for    them  the    common 


railroad  embankments,  that  this  interruption 
to  the  onward  pi-ogress  of  Cairo  would  not 
have  taken  place. " 

Some  robust  correspondence  was  inaugu- 
rated by  the  Cairo  property  owners  of 
Springfield,  111.,  after  the  overflow  of  June, 
1858,  and  as  they  discuss  some  questions 
that  have  been  mooted  by  our  people  at  vari- 
ous times,  we  give  extended  extracts  from 
both  sides  of  the  discussion. 

On  the  17th  June.  1858,  J.  A.  Matteson, 
Johnson  &  Bradford,  R.  F.  Ruth,  John  E. 
Ousley,  W.  D.  Chenery,  H.  Walker,  T.  S. 
Mather  and  fifteen  others  of  the  leading 
citizens  of  Springfield, addi-essed  a  joint- letter 
to  S.  Staats  Taylor,  "  Resident  Agent,"  from 
which  letter  we  extract  such  sentences  as 
these  :  "  We  are  apprised  most  fully  of  the 
great  calamity  which  has  befallen  Cairo. 
Had  we  supposed  such  ruin  possible,  we 
could  never  have  been  induced  to  expend  the 
large  amounts  of  money  which  we  have,  nor 
could  we  have  used  our  influence  as  an  in- 
ducement for  others  to  do  so. 

"  The  large  sum  of  $318,000  has  been  ex- 
pended by  ourselves,  and  others  of  Spring- 
field, in  the  purchase  of  property  and  its 
impi'overnent  at  Cairo;  and  the  people  of 
Springfield  themselves,  under  the  strong  as- 
surances made  to  them  by  the  Cairo  City 
Company,  have  invested,  and  induced  others 
to  invest,  no  less  than  from  S150,000  to 
8200,000  in  buildings  alone. 

"  By  this  calamity,  which  might  have  been 
prevented  if  the  compauy  had  thrown  around 
the  city  such  complete  protection  as  they 
were  bound  by  interest  and  by  legal  con- 
tract with  purchasers,  to  do,  this  property 
has  been  rendered  comparatively  valueless. 
Nothing  but  prompt  action  and  judicious 
plans,  on  your  part,  can  save  your  city  and 
yoiu"  property  alike,  with  that  of  others,  from 
utter  ruin,  or  at   least    from  such  a  set-back 


114 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


as  will  require  the  work  of  years  to  regain. 
"  Already  is  the  sentiment  fast  gaining 
ground  upon  the  public  mind  that  Cairo  is 
hopelessly  ruined.  This  sentiment  must  be 
at  once  met,  and   contradicted    at   whatever 

cost. 

*         ii^         *         *         *         *         * 

"  We  feel  that  the  company  are  both  legal- 
ly and  vioralhj  hound  to  fully  restore  those 
who  have  sustained  the  damage  to  their 
former  position  before  the  flood.  Independ- 
ent of  their  legal  obligations,  we  deem  it  to 
be  the  highest  interest  of  the  company  to 
institute  thp  most  prompt  and  vigorous 
measures,  not  only  to  restore  to  those  who 
have  suffered  loss,  but  to  so  act  as  to  satisfy 
the  public  mind  at  once  that  the  company 
themselves  are  not  disheartened,  but  that  they 
are  ready,  promptly,  to  do  justice  to  every  one 
who  has  sustained  damage  by  the  overflow  of 
water.  *  *  *  *  In  our  judgment,  the 
company  should  seek  to  inspire  all  those  who 
had  made  Cairo  their  home,  and  who  had 
made  improvements  there,  however  trivial 
in  amount,  that  they  will  be  immediately 
aided  and  fully  restored  to  their  property. 
This  would  establish  confidence  against 
which  no  tide  could  successfully  flow.  But 
this  must  be  done  promptly;  tnust  he  done  at 
once.  The  people  who  have  settled  there 
should  not  be  suffered  to  scatter,  if  possihle 
to  prevent  it.  They  should  be  aided  and  en- 
couraged at  once  with  the  idea  that  the 
storm  is  over,  and  the  floods  are  past  ;  they 
shall  be  made  good  again,  and  their  future 
secured  beyond  a  contingency, 

"  Many  of  the  subscribers  to  this  letter 
own  stock  in  the  Cairo  Hotel  Company,  and 
we  think  that,  as  soon  as  the  waters  subside, 
you  ought  to  rebuild  the  fallen  building,  at 
least  to  a  point  to  where  the  company  had 
carried  it  before  the  levee  gave  way.     *     * 

"  Public   sympathy   might   now  be   relied 


upon  to  a  large  extent.  Cairo,  though  worse 
afflicted,  has  been  overtaken  by  a  calamity 
which  has  befallen  almost  every  city  and 
town  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent.  This  superior  affliction  may, 
by  timely  action,  be  made  to  bear  rather 
favorably  than  otherwise;  and  the  waiers  of 
public  opinion,  which  now  inundate  the  pros- 
pects of  Cairo,  may  be  made  to  subside  as 
rapidly  as  those  of  the  Mississippi  will  retire 
now  that  the  storms  are  past." 

The  object  of  this  carefully  constructed 
letter,  signed  by  so  many  of  the  leading  men 
of  Springfield,  was  to  get  money  from  the 
company  to  compensate  them  for  damages 
sustained. 

The  company,  however,  in  substance,  an- 
swers as  follows: 

"1.  There  was  no  such  contract  ever  made. 
Honest  opinions  and  conscientious  repi-esent- 
atious  were  made,  of  which  the  parties  pur- 
chasing were  always  able  to  judge,  having 
the  city  of  Cairo  with  all  its  defenses  before 
them,  and  all  the  agreements  with  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company  lying  open  for 
their  inspection. 

"  2.  Ample  confirmation  is  found  here,  as 
» to  the  mischievous  character  of  the  news- 
paper reports  complained  of. 

"3.  All  that  is  recommended  and  more 
will  be  done.  See  the  resolutions  adopted  at 
the  meeting  of  September  29,  1858. 

"  4.  The  gentlemen  whose  names  are  af- 
fixed to  this  letter  will  find  their  leading  views 
corroborated  by  the  proceedings  referred  to 
above,  though  the  facts  relied  upon,  the 
points  urged  and  the  legal  questions  in- 
volved, are  very  differently  understood  by  the 
Trustees  and  their  Counsel. 

"  5.  The  population  have  not  been  suffered 
to  scatter,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  report  of 
the  General  Agent,  and  the  most  liberal 
course  of  action  has  been  recommended  by  the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


117 


Executive     Committee,     and    authorized   by 
Si/XK'i  votes:' 

Other,  and,  if  possible,  stronger  letters, 
were  written  the  company  by  N.  W.  Edwards 
and  also  by  "William  Butler.  President  of  the 
Cairo  City  Hotel  Company.  Then.  July  S, 
iSaS,  Mr.  William  Butler,  President,  and 
James  C.  Conklin,  Secretary,  addiessed  a 
joint-letter  to  S.  S.  Taylor,  and  in  it  they 
say:  "  We  notice  the  stockholders  of  Cairo 
City  are  requested  to  meet  at  Philadelphia 
on  the  15th  inst.  We  presume  one  of  their 
objects  is  to  take  into  consideration  the 
course  of  action  to  be  adopted  by  them  con- 
cerning the  damages  which  resulted  from  the 
recent  flood.  In  behalf  of  the  Cairo  Hotel 
Company,  we  desire  they  should  not  only 
consider  the  communication  heretofore  trans- 
mitted by  us  to  you,  which  was.  general  in  its 
character,  and  had  reference,  more  partcular- 
ly,  to  what  might  be  deemed  politic  on  the 
part  of  the  Cairo  City  Company,  but  we  wish 
to  propose  now,  more  distinctly  for  their  con- 
sideration, the  position  of  the  Cairo  City 
Hotel  Company. 

"  In  the  publications  made  by  the  Cairo 
City  Company,  under  date  of  January  1 5, 
1S55,  and  in  their  pamphlet  issued  in  1S56, 
various  inducements  were  held  out  to  capi- 
talists to  invest  at  Cairo  City :  and  the  strong- 
est language  was  used  in  regard  to  the  sta- 
bility and  permanency  of  its  levees.  It  was 
said  that  they  would  afford  a  complete  pro- 
tection from  overflow  at  any  stage  of  water, 
however  high:  that  the  expense  of  the  levees 
was  provided  for  by  the  Trustees  of  the  City 
Property;  that  it  would  entirely  encompass 
the  city,  and  was  to  be  eighty  feet  wide  on 
the  top.  and  that  an  inundation  was  an 
impossibility,  and  that  human  ingenuity 
had  successfully  opposed  a  barrier,  even  to 
the  chance  of  an  overflow,  and  that  gigantic 
works  had  marked  the   Rubicon  which  even 


the   mighty-     Father   of    Waters   could   not 
overstep. 

These  works,  it  was  represented,  had 
been  commenced,  and  progress  had  been 
made  in  their  construction,  '  for  tho  interests 
of  property  holders."     *     *     *     * 

These  representations  were  published  to 
the  world,  and  extraordinary  efforts  were 
made  to  impress  the  minds  of  the  community 
that  Cairo  was  beyond  the  reach  of  any  con- 
tingency arising  from  floods,  uiltil  the  con- 
viction was  well-established,  and  it  was  gen- 
erally believed  that  the  Cairo  City  Company 
had  effectually  provided  against  any  danger 
that  might  be  apprehended  from  this  source. 

The  events  of  the  last  few  weeks,  however, 
abundantly  testify  that  said  embankments 
were  not  seciu*e,  that  the  company  had  not 
fully  pretected  the  interests  of  property  hold- 
ers in  said  city,  etc.,  etc.     *     *     *     « 

In  consideration  of  the  premises,  the  un- 
designed, in  behalf  of  the  hotel  company, 
would  respectfully  represent  to  the  stock- 
holders of  Cairo  City,  that  said  stockholders 
ought  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  said 
loss  and  damage,  that  this  is  the  just  and 
reasonable  view  of  the  case,  and  that  the 
claim  of  the  hotel  company  is  not  only 
founded  upon  sound  reason  and  good  faith, 
but  that,  by  the  established  rules  of  law.  the 
Cairo  City  Company  and  their  Trustees  are 
bound  to  indemnify  the  hotel  company  for 
all  the  losses  sustained  by  reason  of  the  in- 
sufficiency of  the  levee  to  protect  the  city. 

To  this  the  Board  of  Directors  and  the 
Trustees  answer  substantially  as  follows,  in 
addition  to  previous  answers  to  similar  com- 
munications from  pai'ties  in  Springtield: 

1.  All  the  promises  were  prospective,  and 
founded  upon  a  justifiable  belief. 

2.  And  this,  their  belief,  was  founded 
upon  all  past  experience,  upon  careful  sur- 
veys, many  times  repeated  by  eminent  engi- 

7 


118 


HISTOHY  OF  CAIRO. 


neers,  and  upon  the  testimotiy  of  unimpeach- 
able witnesses.  Their  expectations  were 
well-founded,  and  not  unreasonable,  as  the 
adverse  parties  knetv,  and  acknowledged  by 
their  acts,  for  they  were  able  to  judge  for 
themselves,  and  asked  for  no  other  deed  than 
that  which  had  always  been  given.  And 
what,  after  all,  do  the  Trustees  promise  in 
the  publication  cited?  Only  that  certain 
things  "would  be  done"  thereafter;  and 
that^  when  done,  there  would  be  no  possible 
danger  from  overflow.  And  they  say  the 
same  thing  now.  They  expected  the  levee  to 
be  completed  by  the  Illinios  Central  Rail- 
road, as  promised  and  paid  for ;  and  they 
tried,  in  every  way,  to  have  it  done,  short 
of  bi'inging  them  into  a  court  of  law,  while 
under  ovei*whelming  embaiTassment;  and  if 
they  had  fulfilled  their  undertaking,  it  is 
clear,  beyond  all  question,  as  tl^e  foregoing 
documents  prove,  that  Cairo  would  not  have 
been  flooded  in  June  last,  notwithstanding 
the  unexampled  rise  of  both  rivers.      *     * 

4.  Under  all  the  circumstances,  the  fault 
being  that  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad, 
and  not  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  or  their 
Trustees,  would  this  be  a  just  or  reasonable 
expectation?  etc.,  etc. 

The  shareholders  of  the  Cairo  City  Prop- 
erty, as  per  call  noticed  above,  met  in  Phila- 
delphia on  the  15th  of  July,  1858,  and, 
among  other  proceedings,  passed  the  follow- 
ing resolution: 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Executive  Committee 
be  requested  to  confer  with  the  President  and 
Directors  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company,  to  ascertain  if  some  arrangement 
cannot  be  made  to  repair  the  damage  to 
Cairo,  and  if  that  cannot  be  accomplished, 
then  to  request  the  Trustees  of  Cairo  City 
Property  to  authorize  the  agent,  S.  Staats 
Taylor,  to  cause  the  proper  repairs  to  be 
made,    and   to    institute    legal    proceedings 


against  the  railroad  company  for  the  amount 
expended,  and  for  all  damages  sustained  by 
the  overflow  caused  by  the  neglect  of  the  said 
railroad  company. 

The  shai'eholders  had  appointed  an  Execu- 
tive Committee,  to  consider  matters  in  refer- 
ence to  the  inundation  of  Cairo.  This  com- 
mittee held  a  meeting  in  New  York,  and  in 
their  report  they  say:  "  Believing  that  they 
could  not  properly  and  thoroughly  discharge 
their  duty,  under  the  resolutions  referred  to, 
without  a  personal  examination  of  Cairo,  and 
the  General  Agent,  Mr.  S.  S.  Taylor,  being 
of  opinion  that  a  visit  by  the  whole  Execu- 
tive Committee,  or  by  a  sub-committee  of  this 
board,  would  greatly  encourage  the  people 
of  Cairo,  tned  to  allay  their  apprehensions, 
and  check,  if  it  did  not  put  a  stop  at  once 
and  forever,  to  the  mischievous  falsehoods 
and  gross  exaggerations  which,  under  a  show 
of  authority,  and  as  admissions  made  by  par- 
ties deeply  interested  in  the  reputation  and 
welfare  of  Cairo,  were  gradually  taking  pos- 
session of  the  public  mind,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  your  committee  delegated  Mr.  Bald- 
win, of  Syracuse,  and  Mr.  Neal,  of  Maine, 
to  visit  Cairo,  and  make  such  personal  inves- 
tigation upon  the  ground  as  would  enable 
them  to  report  understandingly  upon  the 
present  condition  and  wants  of  the  city. 
*  *  *  And  to  take  such  immediate  meas- 
ures as  might,  in  their  judgment,  be  needed 
for  the  safety  of  the  city,  before  the  whole 
board  could  be  brought  together. " 

When  this  sub-committee  arrived  in  Cairo, 
they  looked  carefully  over  the  gi'ounds,  and 
on  the  6th  of  August,  1858,  a  public  meeting 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Cairo  was  called,  with 
a  view  to  a  full  understanding  of  all  ques- 
tions at  issue;  and  of  this  meeting  the  com- 
mittee said  in  their  report: 

"  The  meeting  was  large,  for  the  popula- 
tion, and    very   quiet,  and    the   addresses  of 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


119 


your  sub- committee,  together  with  explana- 
tions and  assurances,  in  behalf  of  the  share- 
holders and  proprietors,  were  well  received. 
It  was  stated  that  shareholders,  to  the 
amount  of  nearly  two  millions  and  a  half, 
at  the  par  value  of  the  stock,  were  assembled 
at  Philadelphia,  on  the  15th  of  July,  where 
they  chose  an  Executive  Committee  of  six, 
who  afterward  chose  from  their  number  two, 
as  a  sub- committee  to  visit  Cairo  in  person, 
look  into  the  condition  of  the  city  and  the 
wants  of  the  people,  and  report  at  the  next 
yearly  meeting,  on  the  29th  of  September. 

"  The  people  of  Cairo  were  encouraged  to 
believe  that,  if  they  were  faithful  to  them- 
selves, the  Tnistees,  and  shareholders  and 
proprietors  were  determined  to  pursue  a 
liberal  course  of  action,  and  they  might  con- 
sider the  C.  C.  P.  pledged  to  the  full  amount 
of  all  their  interests  in  Cairo  to  carry  out 
whatever  they  believed  to  be  for  the  advan- 
tage of  all  parties;  and  the  meeting  ended  at 
last  with  mutual  congratulations  and  assur- 
ances that  Cairo  should  not  be  left  to  the 
guardianship  of  treacherous  friends  or  un- 
principled foes;  but  to  the  watchful  care  of 
those  who  had  something  at  stake  in  her  rep- 
utation and  welfare. " 

The  sharp  bend  in  the  Mississippi  River, 
just  belc  w  the  north  line  of  the  city,  throws 
the  water  almost  straight  across  to  the  Illinois 
shore,  and  the  abrasion  of  this  shore  threat 
ened  to  cut  its  way,  eventually,  entirely  across 
to  the  Ohio  River,  unless  in  some  way  con- 
trolled. Between  the  years  1875  and  1880 
the  General  Government  expended  on  the 
protective  works  on  the  Mississippi,  opposite 
this  city,  the  sum  of  $113,351.43.  This  work 
extends  along  the  face  of  the  river  bank,  from  a 
point  below  where  the  Mississippi  River  levee 
runs  away  from  the  river  bank  at  least  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile,  to  a  point  up  the  river  at 
least  two  miles  above  the  upper  limits  of  the 


city.  When  the  water  is  at  a  low  stage  in 
the  Mississippi,  the  current  thrown,  as  stated, 
against  the  Illinois  shore,  begins  to  under- 
mine the  banks,  which  are  nearly  always 
perpendicular  and  composed  mostly  of  de- 
posits made  by  the  silt-bearing  water  of  the 
river  in  flood  times.  This  undermining  proc- 
ess goes  on  at  the  surface  of  the  water,  un- 
til the  superincumbent  mass  of  the  bank  falls 
into  the  river,  and  is  carried  away  by  tho 
stream.  Then  the  undermining  process 
commences  again,  and  proceeds  to  precisely 
similar  results.  In  this  way,  at  this  point, 
the  river  has  heretofore  undermined  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  River,  dropping 
them  slowly  into  the  stream,  and  iinally 
digging  under  portions  of  the  levees  and 
carrying  them  away  into  the  river.  Here  has 
been  one  of  the  severest  problems  in  the  mat- 
ter of  protecting  the  city  from  the  waters, 
this  erosive -action  in  low  water  goino-  on  re- 
gardless of  any  possible  heights  of  levees 
placed  upon  the  shores.  This  abrasion  of  the 
shore  has  necessitated  the  building  of  a  new 
levee  on  the  Mississippi  side,  about  a  mile  in 
length,  which  is  of  an  average  of  twelve  feet 
high,  measuring  from  the  surface  on  which 
it  is  constructed;  is  twelve  feet  wide  on  the 
top,  with  a  slope  on  its  outside  of  one  foot 
perpendicular  to  live  feet  horizontal,  and  on 
its  inside  of  one  foot  to  two  and  a  half  feet, 
making  an  average  width  of  fifty  feet;  and 
its  top  is  fifty-four  feet  above  low  water 
mark.  The  average  height  of  the  other 
portions  of  the  levee,  standing  on  the  bank 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  from  its  junction 
with  the  new  levee  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio 
River,  is  one  foot  and  three  inches  above 
the  high  water  mark.  This  is  measuring 
only  to  and  not  including  the  ties  of  the 
Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  track.  The 
Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  has  the  right  of 
way  along  its  top,  from  the  Ohio  River  to  a 


120 


HISTOKY  OF  CAIRO. 


point  beyond  and  outside  of  where  the  new 
levee  makes  a  junction  with  the  levee  owned 
by  the  Trustees.  Where  this  right  of  way 
exists,  the  railroad  company  is  obliged,  by 
reservations  and  penalties  in  its  deed,  to 
maintain  the  levee  at  its  original  height,  of 
fifty- three  feet  and  three  inches,  and  to  its 
original  width  on  top  of  sixteen  feet. 

There  has  been  much  work  done,  by  the 
"United  States  Government  and  by  the  Trust- 
ees of  the  city  company,  in  protecting  from 
the  erosive  action  of  the  current  the  Missis- 
sippi River  bank.  The  manner  of  doing  this 
was  to  place  large  mattresses,  made  of  wil- 
lows and  tree  branches;  these  were  loaded 
with  rock,  and  sunk  to  the  bottom,  at  the 
bank  where  the  current  was  cutting  un- 
der the  superstructure,  and  upon  this  mat- 
tress was  then  sunk  another  one,  and  another 
one  on  top  of  that,  until  a  stone  wall  was 
formed  for  the  waters  to  beat  against,  extend- 
ing from  the  bottom  of  the  river  to  above 
the  surface  of  the  water.  There  were  about 
two  miles  and  a  half  of  these  stone-anchored 
mattress  walls  conslructed,  extending  north 
from  a  point  nearly  opposite  [the  lower  end 
of  the  new  levee.  On  the  top  of  these  mat- 
tress-walls, medium  sized  stone  were  placed 
against  the  bank,  to  nearly  the  top  thereof, 
thus  facing  the  river  bank  with  a  stone  re- 
vetment. Previous  to  this  work  being  done 
by  the  Government,  the  city  company  had 
some  years  ago  revetted  nearly  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  in  length.  So  there  is  now  standing, 
against  the  face  of  the  bank  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  extending  from  a  point  below 
where  the  levee  runs  away  from  the  river,  up 
the  river  about  three  and  a  half  miles,  to  a 
point  about  two  miles  above  the  upper  limits 
of  the  city,  the  revetments  extending  from 
the  bottom  of  the  river,  and  up  along  the 
face  of  the  shore  from  fifty  to  sixty  feet. 
There  has  been  here  expended  $196,806.49, 


of  which  $113,351.43  was  by  the  General 
Government. 

July  18,  1872,  after  the  Trustees  had  spent 
large  amounts  of  money  in  widening,  raising 
and  strengthening  the  levees,  and  had 
brought  suit  for  $250,000  against  the  Central 
road  for  money  thus  expended,  which  suit 
was  eventually  compromised  and  397  acres  of 
the  497  acres  were  re-conveyed  by  the  rail- 
road to  the  city  company,  and  the  payment 
of  $80,000  in  money,  and  the  release  to  the 
Cairo  City  Property  all  its  original  rights  to 
the  collection  of  wharfage,  etc.  And  the 
railroad  was  released  from  all  obligations  in 
reference  to  maintaining  and  repairing  the 
levees,  except  that  portion  actually  occupied 
and  used  by  them. 

In  1878,  in  consideration  of  the  vacation  of 
Levee  street,  above  Eighteenth,  by  the  city, 
and  the  granting  of  privileges  upon  the 
same  to  the  Illinois  Central  road,  the  road 
deeded  the  100- foot  strip,  running  from 
Thirty-fourth  street  to  the  point,  and  parallel 
with  the  Ohio  levee  to  the  city. 

The  City  Council  recently  ordered  the 
Ohio  levee  to  be  raised,  commencing  with  a 
raise  of  two  feet  at  or  near  the  stone  depot, 
grading  to  the  present  height  at  Second 
street,  and  with  this  increase  of  the  height  of 
this  levee,  the  entire  levees  of  the  city  will 
be  above  the  highest  water  mark  ever  known. 
The  Hon.  D.  T.  Linegar,  the  present  mem- 
ber of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  has  secured 
the  passage  of  two  bills,  that  are  now  attract- 
ing the  attention  of  the  people  of  Cairo. 
The  titles  of  the  bills  indicate  largely  the 
purpose  of  the  same — the  Levee  Bill  and  the 
High  Grade  Bill.  The  fundamental  idea  of 
the  two  evidently  is  to  enable  the  city  to  raise 
the  levees  and  the  lots  within  the  city  limits 
to  any  height  or  grade  they  may  wish.  We 
are  informed  that  the  levee  bill  authorizes 
the   city    authorities,    whenever   they   shall 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


121 


deem  it  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the 
city,  to  order  the  owners  of  any  part  of  the 
levee  to  raise  and  strengthen  the  same,  in 
such  manner  as  the  city  may  think  best,  and 
iipon  a  failm*e  to  comply  with  this  order,  the 
city  may  proceed  and  do  the  work,  and  sell 
the  property  and  pay  its  bill,  and  nearly  a 
similar  authority  is  given  as  to  all  lots, 
whether  they  belong  to  public  institutions  or 
are  private  property. 

The  remarkably  high  waters  of  1SS2  and 
1883  go  to  show  that  probably  from  one  foot  to 
eighteen  inches  should  be  added  to  the 
levees  around  the  city,  and,  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, revetments  extending  entirely  around  and 
against  the  embankments  of  both  rivers,  and 
thus  made  strong  and  permanent,  and  Cairo 
need  never  fear  or  di-ead  any  high  water  that 
can  ever  come  against  its  bulwarks. 

The  city  has  triumphantly  passed  through 
the  flood  crisis  of  the  two  years  of  1882-83, 
that  poured  oiit  the  greatest  floods  of  water 
ever  witnessed  in  the  rivers  at  this  point; 
and  it  is  now  a  remarkable  historical  fact 
that  the  only  town  from  the  source  of  the 
Ohio  River  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  that  passed  unscathed  and  unharmed 
by  the  floods,  was  Cairo.  The  rivers,  north 
and  south  of  here,  bore  devastation  upon 
their  raging  bosoms.  Pittsburgh,  Cincin- 
nati, Louisville,  New  Albany,  Lawi*encebui-g, 
Shawneetown  and  many  other  places  have 
suffered  immeasurably  from  the  high  waters 
of  the  past  two  years.  Often,  the  floods  in 
the  Mississippi  have  so  crippled  and  confined 
the  business  of  St.  Louis,  that  at  intervals  it 
was  prostrated.  But  Cairo,  so  widely  be- 
lieved by  many  to  be  the  worst  water- afflicted 
city  in  the  United  States,  has  experienced 
none  of  the  troubles  of  the  other  river  towDS. 
The  past  two  years,  the  early  spring  freshets 
have  driven  thousands  from  their  homes  in 


Cincinnati,  Louisville,  Shawneetown  and 
other  places;  business  houses  were  flooded 
and  washed  away;  and  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments were  compelled  to  "shutdown;" 
railroad  communication  with  them  was  de- 
stroyed, and  "  the  widespread  distress  filled 
the  land  with  its  wail,  and  the  charity  of  the 
nation  was  appealed  to  for  aid  for  the  flood 
sufferers.  With  a  flood-line  marking  a  height 
never  before  attained  by  any  of  the  floods  of 
the  past,  the  citizens  of  Cairo,  while  taking 
all  precautions  to  keep  the  great  levees  which 
surround  her  intact,  have  transacted  their 
business,  but  little  disturbed  by  the  threaten- 
ing Avatei's.  Not  a  mill  nor  a  manufacturing 
establishment  of  any  kind  has  been  "  shut 
down"  for  a  moment  on  account  of  the 
tloods,  and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad, 
which  makes  connection  here  with  its  south- 
ern division  by  a  "  transfer  steamboat  "  for 
New  Orleans,  has  never  missed  a  train,  or 
been  compelled  to  abandon  any  of  its  track 
for  a  single  hour.  No  cry  of  disti-ess  has 
ever  gone  out  to  the  country  from  the  j^eople 
of  Cairo,  but  when  the  last  waters  were  high- 
est, and  the  croakers  against  Cairo  were 
loudest,  a  public  meeting  of  the  people  re- 
sponded to  theory  for  helj)  from  their  neigh- 
bors at  Shawneetown  by  a  cash  subscription 
of  $1,000.  The  truth  is- -established  by  the 
severest  test  ever  known — that  Cairo,  the 
much  maligned  and  slandered  Cairo,  is,  in 
any  flood  that  may  or  can  come  down  the 
rivers,  the  city  of  refuge — the  place  of  safety, 
and  the  only  reliable  one,  from  St.  Louis  or 
Pittsburgh  to  New  Orleans. 

On  the  26th  of  February,  1882,  the  flood- 
line  at  Cairo  was  fifty -one  feet  ten  and  a  half 
inches  above  low  water  mark.  On  the  26th 
of  February,  1883,  exactly  one  year  to  a  day, 
the  flood-line  at  Cairo  was  fifty-two  feet  two 
inches  above  low  water  mark     In  these  two 


122 


HISTOKY  OF  CAIRO. 


unprecedented  stages  of  water,  as  before  re- 
marked, Cairo  was  the  only  river  town  that 
passed  unharmed. 

People  wonder,  and  muse,  and  talji  much 
about  these  two  years,  and  their  great  waters, 
and  the  conclusion  is  a  common  one,  that  it 
is  the  general  system  of  draining  in  ^11  the 
coTintiT  north  of  this,  both  open  and  tile 
draining,  the  cutting  of  the  forests  and  open- 
ing the  sluice-ways  for  the  surface  water, 
that  has  been  one  great  cause  of  the  higher 
waters  in  late  years  than  was  ever  known 
formerly.  Again,  it  is  said  that  the  towns 
and  railroads  and  other  improvements  upon 
the  river  banks,  tend  to  confine  the  waters, 
and  thus  swell  the  height  of  its  flow;  and  the 
fact  is  cited  that  where  a  few  years  ago  were 
ponds  and  pools  of  water,  sometimes  stand- 
ing the  whole  season  through,  are  now  often 
well-tilled  farms,  with  a  drainage  so  perfect 
that  no  water  ever  remains  more  than  a  few 
hours  upon  any  of  its  surface.  It  looks  rea- 
sonable that  there  is  something  in  these 
theories — there  probably  is — biit  the  fact 
that  the  waters  were  higher  at  the  source  of 
the  river  than  here  at  the  mouth  (of  the 
Ohio),  would  go  far  to  contradict  this  theory. 
At  Cincinnati  this  year  (1883),  the  water  was 
five  fept  higher  than  ever  before  known.  As 
early  as  the  12th  of  last  February,  the  rise 
in  the  Ohio  had  utterly  paralyzed  business, 
and  had  deprived  20,000  working  people  of 
Cincinnati,  Covington  and  Newport  of  the 
means  of  livelihood.  Five  square  miles  of 
Cincinnati  were  covered  with  water  from  one 
inch  to  twenty  feet  deep.  Many  lives  were 
lost,  and  many  millions  of  dollars  worth  of 
property  was  destroyed,  and  along  the  Upper 
Ohio  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  suf- 
fered inconvenience  or  loss  from  the  wide- 
spread river  overflows.  In  the  Kentucky 
bottoms,  opposite  Shawneetown,  the  water 
was  three    and  a  half   feet  higher   than  ever 


before  known  since  the  settlement  of  the 
country;  while  at  Cairo  the  water  of  the  year 
only  exceeded  that  of  last  year  by  three  and 
a  half  inches.  There  must  have  been  other 
causes  than  cutting  the  trees  or  draining, 
for  the  floods  of  this  year  (1883),  one  pecu- 
liarity of  them  being  that  ihoy  were  re- 
stricted to  no  particular  locality,  but  seem  to 
have  been  general,  and  to  extend  nearly  over 
the  whole  world.  The  long-continued  rainn 
in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  that  fell  upon  the 
frozen  and  ice  covered  grounds,  where  not  a 
drop  was  absorbed  into  the  earth,  and  started 
the  raging  torrent  at  the  fountain-heads, 
were  the  palpable,  prime  cause  of  the  unusual 
waters.  In  Europe  the  rain-storm  started 
that  did  so  much  damage  here.  It  flooded 
the  Theiss  and  Danube,  the  Ehine,  in  Ger- 
many, and  the  Ehone  and  all  the  rivers  of 
France,  and  sent  them,  like  the  Ohio,  boom- 
ing out  of  their  banks  and  doing  widespread 
damage.  The  course  of  the  storm  across  the 
Atlantic  could  be  distinctly  traced  to  its  out- 
burst in  the  region  of  the  Upper  Ohio  and 
the  lakes,  and  spreading  rapidly  all  over  our 
continent,  until  every  section,  often  the  most 
retired  villages,  far  up  in  the  mountains,  and 
miles  away  from  any  lake  or  river,  seemed 
scarcely  safe.  Indeed,  one  of  the  most  awful 
calamities  of  the  long  list  of  disasters  of  this 
year  was.  that  which  took  place  out  in  the 
open  prairie  near  Braidwood,  111.,  where  the 
rain  had  piled  up  the  waters  three  feet  into 
a  lake,  which,  breaking  through  a  mine, 
drowned  the  unfortunate  miners  within. 
Every  tributary  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississipj^i 
■  Rivers  was  rising  at  the  same  time;  the 
Allegheny,  Monongahela,  Licking,  Kentucky 
and  Cumberland  were  all  at  flood-tide;  the 
Wabash  was  out  of  its  bed,  and  can-ying  de- 
struction on  its  course.  The  rivers  pouring 
into  the  lakes  were  also  raging;  the  Miami 
flooded  a  large  portion  of  Toledo;  the  Cuya- 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


123 


hoga  has  twice  this  year  inundated  Cleve- 
land, and  even  the  Atlantic  slope  tells  the 
same  sad  story,  and  in  the  far  West  it  is 
again  repeated. 

We  have  told  of  the  inundation  of  Cairo 
in  1858.  The  damage  to  the  property  of  the 
town,  except  the  falling  of  the  hotel  wall 
(and  that  was  evidently  from  the  imperfect 
building  of  the  foundation  more  than  the 
water)  did  not  amount  to  $1,000.  There  was 
not  a  house,  excepting  the  merest  shanties, 
that  was  materially  injured.  The  largest 
sufferer,  in  a  pecuniary  way,  was  Bailey  Har- 
rell,  whose  stock  of  goods  was  injured  to  the 
extent  of  a  few  hundred  dollars.  The  people 
of  Cairo  felt  no  suffering  from  actual  want, 
and  indeed  they  refused  any  outside  aid 
when  such  assistance  was  tendered  them. 
In  one  sense,  the  actual  and  material  injury 
to  the  place  was  most  insignificant  and  tri- 
fling; and  yet,  in  another  sense,  by  a  singular 
chain  of  circumstances,  it  was  almost  an  ir- 
reparable calamity  to  the  interests  of  the  city. 
In  the  most  exaggerated  way  it  was  blown 
in  the  face  of  all  the  world,  until  men 
never  after  heard  of  Cairo  except  to 
shudder  or  shrug  the  shoulders,  and 
either  express  the  sentiment  or  believe  it, 
that  its  very  name  meant  floods,  and  drown- 
ings, and  wreck  and  ruin.  There  is  not  a 
xiver-town  from  St.  Louis  ^or  Pittsburgh  to 
New  Orleans  but  that  has  suffered  from  in- 
undations incomparably  worse  than  has  Cairo, 
and  yet  their  raging  waters  are  hardly  passed 
away  when  the  people  seem  to  forget  it  all,  and 
their  calamity  is  not  again  whispered  until 
the  next  high  water  and  its  devastation. 

We  have  shown  how  trifling  and  insignifi- 
cant was  the  only  overflow  Cairo  has  ever 
had  since  she  has  been  walledabout  by  her 
levees.  In  contrast  to  this,  look  at  the  fol- 
lowing description,  by  an  eye-witness,  of  the 
Upper  Ohio  in  last  February: 


"  The  proportions  of  the  calamity  that  is 
upon  the  j)eople  of  the  Ohio  Valley  are  hour- 
ly increasing.  There  are  suffering,  desola- 
tion and  death  in  each  inch  of  the  awful  rise 
of  the  river  upon  a  stage  of  water  absolutely 
without  precedent,  and  the  details  of  distress 
which  called  for  symjjathy  in  the  floods  of 
Europe,  except  as  to  loss  ^of  life,  are  largely 
repeated  in  this  section  to-day.  *  *  *  * 
For  thirty  miles,  beginning  with  the  upper 
suburb  of  Cincinnati,  and  ending  with  Law- 
I'enceburg,  Ind.,  twenty-five  miles  below,  the 
damage,  destitution  and  distress  are  unparal- 
leled in  American  history.  Below  Lawrence- 
bm-g,  and  to  Louisville  [equally  true  if  he 
had  said  to  Cairo — Ed.]  the  situation  is  the 
same.  Beginning  with  the  upper  suburb  of 
Cincinnati,  on  the  Ohio  side,  are  Columbia, 
Pendleton,  Fulton  and  ,  then  Cincinnati, 
Sedamsville,  Riverside,  Fernbank,  Lawrence- 
burg,  Aiu'ora,  Rising  Sun,  Patriot,  Vevay 
and  Madison.  On  the  Kentucky  side  are 
the  towns  of  Dayton,  Bellevue  and  Newport, 
and  Covington,  opposite  Cincinnati,  Ludlow, 
Bromley,  Petersbui-g,  Hamilton,  Warsaw, 
Ghent,  Carrollton,  Milton,  Westport  and 
Louisville.  At  Patriot  and  Vevay,  the  river 
is  five  or  six  miles  wide,  and  at  all  these 
points  it  simply  extends  from  the  Ohio  to  the 
Kentucky  hills,  covering  all  the  rich  bottom 
lands.  Its  average  width  is  from  one  to  two 
miles — a  sea  of  yellow  waters.  At  all  these 
points  more  or  less  damage  is  done.  No 
statistics  are  available,  but  a  cool  guess 
would  place  the  number  of  people  either 
homeless  or  imprisoned,  at  not  less  than 
50,000.  There  are  15,000  at  Newport  alone, 
and  5,000  in  Lawrenceburg;  at  Louisville, 
New  Albany  and  Jeffersonville,  it  is  in  many 
respects  even  worse. 

"  The  east  end,  up  in  Fulton  and  Colum- 
bia, has  eight  feet  of  water  flowing  thi-ough 
the  main  street.       Many  houses  have   been 


124 


HISTORY  OF  CATEO. 


swept  away,  and  many  more  are  expected  to 
follow.  If  the  weather  was  not  warm  and 
pleasant,  the  suffering  worfld  be  intense. 
The  water  is  five  miles  wide  from  Columbia 
to  the  other  shore  of  the  Little  Miami  River, 
and  all  the  houses  on  the  bottom  have  disap- 
peared, not  even  the  roofs  being  visible. 
Western  avenue,  on  the  western  side  of  the 
city,  along  Mill  Creek  Valley,  has  been  de- 
clared unsafe,  and  travel  on  it  is  stopped. 
The  American  Oak  &  Leather  Company's 
tannery,  the  largest  in  the  world,  was  sub- 
merged at  1  o'clock  this  morning  (February 
15).  Along  Mill  Creek  Valley  are  most  of 
the  packing  houses.  One  packer  has  3,000,- 
000  pounds  of  meat  under  water,  and  from 
10,000,000  to  15,000,000  pounds  of  dry- 
salted  meats  are  in  the  same  condition.  No 
one  has  dared  to  make  an  estimate  of  the 
total  loss  here  (Cincinnati),  but  they  will  be 
millions." 

Of  Lawrenceburg,  Ind.,  an  official  report, 
among  other  things,  specifies:  "  There  never 
was,"  so  they  report,  "  in  all  history  of  the 
floods  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  a  city,  town  or 
hamlet  so  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  an- 
gry element  as  is  Lawrenceburg.  For  three 
days,  the  citizens  ^vere  almost  without  a 
morsel  to  eat.  In  the  lower  portion  of  the 
city,  everything  is  destroyed,  save  the  dwell- 
ings, and  they,  of  coiu'se,  must  be  badly 
damaged.  Hundreds  of  the  houses  are  from 
ten  to  fifty  feet  under  water.  The  people, 
driven  from  their  homes,  fled  to  the  public 
buildings.  All  they  possessed  is  destroyed. 
We  steamed  alongside  the  court  house, 
woolen  mills,  churches,  furniture  factories 
and  public  school  buildings.  All  of  the 
above-named  buildings  were  crowded  with 
people  rescued  from  watery  gi-aves. 

"  In  the  large  and  more  secure  residences, 
families  have  been  driven  to   the  second  and 


third  stories.  On  the  principal  streets,  the 
water  ranges  from  seven  to  twenty-five  feet 
deep.  Few  of  the  merchants  saved  any  of 
their  goods,  and  although  precautions  were 
taken,  yet  nearly  all  furniture  is  ruined.  A 
great  many  houses  in  low  lands  have  been 
swept  away,  and  houses  and  contents  are  lost 
forever  to  the  owners. 

"  The  damage  to  factories  cannot  be  esti- 
mated. In  the  city  there  are  a  great  many 
furniture  factories,  all  of  which  had  on  hand 
large  stocks  of  lumber;  in  many  cases  this 
has  all  been  swept  away. 

"  The  machinery  in  some,  if  not  all.  the 
factories  and  mills,  has  been  badly  damaged, 
and  mostly  ruined.  The  county  records  have 
all  been  saved,  they  having  been  carried  to 
the  top  stories  of  the  court  house.  The  rich 
and  the  poor  are  upon  a  common  level,  and 
indiscriminately  huddled  together.  In  one 
part  of  the  court  house,  death  was  claiming 
its  victims,  while  in  another  new  lives  were 
being  ushered  into  the  world.  *  *  *  * 
The  reports  of  the  condition  of  the  people 
have  not  been  exaggerated.  In  fact,  the  half 
has  not  been  told.  The  entire  city,  with  a 
population  of  some  5,000,  are  in  want,  and 
are  at  the  mercy  of  the  public.  Distress  ex- 
tends from  one  end  of  the  city  to  the  other. 
The  town  has  been  without  communication 
with  the  outside  world  for  days,  except  by 
boats,  and  no  regular  packets  are  running. 
The  telegraph  offices  are  flooded,  and  the 
wires  are  down.  The  telephone  office  is  in 
several  feet  of  water.  In  short,  there  is  not 
a  dry  square  foot  of  ground  in  the  place. 

"  The  situation  of  the  citizens  of  Law- 
renceburg, imprisoned  in  the  conrt  house,  is 
constantly  growing  more  dangerous.  Added 
to  the  irregularity  of  the  food  supply,  and 
the  crowded  quarters,  is  the  possibility  that 
the  court  house  may  collapse,  from  the  un- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


125 


dermining  of  its  foundation  by  the  flood  of 
waters.  Should  that  occur,  the  loss  of  life 
certainly  will  be  great." 

"We  forbear  to  extend  these  sad  and  har- 
rowing details,  nor  have  we  given  the  worst 
side  of  the  picture,  as  drawn  by  correspond- 
ents who  visited  the  different  towns  along 
the  Ohio  Kiver. 

While  this  terrible  page  of  history  was 
being  written  of  every  river  town  above  this 
point,  Cairo  was  peacefully  and  securely  pur- 
suing her  avocations;  her  railroads  making 
their  regular  trips;  not  a  wheel  in  any  of 
her  factories  impeded  for  even  a  moment. 

The    ordinaiy    business   of   the    day   was 

transacted  in  confidence  and  safety.     No  one 

was  alarmed  even  in  Cairo,  except  the  negroes 

and  a  few  nervous  and   timid    "tenderfoots," 

who,  when  they  would  go  upon  the  levee  and 

look  out  upon  the  broadest  expanse  of  waters 

they  had  ever  seen,  would  quake,    for   fear 

Cairo's  great  levees  would  give  way,  and  no 

Noah's    ark    was    at   hand  to   take   them  in. 

^Vhile  Cairo  was  the  one  dry  spot,  the  city  of 

refuge   to   which    came   the   sufferers    from 

above  and  from   below,  the  j^fol lowing  appeal 

to  the  world's  charity  was  being  issued  from 

nearly  every  town  from  here  to  Pittsburgh : 

SuAWNEETOWN,  111.,  via  Evansville,  Feb.  24. 
To  Marshall  Field  &  Co.,  Chicago: 

Our  people  are  overwhelmed  with  the  most  ap- 
palliiiLc  misfortune  ever  visited  upon  any  locality. 
The  Ohio  River  is  five  feet  higher  than  ever  known, 
and  still  rising.     Our  wealth  has  gone  down  with 


the  angry  waves.  Hundreds  are  destitute,  penni- 
less and  suffering.  We  must  have  help.  The  river 
is  from  three  to  thirty-five  miles  wide,  and  carrying 
utter  destruction  before  it.  The  loss  in  this  imme- 
diate vicinity  will  reach  $250,000  at  least.  We  ap- 
peal to  the  charitable  for  assistance  in  this  time  of 
need.  We  have  been  under  water  for  nearly  three 
weeks,  and  '  it  will  take  four  weeks  for  it  to  subside. 
(Signed)  Swofford  Bugs., 

Allen  &  Harrington, 
M.  M.  Pool, 
Thomas  IS.  Ridgeway, 
I.  M.  Millspaugh,  Mayor. 

The  very  next  day,  February  25,  Cairo  sent 
out  the  following:  "  The  river  was  fifty-two 
feet  one  inch  at  6  P.  M. ,  and  on  a  stand. 
Our  levees  are  holding  out  splendidly,  and 
no  fears  of  trouble  from  that  source  are  ex- 
pected." 

AVhile  Cairo  deeply  deplored  the  calami- 
ties to  her  sister  towns,  and  was  ready  and 
did  lend  a  generous  and  helping  hand  to  the 
sufferers,  yet  why  should  she  not  rejoice  in 
that  prudent  care  and  forethought  that 
placed  these  strong  battling  walls  around 
her,  that  defied  the  angry  waters,  and  un- 
shaken, stood  guard  over  the  peaceful  slum- 
bers, the  lives  and  the  property  of  her  peo- 
ple? 

The  oft-repeated  question,  can  levees  be 
built  that  will  secure  your  town  against  any 
water  ?  has  been  most  triumphantly  an- 
swered, both  in  the  year  1882  and  1883.  It 
is  no  longer  a  theory  nor  a  guess,  but  a 
demonstration,  as  plain  and  strong  as  Holy 
Writ. 


126 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE   PRESS— ITS   POWER    AS   THE   GREAT   CIVILIZER   OF   THE   AGE— CAIRO'S   FIRST   EDITORIAL 
VENTURES— BIRTH   AND    DEATH    OF    NEWSPAPERS    INNUMERABLE— THE    BOHEMIANS— 
WHO  THEY  WERE  AND  AVHAT  THEY  DID— "  BULL  RUN"  RUSSELL— HARRELL, 
WILLETT,    FAXON    AND    OTHERS— SOME    OF    THE    "INTELLI- 
GENT  COMPOSITORS"— QUANTUM    SUFFICIT. 


"  A  history  which  takes  no  account  of  what  was  said 
by  the  Press  in  memorable  emergencies  befits  an  earlier 
age  than  ours." — Horace  Greeley. 

IN  the  order  of  making  settlements  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  it  was  the  hunter  and  the 
trapper,  the  trader  and  the  merchant,  the  ham- 
let, village  or  the  mushroom  cit}^  and  then  the 
newspaper.  Here  it  waited  not,  like  of  old,  for 
that  ripened  civilization  that  was  supposed  to 
come  of  the  centuries,  that  left  people  hungry, 
if  not  perishing,  for  that  rich,  juicy  and  nutri- 
tious mental  pabulum  that  the  editor  was 
always  supposed  to  furnish. 

The  Press  is  the  Third  Estate  in  this  coun- 
try— it  has  been  called  the  palladium  of  Amer- 
ican liberties.  One  thing  is  quite  certain,  that 
the  wisest  and  best  thing  our  forefathers  did 
was  to  establish  a  "  free  press,"  nominally,  if 
not  actually.  True,  it  is  absolutely  free  so  far 
as  the  Government  is  concerned,  but  sometimes 
it  is  not  so  free  from  militar}-  dictation  or  from 
mob  rule,  and  a  few  instances  have  occurred, 
in  the  histor}'  of  the  country,  where  there  has 
been  a  foolish,  violent  and  fanatical  public  sen- 
timent, grossly  wrong  in  all  its  parts,  that  has 
ci'ushed  out  the  truth,  and  actually  suppressed 
the  only  true  friend  the  people  had — the  local 
press.  But  in  return,  the  press  can  say  it  has 
committed  outrages  upon  the  public  quite  as 
often  or  oftener  than  have  wrongs  been  perpe- 
trated against  it.  The  averages,  say,  are  even  ; 
then  if  two  wrongs  can  make  a  right,  a  reason- 
able justice  has  been  done,  and  the  great  pal- 


ladium remains,  and  the  Government  did  wisely 
foresee  the  eventual  wants  of  mankind  in  this 
respect.  And  under  the  benign  rays  of  their 
wisdom,  the  American  people  enjoy  a  free  press, 
and  this  means  free  speech,  free  schools,  free 
religion,  and,  supremest,  and  best  of  all,  free 
thought ;  for  here  is  where  the  world  has  suf- 
fered most,  because  as  a  man's  thoughts  are 
the  highest  part  of  him — that  which  makes 
him  the  superior  to  the  ox  that  grazes  upon 
the  hill — it  is  here  that  he  can  suffer  infinitely 
the  most ;  where  wrongs  may  be  inflicted  that 
are  ineffaceable,  incurable  and  shocking.  For 
it  was  thought,  and  nothing  else  but  thought, 
that  has  produced  the  present  civilization  and 
all  its  joys  and  pleasures — all  that  marks  the 
difference  in  us  and  those  miserable  crea- 
tures who  once  were  here,  owning  and  possess- 
ing all  this  grand  country,  and  whose  mode 
and  manner  of  life  may  all  be  drawn  from  the 
simple  fact  that  they  would  bury  the  live  wife 
in  the  same  grave  with  the  dead  husband. 
This  is  a  historic  fact,  although  it  occurred 
among  a  prehistoric  people.  The}'  had  no 
free  speech,  free  press  or  free  thought.  They 
may  have  had  a  strong  government,  a  govern- 
ment of  iron  and  lead,  and  they  may  have  wor- 
shiped that  government  as  dutiful  children 
worship  a  cruel  father,  but  they  have  never 
had  a  free  thought,  except  one  of  the  basest 
kind,  but  the  fact  remains  that  they  were  a 
despicable  people,  because  the}'  had  none  of 
that  civilization  that  eventuates  in  a  free  press. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO, 


127 


It  was  the  great  invention  of  movable  t3'pes 
that  has  made  the  present  greatness  of  the 
press  possible.  "  The  types  are."  remarked 
one  of  the  greatest  men  the  world  has  pro- 
duced, "as  ships  which  pass  through  the  vast 
seas  of  time,  and  make  ages  to  participate  of  the 
wisdom,  illuminations  and  inventions,  the  one 
of  the  other  ;  for  the  image  of  men's  wits  remain 
in  books,  exempted  from  the  wrongs  of  time, 
and  capable  of  perpetual  renovation,  neither 
are  they  fitly  to  be  called  images,  because  they 
generate  stili  and  cast  their  seeds  in  the  minds 
of  others,  provoking  and  causing  infinite  action 
and  opinions  in  succeeding  ages.  We  see, 
then,  how  far  the  monuments  of  wit  and 
learning  are  more  durable  than  the  monuments 
of  power  or  of  the  hands.  For  have  not  the 
verses  of  Homer  continued  twenty-five  hundred 
3'ears  or  more,  without  the  loss  of  a  syllable  or 
letter  ?  during  which  time,  infinite  palaces, 
temples,  castles,  cities,  have  decayed  or  been 
demolished.  That  whereunto  man's  nature 
doth  most  aspire,  which  is  immortality  or 
continuance  ;  for  to  this  tendeth  generation, 
and  raising  of  houses  and  families  ;  to  this 
buildings,  foundations  and  monuments ;  to 
this  tendeth  the  desire  of  memory,  fame  and 
celebration,  and  in  effect  the  strength  of  all 
other  human  desires."  The  types  do  infinitely 
more  than  this  ;  they  are  men's  highest  source 
of  unalloyed  enjoyment  in  this  world.  They 
may  be  made  to  contribute  more  to  his  real 
pleasures  than  anything  else.  While  they  are 
the  most  enduring  thing  of  life,  the  joy  and 
pleasures  they  bring,  which  they  give  for  the 
asking,  they  give  food  and  pleasure  to  the 
mind.  For  in  life  what  pleasure  equals  that  of 
the  acquisition  of  new  truths  ?  This  is  not 
only  the  greatest  pleasure  to  the  healthy 
mind,  but  it  is  the  most  enduring.  It  is  the 
perennial  fountain  of  knowledge,  where  the 
thirsty  mind  may  drmk  deeply,  drink  draughts 
of  which  all  the  nectar  the  gods  ever  quaffed 
are  but  puddle  water.     And  it  is  not  alone  to 


the  mind  thirsting  for  the  deep  draughts  of 
knowledge  that  its  blessings  are  confined,  but 
it  gives  equally  to  all — the  thinker,  the  worker, 
the  idle,  the  dissolute,  the  rich,  the  poor,  the 
king  and  the  outcast,  a3-e,  even  the  wretched 
leper  to  whom  the  work  of  the  types  are  all  in 
this  world  that  can  save  him  from  a  living 
tomb.  It  is  the  philosopher's  touch-stone,  the 
Aladdin's  lamp,  the  genial  ray  of  sunshine 
that  penetrates  all  dungeons,  that  will  go  and 
abide  forever  wherever  human  life  can  exist. 
In  the  dingy  printing  oflSce  is  the  epitome  of 
the  world  of  action  and  of  thought — the  best 
school  in  Christendom — the  best  church.  Here 
is  where  divine  genius  perches  and  pauses,  and 
plumes  its  wings  for  those  loft}-  flights  that 
attract  and  awe  all  mankind  and  in  all  ages — 
here  are  kindled  and  fanned  to  a  flame  the  fires 
of  genius  that  sometimes  blaze  and  dazzle  like 
the  central  sun,  and  that  generate  and  renew 
the  rich  fruitage  of  'benign  civilization.  The 
press  is  the  drudge  and  pack-horse  —  the 
crowned  king  of  all  mankind.  The  gentle  click 
of  its  types  is  heard  around  all  the  world  ; 
thej;  go  sounding  down  the  tide  of  time,  bear- 
ing upon  their  gentle  waves  the  destinies  of 
civilization,  and  the  immortal  smiles  of  the 
pale  children  of  thought,  as  they  troop  across 
the  fair  face  of  the  earth  in  their  entrances  and 
exits  from  the  unknown  to  the  unknown, 
scattering  here  and  there  immortal  blessings, 
that  the  dull  blind  types  have  patientl}-  gath- 
ered, to  place  them  where  they  will  live  forever. 
It  is  the  earth's  S3'mphon3'  which  endures,  which 
transcends  that  of  the  "  morning  when  the  stars 
sang  together,"  and  when  its  chords  are  swept 
by  the  fingers  of  the  immortals,  it  is  the  echo 
of  those  anthems  that  float  up  forever  to  the 
throne  of  God.  Of  all  that  man  can  have  in 
this  world,  it  is  the  one  blessing,  whose  rose 
need  have  no  thorn,  whose  stveet  need  have  no 
bitter.  It  is  freighted  with  man's  good,  his  hap- 
piness and  the  divine  blessings  of  civilization. 
B}-  means  of  the  press,  the  lowliest  cabin  equals 


128 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


the  lordliest  palace  in  the  right  and  authority 
to  bid  enter  its  portals, .  and  be  seated  in  the 
famil}'  circle,  the  sweet  singer  of  Scotland — the 
delightfiill}'  immortal  Burns  —  who  died  at 
thirty-seven,  and  over  whose  grave  his  mis- 
taken, foolish  country-men  were  relieved  of  the 
poor  outcast  and  sot ;  they  thought  they  were 
burying  an  outcast,  when  the  clods  that 
covered  his  poor  body  hid  the  warm  sunlight 
of  Scotland.  Or  bid  the  crowned  monarch  of 
mankind  come  in,  and  with  wife,  children  and 
friends  tarry  until  bed-time,  and  tell  the  real 
story  of  Hamlet ;  or  Lord  Macaulay  will  lay 
aside  titles  and  dignity,  and  with  the  poor 
cotter's  family  hold  familiar  discourse  in  those 
rich  resounding  sentences  that  flow  on  forever 
like  a  great  and  rapid  river  ;  or  Charles  Lamb, 
whose  heart  was  saddest,  whose  wit  was  sweet- 
est, whose  life  was  a  mingling  of  smiles  and 
tears,  and  let  him  tell  the  children  and  the 
grandsires  the  story  of  the  invention  of  the 
roast  pig  ;  or  Johnson,  his  boorishness  and 
roughness  all  gone  now,  in  trenchant  sentences 
pour  out  his  jeweled  thoughts  to  eager  ears  ; 
or  bid  Pope  tell  somethingof  the  story  of  man's 
inhumanity  to  man  ;  or  poor,  poor  delightful 
Poe,  with  his  bird  of  evil  omen,  croaking, 
croaking,  "  nevermore  !"  Or  Dickins,  George 
Elliott,  Bunyan  or  Voltaire,  or  any  of  the 
thousands  of  others,  when  all  may  be  fed  to 
fullness. 

Thanks,  then,  a  million  times  thanks,  to  our 
I  dear  old  Revolutionary  sires  for  giving  us  the 
great  boon  of  a  free  press.  If  our  Government 
endures,  and  the  people  continue  free,  here  will 
be  much  of  the  reason  thereof,  for,  mark  you, 
freedom,  though  once  never  so  well  established, 
will  not  maintain  and  prepetuate  itself,  because 
by  the  laws  of  heredity  that  lurks  in  ever}-  man, 
more  or  less,  the  latent  customs  or  habits  or 
mental  convictions  of  a  barbarous  ancestry 
leave  the  seeds  of  monarchy  and  despotism. 
True,  the  Americans  have  this  (speaking  in 
reference  to  a  democratic  form  of  government) 


less  than  any  other  people  in  the  world  ;  they 
are  farther  removed  from  an  ancestry  that 
worshiped  under  kingly  rulers  —  an  ancestry 
that  perhaps  honestly  worshiped  an  autocrat 
and  that  would  have  almost  let  out  its  own 
blood,  had  they  known  they  would  produce  a 
posterity  that  would  cease  to  worship  at  the 
same  shrine,  or  even  emigrate  to  some  foreign 
country,  and  learn  to  detest  and  hate  all  im- 
perial pretensions.  Hence,  we  say,  the 
American  people  have  this  tendency  to  return 
to  monarchy  less  than  any  other  people  in  the 
world,  and  yet  even  here  it  is  as  true  now  as 
when  uttered,  that  "  eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  liberty."  The  press,  therefore,  is 
essential  to  the  perpetuation  of  free  institutions 
in  America. 

That  the  press  can  do  no  wrong,  it  is  not  our 
intention  in  the  remotest  way  to  assert.  So 
great  an  institution,  so  varied  its  interests, 
so  numerous  its  controllers  and  its  guides,  that 
it  would  be  a  foolish  man  indeed  who  would 
even  hope  that  it  ever  would  become  infallible. 
A  wise  people,  therefore,  will  jealously  watch 
it,  while  it  is  standing  upon  the.  watch-tower, 
hunting  for  the  ambitious  usurper  to  catch  and 
slay  him.  This  is  the  very  genius  of  free 
institutions — vigilance  and  untiring  watchful- 
ness upon  the  part  of  all. 

But  it  is  of  the  coming  of  the  press,  the 
printers,  the  editors,  the  writers,  publishers, 
and  others  brought  here  in  connection  with  the 
press,  even  including  that  strange  creature, 
who  always  accompanies  those  pious  and  verj' 
moral  gentleman,  the  "  devil,"  that  it  is  our 
purpose  to  immediately  speak.  They  were 
altogether  a  remarkable  set,  who  published 
remarkable  papers,  and  some  still  more  remark- 
able articles.  They,  as  has  always  been  the 
case  everywhere,  had  their  differences,  their 
quarrels  even,  but  be  it  said  to  their  credit,  no 
matter  from  what  cause  it  came,  the  disputes 
never  resulted  in  anything  more  serious  than  a 
few  bitter  paragraphs,  and  then  their  injured 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


129 


honor  was  appeased,  and  the  entente  cordiale 
once  more  prevailed.  Here  the  whole  thing 
was  like  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Roman  empire, 
except  there  was  more  of  them.  Cairo  reached 
the  astounding  population  of  2,000  souls  before 
an  attempt  was  made  to  start  a  paper  here— 
something  that  could  not  possibly  happen  now, 
as  probably  300  is  the  extreme  limit  that  the 
l3^nx-eyed  printer  of  this  age  will  allow  to 
gather  together  without  starting  at  least  one 
paper,  and  often  two.  In  the  year  1841,  just 
when  Cairo  was  in  the  zenith  of  her  first  term 
of  greatness  and  just  before  she  fell  from  that 
height  and  past  to  her  first  nadir,  that  one  Mc- 
Neer  came  here  and  brought  a  small  press  and 
started  a  paper.  It  was  in  the  first  flush  times 
of  Cairo,  when  Holbrook  was  the  master  and 
autocrat  of  all,  when  his  company  were  spend- 
ing money  by  the  millions,  and  were  building 
everything  and  doing  everything.  McNeer  was 
a  stranger  to  aflfairs,  and  showed  his  utter  want 
of  judgment  by  not  asking  Holbrook  if  he 
might  come.  Indeed,  worse  than  this,  when 
he  started  his  paper  he  had  the  audacity  to 
criticize  that  great  ruler,  and  he  soon  acknowl- 
edged his  error  by  leaving  town  and  taking  his 
paper  with  him.  The  unholy  monster  monopoly 
had  crushed  him,  and  no  other  daring  advent- 
urer followed,  for  the  simple  reason  that  in  a 
few  months  the  dynasty,  the  town,  and  every- 
thing pretty  much  about  it  had  gone  much 
worse  bursted  and  crushed  than  had  poor 
McNeer. 

In  June,  1848,  Add  Saunders  established  the 
Cairo  Delta,  neutral  in  politics,  and  although 
Cairo  had  only  142  souls,  yet  the  breezy  new- 
ness of  such  a  thing  soon  gave  him  a  circula- 
tion of  800  copies.  But  whether  because  he  saw 
the  storm  coming  or  from  what  cause  we  do  not 
know,  he  closed  the  concern  in  October,  1849, 
left  Cairo,  went  to  Evansville,  and  consolidated 
with  the  Evansville  Journal. 

And  then  another  interregnum  occurred  in 
the  newspaper  world  of  Cairo.     This  continued 


until  April  10,  1851,  when  Frank  Rawlings,  of 
Emporium,  or  Mound  City,  started  the  Cairo 
Sun  here.  It  was  full  of  good  enough  Democ- 
racy, but  was  supposed  to  be  really  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Emporium  City  Company,  if  not 
actually  started  by  it.  This  was  a  company 
started  at  Mound  City  for  the  purpose  of  break- 
ing down  Cairo  and  building  the  great  city  at 
that  point.  It  was  this  perhaps  as  much  as 
anything  else  that  caused  the  paper  to  die  of 
starvation  just  one  year  to  a  day  from  the  time 
of  its  starting.  There  are  now  pretty  strong 
evidences  that  this  was  the  true  fact  in  the  case, 
as,  within  the  year  of  the  paper's  publication, 
Gren.  Rawlings,  the  father  of  Frank,  had  come 
to  Cairo,  and  in  the  name  of  some  tax-titles  or 
Sheriff's  deeds  or  a  combination  of  these  and  even 
other  things,  had  tried  to  capture  the  entire  town 
of  Cairo,  or  a  larger  portion  of  it.  An  old  settler 
here  still  remembers  seeing  the  old  General  in 
solemn  state  carefully-  ride  around  the  city, 
taking  possession  of  his  demesne.  If  there 
were  other  instances  at  all  similar  to  this  it 
makes  it  plausible  that  the  good  people  of  Cairo 
feared  that  "  my  son  Frank  "  was  really  little 
else  than  a  well-got-up  sp}-. 

Just  here  it  should  be  noted  that  it  was  a 
singular  fact  that  the  Cairo  &  City  Canal 
Company,  or  perhaps  better  to  sa}'  Holbrook, 
in  all  his  vast  schemes  of  grabbing  after  rail- 
roads, canals,  wild  cat  banks  and  the  greatest 
commercial  city  in  the  world  and  untold  mill- 
ions of  hard  dollars  from  Europe,  and  what 
little  else  the  balance  of  mankind  had,  should 
never  have  thought  to  start  a  paper  in  his  own 
private  interest.  Was  this  the  fatal  spot  in 
the  heel  where  he  was  at  last  wounded  unto 
death  ?  A  personal  organ  in  those  daj^s  prob- 
ably' had  not  been  tried,  but  this  is  precisely 
the  reason  it  ought  to  have  suggested  itself  to 
Holbrook. 

Cairo  Times. — After  another  reign  of  silence 
from  the  news  world,  Len  G.  Faxon  and  W. 
A.  Hacker  started  the  Cairo  Times.    Hacker  was 


130 


HISTORY  OF   CAIRO. 


the  heav}'  editor,  while  Faxon,  with  a  dreadful 
long-pointed  sharp  stick,  stirred  up  the  animals. 
The  paper  was  a  weekly,  and  of  the  old  bour- 
bon barefooted  Democrac}- — the  kind  that 
would  have  cried  out  to  its  million  readers,  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  (it  never  had  300,  you 
know)  to  maintain  an  armed  neutralit}'  and 
save  the  nation  from  bloodshed  and  war. 
Hacker  had  good  talents,  but  he  was  not  a 
journalist ;  he  did  not  seek  to  be  one.  He  was 
a  politician  and  a  lawyer,  and  he  soon  retired 
from  the  newspaper  to  his  favorite  pursuits. 
On  the  other  hand,  journalism  was  as  natural 
to  Faxon  as  water  is  to  a  duck,  and  there  was 
but  one  thing  that  ev'er  prevented  him  gain- 
ing the  highest  eminence  in  his  profession,  and 
that  may  best  be  designated  as  general  insta- 
bility. "  He  was  a  fellow  of  infinite  jest,"  and 
a  sharp  and  vigorous  pen,  but  as  to  using  it  he 
preferred  to  be  with  the  boys.  He  made  no 
professions  to  profundit}'  of  writing,  but  he  was 
always  sparkling  and  readable.  He  did  not  re- 
main a  very  long  time  in  Cairo,  but  perhaps  as 
long  as  he  has  remained  anywhere  since  he  be- 
came a  Bohemian,  and  after  leaving  here  he 
has  drifted  about  the  world  and  finalh'  is  now 
in  Paducah,  K}-.,  where  he  went  in  his 
regular  trade,  and  after  making  himself  the 
master  bantam  of  that  town,  we  believe  he 
dropped  his  faber  and  is  now  seeking  other  and 
more  promising  schemes.  But  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  bid  him  adieu  yet  from  the  profession, 
for  almost  an^'  moment  j'ou  ma}'  hear  of  him 
breaking  out  afresh  in  some  new,  strange  and 
most  unexpected  journalistic  wa\-.  But  we 
have  not  concluded  our  account  of  Faxon  in 
Cairo  3'et,  which  we  will  now  proceed  to  do. 
He  severed  his  connection  with  the  Times  earl}' 
in  the  year  1855,  being  with  the  paper  a 
little  less  than  one  year,  and  Ed  Willett,  the 
poet,  journalist  and  erratic  young  man,  took 
his  place.  And  it  was  then  Hacker  &  Willett 
who  were  steering  the  Times  along  the  troubled 
waters  of  the  journalistic  sea.     They  continued 


the  publication  until  the  following  November, 
when  the  paper  was  merged  with  the  Ddta,  and 
Hacker,  so  far  as  we  know,  retired  forever  fi'om 
the  vexations,  the  trials,  the  strains  and  glories 
of  the  editorial  life.  And  as  we  will  say  no 
more  of  Hacker  in  this  department,  we  will  dis- 
miss the  subject  of  his  ability,  style  and  excel- 
lence as  a  writer  b}'  quoting  the  remark  of 
"  Mose"  Harrell,  in  a  published  account  of  the 
press  of  Cairo  in  1864.  In  speaking  of  this 
very  paper  that  we  have  just  followed  to 
its  grave,  he  says :  "  This  hebdomadal  was 
Democratic  in  politics,  ever}'  number  betraying 
the  impress  of  the  engaging  ponderosity  of 
Hacker's  pen,"  etc. — the  '•  engaging  ponderosi- 
ty"^is  rather  neat,  but  of  Mr.  Hacker  in  his  real 
place  in  life,  we  will  have  occasion  to  speak  at 
more  length  when  we  come  to  the  chapter  on 
the  bench  and  bar. 

Cairo  Delta. — On  the  -ith  of  July,  1855, 
Faxon  started  this  paper.  It  had  but  little 
politics  in  it,  but  it  wielded  a  free  lance  for 
every  comer,  and  poked  and  prodded  and  put 
on  a  long-tailed  coat  and  would  tread  majesti- 
call}'  around  dragging  this  behind  and  begging 
some  man  to  tread  on  it.  It  had  onh'  a  short 
existence  of  four  months,  when  Faxon,  dis- 
covering what  he  lacked  in  Willett,  and  Willett 
discovering  certain  essential  qualities  him- 
self in  Faxon,  they  wooed  and  wedded  and 
joined  their  two  papers  together,  and  this 
happy  union  resulted  in  the 

Times  and  Delta. — And  so  anotlier  paper 
was  launched  upon  the  journalistic  sea,  the 
first  issue  of  which  was  in  November.  1855. 
It  floui'ished  finely  under  its  dual  title,  because 
it  combined  the  materials  of  an  almost  certain 
success  in  its  publishers.  The  publication  con- 
tinued until  1859. 

Cairo  Egyptian. — Established  in  1856.  bv 
Bond  &  McGrinnis.  This  was  Ben  Bond,  the 
youngest  son  of  the  first  Governor  of  Illinois, 
who  was  one  of  the  earliest  men  to  see  here  in 
Cairo  great  future  possibilities.     His  faith  in 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


131 


the  place  perhaps  induced  Ben  to  come  here 
and  try  the  wheel  of  fortune  in  what  turned 
out  to  be  a  rash  venture.  The  paper  was  of 
course  an  uncompromising  Democrat  in  poli- 
tics. It  could  hardly  have  been  anything  else 
with  the  name  of  any  one  of  the  numerous 
Bond  boys  to  it.  The  paper  soon  passed  to 
the  control  of  S.  S.  Brooks,  and  its  name 
changed  to  the 

Cairo  Gazette,  and  its  publication  con- 
tinued under  this  rather  brilliant  newspaper 
man  for  nearly  two  A'ears.  Brooks,  when  he 
closed  out  his  paper  interest  here,  went  to 
Quinc}^  111.,  where  he  established  the  Her- 
ald, in  which  he  made  an  extensive  reputation, 
which  reputation,  our  recollection  is,  was  some- 
thing after  the  style  of  G.  D.  Prentice,  that  is, 
in  Prentice's  double  meaning  paragraphs. 
In  1858,  Brooks  sold  out  to  John  A.  Hull  and 
James  Hull,  and  they  continued  the  publica- 
tion until  the  month  of  August,  1859,  when  it 
was  purchased  by  M.  B.  Harrell,  who  published 
the  paper  until  the  spring  of  1864,  when  he 
sold  it  out  to  the  Cairo  News  Company,  a  Re- 
publican concern,  organized  chiefly  by  the 
efforts  of  John  H.  Barton. 

Cairo  Journal — A  German  paper,  the 
first  of  the  kind  attempted  here,  was  issued 
in  1858.  A  weekh'  paper  and  the  few  Ger- 
mans there  were  here  to  patronize  it  valued  it 
quite  highl\-,  3'et  it  lingered  in  a  state  of  great, 
destitution  and  died  after  a  few  months. 

Cairo  Zeitung. — Its  name  tells  its  nativity 
This  was  a  semi-weekh"  paper,  issued  from  the 
office  of  the  Gazette  in  1859.  It  was  an  am- 
bitious little  Dutchman,  as  is  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  it  started  in  as  semi-weekly.  It  fair- 
1}'  "  donnei'ed  de  wedder"  the  first  few  weeks 
of  its  existence,  but  it  was  all  to  no  purpose,  it 
sickened  and  died,  aged  four  months,  and  its 
happ3'  shade  is  now  in  the  krout  business  in 
the  happy  hunting  grounds  set  apart  for  dead 
Cairo  papers. 

Egyptian  Obelisk. — In  IRtU.  William  Hunter 


and  a  few  other  infatuated  souls,  concluded 
Cairo  was  ripe  to  be  Christianized  by  a  great 
daily  Republican  paper,  to  let  in  some  light 
upon  Egj'ptian  darkness.  As  this  was  a  free 
countr}- — all  except  Cairo,  which  was  inten^^ely 
Democratic — no  one  interfered  with  their  gi- 
gantic project,  and  upon  a  fixed  hour  it  was 
launched  upon  an  astounded  world.  Its  rug- 
ged course  of  life  lasted  through  just  two 
issues,  when  its  little  slippers  were  put  away, 
with  the  consoling  I'emark,  "  whom  the  gods 
love  die  young."' 

Cairo  Daily  News — A  Republican  paper,  es- 
tablished in  1863,  b}'  a  joint-stock  compan}', 
the  head  of  which  company',  the  writer's  rec- 
ollection is,  was  John  W.  Trover.     This  was 
quite  a  pretentious,  and  in  many  respects,  a 
paper  that  was  a  credit  to  Cairo.     It  was  prob- 
ably the  first  paper  in  the  town  that  ever  took 
the  Associated   Press    dispatches.     It   had   a 
general  and  local  editor,  and  published  con- 
siderable river  and   financial   news.     But   its 
specialt}'  was  the  army  and  navv  and  '•  loyalty," 
with  a  strong  penchant  for  watching  the  trait- 
ors,   or    which   was     then    the    same    thing, 
the  Democrats.     It  piped  its  own  loyalty,  and 
the  arrant  treason  of  every  one  who  differed 
from  it.     Its  first  editor  was  Dan  Munn,  known 
far  and  wide  as  a  brother  of  Ben's.     Dan  was 
an  offshoot  of  the   remarkable  establishment 
that  flourislied  here  as  a  part  of  the  great  war 
times,  known  as  the  house  of  Munn,    Pope  & 
Munn.     To   Dan's  credit  be   it  said   he  never 
was  a  journalist.     His  forte  la}-  in  other  direc- 
tions, and  in  a  ver}'  short  time  he  retired  and 
was   succeeded  as   editor   by  John    A.    Hull, 
whose  industry  soon  showed   that  there  was  a 
marked  change  in  the  depai-tment.     Hull  never 
was  brilliant,  because   he  did   not  have  much 
faith   in   that  kind  of  editing,  and  to  tliis  da}' 
we  believe  that  if  anything  could  have  made 
the  News  a  success,  it  was  the  steady -going, 
even-tempered  mode   of    editing     pursued  by 
Mr.  Hull. 


132 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Before  the  paper  was  a  3'ear  old,  it  became 
apparent  that  Trover  was  rapidly  tiring  of 
footing  the  deficiency  bills,  and  the  ]\^ews  com- 
pany notified  the  boys  in  the  office,  or  at  least 
action  to  that  eflfect  was  had,  and  the  usual 
process  of  rats  deserting  the  ship  was  again 
enacted  in  the  world's  history. 

At  one  time  Birney  Mai'shall  and  James  0. 
Durff  ran  it  until  the  first  week's  bill  for  the 
Associated  Press  dispatches  came  in,  when  they 
declared  the  great  house  temporarily  closed. 
Still  others  were  induced  to  put  in  enough 
money,  and  when  it  had  good  luck  it  would 
run  a  week,  and  then  again  twenty-four  hours 
would  wind  it  up.  But  finally,  in  1865,  at  a 
little  over  the  age  of  two  years,  and  filled  with 
mere  changes  and  vicissitudes  than  an}'  similar 
thing  that  ever  existed,  it  breathed  its  last. 
It  had  been  dead  so  long  before  it  acknowl- 
edged it  that  it  is  doubtful  if  it  ever  had  any 
funeral.  Marshall  and  DurflT  both  died  a  few 
years  ago  in  Memphis. 

Cairo  Democrat — By  Thomas  Lewis,  a  daily 
and  weekl}'  Democratic  paper.  The  office  was 
removed  from  Springfield,  111.,  to  this 
place,  and  the  publication  of  a  nine-column 
daily  paper  commenced  on  the  3d  da}^  of 
August,  1863. 

This  was  about  the  first  effort  to  establish  a 
real  metropolitan  dail}'  paper,  giving  all,  even 
the  great  amount  of  war  news  then  prevalent 
in  the  country-.  It  was  brought  here  at  great 
expense,  run  with  a  full  force  of  editors,  re- 
porters and  printers,  and  was  published  under 
great  disadvantages.  Cairo  was  literall}-  a  fort 
of  the -Union  Ai'my,  the  town  full  of  soldiers  and 
under  martial  law  ;  provost  guaixls  were  the 
police  of  the  town,  and  a  military'  man  was  not 
only  Mayor  and  Governor,  but  supreme  auto- 
crat, whose  will  was  law  even  unto  death,  and 
there  were  only  a  few  of  them  who  doubted  his 
own  abilit}',  not  onlj'  to  discharge  his  military 
office,  but  to  edit  at  least  all  the  Democratic 
papers   published   within   the   United   States. 


The  result  was  there  was  sometimes  that  kind 
of  meddling  that  was  exceedingly  unpleasant 
to  publishers.  Orders  would  come  some- 
times daily,  either  from  the  Provost  Marshal's 
office,  or  from  headquarters,  giving  directions 
how  to  run  the  paper,  what  to  publish  and 
what  not  to  publish.  Practically,  you  were 
paying  the  heavy  expenses  of  a  printing  office, 
and  some  one  else  was  editing  it — such  edit- 
ing as  it  was.  At  times  an  order  would  come 
—a  standing  order,  mark  you — to  submit  all 
matter  intended  for  the  paper  to  inspection, 
before  it  could  be  printed. 

The  writer  hereof  remembers  an  amusing  in- 
cident of  those  strange  times.  He  had  written 
and  published  a  short,  silh'  story  about  a  man 
who  kept  a  pea-nut  stand  on  the  street,  and 
how  he  first  "  knocked  down"  the  profits,  and 
finally  the  capital  and  clandestinely  closed  his 
establishment  and  crawled  under  the  sidewalk, 
just  beneath  where  his  store  had  been,  and  left 
his  creditors  to  whistle.  Then  went  on  with  a 
lot  of  stuff  about  how  all  the  first  detectives  in 
the  world  were  put  upon  the  fugitive's  tracks, 
chartering  steamers,  railroads,  telegraphs, 
etc.",  and  how  they  peered  around  and  peeked 
into  the  North  pole  in  the  pursuit,  and  how  he 
lay  snoring  under  the  sidewalk  all  the  time. 

It  is  hard  to  imagine  anything  more  silly  to 
be  put  into  print,  but  there  may  have  been 
some  excuse  at  that  day,  from  the  fact  that 
some  manliad  just  defaulted  in  New  York  for 
a  large  amount,  and  supposing  he  would  flee 
to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  the  detec- 
tives acted  accord ingh\  Whereas,  in  fact,  he 
only  moved  to  a  new  boarding  house,  and 
rested  there  content.  It  seems  he  could  not  be 
found  because  he  'had  not  fled. 

For  this  the  writer  was  jerked  up  and  asked 
to  explain  it  all.  He  frankly  confessed  that  it 
was  wholh'  meaningless — confessed  upon  his 
sacred  honor  it  was  not  a  cipher  dispatch  to 
the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  was  ready  to 
swear  with  up-lifted   hand,  that  he  thought  if 


^^id&A 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


13o 


Jeflf  Davis  ever  was  compelled  to  read  it,  or  b}' 
an\'  chance  should  read  it,  that  it  would  kill 
him  in  five  minutes. 

This  happ}-  explanation  closed  the  doors  of 
the  threatening  bastile,  with  the  happy  victim 
on  the  outside  and  not  inside. 

We  cannot  here  enumerate  all  the  annoyances 
that  it  was  possible  to  and  that  actually  were 
thrown  in  the  way  of  the  publication  of  the 
Democrat,  but  the}'  were  many,  vexatious  and 
sorely  trjMug.  But  just  here  we  wish  distinct- 
ly to  remark  that  it  was  not  a  universal  prac- 
tice with  the  military  to  act  such  silly  roles. 
The  commauding  officer  was  often  changed, 
and  it  may  be  said,  on  behalf  of  the  majority 
of  them,  that  they  were  intelligent  and  clever 
gentlemen,  and  from  all  such  there  was  no 
more  annoyance  than  from  an}'  private  gentle- 
man. Indeed  many  of  them  were  of  that  cult- 
ured and  agreeable  kind  that  all  the  society 
people  of  Cairo  much  enjoyed  their  stay  among 
them.  But  when  the  meddlers  did  come,  their 
folly  was  only  the  more  illy  borne  by  the  con- 
trast that  the  others  made. 

Mr.  Lewis  is  entitled  to  all  the  credit  that 
can  come  of  persistence  in  the  face  of  such 
obstacles  as  we  have  named.  Of  course,  there 
were  many  others,  but  so  there  are  under  any 
circumstances  in  starting  an  enterprise  of  this 
kind. 

The  paper  had  a  warm  support  throughout 
all  Southern  Illinois,  and  a  partial  support  from 
both  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  but  in  these  two 
last-mentioned  places  there  were  so  few  mail 
facilities,  and  there  were  guerrillas  frequently 
in  those  localities,  that  the  circulation  of  the 
paper  was  in  that  direction  infinitesimal. 
Without  giving  figures,  it  is  probably  a  fact 
that  the  daily  and  weekly  Democmt,  within  a 
year  of  the  commencement  of  publication,  had, 
combined,  the  largest  circulation  of  any  paper 
published  in  Cairo. 

The  first  editor  was  H.  C.  Bradsby,  assisted 
in  the  local  department  by  C.  C.  Phillipps.  and 


John  W.  McKee.  Mr.  Bradsby  continued  in  his 
position  about  one  year,  and  having  accepted  a 
position  of  correspondent  of  the  Missouri  Re- 
puhUcan  and  afterward  the  Chicago  Times,  re- 
tired, and  was  succeeded  by  J.  Birney  Mar- 
shall, of  Kentucky.  Mr.  Marshall  continued  for 
some  months  as  editor,  and,  retiring,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Joel  G-.  Morgan,  who  came  here  for 
that  purpose,  from  Jonesboro,  111.,  and 
after  a  short  time  Mr.  Morgan  retired  and  was 
replaced  by  John  H.  Oberly. 

The  paper  lived  along  until  1878,  when  it 
passed  into  the  hands  of  a  joint-stock 
company  and  joined  and  consolidated  with  the 
Cairo  Times.  The  new  concern  retained  the  name 
of  Cairo  Democrat,  H.  L.  Goodall.  General 
Superintendent,  and  John  H.  Oberly,  editor. 

It  was  the  hope  of  its  friends  that  this  ar- 
rangement would  relieve  both  papers  of  all  em- 
barrassments and  make  one  strong,  self-sus- 
taining paper.  It  was  ably  and  expensively 
operated  under  the  new  arrangement,  and  cer- 
tainly a  common,  strong  efl!brt  was  made  to 
make  a  paper  that  would  draw  to  itself  a  good 
support.  But  after  the  first  month,  its  very  ex- 
istence was  precarious,  and  after  fifteen 
months  of  heroic  struggles  it  was  sold  by  the 
Sheritf,  and  John  H.  Oberly  became  the  pur- 
chaser, and  thus  ended  the  long  struggle  for 
existence  by  a  daily  paper  in  Cairo,  the  long- 
est made  by  any  of  the  hosts  that  have  come, 
flourished  their  brief  hour  and  expired. 

Tlie  War  Eagle — Was  a  soldier's  paper  pub- 
lished at  Columbus,  Ky.,  by  H.  L. 
Goodall,  who  moved  the  entire  concern  to 
Cairo  in  1864,  and  made  a  vigorous,  spicy 
little  Republican  paper  of  it.  It  was  so  suc- 
cessful and  was  attracting  so  wide  an  influence, 
that  parties  here  induced  Mr.  Goodall  to  en- 
large his  sphere  of  action,  which  he  did  by  pur- 
chasing a  fine  outfit  for  a  large  office,  moving 
into  new  and  spacious  quarters  (from  the 
Eagle's  roost  in  the  barracks).  And  the  en- 
larged new  paper  was  the 


186 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Cairo  Times — A  daily  Republican  paper, 
commenced  in  the  latter  part  of  1866.  The 
Eagle  was  a  little  unpretentious  weekl}',  but 
the  Phoenix  that  rose  from  its  ashes,  was  a 
large,  handsome,  well-constructed  daily.  The 
paper  was  well  patronized,  but  we  very  much 
doubt  if  Mr.  Goodall  ever  saw  the  day,  after 
the  first  six  months,  that  he  was  glad  of  the 
change.  The  Times  had  none  of  the  Eagles 
scream.  Maj.  Caffrey  was  its  general  editor — 
a  man  of  considerable  ability,  a  strong  Repub- 
lican and  good  fellow.  He  remained  with  Mr. 
Goodall  until  politics  had  ceased  to  be  a  feat- 
ure, when  he  sought  other  pastures.  At  latest 
accounts  he  was  in  Kansas  City,  Kan.,  pub- 
lishing a  weekly  Republican  paper. 

The  Union — A  Republican  weekly,  started 
in  1866,  by  H.  L.  Goodall,  as  a  side-show,  per- 
haps, to  his  great  and  flourishing  daily.  The 
editor  of  this  inoffensive  political  organ  was 
Mr.  Hutchinson.  It  was  soon  sold  to  J.  H. 
Barton  and  its  publication  discontinued. 

The  Sunday  Leader — A  literary  paper, 
started  in  1866,  by  Ed  S.  Trover,  issued  every 
Sunday  morning.  There  were  many  marks  of 
real  merit  about  this  periodical.  The  sole 
writer  for  it  was  its  editor,  but  he  was  well 
known  in  the  city  from  his  position  of  local  on 
the  News,  where  he  had  made  his  mark  as  a 
promising  boy. 

City  Item — A  little  five-column  weekly-  local 
paper,  was  started  into  existence  in  the  early 
part  of  1866,  by  Bradsby  &  Field  (Bourne). 
It  was  independent  in  politics  and  prett}'  much 
everything  else.  It  was  only  intended  to  cir- 
culate in  Cairo. 

This  paper  was  the  suggestion  of  John  Field, 
who  had  for  a  long  time  been  foreman  in  the 
Democrat  office,  and,  leaving  that  place,  he 
went  to  Bradsb}'  with  his  scheme  ;  that  he 
would  do  all  the  work,  Bradsb}'  to  do  the 
writing  ;  to  rent  a  case  in  one  of  the  printing 
offices  and  hire  the  press  work  done.  It  was 
to  be  all  original  matter,  set  solid,  and  to  con- 


tain no  "ad"  more  than  ten  lines  long,  and  no 
display  advertisements.  It  was  no  serious 
effort  at  a  paper,  and  b^'  common  consent,  the 
whole  com m unit}'  looked  upon  it  as  a  joke, 
and.  that  really  was  about  all  there  was  of  it, 
and  it  was  perhaps  luck}-  for  the  criminal  that 
this  was  so.  It  lived  something  over  a  3'ear 
and  then  quit. 

Olive  Branch — By  Mrs.  Mary  Hutchinson,  a 
famil}'  paper,  with  an  olive  wreath  about  its 
brow.  It  lived  about  one  year.  It  commenced 
and  died  in  1867. 

Cairo  Times. — Revived  in  1868,  by  H.  L. 
Goodall.  A  strong  daily  and  weekl}-  Repub- 
lican paper.  Its  regular  publication  continued 
until  the  early  part  of  1871,  when  Mr. 
Goodall  evidently  tired  of  the  newspaper  busi- 
ness in  Cairo,  wound  up  his  concern,  sold  out 
all  Cairo  interests  and  went  to  Chicago. 

Cairo  Daily  Bulletin — A  Democratic  paper 
started  by  John  H.  Oberly,  in  November,  1868. 
J.  H.  Oberly,  chief  editor,  M.  B.  Harrell,  as- 
sociate. The  paper  started  under  most  favor- 
able and  promising  circumstances,  but  just  as 
its  promise  seemed  fairest,  the  office  and  con- 
tents burned  to  the  ground,  and  to  add  to  ita 
calamities  there  was  no  insurance  on  the  con- 
cern. This  fire  occurred  in  December,  1868, 
when  the  establishment  was  only  a  little  more 
than  a  month  old.  An  entire  new  outfit  was 
immediatel}'  procured  and  the  publication  re- 
sumed, and  is  to  this  day  still  a  daily  morning 
paper. 

The  reader  can  hardly  imagine  what  a  joy 
and  relief  it  is  to  at  last  come  to  one  in  the 
long  line  that  is  alive,  prosperous  and  happy. 
The  long  preceding  list  is  so  much  like  a  call- 
ing the  roll  of  the  dead,  that  the  change  from 
the  funeral  to  the  festival  is  inexpressibly 
pleasant. 

Mr.  Oberly  and  Harrell  continued  to  push 
the  paper  successfull}-  for  some  years.  Its 
job  department  had  grown  to  large  proportions 
and  eventual!}'  promised  to  support  well  the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


187 


newspaper  part  of  the  establishment,  but  in 
1878,  matters  began  to  grow  perplexed  and 
embarrassments  began  to  beset  the  institution. 
Among  other  calamities,  the  3'ellow  fever  had 
visited  the  town  and  all  business  was  pros- 
trate. 

About  this  time  the  arrangements  were  made 
to  lease  the  office  to  Mr.  Burnett,  the  present 
proprietor.  This  took  effect  Jul}-,  1878,  and 
it  is  probable  the  absolute  stoppage  of  the 
paper  was  thus  avoided.  Mr.  Burnett  con- 
tinued as  lessee  until  January  1,  1881,  when 
b}'  purchase  he  became  the  absolute  and  sole 
owner,  in  which  position  he  has  not  onh'  been 
able  to  make  the  paper  self-sustaining,  but  has 
so  carefully  attended  to  matters  that  it  is  rapid- 
1)-  becoming  a  first-class  paying  propert}-. 

Mr.  Burnett  has  worked  his  wa}-  from  "in 
charge  of  the  circulation."  in  March,  1868,  to 
that  of  sole  owner  and  proprietor.  For  two 
years  he  was  book-keeper,  and  was  then  made 
general  manager.  This  position  he  held  until 
1867,  when  he  left  the  office  and  took  employ- 
ment in  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  office,  in 
this  cit}-,  where  he  remained  about  eighteen 
months.  He  then  returned  to  the  office  of  the 
Bulletin  as  lessee.  The  first  3-ear's  earnings  of 
the  institution  were  slightl}'  in  excess  of  ex- 
penses, even  after  deducting  considerable 
necessar}'  additional  materials ;  the  second 
year  was  not  so  good,  but  by  this  time  Mr. 
Burnett  had  so  systematized  matters  that  it 
has  been  eas}*  sailing  in  placid  waters  since. 
It  is  located  on  the  levee  in  the  proprietor's  own 
building,  and  the  constant  additions  and  im- 
provements being  added  will  soon  make  it  one 
of  the  leading  solid  institutions  of  the  kind  in 
the  countr}-. 

The  first  few  years  after  Mr.  Burnett  took 
control  of  the  Bulletin,  it  was  edited  by  M.  B. 
Harrell,  and.  when  the  latter  went  to  Chicago, 
the   editorial    work    was   done    by  Mr.    Ernst  i 
Theilecke,  who  was  connected  with  the  office  i 
for  a  long  time.     Mr.  Theilecke  is  now  in  Lock-  1 


haven,  Penn.,  and   occupying  much   the   same 
position  there  that  he  did  here. 

The  present  local  and  assistant  writer  upon  the 
Bulletin  is  Mr.  E.  W.  Theilecke,  who  has  oc- 
cupied his  present  place  the  last  two  years. 
He  is  quite  a  young  man,  who  gives  ever}-  evi- 
dence of  usefulness  and  ability. 

In  as  few  words  as  we  could  possibly  make 
it,  this  is  history  of  one  of  the  very  few  success- 
ful papers  of  the  many  started  in  Cairo.  It 
leaves  this  as  a  demonstration  and  conclusion  : 
When  the  papers  of  Cairo  eventually  come  in- 
to exactly  the  right  hands,  they  then,  and  then 
only,  become  permanent  and  valuable  institu- 
tions. 

Cairo  Sun — A  weekly  Republican  paper, 
started  by  D.  L.  Davis  in  1869.  After  running 
it  a  few  months  as  a  weekly,  it  took  the  form 
of  a  daily  paper,  and  in  this  shape  in  a  short 
time  was  sold  by  Mr.  Davis  to  the  Joy  Bros., 
who  continued  the  publication  until  January  1, 
1881,  when,  for  some  reason  best  known  to  the 
publishers,  they  voluntarily  killed  off  the  Sun 
and  started  a  new  paper,  the  News,  which 
worked  along  in  fair  weather  and  in  foul  just 
one  year,  and  ceased  to  exist  January  1,  1882. 

Radical  Republican — Its  name  indicates  its 
political  proclivities,  was  issued  for  a  short 
time  from  the  Sun  office.  Its  publisher  was 
Louis  L.  Davis.  It  never  had  much  vitality, 
and  perished  in  1880. 

The  Three  States — Colored ;  politics  un- 
known.    Died  February,  1883. 

Gazette — Colored  ;  W.  T.  Scott,  proprietor 
and  publisher.  A  weekly  paper  that  is  one  of 
the  few  that  has  not  ceased  to  exist. 

Thr  Camp  Register — A  dail}-  sheet  for  sol- 
diers raostl}-.  Was  published  during  May, 
June  and  Jul}-,  1861. 

2'he  Daily  Dramatic  News — Was  puljlished  by 
H.  L.  Goodall  during  the  winter  of  1864-65  in 
the  interests  of  Crump  &  Co.,  the  builders  and 
first  proprietors  of  the  Cairo  Athen^um. 

Cairo  Paper — A  vigorous  and  able  Demo- 


138 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


cratic  paper,  established  by  M.  B.  Harrell  in 
1871.  Not  liking  the  name,  he  changed  it  in  a 
short  time  to  Cairo  Gazette,  and  thus  returned 
to  his  first  love  in  the  Cairo  papers.  In  this 
style  the  publication  was  continued  until  1876, 
when  it  was  sold  by  the  proprietor  and  moved 
to  Clinton,  Ky. 

Cairo  Daily  ^r^us— Independent  daily  pa- 
per, by  H.  F.  Potter,  publisher,  and  Walt  F. 
McKee,  editor.     Was  first  issued  in  its  present 
form   November    15,   1878.     Seventeen   years 
ago,  Mr.  Potter  took  possession  as  owner  and 
publisher  of  the  Mound   City  Journal,  which 
he  has  conducted  from  that  day  to  this  success- 
fully.    Eight  years  ago,  deeming  his  old  fields 
of    operations   somewhat    circumscribed,    and 
looking  about  for  an  opportunity  to  enlarge 
them,  he  conceived  the  happy  idea  of  a  combi- 
nation of  Cairo  and  Mound  City  interests,  and 
so  he  issued  the  Cairo  Argus  and  Mound  City 
Journal,  the  work  being  done  at  the  commence- 
ment in  the  Mound  City  office,  with  a  local 
agent  and  office  in  Cairo,  but  no  printing  mate- 
rial in  Cairo.     In  one  year  after  starting  this 
enterprise  he  moved  his  office  to  Cairo,  and 
continued  the  publication,  simply  reversing  the 
local   office  and  the  printing  office   as  to  their 
places.     After  the  office  was  in  Cairo  a  few 
months,  the  title  of  the  paper  was  changed  into 
the  Argus- Journal,  and  was  still  issued  at  Cairo 
and   Mound    City    weekly.     Then,    as    above 
stated,  in  1878,  November  15,  he  issued  directly 
the  Cairo  Daily  Argus,  and  still  continues  to 
publish  the  Mound  City  Journal,  which,  upon 
the  appearance'  of  the  Daily  Argus,  resumed  its 
old  name,  and,  certainly,  a  very  high  compliment 
to  Mr.  Potter's  foresight,  the  Journal,  through 
all  its  marrying  and  journeyings,  retains  every 
one  of  its  old  Pulaski  County  friends,  and  at 
the  same  time  had  so  managed  its  Cairo  patrons 
to  the  weekly  paper  that  when  tlie  daily  was 
started  it  already  had  its  subscription  list  made 
up.     3Ir.  Potter's  past  experience,  his   good, 
strong  judgment,  his  energy  and  faithfulness  to 


his  business,  and  his  known  integrity,  deserve 
an  ever-increasing  success  in  his  venture  into 
a  field  where  so  many,  so  bright  and  so  worth}' 
have  heretofore  nearly  one  and  all  completelj' 
failed.  He  well  understood  all  these  failures 
before  he  looked  toward  Cairo  as  a  field  of 
operations.  He  had  known  Cairo  as  well  dailv 
for  the  past  twenty  years  as  though  he  had 
been  a  citizen  during  all  that  time.  He  knew, 
personally,  all  of  these  men,  and  had  watched 
their  wrecking,  and,  doubtless,  it  is  well  for  him 
he  had  the  benefit  of  others'  sad  experience,  as 
it  enabled  him  to  la}'  his  plans  the  better,  and 
the  caution  he  has  displayed  when  he  was  eight 
long  years  in  reaching  the  point  of  having  a 
daily  paper  in  Cairo  shows  a  species  of  method, 
determination,  sound  judgment  and  persistence 
of  purpose  that  is  certainly  a  sufficient  guaran- 
tee to  the  people  of  Cairo  that  they  need  not 
hesitate  a  moment  in  giving  his  concern  their 
fullest  confidence.  We  mean  by  all  this  that 
they  need  not  fear  to  trust  the  man  or  his  busi- 
ness, and  they  need  not  be  influenced  by  the 
many  failures  in  the  lives  of  paper  ])ublications 
they  have  seen,  and,  therefore,  class  the  Daily 
Argus  as  being  only  another  one  that,  in  a  short 
time,  is  to  follow  in  the  already  beaten  ti*ack  of 
the  many. 

His  selection  of  an  assistant  and  editor  has 
been  equally  fortunate  with  his  other  move- 
ments in  the  establishment  upon  a  permanent 
basis  of  his  paper.  We  refer,  of  course,  to 
Walt  F.  McKee,  than  whom  no  more  reliable 
man  lives.  He  has  resided  in  Cairo  since  boy- 
hood, and  during  nearly  all  that  time  has  oc- 
cupied responsible  and  confidential  positions 
for  organizations  and  institutions,  which  are 
known  to  give  trust  only  to  the  most  trust- 
worthy. Mr.  McKee  entered  the  office  of  the 
Argus  with  but  a  limited  knowledge  of  the  bus- 
iness, but  as  his  employer  foresaw  he  would 
learn,  and  he  has  learned  until  to-day  he  is 
quite  as  well  informed  of  the  duties  of  his 
position  as  are  those  who  consider  themselves 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


139 


the  par  excellence  leaders  and  teachers  in  this 
most  tr3ing  and  arduous  profession. 

We  gladly  dismiss  this  long  column  of  dis- 
mal failures,  consisting  of  over  thirt}-  papers, 
onh'  three  of  which  are  now  living  to  gladden 
the  eyes  of  their  friends.  But  should  we  drop 
the  subject  and  pass  to  other  themes,  and  say 
no  more  than  we  have  said  of  the  men  who 
were  the  actors  and  doers  in  this  curious  news- 
paporial  world,  the  list  would  be  but  a  skeleton, 
and  not  a  pleasant  one  at  that. 

The  Bohemians. — We  confess  we  can  find  no 
other  word  under  which  we  can  group  the  au- 
thors, correspondents,  editors,  reporters  and 
contributors,  who  were  of  and  at  one  time  a 
part  of  Cairo,  so  well  as  the  one  we  have 
adopted.  Could  we  group  these  as  one  fair 
picture  and  show  the  people  who  it  is  that  has 
come  and  gone,  attracted  to  Cairo,  some  of 
them,  in  the  hunt  of  permanent  homes  and  bus- 
iness, others  brought  here  as  war  correspond- 
ents at  the  time  when  Cairo  was  the  great 
central  news  point  in  the  United  States,  others 
here  permanently  as  the  representatives  of 
man}-,  in  fact,  nearl}'  all  the  great  leading 
dail}-  papers  of  the  countr}-.  We  sa}',  had  we 
the  pen  and  the  necessarj-  facts  to  make  this 
gx'ouping,  the  people  would  rise  from  the  perusal 
amazed  if  not  delighted.  But  the  knowledge 
of  these  men  by  the  writer  of  these  lines  is 
imperfect,  as  some  of  them  he  never  knew,  and 
many  others,  whom  he  vividly  remembers  the 
faces  and  their  peculiar  cast  of  mind,  their 
names  have  passed  out  of  mind. 

The  first  man  nearly  in  point  of  time,  cer- 
tainly in  point  of  fame,  who  visited  Cairo  "  to 
write,"  was  Charles  Dickens.  He  was  here  in 
18-lr2.  He  took  his  notes,  went  home  and  wrote 
JIartin  Chuzzlewit.  So  far  as  his  attempt  to 
describe  Cairo  itself  is  concerned  it  is  like 
everything  else  Dickens  wrote — fiction.  But 
there  are  some  things  he  said  he  saw  here  that 
can  hardly  be  in  his  usual  strain  of  extrava- 
gance.    For  instance,  any  old  settler  can  tell 


you  that  the  first  crash  in  Cairo  had  come  be- 
fore Dickens'  visit  and  that  like  a  stricken  city 
the  decimation  of  people  from  2,000  to  less 
than  fift}-  had  come  like  a  cyclone  from  a  cloud- 
less sky.  The  historian,  too,  has  no  hesitation 
in  telling  you  that  the  few  left  could  not  oc- 
cup3'  the  houses,  and  that  when  the  canal  com- 
pan}-  failed  they  were  left  with  almost  nothing 
to  do.  Still  there  is  scarcel}-  a  doubt  that  no 
matter  how  bad  Dickens  found  matters,  his  pen 
would  have  been  palsied  if  he  had  not  "  lied 
just  a  little."  The  writer  has  not  seen  the 
work  in  which  he  tells  how  Mark  Tapley  visited 
Cairo  and  had  the  ague,  and  how  he  and  his 
companion  were  visited  by  the  leadnig  politi- 
cian and  stump  speakers  of  Southern  Illinois  ; 
how  the  stump  speaker  talked  in  the  '•  Home- 
in-the-Settin'-Sun  "  st3'le,  and  then  spit  over  the 
prosti'ate  Martin,  at  a  crack  in  the  floor  ten 
feet  awa}'  and  hit  the  crack,  and  assured  him  he 
might  lie  easy  on  his  blanket,  as  he  would  not 
spit  on  him,  etc.,  etc.  When  we  read  all  this 
rather  coarse  kind  of  stuif  as  a  boy,  we  thoi^ght 
it  rather  smart  and  funn}'.  Mark  and  his  friend, 
it  seems,  came  to  Cairo  in  order  to  have  the 
chills — all  the  way  from  England.  A  long  dis- 
tance to  come  for  what  they  could  have  pro- 
cured a  much  stronger  article  of  thousands  of 
miles  nearer  home.  But  the}'  were  here  for 
that  purpose,  says  the  veracious  author,  and 
while  here  they  described  the  kind  of  acquaint- 
ances they  associated  with  and  formed.  Now 
any  Cairoite  can  to-day  go  to  London  and  find, 
if  his  tastes  so  run,  an  infinitely  worse  crowd, 
more  vile,  more  squalid,  dirtier,  and  in  short 
the  very  abomination  and  indescribable  dregs 
of  humanity.  What  a  traveler's  eyes  sees  de- 
pends upon  the  traveler,  much  more  than  on 
what  is  spread  before  him,  panorama-like  as 
he  moves  along.  Out  of  all  the  Southern  Illi- 
nois and  Cairo  people  the  traveler  met  and 
associated  with  here,  there  is  not  the  picture  of 
one  that  any  here  would  read  and  say  that  is 
so-and-so.  even  Maj.  Challop,  the  Home-iu-the- 


140 


HISTOEY  OF  CAIRO. 


Settin'-Sun  fellow,  the  leading  politician  with 
whoin  the  travelers  conversed  in  a  very 
idiotic  fashion  ou  Grovernment,  is  an  unrec- 
ognizable, not  known  to  a  living  soul ;  but  when 
the  traveler  walked  ashore  and  describes  the 
empty  building  (the}'  were  certainly  here  in 
1842),  and  says  "  the  most  abject  and  forlorn 
among  them  was  called,  with  great  propriety, 
the  Bank  and  National  Credit  Office.  It  had 
some  feeble  props  about  it,  but  was  settling 
deep  down  in  the  mud.  past  all  recover}'." 
That  is  not  a  very  extravagant  picture  of  the 
real  case  of  Holbrook's  bank  and  where  it  went 
to.  So  deeply  was  that  South  Sea  Bubble  hur- 
ried, exploded  or  evaporated,  about  the  very 
time  Dickens  penned  these  lines,  that  its  ghost 
has  never  been  seen  even  in  the  region  or  at 
the  hour  when  "  graveyards  yawn."  And  if 
Dickens  was  right  about  its  settling  in  the  mud 
and  ooze,  so  be  it.  One  thing  is  certain,  this 
is  the  only  real  account  of  what  did  ever  be- 
come of  that  enormous  swindle. 

The  man  next  in  order,  and,  perhaps,  the 
next  in  celebrity,  who  was  at  one  time  a  tempo- 
rary resident  of  Cairo,  was  W.  H.  Russell,  bet- 
ter known  all  over  this  country  as  Bull  Bun 
Bussell,  the  celebrated  war  correspondent  of 
the  London  Times.  He  was  stationed  here  in 
1861.  and  because  he  was  an  Englishman,  or 
because  he  represented  the  far-off  London 
Times,  or  because  this  country  just  at  that  time 
was  deeply  engaged  in  playing  sycophant  for 
fear  of  the  growl  of  the  English  lion,  or  may- 
hap for  all  these  reasons  combined,  our  mast- 
fed  military  commanders  in  and  about  Cairo 
were  doing  the  very  best  toadying  to  this  John 
Bull  that  they  could  conceive  of.  They  must 
have  supposed  that  Bull  Bun  would  write  to 
the  Queen,  and  especially  mention  the  fact  that 
Colonel  or  General  So-and-so  was  a  great  friend 
of  England,  and  the  only  way  to  keep  him  in  a 
good  humor  and  prevent  his  getting  "  mad " 
and  eventually  eating  Britain's  Isle,  would  be  to 
recosfnize  him  or  the  United  States,  or  both,  and 


not  to  recognize  Jeff  Davis,  who  was  all  the 
time  hanging  on  a  "  sour  apple  tree."  For  all 
this  coarse,  clumsy,  and  rather  disgusting  syco- 
phancy, Bussell  wrote  to  the  London  Times 
fairly  taking  the  hide  off  these  fellows,  describ- 
ing them,  giving  the  names  of  many  of  the 
most  prominent,  as  coarse,  vulgar,  ignorant 
louts,  who  smelt  of  the  stables,  even  through 
all  their  new,  cheap  tinsel  and  military  toggery. 
He  criticized  unmercifully,  and,  no  doubt, 
justly,  their  display  of  military  knowledge  in 
every  department.  In  the  high  privates  of  the 
army  he  thought  he  could  plainly  see  the  germ 
from  which  a  strong  army  might  be  made,  but 
evidently  in  the  commanders  he  could  not 
speak  of  them  without  thinking  of  the  toady- 
ing they  had  just  been  giving  him,  and  his 
patience  was  at  once  goue. 

As  to  the  uatives,  or  the  home  talent,  or 
the  native  casual  Cairoites,  we  may  divide 
them,  for  convenience'  sake,  into  the  two  fol- 
lowing natural  divisions:  the  ante-bellum 
crowd,  and  then  the  remainder  to  the  pres- 
ent day. 

And  of  the  first,  we  may  designate  M.  B. 
Harrell,  L.  G.  Faxon  and  Ed  Willett  as  the 
three  names  that  always  come  to  the  lips 
when  speaking  of  the  early  newspapers. 
Certainly,  three  more  distinct  characters,  in 
the  same  line  or  profession,  never  met.  They 
may  be  said  to  have  practically  been  here 
together  from  the  veiy  first,  and  of  all  these, 
Harrell,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  was  here  some 
time  before  the  other  two  were.  He  must 
have  been  here  early  in  the  "  forties."  His 
brother,  Bailey  Harrell,  was  one  of  the  very 
earliest  leading  merchants  here,  and  "Mose," 
as  he  is  more  widely  known  than  by  any  other 
designation,  was,  perhaps,  a  boy  about  his 
brother's  store  when  he  was  quite  young,  and 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  took  his 
first  lessons  in  composition  in  copying  or 
finally  writing  advertisements  for  the  store. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


141 


We  only  claim  to  be  guessing  at  all  this,  but 
if  here  was  where  he  got  his  education,  then 
he  went  to  a  school  that  has  been  seldom 
equalled.  In  the  old  files  of  a  Cairo  j)aper, 
we  find  an  advertisement  of  B.  S.  Harrell's 
store,  and  the  whole  thing  convinces  us  that 
either  Mose  or  Bailey  wrote  it. 

There  were  biit  two  merchants  here,  rivals, 
and  both  doing  business  under  the  same  roof. 
One  was  a  Yankee,  the  other  Harrell.  The 
Yankee  brought  on  a  lai'ge  stock,  and  adver- 
tised in  the  Cairo  Delta,  that  he  had  bought 
his  stock  for  cash,  and  could,  therefore,  sell 
lower  by  far  than  any  one  else.  In  the  very 
next  paper,  Harrell's  advertisement  appeared, 
in  these  words:  "Now,  these  goods  I  can  and 
will  sell  lower  than  my  competitor,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  I  bought  them  all  on 
credit,  and  that,  too,  without  the  slightest 
intention  of  ever  paying  a  cent  for  them. " 

Mose  was  here  during  the  long  reign  of 
idleness,  when  the  whole  community  was 
given  over  to  practical  joking  and  fun  of  all 
kinds.  He  was  the  first  telegi'aph  operator, 
when  but  a  single  wire  stretched  its  way  to 
this  then  outside  of  the  telegraphic  world. 
He  says  he  was  at  last  relieved  from  the  ar- 
duous duties  of  receiving  the  two  or  three 
dispatchs  that  sometimes  came  daily,  "  for 
shutting  up  the  office"  and  going  courting 
one  night.  It  is  much  more  probable  tha^ 
he  was  discharged  for  some  of  his  pranks,  of 
which  his  supply  was  inexhaustible,  as  the 
following  specimen  may  show:  A  boat  had 
landed  on  its  way  fi'om  New  Orleans  to  St. 
Louis.  Among  the  many  deck  passengers  who 
sought  the  top  of  the  levee  for  supplies, 
bread,  bologna,  etc.,  was  one  poor  fellow 
whom  the  boat  left.  He  had  failed  to  reach 
the  wharf  in  time  to  get  aboard.  He  was  in 
sore  distress;  his  family  were  on  board  the 
boat,  and  what  would  he  do?  Mose,  of 
course,    met   him    like   a   good    Samaritan; 


showed  him  the  wire  and  the  poles,  and  ex- 
plained that  it  was  made  on  purpose  to  send 
things  to  St.  Louis.  The  institution  was 
new  then,  and  little  understood.  The  man 
listened,  and  begged  Mose  to  send  him  on  at 
once.  Mose  explained  to  him  how  he  would 
have  to  jump  at  each  pole,  and  the  man 
thought  he  could  do  it.  The  dupe  was  then 
prepared  for  the  trip  by  his  friend.  The 
bread,  cheese,  bologna,  etc.,  were  made  into 
a  pack  and  carefully  tied  upon  ,his  back. 
The  telegraph-climbers  were  placed  upon  his 
feet,  in  order  that  he  might  climb  to  the  wire 
and  get  on.  But  for  the  life  of  him  he 
could  not  climb  the  pole;  he  worked  by  the 
hour,  sometimes  digging  into  the  pole  and 
sometimes  in  his  own  legs,  and  only  from 
sheer  exhaustion  did  he  finally  give  up  in 
despair.  Mose  then  told  him  to  go  up  town 
and  find  Corcoran,  who  was  the  keeper  of  the 
ladder  that  was  used  by  the  ladies  .to  climb 
with  when  they  wanted  to  travel  by  tele- 
graph. The  poor  fellow  hunted  until  he 
found  Corcoran,  and  told  him  what  he 
wanted.  He  was  informed  that  the  ladder 
had  been  broken  the  day  befoi-e  by  Barnum's 
fat  woman  going  up  on  it,  and  finally  per- 
suaded the  dupe  that  the  wire  was  considered 
dangerous  ever  since  the  fat  woman  and  her 
seven  Saratoga  trunks  had  passed  over  it, 
and  that  he  had  probably  better  wait  until 
another  boat  came  along,  and  then  he  could 
go  to  St.  Louis  in  peace  and  safety. 

Mound  City  at  one  time — very  foolish  it 
all  now  looks — concluded  to  rival  Cairo,  not 
rival,  but  simply  distance  and  build  all  the 
great  city  up  there.  They  probably  found 
some  man,  as  Cairo  found  Holbrook,  and  at 
it  they  went,  spending  money  x'ight  and  left 
at  an  immense  rate.  \Vhoever  was  running 
Mound  City  was  smarter  than  the  one  that 
ran  Cairo,  because,  as  soon  as  matters  were 
under  full  'headway,  he   imported  a   news- 


143 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


paper  outfit,  came  to  Cairo,  and  hired  M.  B. 
HaiTell  at  a  big  salary  to  go  up  there  and 
abuse  Cairo.  Although  the  salary  was  large, 
Harrell  earned  every  dollar,  and  more  too; 
for  instance: 

"  We  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Cairo  City 
Council  Monday  night.  The  room  being 
well  warmed,  and  a  bottle  of  Fair's  Ague 
Tonic  being  provided  for  each  Alderman, 
and  an  ounce  of  quinine  for  the  Board  gen- 
erally (from  which  the  Clerk  would  occasion- 
ally take  a  spoonful).  The  fever  and  ague  by 
which  the  majority  were  at  the  tiiue  afflicted, 
interfered  only  immaterially  with  the  buoi- 
ness.  If  anybody  wants  to  see  'great  shakes, ' 
let  'em  attend  a  Cairo  Council  meeting." 

Or  this : 

"  The  Cairoites,  in  imitation  of  the  Yankee 
at  sea,  have  provided  themselves  with  a  good 
supply  of  soap,  so  that,  if  the  river  over- 
whelms them,  they  can  wash  themselves 
ashore.  If  they  should  be  compelled  to  use 
it,  the  town  of  Columbus,  just  below,  would 
be  overflowed  by  an  awful  nasty  sea  of  soap- 
suds." 

Or  again: 

"  A  fire  company  has  been  organized  at 
Cairo,  and  where's  the  necessity  for  it  ?  In 
case  of  a  fire,  just  let  them  knock  the  plugs 
out  of  the  levee  sewers,  and  the  river  water 
will  fly  all  over  the  village." 

Cairo  employed  Faxon  to  stand  in  front  of 
these  projectiles,  and  do  the  best  he  could  to 
defend  Cairo,  but  this  all  only  resulted  in  the 
two  rival  towns  coming  out  like  the  Kilkenny 
cats,  only  so  much  the  worse  that  there  evi- 
dently was  not  so  much  as  the  bob-end  of  a 
tail  left  to  either.  It  was  all  quite  comical 
at  the  time,  and  no  doubt  the  people  of  the 
two  towns  looked  forward  eagerly  each  week 
to  see  what  next  was  coming.  The  serious 
side  of  the  story  was,  that  often  the  worst  of 
these  squibs  were  taken  up    and  reprinted 


over  the  North,  as  true  pictures  of  Cairo  and 
Mound  City,  as  drawn  by  their  own  people. 
Up  to  the  war,  this  trio,  Harrell,  Faxon  and 
Willett,  were  the  Cairo  and  Mound  City 
editors.  They  started  papers,  changed  sides, 
and  bobbed  around,  but  it  was  one  contin- 
uous circle,  and  generally  all  on  the  Cairo 
press,  and  they  seem  to  have  indulged,  to 
their  hearts'  content,  in  lampooning  each 
other  and  each  other's  towns,  when  they  hap- 
pened to  be  in  dififerent  villages. 

The  compositors  of  that  day  seemed  to 
deem  it  a  duty  devolving  upon  them  to  fur- 
nish their  full  quota  of  unaccountable  human 
beings.  They  had  probably  caught  the  in- 
fection fi'om  ^either  Willett,  Faxon  or  Har- 
rell.     A  few  specimens: 

A  printer  who  worked  here  as  early  as 
1848,  was  said  to  have  been  the  fastest  hand- 
pressman  of  his  time  in  the  United  States. 
He  was  said  to  have  worked  off  800  impres- 
sion of  a  sheet  24x36,  on  a  Washington 
hand- press,  in  two  hours  and  twenty  minutes. 
This  was  equivalent  to  an  impression  every 
ten  and  two-fifths  seconds.  It  is  probably 
well  there  were  no  other  such  pressmen,  or 
there  would  never  have  arisen  the  necessity 
fur  the  perfected  Hoe  press. 

A  compositor  in  the  Sun  office  in  Cairo,  in 
1850,  named  Frank  Urguhart,  could  set  15,  - 
000  long  primer  and  brevier  in  ten  hours, 
and  always  got  roaring  drunk  after  supper, 
but  would  appear  at  his  case  as  usual  the 
next  morning,  ready  to  do  as  big  a  day's 
work  as  ever.  He  was  wholly  worthless, 
however.  He  married  a  Cairo  girl  in  a  short 
time  after  he  came  here,  lived  with  her  two 
weeks,  then  abandoned  her  and  has  never 
been  heard  of  since. 

E.  F.  Walker  a  compositor  who  worked 
immediately  before  and  during  the  early 
years  of  the  war,  was  quite  a  character. 
For  six  months  or   more  he  was   planning  a 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


143 


week's  hunt    in    the    neighboring   woods   of 
Missouri.       Practicing    great    economy,    he 
finally   fonnd  himself  the  possessor  of    $80. 
He  bought  a  $1.50  shot-gun,  four  ounces  of 
powder  and  a  pound  of  shot.      He  then  sup- 
plie<l  his  commissai'y  department  with  a  half- 
dozen   pigs'    feet,  a   pound  of   crackers,  two 
gallons    of   whisky,    a   horse-blanket    and  a 
second-hand   wheelbaiTow.     Thus   equipped, 
on  the  morning  of  July  4,  1862,  he  bade  the 
office   boys   good-bye,    and    started    for   the 
ferry-boat.      He  halted  his  wheelbarrow  be- 
fore every   saloon  on   the  jlevee,    stepped  in 
to  take  a  drink  and  bid  the  boys  good-bye. 
The    ensuing    night,    he    tumbled   into   the 
office,    drunk   as  a  lord,   swearing  he  could 
not  get  oflF,  because  the  fenyboat  I'efused  to 
cany  his  ammunition !    Nest  morning,  he  and 
his     wheelbarrow    were    again    making   the 
rounds  of  the  levee.     The  day  again   closed 
on  a  drunken  Walker.     He   explained  that 
the  ferry-boat  multiplied  itself  so  often,  and 
ran  in  so  many  different    directions,  he  was 
afraid  he  might  take  the  wrong  boat  and  lose 
his  wheelbarrow.     On  the  third  day,  he   got 
drunk   again,  but,  to  .the  end  that  he  might 
start  early  and  sober,  he   slept  all   night  on 
the  wharf  in  his    wheelbarrow.     The  fourth 
and  fifth  days  were  a   repetition  of  his  first 
and  second,  but  on  the   seventh  day  he  kept 
himself  drunk  all  day  and  all  night,  waiting, 
he  said,  for  the   arrival  of   a   ferry-boat  that 
was  not  given  to  the  insane  habit  of  running 
'  sideways.  '       Early  on  the  morning  of  'the 
eighth  day,  he  happened  to   leave  his  wheel- 
barrow and  accouterments  unguarded     Re- 
turning to  search  for  them,  they  were  not  to 
be  found.     Ed    Willett   had    triindled  them 
across    the  wharf  boat,  and  to  this   day  they 
lie  on  the  bottom  of   the  Ohio  Eiver,  where 
he  dumped  them.     Walker,  having  only  40 
cents  of  his  $80  left,  couldn't  secure  another 
outfit,  sobered  up,  and  returned  to  his  case  I 


again.  He  was  abundantly  satisfied  with  re- 
sults, however,  and  always  afterward,  when 
speaking  of  festive  occasions,  would  Jdeclare 
his  '  great  seven  days'  hunt  in  the  Missom-i 
bottoms '  the  happiest  interval  of  his  exist- 
ence. AValker  was  a  congenial  soul;  some- 
what en-atic,  but  always  harmless.  He  has 
long  since  passed  over  to  the  happy  hunting 
ground,  for  the  full  enjoyment  of  which,  it  is 
quite  apparent,  he  was  only  preparing  him- 
self in  his  great  hunt  here. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  war,  Jimmy 
Stockton,  afterward  editor  of  the  Grand 
Tower  Item,  was  a  compositor  in  M.  B.  Har- 
rell's  Gazette  office.  At  the  time  the  officer 
in  command  of  the  post  in  Cairo  had  tried 
to  suppress  the  Gazette,  and  had  ordered  the 
editor  to  submit  all  matter  to  him  (a  full  ac- 
count of  Avhich  we  give  in  another  column), 
and  the  way  Hai-rell  got  around  the  dilem- 
ma, so  tickled  poor  Stockton,  that  he  got 
more  than  glorious.  He  had  spent  the  even- 
ing at  Dr.  Jim  McGuire's,  and  had  repaired 
to  his  room  rather  late,  which  was  on  the 
fourth  floor,  just  above  the  composition 
room. 

The  printers  reported  the  following  cir- 
cumstances: About  11  o'clock  at  night,  a 
compositor,  working  at  his  case,  heard  a 
whiz,  and  saw  a  dark  object  flit  past  his  win- 
dow, which  was  in  the  thii-d  story.  Hasten- 
ing down  stairs  to  see  what  had  happened, 
what  was  his  amazement  to  find  Jimmy 
Stockton,  stretched  at  full  length  on  the  top 
of  a  pile  of  empty  barrels,  and  sound 
asleep!  While  leaning  out  of  the  fourth 
story  window,  he  had  lost  his  balance;  fall- 
ing a  distance  of  about  twenty  feet,  he  struck 
the  roof  of  a  two-story  addition,  and  rolling 
off,  alighted  on  the  barrels  and  went  to  sleep. 
But  for  his  limberness,  he  would  have  been 
crushed  to  a  pulp,  but  no  serious  injury  was 
sustained.     "Well,  now,  do  you  know,"  said 


144 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Jimmy,  when  the  boys  had  finally  aroused 
him  and  got  him  down  off  the  barrels,  "  that 
I  di-eamed  I  was  on  top  of  a  tall  ladder;  that 
a  sow  uptripped  it— and  now  I  come  to  think 
of  it,  it  wasn't  all  a  dream,  boys!  but  where's 
that sow — and  the  ladder?" 

The  fever  of  life  has  passed  with  poor 
Stockton,  and"  to  those  who  knew  him  best, 
the  memory  of  his  big  heart  and  warm  soul 
will  always  come  sunshiny  throughout  their 
lives. 

It  was  poor  old  Sam  Hart,  peace  to  his  re- 
mains,  who   was  hard   of  hearing,  and   was 
always  imagining,  when  he  could  not   hear 
what  was    being  said,  that  the   other  boys 
were  talking  about  him,  and  over  this  he  was 
in  constant  hot  water.     He  was  getting  old, 
and  was  very  nervous  and  sometimes  peevish. 
He  would    imagine   more  than  enough,    but 
then  the  others,  perceiving  his  oddities,  would 
constantly  add   to  his  sources  of  worry  and 
vexation.    Matters  finally  culminated  in  Hart 
making  up  his  mind  absolutely  to  challenge 
to  the  death  Joe  "Wiley,  as  he  appeared  to  be 
about   the  worst,  and  was  the   fittest,  in  the 
old  man's  estimation,  for  an  example.     He 
called  upon  his  friend,  another  'printer,  and 
told  him  his  unalterable  resolution,  and  re- 
quested his  assistance.     This  was  promptly 
given,  and  all  the  minutiae  arranged  for  the 
combat,  which  was  to  take  place  just  outside 
the  Mississippi   levee  after  sundown.     Two 
immense  horse- pistols  were  procured,  and  the 
parties  were  to  repair  to  the  spot  in  a"  state 
of  scatteredness,  for  fear  of   drawing  the  at- 
tention of   the  polic^e.     It  seems  all  were  in 
the    joke   except   poor   Hart.     Parties   were 
placed   for   the   fight,  and   Hart  was  awful 
nervous,  and   he  told  j^his  friend  he  expected 
his  time  had  come.     AVhen  the  weapons  were 
handed   them,   it   was   with    difficulty   Hart 
could   hold   his  in  both    his  hands,  so   very 
nervous  had  he  become.     They  were  ordered 


to  stand  and  await  orders  to  fire,  but  Hart 
knew  ^he  could  not  hear  good,  and  so,  the 
moment  he  got  his,  he  raised  it  in  both 
hands  andblaz —  no,  snapped.  But  matters 
were  again  adjusted, 'and  he  was  told  he  must 
wait  for  the  word  to  fire.  The  pistol  was 
again  placed  in  his  hands,  and  again  he  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  raise  it  with  both  hands, 
and  fi —  no,  snap  again,  and  he  dropped  the 
weapon  and  fled  for  life  toward  town.  He 
told  his  second  two  or  three  different  stories 
about  the  matter.  First,  he  was  positive 
there  was  a  general  conspiracy  to  mui'der 
him,  and,  second,  that  he  saw  the  police  com- 
ing, and  he  thought  it  all  great  foolishness, 
anyhow. 

But  of  the  trio  of  the  original  Cairo  journal- 
ists—Harrell,  Faxon  and  Willetfc.    It  is  diffi- 
cult to   di-aw  any  comparison  or  parallel  be- 
tween any  number  of  men,  all  of   whom  are 
wholly  unlike.    These  three  men  were  alike  in 
this  only — they  were  all  writers.       The  writer 
of  these  lines  never  knew  Willett  personally, 
yet,  in  some  way,  he  has  formed  the  opinion 
of  the  man,  to  the  effect  that  he  was  purely 
a   literary   man    in  his   nature,    and    always 
thought   his  chief   talent  was  as  a  poet,  and 
hence  he  wrote  poetry  for  pleasure,  and  as  a 
rule  it  turned  out  to  be  mere    doggerel,  but 
that,  upon  literary  subjects,  where  he  some- 
times  drove  his  pen   with  a  master's  hand, 
he  always  felt  he  was  a  mere  drudge,  debas- 
ino-  the  fine  horse  Pegasus  into  the  meanest 
of   dray  horses.     That  he  was  of   a  nervous, 
sensitive  turn  of  mind,  and  the  rough-and- 
tumble  bouts  that  Harrell  and  Faxon  some- 
times gave  him  nearly   killed  him.     Willett 
left  Cairo  before  or  during   the   very  early 
part  of  the  war,  and  is  said  now  to  be  on  the 
staff  of  the  New  York  Herald. 

Of  Faxon  we  know  more,  both  personally 
and  by  reading  his  writings.  His  pen 
bristled  like  the  "fretful  porcupine,"  and  he 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


145 


shot  the  pointed  quills  sometimes  in  every 
direction.  His  talents  were  good,  his  nature 
genial  and  full  of  sunshine.  He  is  living 
now  in  'Paducah,  Ky.,  as  stated  elsewhere, 
and  may  he  be  yet  spared  to  develop  fully  to 
the  world  what  we  believe  to  be  truly  in  him 
in  the  way  of  literary  talent. 

Of  M.  B.  Harrell  it  may  well  be  said,  there 
is  no  name  yet  so  impressed  upon  Cairo  and 
its  very  existence  as  his — its  mark  is,  every- 
where, and  must  co -exist  with  the  city.  After 
a  long  and  thorough  acquaintance  with  him, 
we  have  no  hesitation  in  pronouncing  him  of 
the  highest  order  of  talent  among  the  writers 
of  his  day.  Of  all  the  hosts  that  have  vent- 
ui'ed  their  editorial  fortunes  in  Cairo,  they 
found  Harrell  the  Nestor  when  they  came, 
and  they  left  him  in  undisputed  possession 
of  his  title  and  crown. 

Mr.  Harrell  came  to  Cairo  about  1845,  a 
mere  boy,  to  do  errands  about  his  brother's 
store  and  learn  to  be  a  clerk,  if  he  developed 
talent  enough  for  such  promotion.  His  in- 
stincts [took  him,  at  an  early  day,  to  the 
printing  office,  and  here  he  went  to  school, 
and  soon  mastered  the  business  to  that  ex- 
tent that  he  was  an  invaluable  part  of  the 
office.  "When  the  war  broke  out,  he  was 
editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Cairo  Gazette, 
and  quietly  continued  its  publication  after 
the  military  had  |taken  possession  of  Cairo. 

As  to  some  of  his  experiences  at  that 
time,  we  permit  IVIr.  Harrell  to  tell   himself: 

"  In  the  early  stages  of  the  war,  when 
nearly  every  prominent  Democrat  was  in  the 
Old  Capitol  Prison,  and  Logan  was  watched, 
and  suspicioned  Democratic  editors  in  Egypt 
had  a  rough  time  of  it.  I  was  seated  at  my 
desk  in  the  Gazette  office  one  morning,  when 
in  stalked  Col.  Buford,  attended  by  an  Ad- 
jutant, and  both  of  them  in  the  dangling, 
jangling  war  accouterments  in  which  showy 
warriors  were  wont  to  array  themselves.     '  Is 


the  editor  in  ?'  asked  the  Colonel,  in  a  tone 
of  voice  suggestive  of  hissing  bombs,  sword- 
whizzes  and  the  spluttering  of  fired  grenade 
fuzes.  'He  is^  sir,'  I  replied,  with  a  not- 
able tremor  of  voice;  'I  respond  to  that  de- 
signation. What  is  your  pleasui'e,  sir?'  'I 
have  this  to  say  to  you,  sir,  and  mark  me 
well,  that  there  may  be  no  misunderstanding. 
These  are  perilous  times,  sir;  we  have 
enemies  at  our  front,  sir,  and  more  cowardly 
ones  in  our  rear,  even  in  our  midst.  Upon 
these  latter  I  am  resolved  to  lay  a  strong 
hand.  1  have  to  say  to  you,  then,  that  if  you 
publish  anything  in  your  paper  that  shall 
tend  to  discourage  enlistments,  encourage 
desertions,  or  in  any  manner  reflect  upon  the 
war  policies  of  the  administration,  I  shall 
take  possession  of  youi-  office,  sir,  and  put 
you  in  irons.' 

"  '  I  beg  to  assure  you. '  I  replied,  as  soon 
as  I  could  command  composure  enough  to 
speak  at  ail,  '  I  feel  no  inclination  to  offend 
in  that  direction;  but  how  can  I  shape  my 
editorial  labors  so  as  to  have  a  guarantee  of 
your  approval ? ' 

"  '  Submit  your  matter  to  me,  sir.  If  I  find 
it  unobjectionable,  I'll  return  it;  otherwise, 
I'll  destroy  it.' 

"  Then,  with  the  bearing  of  a  Scipio — a 
'  see-the-conquering-herocomes '  gait  and 
caiTiage — the  Colonel  and  his  Adjutant  left 
the  office. 

"  The  next  day,  and  the  next,  and  the  day 
after  that,  I  laid  before  the  Colonel  a  great 
deal  more  selected  matter  than  I  had  pub- 
lished during  the  previous  quarter.  I  clipped 
columns  of  stuff  I  had  no  idea  of  pub- 
lishing; tore  several  leaves  from  the  Census 
Eetui-ns  of  1860;  levied  heavy  contributions 
from  the  stah.i  jokes  found  in  Ayers'  Al- 
manac; long  editorials  from  the  Si  Louis 
Rejjublican :  full  pages  from  De  Bow's  Sta- 
tistical Review  of  the  Southern  Cotton  Crop; 


146 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


'takes'  of  Ed  Willett's  newspaper  poetry, 
and  massive  rolls  of  matter  that  I  felt  certain 
nobody  ever  had  or  ever  could  read  without 
mental  retching,  and  all  this  stuff  I  '  respect- 
fully submitted  for  the  Colonel's  perusal  and 
approval.'  Palpable  as  they  were,  the  Col- 
onel, evidently,  did  not  '  tumble '  to  my  tac- 
tics. On  the  evenings  of  the  first  and 
second  days,  the  installments  were  duly  re- 
tiurned,  stamped  with  evidence  of  approval. 
On  the  evening  of  the  third  day,  the  roll  of 
copy  was  returned  unopened,  but  accompan- 
ied by  the  following  explanatory  and  ad- 
monitory note. 

"Editor  Oazette:  Finding  that  a  close  pre- 
supervision  of  the  contents  of  your  paper  involves 
an  expenditure  of  more  paper  and  labor  than  I  can 
bestow,  and  much  more  than  I  anticipated,  I  return 
to-day's  installment  unopened;  exercise  your  cus- 
tomary discretion  and  allow  the  latent  Unionism  in 
j'our  composition  to  assert  itself,  and  the  result,  I 
dare  say,  will  be  as  satisfactory  to  me  as  it  will  be 
creditable  to  j'^ourself . 

(Signed)  B. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  war,  Cairo  devel- 
oped to  be  just  what  its  very  first  discoverers 
foresaw,  namely,  that  in  case  of  war  it  would 
be  the  one  great,  important  strategic  point — 
the  key  to  all  the  military  movements  in  the 
vast  Mississippi  Valley.  Daniel  P.  Cook,  the 
Delegate  from  the  Territory  of  Illinois  in 
Congress,  and  who  framed  the  bill  for  its 
admission  as  a  State  into  the  Union,  based 
his  report  and  his  spepch  in  that  behalf, 
upon  the  peculiar  position  of  the  Territory, 
and  as  clearly  foretold,  as  did  the  Avar 
demonstrate,  that  Illinois  was  the  natiiral 
keystone  State  to  the  gi-eat  Northwest.  From 
the  early  part  of  1863  until  the  conclusion 
of  the  late  war,  the  whole  world  looked  with 
eager  interest  to  Cairo.  It  was  here  that  all 
eyes  turned,  in  the  hope  of  some  word  that 
would  decisively  settle  the  great  and  bloody 
questions  that  were  raging  so  fiercely. 

This  brought  here  a  swarm  of  correspond- 
ents, men  representing  at  one  time  nearly  every 


leading  paper  in  the  whole  country;  and  to 
give  some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  in- 
crease of  news  that  was  fvumished  at  this 
point,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  from 
four  to  six  telegraph  operators  were  found 
necessary,  and  that  often  and  often  the  news 
wires  were  doubled,  and  kept  busily  running 
night  and  day,  and  then  frequently  great 
rolls  of  copy  were  taken  from  the  hook  the 
next  day  that  it  was  impossible  to  pass  over 
the  wires  in  time  for  the  paper  to  go  to  press. 
The  writer  of  these  lines  well  remembers 
that  at  one  time  there  were  twenty-five  men 
here  who  represented  these  difierent  news- 
papers, and  whose  sole  business  was  to  allow 
nothing  to  escape  them,  and  send  it  by  light- 
ning dispatch  to  their  respective  papers. 
There  were  great  jealousies  and  rivalries 
among  the  different  representatives  of  rival 
papers.  A  correspondent  would  about  as 
soon  die  as  to  allow  his  rival,  or  anybody 
else,  to  get  up  a  "  scoop  "  on  him  while  he 
slept  or  closed  his  ears,  and  there  was  an 
equal  rivalry  among  the  respective  papers 
backing  each  one  of  them.  These  corre- 
spondents, many  of  them,  had  instructions  to 
spare  no  expense  in  getting  news.  "  If 
necessary  to  get  the  latest  and  important 
news,  charter  an  engine  or  a  steamboat,  and 
draw  on  this  office,"  was  substantially  [the 
instructions  that  several  of  these  news- 
gatherex-s  had.  It  was  the  correspondent 
who  failed  to  get  the  latest  important  news 
— no  matter  how  much  money  he  saved — who 
was  always  summarily  dismissed.  And  of 
course  at  that  time,  in  this  country,  the  New 
York  Herald  had  the  prestige  for  enterprise 
among  all  the  papers.  There  was  no  other 
institution  in  the  country  until  the  war,  that 
thought  it  worth  while  to  try  to  compete  with 
James  Gordon  Bennett;  but  the  war  brought 
much  change  iiere  as  well  as  in  other  things, 
and   made   many  papers   quite  as  daring   in 


I. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


14-; 


enterprise  as  the  Herald.  One  of  the  pranks 
sometimes  played  by  correspondents  upon 
each  other,  was  to  race  for  the  telegraph 
office,  say  just  after  a  battle,  and  the  first 
one  who  got  the  wire,  by  the  rules  of  the 
office,  could  hold  it  until  his  'entire  dispatch 
was  sent.  They  would  thus  have  a  tremen- 
dous race  as  to  who  should  get  there  first, 
and  then  it  was  an  immense  joke  if  he  could 
hold  it  until,  say,  4  o'clock  next  morning, 
when  the  morning  jDapers  all  had  to  go  to 
press.  All  the  people  of  Cairo  will  remem- 
ber Frank  Chapman,  who  came  to  Cairo  as 
the  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald. 
This  story  was  told  of  him:  There  had  been 
a  battle,  and  it  was  ten  miles  away  to  the 
telegi-aph  office.  He  happened  to  be 
mounted  on  the  fastest  horse,  and  under  whip 
and  spur  started  as  soon  as  the  result  of  the 
fight  was  known.  He  was  followed  Jin  full 
chase  by  the  others,  and  it  was  a  break-neck 
race;  but  Chapman  got  there  first,  but  it  was 
only  by  a  few  moments;  in  short,  he  was  so 
closely  followed,  that  he  rushed  into  the 
office  (none  of  them  had  their  dispatches 
written  out  yet),  and  looking  about,  the  only 
thing  he  saw  was  a  copy  of  the  Bil)le  lying 
there.  He  seized  that;  opened  at  the  fiist 
chapter  of  Genesis,  and  hastily  with  his  pen- 
cil wrote  above  "  To  the  New  York  Herald" 
and  passing  it  to  the  operator,  said  simply, 
"  Send  that,"  and  then  sat  down  leisurely  to 
write  out  his  dispatch.  It  is  difficult  to 
imagine  what  must  have  been  the  thoughts 
of  the  news  editor  of  the  Herald,  when  the 
Bible  was  thus  being  fired  at  it  over  the 
wires,  as  it  came  chapter  after  chapter;  in  that 
regular  order  that  indicated  that  probably  the 
whole  book  was  behind.  But  when  Chapman 
had  written  out  his  account,  he  passed  that 
to  the  operator,  and  it  is  very  probable  the 
first  word  of  the  real    account  of   the  battle 


told  the  story  of  the  trick  to  the  New  York 
office. 

Poor  Frank  Chapman!  The  war  over,  he 
settled  down,  and  tried  to  make  a  livinc  in 
Cairo,  by  first  one  thing  and  then  another. 
He  organized  the  first  Cairo  Board  of  Trade, 
and  was  the  first  Secretary.  Most  unfortu- 
nately for  him  he  was  a  splendid  ventriloquist. 
In  1870,  he  went  to  Chicago,  and  there,  after 
long  suffering  and  great  privations,  died. 
The  Herald  had  here,  and  in  the  field  ad- 
jacent to  this  place,  at  one  time  or  another, 
a  dozen  or  more  different  correspondents. 
Among  them  the  writer  well  remembers  I.  N. 
Higgins,  now  the  editor  of  the  San  Francisco 
Morning  Call.  A  brilliant  writer,  and  one 
of  the  most  genial  fellows  in  the  world. 
Newt!  all  hail!  Another  member  of  the 
Herald  force  was  a  Mr.  Knox,  who  has  since 
traveled  pretty  much  all  over  the  world,  and 
published  several  books,  one  or  more  of 
which  were  written  for  the  edification  of  the 
youths  of  the  nation,  and  have  earned  a  wide 
and  solid  fame  for  him. 

Ralph  Kelly  was  the  Cairo  war  correspond- 
ent of  the  New  Orleans  Picayune ;  one  of  the 
most  deceiving  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  genial  fellows  that  ever  graced  the  town 
of  Cairo.  The  writer  of  these  lines  had 
noticed  Mr.  Kelly  in  passing  about  the 
streets,  and  he  was  so  very  odd-lookino-  in 
his  make-up,  that  he  gut  to  inquiring  of 
every  one  he  met,  Who  is  that?  After  a  long 
pursuit  of  this  kind,  he  gained  the  desired 
information,  and  his  informant  not  only 
gave  the  information,  but  followed  it  up  with 
an  introduction.  Mr.  Kelly  was  of  Milesian 
extraction  (which  was  plainly  to  be  seen), 
and  had  been  reared  from  early  boyhood  in 
the  Picayune  office,  until  he  was  about  as 
much  one  of  its  fixtm-es  as  was  any  other  part 
of    the  establishment.      His    whole    life  was 


148 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


centered  there;  be  knew  no  other  home, 
guardian,  parents,  or,  apparently,  place  to 
go,  either  before  or  after  quitting  this  world. 
He  probably  did  not  form  twenty  intimate  or 
general  acquaintances  while  in  Cairo.  In 
the  presence  of  strangers,  he  stood  mute,  and 
sometimes  appeared  almost  idiotic,  and  if, 
under  such  circumstances,  he  tried  to  talk  and 
make  himself  intelligible,  he  apparently  only 
made  matters  so  much  the  worse;  yet,  locked 
up  in  a  room  with  some  congenial,  well-un- 
derstood friend,  or  place  before  him  pen  and 
paper  and  instantly  he  was  much  as  one  in- 
spired. To  know  Ralph  Kelly  even  slightly, 
was  to  read  over  and  over,  every  day  you 
were  with  him,  the  story  of  Oliver  Goldsmith, 
and  to  recall  what  Johnson  said,  when  he 
called  him  the  "  poll-parrot  who  wrote  like 
inspiration. " 

Ralph  Kelly!  Have  you  gone  with  the 
fleeting  years,  and,  like  them,  gone  forever? 
If  so  it  be,  we  would  place  one  little  faded 
flower  to  thy  memory,  typical  of  as  pure  a 
friendship  as  ever  one  being  held  for  another. 

E.  H.  Whipple  was  the  Cairo  war  corre- 
spondent of  the  Chicago  Tribune.  We  re- 
member him  as  a  good-looking,  round-faced 
young  man,  full  of  the  energy  and  wakeful- 
ness that  always  got  the  latest  news,  and  was 
certain  it  should  reach  the  Tribune  before  he 
would  sleep.  He  seemed  to  be  a  very  retir- 
ing, quiet  young  man,  and  much  to  his 
credit  it  was,  too,  he  did  not  join  much  in 
the  convivialities  that  marked  the  existence 
of  the  Cairo  life  of  most  of  the  Bohemians. 
Mr.  Whipple  is  now  in  some  way  connected 
with  a  detective  agency  in  Chicago,  a  ad  long 
since  has  given  his  Fabers  to  his  babies  for 
toys. 

L.  Curry  represented  the  Cincinnati  Com- 
mercial. A  man  of  an  eventful  and  a  very 
sad  domestic  history.  His  wife,  whom  he 
married  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  when  he  was 


barely  twenty-one,  dying  with  her  child 
in  about  twelve  months  after  marriage,  un- 
der the  saddest  circumstances.  Mr.  Curry 
was  a  young  man  of  good  education,  and  had 
been  reared  under  the  most  fortunate  circum- 
stances. He  was  an  excellent  wi'iter,  a  warm- 
hearted and  most  exemplary  young  man  in 
bis  habits.  He  made  so  few  acquaintances 
in  Cairo — owing  to  the  facts  above  referred 
to — that  there  are  very  few  people  here  who 
will  remember  him.  His  history,  after  leav- 
ing here,  is  not  known  to  the  writer. 

Charles  Phillips  represented  the  Chicago 
Times.  He  was  quite  a  young  man,  but  his 
writings  came  from  his  pen  rapidly,  and  as 
finished,  almost,  as  a  stereotype.  His  cult- 
ure was  unusual  for  one  of  his  age — prob- 
ably twenty-four.  The  writer  knows  nothing 
of  his  history,  except  what  he  saw  of  him  in 
Cairo.  A  more  unassuming  young  man  never 
lived,  and  his  talents  in  his  chosen  line  of 
profession  were  of  the  very  highest  order. 
He  was  a  consistent,  practical  and  conscien- 
tious Christian.  He  was  very  quiet  in  his 
manners,  and  his  whole  nature  was  such  that 
he  could  not  intrude  his  opinions  or  person. 
He  died  in  the  early  part  of  1864,  we  believe, 
at  the  home  of  his  parents  or  friends,  some- 
where near  Metropolis,  111.,  but  of  this  (that 
is,  the  residence  of  his  friends)  we  are  not 
certain.  He  died  of  consumption;  and  for 
months,  befoi'e  he  left  Cairo  and  went  home 
to  die,  we  confess  it  was  one  of  the  saddest 
sights  we  ever  saw,  to  see  him  suffering, 
working  and  wasting  away,  yet  uncomplain- 
ingly working  on,  until  his  pen  fell  from  his 
nerveless  grasp,  and  the  young  life  that 
would  have  been  worth  so  much  to  the  world 
went  to  sleep  in  death.  Charley  Phillips, 
may  your  sad  and  cruel  wrongs,  sufferings 
and  untimely  taking-off  here  in  this  world, 
have  been  a  million  of  million  times  com- 
pensated in  the  next! 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


149 


H.  C.  Bradsby   succeeded  Mr.  Phillips   as 
the  representative  of  the  Chicago  Times,  and 
also  enlarged  the  duties,  and  represented  the 
Missouri  Republican.     His  duties  to  the  lat- 
ter were  to    furnish  at    least    two    letters  by 
mail   per  week,    in    addition   to    duplicating 
the  Times  and  Republican  dispatches.     We 
would  not  further  speak  of  him  here,  but  we 
realize  a  public  sentiment  will  expect  it,  and 
to  some  extent,  therefore,  reqiiire  it.    He  had 
none    of    Mr.    Phillips    religion   or   morals, 
and    but    little  of  his    culture.     He    was    at 
times  (very  brief)   brilliant,  but    as    a    rule 
was  more    marked   for    daring  than    genius. 
It  would  be    difficult   to  find   two  men  more 
the  perfect  opposites  of  each  other  than  were 
these  two  correspondents  of  the  Times.     Mr. 
B.  continued  to  represent  his  two  papers  until 
after   the   war  was  all  over,  and   Cairo   had 
long  ceased  to    be  a  great  [news   point.     He 
was  then,  awhile,  editing  or  writing  for  first 
one  paper  and  then  another,  and  at  one  time 
or  another  edited  or  wrote  for  every  paper  pub- 
lished in   Cairo  during  his  residence  here, 
except  the  Olive  Branch.     In  his   writings, 
he  sometimes  made  people  laiigh,  sometimes 
stare,  and  sometimes  squirm,  and  he  seemed 
ever  equally    indiflferent   as  to  which    result 
flowed   out    from   his    pen.       His    character 
always   seemed  an    inconsistent  one;  at   one 
moment,  perhaps,  a  great  egotist,  at  the  next, 
the  picture  of  self-humility;  and   these  were 
often  and  often  exemplified  in  his  writings. 
He  had  the  art  complete  of  making  enemies, 
and  holding  them,  when  once  made,  perpet- 
ually; and  his  friends,  therefore,  were  never 
numerous,    but  in  a  jVery  few    instances  firm 
and  stanch.     What  education  he  got  (though 
nominally  a  collegiate)  was    in  the  columns 
of  the  different  papers  he  worked  upon  dur- 
ing the  twenty-five  years  intervening  between 
his    first   experience   upon    the   proofs  of    a 
country  press  and  the  present  time.    He  gave 


considerable  attention,  in  a  scattered,  inco- 
herent kind  of  way,  to  the  scientific  writers 
of  the  past  quarter  of  a  century;  and  has  just 
now  learned  enough  to  cease  to  be  dogmatic 
in  his  opinions — to  believe  little  and  know 
less. 

W.  B.   Kerney  was  a  long  time  in  Cairo, 
commencing    here    as   the    agent  of    the  As- 
sociated   Press;    afterward    represented    the 
Chicago     Evening   Journal,    and    then    the 
Chicago    Tribune.       He   was   an    odd    little 
fellow,   and  quite  as  clever,   when  you  came 
to   know   him   better,  as   the   best  of   them. 
He   seems  to  have  been,  all   his   young  life, 
much  given  to  fall  in   with  isms,  and   when 
once  he  had  given  anything  of  this  kind  his 
approval,    he,    for   awhile,  at  least   followed 
it    with   remarkable    devotion.     He   was    an 
honest,    thoroughly   good    man  in  every  re- 
spect.    He  was  very  industrious,   and  atten- 
tive  to  his    bu.siness,  and  was    probably  the 
most   even-tempered    man   that    ever    lived. 
Nothing  could  swerve  him  from  the  even  tem- 
per of  his  way,  or  provoke  him  into  an  angry 
retort.     He  and   his  good   little    wife  could 
almost  always  be   seen  together,  and  it  was 
beautiful  to  see  the  rivalry  between  them,  as 
to  which  could  most  admire  the  other.    They 
were  childless,  and  firm  believers  in  the  effi- 
cacy of  the  cold  water  cure  for  all  the  ills  of 
life.     They  had   been  most  unfortunate,  in 
losing  .several    children    dying  in    infancy. 
Upon  one  occasion,  the  man  and  wife   were 
fcick,  and  they  were  doctoring  each  other  with, 
water,  and  eating  about  an  apple  each  a  day. 
Fortunately    for    them    both,    Dr.    Dunning 
happened  to    be  called  in.      He   took  in  the 
situation,  and  ordered   a    good- sized    sirloin 
beefsteak,    overlooked    its   preparation,    and 
made  them  eat  it.     To  their  amazement,  they 
liked  it,  and  they  were  soon  well — better,  in 
fact,    than    they   had   been    for   years — con- 
tinued to  eat  good,  nutritious  food,  and  the 


150 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


last  accounts  the  writer  had  of  them,  they  had 
three  or  four  as  fine,  healthy  childi-en  as  you 
would  want  to  see. 

In  all  this  vast  amount  of  newspaper 
births  and  deaths,  there  were  developed  but 
two  men  who  were  pui'ely  and  only  publish- 
ers. Men  who  gave  this  department  their 
undivided  attention,  and  depended  wholly 
upon  hiring  all  the  writing  that  they  wanted. 
These  were  Thomas  Lewis  and  H.  L.  Good- 
all.  Each  had  a  long  career  here,  and  each 
gave  many  evidences  that  under  different  cir- 
cumstances and  suiToundings  they  might 
have  built  up  great  institutions.  Goodall 
could  do  the  best  combining  and  planning, 
but  Lewis  had  the  nerve  for  any  venture  that 
promised,  even  remotely,  to  pay  as  an  invest- 
ment. When  Mr.  Lewis  quit  his  old  favorite, 
the  Democrat,  he  seems  to  have  made  up  his 
mind  to  quit  the  business,  but  not  so  with 
Mr.  Goodall.  He  is  now  in  Chicago,  and  is 
still  a  publisher,  and  we  are  more  than  glad 
to  learn,  at  last  a  successful  one.  May  his 
shadow  never  grow  less! 

In  its  proper  place,  perhaps,  but  the  truth 
is,  the  very  last  place  in  the  rear  column, 
was  always  the  best  place  for  "  Old  Rogers," 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  tramp  printers 
even  Cairo  ever  had,  with  all  its  hosts  of  distin- 
guished characters  in  this  line.  Rogers 
was  a  very  good  workman,  but  his  habits 
were  to  prefer  dirt  and  filth  to  fine  linen 
and  the  breezes  of  Araby.  He  was  a 
tramp  printer,  with  all  the  term  implies,  and 
a  great  deal  more,  too.  He  was  here  about 
1S60,  and  made  Cairo  a  central  point  in  his 
rounds.  Everybody  then  knew  him,  and  un- 
derstood well  that  he  considered  it  would  be 
a  hanging  crime  in  himself  to  be  caught 
even  passably  clean  in  his  person,  and  so- 
briety and  cleanliness  were  much  the  same 
thing  with  old  Rogers.  Yet  at  periods,  he 
had  to   sober   uj)  enough   to  work,  but   this 


necessity  never  arose  as  to  his  habits  of  per- 
son. He  was  smart,  quick-witted,  and  much 
enjoyed  telling  how  he  often  astonished  and 
disgusted  strangers,  and  if  he  was  kicked  off 
a  train  or  boat,  he  relished  telling  the  cir- 
cumstance immensely. 

On  one  occasion,  he  had  just  arrived  in 
Cairo  from  Evansville,  and  was  surrounded 
by  Postmaster  Len  Faxon,  Deputy  Bob  Jen- 
nings, Sam  Hall,  Joe  Abell  and  two  or  three 
others,  all  anxious  to  hear  Rogers  tell  some  of 
his  recent  experiences.  "  I'm  just  in  from 
Evansville,  boys,"  said  Rogers,  ",and,  great 
Caesar,  I'm  hungry.  I  was  put  ashore  from 
a  flat-boat  at  Golcouda,  because,  as  the  crew 
said,  I  was  too  rich  for  their  blood,  and  so 
I've  just  footed  it  all  the  way  from  there  to 
Cairo,  and  if  I've  eaten  a  mouthful  in  four 
days,  why,  then  I've  eaten  a  whole  army 
mule  in  the  last  two  minutes.  By  George, 
to  come  right  down  to  it,  boys,  I'm  starv- 
ing." 

"  Well,"  said  Willett,  giving  the  boys  a 
wink,  "  if  I  was  real  hungry,  I'd  call  on 
Capritz;  order  a  baked  bass;  a  fry  of  oysters; 
a  plain  omelet,  and " 

"But,"  chimed  in  Rogers,  "I  ain't  got  any 
money." 

"  If  I  were  you,"  said    Sam   Hall,  paying 
no  attention  to  Rogers'  impecuniosity,   "  I'd 
step  into  Weldon's;  get  a  porterhouse  steak 
with  mushrooms  or  onions,  some  boiled  eggs, 
milk  toast,  and " 

"  Oh,  boys,  don't,"  cried  Rogers,  in  evi- 
dent agony;  "you  don't  know  how  you're 
torturing  me.  I'm  awful  hungry,  but  I  hain't 
got  any " 

"  I  don't  know,"  interrupted  Abell,  "  but 
a  good  lay-out  for  a  real  hungry  man  would 
be  quail,  nicely  browned,  on  toast;  quail  on 
toast,  mind  you;  a  cujd  of  good,  hot  choco- 
late; white  hot  rolls,  with  country  butter, 
and " 


^^^^^i^^ 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


153 


"  Oh,  ynra — um — yiim!"  muttered  Rogers, 
laying  his  hands  upon  his  stomach,  and  look- 
ing as  if  he  would  Jtrade  his  hope  in  heaven 

for  even  a  raw  turnip;  "oh,  boys, " 

.  "  Or,"  quickly  added  Jennings,  "  a  cup  of 
hot  coffee — amber-colored  Mocha — with  gen- 
uine cream;  a  fried  squirrel,  or  baked  prairie 
chicken;  cranberry  sauce,  of  course,  and  a 
rich  oyster  stew  to  commence  on,  would  be, 
for  a  real  hungry  man,  mind  you,  about  as 
toothsome  a " 

"  Oh,  boys, "  exclaimed  the  tortured 
Rogers,  "hush!  hush!  for  God's  sake;  for 
you'i'e  killing  me!  "  And  it  much  appeared 
as  if,  for  once  in  his  life,  the  poor  man  was 
telling'  the  truth  about  somethingr  to  eat. 
But  an  hour  later,  Rogers  was  the  happiest 
man  in  town.  The  boys  had  staked  him  with 
a  quarter,  and  with  this  he  had  got  a  pig's 
foot  and  three  5 -cent  di'inks.  His  hunger 
had  been  appeased,  and  calling  Joe  Abell 
aside,  he  asked  him,  in  the  strictest  confi- 
dence, if  he  knew  of  a  cheap  shebang,  where 
a  pig's  foot  would  be  considered  a  legal  ten- 
der for  a  glass  of  whisky. 

Among  the  many  different  reporters  on 
the  Democrat  was  one  named  Beatty,  who 
will  be  remembered  by  the  old  Cairoites 
as  a  round,  red-faced  young  man.  He 
commenced  his  career  in  this  place  as 
foreman  of  the  Morning  News,  and  was  for 
some  time  local,  under  John  A.  Hull,  on  that 
paper,  and  was  then  transferred  to  the  Demo- 
crat. He  left  Cairo  in  the  early  part  of 
1866,  and  found  employment  as  a  reporter  on 
the  Indianapolis  Journal.  He  died  in  In- 
dianapolis in  1867. 

Gen.  Schenck  was  stationed  here  a  good 
while,  and  then  seemed  to  loaf  around  some 
time  after  his  post  duties  had  ceased.  Al- 
ways, when  introduced,  he  would  inform  his 
new  acquaintance  that  he  was  a  near  relative 
of  Gen.  Schenck's,  of  Ohio.     For  a  longtime. 


he  had  been  confidentially  telling  everybody 
in  Cairo  that  he  was  expecting  an  important 
appointment  from  the  President.  He  was 
watching  the  papers  daily.  One  day.  Gen. 
Sheridan  and  his  escort  fleet  of  steamers 
came  up  from  New  Orleans,  and  Gen. 
Schenek  had  a  grand  salute  fired  from  the 
forts  and  all  the  guns  in  port,  in  honor  of 
the  great  arrival.  It  so  happened,  that  same 
day  and  about  the  same  horn*  of  Sheridan's 
arrival,  there  came  news  that  California  had 
gone  Democratic  at  an  important  election 
just  held.  The  'correspondent  of  the  Times 
sent  a  flaming  dispatch  to  his  paper,  which 
was  duly  published,  announcing  that  Gen. 
Schenck  was  then  firing  a  national  salute  in 
honor  of  the  California  victory,  Schenck 
would,  after  this,  tell  over  and  over  again, 
how  his  appointment  had  just  gone  to  the 
Senate  and  while  it  was  under  considera- 
tion, the  Chicago  Times  arrived,  and,  in  the 
nick  of  time,  forever  ruined  him.  But  there 
were  many  worse  men  in  the  army  than  poor 
Schenck,  and  if  the  correspondent' s  si  lly  joke 
did  really  injure  him,  he  has  regretted  it  a 
thousand  times. 

A  reporter  named  Pratt  was  for  some 
time  connected  with  the  Cairo  papers,  com- 
mencing with  the  Democrat,  and  continuing 
longer  in  that  place  than  anywhere  else. 
He  sometimes  wrote  little  innocent  pieces  of 
poetry,  and  the  whole  thing,  probably,  may 
be  estimated  by  the  title  of  one  of  his  pieces, 
which  was  called  "A  Crack  in  the  Win- 
dow." "When  business  grew  dull  in  Cairo, 
Mr.  Pratt  we  believe,  went  to  some  point 
in  IMissouri,  and  was  there  a  member  of  the 
rural  press. 

John  H.  Oberly  came  here  from  Ohio,  a 
young  man,  and  by  trade  a  practical  printer. 
His  first  employment  was  on  the  Democrat, 
as  general  foreman  of  the  press  and  job 
rooms;  and  after   the  retirement  of   Joel  G. 

9 


154 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Morgan  from  the  editorial  chair,  Mr.  Oberly 

assumed  this  position,  and  for  some  time  at- 
tended to  both  departments,  and  proving  so 
successful  a  writer,  he  soon  quit  entirely  the 
mechanical  department,  and  became  the  gen- 
eral editor.  With  but  limited  school  advanta- 
ges in  early  life,  and  having  married  when 
quite  young,  he  was  forced  to  early  exertions 
for  the  support  of  a  large  young  household,and 
at  the  same  time  prepare  himself  for  those 
advances  in  his  trade  and  profession  that  he 
has  achieved.  He  was  blest  with  one  misfort- 
une to  himself  as  a  journalist;  he  could  talk 
naturally  well — we  mean  as  a  public  speaker 
— and  this  soon  inclined  him  to  the  stump, 
politics,  and  even  some  pretensions  to  state- 
craft, and  he  wasted  some  of  the  best  years 
of  his  school  life  as  a  writer,  in  the  State 
Legislature,  and  was  afterward,  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  Governor,  one  of  the  Rail- 
road Commissioners  for  the  State  of  Illinois. 
His  natural  qualifications  are  good— much 
above  the  average.  He  is  now  engaged  in 
publishing  a  daily  Democratic  paper  in 
Bloomington,  III,  where,  we  learn,  he  is 
meeting  with  merited  success.  As  a  public, 
off-hand  speaker,  Mr.  Oberly  is  much  above 
the  average — in  fact,  frequently  strong,  brill- 
iant and  fascinating.  This  flatter  talent 
seems  to  have  been  natural  to  him,  and  he 
has  put  it  to  much  use  the  past  few  years, 
being  called  to  many  parts  of  the  State  to 
lecture  and  address  public  assemblies.  For 
his  real  development  in  either  line,  his  tal- 


ents have  been  too  versatile,  and  in  some  re- 
spects this  has  been  one  of  his  misfortunes, 
as  the  human  mind  has  always  been  so  con- 
stituted that  to  achieve  great  success,  it  must 
focus  upon  one- single  thing    and   burn  itself 
out  there,  in  order  to  invest  it  with  those  in- 
tellectual    calcium    lights   that   attract   the 
world's  attention.     His  social  qualities  and 
ties  of  friendship  are   strong,  lasting  and  al- 
ways as  true  as  steel ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
when  his  ill-will  has  been  once  aroused,  he 
fills  the  warmest    wish  of  Dr.  Johnson,  who 
said  he  "loved  a  good  hater."  He  was  always 
very  popular  with  the  people  of   Cairo,  as  is 
evidenced   by  the  fact  that   they   gave   him 
every  oflfice,  commencing  with  Mayor  of  the 
city,  that  he  ever  asked  for.       Mr.    Oberly 
stayed    in    Cairo  much    longer   than  did  the 
average  writers  or  editors  who  were  here  and 
have  gone;  his  success  while  here  was,  too, 
above  the    average  of    them;  yet,    purely  as 
writers,  there    were   several,  at  one    time  or 
another,  that   were  his    superior  in  point  of 
cultivation,  in  their  chosen  line,  a  fact  that 
leads  us  to  the  conclusion,  that  in  the  West 
the  profession  has  hardly  yet  been  separated 
and  made  a  distinct  and  independent  one  ; 
that  is,  one  where  nothing  but  the  most  care- 
ful training  -and  preparation  can  qualify  or 
enable  the   candidate    to  enter  and   compete 
for  the  high  honors  that  it  will,  at  some  time, 
bestow, 

A  reflection  that  admonishes  us  to  hurried- 
ly close  this  chapter. 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


155 


CHAPTER   VII. 


SOCIETIES:  LITERARY,    SOCIAL     AND     BENEVOLENT— THE     IDEAL     LEAGUE— LYCEUM— MASONIC 

FRATERNITY— ITS   GREAT   ANTIQUITY— ODD   FELLOWSHIP— THE   CAIRO 

CASINO— OTHER   SOCIETIES,  ETC. 


'Behold  how  good  and  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren 
to  dwell  together  in  unity." — Psalms,  cxxxiii.,  1. 

THE  Ideal  League. — We  go  to  school  from 
the  cradle  to  the  gi-ave,  and  this  is  one  of 
the  inexorable  laws  of  our  being.  These 
schools  or  fountains  of  education  are  nearly  in- 
finite in  variety,  and  have  little  in  common  save 
the  imperfections  that  pervade  all.  The 
schoolmaster  and  the  birch  twigs  are  the 
real  schools  only  in  name;  in  fact,  it  is 
doubtful  if  they  are  not  2  stupendous  and 
prolonged  mistake  that  has,  to  some  extent, 
blockedthe  way  of  true  education.  Such  old- 
fashioned  schools  were  grood  trainingf-rooms 
but  nothing  more. 

A  careful  investigation  of  the  controlling 
influences  of  the  mind  go  far  to  demonstrate 
the  fact  that  real  education  comes  with  our 
plays,  our  pleasures,  our  joys  and  that  sweet 
social  intercourse  of  congenial  spirits,  that 
is  the  mark  of  the  highest  type  of  our 
civilization.  The  mind  must  be  developed  as 
is  the  perfect  physical  nature.  It  is  not 
hard,  dull  work  that  molds  the  child  into 
beauty  and  strength,  perfection  and  grace, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  too  much  of  this 
dwarfs  and  warps  and  stunts  the  young  into 
ungainliness  of  person  and  feature.  Btit  it 
is  the  happy,  light  young  heart,  the  hilarious 
romp  and  that  sweetest  music  in  all  the 
world,  the  rippling  laughter  of  innocent 
childhood,  that  fashions  that  beauty  of  per- 
sons whose  every  movement  is  the  "  poetry 


of  motion."  The  child  must  have  the  en- 
ergy to  play,  and  play  with  that  abandon 
and  bubbling  joy  that  gives  an  exquisite  rel- 
ish to  existence  itself.  And  just  so  is  men- 
tal strength  and  beauty  created.  It  is  im- 
possible for  it  to  come  from  the  task-master 
and  the  rod.  A  strong,  active,  gi-aceful  and 
well-poised  intellect  is  created  only  of  the 
pleasures  of  life.  It  is  impossible  for  knowl- 
edge to  come  to  the  mind  in  any  other  way. 
This  is  self-evident  when  you  reflect  a  moment 
upon  the  fact  that  to  the  mind  of  culture, 
the  most  enduring  pleasures  of  life  are  the 
acquisition  of  new  truths.  The  activity  of 
the  mind  depends  upon  the  degree  and  in- 
tensity of  its  enjoyment.  This  i.s  its  food 
and  healthy  stimulant,  and  the  improvement 
and  new  truths  that  come  to  it  thus  are  its 
seeds  of  knowledge,  that  flourish  and  grow 
into  such  magnificence  and  wondrous  beauty. 
Let  us  qualify  this,  lest  the  superficial  may 
conclude  we  mean  to  say  that  mental  indo- 
lence and  rest  is  true  education.  We 
mean  exactly  the  opposite.  We  mean 
that  intense  mental  activity  that  comes  of  the 
keen  zest  of  mental  play-work,  of  that  social 
and  intellectual  life  that  is  made  up  of  the 
associations  of  congenial  companions  "  where 
youth  and  pleasure  meet,"  at  the  weekly 
trysts  of  the  Ideal  League  in  the  cozy  parlors 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Parsons. 

The    Ideal    League    was  organized  March 
13,  1883,  and  although  one  of  the  youngest 


156 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


institutions   in   Cairo,    yet  it  is  already  the  j 
conspicuous  figure  in  the  intellectual  and  so-  i 
cial  life  of  the  city.    As  best  stated  by  itself, 
"  the  objects  of  this  association  are   musical,   ^ 
literary,  di-amatic  and  social  enjoyment,  the  ^ 
promotion    of    a   spirit    of     good-fellowship  , 
among  the    members;    the   attainment   of   a 
higher  mental  culture,  imd  a  steady  growth 
and  progressiveness  toward  enlarged  useful- 
ness. "     The  officers  are  as  follows :  President, 
Mr.    George  Parsons;    First  Vice  President, 
Mrs   W.  F.  Macdowell;  Second   Vice  Presi- 
dent, Miss  M.  Adella  Gordon;  Secretary  and 
Treasurer,  Miss  Fannie  L.  Barclay. 

The  charter  members:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
George  Parsons,  Mr.  and  ^Mrs.  W.  F.  Mac- 
dowell, Miss  M.  Adella  Gordon,  Mr.  John 
Horn,  Dr.  J.  A.  Benson,  Dr.  E.  C.  Strong, 
Mr.  Scott  White,  Mr.  E.  C.  Halliday,  Misses 
Mamie  and  Eida  Corlis,  Miss  Fannie  L. 
Barclay,  Mr.  E.  G.  Crowell,  Mr.  J.  L.  Sar- 
ber,  Miss  Hattie  McKee,  Miss  Effie  Coleman, 
Mr.  F.  W.  Allen,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  Wells, 
Mr.  ^Marx  Black,  Mr.  G.  T.  Car  ens,  Mr. 
William  Burkett,  Mr.  F.  G.  Metcalf,  Miss 
Montie  Metcalf,  :Mr.  George  E.  Ohara,  Mr. 
Edward  Reno,  Misses  Phyllys  and  Katie 
Howard,  Capt.  T.  W.  Shields,  Miss  Ella 
Armstrong,  Prof.  G.  A.  M.  Storer,  Mr.  Guy 
Morse,  Mr.  Henry  Hughes,  IVIr.  W.  E. 
Spear,  Miss  Maud  Eittenhouse,  Mr.  Will- 
iam Williamson,  jMr.  William  Korsmeyer 
and  Miss  Bettie  Korsmeyer. 

The  members  added  since  the  organization 
are  Mr.  Albert  Galigher,  ISIr.  James  Lock- 
ridge  and  Mrs.  Stephen  T.  McBride. 

The  Ideal  League  has  simply  supplied  a 
long- felt  want  in  Cairo.  The  membership 
was  wisely  limited  to  forty  members,  and 
this  full  number  was  made  up  almost  from 
the  first  meeting.  The  real  founders  and  or- 
ganizers of  this  pleasant  and  profitable  club 
judged  wisely  when  they  determined  that  the 


harvest  was  ripe  and  ready  for  the  gleaners  in 
Cairo.  The  necessity  of  limiting  the  member- 
ship of  the  club  is  easily  understood  when  the 
fact  is  mentioned  that  the  meetings  of  the 
Ideal  League  are,  so  far,  parlor  entertain- 
ments, at  which  there  are  only  limited  capaci- 
ties. 

The  work  of  the  Ideal  League  speaks  for 
itself,  and  while  it  is  among  the  latest  efibrts 
of  forming  a  literarj-  and  social  club,  it  is  al- 
ready crowned  with  that  success  that  betokens 
a  long  and  useful  life,  as  well  as  a  continual 
source  of  pleasure  and  profit  to  the  young 
people  of  Cairo. 

The  Lyceum  is  an  older  society  than  the 
League,  and,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  deserves 
thn  first  place  in  history,  but  our  investiga- 
tors and  seekers  after  facts  have  thus  far 
wholly  failed  to  find  the  essential  facts  and 
dates  that  will  enable  us  to  more  than  state 
it  exists,  but  whether  as  an  intellectual  vol- 
cano, that  is,  in  a  state  of  activity  or  not,  we 
cannot  say.  So  we  must  content  ourselves 
with  the  statement  of  the  fact  of  its  exis- 
tence, and,  with  the  farther  remark  that 
Cairo  has  in  all  her  history  to  date  to  some 
extent  neglected  the  improvement  of  this 
avenue  of  social  and  intellectual  life.  Cir- 
cumstances, and  not  the  absence  of  an  abund- 
ance and  the  best  of  material,  has  been  the 
source  of  all  this.  It  is  to  be  hoped  now, 
that  this  will  no  longer  be  the  case,  as  the 
subject  has  the  past  winter  and  spring,  by  a 
fortunate  circumstance,  been  brought  so 
prominently  before  the  people  in  discussions 
in  social  circles  and  much  more  so  in  the 
daily  papers. 

The  Masons — The  history  of  Masonry  is 
more  or  less  familiar  to  all  the  civilized,  and, 
as  the  order  claims,  to  many  of  the  semi-civ- 
ilized, and  even  good  Masons  are  to  be 
found  among  barbarous  peoples.  Among  its 
claimed  chief  merits  and  glories  are  its  great 


HISTORY  or  CAIRO. 


157 


age — the  oldest  organization  in  the  world, 
antedating  all  sects,  religions  and  even  all 
organized  social  life  since  the  coming  of 
Adam  and  Eve.  Again,  it  is  sometimes 
given  as  the  history  of  its  foundation,  that, 
as  its  name  indicates,  it  was  founded  and 
organized  among  the  workmen  for  mutual 
protection  at  the  building  of  that  historical 
structure — Solomon's  Temple.  But  like 
everything  else,  it  has  adapted  itself  to  the 
inevitable  that  follows  the  workings  and 
growth  of  the  human  mind,  and  now  they 
have  attached  to  the  order  well-regulated 
benefit  associations,  and  distribute  much  real 
and  beneficial  charity  and  aid  to  fellow-mem- 
bers and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  deceased 
brethren.  The  cardinal  ideas  of  Masonry 
have,  perhaps,  always  been  a  high  morality 
founded  on  the  Bible,  and  a  law  of  mutual 
protection  of  a  brother  toward  a  brother. 

A  lodge  was  chartered  in  1857,  appoint- 
ing Charles  D.  Arter,  William  Standing,  J. 
AV.  McKenzie,  John  L.  Smith,  Robert  E. 
Yost,  C.  Stewart  and  Robert  H.  Baird  as 
charter  members. 

In  1874,  the  two  Cairo  lodges — the  Delta 
and  Lodge  237 — were  consolidated  and 
formed  under  the  name  of  the  Delta  Lodge. 

The  order  of  the  Council  was  chartered 
October  5,  1866.  The  charter  members  were 
J.  B.  Fulton,  J.  W.  Morris,  George  E.  Louns- 
bury,  Orlando  Wilson,  Charles  Morris,  W. 
H.  Walker,  E.  P.  Smith,  L.  Jorgensen, 
Most  Fobs,  L.  H.  Elbrod,  William  Stand- 
ing, H.  Elbrod,  E.  P.  Smith,  Charles  Minni- 
que.  Isadore  Meiner,  E.  S.  Davis,  C.  Ger- 
ricko,  A.  Harrick,  S.  J.  Jackson,  P.  H.  Pope, 
I.  W.  Waugh,  C.  S.  Hartough  F.  F.  Dun- 
bar, J.  C.  Guff,  H.  T.  Bridges,  S.  Hess, 
William  Perkins,  J.  Joseph  and  C.  R.  Wood- 
ward. 

The  Odd  Fellows — The  secret  societies 
above   now   attach   much  importance  to  the 


term  "  ancient,"  and  the  very  warm  stick- 
lers for  this  are  the  Masons,  followed  closely 
by  the  Odd  Fellows.  This  last-named  order 
came  to  Cairo  October  13,  1857.  The  char- 
ter bearing  that  date  is  issued  to  John  Green- 
wood, Abe  Williams,  G.  W.  McKenzie,  H. 
W.  Bacon,  John  A.  Reed,  John  Antrim  and 
L.  G.  Faxon. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  late  wai*,  Joha 
Q.  Harmon  was  the  N.  G.  of  the  order,  and 
for  some  reason  unknown  to  us  he  returned 
the  charter  in  1861,  and  the  society  was  no 
more  a  working  Cairo  institution. 

On  October  the  3d,  1862,  the  following 
parties  met  and  determined  to  have  another 
organization  efi'ected  and  the  beautiful  prin- 
ciples of  charity  to  the  loved  society  once 
more  in  full  operation  here,  to  wit:  F.  Bross, 
J.  S.  Morris,  H.  F.  Goodyear,  M.  Malinski, 
C.  S.  Hutcheson,  I.  P.  McAuley,  Joseph 
McKenzie  and  C.  M.  Osterloh.  On  the  7th 
of  the  same  month,  at  another  meeting,  the 
following  additional  members'  names  ap- 
pear on  the  rolls:  John  T.  Rennie,  W.  V. 
McKee,  and  A.  Halley.  After  this  rest  of 
nearly  ten  years,  the  members,  it  seems, 
went  to  work,  determined  to  make  up  for 
lost  time,  and  in  a  little  while  the  member- 
ship had  so  grown  that  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  ex- 
ceeded any  society  in  the  town  in  point  of 
membership,  and  they  had  fitted  up  a  nice 
hall  and  furnished  it  well.  The  society  now 
is  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  their  ele- 
gant hall  is  on  Commercial  avenue,  opposite 
Seventh  street,  and  here,  as  of  old,  upon  the 
sacred  altars  of  their  sires,  the  eastern  wor- 
shipers turned  their  faces  and  devotions. 
So  it  is  with  many  of  the  members,  and 
their  meetings  are  largely  and  regularly  at- 
tended by  nearly  all  the  members,  and  from 
here  every  Christmas  goes  out  to  the  widows 
and  orphans  of  deceased  members  the  holy 
remembrances  upon  that  sacred  day.     No  so- 


InS 


HISTORY  OF  CATKO. 


ciety  is  more  liberal  than  this  in  the  extent 
of  its  benefactions,  and  while  the  gifts  go  so 
bountifully,  they  are  not  charity  doled  out  to 
those  receiving  it,  but  are  dues  from  the  so- 
ciety to  those  whose  fathers  and  husbands 
were  once  brothers,  and  ungrudgingly  they 
go  to  all — ^the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor.  They 
have  a  fund  called  the  widows'  and  orphans 
fund,  that  now  amounts  to  something  over 
$500,  notwithstanding  the  almost  constant 
drain  made  upon  it.  The  money  and  hall 
furniture,  etc.,  amounts  to  over  $3,000.  At 
the  burial  of  any  member  of  Ihe  order,  the 
whole  is,  when  agreeable  to  the  relatives, 
taken  charge  of  by  the  order,  and  $75  set 
apart  to  the  family  to  defray  funeral  ex- 
penses. 

The  membership  now  is  128.  Since  the 
organization,  in  different  years,  there  have 
been  received  232  members. 

There  was  at  one  time  two  consecutive 
years  when  no  death  occurred  in  the  mem  - 
bership  or  their  families,  and  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  two  years,  and  then  during  three 
months,  two  members  and  the  wife  of  each 
were  buried  by  the  organization. 

Knights  of  Honor  meet  in  the  I.  O.  O. 
F.  hall,  on  the  second  and  foui'th  Tuesday 
evenings  of  each  month.  While  this  order 
is  comparatively  a  modern  one,  yet  it  may  be 
classed  among  the  most  flourishing  of  the 
country.  The  order  throughout  the  United 
States  is  composed  of  the  Supreme  Lodge. 
and,  as  its  name  indicates,  is  the  supreme 
authority  over  all  others.  Then  the  Grand 
Lodge,  that  has  a  State  jurisdiction  and 
supervision;  then  the  subordinate  lodges,  and 
these  are  the  local  ones. 

When  a  member  joins  this  society,  a  cer- 
tificate is  issued  to  him,  called  a  widow's  and 
orphans'  fund  certificate,  the  amount  of 
which  is  $2,000.  The  ages  for  receiving 
new  members  is  between   eighteen  and  fifty 


years  of  age.  There  are  three  degrees,  called 
Infancy,  Youth  and  Manhood,  and  the  last 
only  is  entitled  to  any  benefits.  Half -rate 
certificates  are  issued,  and  upon  these  only 
half -rate  assessments  are  paid  and  $1,000 
only  is  paid  upon  death  occurring.  Assess- 
ments only  one  in  twenty  days,  and  the  rate 
upon  each  death  to  those  between  the  ages 
of  eighteen  and  forty-five  years,  $1 ;  forty- 
five  to  forty-six,  $1.05;  forty-six  to  forty- 
seven,  $1.10;    forty-nine  to  fifty  $1.50. 

The  present  membership  of  the  Cairo  so- 
ciety is  105,  and  the  enrollment  140. 

The  society  was  organized  February  24, 
1879,  with  the  following  charter  members: 
W.  M.  Williams,  W.  R.  Smith,  Elmer 
Krauth,  L.  H.  Saup,  James  F.  Miller,  G. 
M.  Fraser,  Henry  Baird,  C.  F.  Rudd,  N.  W. 
Hacker,  W.  H.  Axe,  James  A.  Phillis,  George 

B.  Ramsey,  Oscar  Haythorn,  A.  G.  Royse, 
Charles  Pink,  M.  W.  Parker,  F.  F.  Gholson, 
M.  T.  Fulton,  Thomas  B.  Farren,  W.  B. 
Pettis,  George  B.  Sergeant,  John  S.  Hacker, 
Frank  Cassidy,  George  W.  Chellet,  Charles 
H.  Baker,  Henry  Winters,  Charles  Ediker,  H. 

C.  Loflin,  C.  W.  Dunning,  H.  Meyers,  Henry 
Elliott,  P.  W.  Barclay,  R.  H.  Baird,  Ru- 
dolph Hebsacker,  William  Smith,  C.  B.  S. 
Pennebaker,  J.  George  Steinhouse,  J.  G. 
Arrington,  George  W.  Yocum,  and  James 
Quinn. 

The  first  officers  in  the  election  held  by 
the  society  were  C.  W.  Dunning,  P.  D. ;  W.  M. 
Williams,  D.;  James  F.  Miller,  V.  D. ;  James 
A.  Phillis,  A.  D. ;  Hei'man  Meyers,  Guide; 
C.  H.  Baker,  R.;  A.  G.  Royse,  F.  B.;  Charles 
Pink,  T.;  H.  Winters,  C. ;  R.  H.  Baird,  G. ; 
and  W.  B.  Pettis,  S. 

The  present  (1883)  officers  of  the  lodge  are 
Samuel  J.  Humm,  P.  D. ;  Charles  Cuning- 
ham,D. ;  T.  B.  Holmes,  V.  D. ;  George  B.Ram- 
sey, A.  D. ;  R.  S.  Yocum,  R.;  A.  G.  Royse, 
F.  R.;    A.    G.   Errington,  T. ;    J.  F.  Miller, 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


159 


Guide;  C.  B.  S.Pennebaker  C;  Rudolph  Heb- 
sacker,  C. ;  Charles  D.  Young,  S. 

The  trustees  are  Herman  Meyers,  Oscar 
Haythorn  and  E.  A.  Buder. 

The  deaths  among  the  members  since  the 
order  was  founded  have  been  James  W.  Stew- 
art, January  31,  1881;  S.  S.  Tarrey,  July 
3,  1882;  James  W.  Gash,  November  2, 
1882;  Gerge  R.  Lentz,  May,  1883. 

The  finances  of  the  order  are  cash,  $600, 
and  in  property,  $206.95. 

The  Cairo  Casino  — A  German  benevolent 
and  social  society,  was  organized  on  the  14th 
of  December,  1867.  As  the  name  indicates, 
the  order  is  benevolent,  and  by  various  means 
distributes  its  faid,  fix'st  to  the  families  of 
those  who  have  been  members,  and  the  sur- 
plus to  those  worthy  and  in  need  of  their  as- 
sistance. It  is  peculiarly  a  German  institu- 
tion, as  its  name  further  indicates,  and  the 
casinos  of  America  are  offshoots  of  the  fa- 
therland. While  a  large  majority  of  the  names 
of  those  who  founded  the  Cairo  Casino  are 
German,  yet  a  careful  examination  of  the  list 
will  show  names  that  are  American,  En- 
glish, Italian  and  French.  Among  the  main 
purposes  of  the  club  are  music,  lager  beer,  wine 
and  an  annual  picnic  and  dancing  and  that 
species  of  social  life  so  characteristic  of  the 
German  race  when  they  meet  in  family 
groups,  in  which  may  be  found  all  ages  from 
the  infant  to  the  octogenarian. 

The  persons  who  originally  met  together, 
as  mentioned  above,  to  organize,  are  the  fol- 
lowing: Robert  Breibach,  Charles  Feuchter, 
Phillip  Laurent,  F.  M.  Stockfleth,  Ferdinand 
Koehler,  Jacob  Walter,  Charles  Helfrick,  A. 
Korsmeyer,  John  Scheel,  Frank  Pohle,  Louis 
Koehler,  Amandus  Jaekel,  Baltus  Reiff,  Au- 
gust Kramer.  William  Alba,  W.  T.  Beer 
wart 

The  first  officers  of  the  society  were  Robert 
Breibach,  President;  Charles  Feuchter,  Vice 


President;  Phillip  Laurent,  Treasurer;  F. 
M.  Stockfleth,  Sec. ;  August  Kramer,  Assist- 
ant Sec. 

On  June  15,  1873,  the  society  obtained  a 
regular  charter,  with  fifty- nine  regular  mem- 
bers. Since  that  date  it  has  lost  eleven 
members  by  death  and  thirty  of  the  charter 
members  either  removed  from  Cairo  or  re- 
signed their  membership.  Sixteen  new 
members  have  joined,  and  its  present  mem- 
bership is  thirty-four,  and  of  this  number 
eighteen  are  active  and  worthy  members  of 
the  society,  who  were  of  the  charter  members, 
as  follows:  Charles  Feuchter,  Charles  Hel- 
frick, Herman  Schmitzstorf,  John  George 
Keller,  Jacob  Walter,  Louis  Herbert,  John 
Koehler,  Herman  Meyer,  Jacob  Kline,  John 
Reese,  Henry  Wallschmidt,  Henry  Hasen- 
yeager,  Louis  Driestmann,  Henry  Walker, 
Leo    Kleb,      Jacob      Goldstein     and     Jean 

Ogg. 

Turner'' s  Society. — As  early  as  1856,  there 
were  Germans  enough  to  start  in  this  society, 
with  a  charter  membership  numbering  forty- 
five,  with  Henry  Aspern,  President,  Dr.  Kick- 
bach,  Sec.  The  society  purchased  five  lots 
and  erected  a  high,  close  fence  about  the 
same,  and  built  cheap,  temporary  frame 
houses  as  a  place  of  protection  to  their  prop- 
erty. These  improvements  were  hardly  more 
than  completed,  when  the  floods  of  June, 
1858,  came  and  washed  everything  away, 
leaving  their  lots  as  bare  as  the  old  bald 
head  who  ever  secured  the  front  seat  at  a  per- 
formance of  Fisk's  Blondes. 

The  society  then  rented  the  third  story  in 
the  Springfield  Block,  where  they  chuckled, 
took  swei  glass  and  sang  "Wacht  am  Rhine," 
when  the  fire  came — burned  the  block  and 
everything  in  the  world  the  society  had;  but 
not  wholly  demoralized,  the  Turner- Phoenix 
rose  from  the  ashes  and  again  purchased  lots 
on  Fifteenth  and  Cedar  streets,    and  again 


160 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


fenced  with  a  high  fence  and  built  a  plain  but 
neat  building,  and  when  they  had  the  grounds 
all  improved  m  good  shape  (this  was  in  1861), 
the  soldiers  came  and  made  quite  as  clean  a 
sweep  of  everything  belonging  to  the  club  as 
had  the  water  or  fire.  And  finally,  to  add 
insult  to  injury — to  kill  out  effectually  what 
could  not,  or  would  not  be  crushed,  the  head 
society  in  the  United  States  sent  a  formal 
circular  to  each  member,  notifying  him  that 
all  Turners  must  join  the  Republican  party, 


when  each  one  returned  the  circular,  sent 
back  their  constitution  and  charter  and  dis- 
banded, sine  die. 

One  of  the  original  and  active,  but  finally 
indignant  members,  remarked  to  the  writer, 
as  he  finished  the  above  account,  that  after 
the  last  election,  especially  in  Cincinnati,every 
Turner  society  in  the  United  States.  Germany 
and  Holland,  had  probably  returned  their 
charters  and  made  things,  "  donner  and 
blitsen"  all  around  the  sky. 


CHAPTEK   VIII. 


C\IRO— HER  <X)NDITION  IN   1S(;1-1878-1883— THE  EBB  AND  FLOW   OF  BUSINESS  AND    POPULATION 

—  WAR  AND  THE  PANIC  WHICH  FOLLOWED— STEAMBOATS— MARK  TWAIN— PILOTS— SOME 

STEAMBOAT  DISASTERS-AND  A  JOKE  OR  TWO  BY  WAY  OF  ILLUSTRATION,  ETC. 


IN  a  previous  chapter  we  brought  the  so- 
cial and  political  life  of  Cairo  as  fully  as 
we  could,  to  the  year  1863,   when  again  the 
prosperity    of   the    town   had  ascended  into 
another  zenith.     But  the  most  solid  advance- 
ment the  city  has  really  ever  made  was  from 
the  latter  part  of  1859-60  and  the  early  part 
of  1861.     During  this  period,   there  was  no 
similarly  situated  town  in  population,  wealth 
or  manufactories  in  the  world  that  equaled  or 
approached    Cairo    in    her    commercial    im- 
portance   and   glory.     The   Illinois  Central 
Railroad  had  been  long  enough  completed  to 
begin    to    manifest  her    importance    in    the 
commercial  world.     The  road  was   a  young 
and  mighty  giant,  and  was  in  the  hands  of 
men  who  could  comprehend  the  wants  of  the 
great  empire  to  be  developed,  and  with  large 
and  generous  ideas,  they  turned  their   atten- 
tion   to    the   Delta    city,  and    her  mingling 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio    as   they 
went  singing  to  the  sea.   Here  was  the  termi- 
nus of  the  road,  as  well   as  the  terminus  of 
continuous  navigation  in  the  finest  system  of 


rivers  in  the  world.  They  saw  here  the  cen  - 
tral  and  attractive  point  for  the  greatest 
scope  of  country,  unparalleled  in  its  wealth  of 
soil  and  climate;  they  saw  the  rich  wilderness 
that  was  to  bloom  into  immeasureable  com- 
merce and  productiveness,  and  to  develop 
some  day  into  that  superb  type  of  civiliza- 
tion that  pushes  forward  the  human  race — 
resources  incalculable,  and  a  growth  of 
wealth  immeasureable,  all  pointing  to  this 
spot  as  their  natural  place  of  meeting  and 
exchanges.  Here  were  mines,  not  only  inex- 
haustible, but  ever  growing  and  increasing 
in  their  yield,  and  not  to  be  dug  and  delved 
for  into  the  primeval  rocks  that  retain  the 
bowels  of  the  earth,  but  spread  with  the  un- 
sparing hand  of  Omnipotence  over  all  the 
fair  face  of  the  earth  and  the  waters.  Here 
were  the  greatest  rivers  the  greatest  railroad 
and  the  meeting  of  the  three  sister  States  of 
Illinois,  Kentucky  and  Missouri. 

Was  there  a  young  city  on  the  continent 
with  an  equal  extent  of  country  tributary  to 
the  coming  commercial  men  of  Cairo?    Here 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


161 


was  all  Southern  Illinois,  nearly  all  of  Ken- 
tiieky,  and  all  South  and  a  large  portion  of 
Eastern  Missouii,  all  of  Arkansas,  West  Ten- 
nessee, Texas  and  Louisiana,  and,  in  fact, 
south  to  the  galf  and  southeast  to  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean,  that  would  come  to  the  Cairo 
merchant  for  their  supplies  and  trade.  In 
the  North  there  was  no  rival  that  might  at 
all  compete  with  Cairo  until  Chicago  was 
reached,  and  then  Cincinnati  in  the  north- 
east and  St.  Louis  in  the  northwest.  The 
flour,  corn,  pork,  beef,  the  products  of  the 
dairy,  all  north  of  Cairo,  from  the  Allegha- 
nies  to  the  Rockies,  should  come  to  Cairo 
for  their  natiu'al  exchanges,  for  the  cotton, 
sugar,  tobacco  and  rice  of  the  South.  This 
was  the  natural  oi'der  of  things,  and  only 
the  most  untoward  events  could  abrogate 
this  law  of  God. 

The  South  was  rich  and  prosperous,  and 
only  cared  to  exchange  her  gold  for  every- 
thing that  was  produced  north  of  Cairo.  The 
North  had  emerged  from  the  gloom  of  bank- 
ruptcy, and  her  agriculture  and  manufact- 
ories were  beginning  to  multiply  and  grow 
to  the  amazement  of  mankind.  The  peoj^le 
looking  to  the  South  for  their  markets  and 
the  South  looking  to  the  North  for  her  sup- 
plies and  from  Maine  to  the  Rio  Grande, 
fi'om  Oregon  to  Florida,  was  peace,  plenty, 
prosperity,  happiness.  Commerce  created  the 
demand  for  a  line  of  steamers  from  Cairo  to 
New  Orleans,  and,  like  all  the  imperious  de- 
mands of  trade,  that  want  was  supplied, 
and,  commencing,  two  of  the  largest  steam- 
boats were  loaded  weekly  in  Cairo  for  New 
Orleans,  and  in  the  early  part  of  1861,  tri 
weekly  steamers  were  loaded  in  the  same 
trade.  Here  was  the  commencement  of  what 
was  to  be,  had  it  not  been  interrupted,  the 
natural  growth  of  an  incomparable  trade  and 
exchanges.  The  Ohio  boats  and  the  Upper 
Mississippi  and  Missouri   River  boats  would 


have  been  content  to  contine  their  trade  to 
their  separate  rivers.  The  growth  of  this 
would  have  brought  the  railroads  from  the 
East  and  the  West,  radiating  from  Cairo 
like  a  golden  halo,  and  hence  the  true  and 
natural  development  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley would  have  gone  on  and  on,  and  the  West 
would  have  focused  aboiit  Cairo.  This 
obedience  to  the  natijral  laws  would  have 
been  as  beneficial  to  the  larger  portions  of 
this  great  valley  as  to  Cairo.  What  a  won- 
derful world  we  would  have  had  here  ere 
this,  had  this  commencement  been  peacefully 
followed  out!  Ruthless,  indeed,  was  the 
hand  that  struck  down  this  bright  hope  of 
the  human  race,  and  the  memory  of  the  au- 
thors of  such  ruin  deserve  eternal  execration. 
But  war.  bloody,  brutal  war,  was  precipitat- 
ed upon  the  country,  and  the  North  and  the 
South,  instead  of  giving  and  receiving  the 
blessing  of  peace  and  trade,  stopped  the  flow 
of  kindness,  brotherly  love,  rich  abundance 
and  happiness,  and  tiu'ned  upon  each  other 
like  enraged  beasts,  and  bartered,  exchanged 
and  trafficked  in  blood  and  death,  and  the 
infant  life  of  such  fair  promises  was  crushed 
out  under  the  heel  of  war  and  the  skeleton 
of  desolation  and  unutterable  woe  took  its  seat 
in  every  family  circle  in  the  South.  And  the 
wai'  made  millionaires  in  the  North  who  begin 
to  bud  in  the  fat  army  contracts  that  were 
shoveled  out  to  the  fortunate,  to  those  who 
bribed  their  way  to  colossal  fortunes.  The 
South  was  wounded, maimed,killed  and  almost 
perpetually  ruined.  The  North  grew  rich, 
demoralized,  triumphant,  fierce  and  inap- 
peasable,  and  deep  beneath  the  pomp  and 
show  of  preternatural  glitter  and  wealth, 
was,  in  fact,  but  little  better  ofif  from  the  in- 
curable poison  and  pangs  of  real  suflfering 
than  was  the  South. 

But  the   appalling  revolution  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi  country  was   complete.     The    com- 


162 


IIISTOHY  or  CAIRO. 


manding  avenues  of  trade,  commerce  and 
travel  had  beeo  as  completely  changed  as 
could  have  resulted  from  a  change  of  the 
topography  of  the  whole  country.  The 
dreadful  blow  fell  the  heaviest  upon  South- 
ern Illinois,  Cairo  and  the  Lower  Mississippi 
River.  At  first  when  Cairo  was  made  an 
armed  fortification  and  the  river  blockaded, 
the  Illinois  Central  ^Railroad,  no  longer 
taxed  to  its  utmost  capacity,  carrying  the  fruits 
of  industry  and  peace,  was  merely  an  avenue 
for  the  transporation  of  ai'mies  and  war  sup- 
plies. Then  the  town  was  paralyzed  and 
the  whole  community  was  thrown  out  of 
employment.  After  a  season,  the  paymaster 
came,  and  he  began  to  scatter  money  in  im- 
mense amounts  among  the  soldiers.  Then 
what  was  called  business  again  came  into  life 
and  the  town  was  converted  into  a  busy  sut- 
ler's tent;  the  camp-followers  flooded  the 
place,  the  floating  population  came,  the  vile 
with  the  good,  tent  theaters,  dives  and  bells 
on  earth  held  high  carnival  by  day  and  by 
night.  The  contractor,  the  soldier,  the  spec- 
ulator, the  gambler,  the  thief,  the  highway 
robber — the  vicious  of  every  sex,  age  and 
condition,  jostled  each  other  in  the  street 
throngs,  and  plied  their  vocations  defiantly. 
And  the  fools  in  their  heart  said  "  the  war 
has  helped,  not  hurt,  Cairo."  They  saw  the 
flow  of  cheap  money,  and  they  shut  their 
eyes  to  the  avalanche  of  demoralization. 
Eventually,  as  the  war  progressed,  the  river 
was  opened  from  Cairo  to  New  Orleans.  Once 
more  Union  armies  with  bristling  forts  com- 
manded the  river  at  all  the  towns  and  cities, 
and  the  rebel  flying  batteries,  slipping  in 
between  the  fortified  points  at  every  oppor- 
tunity and  firing  upon  helpless  steamers, 
and  doing  small  damage  as  a  rule.  The 
railroads  in  the  South  were  all  destroyed, 
and  tne  demands  for  transportation  for  the 
army,  as  well  as  for  a  country  stripped  bare 


by  war,  were  immense,  and  at  once  steamboat 
stock  became  the  most  desirable  property. 
The  northern  docks  and  ways  were  put  to 
work  and  the  finest  and  largest  boats  that 
had  ever  plied  the  waters  were  pushed  to 
completion,  and  all  this  was  grists  to  Cairo's 
mill.  To  such  an  extraordinary  extent  did 
this  necessity  push  the  steamboat  business, 
that  for  one  year  the  daily  average  of  boats 
at  the  Cairo  wharf  reached  thirty-five,  out- 
side of  the  local  packets  that  made  daily 
trips  or  more.  This  was  much  the  condi- 
tion of  afifairs  all  over  the  North;  million- 
aires sprung  into  existence,  and  demoraliza- 
tion fed  upon  the  vitals  of  the  country  like  a 
secret  consuming  fire. 

The  war  was  fought  and  ended,  and  spec- 
ulation and  peculation  took  its  place,  until  it 
became  a  venial  misdemeanor  to  be  laughed  at 
as  a  joke  to  speculate  in  the  coffins,  grave- stones 
and  decaying  bodies  of  the  dead  soldiers,  and 
in  the  breathing  bodies  of  their  living  families 
The  rich  grew  richer,  the  poor  poorer,  and 
the  cheap  money  and  the  calloused  con- 
sciences of  the  nation  pursued  their  reckless 
course  of  evil.  The  South  lay  a  prostrate 
people,  without  money,  without  credit,  and 
often  without  food;  there  Government  bayo- 
nets and  negroes  were  supreme,  and  the  voice 
of  the  people  was  not  the  voice  of  God.  The 
North  was  bloated  with  Government  bonds  at 
thirty-five  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  a  cheap 
money  that  flowed  through  the  hands  of  the 
rich  as  from  a  ceaseless  fountain.  There 
being  no  longer  fat  war  contracts,  they  en- 
tered upon  still  fatter  Government  railroad 
contracts — robbing  the  Government  of  its 
credit,  bonds  and  lands,  in  amounts  wholly 
incomprehensible.  And  the  Northern  cities 
that  were  in  this  current — a  current  largely 
changed  from  North  to  South  to  the  East  and 
West,  grew  and  spread  and  gathered  mighty 
powers,    and    threw  out   the    strong   arm  of 


HISTORY  OF   CAIRO. 


163 


railroads,    and   in  a  day   became  wonderful 
and  magnificent  cities. 

This  is  the  faintest  outline  shadow  over 
which  men  grew  wild,  joyous  and  gleesome, 
and  sang  their  pyeans  and  shouted  their  ac- 
claims, and  pronounced  the  saddest  page  in 
the  book  of  time,  a  blessed  era  of  unmixed 
joy,  so  good  that  it  beatified  the  deaths  of 
the  millions  who  perished  in  the  war  and 
the  many  more  than  millions  who  worse  than 
perished. 

This  sporadic  prosperity  of  all  lines  of 
business  in  Cairo  continued  for  quite  three 
years  after  the  close  of  the  war;  but  this  was 
the  settling  of  the  muddied  waters,  and  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1869,  it  had  about 
all  passed  away  and  the  railroad  and  river 
business  was  at  its  ebb.  Business  was 
largely  again,  as  at  the  commencement  of 
the  war,  to  be  re-organized  and  started  in 
accord  with  the  new  surroundings.  The 
population  of  the  town  slowly  decreased,  and 
the  crush  for  houses,  both  business  and 
private,  had  changed  to  occasional  empty 
ones,  and  unconsciously  Cairo  began  to  get 
ready  for  the  unparalleled  panic  and  bank- 
ruptcy that  was  fast  coming  to  the  country — 
settling  day,  merely,  for  the  carnival  decade; 
when  business  men  of  the  country  cried  out 
for  a  bankrupt  law,  by  which  they  could  pay 
their  debts  with  an  oath  or  two,  and  the 
threshold  of  these  courts  presented  the  mar- 
velous spectacle  of  a  rush  and  crush  of  busi- 
ness men  to  get  to  the  ear  of  the  court  first, 
that  perhaps  exceeded  anything  the  world 
ever  saw.  And  an  army  of  a  million  tramps 
marched  over  all  the  country,  devouring  the 
people's  substance  and  making  no  more  com- 
pensation therefor  than  do  the  devastating 
grasshoppers.  Then  Cairo  suffered  only  in 
common  with  pretty  much  all  the  country, 
but  she  was  less  prepared  than  a  few  other 
places,  particularly  her  rivals  that  had  stolen 


the  golden -egged  goose  during  the  war,  and 
therefore,  instead  of  merely  standing  still 
during  these  long,  painful  years,  she  lost 
much  that  it  took  years  to  replace.  Some  of 
the  effects  of  the  war  may  be  understood 
better  when  it  is  stated  that  M.  B.  Harrell 
estimated,  in  the  year  1864,  that  there  were 
12,000  people  in  the  city.  When  the  town 
emerged  from  the  panic,  the  sanguine  only 
claimed  a  population  of  6,000,  and  it  is  very 
doubtful  if  there  were  more  than  4,000  in- 
habitants, if  the  negro  population  had  been 
excluded  from  the  estimate.  The  war  found 
Cairo  with  a  population  of  5,000  souls  and  a 
solid  growth,  business  and  prospects  that 
could  not  be  mistaken.  The  war  and  the 
panic  left  her  with  about  the  same  popula- 
tion, and  all  business  demoralized  and  pros- 
trated. The  fifteen  years  had  witnessed  her 
gilded  but  unsubstantial  zenith  and  her 
dreary  nadir.  The  descent  was  great,  but  it 
was  best  that  solid  bottom  should  be  reached, 
severe  as  the  trial  was,  before  stopping.  In 
1879,  after  people  had  been  long  enough  on 
"  bed  rock  "  to  fully  realize  the  situation  of 
affairs,  there  started  up,  once  more,  a  day  of 
prosperity  for  the  city.  Not  a  spasmodic 
jump  that  makes  men  dizzy  and  sets  the  peo- 
ple wild,  but  a  steady,  healthy  growth  that 
is  always  fair  and  full  of  promise.  A  healthy 
business  set  in;  new  enterprises  were  started, 
and  the  gradual  and  permanent  increase  of 
citizenship  was  soon  inaugurated;  real  es- 
tate, while  it  rose  in  price  but  little,  yet  it 
found  a  market,  and  those  generally  wanting 
to  sell  could  easily  find  a  cash  customer.  And 
this  cheerful  state  of  affairs  has  continued  to 
this  hour,  and  from  this  last  and  really  se- 
verest of  Cairo's  ordeals  has  come  the  fol- 
lowing permanent  and  substantial  improve- 
ments : 

The  Elevator. — And  since  this  real  revival, 
there    has    come   to  the  place  many  marked 


16i 


HISTORY   OF  CAIRO. 


and  valuable  improvements,  among  which  we 
may  enumerate  the  elevator,  built  by  the  Il- 
linois Central  road.  There  is  no  liner  struct- 
ure of  the  kind  in  the  country,  and  it  will 
long  stand  upon  the  bank  of  the  river  as  a 
conspicuous  monument  to  Cairo's  commerce. 
It  has  a  capacity  of  800,000  bushels  and  is 
so  constructed  that  additional  buildings, 
doubling  its  present  capacity ,may  at  any  time 
be  added.  It  has  every  modern  improve- 
ment and  the  latest  appliances  for  its  pur 
poses,  and  cost  about  $300,000.  The  men 
who  projected  this  magnificent  structure  are 
in  a  position  to  know  the  wants  of  the  local- 
ity, and  they  wei'e  not  anticipating  the  prob- 
abilities of  years,  but  answering  the  call  of 
the  present. 

The  Singer  Seiving  Machine  Company — 
Have  put  up  extensive  works  and  are  now  en- 
gaged in  adding  still  more  and  greater  im- 
provements. The  purpose  here  is  the  con- 
struction of  cabinets  for  its  machines.  Its 
extensive  works  at  South  Bend,  Ind.,  had 
become  insiiffioient  for  its  purposes,  and  an 
agent  was  sent  out  to  select  a  new  location. 
After  a  careful  examination  of  numerous 
points  in  the  Southwest,  Cairo  was  found  to 
possess  greatly  superior  advantages  over  all 
other  puints.  Among  the  advantages  of  the 
place  are: 

1st.  Lumber  can  be  rafted  to  the  door  of 
the  factory  via  the  Tennessee,  Cumberland, 
Ohio,  Mississippi  and  Missouri  Kivers  and 
their  tributaries  at  a  saving  of  about  $10 
per  thousand  feet  over  present  cost,  of 
freight  to  South  Bend. 

2d.  Some  of  the  most  important  centers  of 
the  Singer  Company's  trade,  such  as  St. 
Louis,  Kansas  City,  New  Orleans,  Cincin- 
nati, Pittsburgh  and  other  points,  can  receive 
finished  work  by  river  from  Cairo.  The 
Elizabethport  factory,  which  takes  one-quar- 
ter of  the  product  of  the   South  Bend  works, 


can  be  supplied  by  river  to  Pittsburgh,  thence 
by  rail  into  the  company's  yards  at  Eliza- 
bethport. Boston,  Philadelphia  and  other 
eastern  depots  can  be  supplied  by  the  same 
route,  or  by  steamer  via  New  Orleans. 

3d.  Eight  railroads  enter  at  Cairo  diverg- 
ing east,  south  and  west,  securing  additional 
facilities  for  obtaining  lumber  and  other 
supplies  at  low  rates,  besides  giving  the  city 
unusual  advantages  as  a  distributing  point. 
If  desired,  finished  work  can  be  shipped  East, 
all  rail,  at  much  lower  rates  than  from  South 
Bend,  owing  to  the  competition  in  rail  freights. 
The  immense  quantit}^  of  hardware  and  trim- 
mings required  by  the  Singer  Company  can 
be  laid  down  in  Cairo  from  the  east  cheaper 
than  in  South  Bend.  Last  but  not  least,  the 
enormous  quantity  of  cabinet  work  demanded 
by  the  Em'opean  trade  can  be  shipped  by 
water  via  New  Orleans,  and  laid  down  at  the 
company's  Glasgow  factory — at  which  all 
machines  for  the  European  trade  are  made — 
as  cheap  as  they  can  now  be  sent  from  South 
Bend  to  the  American  coast. 

Immense  tracts  of  hardwood  timber  sur- 
round the  city  in  all  directions,  and  the  Sin- 
ger Company  has  already  secured  control  of 
the  timber  on  a  tract  of  eighteen  square 
miles,  all  of  which  can  be  delivered  by 
wagon  at  the  works — the  longest  haul  not 
exceeding  six  miles. 

The  Singer  factory  have  secui'ed  a  factory 
site  of  twenty-four  acres,  including  a  valua- 
ble river  front — and  is  one  of  five  corporations 
owning  all  the  river  front  surrounding  Cairo 
on  both  rivers — and  has  now  one  brick  build- 
ing 80x65,  three  stories,  another  100x70, 
another  50x48.  These  are  to  be  used  only 
for  cutting  their  lumber  and  gluing  it  into 
form,  the  motive  power  being  a  double- 
cylinder  engine  and  four  Babcock  &  Wilcox 
sectional  boilers  of  75-horse- power  each. 

The  cabinet  works  proper  when  completed 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


165 


will  consist  of  five  buildings,  each  60x500  feet 
three  stories  high,  with  ample  space  be- 
tween for  protection,  and  connected,  at  each 
story  self-supporting  ridges;  all  elevatoi's 
and  stair  cases  will  be  on  the  outside  of  the 
buildings  which  will  be  divided  by  tire  walls 
every  hundred  feet.  The  motive  power  of 
this  immense  bee-hive  of  industry  will  be 
supplied  by  eight  Babcock  &  Wilcox  boilers 
of  180-horse-power  capacity  each,  and  an  800- 
horse-power  engine.  There  will  be  twelve 
dry  kilns,  each  holding  50,000  feet  of  lum- 
ber. Employment  will  be  given  to  1,000 
hands. 

Halliday  House. — This  surpasses  a  hotel 
in  all  the  meaning  of  that  word  as  applied 
to  small  cities.  It  is  simply  a  magnificent 
hostelry  that  is  one  of  Cairo's  institutions. 
It  is  understood  by  those  who  have  not  vis- 
ited it,  that  it  is  the  old  St.  Charles  Hotel 
repaired  and  fixed  up  in  regal  style.  It  is 
much  more  than  this;  it  is  a  new  hotel, elegant, 
substantial,  with  a  complement  of  every 
modern  perfection  of  the  most  elegant  hotels 
in  even  the  largest  cities  of  the  country. 
More  massive  houses  have  been  built,  and 
that,  perhaps,  had  more  expensive  outside 
ornamentation  or  inside  filagree  work,  but 
none  more  solid  and  wholly  comfortable  than 
this,  and  this  applies  as  well  to  the  intei-nal  ap- 
pliances and  the  furnishing  as  well  as  to  the 
main  building.  And  we  have  no  hesitation  in 
pronouncing  the  dining  room,  with  its  three 
entire  sides  lit  up  by  spacious  windows  for 
light  and  ventilation,  as  the  most  complete 
and  cozy  that  we  ever  sat  down  to  in  a  hotel. 

The  Halliday  House  stands  where  the  St. 
Charles  stood,  and  that  is  about  all  the  connec- 
tion between  them.  The  present  proprietor, 
Ml.  Parker,  whose  life  work  and  study  has 
been  how  to  keep  the  finest  hotel,  spent  a 
long  time  traveling  through  the  different 
cities   of    the    country,  examining    the   best 


hostelries  and  noting  every  valuable  late  im- 
provement or  invention  in  the  same,  and 
when  he  had  obtained  all  possible  informa- 
tion in  this  line  the  work  on  the  Halliday 
House  was  commenced,  and  each  and  every 
improvement  noted  was  added  without  regard 
to  labor  or  expense,  and  when  all  was  fin- 
ished, the  doors  were  thrown  open  to  the 
public  in  the  full  conviction  that  he  had  the 
completest,  if  not  the  lai'gest  hotel  in  the 
world. 

A  Neiv  Enterprise. — Taking  front  rank 
among  the  business  enterprises  of  the  city 
of  Cairo  are  the  market  gardening  and  floral 
interests  of  Mr.  G.  Des  Rocher.  This  gen- 
tleman came  to  the  vicinity  of  Cairo  in  1872, 
and  on  a  limited  scale,  having  no  capital, 
began  what  has  since  developed  into  a  lucra- 
tive and  very  attractive  business.  Two  years 
later,  he  leased  forty  acres  of  land  of  the 
Cairo  City  Property  Company,  and^since  that 
date  he  has  constantly  increased  his  facilites 
for  carrying  on  his  immense  enterprise.  His 
first  impulse  was  to  supply  the  city  demand 
for  garden  vegetables,  but  finding  that  it 
was  insufficient  to  his  trade,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  Chicago  shipment,  and  has 
shipped  as  much  as  two  car  loads  of  vege- 
tables in  a  day.  He  gives  employment  to  a 
large  force  of  hands  of  the  laboring  class 
annually,  distributing  among  this  class 
about  $4,000  of  Chicago's  money,  which  fact 
alone  merits  the  encouragement  of  every 
thinking  mind  in  Caii*o. 

Not  only  has  he  sought  to  supply  the  exist- 
ing wants  of  the  people,  but  knowing  well 
the  science  of  business,  has  sought  to  create 
a  want,  that  he  might  supply  it.  The  better 
to  accomplish  this  desire,  he  added  a  floral 
department  to  his  business,  which,  while 
pi'oducing  an  income,  goes  far  toward  culti- 
vating a  taste  for  the  beautiful  in  nature, 
offering  a  resort  alike  to  the  young  and  old, 


166 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


where  the  mind  of  the  matured,  laden  with 
business  cares,  or  fraught  with  the  sorrows 
of  life,  as  well  as  the  minds  of  the  young, 
occupied  with  the  lighter  and  more  trivial 
things,  are  transported  from  the  beauties  of 
nature  up  to  nature's  God.  He  has  six  green- 
houses, having  an  aggregate  of  6,000  square 
feet  of  glass  surface;  these  houses,  as  well 
as  his  extensive  hot-houses,  are  supplied  with 
a  complete  system  of  cisterns  and  under- 
groaad  piping,  the  whole  famished  with 
water  from  a  drive  well  centrally  located.  A 
matter  in  connection  with  his  business, 
worthy  of  the  attention  of  the  agriculturist, 
is  his  system  of  converting  every  particle  of 
waste  vegetable  growth  into  a  valuable  fertil- 
izing medium. 

While  his  enterprise  is  not  a  railroad  or  a 
national  bank,  it  is  one  that  requires  a  bus- 
iness energy,  a  vast  amount  of  actual  toil, 
and  is  an  important  factor  in  the  intricate 
list  of  Cairo's  financial  resources  for  which 
we  think  words  of  commendation  are  due  to 
Mr.  Des  Rocher. 

Cotton  Oil  Mill. — These  extensive  works 
found  Cairo  the  best  point  in  the  South  or 
West  for  the  construction  o  :  a  mill  for  the 
production  of  this  oil,  that  is  destined  soon 
to  be  one  of  the  great  industries  of  the  world. 
American  invention  has  pried  out  the  fact 
that  from  the  cotton  seed — a  mere  waste 
heretofore — can  be  made  one  of  the  very  fin- 
est oils  in  the  world. 

Ice  Factory. — This  splendid  factory  was 
constructed  by  an  incorporated  company,  the 
leading  members  of  which  are  Charles  Gal- 
ligher,  George  E.  O'hara  and  Frank  L.  Gal- 
igher.  The  cost  of  the  construction  and 
fixtures  was  150,000,  and  has  a  capacity  of 
fifty  tons  a  day.  Although  just  started,  it 
Las  revolutionized  the  ice  trade  here  and  well 
may  it  have  done  this  so  readily,  as  its  work 
shows   for   itself,    as  they   make  ice  wholly 


from  distilled  water  and  its  superiority  over 
the  natural  production  is  so  plain  and  palpa- 
ble that  there  can  be  no  comparison  between 
them. 

Flouring  Mills. — There  are  two,  Galigher's 
and  Halliday's.  Mr.  Galigher's  is  the  older 
of  the  two,  and  yet  it  is  rather  a  modern  insti- 
tution, and  most  extensive  and  perfect,  with 
all  modern  improvements.  The  Halliday  Mill 
has  just  been  overhauled,  enlarged  and  sup- 
plied with  all  the  latest  roller  processes.  The 
extent  of  this  improvement  may  be  inferred 
when  we  state  they  were  put  in  at  an  expense 
of  $40,000,  and  has  a  capacity  of  600  bar- 
rels a  day. 

Halliday^s  Saw  Mill  is  another  late  and 
immense  Cairo  improvement,  said  by  com- 
petent judges  to  be  the  completest  thing  of 
its  kind  in  the  world,  and  in  this  connection 
we  may  mention  Halliday's  coal  dump — 
Maj.  Halliday's  own  invention — as  the  most 
complete  and  perfect  thing  of  the  kind  in  the 
country. 

Opera  House. — The  old  Athenaeum, a  frame^ 
has  been  torn  away,  and  one  of  the  neatest 
and  coziest  little  theaters  in  the  country  has 
taken  its  place.  It  is  the  pride  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  admiration  of  the  actors  who 
have  visited  it. 

Commission  Houses. — The  extensive  com- 
mission houses  of  Halliday  Bros.,  How  Bros., 
J.  M.  Philips  &  Co.,  Thistlewood  &  Co., 
and  the  great  amount  of  business  transacted 
by  each,  shows  that  with  the  many  other  of 
the  old  and  solid  pioneer  commission  mer- 
chants here,  Caii'o  is  becoming  a  very  impor- 
tant shipping  point  again. 

The  patent  brick  machine  of  McClure  & 
Coleman,  together  with  the  very  large  yard 
of  Mr.  Jacob  Klein,  sufficiently  evidences  the 
fact  that  such  building  material  in  Cairo 
finds  an  extensive  market. 

No  less  than  six  fii-st-class  railroads  have 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


167 


come  to  Cairo  since  1878.  A  splendid  union 
depot  has  been  constructed  and  here  are  ac- 
commodated the  Wabash,  the  SL  Louis  & 
Cairo,  the  Mobile  &  Ohio,  the  Iron  Mountain 
and  the  Texas  &  St.  Luuis.  The  Mobile  & 
Ohio  Railroad  has  erected  at  the  foot  of 
Eighth  street,  a  local  freight  depot  that  is  a 
spacious  and  elegant  building.  The  Alex- 
ander County  Bank,  in  its  first-class  bank 
building,  is  also  one  of  Cairo's  very  substan- 
tial and  solid  institutions. 

Improvements  that  may  be  considered  as 
now  started  and  on  their  way,  and  that  are 
certain  to  be  completed  at  an  early  day  are, 
among  many  others,  the  Cairo  Public  Li- 
brary, to  b«  known  as  the  Safford  Memorial 
Hall,  the  grounds  of  which  are  on  Washing- 
ton and  Seventeenth  streets.  This  is  due,  we 
believe,  entirely  to  Mrs.  A.  B.  Safford,  and 
when  completed  will  give  Cairo  a  building 
that  will  stand  appropriately  to  the  memory 
of  her  husband,  A.  B.  Safford,  deceased. 
The  wholesale  hardware  houses,  including 
about  everything  made  of  iron,  are  Mr.  Bross' 
and  Mr.  Woodward's;  and  in  drugs  the  house 
of  Barclay  Bros.,  and  that  of  Paul  G.  Schuh. 
There  are  four  wholesale  dry  goods  houses, 
the  heaviest  of  which  are  Goldstein  &  Rosen- 
water,  and  that  of  C.  R.  Stewai-t,  the  New 
York  store,  Patier  proprietor,  although  a  very 
young  house  in  business,  has  already  sold  at 
wholesale  $250,000  worth  of  goods  in  a  year. 
The  beer  bottling,  soda  and  seltzer  and  min- 
eral trade  has  grown  to  immense  proportions 
here  recently.  Mr.  A.  Lohr  and  Henry 
Brei^han  each  have  extensive  concerns,  and  a 
wide  market  to  supply  in  this  and  adjoining 
States.  Mr.  John  Sproat  carries  on  the 
same,  and  he  adds  to  this  the  trade  in  fresh 
butter,  eggs  and  vegetables.  He  loads  his 
own  cars  and  sends  them  to  New  Orleans, 
Mobile  and  other  Southern  cities,  the  seal  of 
the  car  only  broken   when   it   arrives  at  its 


final  destination.  No  less  than  three  planing 
mills  are  busy  preparing  the  lumber  for  the 
carpenters  of  Cairo  and  the  surrounding 
country,  to  wit,  that  of  Lancaster  &  Rice, 
Mr.  Walters  and  Mr.  Trigg.  Mr.  Eichohff's 
furniture  factory  and  wholesale  and  retail 
esablishment  is  an  institution  worthy  the  at- 
tention of  house-builders  and  housekeepers 
far  and  wide. 

We  only  claim  here  to  give  a  few  of  the 
leading  recent  improvements  in  Cairo.  There 
are  many  others,  all  going  to  show  that  just 
now  the  city  is  at  last  beginning  to  take  its 
proper  position  as  a  wholesale  manufactur- 
ing emporium— that  it  has  facilities  for 
bringing  together  the  raw  material  and  the 
factory  and  the  markets  where  the  manufact- 
ured  goods  are  to  be  sold,  that  is  possessed 
by  few  places  in  the  West.  Think  of  it! 
here  are  over  thirty  thousand  miles  of  tribu- 
tary shores  upon  our  navigable  rivers,  and 
already  eight  railroads  are  built,  with  Cairo 
as  the  terminus  of  the  majority  of  them,  and 
all  this  great  railroad  development  is  of  a 
very  recent  date.  In  a  very  short  time  it 
must  become  as  important  a  railroad  point 
as  it  has  always  been  in  point  of  navigable 
waters.  Soon  it  will  possess  the  shortest 
route  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard  over  the  Ches- 
apeake &  Ohio  Railroad,  this  road  forming 
one  continuous  line  as  soon  as  a  small  gap 
is  completed,  and  on  which  the  work  is  being 
pushed.  In  a  few  months,  it  will  communi- 
cate direct  ^\ith  the  City  of  Me:iico  over  a 
direct  line  of  one  continuous  railroad  from 
Cairo  to  that  city.  A  railroad  from  here 
running  a  little  east  of  north,  is  under  con- 
struction, connecting  Cairo  with  the  Toledo, 
Cincinnati  <fe  St.  Louis  Narrow  Guage  Rail- 
road, and  this  will  give  it  still  another  di- 
rect New  York  connection  in  addition  to  the 
several  now  possessed. 

Steamboats. — Among  the  many  pilots  who 


168 


HISTOKY  OF   CAIRO. 


have  stood  at  the  wheel  and  guided  the  boat 
to     the     Cairo     "  throw-out-the-gang-plank 
place,"  was  no  less  a  character  than  the  hu- 
morist, Mark  Twain.     It  is  not   certain  but 
that  the  wag  f/ot  his  first  lesson  in  spinning 
characteristic  yarns  when  he  was  a  cub,  list- 
ening to  the  old  pilots,  while  waiting  in  port, 
spin  "  river  yarns,"  some  of    which   were  of 
immense  size,  and  some  again  very  amusing, 
and  when  the  older  heads  had  run  over  their 
oft-told  stock  stories   and  the  "  kid  "  was  in- 
duced to   try  his  prentice  hand,   and  failed 
most  funerealy,  the  old  fellows  laughed  out  of 
sympathy  and  politeness,   and    this    proved 
the  boy's  ruin.     It  was  a    fatal    encourag^e- 
ment    that    transformed    Mark    from    what 
might    have    been    a    valuable    and    noble 
life  at  the  wheel,  to  a  miserable,  heartbreak- 
ing,   continual    weeping    fountain,    and   he 
never   stopped  until   he  has  just   now  bm-- 
dened  the  "  Father  of  Waters  "  with  a  book 
entitled  "  Life  on  the  Mississippi."     A   re- 
viewer of  this  book  says:     "  He  was  born  on 
the  banks  of   the  gr^at  stream.     The   river 
shaped  the  course  of  his  youth  and  his  life 
upon  its  bosom  as  pilot's  apprentice  and  pi- 
lot gave  him  the  Hxperienee  and  associations 
that  fitted  him  when  time  and  opportunity 
came   to   step   into   his  rightful  place  as  a 
really  great  and  typical  American  humorist." 
Now,    from  a  long  acquaintance  with  pilots, 
we  have  no  hesitation   in  saying  that   Mark 
might,   had  he  continued  with  them,    have 
eventually  become  not  only  a  pilot,   but  a 
jokist  of  no  mean  pretensions.   For  instance, 
we  remember  on  one  occasion  during  the  war 
of  being  one  of  a  party  seated   in  a  yawl  on 
our   way   to   one   of  the   new   gunboats  an- 
chored opposite  Cairo.      The  commander   of 
the  gunboat   and  several  officers   were  of  the 
party,  and  those  who  were   guests  had  been 
invited  to  go  on  board  the  boat,   as   she  was 
ready  to  go  up  the  Ohio  for  a  short  trial  run, 


and  was  going  to  test  a  400-pound  gun  that 
was  mounted  in  the  turret.  It  was  a  jolly 
party,  all  anticipating  a  mcst  pleasant  day. 
But  the  writer  noticed  one  man  in  the  crowd 
who  was  the  picture  of  despair  and  sullen- 
ness.  His  attention  was  arrested  by  the 
fierceness  of  this  man's  gloomy  mood.  After 
we  had  reached  the  vessel  and  an  opportun- 
ity presented  itself,  the  melancholy  gentle- 
man was  gradually  approached,  when  at  a 
point  no  one  else  could  hear  and  the  ques- 
tion asked:  "My  friend,  you  seem  to  be 
much  troubled ;  what's  the  matter  ?  "  In  the 
best  yellow-back  slang,  his  dark  eyes  flashed 
and  between  his  set  teeth  (not  a  false  set)  he 
hissed  like  an  escaping  volcano,  "  Matter! 
matter!  Helen  Blazes!  I'm  arrested!  pressed! 
as  a  pilot  on  this  limpin'  Lazarus  of  an  old 
gunboat,  and  Government  will  only  pay 
$350  a  month  for  pilots,  and  I  can  git  five 
and  six  hundred  on  the  boats.  Isn't  that  mat- 
ter enough  ?"  Now  here,  Mark,  was  a  true 
pilot  joke,  you  see,  with  a  $150  to  $200  a 
month  moral  in  it.  You  can  see  for  yourself 
what  you  have  missed.  A  half-dozen  such 
efforts  as  that  and  see  what  your  fortune 
now  would  be.  Do  your  own  figuring;  say  six 
jokes,  $200  per  month  each,  for  thirty  years. 
Any  old  Cairoite  will  recognize  the  follow- 
ing in  reference  to  raft  life  of  the  early  days 
on  the  river:  "In  the  heyday  of  the  steam- 
boating  prosperity,  the  river,  from  end  to 
end,  was  flanked  with  coal  fleets  and  timber 
rafts,  all  managed  by  hand  and  employing 
hosts  of  rough  characters.  Processions  of 
migthy  rafts — an  acre  or  so  of  white,  sweet- 
smelling  boards  in  each  raft,  a  crew  of  two 
dozen  men  or  more,  thx'ee  or  four  wigwams 
scattered  about  the  raft' s  vast  level  space  for 
storm  quarters — and  the  rude  ways  and  tre- 
mendous talk  of  their  big  crews,  the  ex- 
keelboatmen  and  their  admiringly  patroniz- 
ing successors;  for   we  used  to  swim   out  a 


^ 


a^  (S',  <^.e  cci.^c^, 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


171 


quarter  or  a  third  of  a  mile  and  get  on  these 
rafts  and  have  a  ride." 

By  way  of  illustrating  this  keelboat  talk 
and  manners,  and  that  now  departed  and 
hardly  remembered  raft  life,  the  author 
throws  in  a  chapter  from  a  book  which  he 
"  has  been  working  on  by  fits  and  starts  during 
the  past  five  or  six  years,  and  may  possibly 
finish  in  the  coiu'se  of  five  or  six  more."  It 
is  a  story  detailing  some  passages  in  the  life 
of  an  ignorant  village  boy.  son  of  the  town 
drunkard  of  the  author's  time  out  West. 
The  boy  had  run  away,  together  with  a  slave, 
and  in  floating  down  the  river  at  high  water 
and  in  dead  summer  time  on  a  fragment  of 
a  raft,  they  got  lost  in  the  fog  and  passed 
Cairo  without  knowing  it.  So  the  boy  swims 
out  to  a  huge  raft  in  the  dark,  hoping  to 
gain  the  information  by  listening  to  the 
talk  of  the  men.  The  odd,  rude  life  of  the 
raftsmen,  as  thus  witnessed  by  the  boy,  is 
graphically  described.  After  singing,  drink- 
ing and  dancing,  two  of  the  men  begin  to 
quarrel,  and  the  following  is  a  sjjecimen  of 
the  language  of  one  of  the  men  in  getting 
ready : 

"  He  jumped  up  in  the  air  three  times  and 
cracked  his  heels  together  every  time.  Ho 
flung  oS  a  buckskin  coat  that  was  all  hung 
with  fringes,  and  says  '  you  lay  thar  till  the 
chawin'-up's  done;'  and  flung  his  hat  down, 
which  was  all  over  ribbons  and  says,  '  You 
lay  thar  till  his  sufferin's  is  over.' 

"  Then  he  jumped  up  in  the  air  and  cracked 
his  heels  together  again  and  shouted  out: 

"  '  Whoo-oop!  I'm  the  old  original  iron- 
jawed,  brass-mounted,  copper-bellied  corpse - 
maker  from  the  wilds  of  Arkansaw!  Look  at 
me!  I'm  the  man  they  call  Suddeu  Death 
and  General  Desolation !  Sired  by  a  hurri- 
cane, dam'd  by  an  earthquake,  half-brother 
to  the  cholera,  nearly  related  to  the  small- 
pox on  the  mother's   side!     Look   at  me!     I 


take  nineteen  alligators  and  a  bar'l  of 
whisky  for  breakfast  when  I'm  in  robust 
health  and  a  bushel  of  rattlesnakes  and  a 
dead  body  when  I'm  ailing!  I  split  the 
everlasting  rocks  with  my  glance,  and  I 
squench  the  thunder  when  I  speak!  Whoo- 
oop  !  stand  back  and  giYe  me  room  according 
to  my  strength!  Blood's  my  natural  drink 
and  the  wails  of  the  dying  is  music  to  my 
ear!  Cast  your  eye  on  me,  gentlemen,  and 
lay  low  and  hold  your  breath,  for  I'm  'bout 
to  turn  myself  loose!' 

"  All  the  time  he  was  getting  this  off  he  was 
shaking  his  head  and  looking  fierce  and  kind 
of  swelling  around  in  a  little  circle,  tucking 
up  his  wristbands  and  now  and  then  straight- 
ening up  and  beating  his  breast  with  his 
fist,  saying:  '  Look  at  me,  gentleman!  I'm 
the  bloodiest  son  of  a  wild  cat  that  lives!' 

"  Then  the  man  that  started  the  row  tilted 
his  old  slouch  hat  down  over  his  right  eye; 
then  he  bent  forward  with  his  back  sagged 
and  his  south  end  sticking  out  far,  and  his 
fists  a  shoving  out  and  drawing  to  in  front 
of  him,  and  so  went  around  in  a  little  circle 
about  three  times,  swelling  himself  up  and 
breathing  hard,  and  he  began  to  shout  like 
this: 

"  '  Whoo-oop!  bow  your  neck  and  spread, 
for  the  kingdom  of  sorrow's  a  coming.  Hold 
me  down  to  the  earth,  for  I  feel  my  powers 
a- working!  Whoop!  I'm  a  child  of  sin,  don't 
let  me  get  a  start!  Smoked  glass  here  for  all! 
Don't  attempt  to  look  at  me  with  the  naked 
eye,  gentlemen.  When  I'm  playful,  I  use 
the  meridians  of  longitude  and  the  parallels 
of  latitude  for  a  seine  and  drag  the  Atlantic 
ocean  for  whales!  I  sci-atch  my  head  with 
the  lightning  and  purr  myself  to  sleep  with 
the  thunder!  When  I'm  cold,  I  bile  the  gulf 
of  Mexico  aud  bathe  in  it;  when  I'm  hot, 
I  fan  myself  with  an  equinoctial  storm;  when 
I'm  thirsty,  I  reach  up  and  suck  a  cloud  dry, 

10 


173 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


like  a  sponge;  when  I  range  the  earth,  hun- 
gry famine  follows  in  my  tracks!  Whoo-op! 
Bow  your  neck  and  spread.  I  put  my  hand 
on  the  sun's  face  and  make  it  night  on  the 
earth;  I  bite  a  piece  out  of  the  moon  and 
hurry  the  season;  I  shake  myself  and  crum- 
ble the  mountains!  Contemplate  me  through 
leather — donH  use  the  naked  eye!  I'm  the 
man  with  a  petrified  heart  and  boiler -iron 
bowels!  Whoooop!  Bow  your  neck  and 
spread,  for  the  pet-child  of  calamity's  a  com- 
ing.'" 

The  narrative  goes  on  to  show  how  a  little 
black  whiskered  chap  cooled  off  their  rage 
and  thrashed  them  both  for  a  couple  of 
chicken-livered  cowards. 

That  child  of  Sudden  Death  and  General 
Desolation  was  the  missing  "link,"  that 
leads  us  by  most  plainly  marked  footsteps 
up  to  the  pilot  joker,  and  back  to  his  pre 
historic  ancestors,  the  Cave  (of  Gloom) 
Dwellers.  No  reference  here,  Mark,  to  that 
settled  and  incurable  gloom  that  is  noted  in 
the  best  medical  works  as  characterizing  the 
wrecked  lives  of  your  readers. 

But  the  following  very  happy  description 
of  high  water  will  be  recognized  by  many 
a  Cairo  "tenderfoot"  as  a  side-splitting  joke: 

"  The  big  rise  brought  a  new  world  under 
my  vision.  By  the  time  the  river  was  over 
its  banks,  we  had  forsaken  our  old  paths,  and 
were  hourly  climbing  over  banks  that  had 
stood  ten  feet  out  of  water  before;  we  were 
shaving  stumpy  shores,  like  that  at  the  foot 
of  Madrid  bend,  which  I  had  always  seen 
avoided  before;  we  were  clattering  through 
chutes  like  that  of  82,  where  the  opening  at 
the  foot  was  an  unbroken  wall  of  timber, 
till  our  nose  was  almost  at  the  very  spot. 
Some  of  these  chutes  were  utter  solitudes. 
The  dense,  untouched  forest  overhung  both 
banks  of  the  crooked  little  crack,  and  one 
could  believe  that  human  creatures  had  never 


intruded  there  before.  The  swinging  grape- 
vines, the  grassy  nooks  and  vistas  glimpsed 
as  we  swept  by,  the  flowering  creepers  wav- 
ing their  red  blossoms  from  the  tops  of  dead 
trunks  and  all  the  spendthrift  richness  of 
the  forest  foliage  were  wasted  and  thrown 
away  there.  The  chutes  were  lovely  places  to 
steer  in;  they  were  deep  except  at  the  head; 
the  current  was  gentle;  under  the  '  points,' 
the  water  was  absolutely  dead,  and  their  vis- 
ible banks  so  bluff  that  where  the  tender  wil- 
low thickets  projected,  you  could  bury  your 
boat's  broadside  in  them  as  you  tore  along, 
and  then  you  seemed  fairly  to  fly." 

But  altogether  Cairo  remembers  with  much 
pride  the  fact  that  Sam  Clemens  (Mark 
Twain)  was  at  one  time  among  the  number 
of  pilots  that  belonged  to  her  trade.  And 
the  numerous  fraternity  here  will  read  his 
book  with  great  interest,  as  it  is  a  story 
whose  incidents  often  occurred  in  the  com- 
pany of  men  still  at  the  wheel.  While  no 
other  Cairo  pilot,  perhaps,  has  gained  the 
celebrity  that  has  Mark  Twain,  yet  there  are 
some  who  have  merited  a  more  lasting  im- 
mortality as  great  heroes — standing  at  the 
wheel  and  going  down  bravely  to  death  in 
the  sublime  act  of  protecting  and  saving  the 
lives  of  those  who  were  in  their  safe  keeping. 
The  fraternity  of  pilots  are  well  known  to 
most  of  the  people  of  Cairo.  They  are  a  sin- 
gular class  of  men,  and  their  lives  have  not 
been  a  careless  holiday.  But  it  was  during 
the  war  the  lives  of  many  of  them  were  filled 
with  terrifying  troubles.  A  couple  of  in- 
stances will  illustrate  our  meaning:  On  one 
occasion,  as  the  fleet  was  transporting  the 
troops  to  Fort  Donelson,  and^  the  stage  of 
the  water  and  the  point  in  the  river  had  been 
reached  by  the  flag -boat,  where  it  was  dan- 
gerous navigation,  the  officers  of  the  boat 
desired  to  tie  up  for  daylight,  but  the  mili- 
tary authorities   demurred  to  this.     It  was 


HISTOEY  OF  CAIKO. 


173 


very  dark,  and  the  boat  became  entangled, 
and  in  backing  and  starting  up  she  was  rnn 
into  an  overhanging  tree  and  the  chimneys 
knocked  down.  The  usual  wild  consterna- 
tion followed,  and  the  affrighted  soldiers 
imagined  everything  bad.  But  after  awhile, 
when  they  found  the  boat  was  not  sunk  in 
the  bottom  of  the  river,  they  set  about  hunt- 
ing for  the  cause  of  the  disaster.  In  some 
way,  they  learned  the  pilot  lived  in  Louis  - 
ville,  and  this  was  enough,  he  was  a  rebel 
and  had  deliberately  conspired  to  destroy 
them  all  by  sinking  the  boat.  In  a  moment 
it  was  a  mob.  Now  an  ordinary  mob  is  the 
silliest  monster  that  ever  lived,  yet  a  soldier 
mob  makes  a  common  one  appear  as  Solomon 
and  Patience  enthroned  on  that  historical 
monument.  The  pilot  saved  his  life  by  se- 
creting himself.  Of  course,  the  soldiers  had 
no  evidence  against  the  pilot,  for  none  ex- 
isted. The  truth  afterward  turned  out  to  be 
that  he  had  rung  the  engineer  to  go  ahead 
when  he  made  the  mistake  and  backed. 

Another  incident  happened  in  the  river  in 
front  of  Cairo.  The  small  boat,  Echo,  was 
coming  down  the  Ohio  River  laden  with  sol- 
diers, and  struck  one  of  the  iron-clad  gunboats  \ 
that  split  her  hull  and  she  was  hopelessly 
wrecked.  The  wreck  floated  a  mile  or  so 
below  town  and  lies  on  the  Kentucky  bar  yet. 
No  lives  were  lost,  but  the  soldiers  at  once 
jumped  to  the  conclusion  the  pilot  purposely 
did  it  and  they  howled  for  his  blood.  In 
fact,  the  clamor  was  so  great  that  Wilson 
Dunn,  the  pilot,  was  arrested  and  tried  by  a 
court  martial.  As  he  was  clearly  innocent, 
it  is  probable  the  trial  saved  his  life.  The 
fact  that  these  gunboats  (turtles)  had  sunk  a 
number  of  boals  cut  no  figure  with  the  sol- 
diers, and  the  further  fact  that  the  pilot  was 
an  officer  of  the  Government,  as  true  and 
loyal  and  patriotic  as  ever  lived,  but  he  did 
not  wear  an  infantry  or  cavalry  uniform  and 


the    idiots    therefore    believed    he    was    a 
traitor. 

The  present  distinguished  engineer,  J.  B. 
Eads,  was  another  man  who  made  his  start 
in  life  among  the  Cairo  river  men.  He  lived 
for  some  years  here,  and  came  here,  we  be- 
lieve, some  time  in  the  forties  as  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Eads  &  Nelson.  Mr.  Eads'  his- 
tory  is  so  identified  with  the  Mississippi 
River  that  one  cannot  be  given  without  the 
other,  his  vast  enterprises,  commencing  as 
they  did  in  Cairo,  have  so  extended  his  name 
and  fame  throughout  the  world. 

In  a  preceding  chapter,  we  gave  an  account 
of  the  coming  down  the  Ohio  River  of  the 
steamer  New  Orleans,  Capt.  Roosevelt  — 
the  first  boat  that  ever  floated  upon  Western 
waters,  A  few  words  in  reference  to  the  his- 
tory of  this  historical  boat  may  not  be  out 
of  place  here.  She  was  built  in  the  Fulton 
&  Livingston's  ship  yards,  Pittsburgh:  ca- 
pacity, one  hundred  tons;  was  furnished  with 
propelling  wheel  to  the  stern  and  two  masts. 
Mr.  Fulton  at  that  time  believet3  that  sails 
would  be  indispensable  to  a  steamboat.  The 
boat  was  placed  in  the  New  Orleans  and 
Natchez  trade,  and  continued  in  this  trade 
for  a  short  time,  when  she  struck  a  snag  near 
Baton  Rouge  and  sunk.  The  passage  of  this 
first  steamboat  down  the  river,  making  her 
landings  and  obtaining  fuel,  etc.,  at  an  aver- 
age rate  of  three  miles  an  hour,  loft  in  her 
wake  an  excitement  that  could  not  have  been 
exceeded  had  a  flying  angel  appeared  to  the 
people. 

The  second  boat  that  ever  came  by  the 
doors  of  Cairo — before  the  doors  were  here — 
was  the  Comet,  Daniel  D.  Smith,  owner,  D. 
French,  builder.  Her  machinery  was  con- 
structed on  a  plan  invented  by  French,  in 
1809.  She  descended  the  river  in  1814. 
She  was  only  a  twenty-five-ton  boat.  She 
reached  New  Orleans  and  made  two  voyages 


174 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


to  Natchez  and  return  and  was  then  sold  and 
taken  to  pieces  and  her  engine  and  machin- 
ery were   put    in    a  cotton  factory. 

The  Vesuvius  was  the  third  boat  built  at 
Pittsbuvgh,  and  came  down  the  Ohio,  and  also 
in  the  year  1814,  'under  command  of  Capt. 
Frank  Ogden.  After  reaching  New  Orleans, 
she  started  to  return,  July  14,  and  grounded 
on  a  bar  about  700  miles  above  New  Orleans, 
where  she  remained  until  December  3,  when 
the  waters  rising,  she  floated  ofl"  and  re- 
turned to  New  Orleans.  During  1815-16, 
this  boat  continued  to  make  regular  trips  be- 
tween New  Orleans  and  Natchez.  She  was 
first  commanded  by  Capt.  Clement,  and  he 
was  succeeded  by  Capt.  John  De  Hart.  In 
the  latter  part  of  181 6,  as  the  boat  approached 
New  Orleans  with  a  valuable  cargo,  she  took 
fire  and  burned.  The  hulk  was  afterward 
raised  and  refitted  and  ran  in  the  New  Or- 
leans and  Louisville  trade  until  1819,  when 
she  was  condemned. 

The  fourth  boat  was  the  Enterprise,  built 
at  Brownsville,  Penn.,  by  D.  French,  and  his 
patent  engine  supplied.  This  was  a  seven- 
ty-five-ton boat.  She  made  two  voyages  to 
Louisville  in  1814,  under  Capt.  Gregg.  She 
was  loaded  with  ordnances  and  stores  for 
New  Orleans,  and  while  there,  Gren.  Jackson 
pressed  her  into  the  Government  service. 
The  Enterprise  loaded  and  left  New  Orleans 
for  Louisville  in  May,  1815,  and  arrived  at 
Louisville  safely,  making  the  trip  in  twenty- 
five  days.  This  was  the  first  trip  ever  made 
by  a  steamboat  from  between  these  two 
points. 

The  next  boat  in  order  of  appearance  was 
the  Washington,  constructed  by  Henry  M. 
Shreve.  The  hull  was  built  in  Wheeling 
and  engines  at  Brownsville,  Penn.  This 
was  the  first  double  "  decker  "  ever  con- 
structed, the  cabin  being  placed  between  the 
decks,  and  the  boilers  placed  on  deck.      This 


daring  innovation  made  the  Washington  look 
very  much  as  steamboats  do  now.  Tbeu  in 
French's  patent  the  engines  were  vibrating, 
but  Capt.  Shreve  caused  the  cylinder  to  be 
placed  horizontally.  All  engines  were  the 
single,  low-pressure  engines.  The  great  in- 
vention of  the  cam  cut- oflf  was  Capt.  Shreve's, 
and  this  was  added  to  the  machinery  of  the 
Washington.  When  thus  completed  and 
launched,  the  new  steamer,  not  only  new  in 
contraction  but  in  such  new  and  great  im- 
provements in  her  machinery,  that  it  leaves 
it  a  question  whether  Fulton  or  Shreve  was 
the  greater  inventor. 

On  the  24th  of  September,  1816,  the 
steamer  Washington  passed  successfully 
over  the  falls  at  Louisville,  and  made  a  suc- 
cessful trip  to  New  Orleans,  and  returned  to 
Louisville  in  November  following.  While 
the  boat  was  lying  at  the  wharf  in  New  Or- 
leans, she  was  visited  and  carefully  inspected 
by  Edward  Livingstone,  who  was  in  the 
West,  determined  to  assert  in  the  coiu'ts  the 
exclusive  right  of  Fulton  &  Livingston  to 
navigate  all  the  waters  of  the  United  States, 
a  right  they  claimed  under  their  patents. 
After  Livingston  had  inspected  the  Wash- 
ington, he  addi'essed  Capt.  Shreve  as  follows: 
"  You  deserve  well  of  your  country,  young 
man,  but  we  [referring  to  Fulton  &  Living- 
ston's monopoly  of  all  the  rivers]  shall  be 
compelled  to  beat  you  [in  the  courts]  if  we 
can." 

The  Washington  was  compelled  by  ice  to 
remain  at  the  Falls  all  winter  and  on  March 
12,  1817,  she  commenced  her  second  voyage 
to  New  Orleans.  On  her  return  she  made 
thw  trip  with  a  full  cargo  to  Louisville  in 
twenty-five  days.  And  from  this  time  all 
historians  may  date  the  real  commencement 
of  navigation.  The  wonderful  feat  of  the 
boat  produced  almost  as  much  excitement  as 
did  the  battle  of  New    Orleans.      Louisville 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


175 


gave  a  public  dinner  to  Capt.  Shreve,  and  in 
a  speech  he  predicted  that  the  trip  from 
New  Orleans  to  Louisville  would  yet  be 
made  in  ten  days.  People  smiled  with  gen- 
tle incredulity  at  this,  and  were  willing  to 
forgive  him  that  or  almost  anything  else  for 
what  he  had  done.  How  soon  after  this  it 
was  made  inside  of  live  days  Capt.  Shreve 
lived  to  see  and  all  the  world  knows  full  well. 
In  1852,  the  steamer  Shotwell  made  the  trip  in 
a  little  over  four  days.  In  1869,  the  Natchez 
and  the  R.  E.  Le^  made  their  celebrated 
race  from  New  Orleans  to  St.  Louis.  The 
record  time  to  Cairo  was  the  fastest  ever 
made,  but  some  stanch  old  river  men  claim 
that,  including  stoppages,  etc.,  the  J.  M. 
White,  built  by  Capt.  Swan,  a  noted 
builder  of  noted  boats,  made  the  best  record 
time  ever  yet  marked  between  New  Orleans 
and  Cairo. 

The  most  shocking  steamboat  accident  in 
the  world's  history  occurred  in  1864,  when 
the  steamer  Sultana  exploded  her  boilers 
just  above  Memphis,  when  on  her  way  from 
some  point  in  Arkansas  to  Cairo.  There 
were,  it  is  estimated.  2,350  souls  aboard — 
nearly  all  soldiers — ^^and  over  2,000  perished. 
It  was  in  the  night,  and  the  explosion  was 
the  most  terriffic  and  the  wreck  the  most 
complete  ever  known.  The  explosion  was 
followed  by  fire,  which  soon  consumed  the  lit- 
tle of  the  wi'eck  remaining  above  water. 
Capt.  J.  C.    Swann  was  killed. 

The  steamer  Majestic,  Capt.  J.  C.  Swann 
and  W.  C.  Kennett,  Chief  Clerk,  William 
Ferree,  Chief  Engineer,  on  the  25th  day  of 
May,  1835,  just  as  the  wheel  turned  to  round 
out  from  the  wharf,  exploded  her  boilers. 
She  was  on  her  way  North,  and  was  crowded 
with  deck  passengers,  many  of  whom  were 
Germans,  and  constituted  some  of  the  Ger- 
mans who  settled  in  and  around  Belleville, 
111.      The   flues  of   the  larboard    boiler  col- 


lapsed, it  is  supposed,  by  the  passengers  all 
passing  to  the  shore  or  starboard  side  of  the 
vessel  and  thus  careening  the  boat  until  the 
boiler  on  the  opposite  side  became  dry.  The  hot 
water  and  steam  scalded  about  sixty  of  ihe  deck 
passengers,  about  forty  of  whom  died  at  once 
or  within  twenty- four  hours,  and  were  buried 
at  Memphis.  The  injm-ies  and  fatalities 
were  confined  to  the  deck  passengers,  or 
those  who  happened  to  be  there. 

Among  the  survivors  of  that  shocking 
catastrophe  is  William  Lornegan,  of  Cairo, 
a  gentleman  well  and  long  known  to  the 
people  of  the  city.  To  look  at  Mr.  Lor- 
negan we  would  be  inclined  to  doubt  that 
he  was  a  real  survivor  of  a  steamboat  ex- 
plosion which  occurred  over  forty-eight  years 
ago. 

The  circumstances  were  these:  He 
was  an  infant  at  that  time,  a  little  more  than 
one  year  old,  and  the  father,  mother  and 
child  constitiited  the  family.  In  the  wild  din 
and  horror  following  the  <^xplosion,  Mr.  Lor- 
negan ran  to  the  yawl  and  pulling  it  up, 
jumped  in.  He  then  pulled  the  yawl  up  to 
the  deck  and  the  mother,  wrapping  the  baby 
in  a  shawl,  tossed  it  to  the  father,  who  stood 
up  to  catch  it.  The  motion  of  the  craft 
threw  him  just  at  the  moment  the  baby  was 
started  and  in  this  critical  instant  the  father 
th  ew  up  his  feet  and  in  this  way  protected 
the  child's  fall  and  saved  it.  He  then  drew 
up  the  yawl  and  the  mother  and  several 
others  were  soon  safely  in  it.  Then  there 
was  a  rush  of  the  excited  people,  and  they 
would  unquestionably  have  swamped  the 
yawl  except  for  the  forethought  again  of  Mr. 
Lornegan,  who  cut  the  rope  and  the  craft 
floated  away.  As  there  were  no  paddles  in 
it,  the  occupants  had  to  trust  to  the  current, 
but  the  boat  soon  touched  a  sand  bar  on  the 
Tennessee  side,  and  all  were  safely  landed. 
The  steamer  floated  a  short  distance  and  also 


17ti 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


lodged  on  the  Tennessee  side,  the  damaged 
boiler  repaired  and  she  continued  her  route 
to  St.  Loiiis. 


The  fine  steamer,  J.  M.  White,  referred 
to  above,  was  sunk  just  below  Cape  Girar- 
deau, March  28,1843. 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE    CHURCH    HISTORY  — ST.    PATRICK'S  — GERMAN    LUTHERAN  —  PRESBYTERIAN  — BAPTIST  — 

METHODIST  AND  OTHER  DENOMINATIONS— THE   DIFFERENT  PASTORS— THEIR 

FLOCKS,  TEMPLES,  THE  CITY  SCHOOLS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach 
the  Gospel  of  peace  and  bring  glad  tidings  of  good 
things." 

THE  German  Lutheran  Church. — This 
church  was  organized  in  the  year  1866, 
the  Rev.  J.  Dunsing  officiating.  There  were 
between  fifteen  and  twenty  members.  It  was 
named  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Emanual 
Gemeinde  of  Cairo.  The  first  pastor,  Dun- 
sing,  officiated  from  October,  1866,  to  Oc- 
tober, 1869,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Gustave  P.  Heilbig,  who  remained  in  charge 
until  February,  1873.  Then  Rev.  C. 
Durshner  was  placed  in  charge,  and  he 
remained  pastor  until  January  1,  1879. 
During  his  administration,  the  congregation 
concluded  to  build  a  brick  addition  so  as  to 
enlarge  the  church  facilities  and  provide  a 
suitable  school  room.  The  entire  building 
was  enlarged  and  raised,  and  a  brick  base- 
ment added,  and  a  part  of  the  addition  was 
fitted  up  for  a  store  room,  arranging  the  up- 
per rooms  for  the  pastor' s  residence,  etc.  The 
expense  of  these  additions  to  the  building 
was  $2,500  on  the  residence  and  business 
portions  of  the  building,  and  from  $1,000  to 
$1,500  expended  on  the  church  proper.  In 
1879,  E.  Knappe  was  installed  as  pastor  of 
the  chvurch,  and  he  remained  in  the  faithful 
and  efficient  discharge  of  his  duties  until 
November,  1881.   Since  August,  1882,  the  pres- 


ent able  and  efficient  pastor,  Rev.  C.  Sehuch- 
ard  has  filled  the  position  of  shepherdl^to  his 
flock  with  signal  ability  and  the  great  satis- 
faction of  his  people. 

The  Sunday  school  of  this  church  is  in  a 
flourishing  condition,  numbering  from  sev- 
enty-five to  one  hundred  pupils  in  constant 
attendance.  The  pious  pastor  of  the  church 
was  the  Superintendent,  assisted  by  Andrew 
Lohr,  until  1880,  when  Andrew  Lohr  was 
elected  Superintendent.  Mr.  Lohr  remained 
in  this  position  until  the  present  year  (1883), 
when  he  resigned,  and  the  present  pastor, 
Schuchard,  again  assumed  his  old  place  and 
continues  the  Superintendent  and  manager 
of  the  Sunday  school. 

The  church  also  has  a  ladies'  society, 
called  the  Freund  and  Jungfrauen  Verein, 
that  was  organized  in  the  year  1871,  under 
the  direction  and  control  of  the  minister, 
Heilbig.  The  aims  and  purposes  of  this  or- 
ganization are  the  good  of  the  church  and 
its  flock.  It  has  a  membership  averaging 
sixty  good  and  efficient  Christians. 

The  church  grounds  are  two  lots,  and  were 
purchased  by  the  members  of  the  church  in 
1878,  of  S.  Staats  Taylor,  agent  of  the 
Cairo  Trust  Property,  at  the  price  of  $100 
per  lot,  and  is  situated  on  Thirteenth  street, 
between  Washington  avenue  and  Walnut 
street 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


ITi 


The  present  board  of  trustees  consists  of 
H.  Schultz  and  Andrew  Lohr. 

The  basement  or  brick  portion  of  the 
church  is  noT\  used,  the  front  part  as  a 
school  room,  and  the  rear  as  a  parsonage  for 
the  minister,  and  the  entire  upper  or  frame 
part  of  the  building  is  dedicated  to  church 
purposes.  There  is  a  fine  pipe  organ  in  the 
main  room,  and  from  the  main  building  as- 
cends the  cupola,  where  hangs  the  church 
bell,  that  in  deep,  musical  tones  upon  the 
holy  Sabbath  calls  the  people  to  "  come  to 
the  house  of  God  and  worship. " 

The  Christian  Church  was  organized  in 
Cairo  in  May,  1865,  the  original  members 
consisting  of  IVIr.  and  Mrs.  A.  B.  Fenton,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  S.  R.  Hay,  J.  C.  Talbott,  Mrs. 
Gilkey  and  daughter,  Mrs.  Sarah  Clark,  Mr. 
R.  J.  Cundiff,  and  others  whose  names  can- 
not now  be  ascertained.  In  the  organization, 
there  were  about  twenty  members.  A  little 
earnest  band  of  devout  Christians,  planting 
the  cross  of  their  Master  in  His  vineyard  and 
consecrating  a  spot  where  they  could  gather 
in  response  to  the  "come  let  us  worship." 
Of  all  those  who  constituted  that  little  band 
who  first  assembled  together  here,  but  two 
are  left  namely,  Mr.  J.  C.  Talbott  and  Mrs. 
Sarah  Clark.  In  1866,  the  Cairo  City  Prop- 
erty Company  donated  the  church  four  lots 
on  Eighteenth  street,  between  Washington 
and  Walnut  streets,  and  during  the  same 
year  the  church  building  now  occupied  was 
erected.  It  is  a  frame,  36x55,  and  cost 
$4,500.  The  pastors,  in  the  order  named, 
have"  occupied  the  pulpit:  Rev.  L.  Brown, 
of  Ohio;  John  Friend,  of  Pennsylvania;  R. 
B.  Tremble,  of  Kentucky.  For  some  years 
they  have  had  no  regular  preaching  and  no 
Sunday  school.  There  are  meetings,  how- 
ever, every  Sunday  of  a  social  and  spiritual 
character.  The  oflficers  of  the  church  are: 
Trustees,   S.  R.  Hay,    G.  M.   Alden,   Charles 


Armstrong,  J.  C.  Talbott,  Mr.  Saul;  Elders, 
J.  R.  Hay,  William  McClosky;  Deacons,  A. 
B.  Fenton  and  J.  C.  Talbott. 

St.  Patrick''s — Catholic — is  situated  on 
the  corner  of  Ninth  street  and  Washington 
avenue;  was  built  in  1855  by  Rev.  Father 
McCabe,  who  was  its  first  pastor.  The  build- 
ing is  a  substantial  frame  on  a  rock  base- 
ment, and  cost  $3,600,  most  of  which  was 
collected  from  the  hands  employed  in  the 
construction  of  the  Central  Railroad  during 
the  years  1853  and  185-4.  The  basement, 
up  to  1882,  was  used  as  a  parochial  school. 
The  lots  upon  which  the  building  stands 
were  donated  by  Col.  S.  S.  Taylor.  In  the 
latter  part  of  1857,  Rev.  Father  McCabe  was 
succeeded  in  the  pastorate  by  Rev.  Thomas 
Walsh,  who,  on  Sunday,  the  15th  day  of 
March,  1861,  and  while  addressing  his  con- 
gregation on  the  heinousness  of  the  sin  of 
blasphemy,  was  suddenly  attacked  with  par- 
alysis of  the  heart,  and  which  in  a  few 
hours  terminated  in  death.  His  remains 
lie  buried  beneath  the  altar  from  which  he 
loved  so  well  to  offer  up  the  holy  sacrifice. 
May  he  rest  in  peace.  At  this  time,  Rev.  L. 
A.  Lambert  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy 
occasioned  by  the  demise  of  Father  Walsh, 
and  continued  to  serve  the  congregation  un- 
til October,  1867,  at  which  time,  his  health 
becoming  impaired,  he  received  permission 
to  go  to  New  York.  He  ia  at  present  in 
charge  of  a  parish  in  Waterloo,  in  that  State. 
The  bishop  at  once  supplied  the  spiritual 
wants  of  his  people  by  the  appointment  of 
Rev.  P.  Brady,  who  faithfully  attended  to 
the  wants  of  his  flock  until  the  latter  part  of 
1869,  when  he  was  appointed  to  another 
parish.  He  is  now  pastor  in  the  city  of 
Springfield,  111.  Father  Brady  was  imme- 
diately succeeded  by  Rev.  P.  J.  O'Hallo- 
ran,  who  continued  in  charge  until  Novem- 
ber,   1873,    when  he  was   sent  to  East  St. 


ITS 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Louis  to  take  the  place  of  Rev.  Francis  Za- 
bel,  who  was  assigned  to  the  Cairo  pastorate. 
His  parishioners  and  the  citizens  of  Cairo 
generally  will  bear  cheerful  testimony  to 
his  worth  as  a  Christian  minister,  in  remain- 
ing at  this  post  of  duty  night  and  day  during 
the  terrible  yellow-fever  epidemic  of  1878. 
At  his  own  request  he  was,  in  1 879,  trans  - 
f  erred  to  a  parish  at  Bunker  Hillj  this  State, 
where    he   now  resides. 

To   supply   the    place    made    vacant    by 
Father  Zabel's  departure,  Rev.  Thomas  Mas- 
terson  was  sent  from  Mound  City,    but  the 
malarial  atmosphere'of  Egypt  soon  made  sad 
work  with  a  physically  delicate  constitution. 
He  left  his  flock  for  a  more  healthful  location 
in  the  town  of  Paris,  HI.,  his  present  address. 
In  the  latter  part  of  1882,  Rev.  J.  Murphy 
assumed  charge  and  is  the  present  incumbent. 
St.  JosejMs  Catholic  Church. — In  the  year 
1870,     the    Catholic    congregation    having 
wholly  outgrown  the  capacities  of   St.  Pat- 
rick's Chui'ch,  a  few  of  the  leading  members 
determined  to  build  a  new  one.     This  move- 
ment was  finally  made  by  the  Germans  for 
two  reasons:  1st.     St.  Patrick's  Church  was 
too  small  for  the  congregation,    and  second, 
the   Germans   desired    to   have  a  church  of 
their  own,  in  which  they  hoped  to  have  serv- 
ices in  their  native  language.     The  princi- 
pal movers  in  this,   and  those  who  made  the 
principal  donations  for  the  new  church  were 
Peter  Saup,  William  Kluge,   Hemy  Lattner, 
Valentine  Riser,  Jacob  Klein,   George  Latt- 
ner,   Jacob    Lattner,     Nicholas    Veithe,  L. 
Saunders,    William    Weber,    Joseph    Bross, 
Joseph  Bruikle  and  William  Brendle. 

The  organization  was  effected  in  1870,  and 
the  church  commenced  and  the  building  com- 
pleted in  1871,  being  an  elegant  brick  build- 
ing, 65x100  feet,  and  cost  $23,000,  and  is  by 
far  the  finest  church  in  the  city,  and  has  an 
elegant  organ. 


Father  ^Hoffman  was  the  first  pastor,  and 
soon  grew  in  the  love  and  confidence  of  his 
people,  until  he  became  a  great  favorite. 
The  present  pastor  is  the  Rev.  Father 
O'Hara. 

Presbyterian  Church. — This  church  build- 
ing was  erected  in  January,  1856.  The 
Rev.  Robert  Stewart,  through  whose  efforts 
the  building  had  been  erected,  preached  the 
dedication  sermon.  It  cost  about  $2,796. 
The  three  lots  upon  which  it  stands  were  do- 
nated by  the  trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Prop- 
erty. The  funds  for  building  the  church  were 
raised  mostly  abroad,  through  the  efforts  of 
Rev.  Robert  Stewart,  who  was  building  agent 
of  the  Alton  Presbytery.  It  was  turned  over 
to  the  trustees  of  the  first  Presbyterian  so- 
ciety of  Cairo,  free  from  debt.  The  ladies  of 
the  Alton  Presbyterian  Church  donated  the 
carpet  for  the  aisles,  a  Bible  for  the  pulpi  t 
and  the  chandelier  and   lamps 

This  was  the  first  Protestant  church 
erected  in  Cairo.  A  Presbyterian  society 
was  formed  on  the  9th  of  January,  1856. 
The  constitution  was  signed  by  the  following 
members:  C.  D.  Finch,  Marion  Hall,  R.  H. 
Cunningham,  William  T.  Finch,  J.  D.  Mc- 
Coughtry,  John  C.  White,  D.  Hui'd,  Edward 
Willett,  Frank  Shipman,  S.  Staats  Taylor, 
H.  H.  Candee,  E.  Norton,  C.  A.  Bullock,  B. 
S.  Harrell,  Julia  A.  Harrell  and  Maria  A. 
White. 

The  first  board  of  trustees  consisted  of 
Dr.  Coffee,  M.  Hall,  C.  D.  Finch,  Edward 
Willett  and  William  T.  Finch.  The  latter 
was  elected  chairman  and  Edward  Willett 
Secretary.  The  church  building  and  prop- 
erty and  society  were  fully  equipped  now, 
but  there  was  still  no  church  proper  and  no 
pastor.  Steps  were  taken  by  the  society  to 
remedy  this  defect,  and  Mr,  Kenware  was 
called  to  act  as  the  first  pastor.  Mr.  Kenware 
stayed  only  eight  months,    when   becoming 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


179 


afflicted  with  a  bronchial  afiection,  he  ten- 
dered his  resignation,  Avhich    was    accepted. 

The  Rev.  A.  L.  Payson  was  then  called  at 
a  salaiy  of  $1,000  a  year,  and  accepted.  Yet 
there  was  one  act  necessary  to  make  a  com- 
plete church,  and  that  was  the  signing  of 
the  articles  of  faith  and  covenant.  This 
was  done,  and  thus  a  complete  organization 
effected,  ten  persons  signing,  to  wit:  Will- 
iam T.  Finch,  Mrs.  Rosanna  White,  Mrs. 
Catharine  Stewart,  Mrs.  Maiy  Jane  Stewart, 
Mrs.  S.  L.  Bowers,  Miss  Harriet  A.  Paine, 
James  Degear,  Mrs.  Sarah  Ann  Belle w,  Mrs. 
Lucy  A.  Leftcowitcb  and  Mrs.  A.  P.  Ryan. 

The  Rev.  Payson  seems,  by  the  church  re- 
cords, to  cut  no  other  figure  than  being  called 
and  accepting.  Possibly  he  was  washed  out 
in  the  June  flood  of  that  year,  and  this  is 
suggested  by  a  resolution  of  November,  1858, 
passed  as  a  feeler,  to  confer  with  Rev.  A.  G. 
Martin  and  ascertain  if  he  would  accept  a 
call  at  $500  a  year.  At  all  events  Mr.  Mar- 
tin accepted  the  $500  proposition  and  came 
on,  and  for  two  years  labored  faithfully  with 
his  flock.  He  organized  a  Sunday  school, 
which  is  said  to  be  the  first  ever  organized 
in  Cairo,  but  the  truth  is  there  was  a  school 
of  the  kind  here  in  1848.  The  first  Sunday 
of  the  Presbyterian  school  there  were  only 
fifteen  pupils  pi-esent,  but  since  that  time  it 
has  grown  to  more  than  300. 

Under  the  ministrations  of  Mr.  Martin, 
eleven  members  were  added  to  the  church — 
ten  of  these  by  letters.  This  minister  re- 
signed in  January,  1861.  The  church  was 
without  a  pastor  until  June,  1862.  The 
war  was  here,  and  men's  thougths  seemed  to 
run  in  other  channels.  But  the  Central 
Railroad  had  arranged  to  pass  preachers  free 
to  Cairo  to  hold  services,  and  many  came 
from  a  distance  and  services  were  tolerably 
regular. 

An  incident  in  the  life  of  this  church,  as 


well  as  in  the  life  of  Commodore  Foote,  is 
well  worth  relating:  After  the  capture  of 
Fort  Henry,  Commodore  Foote  returned  to 
Cairo  to  cai'e  for  his  wounded  and  to  get  ready 
for  the  Fort  Donelson  fight,  and  as  he  sjient 
Sunday  in  the  city,  as  was  his  wont,  he  went 
to  his  loved  chruch — the  Presbyterian — of 
which  he  was  a  zealous  member.  On  this 
particular  Sunday  the  congregation  assem- 
bled, but  the  minister  who  was  expected 
failed  to  come.  After  waiting  awhile,  the 
audience  began  to  grow  impatient.  At  this 
juncture  the  Commodore  arose  and  walked 
deliberately  to  the  pulpit,  and,  making  some 
remark  as  to  the  duty  of  letting  one's  light 
shine,  there,  in  the  full  trappings  of  his  uni- 
form of  war,  conducted  the  services  in  regu- 
lar order.  He  read  his  text  and  addressed 
the  congregation  in  a  most  earnest  manner, 
and  closed  the  exercises  with  a  fervent  and 
touching  prayer.  He  died  in  1863,  as 
faithful  a  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ  as  he  was 
of  his  country.  This  remarkable  incident  is 
well  remembered  by  many  citizens  of  Cairo 
who  were  present  in  church  on  that  Sunday 
in  February. 

In  June,  1862,  Rev.  Robert  Stewart  was 
called  to  attend  the  spiritual  wants  of  the 
congregation,  and  for  two  years  filled  the 
place  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  his  flock. 
Mr,  Stewart  preached  his  farewell  sermon 
November  6,  1864.  It  was  during  his  pas- 
torate that  the  frame  portion  of  the  parson- 
age was  erected,  and  he  secured  this  money, 
as  he  had  for  the  church,  mostly  from 
abroad. 

January  1,  1865,  Rev.  H.  P.  Roberts  be- 
came the  pastor  of  the  church.  He  had  re- 
ceived a  collegiate  education,  and  when  the 
war  came  he  went  into  the  army  as  a  Lieu- 
tenant; was  wounded  severely.  He  served 
as  pastor  for  the  years  1865-66.  He  received 
a  salary  of  $1,500  per  annum,  and  ceased  hi 


180 


HISTORY  OF  CAIEO. 


connection  with  the  church  as  its  minister  in 
the  early  part  of  1867. 

Rev.  Charles  H.  Foote  succeeded  him,  and 
he  continued  in  the  position  until  1871. 

The  brick  parsonage  was  erected  in  1867, 
at  a  cost  of  $2,363.70,  and  in  1868  a  line 
organ  was  purchased. 

Rev.  H.  B.  Thayer  took  charge  as  pastor 
in  January,  1872,  and  remained  until  March, 
1875,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  the  present 
pastor,  the  Rev.  B.  Y.  George,  who  has  al- 
ready been  with  this  chiirch  more  than  seven 
years.  None  of  his  predecessors  gained  a 
stronger  hold  upon  the  affection  of  his  peo- 
ple. 

In  the  autumn  of  1878,  Cairo  was  visited 
by  that  terrible  scourge,  the  yellow  fever. 
There  were  a  few  cases  in  August — all  fatal. 
A  number  of  cases  in  September,  nearly  all 
fatal,  and  still  more  in  October,  about  one- 
half  of  them  fatal;  several  cases  in  Novem- 
ber, but  most  of  them  mild.  In  all  there 
were  about  100  cases  in  Cairo  and  about  one- 
half  proved  fatal. 

In  September,  INIr.  George  was  in  Colum- 
bia, Mo.,  with  his  family,  taking  his  annual 
vacation.  When  the  news  reached  him  that 
the  disease  had  broken  out  again  and  in  a 
virulent  form  in  Cairo,  and  that  the  town 
was  in  a  panic  and  hundreds  fleeing  to  places 
of  safety,  and  that  all  prudent  people  who 
could  get  away  from  the  town  were  doing  so, 
we  say,  upon  learning  this  dreadful  state  of 
affairs,  he  left  his  family  in  Missouri  and 
came  here,  and  remained  during  the  epi- 
demic, visiting  sick,  comforting  the  dying 
and  burying  the  dead. 

The  whole  number  of  persons  connected 
with  the  church  during  the  twenty-five  years 
of  its  existence  is  372.  Mrs.  Rosanna  White 
is  the  only  one  out  of  the  original  ten  mem- 
bers that   is  now  living  in  Cairo. 

[We    desire   to   return  our  thanks  to  Mr. 


George  Fisher,  from  whose  extensive  history 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  we  gather  the 
above  data. — Ed.]. 

Episcopal  Church. — There  were  members 
of  this  church  in  Cairo  from  the  time  or  be- 
fore the  founding  of  the  city.  But  like  the 
general  Protestant  people,  the  number  was 
not  enough  to  organize  a  church  body  for  a 
long  time,  and  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  shows  that  these  select  few  would 
identify  themselves  often  with  some  other 
church  and  assist  them  in  the  holy  work, 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  enough  of  their  own 
to  form  their  separate  organization.  In  this 
way  the  curious  fact  is  several  times  illus- 
trated in  the  Presbyterian  Church  that  there 
would  be  a  reduction  in  their  number  in  the 
face  of  an  increase  in  the  population. 

Diiring  the  early  forties,  when  there  were 
only  four  or  five  families  in  the  place  who 
were  communicants  in  the  Episcopal  Church, 
occasional  services  were  conducted  in  a  little 
chapel  in  one  of  the  Holbrook  houses,  by  the 
Rev.  J.  p.  T.  Ingraham,  now  of  St.  Louis. 
Mr.  Ingraham  was  a  resident  of  Cairo  as 
early  as  1840.  Daring  all  his  time  here, 
there  were  not  members  enough  to  officer  a 
society  even,  much  less  a  church,  and  it  was 
only  at  rare  intervals  that  the  few  people  of 
that  chui'ch  met.  After  the  calamity  of 
1841,  the  number  was  so  reduced  that  it  was 
only  when  some  of  their  friends  would  join 
them  in  attendance  that  they  could  get 
enough  together  to  have  even  the  simplest 
chui'ch  services.  There  was  a  slow  increase 
up  to  1850,  when  several  families  came  and 
once  more  the  early  settlers  began  to  look 
forward  to  the  day  when  they  would  have  a 
prosperous  church  here.  During  these  times, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Clark  often  conducted  the 
church  services. 

In  the  year  1857,   a  movement  was  made, 
for  the  members  to  separate  themselves  from 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


ISl 


the  other  churches,  and  by  combining  to- 
gether they  hoped  to  form  the  nucleus  around 
which  a  church  would  soon  grow.  And  in 
the  early  part  of  1858,  grounds  were  secured 
and  steps  taken  to  erect  a  church  building. 
The  place  selected  was  the  lot  on  which  now 
stands  the  elegant  office  of  the  Cairo  Trust 
Property.  A  large  lot  of  material  was  de- 
livered upon  the  ground,  such  as  brick, 
stone,  lime  and  other  material,  when  the 
flood  of  June,  1858,  came  and  left  such  de- 
struction in  its  wake  that  for  the  nonce  the 
project  was  abandoned. 

During  the  war,  Chaplain  S.  McMasters 
who  was  stationed  here,  frequently  held 
services  for  the  congregation  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  building,  and  the  congregation 
constantly  grew  and  strengthened.  Novem- 
ber 3,  1852,  there  was  a  preliminary  meet- 
ing held  at  the  office  of  Col.  S.  S.  Taylor, 
and  there  were  present  at  this  meeting  Rev. 
I.  P.  La  Baugh,  S.  S.  Taylor,  Walter  Falls, 
Capt.  McAllister,  Charles  Thrupp,  J.  C. 
White,  H.  H.  Candee,  John  Rosenberg,  W. 
H.  Morris,  L.  Jorgensen,  J.  B.  Humphrey 
and  others.  Rev.  La  Baugh  was  made 
chairman,  and  J.  B.  Humphreys  Secretary. 
Vestrymen  were  elected  as  follows:  S.  S. 
Taylor,  Senior  Warden;  H.  H.  Candee,  Junior 
Warden;  and  J.  B.  Humphreys,  Charles 
Thrupp,  Capt.  Pennock,  Col.  A.  E.  "Watson, 
AV.  H.  Mon-is,  A.  B.  Saflford,  J.  C.  White, 
R.  M.  Jennings  and  Walter  Falls,  Vestryme  n 

The  second  attempt,  and  a  successful  one, 
too,  to  build  a  church  was  commenced  in 
1861,  the  building  now  occupied  on  Four- 
teenth street,  between  Washington  avenue 
and  Walnut  street.  This  building  cost  about 
$7,000,  and  is  the  most  elegantly  finished 
inside  and  furnished  of  any  church  in  the 
city.     They  have  an  organ  costing  $2,000. 

November  5,  1862,  Rev.  I.  P.  La  Baugh 
was  called  to  the  pastorate  and  accepted,  and 


for  more  than  two  years  he  continued  in 
that  position,  winning  the  good  will  and  love 
of  his  entire  people  in  an  eminent  degree. 
His  successor  was  Rev.  Thomas  Lyle,  who 
was  installed  as  pastor  in  charge  in  January, 
1864. 

In  1863,  J.  C.  White  was  Senior  AVarden, 
and  H.  H.  Candee,  Junior  Warden,  and  the 
Vestrymen  were  A.  B.  Safford,  J.  Q.  Har- 
man,  J.  B.  Humphreys,  W.  P.  Halliday,  A. 
M.  Pennock,  S.  B.  Halliday,  S.  Staats  Tay- 
lor, A.  E.  WatsoD,  W.  H.  Morris  and  A.  H. 
Irvin. 

April  25,  3864,  there  was  a  re -organization 
of  the  parish,  and  on  November  24  of  that 
year,  the  church  was  completed  and  conse- 
crated by  Bishop  Whitehouse.  And  the  Ves- 
trymen were:  Senior  Warden,  J.  C.  White; 
Junior  Warden,  H.  H.  Candee;  and  A.  E. 
Watson,  A.  J.  Irvin,  J.  B.  Humphreys.  A. 
B.  Safiford,  S.  B.  Halliday,  W.  P.  Halliday, 
H.  Lifferts  and  L.  Jorgensen. 

Rev.  Lyle  was  succeeded  in  1867  by  W.  W. 
Rafter,  who,  for  a  little  more  than  one  year, 
discharged  the  high  functions  of  his  office 
with  eminent  ability  and  piety. 

In  1868,  Rev.  James  W.  Cole  was  called, 
and  he  also  remained  about  one  year. 

Rev.  Edward  (loan  was  his  successor.  His 
pastorate,  for  three  years,  the  time  he  was 
with  his  church  here,  was  marked  by  good 
works  and  a  building-up  of  God's  temple. 
His  administration  was  eminently  satisfac- 
tory to  the  congregation,  and  the  love  and 
prayers  of  his  flock  followed  him  when  he 
retired  in  1872, 

Rev.  Charles  A.  Gilbert  was  his  successor , 
and  for  five  years  he  labored  for  God's  king- 
dom and  glory  'among  the  good  people  of 
Cairo.  He  was  an  unselfish,  pious  and  holy 
man,  and  his  stay  here  will  long  be  remem- 
bered by  his  people. 

In  April,  1877,   Rev.  M.   R.  St.  J.  Dillon 


182 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Lee  was  called,  and  at  once  entered  upon  his 
sacred  mission  among  his  people.  But  in 
the  midst  of  his  good  work  he  sickened  and 
died,  May  30,  1879. 

Rev.  D.  A.  Bonnar  accepted  the  position 
of  pastor,  and  was  installed  in  the  early  part 
of  the  year  1879,  where  he  remained  a  dili- 
gent, faithful  and  able  minister  to  his  flock 
until  January,  1881,   when  he  resigned. 

He  was  immediately  succeeded  by  Rev.  F. 
P.  Davenport,  the  present  incumbent,  and 
it  is  the  hope  of  all  that  he  may  be  long 
spared  to  his  people  and  the  church  he  loves 
so  well,  and  his  works  are  already  doing  so 
much  for  the  cause  of  morality  and  religion. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are:  H. 
H.  Candee,  Senior  Warden;  W.  B.  Gilbert, 
Junior  Warden;  and  M.  F.  Gilbert,  D.  J. 
Baker,  E.  L.  Manager,  Frank  L.  Galigher, 
John  H.  Janes  and  Charles  Pink,  Vestiymen. 

A  Sunday  school  was  established  in  1863, 
and  H.  H.  Candee  was  made  Superintendent, 
a  position  that  he  has  held  continuously  wver 
since  and  still  holds,  of  itself  a  sufficient 
testimony  that  he  is  the  right  man  in  the 
right  place.  Among  the  earliest  of  the  Sunday 
school  teachers  were  W.  H.  Morris,  Mrs.  W. 
R.  Smith,  Miss  Josie  Taylor  (Halliday),  Miss 
Remington  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  White.  From 
the  first  to  the  present  day,  the  school  has 
been  one  of  the  flourishing  and  successful 
ones  of  the  city.  Among  its  first  youthful 
scholars  are  now  found  some  of  its  most  val- 
ued teachers,  and  others  have  here  imbibed 
in  their  young  lives  their  first  and  deepest 
lessons  in  the  simple  and  sublime  story  of 
the  God- Man,  and  have  gone  out  in  the 
world  bearing  testimony  to  the  faith  that 
■was  in  them. 

The  Methodist  Church. — Through  the  kind- 
ness and  labors  of  Rev.  J.  A.  ScaiTitt,  pres- 
ent pastor,  we  were  enabled  to  gather  the 
following  notes  of  the  coming  and  building 


up  of  the  church  in  this  city.  There  were 
Methodists  here  as  citizens  as  soon  almost  as 
there  was  anybody  else.  In  the  earliest  set- 
tlement of  the  town,  when  three  or  four  fam- 
ilies constituted  all  there  were  in  the  place, 
Rev.  T.  C.  Lopas  and  H.  C.  Blackwell  would 
occasionally  visit  the  town  and  held  regular 
services  and  preach  to  the  little  flock,  liter- 
ally in  the  name  of  where  "  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together."  Then  Ephraham  Joy, 
the  Presiding  Elder,  made  two  visits  here,  and 
on  a  recent  occasion  on  writing  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Scarritt,  he  gives  some  of  his  long- time- ago 
impressions  of  Cairo,  and  some  account  of 
the  early  efforts  of  the  church  people.  He 
says  in  substance:  The  Cairo  Mission  was 
traveled  by  Henry  C.  Blackwell,  the  circuit 
embracing  Alexander  County.  Then  Rev. 
Lopas  was  sent  to  take  his  place.  There 
were  only  six  or  eight  families  or  members 
of  the  church  at  this  time  in  the  place,  and 
these  were  mostly  of  the  transient  population. 
The  first  quarterly  meeting  was  appointed 
for  Cairo,  January  1  and  2,  1853,  but  Brother 
Lopas  left  there  about  a  week  before  this 
and  attended  a  quarterly  meeting  of  the 
Thebes  Mission,  about  fourteen  miles  south 
of  Jonesboro.  As  soon  as  possible,  I  sup- 
plied Cairo  with  Rev.  J.  S.  Armstrong,  who 
remained  about  three  months,  and  then  it 
was  left  out  for  awhile.  Efforts  were  made 
to  have  Rev.  Lopas  visit  it  from  his  Thebes 
Mission,  but  failed.  The  scheme  was  then 
adopted  to  have  the  minister  from  the  ad- 
joining work — Thebes  or  Pulaski  or  Caledo- 
nia— visit  Cairo,  but  these  efforts  were  like, 
the  Elder  says,  trying  to  sit  down  on  two 
chairs  and  slipping  between  them.  The 
place  was  left  deserted  by  the  church  for 
two  years.  The  Elder  in  the  meantime  vis- 
ited Cairo  twice,  in  April  and  in  August. 
He  traveled  down  the  country  in  his  buggy. 
The    appearance   of  the   place   on   his    first 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


183 


visit  he  graphically  describes.  He  says  he 
carefully  counted  everything — houses  and 
boats — in  which  human  beings  were  livinor. 
His  recollections  are  the  boats  and  houses 
about  equaled  each  other,  and  there  were  but 
few  of  either,  and  some  of  the  houses 
were  the  merest  shanties — the  boats  mostly 
small  craft  tied  to  the  shore,  some  in  the 
water  and  some  on  dry  land — some  lying, 
just  as  the  water  left  them,  and  others  had, 
after  a  fashion,  been  propped  up  and  were 
stranding  tolerably  level.  He  again  says: 
Bishop  Ames  presided  over  our  conference 
in  1852,  and  visited  us  at  the  conference  at 
Mount  Carmel.  He  told  me  that  he  passed 
Cairo  on  his  way,  and  remarked,  "  I  wonder 
what  we  sent  a  man  there  for."  The  Mis- 
sion Committee  at  their  next  conference  gave 
it  as  their  opinion  that  one  quarterly  install- 
ment uf  appropriation  (for  Cairo)  should  be 
refunded,  and  the  Elder  says:  "I  covered  it 
into  the  treasury,  although  I  felt  that  I 
much  needed  it."  The  two  visits  referred 
to  above  by  the  Elder  were  made  during  his 
first  year.  He  again,  in  the  fourth  year  of 
his  office,  visited  it  twice.  He  says  that  this 
time  he  came  by  the  I'ailroad.  During 
that  year  it  was  connected  with  the  Pulaski 
Mission  for  quarterly  meeting  purposes,  and 
Pulaski  embraced  what  had  been  Thebes  and 
Caledonia  Circuits.  That  year.  Rev,  Hughey 
spent  most  of  the  year  traveling  and  solic- 
iting funds  to  erect  a  church  in  Cairo.  He 
succeeded  well  in  procuring  funds,  but  could 
do  but  little  in  building  up  the  congregation. 
Elder  Joy  had  secured  two  lots  for  the 
chui'ch  building,  and  these  afterward  were 
exchanged  for  those  now  occupied  by  the 
church  by  Rev.  Hughey.  The  Elder  again 
says:  "  I  preached  in  Cairo  dui'ing  my  visit 
in  August,  1853.  I  do  not  i-emember  where 
the  preaching  was — perhaps  in  some  room  in 
a  hotel.     In  April,   1855,    I   was  there  and 


preached.  The  meeting  was  held  in  a  school- 
house,  back  in  the  woods.  I  think  this 
building  has  since  been  used  as  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  I  think  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1855,  O.  Kellogg,  then  in 
ttie  Jonesboro  work,  visited  the  place  one  or 
more 'times,  and  I  corresponded  with  Bishop 
Ames,  proposing  to  connect  it  with  Jones- 
boro.  I  thought  the  arrangement  doubtful, 
as  a  circuit  lay  between.  Bishop  Ames  con- 
sented to  the  work,  but  it  was  not  effected." 
When  the  good  old  Elder  comes  to  the  effort 
to  recall  the  early  Methodist  families,  he 
quaintly  says:  "  I  cannot  call  up  any  of  the 
names  of  the  first  members.  There  was  the 
wife  of  a  hotel  keeper — a  Pole  or  Spaniard 
or  some  kind  of  a  foi'eigner — with  an  unpro- 
nounceable name.  [This  must  have  been 
old  Rattlemueller. — Ed.]  They  called  him 
for  convenience,  Martin.  [This  was  where 
Mark  Twain  got  his  idea  when  in  Eui-ope  of 
calling  each  one  of  his  guides  Furgeson. — 
En.]  The  two  or  three  families  in  Cairo 
were  anxious  for  regular  preaching  and  I  as 
anxious  to  supply  them.  *  *  *  On  one 
of  my  visits,  I  stopped  on  a  boat  (hotel). 
The  landlord  was  not  a  Methodist,  but  very 
clever  to  us.  He  told  me  of  one  G.  who  had 
been  a  Baptist,  a  Methodist  and  a  Presbyte- 
rian, and  who  at  one  time  proposed  to  be  a 
preacher.  He  boarded  a  long  time  at  this 
hotel,  and  the  last  the  landlord  saw  of  him, 
he  was  wending  his  way  up  the  levee,  carrying 
his  bundle  and  said  he  was  hunting  a  cheaper 
hotel.  The  jolly  landlord  laughed  when  he 
said  he  did  not  know  where  he  could  find 
such,  as  he  never  paid  him  a  cent." 

In  a  letter  from  Rev.  R.  H.  Manier,  we 
are  permitted  to  extract  the  following  his- 
orical  facts:  "I  was  stationed  in  Cairo  in 
1856.  Brother  G.  \V.  Hughey  was  my  pred- 
ecessor. When  I  took  charge,  the  church 
was  inclosed  and  the  roof  on.     The  trustees 


184 


HISTORY   OF  CAIRO. 


were  in  debt,  and  the  workmen  wanting 
money.  I  spent  the  iirst  Sabbath  after  con- 
ference in  Cairo,  and  on  Monday  following 
struck  out  to  raise  money.  From  that  time 
until  the  church  was  finished  I  was  on  the 
wing.  It  required  $1,200  to  pay  what  was 
due  and  finish  the  church,  I  had  succeeded 
in  raising  about  $800,  when  the  church  was 
completed  and  left  only  S400  in  debt,  which 
we  hoped  to  raise  on  the  day  of  dedication, 
which  was  early  in  February,  but  postponed 
on  account  of  small-pox  breaking  out  in  a 
boarding  house  on  a  corner  opposite  the 
church,  until  the  latter  part  of  March.  Dr. 
Akers  preached  the  dedication  sermon — I 
cannot  recall  the  text.  *  *  *  AVe  had 
bad  luck  on  the  day  of  dedication.  When 
Dr.  A.kers  had  only  fairly  commenced  his 
sermon,  a  strong  March  wind  started  dowD 
the  flue,  and  the  coal  smoke  poured  out  in 
the  room  and  drove  the  people  out,  most  of 
whom  went  home,  and  the  Doctor  finished  his 
discourse  to  empty  benches.  The  collection 
was  an  utter  failure.  I  started  out  again 
and  did  not  return  until  I  had  the  money  to 
pay  off  the  debt.  *  *  *  The  member- 
ship when  I  went  there  consisted,  as  I  now 
remember,  of  S.  S.  Brooks  and  family,  W. 
P.  Trunnion  and  wife,  Miss  Emma  Robert- 
son, Sister  Martin,  Dr.  J.  G.  D.  Pettijohn, 
Sister  Finch  and  James  Degear. " 

The  pastors  in  charge  and  in  the  order  of 
their  ministering  to  the  congregation  in  Cairo 
were  as  follows:  First  regular  pastor,  G.  W. 
Hughey,  October  1,  1855;  R.  H.  Manier, 
1856;  J.  A.  Scan-itt,  1857;  Carlyle  Babbitt, 
1858;  G.  \V.  Jenks,  1859;  L.  Hawkins,  1860; 
J.  W.  Lowe,  1861;  (one  year  unknown);  G. 
W.  Hughey,  1863,  and  re- appointed;  H. 
Sears,  1865;  A.  M.  Brybon,  1866;  John 
VanCleve,  1867;  C.  Lothrop,  1868;  F.  M. 
Van  Trees,  1869-70;  F.  L.  Thompson,  1871 
-72;  J.  L.  Waller,  1874^75;  J.  D.  Gilham, 


1876;  A.  P.  Morrison,  1877;  W.  F.  Whit- 
taker,  1878-79  and  1880;  J.  A.  Scarritt, 
1882,  and  is  the  present  incumbent. 

]VIr.  Scarritt  is  a  native  of  Madison  County, 
111.,  boi-n  Juno  23,  1827.  His  parents,  Na- 
than and  Letty  (Aulds)  Scarritt,  both  of  New 
England,  came  to  Illinois  in  1820,  and  re- 
sided in  Madison  County.  There  were  ten 
children  in  the  family,  Mr.  J.  A.  being  the 
tenth  child.  He  entered  the  ministry  in 
1851,  and  since  that  time  has  belonged  to  the 
conference  he  joined.  He  married  Harriet 
Meldrum;  the  issue  of  this  marriage  was 
three  children,  only  one  now  living — Mrs. 
George  Parsons,  of  Cairo. 

The  Baptisi  Church  was  organized  October 
26,  1880.  Though  this  church  has  not  yet 
completed  the  third  year  of  its  existence,  the 
causes  that  led  to  and  are  connected  with  its 
institution  date  back  several  years.  Thei'e 
being  no  records  that  are  accessible,  we  can- 
not speak  particvilarly  of  the  work  previous 
to  March,  1877.  At  the  time  named  above, 
the  remnant  of  Baptists  in  the  city  was  re- 
enforced  by  a  few  others  who  came  to  make 
this  their  home,  and  after  a  number  of  con- 
sultations to  devise  ways  and  means  for  the 
establishment  of  some  organization  that 
would  be  the  means,  of  disseminating  Baptist 
principles,  it  was  finally  determined  that  a 
Sunday  school  be  organized  as  a  nucleus 
or  rallying  point  fi'om  which  to  direct  other 
efforts  when  the  time  should  be  ripe  for  them. 
February  10,  1878.  the  first  session  of  the 
Sunday  school  was  held.  Twenty  persons 
were  present — including  all  ages.  Mr. 
George  W.  Strode  was  elected  Superintendent, 
which  office  he  has  filled  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  school  since  that  time.  Mrs.  Joseph  W. 
Stewart  (since  deceased)  was  chosen  Sec- 
retary and  Treasurer.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George 
W.  Strode,  Mr.  C.  B.  S.  Pennebaker. 
Mr.    James  W.   Stewart,   Mrs.  O.  N.   Brain- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


185 


ard  and  Miss  A.  Rogers  were  appointed 
teachers.  Papers,  necessary  Sabbath  school 
helps,  and  an  organ  were  speedily  pro- 
cured, and  the  growth  of  the  school, 
though  slow  at  first,  was  steady  and  con- 
stant, both  in  numbers  and  interest;  dur- 
ing its  second  year,  it  received  an  important 
accession  to  its  working  force  in  the  persons 
of  Mrs.  and  Miss  W.  C.  Augur,  of  Hartford, 
Conn.,  whose  active  labors  are  still  enlisted 
in  the  interest  of  the  church  and  school. 
While  the  Sunday  school  prospered,  hav- 
ing reached  during  its  third  year  an  atten- 
dance of  seventy- five  to  one  hundred,  the 
question  of  organizing  a  Baptist  Church  was 
often  and  anxiously  considered,  and  October 
26,  1880,  this  long  desired  object  was  accom- 
plished. After  a  sermon  by  Rev.  W.  F. 
Kone,  pastor  at  the  First  Baptist  Church  at 
Huntsville,  Ala.,  a  council  consisting  of  Revs. 
W.  F.  Kone,  of  Huntsville,  Ala.,  G.  L.  Tal- 
bert  and  A.  J.  Hess,  of  Columbus,  Ky.,  was 
convened,  and  the  church  duly  recognized 
according  to  the  custom  in  such  cases.  The 
charter  members  comprised  the  following 
persons:  George  W.  Strode  and  wife,  Mrs. 
Marj'  P.  Strode,  C.  B.  S.  Pennebaker,  Isaac 
N.  Smith  and  wife,  IVIi-s.  Louisa  E.  Smith, 
A.  J.  Alden  and  wife,  Mrs.  B.  E.  Alden,  H. 
Leighton,  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Parks,  Mrs.  M.  J. 
Dewey,  Mrs.  Whittaker,  Mrs.  William  Mor- 
ton, W.  C.  Augur  and  wife,  Mrs.  Julia  C. 
Augur,  Mrs.  N.  E.  Coster  and  Mrs.  Sarah 
S.  Stickney — sixteen  in  all.  The  new  or- 
ganization assumed  the  name,  Cairo  Baptist 
Church.  George  W.  Strode,  who  had  been  or- 
dained Deacon  of  the  Columbus,  Ky.,  church, 
was  recognized  to  the  same  office  in  the  new 
chiu'ch.  C.  B.  S.  Pennebaker  was  chosen 
Clerk,  which  office  he  still  holds.  A  call  was 
extended  to  Rev.  A.  J.  Hess,  which  he  ac- 
cepted, generously  proposing  to  visit  Cairo 
once  each  month  and  minister  to  the  chui-ch 


without  definite  promise  of  compensation  un- 
til ai-rangements  cuuld  be  made  to  secure 
that  object.  The  upper  room  of  "  Temper- 
ance Hall "  was  rented  as  the  regular  place 
of  meeting  for  the  church  and  Sunday  school. 

In  November  following  the  organization, 
Rev.  W.  F.  Kone,  who  had  been  granted 
leave  of  absence  by  his  church  for  that  pur- 
pose, returned  to  Cairo  and  with  the  assist- 
ance of  Revs.  A.  J.  Hess,  pastor,  and  G.  L. 
Talbert,  of  Columbus.  Ky.,  held  a  series  of 
meetings  with  the  church,  which  resulted  in 
eight  additions  by  letter  and  fourteen  by 
baptism,  a  success  that  gave  the  new  church 
a  very  encouraging  start  on  its  mission. 
About  this  time,  the  Baptist  General  Asso- 
ciation of  the  State  came  to  the  assistance  of 
the  church  to  the  extent  of  secui'ing  the  serv- 
ices of  its  pastor  for  one  Sabbath  each 
month,  and  a  few  months  later  the  "  Clear 
Creek  Association "  of  Southern  Illinois 
promised  additional  aid,  which  enabled  the 
church  to  obtain  the  services  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Hess  for  two  Sabbaths  each  month,  an  ar- 
rangement which  continued  until  January, 
1883. 

The  greatest  need  was  a  house,  and  many 
plans  were  conceived  and  discussed,  Jooking^ 
to  the  accomplishment  of  that  object.  Pend- 
ing these  discussions,  the  chiu'ch  was  visited 
by  Rev.  1.  N.  Hobart,  Superintendent  of 
Missions  for  the  Baptist  General  Association 
of  Illinois,  whose  kindly  interest  was  then,, 
and  has  since  been,  successfully  exerted*  in 
behalf  of  the  work  in  Cairo.  Through  his 
recommendation,  the  church  was  afterward 
enabled  to  secure  financial  assistance,  in  the 
way  of  a  loan — referred  to  in  another  part 
of  this  sketch — which  aided  it  to  place  its 
property  in  very  secure  shape.  Dr.  Hobart's 
successor.  Rev.  E.  S.  Graham,  present  Sup- 
erintendent of  Missions,  has  also  manifested 
much    interest  in   the   Cairo   work,  and  has. 


186 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


done  much  to  enlist  the  sympathy  and  assist- 
ance of  the  local  and  general  associations  in 
its  favor. 

Failing  to  secure  desirable  lots  on  which 
to  erect  a  building,  the  church,  through  its 
Trustees,  George  ^\.  Strode,  Isaac  N.  Smith 
and  C.  B.  S.  Pennebaker,  accepted  the  propo- 
sition of  the  Turner  Society  to  sell  their 
property,  three  lots,  and  a  neat,  well-built 
hall,  comparatively  new,  30x65  feet,  with 
audience  room  30x50  feet,  and  smaller  rooms 
at  end  facing  Poplar  street.  The  price 
agreed  upon  was  $2, 500.  At  the  time  of  the 
purchase,  the  church  had  less  than  $100  in 
its  treasury,  but  with  the  contributions  of  its 
members,  and  the  generous  assistance  of 
freinds,  in  the  city  and  abroad,  about  $1,700 
was  raised,  which,  with  a  loan  from  "  The 
American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society," 
enabled  the  Trustees  to  pay  for  the  property 
before  the  expiration  of  the  thirty  days  al- 
lowed them  by  the  Tm-ners.  During  the  first 
year,  including  the  purchase  of  property  and 
necessary  changes  and '  repairs,  more  than 
$3,000  were  expended,  leaving  an  indebted- 
ness of  $1,300,  about  $300  of  which  has 
since  been  paid  off,  so  that  the  present  in- 
debtedness is  about  $1,000. 

The  church  was  re -painted,  outside  and 
inside,  new  pews,  pulpit,  baptistry,  di-essing- 
rooms,  etc.,  provided,  and  other  improvements 
and  furniture  added,  until  their  church 
home,  though  still  wanting  in  some  respects, 
is  one  of  which  the  members  feel  justly 
proud,  when  they  remember  that  so  recently 
they  were  homeless.  In  September,  1881, 
Rev.  W.  F.  Kone  again  visited  Cairo,  and 
assisted  Rev.  A.  J.  Hess,  pastor,  in  a  series  of 
meetings,  resulting  in  four  additions  by 
letter,  and  seventeen  by  baptism — thus  in- 
creasing the  membership  to  sixty-seven, 
a  gain  of  forty-one  during  the  year.  In  the 
following  spring,  the  anxiety  and  apprehen- 


sion on  account  of  the  threatened  overflow  of 
the  city,  and  the  annoyance  from  the  unusual 
accumulation  of  "sipe"  water,  had  a  depress- 
ing effect  on  the  chvirch  and  Sabbath  school 
work,  as  well  as  of  the  material  interests  of 
many  of  those  interested  in  it,  several  of 
whom  removed  from  the  city,  so  that  until 
recently  the  membership  of  the  church  had 
not  increased  in  the  aggregate,  the  acces- 
sions and  losses  being  about  equal.  At  the 
close  of  the  second  year,  tbe  church  invited 
Rev.  A.  J.  Hess,  who  had  faithfully  preached 
for  it  twice  each  month  since  the  organiza- 
tion, to  become  its  pastor  for  the  whole  of 
his  time,  but  as  the  aid  promised  by  the  as- 
sociation was  not  sufficient  to  assui'e  an 
adequate  salary  from  the  church,  while  the 
church  at  Charleston,  Mo.,  the  home  of  Mr. 
Hess,  was  prepared  to  offer  him  full  support, 
he  was  compelled  to  decline  the  jnvitation 
from  Cairo.  This  left  the  Cairo  chm-ch 
without  a  pastor  from  January  to  May,  1883, 
during  which  time  it  suffered  the  usual  de- 
cline in  interest  under  such  circumstances, 
though  all  its  social  and  business  meetings 
and  the  Sunday  school  were  promptly  at- 
tended to  by  the  members.  During  April, 
1883,  Rev.  A.  W.  McGaha,  of  the  "  Southern 
Baptist  Theological  Seminary,"  Louisville, 
Ky. ,  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  the  church 
as  pastor,  and  accepted  with  the  understand- 
ing that  his  labors  should  terminate  with 
the  commencement  of  the  next  session  of  the 
Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  in 
the  event  that  he  should  decide  to  return  to 
that  institution.  Mr.  McGaha  commenced 
his  labors  with  the  church  here  the  tii'st  Sab- 
bath in  May,  and  in  the  short  time  that  he 
has  been  in  Caii'o  bas  exhibited  a  degree  of 
earnestness  and  zeal  that  has  gained  the  con- 
fidence and  esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  comes 
in  contact.  Since  the  16th  of  May,  he  has 
been  engaged  in  a   series  of   meetings    with 


M^' 


lyry 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


189 


the  church,  in  which  he  has  had  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Pui'ser  brothers,  Rev.  D.  J.  and 
John  F.,  evangelists,  of  Mississippi,  the 
success  of  whose  labors  in  many  other  cities 
gave  promise  of  a  good  work  in  Cairo,  which 
has  been  realized.  The  meetings  were  held 
at  the  church  every  afternoon  and  evening, 
from  the  above  date  until  Sunday  evening, 
June  9,  1883 — nearly  four  weeks — resulting 
in  thirty-six  additions  to  the  church;  live  by 
letter,  twenty-seven  by  baptism,  three  under 
watch -care  and  one  awaiting  baptism,  mak- 
ing the  total  membership  at  this  time  ninety- 
nine,  and  three  under  watch-care.  The  Sun- 
day school  has  a  present  average  attendance 
of  about  one  hiindred  and  twenty,  under  the 
following  officers  and  teachers: 

George  W.  Strode,  Superintendent;  C.  B. 
S.  Pennebaker,  Assistant  Superintendent; 
Arthur  Lemen,  Secretary;  AY.  C.  Augur, 
Treasvu-er. 

Teachers — George  A^^  Strode,  Mrs.  Mary 
P.  Strode,  Mrs.  W.  C.  Augui-,  C.  B.  S.  Pen- 
nebaker, Mrs.  Carrie  S.  Hudson  (infant 
class),  Mrs.  M.  A.  Walker,  Mrs.  Robert 
Baird,  Mrs.  Thomas  Wilson,  and  the  pastor's 
Glass  for  study  of  characters  in  the  Old 
Testament,  just  organized. 

All  the  expenses  of  the  church,  including 
pastor's  salary,  are  paid  from  a  common  fund, 
raised  by  subscription  and  voluntary  con- 
tributions of  the  members. 

Though  the  membership  of  the  church  is, 
perhaps,  weaker,  financially,  than  any  of  the 
other  leading  societies  in  the  city,  the  special 
efforts  it  has  put  forth  to  build  up  and  per- 
manently establish  and  secure  the  cause  of 
the  denomination  in  Cairo,  have  brought  it 
prominently  before  the  public,  and  done 
much  to  acquaint  the  people  with  Baptist 
faith  and  practices. 

Considering  its  growth  in  the  past  few 
years,  its  present  condition  and  future  pros- 


pects, it  would  seem  that  the  Baptists  have 
at  last  succeeded  in  establishing  their  cause 
in  Cairo,  with  a  reasonable  assurance  of  per- 
manence and  prosperity. 

The  Schools. — In  a  preceding  chapter,  we 
have  told  of  the  incipient  efforts  in  Cairo, 
commencing  with  Glass'  first  pay-school, 
and  briefly  traced  them  along  in  their  suc- 
cession to  the  time  that  the  State  had  pro- 
vided for  free  public  schools,  which  auspi- 
cious event  occurred  in  Cairo  in  the  year 
1854. 

The  throwing  open  the  schoolroom  doors, 
free  to  all  the  world  of  school  age,  should 
mark  an  era  and  prove  an  auspicious  hour  for 
mankind.  The  admonition,  "  put  money  in 
thy  purse,"  has  out-traveled  the  electricity, 
and  long  enough  been  the  controlling,  cen- 
tral idea  of  all  races  of  men;  and  the  public 
free  school  was  the  idea,  at  least,  of  that  on- 
ward step  to  put  knowledge  in  the  head. 
The  world's  gains  in  wealth,  and  comforts, 
and  leisure,  are  necessary  first  steps  to  real 
education,  because  this  alone  is  that  wonder- 
ful law  or  force  that  separates  the  toiler  from 
the  thinker,  a  line  of  distinction  among  most 
men  not  pleasant  to  contemplate,  yet  it  is 
one  of  the  inscrutable  laws  of  God.  Good 
men  dream  of  ^that  better  time  coming,  of 
that  equality  among  all,  and  the  obliterating 
of  all  lines  that  may  possibly  distinguish  all 
idea  of  classes.  The  foolish  believe  this  not 
only  possible,  but  that  it  is  the  "open 
sesame"  to  complete  happiness.  Mental  and 
social  equality  are  not  desirable  things,  even 
were  they  possible  of  attainment.  Look 
about  you,  and  see  if  it  is  the  order  of  nature 
to  make  things  alike.  You  will  see  that  the 
prefection  of  the  whole  is  the  universal 
variety,  the  endless  dissimilarity,  the  infinite 
differences,  the  impossibility,  in  short,  of 
any  two  things  in  all  nature    being    exactly 

similar,    that   constitutes    the    oneness    and 

1 1 


lyO 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


grandeur  of  the  infiuite  universe.  But  men 
dream  of  equality,  of  a  brotherhood  of  maa- 
kind,  when  they  idealize  only  a  similarity, 
and  this  is  the  perfection  for  which  they 
yearn. 

The  childi-en  are  the  child's  school  teacher; 
the   young  people   educate  each  other,   and 
they  all  have  social  joys  in  the  communion  of 
thoughts  ripened  by  observation  and  experi- 
ments.     This  is  the  order  of  nature,  and  it 
never  has,  nor  never  will  be,  changed.     For 
over  seventeen    hundred   years,  the   pietistic 
schools  have  been  earnestly  engaged  in  edu- 
cating the   ever-rising   generations— sowing 
the  seeds  of  knowledge  in  the  young  minds 
that  were  to  blossom  and  bear   fruit  for  that 
fabled  Golden  Age  that  has  never  come— a 
rtopia  of  which  we  may  di-eam  sweet  day- 
dreams, but  never  taste.     A  boy  goes  to  col- 
lege, or  the  academy,  and  through  the  cur- 
riculum,   graduates  with  high  honors,   and 
sometimes  spend  the  remainder  of  their  lives 
rendering   praise    to  their  Alma  Mater,  and 
die  in  the  sincere  faith  that  it  was  the  vener- 
able President  and  Professors  who  educated 
them.  This  innocent  mistake  comes  from  the 
oversight     that    it  was    his    Professor    that 
trained  him  only,  while  it  was  his  associates 
nearly   always,  good   books,    outside    of  his 
school,  text  books,  sometimes,  that  had  done 
the  real  work  of  education.     In  other  words, 
the  old  train  the  young,  while  the  real  edu- 
cation of  the  young  is  in  the  social  life,  the 
intimate    and    friendly    associations    of    the 
young  with  their  equals  in  age— the  contact 
of   minds   with  minds,  where   a  nearly  com- 
plete conhdence  and  congeniality  exists.  The 
venerable  grandsires,  in  their  great  interest 
and     eager     love,    deliver     their     maturest 
thoughts  in    epigrams,  and  "wise   saws"  to 
the  loved  human  kittens,  who  are,  apparently, 
all  respectful  attention,  but  who  are  eager  for 
tbat  romp  and  play  with  their  playmates,  and 


this  again  teaches  old  age  a  lesson  it  will  not 
learn,  that  it  is  in  the  merry  shout  and  rip- 
pling laughter  of  merry  childhood  that 
brings  that  happy  Commission  of  budding 
souls  of  which  comes  healthy  minds  and  edu- 
cated intellects. 

Among  the  oldest  schools  in  history  was 
that  of  Epicurus,  in  Athens,  and  that  of  the 
sweet  and  lovely  girl  of  Alexandria,  Hvpatia. 
The  school  of  Epicurus  was  a  social  club, 
that  wandered,  and  lounged,  and  conversed 
in  the  winding  walks  and  grateful  shades  of 
the  gardens:  and  the  gifted  and  beautiful 
girl.  Hypatia.  from  the  porches  of  Alexan- 
dria discussed  those  great  and  unanswered 
questions,  "Who  am  I?  Where  am  I? 
Whither  am  I  going?" 

This  remarkable  girl  was  torn  in  pieces  by 
a  fanatic  mob,  for  discussing  these  great 
and,  so  far,  insoluble  questions;  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  in  this  nineteeath  century  blaze 
of  liberty  of  discussion,  we  may  not  be  sim- 
ilarly served  for  asking  similar  questions,  but 
concerning  the  less  vital  interests  of  the 
soul,  but  the  yet  greatest  of  all  temporal 
ones,  that  of  education:  Where  is  it?  What 
is  it?     Where  can  it  be  obtained? 

To  answer  the  first  of  the  above  questions 
intellio-ently,  it  is  essential  first  to  fully  un- 
derstand the  second  one — Education,  What 
is  it?  All  talk  about  it,  and  it  runs  glibly 
over  the  tongue  of  the  youngest  and  oldest, 
the  learned  and  the  unlearned,  and  nine- 
tenths  of  all  civilized  peoples  would  stare  at 
you,  were  you  in  seriousness  to  ask  them  the 
question.  The  dictionaries  all  define  the 
word,  and  everybody  fully  understands  it, 
yet,  What  is  education  ?  The  wi'iter  remem- 
bers hearing  the  simple  question  asked  of  a 
Teachers'  Institute,  and  most  painfully  does 
he  recollect  that  they  did  not  and  could  not 
tell,  although  there  were  professors  there 
who  were   supposed   to   be    eminent  in   the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


191 


rjinks    of    educators.        Educators,    and    not 
know  what  education  is!  it's  something  of  a 
travesty.      Had  this  institute  been  composed 
of  very  ignorant  men,  not  only  ignorant  but 
unculturetl,    each     member   could    have    an- 
swered the  question  in  a  moment,  and  showed 
supreme    contempt    for    the    poor    fool    that 
would  ask  such  a   question.      For  more  than 
seventeen  hundred  years,  the  present  systems 
cr    ideas  have  prevailed   in  the  school  room. 
We  do    not  mean    that  the    same   things  are 
taught  now  that  were  in  the  olden  time,  but 
that  the  present  system,  the  cardinal  ideas 
all    through   it,    are    based   upon   the   first 
schools  founded  in  Egypt  so  many  centuries 
ago,  and  that  at  their  foundation  were  one  of 
the   greatest    advances  of   civilization.     The 
first  schools  were  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
memorizing  the  'precepts  and  philosophies  of 
the  fathers,  in   whose    sayings  were  all  wis- 
dom  and  all    good;  in   short,  it  was   then  a 
process  of   committing  to  memory    and  it  is 
exactly   this  now.     The  manner   and  forms 
have  all  undergone  wonderful   changes,  but 
the  substance,  as  found  in  the  school  room  of 
to-day,  and  those  of    the  long  ages  ago,  are 
identical.     The    earliest  educator's  supposed 
that   training  the    mind  was   education,  and 
that,  therefore,  a  training-room  was  a  school; 
whereas  it  is  a  fact  you  may   commit,  were 
this  a  possibility,  every  book,  manuscript  and 
tradition  in  the   world  to    memory,  and  still 
you  may  not  be  at  all  educated.      Could  you 
retain  them  all   after  they  were   memorized, 
you    would  have  a    wonderful   storehouse — 
mostly  trash  and  rubbish — yet  what  an  inex- 
haustible supply  of   facts,  and   many   of   the 
greatest  thoughts  fi-om  the  busiest  and  best 
brains.     Could   you  separate  the  wheat  from 
the  chaff  in  this  storehouse,  and  make  a  prac- 
tical, everyday  use  of    it  all,  you    might  be 
the  best  informed  man  in  the  world,  and  still 
not  educated.     But  few  men,  owing  to  the 


general  vagueness  of  their  ideas,  can  draw 
any  distinction  between  training  and  educa- 
tion, and  hence  it  is  that  so  few  in  the  world 
ever  give  a  thought  to  the  subject  of  what 
real  education  is.  This  is  an  inexhaustible 
theme,  and  we  do  not  purpose  to  do  more 
than  to  look  briofiy  xipon  its  most  outward 
boundaries,  in  the  hope  that  a  hint  may  be 
dropped  that  will  attract  the  attention  of 
some  mind  that  will  push  the  investigation 
to  its  final  issue. 

What  is  education  ?  It  is  getting  knowledge. 
And  what  is  knowledge?  It  is  the  under- 
standing of  the  mental  and  physical  laws. 
To  yet  bi'oaden,  and  simplify  the  definition 
— to  understand  the  natural  laws.  We 
mean  the  laws  that  govern  mind  and  matter. 

These  terms  and  definitions  must  not  be 
confounded  in  the  mind  of  the  reader,  or  our 
words  will  be  worse  than  in  vain.  To  most 
people  it  looks  like  a'very  simple,  if  not  con- 
tfimptible,  proposition  to  talk  about  under- 
standing the  natural  laws — laws  that  govern 
mind  and  matter.  Yet  this  once  accom- 
plished, and  you  are  possessed  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Omniscience,  the  wisdom  of  the  true 
God.  Knowledge,  therefore,  is  not  the 
ability  to  read  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  or 
to  solve  all  the  problems  in  mathematics,  or 
to  talk  glibly,  and  give  in  detail  other  men's 
thoughts.  In  fact,  the  fundamental  idea  of 
the  college  and  university  is  such,  that  the 
most  learned  man  may  be  truly  the  most  ig- 
norant. W^o  do  not  say  that  of  necessity  it 
is  so,  but  that  such  a  case  is  possible. 
Learning  and  knowledge — when  learning 
means  memorizing — have  so  little  in  com- 
mon, that  it  is  simj)ly  amazing  that,  for  such 
a  long  reach  of  time,  they  could  have  been 
confounded  as  being  synonymous  terms.  To 
think  intelligently  npnu  this  subject,  the  dis- 
tinctions between  a  training-school  and  a 
school  for  educational    purposes,  it   must  be 


192 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


borne  in  mind,  are  vastly  different  things. 
And  that  parent  only  is  competent  to  super- 
intend the  education  of  the  child,  who  clear- 
ly comprehends  what  education  is. 

But  we  are  told,  from   age  to  age,  that  the 
school  is  not  created  for  the  purpose  of  im- 
parting knowledge  to   the  child,  but   to  de- 
velop and   strengthen   the  mind  and  show  it 
how  to  grow  strong;  to  put  the  instruments 
within  its  reach,  and  in  after  life  it  may  use 
them   at  will;  to    be    a  mental  gymnasium, 
and  to    criss-cross    the    mental    limbs,  so   to 
speak,  with  great  rolls  of  muscles  of  strength, 
as  are  the  athlete's  arms  and  limbs  developed 
in  the   physical    gymnasium.     Well,    let   us 
glance  at  this  a  moment.     Does   your  child 
need  be  shown  how  to  grow  into   physical 
strength     and     beauty?       Were   not    those 
fathers  fools    who    supposed  they  could  put 
their     children    in    strait-jackets,    to    form 
them  on  a   plan    better  than  the    strong  im- 
pulses of  their  nature  ?     If    exercise    in  the 
way  of  tasks — and  we  know  of  no  system  of 
labor  in  the  world  where  tasks  universal  pre- 
vails ^s  in  the  school  room — if  this  is  the  way 
to  develop  the  physical,  why  should  a  child 
ever   be  allowed  to  play,  but   make  it  work. 
The  most  ignorant  "parents  well  understand 
that  the  very  young  child  put  to  work  is  de- 
formed in  its  gi-owth,  and  often  killed.     And 
yet  the  healthy  young  child  is  a  perfect  cub- 
bear.     It  looks  incredible  how  long  their  lit- 
tle bodies  can   endure    the   apparently  most 
fatiguing   plays.      Let   the    grown    man    at- 
tempt, for  a  few  hours,  to  follow  a  romping 
boy,  and  make  as  many  steps,  and  subject  his 
body  to  all  the  trials  of  strength  and  strains 
the  boy  does,  and   he  would  fall  by  the  way 
exhausted.     Yet   reverse  it,  and  let  the  boy 
attempt  the   steady,    tiresome    labor  of   the 
man,  and  how  soon  would  he  fall  and  expire. 
Watch  a  half-dozen  children,  from  the  wee 
toddler  to  the  nearly  grown,  romping,  scream- 


ing, shouting  their  unaccountable  delight  in 
their  furious  plays,  and  then  reflect   for  but 
a  moment,  and  you  will  realize  that  they  are 
only    growing,   developing   in    the   natural, 
only  way  they  can  be  developed  into  strong, 
brave  men   and  queenly,  beautiful   women. 
Do  you  imagine  you  could  build  a  room,  and 
hire  a  teacher,  and  crowd  them  in  there  and 
teach    them  how  to    develop    their   physical 
systems?     True,   you  know  but  little  about 
their  physical  systems,  and  may  well  excuse 
yourself  on  that   ground  but  then  you  know 
absolutely  nothing  about  their  mental  sys- 
tem.    And  yet  you  proceed  about  the  rigid 
control,   and    mastery    and    direction  of    the 
mind,  as    though  you   possessed   more  than 
Omniscient  wisdom  on  this  one   point.      To 
look  upon  the  young  babe    in  its    mother's 
arms,  is  to    love    at   once  the   blesse4    little 
bundle  of  squirming,  idiotic   innocence   and 
angelic  purity,  for  "  of  such  is  the  [kingdom 
of  heaven,"  and  yet  it  is   to  shudder  for  the 
possibilities  of  broken   parental   hearts,  and 
the   unspeakable   woe   that  may   yet  come  of 
that  innocence  and  purity,  through  mistaken 
ignorance  in  its  training  and  education.     We 
are  not  extravagant,  then,  when  we  say  that 
the    training    and  education  of    the  coming 
generations    is  the   one   great,    transcendent 
subject  of  life.     To  be   mistaken  here  is  to 
risk  more  than    your   own  life,  and  the   life 
and  happiness  of  all  you   hold   dear  on  this 
earth. 

The  proposition  is  to  us  self-evident  that 
the  infant  mind  can  no  more  be  developed 
into  health  and  strength  by  work  than  can 
the  body.  Either  mental  or  physical  work, 
to  the  young  and  tender,  is  the  highway  to 
imbecility  and  deformity.  Let  the  child 
play — watching  over  and  so  directing  it, 
without  its  knowl  edge  of  your  doing  so,  as 
to  protect  and  keep  it  from  absolutely  injur- 
ing itself   by  thoughtless    exposures  and  in- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


193 


discreet  taxings,  and  yon  may  laugh  at  the 
doctor  and  his  nostrum'?  and  his  bills  to  save 
the  lives  of  yoiu*  childi'en.  And  if  you  have 
ever  spent  a  day  with  a  child,  you  will  know 
that  it  wants  to  take  its  exercise  in  the  open 
air,  not  in  the  well-warmed  schoolroom  or 
nursery.  Every  instinct  and  impulse  of  the 
child  as  naturally  leads  it  to  its  mental  as  to 
its  bodily  development.  But  one  is  as  much 
a  play  with  it  as  the  other.  Its  young  mind 
is  as  active  as  its  precious  little  body.  It 
will  ask  questions  until  the  father  or  mother 
will  impatiently  beg  it  to  stop  or  it  will  kill 
them.  Is  not  this  the  identical  result,  when 
a  grown  person  commences  to  play  with  a 
child?  The  adult  will  tire  in  a  few  moments, 
and  beg  to  be  let  alone,  when  the  child  feels 
it  has  hardly  commenced.  It  is  ordered  by 
authority,  to  "  be  still."  Watch  the  cloud 
pass  over  its  bright  face  as  it  breathes  softly 
and  tries  to  obey,  when  it  can  no  more  con- 
trol its  impulsive  yielding  to  that  higher  law 
than  it  can  stop  breathing,  and  then  it  turns 
to  its  real  schoolmaster,  its  equal  and  play- 
mate, and,  stealing  away  from  the  angry  face, 
they  resume  the  work  of  physical  and  mental 
growth. 

We  hold  this  to  be  true,  and  we  speak  from 
experience,  that  you  may  commence  teaching 
your  child  as  soon  as  it  can  prattle,  always 
as  play  and  never  as  a  task,  and  by  the  time 
it  can  talkj'plain,  you  can  have  it  to  both 
read  and  wi'ite  and  sjiell  correctly  the  name 
of  nearly  every  one  of  its  playthings  and  the 
articles  of  fiirnitm'e  about  the  house.  We  do 
not  attach  any  value  to  this  very  young  play- 
education,  yet,  if  it  is  play  that  it  enjoys 
with  the  keen  zest  of  infancy,  it  will  not 
probably  hurt  it.  This  can  be  done  with 
any  ordinarily  "bright  child,  and  yet  foolish 
fathers  and  mothers  will  tell  you  they  are 
always  too  biisy  to  teach  their  children  any- 
thing at  home.     It    is  not  that  they    are  too 


busy,  but  only  too  ignorant.  They  are,  may- 
hap, both  graduates  of  some  institution  of 
learning,  and  yet  so  ignorant  that  they  will 
undertake  to  rear  a  family,  when  incompe- 
tent, really,  for  the  position  of  caring  for 
blind  puppies. 

We  champion  the  cause  of  outraged  inno- 
cence and  blessed  childhood.  We  would  war 
to  the  death  upon  that  monster,  ignorance, 
whether  "  learned  ignorance  "  or  that  more 
excusable,  inherited  and  common,  if  not  uni- 
versal, kind.  We  would  enact  it  a  capital 
crime  to  task  a  child.  It  is  simply  the  most 
inexcusable  and  infernal  species  of  slavery. 
It  is  soul-polluting,  and  enslaving  and  de- 
grading your  own  flesh  and  blood,  and  where 
such  a  wretched  practice  prevails,  it  is  mar- 
velous that  mankind  does  not  relapse  into 
brutal  barbarism.  We  know  of  but  one 
thing  meaner,  more  degrading  or  infamous, 
and  that  is  whipping  ,yom'  child.  In  the 
schools — we  blush  for  the  age  of  which  this 
must  be  written — they  call  it  "corporal  pun- 
ishment," and  flatter  themselves  that  that 
great  compound  word  can  cover  the  blotch 
and  deep  damnation  of  the  monster  act. 

But  we  stop  abruptly  in  this  line  of 
thought,  appalled  at  the  immensity  of  the 
subject,  as  it  grows  in  the  succession  of  ideas 
as  they  follow  each  other.  Assuming,  as  we 
may,  that  the  most  important  subject  in  this 
life  is  the  education  of  the  young,  we  might 
be  justified  in  disregai'ding  all  else,  and  fol- 
lowing these  merest  hints  to  their  final  and 
inevitable  conclusions,  and  elaborating  them, 
at  least,  in  a  manner  that  might  make  plain 
to  tlie  comprehension  of  all  the  views  of 
the  writer.  To  conviucf  intelligent  thinkers 
that  this  important  institution  deserves  to  be 
ever  examined  and  watched,  and  that  it  is  a 
foolish  people  who  sit  supinely  down  in  the 
faith  that  the  fathers  jiossessed  all  wisdom, 
and  had  so   arranged  ouv   schoolrooms,   that 


194 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


any  further  questioning  of  the  system  is  a 
folly,  if  not  a  crime.  In  heaven's  name, 
No!  We  would  not  wi-ite  the  schools  down, 
but  up.  We  would  correct  the  wrongs,  if 
any,  and  improve  and  perfect  the  good.  And, 
above  all,  if  we  have  not  real  schools  of  true 
education,  we  would  never  stop  until  we  had 
made  them  such,  if  this  were  possible. 

The  first  public  free  school  was  commenced 
in  1854,  in  the  present  Eleventh  Street 
Schoolhouse.  This  was  a  plain,  one- story, 
one- room,  frame  building,  and  one  teacher, 
and  meager  as  were  these  school  facilities 
they  supplied  the  demand  of  that  day,  and 
continued  to  do  so  until  1SG5.  In  3S64:,  the 
three- story  brick  building  on  the  corner  of 
Thirteenth  and  Walnut  streets  was  erected. 
It  has  five  rooms,  two  on  each  floor,  except 
the  third,  which  is  in  one  room.  The  colored 
schoolhouse  (responsive  to  the  negroes'  sen- 
sitiveness on  the  pigment  points)  was  erected. 
This  is  a  two-story  frame,  with  four  rooms, 
and  is  situated  on  the  corner  of  Nineteenth 
and  Walnut  streets.  Then  was  erected  the 
present  elegant  high  school  building,  on  the 
comer  of  Walnut  and  Twenty-first  streets. 
This  is  a  three-story  brick,  and  has  five 
rooms.  The  School  Board  has  rented  a 
schoolroom  for  the  past  two  years.  This  is 
across  the  street  from  the  high  school.  The 
past  school  year,  the  board  has  employed 
seventeen  teachers;  there  were  1,100  pupils; 
the  highest  salary  was  $1,200  a  year,  and  the 
lowest  $30  per  month.  The  number  of  chil- 
dren, of  ages  under  twenty  one,  is,  males, 
2, 036,  females,  2,024;  thenum})er  of  school  age 
is,  males,  1,394,  females,  1,447;  total,  2,841. 
The  assessment  for  school  purposes,  the  present 
and  past  few  years,  has  been  $10,000.  There 
has  for  some  time  been  but  one  male  teacher  in 
the  white  schools — the  Superintendent — and 
one  male  in  the  negro  schools.  For  some 
time,  the  seating  capacity  iu  the  school  rooms 


and  the  supply  of  children  have  been  out  of 
all  i^roportion,  and  the  result  is  that  the 
primary  rooms  were  so  overrun  that  the 
board  was  compelled  to  allow  only  half-days' 
attendance,  and  we  make  no  doubt  but  this 
necessity  will  result  in  the  discovery  that 
half  a  day  is  a  plenty  for  the  little  children  to 
be  mewed  up  in  the  schoolroom. 

The  newspapers  of  the  country,  of  a  few 
months  ago,  were  laden  with  dispatches  from 
Cairo,  giving  the  full  details  of  what  were 
called  the  negro  raids  upon  the  public 
schools.  It  seems  they  were  not  satisfied  ro 
be  alone  in  their  own  schoolrooms,  and  so 
they  counseled  together,  and,  by  concert  of 
action,  met  at  their  'churches  and  school- 
rooms, and  in  bodies  marched  upon  the  white 
schools.  Their  principal  point  of  attack 
seemed  to  be  the  hio^h  school  buildino-.  The 
motly  processions  were  headed  by  the  most 
venerable  old  gray  headed  bucks  and  wenches, 
and  tapered  down  to  the  most  infantile,  un- 
washed, bow-legged  picaninnies;  and  tbey 
all  said,  "  I  rocken  we'uns  wants  to  gradiate 
as  well  as  white  trash."  It  all  resulted  in 
nothing  more  serious  than  a  great  annoyance 
and  interruption  to  the  schools.  Some  of  the 
brave  girls  that  were  teaching  saw  the  savory 
mob  a]:)proaching.  and  barred  the  doors  and 
kept  them  out;  while  in  other  rooms  they 
efiected  a  lodgment,  and  proposed  to  stay. 
The  writer  had  the  curiosity  to  interview  the 
Tax  Collector  of  this  school  district,  and 
was  informed  that  the  whole  tax  paid  by  the 
negroes  was  not  enough  to  pay  for  the  fuel 
used  in  the  negro  schools.  But  these  young 
Solomons  of  Africa  probably  would  have  paid 
small  heed  to  that,  had  it  been  presented  to 
them. 

Loretfo  Academy. — This  is  a,  female  con- 
vent school,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Sis- 
ters of  Loretto.  It  was  founded  in  1863, 
under  the  superintendency  of   Mother  Eliza- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


195 


beth  Hayden,  a  sister  of  Bishop  Spaulding, 
of  Kentucky.  It  cost  over  18,000,  and  when 
the  frame  was  up,  and  ready  for  inciosure, 
it  was  wrecked  by  a  storm.  It  was  again  put 
up,  and  soon  was  one  of  the  most  floui-ishiag 
female  academies  in  the  country.  Four 
years  ago,  the  entire  building  was  burned  to 
the  ground,  inflicting  a  great  loss,  as  well  as 
an  interriTption  to  the  school.  It  was  soon 
rebuilt,  and  in  the  rebuilding  it  was  enlarged 
and  greatly  improved,  and  has  now  fully  re- 
gained its  lost  ground.  This  institution  of 
learning  has  been  much  prized  by  the  people 
of  Cairo,  and  many  of  the  daughters  of  some 
of  the  best  people  have  been  educated  there. 
Frei  Deufsch  Schnle. — This  has  long  been 
one  of  the  noted  schools  of  Cairo.  To  a  Ger- 
man, the  name    is  quite  enough   explanation 


as  to  what  it  is:  a  free  school,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  teaching  German,  and  without  re- 
ligious bias.  Their  building  is  on  Four- 
teenth, between  "Washington  and  "Walnut 
streets.  They  have  about  seventy-five 
pupils,  and  the  institution  is  maintained 
wholly  by  private  subscription.  This  free 
school  was  opened  in  1863;  its  founders  and 
principal  supporters  were  F.  Bross,  H. 
Meyers,  P.  G.  Schuh,  Ed  Buder,  Charles 
Feuchter,  Peter  Each,  Juhn  Reese,  Peter 
Neft',  Leo  Klepp,  Charles  Meyner,  John 
Scheel  and  Jacob  Banning.  The  house  cost 
$4,500.  and  among  the  largest  contributors 
to  build  it  were  A.  B.  Saflford  and  AVill- 
iam  Schutter.  The  principal  teachers  have 
been  Mr.  Apple,  Wirsching,  Kroeger,  and 
assistant,  Miss  Yocum. 


CHAPTER   X 


RA1LK0AD8— THE   ILLINOIS   CENTRAL— CAIRO   SHORT  LINE— THE  IRON  MOUNTAIN— CAIRu  .-t  ST. 

LOUIS— THE  WABASH— MOBILE  ^^  OHIO— TEXAS  \  ST.  LOUIS— THE  GREAT  JACKSON 

ROUTE— ROADS  BEING  BUILT,   ETC.,  ETC. 


"Mine  eyes,    that  I  might   question  my  con- 
ductor."— Longfellow. 

IN  the  opening  chapter  of  the  history  of 
Cairo,  we  noted  that  the  event  of  trans- 
cendent importance,  not  only  to  Cairo  but 
the  entire  Mississippi  Valley,  was  the  coming 
of  the  first  steamboat — the  first  that  ever 
stirred  the  waters  west  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  being  the  Orleans,  Capt.  Roose- 
velt, which,  passing  down  the  Ohio,  rode 
out  into  the  Mississippi  River  on  the  18th 
day  of  Deceml^er,  1811.  Compared  with  the 
floating  palaces  that  have  since  plowed  these 
rivers,  it  was  but  a  rude  craft — yet  it  was  a 
steamboat — a  true  type  of  an  immortal  hu- 


man conception,  that  was  freighted  and  bal- 
lasted with  the  weal  of  civilization. 

The  railroad  is  but  the  steamer  running  on 
dry  land.  But  far-seeing  minds  looked  at 
the  steamboat  as  it  stemmed  the  current  and 
the  winds  with  its  enormous  loads  of  mer- 
chandise, and  they  thought  that  wheels  could 
be  made  to  take  the  place  of  the  paddles, 
and  thus  the  propelling  engine  would  carry 
the  same  precious  cai'goes  over  valley  and 
plain,  hills  and  mountains  that  it  did  on  the 
water.  The  great  invention  of  Fulton's  had 
cast  its  seed  in  other  men's  minds  and  then 
the  thought  goes  on  forever;  starting  like 
the  little   rivulet  over  the  white  sand   and 


196 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


gravel,  so  insignificant  at    first  that  a  straw 
wonld  turn  or  obstruct  its  course,  yet  passing 
on  and  on,  and  gathering  accessions  and  vol- 
ume here  and  there  until  it  swells  into  the 
great  and  resistless  river,    bearing  upon  its 
heaving  bosom   the  Armada  of  the  world  as 
in  majesty  it  rushes  into  the  great   sea  that 
rolls  around  all  the  world.     Just  so  is  a  great 
thought  matm-ed,  fashioned  and  grown;  it  is 
the  slow  growth  of  ages,  perhaps,    as  it  has 
gathered  accretions  from  millions  of  minds. 
It  comes  not  springing  forth  a  full  gi'own 
Phofinix  fro  n  the  ashes,  but  in  the  nature  of 
things,  the  greater  the  conception  the  slower 
has  been  its  formation;  but  once  the  seed  has 
commenced  to  germinate,  and  the  warm  fruc- 
tifying rays  from  the  mind  of  genius   have 
touched  it  into  life,   nothing  can  prevent  or 
check  its  progress,    and  it  will  mature  and 
bear  fruit  for   the  human  race    and  for  all 
time.     What   a   travesty  upon   men    are  all 
the  Napoleons,    Csesars,  Alexanders,  and  all 
the  warriors,  rulers  and   potentates    of    the 
earth,  when  stood  up  beside  the  serene,  the 
great  Fulton!    They  are  the  toads  and  bats 
and  vampires — sucking   rivers   of  blood,  and 
see  them  picking  the  shreds  of  human  flesh 
from  their  bloody  talons,  wiping  their  beaks 
of  the  fresh  stains  of    quivering  hearts,  and 
behold  them  blink  and  shrink   back    in  the 
presence  of  the  bright  day  and  sunshine  cast 
from  the  peaceful  and  benign  countenances 
of    these    gi'eat  men    who    have    lived    and 
thought  and    starved  and  died  for  the  good 
of  their  fellow -men. 

When  the  thoughts  of  genius  burst  into 
blossom,  they  till  the  world  with  hope  like  the 
spring  time,  and  of  this  ripened  fruit  come 
those  grand  advances  of  civilization  that 
alone  distinguish  us  from  the  beasts  of  bur- 
den and  prey.  A  human  invention  that 
started  away  back  in  the  past  ages,  by  whom 
the   world  will  never  know  generally,    has 


slowly  grown  and  ripened  as  minds  have  ad- 
ded to  it  in  the  years,  until  it  becomes  per- 
fected into  a   living    force,   is  the  supremest 
production  of   the   earth.     It  surpasses  that 
"  perfect  creature,   man,"  as  the  gods  do  the 
groundlings.      These  slow- growing  and  per- 
fected thoughts  come  rarely  and  slowly  into 
this  world,  but  they   are  the  only  true  mark 
and  measure  of  our  civilization.   And    there- 
fore, could  their  history  be  truly  given,  with 
something  of  each  great  mind  that  played  its 
rays  of  light  upon  the  subject,  and  the  work- 
ing impulses  of  that  mind,  they  would  be  the 
most    interesting,     profound    and    edifying 
words    that    were  ever   placed   upon  paper. 
This,     indeed,     would   be    history — history 
containing  philosophy,  science,  civilization — 
all  knowledge,  all  good,    all  enduring  pleas- 
ure possible  to  man.     It  is  present  in  its  im- 
measureable  effects  always,    while  its  causes 
are  in  the  "  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried:" 
and  it  is  the  ignorance  and  unweeded  barbar- 
ism yet  lingering  in  mankind  that  works  this 
injustice  to  its  true  benefactors  and    great 
men,     and    that    has   crowned    witii   laurel 
wreaths   the   butchers    and   the   shams,   and 
that  has  told  the  story  of  the  world's  bloody 
sacrifices  to  mean  ambition  in  immortal  epic, 
and  consigned  to  forgetfulness  the  works  of 
genius    that    are   the   very    sunlight    of  the 
crowning   type  of  civilization. 

There  is  no  one  thing  in  the  history  of  Cairo, 
or  for  that  matter,  the  entire  State  of  Illinois, 
that  exceeds  in  importance  the  building  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  The  idea  of 
a  railroad  running  from  this  point  to  the 
north  line  of  the  State  began  to  be  enter- 
tained by  a  few  far-seeing  minds  almost  sim- 
ultaneously with  the  first  settlement  of  the 
place. 

The  Legislature  elected  August,  1836,  was 
supplemented  by  a  State  Internal  Improve- 
ment Convention,    composed  of  many  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


197 


ablest  men  in  the  State,  which  was  to  meet  at 
the  seat  of  government  simultaneously  with 
the  Legislature.  This  convention  devised  a 
general  system  of  internal  improvement,  the 
leading  characteristics  of  which  were  "  that 
it  should  be  commensurate  with  the  wants  of 
the  people."  This  convention  was  an  irre- 
sponsible body,  determined  to  succeed  in  its 
one  object,  regai'dless  of  consequences. 
Possibilities  were  argued  into  probabilities, 
and  the  latter  into  infallibilities.  The  Leg- 
islatm-e  was  duly  impressed  with  the  public 
sentiment  that  had  been  worked  up. 

A  bill  for  the  construction  of  nine  rail- 
roads, including  $3,500,000  for  the  Central 
Kailroad  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  Ga- 
lena, was  the  largest  of  these  entei-prises, 
and  the  importance  of  reaching  the  naviga- 
ble rivers  at  Cairo  is  well  outlined  by  the 
concluding  paragraph  of  the  committee's  re- 
port, which  was  submitted  to  the  Legislature. 
It  says :  "  In  the  present  situation  of  the 
country,  the  products  of  the  interior,  by  rea- 
son of  their  remoteness  from  market,  are 
left  upon  the  hands  of  the  producer  or  sold 
barely  at  the  price  of  the  labor  necessary  to 
raise  and  prepare  them  for  sale.  But  if  the 
contemplated  system  should  be  carried  into 
effect,  these  fertile  and  healthy  districts, 
which  now  languish  for  the  want  of  ready 
markets  for  their  pi'oductions,  would  find  a 
demand  at  home  for  them  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  works,  and  after  their  completion 
would  have  the  advantages  of  a  cheap  tran- 
sit to  a  choice  of  markets  on  the  various  nav- 
igable streams.  These  would  inevitably 
tend  to  build  towns  and  cities  along  the 
routes  and  at  the  terminal  points  of  the  re- 
spective railroads." 

The  theory  of  the  effect  upon  the  State 
that  would  come  from  the  building  of  rail- 
roads were  not  dreams,  even  if  their  ideas 
as   to    how    this    consummation    was    to    be 


brought  about  was  a  huge  and  almost   fatal 
blunder. 

The  improvement  convention  mapped  out 
nine  railroads,  as  mentioned,  and  the  Legisla- 
ture not  only  responded  fully  to  their  com- 
mands, but  proceeded  to  show  that  its  mem- 
bers had  ideas,  too,  in  regard  to  the  State  tak- 
ing hold  of  this  beautiful  Aladdin's  Lamp. 
After  making  all  the  appropriations  called 
for,  it  proceeded  to  hunt  out  the  small 
streams,  forsooth,  often  the  wet-weather  riv- 
ulets, and  appropriate  money  by  the  thou- 
sands to  make  them  navigable  rivers,  or  to 
improve  them  by  locks  and  dams.  Because 
there  was  no  money  in  the  treasury,  they  de- 
termined to  spend  money  with  the  most  per- 
fect abandon.  This  was  reckless  legislation 
— shocking  financiering,  but  it  showed  great 
energy  and  industry,  and  ending  in  the  ap- 
parent total  destruction  of  the  very  objects 
and  purposes  it  had  in  view.  The  Central 
Railroad  was  scotched,  not  killed,  and  soon 
new  schemes  for  its  construction  came  in 
view;  but  all  of  them  lacked  vitality  until  the 
passage  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  September, 
1850,  granting  to  the  State  the  munificent 
donation  of  nearly  3,000,000  acres  of  land 
through  the  heart  of  Illinois  in  aid  of  its 
completion.  The  year  1850  was  truly  a  his- 
torical one  for  the  nation.  That  year  wit- 
nessed the  throes  and  convulsive  tremors  at- 
tending the  great  adjustment  measures,  dur- 
ing that  long  and  exciting  session  of  Con- 
gress. And  amid  the  exciting  struggle  for 
national  life  the  bill  which  finally  created 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  passed,  and,  in 
the  Wefet,  gave  the  people's  mind  some  di- 
version from  the  all  absorbing  national  topics. 
At  that  time  the  entire  railroad  in  Illinois 
consisted  of  the  Northern  Cross  Railroad 
from  Meredosia  and  Naples  on  the  Illinois 
River,  to  Springfield;  the  Chicago  &  Galena, 
from  the  former  city   as  far  as   Elgin,  and  a 


198 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


six-mile  track  across  the  American  bottom 
from  opposite  St.  Louis  to  the  mines  in  the 
bluffs.  The  essence  of  the  Congressional 
act  consisted  in  gi'antiug,  not  to  the  road,  but 
to  the  State  of  Illinois,  the  public  lands  to 
the  extent  of  the  even-numbered  sections  for 
the  distance  of  six  sections  deep  on  each  side 
of  the  track,  including  the  contemplated 
trunk  and  branches  of  the  road  from  Cairo 
to  Galena,  with  a  branch  to  Chicago;  for 
the  lands  sold  or  pre-empted  within  this  des- 
ignated twelve- mile  strip,  enough  might  be 
taken  from  even-numbered  sections  for  the 
distance  of  lifteen  miles  on  either  side  of 
the  tracks  to  be  equal  in  quantity  to  them. 
The  act  granted  to  the  railroad  the  right  of 
WE}-  through  public  lauds  of  the  width  of  200 
feet.  The  construction  of  the  road  was 
to  be  simultaneously  commenced  at  its  north- 
ern and  southern  termini,  and  when  com- 
pleted the  branches  were  to  be  constructed, 
the  whole  to  be  completed  within  ten  years, 
in  default  of  which,  the  unsold  lands  were 
to  revert  to  the  Government,  and  for  those 
sold  the  State  was  to  pay  the  Government 
price.  The  minimum  price  of  the  alternate 
or  odd  numbers  was  raised  from  $1.25  to 
$2.50  per  acre.  Here  were  3,000,000  acres 
of  land  given  away  at  an  immense  profit,  as 
by  this  doubling  the  price  of  the  remaining 
half,  the  gain  in  time  in  the  sales  and  the 
increase  of  population  of  the  State  are  beyond 
computation.  The  land  was  taken  out  of 
market  for  two  years,  and  when  restored  in 
the  fall  of  1852,  it  in  fact  brought  an  aver- 
age of  $5  per  acre.  The  purposes  of  Con- 
gress in  donating  this  land  to  the  State  was 
the  construction  of  the  raih'oad,  and  that 
the  State  should  use  it  only  for  that  purpose, 
and  the  Government  required  the  State  to 
make  the  road  subject  always  to  remain  a 
public  highway  for  the  use  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  free  from  all  tolls 


or  other  charges  for  the  transportation  of 
any  troops,  munitions,  ov  other  property  of  the 
General  Government.  This  is  a  plain  pro- 
vision in  the  Congressional  act,  and  yet  when 
the  war  came,  almost  upon  the  completion  of 
the  road,  this  restriction  was  construed  not 
to  apply  to  the  rolling  stock,  but  only  to  the 
rails,  and,  therefore,  it  only  gave  the  Govern- 
ment the  right  to  i)ut  its  own  rolling  stock 
and  run  them  over  the  road  free,  otherwise 
it  had  to  pay  as  well  as  any  private 
citizen.  The  act  of  Congress  contemplated 
the  extension  of  the  road  south  from  Cairo 
to  Mobile,  and  the  same  provisions  were  ex- 
tended to  the  States  of  Alabama  and  Missis- 
sij^pi.  This  was  the  substance  of  the  first 
subsidy  ever  made  by  Congress  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  a  railroad,  and  wise,  just  and 
good  as  was  the  measure,  it  opened  a  Pan- 
dora's box  that  has  well  nigh  despoiled  the 
country  of  its  public  domain. 

At  the  same  session.  Congress  passed  an 
act  OT'anting  to  the  State  of  Arkansas  the 
swamp  and  overflowed  lands  unfit  for  culti- 
vation and  remaining  unsold  within  i  ts  borders, 
the  benefits  whereof  were  extended  by  Sec- 
tion 4,  to  each  of  the  other  States  in  which 
there  might  be  such  lands  situated.  By 
this  act  the  State  of  Illinois  received  1,500,- 
000  acres  more.  These  lands  were  subse- 
quently turned  over  to  the  respective  counties 
where  located,  with  the  condition  that  they 
be  drained  and  used  for  school  purposes. 

Mr.  Douglas  prepared  a  petition,  signed 
by  the  Congressional  delegations  of  all  the 
States  along  the  I'oute  of  the  road  fi-om  Mo- 
bile north,  describing  the  probable  location 
of  the  road  and  its  branches  through  Illinois 
and  requesting  the  President  to  order  the 
suspension  of  land  sales  along  the  lines  des- 
ignated, which  was  immediately  done. 

The  Legislature  oi  Illinois  was  to  meet  in 
January,  1851,  and  the  whole  people  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


199 


State,  but  especially  those  along  the  contem- 
plated line  and  branches,  began  to  discuss 
thp  probabilities  of  what  that  body  would  do 
and  what  it  of  right  should  do.  The  point 
of  departure  of  the  branch  from  the  main 
line  was  au  open  one,  and  rival  towns  began 
to  push  forward  their  claims,  and  much  dis- 
cussion and  contention  pervaded  the  press  of 
the  State.  The  La  Salle  interests  wanted 
the  branch  for  Chicago  taken  off  at  that 
point:  Bloomington  was  making  a  vigorous 
struggle  in  the  same  way,  and  unfortunate 
Shelbyville,  which  was  a  fixed  point  in  the 
old  charters,  feeling  secui'e  on  that  point, 
also  grasped  for  the  branch  deflection  from 
that  point,  and  in  the  end  missed  both  the 
main  line  and  branch.  The  route  proposed 
was  a  direct  line  from  Cairo,  making  di- 
rectly to  Mount  Vernon  and  making  the  sep- 
aration at  that  point,  and  from  Mount  Ver- 
non the  main  line  to  run  to  Carlyle,  Green- 
ville, Hillsboro,  Springfield,  Peoria,  Galena 
and  over  to  Dubuque.  But  by  this  route  the 
belt  of  vacant  land  would  have  failed  to  give 
the  required  donation,  and  hence  the  author- 
ities of  the  road  would  not  adopt  it. 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  spoken  at 
some  length  of  several  charters  obtained 
under  the  name  of  the  Illinois  Central,  and 
the  Great  Western  Transportation  Company 
and  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  all 
looking  to  the  building  or  securing  the  rail- 
road as  it  is  now  constructed  substantially. 
All  this  multifarious  legislation  was  obtained 
under  what  is  now  known  as  the  Holbrook 
regime,  and  the  many  chai'ters,  amendments, 
repeals  and  re-enactments  affecting  this  sub- 
ject came  to  be  known  as  the  Holbrook  char- 
ters. Holbrook  was  the  chief  factotum  of 
the  Cairo  Company,  and  eventually  undtsr 
the  name  of  a  charter  for  the  Great  Western 
Company  he  secured  for  the  Cairo  City 
Company  the  franchise    of  the   Illinois  Cen- 


tral Railroad.  And  in  the  charter  it  was 
provided  that  "  all  lands  that  may  come  into 
the  possession  of  said  company,  whether  by 
donation  or  purchase,"  were  pledged  and 
mortgaged  in  advance  in  security  for  the 
payment  of  the  bonds  and  obligations  of  the 
company  authorized  to  be  issued  and  con- 
tracted under  the  provisions  of  the  charter. 
By  act  of  March  3,  1845,  thf  charter  of  the 
Great  Western  Railway  Company  was  le- 
pealed;  by  an  act  of  February  10,  184:9,  it  was 
revived  for  the  benefit  of  tbe  Cairo  City  & 
Canal  Company.  The  company  thus  revived 
was  authorized  in  the  construction  of  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad  to  extend  it  on  from  the  southern 
terminus  of  the  canal — La  Salle — to  Chicago, 
"  in  strict  conformity  to  all  obligations,  re- 
strictions, powers  and  privileges  of  the  act 
of  1843.''  Holbrook's  railroad  scheme  then 
gently  took  tbe  Governor  into  a  quiet  partner- 
ship, to  the  extent  of  authorizing  that  oflicia) 
to  hold  in  trust  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  said 
company  whatever  lands  might  be  donated  to 
the  State  by  the  General  Government,  to  aid 
said  road,  subject  to  the  conditions  and  pro- 
visions of  the  bill  (then  pending  before  Con- 
gress and  expected  to  become  a  law)  grant- 
ing the  subsidy  of  3,0(X),000  acres  of  land. 
This  was  a  nice  scheme  to  have  the  grabbing 
all  done  in  advance.  In  the  light  of  the  long 
years  that  are  past,  there  can  now  be  but 
one  construction  put  upon  the  "  Holbrook 
charters."  They  were  not  honest,  and  char- 
ity alone  may  protect  the  Legislature  from 
an  equally  severe  judgment  by  saying  they 
were  ignorant  Holbrook  in  some  unaccount- 
able way  had  impressed  even  such  men  as 
Judge  Breese  and  Gov.  Casey  that  he 
was  a  great  and  pure  financier,  and  they  were 
ready  to  confess  they  could  see  no  signs  of  a 
cat  in  the  meal  tub.  The  Legislature 
seemed  to  delight  in  dancing  attendance 
upon  his  slightest  wishes,    and  so  far  as  in 


300 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


their  power,  they  seemed  ready  to  lay  the 
State  at  his  feet.  But  most  fortunately  for 
Illinois,  Judge  Douglas  was  alive  and  at  this 
time  a  United  States  Senator  from  Illinois, 
and  he  could  not  be  hoodwinked  by  the 
plausible  schemes  against  the  vital  interests 
of  his  State.  Daring  the  session  of  the  Illi- 
nois Legislature  of  1849,  he  appeared  be- 
fore that  body  (a  special  session)  and  in  an 
able  and  effective  speech,  which  he  delivered 
October  23,  he  showed  the  Legislature  that 
a  palpable  fraud  had  been  practiced  upon  it 
in  its  session  of  the  preceding  winter  in  pro- 
curing from  it  this  charter;  and  that  had  the 
bill  in  Congress  met  with  no  delay  on  ac- 
count of  this  fraud,  this  vast  property  would 
have  gone  into  the  hands  of  Holbrook  &  Co. 
to  enrich  those  scheming  corporators,  with 
little  assm-ance,  as  they  represented  no 
wealth,  and  gave  no  assurances  that  the 
road  would  ever  be  built;  that  Con- 
gress had  an  insuperable  objection  to 
making  the  grant  for  the  benefit  of  a  pri- 
vate corporation.  The  connection  of  these 
Holbrook  companies  with  the  Central  Rail- 
road in  the  estimation  of  Congress,  presented 
an  impassable  barrier  to  the  grant  But  the 
same  Legislature  that  had  granted  the  char- 
ter refused  to  repeal  it  even  after  it  had  been 
thus  exposed  by  Judge  Douglas.  Thus  mat- 
ters stood  and  the  schemers  supposed  their 
triirmph  complete  until  the  fact  finally  was 
brought  to  their  attention  that  Judge  Doug- 
las would  never  permit  Congress  to  pass  the 
bill  in  any  shape  whereby  •  the  Holbrooks 
could  reap  all  the  benefits.  Judge  Douglas 
simply  said  he  preferred  the  bill  should 
never  pass  than  that  the  State  and  the  Gov- 
ernment should  be  robbed,  and  then  no  cer- 
tainty the  road  would  ever  be  built.  This 
was  unexpected  difficulties  for  the  schemers, 
and  Holbrnok's  genius  at  once  set  about  the 
way   of   getting   up    a    plausible   dodge   to 


bridge  the  trouble.  Il  was  ascertained  that 
Mr.  Douglas  insisted  as  a  condition  prece- 
dent that  Holbrook  &  Co.  should  release  to 
the  State  not  only  their  charter,  but  all 
claims  to  the  benefits  of  the  Congressional 
enactment.  On  December  15,  1849,  Mr. 
Holbrook,  as  President  of  the  company,  exe- 
cuted a  protest  of  release  to  the  Governor,  a 
duplicate  of  which  was  transmitted  to  Mr. 
Douglas  at  Washington.  Bat  the  Senator 
declined  to  accept  this  as  a  document  of  any 
value  or  binding  force  upon  the  company  of 
which  Holbrook  was  Px'esident,  as  it  was 
without  the  sanction  of  the  stockholders  or 
even  the  board  of  directors.  While  he  did 
not  impute  any  such  motive,  the  company, 
he  believed,  was  still  in  the  condition  which 
would  enable  it  to  take  all  the  lands  granted, 
divide  them  among  its  stockholders  and  re- 
tain its  chartered  privileges  without  build- 
ingthe  road.  He  was  unwilling  to  give  his 
approval  to  any  arrangement  by  which  the 
State  could  be  deprived  possibly  of  any  of 
the  benefits  resulting  from  the  expected 
grant.  For  the  protection  of  the  State  and 
as  an  assurance  to  Congress,  the  execution 
of  a  full  and  complete  lease  of  all  rights  and 
privileges  and  a  surrender  of  the  Holbrook 
charters  and  all  acts,  or  parcels  of  acts,  sup- 
plemented or  amendatory  thereof,  or  relating 
in  anywise  to  the  Central  Railroad,  so  as  to 
leave  the  State,  through  its  Legislature,  free 
to  make  such  disposition  of  the  lands  and 
such  arrangement  for  the  construction  of  the 
road  as  might  be  deemed  best,  was  de- 
manded . 

Judge  Douglas'  requirements  were  finally 
fully  complied  with,  but  only  after  the  effort 
had  been  made  to  get  him  to  accept  an  in- 
sufficient release  and  one  that,  no  doubt, 
had  he  accepted,  would  have  resulted  in  again 
bankrupting  the  State,  and  perhaps  indefinite- 
ly delaying  the  building  of  the  Illinois  Central 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


201 


Railroad.  Then  Congress  passed  the  act  mak 
ing  the  donation  of  land.  No  sooner  had  the 
act  passed  than  did  Holbrook  in  many  ways, 
among  others  by  letters  to  parties  in  Illinois 
which  were  published,  set  about  making 
the  pretense  that  his  company  still  was  the 
only  rightful  claimants  to  the  land  grant, 
and  had  the  only  charter  that  covered  the 
ground  on  which  the  road  must  be  built. 
In  a  letter  from  him,  dated  New  York,  Sep- 
tember 25,  1850,  to  a  citizen  of  Illinois,  he 
said:  "  I  can  truly  say  that  I  am  under  ob- 
ligations to  those  who  with  Gov.  Casey 
prevented  the  repeal  of  the  charter  of  the 
Great  "Western  Railway  Company.  It  was 
granted  in  good  faith  and  under  no  other 
that  the  State  can  now  grant.  *  *  *  i 
am  now  organizing  the  company  to  com- 
mence the  work  this  fall  and  put  a  large  part 
of  the  road  under  contract  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble. We  shall  make  the  road  on  the  old 
line,  etc. ,  etc. "  This  letter  was  widely  pub- 
lished,  as  Holbrook  probably  designed  it 
should  be.  A  Chicago  paper  in  the  interests 
of  Holbrook  published  an  editorial,  taking 
even  stronger  gi'ounds  than  did  Holbrook, 
and  almost  said  in  so  many  words  that  IMr. 
Douglas  had  been  deceived — that  he  was  a 
fool,  and  that  now  Holbrook  &  Co.  had  all  in 
their  hands  they  would  proceed  to  do  the 
work  and  defy  IVIi-.  Douglas. 

The  suffering  of  the  people  fi'om  the  in- 
ternal impi'ovement  swindle  had  been  too 
severe  and  too  recent  to  allow  them  to  be  in- 
different to  these  old  pretensions  of  Hol- 
brook «&  Co.  The  alarm  ran  over  the  State 
and  iutensitied  as  the  time  came  for  the 
assembling  of  the  Legislature  that  was  to  have 
in  its  hands  the  splendid  government  gift.* 

In   November,    before  the    meeting  of  the 

*It  should  he  here  btatcd  that  this  Great  Western  CharttT  was 
the  new  one  ami  incliileij  at  lenst  one  pr  >miDeiit  mm  in  nearly 
every  county  in  tlie  State,  and  it  was  never  8upposed  ail  these  were 
influenced  by  evil  designs  upon  the  State. 


Legislature,  Waiter  B.  Scates,  one  of  the 
new  corporators  of  the  Great  Western  Rail- 
road Company  of  184^,  addressed  a  letter 
of  invitation  to  all  his  co- corporators,  duly 
named,  to  meet  at  Springfield,  January  6, 
1851,  for  the  pm-pose  of  taking  such  action 
as  might  be  deemed  expedient  for  the  public 
good  by  surrendering  up  their  charter  to  the 
State,  or  such  other  com-se  as  might  be  de- 
sired by  the  General  Assembly,  to  remove  all 
doubts  and  questions  relative  to  the  com- 
pany's rights  and  powers,  and  to  disembar- 
rass that  body  with  regard  to  the  disposal  of 
the  gi-aat  of  land  from  Congress  for  the 
building  of  the  much-needed  Central  Rail- 
road. 

With  the  opening  of  the  General  Assembly 
appeared  at  Springfield  Mr.  Robert  Rautoul, 
of  Boston,  who  being  the  duly  accredited 
agent  of  Robert  Schuyler,  George  Griswold, 
Gov.  Morris,  Jonathan  Sturgis,  George  W. 
Ludlow  and  John  F.  Sandford,  of  New 
York,  and  David  A  Neal,  Franklin  Haven 
and  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  of  Boston,  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  Legislatui'e,  embracing  a 
most  just  and  liberal  proposition  to  build  the 
road.  The  memorialists  stated  that  they 
had  examined  the  act  of  Congress  in  refer- 
ence to  the  road,  and-  had  examined  the  re- 
som-ces  of  the  country  through  which  the 
proposed  road  was  to  pass,  and  estimated  the 
cost  and  time  necessary  to  build  the  road ;  that 
they  proposed  to  form  a  joint-stock  com2:)any 
of  themselves  and  such  others  as  they  might 
associate  with  them,  and  as  they  say  "includ- 
ing among  their  number  persons  of  large 
experience  in  the  construction  of  several  of 
the  priucipal  railroads  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  the  means  and  credit  sufficient  to 
place  beyond  doubt  their  ability  to  perform 
what  they  hereinafter  propose,  etc."  They 
then  offer  to  perform  all  the  requirements  of 
the  act  of  Congi'ess  under  the  directiou  of 


302 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


the  State,  and  to  build  the  road  on  or  before 
the  4th  of  July,  1854.  That  the  road  should 
be  in  all  respects  equal  to  the  Boston  &  Albany 
Kailroad,  and  conclude  as  follows: 

"And  the  said  company  from  and  after  the 
completion   of   said   road,    will    pay   to  the 

State  of   Illinois  annually per   cent   of 

the  gross  earnings  of  said  road,  without  de- 
duction or  charge  for  expenses,  or  for  any 
other  matter  or  cause;  provided,  that  the  State 
of  Illinois  will  gi-ant  to  the  subcribers  a  charter 
of  incorporation,  with  terms  mutually  advan- 
tageous, with  powers  and  limitations  as  they 
in  their  wisdom  may  think  fit,  and  as  shall  be 
accepted  by  the  said  company  and  as  will 
sufficiently  remunerate  the  subscribers  for 
their  care,  labor  and  expenditure  in  that  be- 
half incurred,  and  will  enable  them  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  lands  donated  by  the  said 
act,  to  raise  the  funds  or  some  portion  of  the 
funds  necessary  for  the  construction  and 
equipment  of  said  road. " 

This  memorial,  coming  as  it  did  from  such 
eminent  and  strong  financial  men,  was  well 
received  by  the  Legislature.  The  time  for 
the  completion  of  the  road  was  much  shorter 
than  any  one  ever  had  then  contemplated,  yet 
Mr.  Kantoul  was  willing  to  adjust  the  con- 
tract so  as  to  prevent  a  failure,  not  only  on 
this  point,  but  to  give  any  secui'ity  that  the 
proceeds  arising  from  the  lands  would  be 
faithfuly  applied  to  their  intended  purpose. 
It  was  so  fair  to  all  parties  concerned  that 
it  was  eventually  made  the  basis  for  the 
charter  of  the  railroad.  At  this  time  there 
was  developed  over  the  State  an  opposition 
to  turning  over  to  a  private  corporation  the 
great  donation  of  laud.  Some  of  the  fossils 
of  the  State  folly  wanted  the  State  to  keep  the  j 
land,  build  the  road,  pay  off  the  State  debt,  and  | 
a  hundred  other  wild  and  silly  schemes  were 
offered  and  suggested.  Then  there  is  but  j 
little  question  but  that  Holbrook  &  Co.  had  ! 


friends  in  the  Legislature,  and  their  hope  lay 
in  inaction  and  a  refusal  to  accept  the  prop- 
osition of  Mr.  Rantoul  and  the  other  memo- 
rialists. When  the  bill  was  introduced,  many 
amendments  were  offered,  such  as  requiring 
payment"  for  right  of  way  to  pre-emptionists 
or  squatters  on  the  public  land,  without  re- 
gard to  benefits,  etc.  Then  there  was  an  op- 
portunity for  much  wrangling  over  the  point 
of  divergence  of  the  branch  from  the  main 
line,  but  which  was  finally  left  with  the  com- 
pany to  fix  anywhere  "  north  of  the  parallel 
39°  3"  of  north  latitude."  Much  discussion 
was  had  as  to  the  points  in  the  main  line, 
and  what  towns  it  should  touch,  but  all 
intennediate  points  finally  failed  except  the 
northeast  corner  of  Town  '21  north,  Range 
2  east, Third  Principal  Meridian,  from  which 
the  road  in  its  course  should  not  vary  more 
than  five  miles,  which  was  effer'ted  by  Gren. 
Gridley  of  the  Senate,  and  by  which  the 
towns  of  Decatur,  Clinton  and  Bloomington 
were  assured  of  the  road. 

One  of  the  mysteries  that  developed  while 
the  railroad  bill  was  lingering,  Avas  a  scheme 
for  swallowing  the  road,  the  State,  and  much 
of  everything  else,  that  was  absolutely  so 
startling  and  unique  that  its  paternity  has 
always  been  in  doubt.  The  bold  originality 
and  the  unknown  paternity  of  the  bantling 
gave  it  something  of  a  kinship  to  Junius' 
letters,  with  all  of  Junius'  ability  left  out. 
It  appeared  on  every  member's  table  one 
morning  in  January,  in  the  shape  of  a  volu- 
minous printed  bill  for  a  charter,  the  pro- 
vision whereof,  closely  scrutinized,  con- 
tained about  as  hard  a  bargain  as  creditor 
ever  offered  bondsman.  It  was  cooll}'  pro- 
posed, among  other  provisions,  that  the  State 
appoint  commissioners  to  locate  the  road, 
survey  the  route  for  the  main  stem  and 
branches  and  select  the  land  granted  by 
Congress,    all   at  the  expense  of  the  State; 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


203 


agents  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor 
to  apply  to  land-holders  along  the  route  who 
might  be  benefited  by  the  road,  for  sub- 
scriptions, also  at  the  expense  of  the  State. 

"  All  persons  subcribing  and  advancing 
money  for  said  purpose  shall  be  entitled  to 
draw  interest  upon  the  sums  at  — ■  per  cent 
per  annum  from  the  day  of  said  advances, 
and  shall  be  entitled  to  designate  and  regis- 
ter an  amount  of  '  new  internal  improve- 
ment stock  of  this  State,'  equal  to  four  times 
the  amount  so  advanced,  or  stock  of  this 
State  'known  as  '  Interest  bonds,'  equal  to 
three  times  the  money  so  advanced,  and  said 
stock  so  described  may  be  registered  at  the 
agency  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  to  the  city  of 
New  York,  by  the  party  subscribing  or  by 
any  other  person  to  whom  they  may  assign 
the  right  at  any  time  after  paying  the  sub- 
scription, in  proportion  of  the  amount  paid; 
and  said  stock  shall  be  indorsed,  registered 
and  signed  by  the  agent  appointed  by  the 
Governor  for  the  puipose,  and  a  copy  of  said 
register  shall  be  tiled  in  the  office  of  the  Au- 
ditor of  Public  Accounts,  as  evidence  to  show 
the  particular  stock  secured  or  provided  for 
as  hereinafter  mentioned." 

The  donation  from  the  Government  to  the 
State  was  to  be  conveyed  by  the  State  to  the 
company,  to  be  by  it  offered  for  sale  upon 
the  completion  of  sections  of  sixty  miles, 
the  expenses  to  be  paid  by  the  State;  the 
money  was  to  go  to  the  managers  of  this  ter- 
rible railroad,  but  the  State  was  to  receive 
certificates  of  stock  for  the  same;  two  of  the 
acting  managers  were  to  receive  salaries  of 
$2,500,  and  the  others  $1,500,  the  company 
with  the  sanction  of  the  Governor  to  pur- 
chase iron,  etc.,  pledging  the  road  for  pay- 
ment, and  the  road,  property  and  stock  to  be 
exempt  from  taxation.  The  bill  also  em- 
braced a  bank  in  accordance  with  the  provis- 
ions of  the  general  free  banking  law  adopted 


by  the  State,  making  the  railroad  stock  the 
basijj.  It  also  provided  that  if  the  constitu- 
tion was  amended  (which  failed  to  carry) 
changing  the  two-mill  tax  to  a  sinking  fund, 
to  be  generally  applied  in  redemption  of  the 
State  debt,  that  then  the  stock  registered  un- 
der the  act  should  also  participate  in  the 
proceeds  thereof. 

This  was  the  scheme,  and  while  the  im- 
mortality due  the  inventor,  because  he  has 
remained  unknown,  has  been  withheld,  we 
propose  to  lift  the  veil  and  let  the  author's 
name  receive  the  laurel  crown.  Any  one  who 
will  come  to  Cairo  and  carefully  study  Hol- 
brook's  tracks  all  around  the  city,  will  at 
once  conclude  that  nature  never  made  but 
one  man  who  could  have  conceived  such  a 
scheme  and  launched  it  at  the  heads  of  the 
Illinois  Legislature,  and  Holbrook  was  that 
man.  There  is  but  one  thing  about  it  that 
casts  the  slightest  doubt  upon  its  paternity 
and  that  is  where  he  proposes  to  divide  the 
salaries  with  mox'e  than  one — thi"?  is  unac- 
countable and  to  some  extent  incomjirehensi- 
ble. 

It  will  be  noticed  in  the  quotation  that  we 
give  above  from  the  memorialist's  proposi- 
tion, that  they  offered,  among  other  things, 
to  pay  the  State  annually  a  certain  per  cent 
of  the  gross  earnings  of  the  road  without  de- 
ductions for  expenses  or  otherwise.  The. 
amount  was  left  blank  in  their  pi'oposition, 
and  the  well  understood  fact  was  at  that 
time  they  anticipated  it  would  be  fixed  at  ten 
per  centum  of  the  gross  earnings.  But  after 
they  had  secured  substantially  the  accept- 
auce  of  their  projio.sition  by  the  Legislature, 
they  set  about  getting  this  blank  tilled  in  at 
as  low  a  tigure  as  possible.  W.  H.  Bissell 
was  then  a  Repi-esentative  in  Congress  from 
Illinois,  and  although  he  was  by  profession 
a  doctor,  and  not  a  lawyer,  yet  these  shrewd 
capitalists  employed  him   as  their  attorney, 


204 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


knowing  it  was  his  great  personal  popularity 
that  would  serve  their  purposes  much  better 
than  all  the  legal  lore  in  the  world,  in  the 
peculiar  business  they  just  then  had  in  hand. 
Mr.  Bissel  left  his  seat  in  Congress  and  at- 
tended upon  the  session  of  the  Illinois  Leg- 
islature as  a  lobbyist,  and  the  unfortunate 
results  to  the  State  were  that  the  State  con- 
ceded a  reduction  of  three  per  cent  and  the 
amount  was  fixed  at  seven  per  cent  of  the 
gross  proceeds. 

In  the  Legislature,  after  all  manner  of  de- 
lays and  procrastinations,  until  the  heel  of 
the  session,  Mr.  J.  L.  D.  Morrison,  of  the  Sen- 
ate, brought  in  a  substitute  for  the  pending 
bill,  which,  after  being  amended  several 
times,  was  finally  passed — two  votes  dissent- 
ing— and  shortly  after,  and  without  amend- 
ment, the  house  also  passed  it,  and  thus,  on 
the  10th  day  of  February,  1851,  it  became  a 
law.  The  final  passage  of  the  bill  was  cel- 
ebrated in  Chicago  by  the  firing  of  cannon 
and  other  civic  demonsti'ations  in  honor  of 
the  event. 

There  was  some  delay  in  the  connnence- 
ment  of  the  work  on  the  road,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  ruling  of  Mr.  Justin  Butter- 
field,  Commissioner  of  the  Greneral  Land 
Ofiice,  but  the  President  reversed  the  Secre- 
tary's decision  and  the  transfer  of  the  land 
was  duly  made,  and  in  March,  1852,  the 
contracts  were  let  and  the  work  commenced 
and  rapidly  pushed  to  completion. 

This  brings  us  to  the  completion  of  that 
important  part  of  the  life  of  a  railroad, 
namely,  the  bringing  it  into  existence  and 
successfully  putting  it  on  its  feet,  or,  in 
other  words,  the  organization  of  a  chartered 
company,  under  a  liberal  and  just  funda- 
mental law,  and  the  providing  ways  and 
means  that  put  money  into  the  hands  of  the 
corporation  to  carry  on  its  work.  Ail  this 
had   been    done,     and   the    good    people    of 


Cairo  had  great  occasion  to  rejoice  and  feel 
glad.  It  was  the  realization  of  a  long  de- 
fered  hope,  where  promise  had  been  the 
brightest  and  failure  and  disappointment  the 
most  complete.  The  improvement  of  na- 
tional importance,  and  upon  which  hung  all 
Cairo's  hopes  for  the  future,  was  assured. 

Much  of  the  credit,  and  therefore  a  meed 
of  praise,  for  securing  the  building  of  this 
road,  is  due  to  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Judge 
Breese,  Hon.  David  J  Baker,  Miles  A.  Gil- 
bert, D.  B.  Holbrook,  the  old  Cairo  City  & 
Canal  Company,  Judge  Jenkins,  Justin 
Buttertield  and  many  others  of  Cairo  and 
other  portions  of  the  country.  And  so  far 
as  we  know,  all  were  content  to  rest  their 
claims  to  the  honors  in  the  work  to  the  keep- 
ing of  a  grateful  posterity  except  Judge 
Breese.  The  rejoicing  over  its  success  had 
not  abated  its  first  noisy  enthusiasm  when 
the  voice  of  Judge  Breese  was  raised,  assert- 
ing his  exclusive  right  to  the  paternity  of  the 
enterprise,  and  he  based  his  claim  to  the 
credit  upon  the  fact  that  he  had  projected 
the  whole  thing  in  1835,  and  that  when  in 
the  Senate  he  had  tried  to  do  exactly  what 
Judge  Douglas  was  afterward  enabled  to  do 
by  his  previous  labors.  It  was  a  conception 
and  labor  certainly  worth  the  pride  of  any 
man.  Visions  of  fame,  immortality  and 
emoluments  and  office  were  easily  discover- 
able in  it. 

Judge  Breese   had    been    a  Senator  up  to 

1849,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Gen. 
Shields.  In  1850,  Breese  was  in  the  State 
Legislatui'e.     Under  date  of  December  23, 

1850,  among  other  things,  in  a  reply  to  the 
Illinois  State  Register  regarding  his  favor- 
ing the  "  Holbrook  charters,"  he  says: 

"  The  Central  Railroad  has  been  a  con- 
trolling object  with  me  for  more  than  fifteen 
years,  and  I  would  sacrifice  all  my  personal 
advantages  to  see  it  made.     These  fellows  who 


/e^^-L^-^ 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


207 


are  making  such  an  ado  about  it  now,  have 
been  -whipped  into  its  support.  They  are 
not  for  it  now,  and  do  not  desire  to  have  it 
made  because  I  get  the  credit  of  it.  This  is 
inevitable.  I  must  have  the  credit  of  it  for  I 
originated  it  in  1835,  and.  when  in  the  Sen- 
ate, passed  three  different  bills  through  that 
body  to  aid  in  its  construction.  My  suc- 
cessor had  an  easy  task,  as  I  had  opened  the 
way  for  him.  It  was  the  argument  made  in 
my  report  on  it  that  silenced  all  opposition 
and  made  the  passage  easy.  I  claim  the 
credit,  and  no  one  can  take  it  from  me." 

"When  this  came  to  the  attention  of  Judge 
Douglas  in  "Washington,  he  took  occasion 
to  reply,  on  January  5,  1851,  at  length,  giv- 
ing a  detailed  history  of  all  the  efforts  made 
in  Congress  to  procure  the  pre-emption  or 
grant  of  land  in  aid  of  building  this  road, 
saying:  "You  were  the  champion  of  the  pol- 
icy of  granting  pre-emption  rights  for  the 
benefit  of  a  private  company  [the  Holbrook] 
and  I  was  the  advocate  of  alternate  sections 
to  the  State."  The  letter  is  long  and  full  of 
interesting  facts  in  relation  to  the  acts  and 
doings  in  Congress  relative  to  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad.  Judge  Breese  rejoined, 
under  date  of  January  21,  1851,  through  the 
columns  of  the  same  paper,  at  gi-eat  length, 
claiming  that  besides  seeking  to  obtain  pre- 
emption aid  he  was  also  the  first  to  introduce 
"a  bill  for  the  absolute  grant  of  the  alternate 
sections  for  the  Central  and  Northern  Cross 
Railroads,"  but  finding  no  favorable  time 
to  call  it  up,  it  failed.  "  It  was  known 
from  my  first  entrance  into  Congi-ess  that 
I  would  accomplish  the  measure,  in  some 
shape,  if  possible."  But  the  Illinois  mem- 
bers of  the  House,  he  asserts,  took  no 
interest  in  the  passage  of  any  law  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Central  Railroad,  either  by 
grant  or  pre-emption.  He  claims  no 
share   in   the    passage   of  the  law  of    1850. 


"  Your  (Douglas')  claim  shall  not,  with  my 
consent,  be  disparaged,  nor  those  of  your 
associates.  I  will  myself  weave  your  chap- 
let,  and  place  it,  with  no  envious  hand, 
upon  your  brow.  At  the  same  time  history 
shall  do  me  justice.  I  claim  to  have  first 
projected  this  road  in  my  letter  of  1835.  and 
in  the  judgment  of  impartial  and  disinter- 
ested men  my  claim  will  be  allowed.  I  have 
said  and  written  more  in  favor  of  it  than  any 
other.  It  has  been  the  highest  of  my  am- 
bitions to  accomplish  it,  and  when  my  last 
resting  place  shall  be  marked  by  the  cold 
marble  which  gratitude  or  affection  may 
erect,  I  desire  for  it  no  other  inscription  than 
this,  that  he  who  sleeps  beneath  it  projected 
the  Central  Railroad." 

He  also  at  length  cited  his  letter  of  October 
16,  1835,  to  John  Y.  Sawyer  in  which  the 
plan  of  the  Central  Railroad  was  fii-st  fore- 
shadowed, which  opens  as  follows:  "Having 
some  leisure  from  the  labor  of  my  circuit,  I 
am  induced  to  devote  a  portion  of  time  in 
giving  to  the  public  a  plan,  the  outline  of 
which  was  suggested  to  me  by  an  intelligent 
friend  in  Bond  County  a  few  days  since." 

To  this  Douglas,  under  date  of  Washing- 
ton, February  22,  1851,  surrejoins  at  con- 
siderable length,  and  in  reference  to  this 
opening  sentence  in  the  Sawyer  letter,  ex- 
claims: "  How  is  this!  The  father  of  the 
Central  Railroad,  with  a  Christian  meekness 
worthy  of  all  praise,  kindly  consents  to  be 
the  reputed  parent  of  a  hopeful  son  begotten 
for  him  by  an  intelligent  friend  in  a  neigh- 
boring county.  I  forbear  pushing  this  in- 
quiry further.  It  involves  a  question  of 
morals  too  nice,  of  domestic  relations  too 
delicate  for  me  to  expose  to  the  public  gaze. 
Inasmuch,  however,  as  you  have  furnished 
me  with  becoming  gravity,  the  epitaph  which 
you  desire  engrossed  upon  your  tomb  when 
called  upon  to  pav  the  last  debt  of  nature, 

12 


208 


HISTOKY  OF  CAIRO. 


you  will  allow  me  to  suggest  that  as  such  an 
inscription  is  a  solemn  and  a  sacred  thing, 
and  truth  its  essential  ingredient,  would  it 
not  be  well  to  make  a  slight  modification,  so 
as  to  correspond  with  the  facts  as  stated  in 
your  letter  to  Mr.  Sawyer,  which  would 
make  it  read  thus  in  your  letter  to  me :  It 
has  been  |the  highest  object  of  my  ambition 
to  accomplish  the  Central  Railroad,  and 
when  my  last  resting  place  shall  be  marked 
by  the  cold  marble  which  gratitude  or  affec- 
tion may  erect,  I  desire  for  it  no  other  in- 
scription than  this:  He  who  sleeps  beneath 
this  stone  voluntarily  consented  to  become 
the  putative  father  of  a  lovely  child  called 
the  Central  Railroad,  and  begotten  'for  him 
by  an]  intelligent  friend  in  the  County  of 
Bond." 

The  question  as  to  "  who  killed  Cock 
Robin  f  "  seems  to  have  here  stopped,  and 
Judge  Breese  probably  retired  from  the 
controversy,  feeling  that  he  had  asserted  his 
Sparrowship  rather  prematurely,  and  that 
the  "  cold  marble  of  gratitude  or  affection  " 
may  never  tell  the  story  just  as  he  fondly 
hoped  it  would.  The  truth  is  the  student  of 
the  history  of  Illinois  will  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  Judge  Breese  never  made  a 
greater  mistake  than  when  he  entered  poli- 
tics, and  imagined  he  was  a  statesman,  and 
allowed  his  political  disappointments  to  sour 
and  cloud  his  life.  His  egregious  error  in 
this  respect  reminds  one  of  the  interviews  be- 
tween Fredrick  the  Great  and  Voltaire.  They 
were  great  friends,  and  often  Voltaire  was 
called  to  the  court  and  entertained  for  weeks 
and  months.  The  king  much  wanted  to 
talk  to  Voltaire  because  the  statesman  really 
believed  his  true  gi'eatness  lay  in  literature 
and  poetiy,  and  Voltaire  wanted  to  talk  to 
the  king  because  he  never  doubted  that  his 
own  true  genius  was  all  in  the  line  of  state- 
craft and  military  affairs.     And  when  they 


met  Voltaire  would  talk  military  all  the 
time,  because  that  was  something  he  knew 
nothing  about,  and  the  king  would  with  equal 
persistence  read  his  poems  and  talk  literature 
all  the  time,  because  he  knew  as  little  of 
that  as  Voltaire  did  of  empire  or  war.  They 
would  complacently  exchange  sides,  and 
leaving  those  fields  in  which  each  stood  pre- 
eminent, they  would  talk  the  most  profound- 
ly idiotic,  and  invariably  separate,  denounc- 
ing each  other  as  hopeless  idiots,  to  meet 
again  in  great  friendship  the  next  morning 
and  renew  the  incurable  folly. 

Breese,  no  doubt,  believed  his  talents, 
genius  and  (education  made  him  a  great  states- 
man, and  that  it  was  merely  rusting  out  a 
great  life  to  chain  it  to  the  woolsack.  He 
probably  estimated  that  Douglas  would  have 
made  an  estimable  Justice  of  the  Peace,  but 
it  was  farcical  to  hoist  him  over  his  (Breese's) 
head  as  a  statesman.  The  truth  is,  the  peo- 
ple understood  Judge  Breese  much  better 
than  he  understood  himself,  and  they  put 
him  exactly  where  he  was  best  fitted  to  be, 
and  he  will  go  into  history  as  an  eminent 
jui'ist.  He  made  the  gi'eat  mistake  of  start- 
ing life  as  a  politician,  and  he  reached  the 
United  States  Senate,  but  when  he  was  over- 
shadowed there  by  his  junior  colleague,  the 
"  dapper  little  schoolteacher  from  Win- 
chester," and  actually  defeated  for  a  second 
term  by  a  wild  Irishman  with  brogue  a  mile 
thick,  he  returned  to  Illinois,  heart-broken, 
and  in  desperation  accepted  a  place  upon 
the  bench,  where  he  worked  until  the  day  of 
his  death.  His  short  political  life  was  not 
a  fortunate  one,  and,  in  fact,  was  pretty 
much  a  mere  blunder  from  beginning  to  end, 
while  this  judicial  cai'eer  was  brilliant  and 
eminent. 

Judge  Douglas  was  the  better  poised  mind 
of  the  two,  yet  there  is  but  little  doubt  he 
would  have  as  completely  failed  on  the  bench 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


209 


as  had  Breese  in  politics.  He  tried  a  brief 
term  as  Judge,  and?  realizing  his  failure,  he 
got  out  of  it  as  soon  as  possible,  never  to  re- 
turn. He  would  have  been  a  great  lawyer, 
but  he  never  could  have  made  a  judge.  He 
may  not  have  been  a  statesman,  we  do  not 
assert  that  he  was,  but  if  not,  he  approached  it 
close  enough  to  be  one  of  the  most  superb 
demagoges  the  country  has  produced.  We 
do  not  use  the  word  demagogue  in  an  offen- 
sive sense.  If  Douglas  fell  short  of  that 
breadth  and  profundity  that  marks  the  line 
between  the  demagogue  and  statesman,  then 
by  what  name  in  heaven's  sake  shall  we  des- 
ignate all  the  other  little  great  men  of  Illi- 
nois ? — the  political  buzzards  that  have  been 
with  us  almost  as  numerously  as  the  locusts 
in  Egypt.  In  short,  who  is  Illinois'  great 
man,  if  not  Douglas?  Who  will  the  histo- 
rian of  a  hundred  years  hence,  when  without 
bias  or  prejudice  or  judgment  formed  for 
him  by  others  or  a  popular  hurrah,  will, 
with  severe  discrimination,  unmask  the 
shams  and  cheap  frauds,  and  dispassionately 
examine  what  each  one  did  do,  and  strike 
the  balance  sheet  and  hold  forth  the  results, 
without  mercy  and  without  fear,  we  say  who 
will  he  name  as  the  suitable  irontispiece  to 
the  history  of  Illinois  up  to  this  time.  One 
thing  alone  is  certain  to  come  pure  and 
bright  from  this  alembic,  and  that  is  the  fact 
that  Illinois  to-day  owes  more  to  Judge 
Douglas  than  to  all  her  other  notorious  men 
put  togethex*.  He  gave  the  country  the  Illi- 
nuis  Central  Railroad,  and  in  the  grand 
scheme  he  not  only  refused  to  be  corrupted, 
but  he  crushed  and  annihilated  the  swai'ming 
Credit  Mobilier  robbers  that  sprung  up  in  al- 
most countless  numbers  all  along  its  path. 
They  could  neither  corrupt  him,  intimidate 
him,  nor  crush  him  out,  and  the  grand  re- 
sult is  a  marvel  in  the  history  of  legislation 
upon  this  continent,   there  is  no  parallel  to 


this  great  and  benign  act.  It  was  the  open- 
ing wedge  to  the  whole  Mississippi  Valley 
foi  the  millions  of  happy,  prosperous  people, 
teeming  with  content  and  well  paid  lives 
that  have  made  the  rich  wilderness  truly 
to  blossom  as  the  rose.  And  in  the  honesty 
and  purity  that  marked  the  whole  transac- 
tion, it  stands  alone  in  American  history. 
He  knew  that  he  was  a  poor  man — one  who 
had  served  his  country,  and  instead  of  com- 
mencing poor  and  retiring  rich,  had  com- 
menced rich  and  would  retire  a  pauper, 
and  that  a  nod  of  his  head  woiild  have 
put  ill-gotten  millions  in  his  easy  'reach, 
and  he  stood  unflinchingly  between  the 
people's  treasiu-e  and  the  ravenous  horde, 
and  every  day,  every  hour,  every  citizen  of 
Illinois — nay,  more  than  twenty  millions  of 
the  people  of  the  West — are  rea})ing  the 
fruits,  enjoying  the  comforts  and  realizing, 
in  some  way,  the  wisdom  of  his  guardianship 
of  their  interests  at  a  critical  moment  of  the 
country's  life,  and  before  a  majority  of  those 
now  living  were  born. 

In  the  year  1852,  the  necessary  survey 
having  been  completed,  chiefly  by  Charles 
Thrup,  of  Cairo,  under  the  direction  of  Col, 
Ashley,  Division  Engineer,  and  the  timber 
having  been  cleared  from  the  route  of  the 
railroad,  the  work  of  construction  at  the 
Cairo  end  of  the  road  was  vigorously  com- 
menced. 

Messrs.  Ellis,  Jenkins  &  Co.  became  con- 
tractors, their  contracts  extending  from 
Cairo  to  the  north  line  of  Union  County. 
The  law  required  the  work  to  be  commenced 
simultaneously  at  the  north  and  south  ter- 
mini of  the  road.  The  contractors  speedily 
had  about  foui'  hundred  men  here  at  work, 
and  the  heavy  timber  was  cleared  from  the 
track  and  the  work  commenced;  and  other 
men  were  brought  by  them  as  fast  as  they 
could  be  procured,  and  in  the  city  and  above 


210 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


the  city  and  on  the  Cache  another  force  were 
soon  clearing  away  the  timber,  and  within 
Alexander  County  there  wero  between  seven 
hundred  and  a  thousaud  laborers  at  work. 
Cairo  was  bustling,  then,  again  with  busy 
life.  Ellis,  Jenkins  &  Co.  failed  and  sur- 
rendered their  work,  when  Maurice  Brodprick 
became  the  contractor,  and  under  his  direc- 
tion the  Cairo  levees,  nearly  as  they  are  now 
(except  the  Mississippi  levee),  were  con- 
structed. These  were  the  long- anticipated, 
flush  times  in  Cairo  once  more.  The  sudden 
influx  of  people  trebled  at  once  her  popula- 
tion, ^ve  business  an  unparalleled  activity 
and  called  into  existence  a  number  of  new 
business  institutions,  particularly  doggeries, 
groceries,  l)oarding-houses  and  supply  places, 
etc.  Everybody  made  money.  The  stores 
had  all  the  business  their  keepers  could  sat- 
isfactorily give  attention  to;  the  boarding- 
houses  were  literally  running  over,  and  Mose 
Harrell  declares  that  after  the  second  "  pay 
day,"  every  saloon-keeper  in  town  had  a  gold 
fob-chain;  an  evidence  that  both  bar-tender 
and  proprietor  are  raking  in  the  ducats  under 
a  fair  and  just  divide. 

Fights  at  fisticuffs,  and  arrangements 
with  "  shillalahs,"  were  the  favorite  past- 
time  and  fun  among  the  levee  hands,  but  as 
a  general  thing  they  resulted  in  nothing  more 
serious  than  disfigured  countenances,  or  the 
temporary  enlargement  of  the  phrenological 
bumps.  Only  a  single  riot,  having  a  fatal 
termination,  took  place  in  Cairo  during  the 
progress  of  these  improvements.  This  occurred 
during  a  "pay  day."  The  old  foundiy  was  used 
as  an  ofiice  by  the  contractors,  and  here  they 
paid  off  their  hands.  The  room  was  crowded 
with  laborers,  eager  for  settlement,  as  well  as 
those  who  had  furnished  supplies,  etc.  They 
were  so  crowded  and  clamorous,  that  it  was 
found  difiicult  for  the  clerks  to  transact  the 
business,      Mr.  Stephens  ordered  them  all  to 


leave  the  room.  Of  course  they  gave  no  heed 
to  his  order;  observing  this,  he  rushed  among 
them  with  a  bowie-knife,  and  commenced 
cutting  right  and  left,  utterly  regardless  of 
consequences.  An  ax  being  at  hand,  one  of  the 
assaulted  crowd  seized  it  and  seeing  that  life 
and  death  were  the  alternatives,  aimed  a 
blow  at  Stephens,  which  cleft  to  the  brain. 

The  work  upon  the  line  from  here  to  the 
north  part  of  Union  County  was  pushed 
vigorously  ahead,  with  the  forces  distributed 
at  all  the  points  where  the  heavy  work  was 
to  be  done. 

On  the  7th  day  of  August,  1855,  the  first 
train  of  cars  over  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road reached  the  city  of  Cairo.  A  locomo- 
tive, under  the  charge  of  Joe  Courtway,  draw- 
ing a  half-dozen  platform  cars,  whereon  were 
seated  about  one  hundred  citizens  of  Jones- 
boro  and  intermediate  points,  formed  the 
train  and  passengers.  Beyond  Jonesboro 
the  road  was  not  finished,  but  the  work  was 
so  near  completion,  that  in  a  few  weeks  the 
trains  were  enabled  to  pass  over  the  entire 
main  line. 

On  the  1st  day  of  January,  1856,  the  first 
passenger  train,  on  schedule  time,  passed  over 
the  Central  road  from  Chicago  to  Cairo,  and 
a  large  delegation  of  leading  people  of  Chica- 
go were  the  passengers.  The  people  of  Cairo 
gave  them  a  hearty  reception,  and  literally 
Chicago  and  Cairo — the  two  extremes  of  the 
State,  and  the  two  best  located  cities  in  Illi- 
nois— shook  hands  and  kissed  in  mutual  love 
and  admiration.  The  Chicago  visitors  were 
royally  entertained  at  the  "Taylor  House," 
and  all  were  glorying  over  the  auspicious  event 
After  spending  the  day  in  shaking  hands  and 
looking  about  the  town,  they  were  entertained 
in  the  evening  by  two  large  and  separate 
balls  and  suppers,  at  which  speeches  were 
made,  toasts  drunk,  and  a  generally  happy 
and  hilarious  time  was  prolonged  to   the  end 


i 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


211 


of  the  visitors'  stay.  Manifestations  of  kin- 
dred feeling  over  the  completion  of  the  road 
were  to  be  seen  everywhere  along  the  route, 
the  people  correctly  believing  that  the  time 
marked  the  commencement  of  a  glorious  and 
more  prosperous  era  for  the  Prairie  State 
and  her  people. 

The  Chicago,  St.  Louis  &  New  Orleans 
Railroad,  or  what  was  better  known  as  the 
"Great  Jackson  Route,"  a  railroad  from  Cairo 
direct  to  New  Orleans,  was,  in  the  year 
1882,  consolidated  and  made  part  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad,  and  is  now  the  South- 
ern Division  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad, 
a  continuous  line  from  Chicago  to  New  Or- 
leans. Trains  are  passed  over  the  river  at 
Cairo  by  the  transfer  boat,  H.  I.  McComb. 
So  complete  and  perfect  is  this  part  of  the 
work  pRrformed,  that  passengers  cross  the 
river  and  are  speeded  on  their  way  north  or 
south  often,  without  an  interruption  to  their 
slumbers. 

Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad. — Originally, 
this  was  wholly  a  Cairo  enterprise,  and  it 
was  started  [under  very  favorable  auspices. 
The  charter  was  enacted  by  the  Legislature, 
February  16,  1865,  the  incorporators  being 
Sharon  Tyndale,  Isham  N.  Haynie,  Samuel 
Staats  Taylor,  John  Thomas,  William  H. 
Logan,  William  P.  Halliday  and  Tilman  B. 
Cantrell,  who,  by  the  terms  of  the  charter, 
were  "  vested  with  powers,  privileges  and 
immunities  which  are  or  may  be  necessary  to 
construct,  complete  and  operate  a  railroad, 
from  the  city  of  Cairo  to  any  point  opposite 
the  city  of  St.  Louis."  The  capital  stock 
authorized  was  $3,000,000,  and  which 
"  may  be  inci'eased  to  not  exceeding  $5,000,- 
000."  The  law  makes  Sharon  Tyndale, 
Isham  N.  Haynie,  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  John 
Thomas,  William  H.  Logan,  William  P. 
Halliday  and  Tilman  B.  Cantrell  the  first 
Board    of  Directors,  and   requires   them   to 


elect  officers  of  the  corporation  from  their 
body.  Section  5  of  the  act  is  in  the  follow- 
ing words:  "  Nothing  contained  in  this  act, 
or  any  law  of  this  State,  shall  authoi'izo  said 
company  to  take,  for  the  uses  and  purposes 
of  the  company,  or  otherwise,  or  to  impair 
any  portion  of  the  levees,  or  embankment 
already  constructed  or  erected  by  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  or  by 
any  person  or  corporation,  under  existing 
agreements  with  them,  except  by  the  consent 
of  said  Trustees  and  of  the  city  of  Cairo." 

This  charter  is  a  neat,  short,  compact, 
and  yet  comprehensive  document,  and  is  ad- 
mirably suited  for  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  intended.  It  names  only  two  points — 
Cairo  and  some  point  opposite  St.  Louis.  As 
short  as  it  is,  it  grants  every  power  wanted, 
and  hampers  the  company  with  none  of  the 
usual  provisions  and  directions  and  un- 
necessary minutise  in  controlling  the  action 
of  the  company,  except  vSection  5,  which  we 
give  entire,  and  out  of  which  has  arisen  some 
complications  with  the  city  of  Cairo.  The 
municipalities  along  the  line  are  authorized 
to  donate  lands  and  subscribe  for  stock. 

S.  Staats  Taylor  was  elected  President  at 
the  meeting  for  organization  of  the  charter 
directors.  In  1874,  he  was  succeeded  by 
F.  E.  Cauda,  of  Chicago. 

The  municipalities  along  the  line,  from 
Cairo  to  Columbia,  in  Monroe  County,  voted 
$1,050,000  in  aid  of  the  enterprise,  and  the 
contract  to  construct  the  entire  ;line  was 
awarded  to  H.  R.  Payson  &  Co.,  of  Chicago. 
Work  was  commenced  in  1872,  at  the  St. 
Louis  end,  or  rather  at  East  Carondelet,  and 
under  many  difficulties,  pushed  to  comple- 
tion in  1874,  to  Murphysboro,  and  the  work 
stopped.  This  result  came  from  the  inability 
of  the  contracfx^rs  to  go  any  further,  and  they 
were  thus  crippled  by  the  municipalities 
latterly  refusing  to  pay  their  donations.     The 


ni 


HLSTOIIY  OF  CAIRO. 


contractors  had  invested  over  $1,000,000  of 
their  own  funds,  and  failing  to  get  the 
money  donated,  according  to  the  terms  of 
the  vote  of  the  people,  they  were  too  much 
crippled,  or  did  not  feel  like  risking  any 
more  expenditure  iu  the  enterprise.  The 
road,  so  far  as  built,  was  at  once  stocked  and 
operated,  being  run  from  East  Carondelet  to 
East  St.  Louis — a  distance  of  about  five 
miles — over  the  Conlogue  road.  From  the 
very  first,  it  was  a  financial  success,  as  a 
purely  local  road,  and  much  more  than  paid 
expenses.  It  tapped  the  very  finest  country 
lying  east  and  south  of  St.  Louis,  passing 
through  ihe  southwest  corner  of  St.  Clair, 
and  entering  Monroe,  and  through  the  center 
of  this  and  into  Randolph  and  Jackson  Coun- 
ties, and  ,'giving  all  this  rich  and  populous 
section  direct  and  easy  communication  with 
St.  Louis.  But  the  people  of  Cairo  could 
not  see  where  this  was  benefiting  them  any, 
and  communication  was  opened  with  the  com- 
pany with  a  view  of  extending  it,  as  the 
charter  specified,  to  Cairo;  and  Union 
County,  being  as  deeply  interested  as  Cairo, 
joined  in  ofifering  inducements  to  have  the 
work  completed.  Alexander  County  had  sub- 
scribed $100,000,  and  the  city  of  Cairo  a 
similar  amount;  Union  County  had  sub- 
scribed $100,000,  and  the  city  of  Jonesboro 
$50,000.  Alexander  County  and  the  city  of 
Cairo  paid  their  subscriptions  to  the  last  dol- 
lar, and  kept  their  faith;  Union  County  paid 
a  portion  of  hers,  and  Jonesboro  paid  one- 
half,  or  $25,000  of  her  subscription;  and  on 
March  1,  1875,  the  road  was  completed  from 
East  Carondelet  to  Cairo,  making  an  entire 
line  from  Cairo  to  East  St.  Louis.  We  may 
here  remark  that  Jonesboro,  after  getting 
the  road,  repudiated  the  remainder  of  her 
donation,  and  was  sued  upon  the  bonds,  and 
before  the  local  court  of  Union  County  easily 
got  a  judgment    acquitting  her  of    the  debt; 


but  the  case  was  removed  into  the  United 
States  Court,  and  recently  this  decision  sum- 
marily reversed,  and  the  probabilities  are  she 
will  have  to  pay  the  debt  with  the  accumu- 
lated interest.  It  was  a  case  of  voting  aid  by 
the  wholesale,  and,  except  Alexander  County 
and  Cairo,  repudiation  with  equal  facility 
and  complacency.  Our  State  constitution 
now  prohibits  the  people  giving  donations  to 
railroads.  It  should  never  have  permitted  it. 
It  is  vicious  legislation,  and  the  corruption 
of  the  people  and  banishing  all  sense  of 
honor  from  municipalities  starts  a  train  of 
descent  that,  in  the  end,  reaches  the  in- 
dividuals who  compose  the  corporate  bodies. 

The  contractors  had  entered  into  the  usual 
obligations,  namely,  to  take  the  donations, 
and  in  the  end  the  corporation  and  all  its  be- 
longings as  pay  for  building,  and  in  the  end 
became  the  sole  proprietors  of  the  road.  The 
complications  arising  from  the  failure  to  get 
the  donations,  as  mentioned,  deeply  involved 
the  road  in  debt,  and,  as  the  only  way  out  of 
it,  on  the  7th  of  December,  1877,  Mr.  H.  W. 
Smithers  was  appointed  Receiver  of  the  road, 
and  at  once  took  possession  and  operated  un- 
der the  protection  of  the  courts.  This,  it 
seems,  was  a  fortunate  appointment,  and 
under  his  management  he  repaired,  stocked 
and  fixed  the  line  in  good  running  order.  He 
constructed  depots,  and  in  East  St.  Louis 
built  a  round-house  with  seven  stalls,  ma- 
chine shops  and  spacious  freight  and  passen- 
ger depots.  He  made  of  it  a  very  good  line 
of  road,  whereas  when  he  took  charge  of  it, 
it  was  in  a  dilapidated  condition  from  one 
end  to  the  other. 

The  road  was  sold,  under  the  decree  of  the 
court,  in  January,  1882,  and  on  February  1, 
of  the  same  year,  was  re-organized,  with  the 
following  as  the  new  Board  of  Directors:  C. 
W.  Schaap,  W.  T.  Whitehouse,  S.  C.  Judd, 
L.  M.  Johnson,  E.  B.  Sheldon,  H.  B.  White- 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


213 


house,  J.  M.  Mills  and  E.  H.  Fishburn.  The 
present  Board  is  W.  F.  Whitehouse,  L.  M. 
Johnson,  Ex.  Norton,  Fred  Bross,  John  B. 
Lovington,  C.  W.  Schaap,  H.  B.  Whitehoiise, 
Jos i ah  H.  Horsey  and  S.  Corning  Judd. 
The  officers  of  the  road  consist  of  AV.  F. 
Whitehonse,  President;  L.  M.  Johnson,  Vice 
President;  Charles  Hamilton,  General  Sup- 
erintendent; S.  Corning  Judd,  Gen.  Sol.; 
William  Ritchie,  Secretary;  George  H. 
Smith,  General  Freight  and  Passenger 
Agent,  and  Lewis  Enos,  Auditor  and  Cash- 
ier. The  new  organization  at  once  set  about 
building  their  own  road  into  East  St.  Louis 
from  Carondelet,  and  this  was  completed  dur- 
ing the  present  year.  In  the  year  1881,  the 
road  "was  engaged  in  completing  its  line  into 
Cairo,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  its 
arrangements  to  build  on  the  strip  of  land 
of  the  Cairo  Trust  Pi'operty,  on  the  Missis- 
sippi side;  a  part  of  that  arrangement  being 
that,  for  this  privilege,  it  was  to  keep  in  re- 
pair and  raise  aud  strengthen  the  levee  run- 
ning along  the  Mississippi  River,  and  on  the 
south  of  the  city.  This  work  was  only  fairly 
commenced,  when  the  city  of  Cairo  went  into 
court,  and  prayed  an  injunction  to  prevent 
the  road  crossing  Washington  avenue. 
The  point  where  the  road  comes  in  contact 
with  this  avenue  is  some  distance  north  of 
the  north  levee,  and  where  neither  a  road, 
avenue  or  highway  exists,  except  on  the  city 
plat.  No  dray,  carriage,  buggy  or  dog- cart 
or  foot  passenger  will,  probably,  want  to 
use  that  particular  portion  of  Washington 
avenue  for  the  next  hundred  years.  The  in- 
junction was  granted,  prohibiting  the  road 
from  crossing  this  avenue,  and  Judge  Baker 
has  made  the  injunction  [perpetual.  The 
road  laade  the  best  temporary  arrangement 
it  could,  and  has  a  track  on  the  Mississippi 
levee,  and  in  this  way  is  enabled  to  reach  the 
Vnion  Depot.     These  complications  are  un- 


fortunate for  the  road,  as  it  practically  cuts 
it  out  of  a  permanent  terminus  here,  and 
prevents  it  making  those  contemplated  im- 
provements, as  well  as  making  any  solid  and 
advantageous  connecting  arrangements  with 
other  roads  from  Cairo  south.  It  practically 
cuts  off  its  Cairo  freight  business  from  the 
north.  And  one  item  of  very  great  impor- 
tance to  the  people  and  business  is,  that  this 
unfortunate  state  of  affairs  prevents  the  road 
shipping  to  this  market  the  Jackson  County 
coal,  that  is  so  much  needed  here  for  the 
manufactories  that  may  be  yet  built  in  Cairo, 
as  well  as  for  the  local  and  river  trade. 
Here  are  altogether  a  remarkable  state  of 
facts.  During  all  the  struggle  for  existence, 
the  city  extended  to  it  a  princely,  liberal 
hand,  and  it  was  the  people's  money  of  Cairo 
that  enabled  the  projectors  to  ever  build  the 
road.  After  it  was  built,  from  some  griev- 
ance not  visible  in  the  court  papers,  she 
turns  upon  and  badly  cripples  that  particular 
portion  of  the  road  in  which  the  town  is 
deeply  interested.  There  has  been  short- 
sighted management  somewhere.  The  man- 
agers of  the  road,  and  particularly  the  con- 
tractors, who  were  saved  from  hopeless 
banki'uptcy  by  the  action  of  Cairo,  when  the 
other  municipalities  were  repudiating  their 
donations,  must  have,  at  one  time,  felt  very 
kindly  to  Cairo,  and  the  S20(),000  put  in 
there  by  the  city  and  county,  certainly  could 
have  controlled  and  brought  here  the  ma- 
chine shops,  round-house  and  such  other  and 
valuable  improvements  as  the  road  has  now 
made  in  East  St.  Louis,  and  others  it  will  yet 
make.  In  the  law  the  city  triumphs,  but 
where  are  her  gains?  Look  at  the  results: 
The  road  has  no  reliable  entrance  into  Cairo. 
During  the  past  twelve  months,  there  were 
three  months  that  no  train  over  that  road 
came  into  Cairo;  yet  its  trains  ran  regularly 
into  East  St.  Louis,  and  came  down  to  Hodge' s 


214 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


Park,  a  few  miles  north  of  Cairo,  the 
road  all  the  time  doing  a  good  local  business, 
and  the  managers  showed  the  writer  hereof 
their  books  during  the  time  of  the  interrup- 
tion of  trains,  and  there  was  no  falling  off  in 
the  revenues  of  the  road.  That  left  Cairo  in 
the  condition  of  having  given  $200,000  to 
build  a  railroad  to  tap  the  country  in  her  im- 
mediate vicinity,  and  take  her  natural  trade 
away  from  her  very  door,  and  carry  all  to  St. 
Louis — a  species  of  commercial  suicide,  as 
the  farmers  and  business  men  along  the  line, 
from  Bodge' 8  Park  to  St.  Louis,  were  cut  off 
from  Cairo  as  completely  as  if  the  town  was 
in  the  moon,  and  the  doors  to  St.  Louis 
thrown  open  to  them.  A  similar  policy  on 
the  other  roads  would  soon  sow  the  streets  of 
the  town  with  cockle  and  dog- fennel,  to 
flourish  in  unmolested  glory.  The  city  gave 
its  best  sti'eet  to  another  road,  entirely 
through  the  main  and  business  part  of  the 
town,  where  it  now  runs  its  trains  to  the 
great  distress  of  the  people,  and  at  the  same 
time  enjoins  the  Cairo  &St.  Louis  road  from 
crossing  Washington  avenue  at  a  place  in  the 
swamps  north  of  the  city  proper,  where  that 
highway,  probably,  will  never  be  utilized, 
except  by  ducks  and  frogs,  or,  in  very  dry 
seasons,  the  "  lone  fisherman." 

The  Cairo  &  St.L  ouis  Railroad  has  no  con- 
necting interests  here  with  any  other  railroad. 
It  is  now  a  purely  local  St.  Louis  'road, 
bringing  little  or  nothing  to  Cairo,  and  tak- 
ing as  little  away.  A  talk  with  the  managers 
will  at  once  convince  yovithat  they  feel  little 
if  any  interest  in  the  town.  When  it  is  so 
they  can,  without  any  inconvenience,  they 
run  their  trains  into  the  place;  when  they 
cannot  do  this  they  don't  care.  At  the  St. 
Louis  end,  they  have  running  connection  with 
the  Toledo  Narrow-Gauge  Railroad;  $200,- 
000  of  the  people's  money  has  gone  into  the 
enterprise,  and  now  the  city  and  the  road  are 


like  the  old  fellow,  when  he  announced 
"  Betsy  and  I  are  out."  They  rush  into  law, 
and  the  outcome  is  a  triumph  for  the  city, 
but  it.  is  somewhat  like  the  victory  of  the 
wife,  who  has  her  husband  fined  for  whip- 
ping her,  and  while  he  enjoys  himself  in  jail, 
she  washes  to  raise  the  money  to  pay  his 
fine.  The  lion  was  taking  a  drink  in  the 
stream,  and  some  distance  below  the  lamb 
was  crossing.  The  lion  straightway  killed 
the  lamb  for  muddying  the  waters  up  where  he 
was  drinking.  The  managers  profess  pro- 
found ignorance  of  why  Cairo  should  turn 
upon  and  rend  her  own  offspring.  The  peo- 
ple of  Cairo  generally  profess  the  same  ig- 
norance, and  we  know  they  individually  feel 
kindly  toward  the  road.  They  realize  that  it 
should  be,  and  naturally  is,  one  of  the  most 
valuable  lines  that  came  into  Cairo,  and  they 
regret  these  unfortunate  circumstances  that 
have  nearly  neutralized  its  good  effects  upon 
the  town.  If  there  was  any  serious  question  to 
form  the  bone  of  contention,  it  would  be 
altogether  different,  and  then  the  war  might 
go  on,  and  neither  the  road  nor  the  people 
would  grumble.  True,  people  here  sometimes 
shake  their  heads,  and  say,  look  at  our 
many  great  railroads  that  add  their  im- 
mense values  to  the  natural  lines  of  com- 
merce and  Cairo,  and  yet  there  is  no  suffi- 
cient advance  in  the  city's  march  forward  to 
keep  pace  with  these  encouraging  signs.  On 
the  surface,  there  are  no  reasons  for  this  state 
of  affairs,  and  yet  a  look  below — where  the 
real  facts  lie — might  reveal  a  state  of  'affairs 
that  would  make  all  plain  enough. 

But  these  matters  will  soon  be  adjusted; 
propositions,  we  are  glad  to  learn,  are  now 
passing,  looking  to  a  full  settlement,  and  it 
is  to  be  hoped  they  will  be  consummated  at 
an  early  day,  and  the  road  and  the  city  will 
be  just  and  profitable  to  each  other. 

Cairo  Short  Line. — This  is  another  Cairo  & 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


2  IS 


St.  Louis  Railroad.  It  was  projected  and  built 
originally  as  a  southern  line  for  the  Indian- 
apolis &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  and  was  built 
from  East  St.  Louis  to  Duquoin,  when  it 
was  purchased  and  became  a  part  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad.  It  runs  upon  the 
Central  to  Duquoin,  and  there  branches  off 
to  St.  Louis.  It  is  really  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  from  Cairo  to  St.  Louis,  making 
the  second  direct  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Railroad. 

The  Wabash  was  originally  chartered  as  the 
Cairo  &  Vincennes  Raih'oad,  the  incorpora- 
tion bearing  date  March  6,  1867.  The  incor- 
porators were  Green  B.  Raum,  D.  Hiu*d,  N. 
R.  Casey,  AV.  P.  Halliday,  J.  B.  Chasman. 
A.  J.  Kuykendall,  John  W.  Mitchell,  S. 
Staats  Taylor,  W.  R.  Wilkinson,  John  il. 
Crebbs,  Walter  L.  Mayo,  Robert  Mick,  Samuel 
Hess,  George  Mertz,  V,  Rathbone,  D.  T. 
Linegar,  Aaron  Shaw,  James  Tackney,  W. 
W.  McDowell,  Isaac  B.  Watts  and  Isham  N. 
Haynie.  They  were  authorized  to  construct 
a  railroad  from  the  city  of  Cairo,  by  the  way 
of  Mound  City,  to  some  point  on  or  near  the 
line  between  Illinois-  and  Indiana,  at  or  near 
Vincennes.  Donations  were  here  liberally 
voted,  and  Gen.  Burnside  became  the  gen- 
eral contractor,  and  represented  fully  the 
interests  of  the  capitalists. 

In  October,  1881,  it  was  consolidated,  and 
became  a  part  of  the  Wabash  system  of  rail- 
roads, in  which  management  it  is  now  con- 
ducted. On  the  10th  December,  1872,  the 
road  was  completed  from  Vincennes  to  Cairo, 
and  a  through  passenger  train  arrived  in 
Cairo,  bringing  a  lai-ge  delegation  of  prom- 
inent citizens,  among  whom  was  Gen.  Burn- 
side,  who  was  the  chief  officer  and  builder  of 
the  road.  The  visitors  were  entertained 
royally,  and  banqueted  in  the  evening. 

The  original  contractors  for  the  entire  line 
were  Dodge,  Lord  k  Co.  The  city  of  Cairo 
and  the  county  of   Alexander  had  each   sub- 


scribed and  taken  S100,CK)0  of  stock  in  the 
road,  paying  therefor  in  their  bonds.  Finan- 
cial diflSculties  of  the  company  compelled 
the  contractors  to  stop  work  in  1869,  and 
this  stoppage  continued  until  1871,  when 
Winslow  <fc  Wilson  contracted  for.  and  com- 
pleted the  work  of  construction.  After  the 
completion  of  the  road,  Messrs.  A.  B.  Safford 
and  Mr.  Morris  were  appointed  Receivers, 
and  they  were  afterward  succeeded  by  Messrs. 
Morgan  &  Tracey,  who  continued  in  control 
of  its  destinies  to  the  time  it  passed  into  the 
Wabash  system  of  railroads. 

Mobile  <&  Ohio  Railroad. — This  road  was  in 
contemplation  as  a  line  from  Cairo  to  Mo- 
bile, as  an  extension,  in  fact,  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad.  In  accordance  with  the 
wise  provisions  of  Congress,  work  was  com- 
menced at  the  Mobile  end  of  the  road,  and 
the  work  completed  to  Columbus,  Ky,  and  a 
transfer  boat  used  in  connection  with  the 
trains  between  this  point  and  Cairo.  The 
war  coming  on,  not  only  the  work  of  com- 
pleting the  road  to  Cairo  was  stopped,  but  it 
soon  Ceased  to  be  a  road  at  all,  as  portions  of 
it  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Union  forces,  and 
parts  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels.  The  i-ails 
were  torn  up,  carried  away,  and  often  heated 
and  bent  out  of  all  shape.  The  rolling  stock 
was  destroyed,  as  well  as  the  most  of  the 
station  houses,  buildings  and  shops.  After 
the  war  was  over,  and  the  people  of  the 
South  had  again  begun  the  work  of  recover- 
ing their  lost  fortunes,  the  enterprise  was 
taken  hold  of  by  captalists,  and  the  work  of 
rebuilding  the  line  and  extending  the  road 
on  to  Cairo  was  pressed  to  completion. 

The  Texas  d:  St.  Louis  Railroad  is  des- 
tined some  day  to  become  one  of  the  most 
important  and  valuable  of  all  the  roads  lead- 
ing into  Cairo.  It  will  be,  when  completed, 
a  direct  and  continuous  line  from  Cairo  to 
the  Ci*y  of  Mexico. 


216 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


The  Texas  &  St.  Louis  Bail  way  Company 
have  recently  concluded  passenger  and 
freight  traffic  aiTangements  with  the  Illinois 
Central  Kailroad  Company,  which  is  to  exist 
for  a  period  of  fifty  years,  the  essence  of 
which  is  that  the  Illinios  Central  is  to  take 
complete  control  of  the  northern,  western 
and  eastern  passenger  and  freight  business 
of  the  Texas  &  St.  Louis,  and  vice  versa  the 
trade  of  the  Illinois  Central,  as  far  as 
it  pertains  to  the  country  traversed  by  this 
new  road.  The  Texas  &  St.  Louis  is  part 
of  a  system  of  railway  which  is  to  run  direct 
from  Cairo  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  em- 
braces a  distance  of  2,000  miles;  600  miles 
of'  the  system  is  already  in  operation,  and  it 
is  said  by  those  who  have  made  a  tour  of  in- 
spection, that  it  is  as  finely  built  and 
equipped  a  road  as  there  is  in  the  United 
States.  It  has  been  built  by  foreign  capital, 
not  to  sell,  but  as  a  permanent  investment, 
and  therefore  the  elegant  road  and  magnificent 
equipage.  The  inclines,  for  transfer  of  cars 
from  Bird's  Point  to  Cairo,  are  completed, 
and  a  first-class  transfer  boat  is  now  being 
operated.  The  business  for  St.  Louis  will 
be  done  over  the  Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Short 
Line.  The  road  bearing  the  name  of  the 
Texas  &  St.  Louis  will  open  up  a  vast,  rich 
country  to  the  trade  of  Cairo,  which  has  had 
heretofore  little  or  no  outlnt,  and  its  business 
will,  doubtless,  render  it  a  marvel  in  point  of 
financial  success.  The  road  runs  direct  from 
Bird's  Point,  opposite  Cairo,  to  Texarkana, 
thence  to  Waco,  thence  to  Gatesville,  and 
thence  to  the  Rio  Grande,  connecting  there 
with  the  Mexican  Central.  Maj.  G.  B.  Hib- 
bard,  chief  contractor,  with  headquartei-s  at 
Cairo,  is  pushing  the  work  with  all  possible 
speed,  and  he  confidently  believes  the  entire 
2,000  miles  will  be  completed  and  in  success- 
ful operation  within  two  years. 

The   Iron   Mountain  Railroad  is    now    a 


regular  Cairo  railroad,  by  an  extension  from 
Charleston,  Mo.,  to  Bird's  Point,  giving  the 
town  an  additional  highway  to  St.  Louis  and 
the  South.  This  is  one  of  the  valuable  Mis- 
souri railroads,  and  was  constructed  and 
operated  for  years  with  the  idea  that  it  could 
afford  to  pass  within  a  few  miles  of  Cairo 
and  ignore  its  existence.  But  time,  and  the 
growth  and  trade  of  the  place,  eventually 
compelled  them  to  build  into  Cairo  and  estab- 
lish a  transfer  boat,  and  thus  reach  some  of 
the  rich  harvest  that  awaited  their  coming. 

Here  are  eight  completed  first-class  rail- 
roads into  Cairo,  and  the  anticipations  of  the 
next  few  months  are  that  the  Chesapeake  & 
Ohio  Railroad  will  be  added  to  the  Cairo  list 
of  roads,  and  thus  form  a  direct  line  from 
the  city  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean  at  Norfolk,  Ya., 
making,  by  many  miles,  the  most  direct  road 
to  the  seashore.  The  value  of  this  line,  if 
carried  out  as  now  contemplated,  would  be 
incalculable  to  the  whole  Mississippi  Yalley. 
It  would  compel  the  building  of  a  direct  rail- 
road from  Cairo  West  to  the  Pacific  coast,  or 
at  least  to  a  connection  with  the  Southern 
Pacific  Railroad.  The  Cincinnati  &  Cairo 
Narrow  Gauge  Railroad  is  now  in  course  of 
construction.  The  road  will  run  direct  from 
Cincinnati  to  Cairo,  passing  entirely  across 
the  southern  portion  of  Indiana,  and  have  a 
length  of  220  miles.  This  will  bring  a  rich 
portion  of  the  country  to  the  Cairo  trade. 

The  Toledo  &  St.  Louis  Narrow  Gauge  is 
now  completed,  and  the  construction  of  a 
branch  from  some  point  in  Shelby  or  Edgar 
County  to  Cairo  is  being  rapidly  pushed  to 
completion.  This  important  link  is  essential 
to  the  filling  out  of  the  gi'eat  net-work  of  nar- 
row gauge  roads  that  are  now  being  completed 
from    New  York  City  to  the  City  of  Mexico. 

Thus  may  we  not  now  hope  that  the 
commanding  commercial  position  of  Cairo 
will  yet  compel  the   making  here  of    a  great 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


217 


railroad  and  transportation  and  travel  center, 
that  nature  evidently  intended  from  the  first 
it  should  become.     At  the  least,  here  is  light 


and  hope  ahead  for  the  people  who  have 
toiled  and  struggled  and  hoped  so  long  and 
so  faithfully. 


CHAPTER    XL 


CONCLUSION—THE  FUTURE    OF 


THE  CITY  CONSIDERED— HER   PRESENT 
PRESENT  CITY  OFFICIALS,  ETC. 


STATUS  AND  GROWTH— 


"While  others  may  think  of  the  times  that  are  gone, 
They  are  bent  by  the  years  that  are  fast  rolling  on. " 

A  BRIEF  retrospect,  and  a  short  sum- 
ming-up of  Cairo  as  it  is,  will  con- 
chide  oxar  account  of  its  history;  and  in  this 
retrospect  we  much  wish  we  could  answer, 
to  oiu-  own  satisfaction,  the'  oft-repeated 
question  that  the  people  have  propounded  to 
us  in  regard  to  the  future  of  the  city:  "What 
is  the  city's  outlook?"  No  town  site  has 
been  more  especially  favored  by  natiu'e,  and 
few,  if  any,  have  been  so  sorely  afflicted  with 
untoward  circumstances.  And  often  the  most 
heroic  exertions  in  her  behalf,  by  some  of 
her  people  here,  have  re-acted  to  the  apparent 
real  injury  to  the  prospects  of  the  place. 
Her  foundation  was  laid  in  a  Soixth  Sea  Bub- 
ble, by  a  visionary,  impracticable,  baulcrupt 
corporation  that  gathered  the  first  people 
here  rapidly,  and  then  tumbled  over  their 
own  air  castles  and  left  the  people  in  distress 
and  despair.  In  a  night,  almost,  a  thrifty 
young  city  of  2,000  liusy,  bustling  people 
was  turned  into  an  idle  mob,  wandering  about 
the  Ohio  levee,  and  ready — and  did  attempt 
— to  take  by  force  the  fii'st  steamer  that 
touched  at  the  wharf,  and  appropriate  it  to 
the  purpose  of  taking  the  many  workers,  who 
bad  been  thrown  out  of  employment,  away 
from  the  place.  The  officers  only  saved  their 
property  by  hastily  drawing  out  into  the 
stream.     Then,  after  the    levees  were   built, 


the  waters  came  and  washed  them  away,  and 
drowned  out  the  town,  and  gloom  and  desola- 
tion marked  its  tracks.  But  above,  and  perhaps 
far  greater  causes  of  evils  that  have  beset  Cairo 
all  its  life,  and  of  which  it  is  not  yet  wholly 
exempt,  have  been  the  corporate  and  private 
monopolies  that  have  sucked  out  much  of  that 
vitality  that  it  so  much  needed  for  its  own 
development.  It  altogether  impresses  us 
with  the  fact,  that  the  remarkable  natm-al 
wealth  of  advantages  of  the  place  have  been 
among  its  misfortunes.  As  in  some  spots  of 
the  globe  the  wealth  of  soil,  climate  and 
vegetable  and  animal  growth  are  so  rank  and 
profuse,  that  they  overcome  the  energies  of 
man,  and  remain  a  wilderness,  the  home  of 
an  u.nparalleled  growth  of  vegetation,  filled 
with  ferocious  beasts  and  poisonous  insects. 
For  instance,  the  wonderful  land  of  Brazil, 
in  South  America,  a  scope  of  country  larger 
than  the  United  States,  and  the  richest  in 
climate  and  soil  in  the  world,  so  rich  and  so 
prolific,  that  it  defies  the  puny  arm  of  man 
to  conquer  and  become  the  master  of  its  riot 
of  power  in  productiveness  of  vegetable  and 
animal  life.  From  the  very  force  and  power  of 
its  abundance,  it  is  made  as  uninhabitable  as 
are  the  arid  wastes  of  the  sandy  desert.  In 
looking  over  the  short  life  of  the  city,  we 
cannot  but  be  impressed  with  the  fact  that 
it  has  been  one  of  its  misfortunes  in  present- 
ing so  many  natural  advantages  as  to  temj)t 


218 


HISTORY   OF   CAIRO. 


the  schemers  and  the  unsci'upulous  to  com- 
bine and  attempt  to  gather  in  to  their  own, 
benefits  and  advantages  that  were  placed 
here  by  nature  in  quantities  sufficient  for  al- 
most a  young  empire.  Great  cities  in  this 
country  have  not  been  built  by  corporations, 
backed  ;by  stringent  or  powerful  laws  of  the 
State  Legislatiu'es.  They  need  no  combina- 
tions, companies  or  heavy  capitalists  in  their 
young  and  growing  days.  It  wants  only  the 
free  play  of  individual  effort,  where  each 
business  man  may  see  a  hope  to  realize 
wealth  and  position  by  his  efforts,  and  to  know 
that  in  such  a  struggle  he  will  not  be 
crushed  by  a  public  or  private  monopoly. 
Hence,  Cairo's  first  calamity  was  a  charter 
granted  for  its  building.  Cairo,  and  its  past 
histor}^,  and  its  destiny,  are  singular  subjects 
to  contemplate.  There  is,  looking  from  one 
standpoint,  no  reason  why  there  should  not 
be  as  many  people  and  as  much  wealth  here 
as  there  is  in  Chicago,  and,  tiu'ning  to  the 
other  side  of  the  picture,  the  wonder  arises 
why  the  10,000  people  who  are  now  here 
ever  came,  or  stayed  when  they  did  come. 
It  has  demonstrated  what  many  wise  heads 
believed  impossible,  namely,  the  erection  of 
levees  and  embankments  that  would  protect, 
not  only  against  the  "highest  known  waters," 
but  against  the  unparalleled  floods  of  1882  and 
1883.  It  has  been  the  only  dry  land  along 
the  river,  but  it  was  an  island  in  the  waste 
of  waters,  and  the  overflow  of  the  present  year 
has  demonstrated  that  it  is  not  alone  enough 
to  keep  the  water  out  of  the  city,  but  the 
merchants  and  business  men  are  now  realiz- 
ing that  they  must  keep  up  communication 
with  the  agricultural  communities  surround- 
ing the  place,  or  business  will  stagnate,  and 
hard  times  will  come.  Again,  the  levees 
have  always  presented  vexatioiis  questions, 
that  were  injurious  because  unsettled  ques- 
tions.   People  have  divided  upon  the  policies 


to  be  pursued  in  reference  to  grading  up  the 
town  and  the  levees,  and  continued  that  un- 
settled state  of  the  public  mind  that  has 
caused  injury  to  the  permanent  gi'owth  and 
especially  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
place.  A  world-wide  misapprehension  and 
a  common  stock-slander  on  the  extreme  South- 
ern Illinois,  has  been  in  regard  to  the 
healthfulness  of  this  section  of  the  country. 
To  the  citizens,  there  is  the  patent  fact  that 
there  is  no  healthier  place  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  The  general  appearance  of  the  peo- 
ple, the  overflow  of  the  school  rooms  with 
ruddy,  chubby-faced,  happy  children,  tell  the 
whole  story  as  to  the  health  of  the  people; 
but  the  traveler  sees  a  pond  of  sipe  water, 
the  low,  swampy  land  about  the  city,  and. 
being  impressed  before  he  comes  with  the 
common  slander,  imagines  he  needs  a  medi- 
cated sponge  tied  over  his  nose  in  order 
that  he  may  not  breathe  in  death  in  passing 
hurriedly  through  the  place,  and  'he  writes 
a  letter  to  the  great  city  paper,  telling  the 
world  of  the  dangers  that  he  passed,  and  the 
providential  escape  he  made,  in  passing 
through  Southern  Illinois.  It  is  immaterial 
what  the  health  statistics  may  show,  these 
the  affrighted  slanderer  will  not  see,  particu- 
larly as  they  give  the  He  direct  to  his  manu- 
factured stories;  but  if  they  did,  upon  the 
contrary,  show  a  great  death  rate  here,  then, 
indeed,  would  these  tables  be  quoted  and  re- 
quoted  the  year  round,  in  great,  fat  display 
type,  that  all  the  world  might  see, 

Cairo  was  the  natural  crossing  point  for 
the  immigration  and  travel  east  and  west, 
north  and  south.  This  point  of  crossing,  in 
the  center  of  the  continent,  was,  by  the  war 
and  fother  untoward  circumstances,  moved 
300  miles  north  of  this,  and  the  south  half 
of  the  Union,  for  commercial  purposes,  was 
wiped  from  the  map  of  the  country  for  a  dec- 
ade or  more,  and  the  railroads  built,    and  the 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO. 


219 


cities  sprung  up,    and  commerce  adjusted  to 
this  northern  line,  until  it  may  now  be  for- 
ever impossible  to  change  it.     The  very  fact 
that  Illinois  penetrated,  from   the   northern 
lakes,  like  a  wedge,  down  into  the  Southern 
States,  forming,  as  Daniel  P.  Cook  argued, 
the   keystone  of   the  great   union  of    States, 
has  been  turned,  in  the  unfortunate  quarrels 
of  the  late  war,  into  a  base  whereon  to  place 
this  end  of  the  State  in  the  same  categoiy, 
for  the  unholy  sneers  and  slanders  that  were 
heaped  upon  all  the   South,  and   aided  much 
in  spreading  her  discredit  world-wide.   Then, 
the  city  is    confronted  with   such   questions 
as,   Will  the   rivers  continue  to    mark    the 
flood  line  higher  and  higher,  as  has  been  the 
case  the  past  two  years?  If  so,  indeed,  then, 
what  of  the  morrow?     It  is  urged  that  the 
constant    improvement    in    draining   that    is 
going  on  north  of  us — tile  draining,   espe- 
cially— that  in  many  places    is   becoming  so 
universal,  and  to  these  are  remembered  the 
fact  that  the  forests  are  being  cleared  away, 
and  that    these    facts,    added    to    the    levees 
thrown  up  at  many  places   as  railroad  beds, 
must   cause   the   waters  to   continue  to   rise 
higher  and  higher,  until,  in  the  end,  there 
will  be  no   such  things  as    fencing  them  out 
with   embankments.      There  were  features  of 
the  last  flood  that   fail  to    bear  out  this  rea- 
soning.    The  waters  at  Cincinnati  were  five 
feet  higher  than  ever   known;  at  Cairo,  only 
a  few  inches.     Then,  the   hope  and  purpose 
of  the  river  improvement  now  going  on  is  to 
deepen   the  bed  of    the    river   by  naiTOwiug 
the  current  in  the  shallow  and  wide  places  in 
the  river,  and    increasing  the   current  (it  is 
claimed,  upon  experiments,  that  this  deepen- 
ing can  be  made  to  an    average   of   twelve 
feet),  and  this  increase  of  current  and  depth 
of  the  river's  bed  must   lower  materially  the 
flood  line  of  any  high  waters  that  may  come 
down  the  rivers.     The  unequaled  advantages 


of  Cairo  for  nearly  all  our  manufacturing 
industries  are  beginning  to  be  understood 
throughout  the  country.  The  accessions  to 
the  city  in  important  factories  in  the 
past  few  years,  show  that  shrewd  men  see 
here  the  best  place  in  all  the  West  to  get  the 
raw  material  and  the  machinery  for  its  fash- 
ioning together,  and  then,  when  the  article 
is  made,  with  the  easiest  and  best  outlets 
to  the  markets  of  the  world — transportation 
that  can  never  combine  or  pool  its  business, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  manufacturer  or  mer- 
chant. Then,  why  are  not  all  the  great 
manufacturing  industries  of  the  country  rep- 
resented here,  crowding  the  levees  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  with  their  "flaming  forges 
and  flying  spindles,"  and  the  roar  and  hum 
of  machinery,  and  "  the  music  of  the  hammer 
and  the  saw?"  In  shoi't,  why  is  not  Cairo 
the  great  manufacturing  city  of  America? 
Nature  has  offered  illimitable  bounties  to 
bring  them  here;  why  have  they  not  come? 
Perhaps  each  one  can  tigm-e  out  for  himself 
the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  this.  We 
believe  the  reasons  to  be  partially  artificial 
(these  might  be  removed),  and  partly  natural. 
One  thing  we  may  truthfully  say  of  Cairo 
and  her  surrounding  countiy:  The  locality 
has  never  been  advertised  to  the  world.  A 
tithe  of  the  money  wasted  from  time  to  time, 
if  it  had  been  judiciously  invested  in  adver- 
tising the  superior  advantages  of  this  sec- 
tion of  country,  would  have  brought  many 
more  people  here  than  are  now  citizens. 
Men  sit  ai'ound,  and  croak  about  capital  com- 
ing here.  This  is  not  the  way  cities  are 
built;  but  it  is  the  men  starting  in  trade  and 
commerce;  men  who  are  possessed,  often, 
of  small  means  and  great  activity  and  nerve, 
that  come  to  a  new  place,  perhaps  commence 
business  in  a  tent  or  shanty;  that  push 
along,  and  eventually  erect  great  business 
houses,  and   great   factories,  and   build  rich 


220 


HISTORY  OF   CAIRO. 


cities.  The  capitalists  will  only  follow 
where  these  men  have  shown  the  way. 
We  therefore  think  it  probably  an  unwise  act 
in  the  city  authorities  making  so  large  a  dis- 
trict of  the  city  as  the  fire  limits  for  build- 
ing purposes.  It  is  very  doubtful  wisdom  to 
obstruct  the  man  of  small  means  from  build- 
ing. A  town  full  of  cheap  houses  is  one  of 
the  best  indications  of  coming  prosperity.  If 
they  biu-n,  they  will  take  their  insiirance 
money,  and  only  build  a  better  grade  of 
houses  in  the  place  of  the  old.  The  man 
wants  all  his  money  in  his  business,  and  it  is 
only  when  he  feels  comparatively  rich  will 
he  build  fine  or  extensive  establishments. 
To  sum  up  the  evils  that  have  beset  Cairo, 
we  need  only  name  the  floods  and  fire,  epi- 
demics and  monopolies.  These  are  her  main 
grievances.  To  these  may  be  added  some 
mistaken  legislation  on  the  part  of  the  city 
authorities,  and  particularly  the  grave  mis- 
take of  keeping  the  filling  and  grading  ques- 
tions always  open,  and  in  an  unsettled  con- 
dition. This  deters  men  from  building,  as 
well  as  others  from  coming  here  and  putting 
up  extensive  manufacturing  and  commercial 
establishments. 

It  is  better  to  settle  it  in  some  way,  and  let 
that  be  a  permanent  settlement. 

Cairo  has  passed  her  greatest  trials,  and 
whilst  her  triumph,  even,  has  left  her  behind 
in  the  race  with  other  cities  that  possessed 
hardly  a  tithe  of  her  natiiral  advantages,  yet 


her  prospects  just  now  are  far  better  than 
they  have  ever  been  before.  She  has  a  per- 
manent population:  they  are  creating  the 
wealth  that  some  day  will  do  much  toward 
building  here  a  city.  The  wholesale  trade 
of  the  merchants  has  sprung  up  in  a  very 
few  years,  and  if  good  wagon  roads  are  made 
to  all  the  surrounding  country,  and  kept  up, 
a  few  years  will  mark  a  splendid  and  solid 
advancement  of  the  town. 

The  social  and  intellectual  activity  of  the 
community  in  recent  years,  is  well  indicated 
by  a  public  free  library,  that  is  now  prepar- 
ing a  permanent  and  beautiful  home  for 
itself,  and  the  two  book  and  news  stores  of 
the  city  that  are  so  largely  patronized  by 
the  people,  and  the  elegant  and  spacious 
Government  Post  Ofiice  and  Custom  House. 

The  present  city  officials  are  Thomas 
W.  Halliday,  Mayor;  Denis  J.  Foley,  City 
Clerk;  Charles,  F.  Nellis,  Treasurer;  L.  H. 
Myers,  Marshal ;  W.  B.  Gilbert,  Corporation 
Counsel ;  Wil  Ham  E.  Hendricks,  City  Attorney ; 
M.  J.  Howley,  City  Comptroller;  A.  Comings, 
Police  Magistrate.  Aldermen— First  Ward, 
William  McHale  and  Hemy  Walker  ;  Second 
Ward,  Jesse  Hinckle,  C.  N.  Hughes;  Third 
Ward,  B.  F.  Blake,  E.  A.  Smith;  Foui-th 
Ward,  C.  A.  Patier,  A.  Swoboda;  Fifth 
Ward,  Charles  Lancaster,  Henry  Stout; 
Street  Superintendent,  Nicholas  Devore;  As- 
sistant Chief  of  Fire  Department,  Joseph 
Steagala. 


PAET  II. 


HISTORY  OF  UION"  COUNTY, 


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PART  II. 


History  of  Union  County, 


BY    H.    C.    BRADSBY. 


CHAPTER    I, 


INTRODUCTION— GEOLOGY— IMPORTANCE   OF   EDUCATING   THE   PEOPLE   ON   THIS   SUBJECT— THE 
LIMESTONE   DISTRICT  OF  ILLINOIS— ECONOMICAL   GEOLOGY   OF  UNION,  ALEXANDER 
AND  PULASKI  COUNTIES— MEDICAL  SPRINGS,  BUILDING  MATERIAL,  SOIL, 
ETC.— WONDERFUL   WEALTH    OF   NATURE'S    BOUNTIES— TOPOG- 
RAPHY  AND   CLIMATE   OF   THIS   REGION,  I:TC. 


History  is  philosophy  teaching  bj'  example. 

THIS  and  the  two  succeeding  chapters 
include  the  district  composed  of  Union, 
Alexander  and  Pulaski  Counties.  The  whole 
was  once  Union  County,  and  the  first  three 
chapters  bring  the  history  down  to  the  for- 
mation of  Alexander  County. 

For  school  j)urposes — for  the  purpose  of 
giving  the  people  a  most  important  education 
in  the  practical  life  interests — there  is  no 
question  of  such  deep  interest  as  the  geolog- 
ical history  of  that  particular  portion  of  the 
country  in  which  they  make  their  homes. 
The  peojDle  of  Southern  Illinois  are  an  agri- 
cialtural  one  in  their  pursuits.  Their  first 
care  is  the  soil  and  climate,  and  it  is  here 
they  may  find  an  almost  inexhaiistible  fund 
of  knowledge,  that  will  ever  put  money  in 
their  purses.  All  mankind  are  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  soil.  From  here  comes  all 
life,  all  beauty,  pleasure,  wealth  and  enjoy- 
ment    Of  itself,  it   may  not  be  a  beautiful 


thing,  but  from  it  comes  the  fragrant  fiower, 
the  golden  fields,  the  sweet  blush  of  the 
maiden's  cheek,  the  flash  of  the  lustrous  eye 
that  is  more  powerful  to  subdue  the  heart  of 
obdurate  man  tlian  an  army  with  banners. 
From  here  comes  the  great  and  rich  cities 
whose  towers  and  temples  and  minarets  kiss 
the  early  morning  sun,  and  whose  ships,  with 
their  precious  cai'goes,  fleck  every  sea.  In 
short,  it  is  the  nom'ishing  mother  whence 
comes  oui'  high  civilization — the  wealth  of 
nations,  the  joys  and  exalted  pleasures  of 
life.  Hence,  the  corner-stone  upon  which  all 
of  life  rests  is  the  farmer,  who  tickles  the 
earth  and  it  laughs  with  tbe  rich  harvests 
that  so  bountifully  bless  mankind.  Who, 
then,  should  be  so  versed  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  soil  as  the  farmer?  What  other  infor- 
mation can  be  so  valuable  to  him  as  the  mas- 
tery of  the  science  of  the  geology,  at  least  that 
much  of  it  as  applies  to  that  part  of  the  earth 
where  he  h'  t  cast  his  fortunes  and  cultivates 

13 


226 


HISTOKY  OF  UNIOK  COUNTY. 


the  soil.  We  talk  of  educating  the  farmer, 
and  ordinarily  this  means  to  send  yom'  boys 
to  college,  to  acquire  what  is  termed  a  class- 
ical education,  and  they  come,  perhaps,  as 
graduates,  as  incapable  of  telling  the  geolog- 
ical story  of  the  father's  farna  as  is  the 
veriest  bumpkin  who  can  neither  read  nor 
write.  How  much  more  of  practical  value  it 
would  have  been  to  the  young  man  had  he 
never  looked  into  the  classics,  and  instead 
thereof  had  taken  a  few  practical  lessons  in 
the  local  geology  that  would  have  told  him 
the  story  of  the  soil  around  him,  and  enabled 
him  to  comprehend  how  it  was  formed,  its 
different  qualities  and  from  whence  it  came, 
and  its  constituent  elements.  The  farmer 
grows  to  be  an  old  man,  and  he  will  tell  you 
that  he  has  learned  to  be  a  good  farmer  only 
by  a  long  life  of  laborious  experiments,  and 
if  you  should  tell  him  that  these  experiments 
had  made  him  a  scientific  farmer,  he  would 
look  with  a  good  deal  of  contempt  upon  your 
supposed  effort  to  poke  ridicule  at  him.  He 
has  taught  himself  to  regard  the  word 
"  science"  as  the  property  only  of  book- worms 
and  cranks.  He  does  not  realize  that  every 
step  in  farming  is  a  purely  scientific  opera- 
tion, because  science  is  made  by  experiments 
and  investigations.  An  old  farmer  may  ex- 
amine a  soil,  and  tell  you  it  is  adapted  to 
wheat  or  corn,  that  it  is  warm  or  cold  and 
heavy,  or  a  few  other  facts  that  his  long  ex- 
periments have  taught  him,  and  to  that  ex- 
tent he  is  a  scientific  farmer.  He  will  tell 
you  that  his  knowledge  has  cost  him  much 
labor,  and  many  sore  disappointments.  Sup- 
pose that  in  his  youth  a  well-digested  chap- 
ter on  the  geological  history,  that  would  have 
told  him,  in  the  simplest  terms,  all  about  the 
land  he  was  to  cultivate,  how  invaluable  the 
lesson  would  have  been,  and  how  much  in 
money  value  it  would  have  proved  to  him. 
In  other  words,  if    you  could  g'  ^  e  your  boys 


a  practical  education,  made  up  of  a  few  les- 
sons pertaining  to  those  subjects  that  im- 
mediately concern  their  lives,  how  invaluable 
such  an  education  might  be,  and  how  many 
men  would  thus  be  saved  the  pangs  and  pen- 
alties of  ill-directed  lives.  .The  parents  often 
spend  much  money  in  the  education  of  their 
children,  and  from  this  they  build  great 
hopes  upon  their  future,  that  are  often 
blasted,  not  through  the  fault,  always,  of  the 
child,  but  through  the  error  of  the  parent  in 
not  being  able  to  know  in  what  real,  practi- 
cal education  consists.  If  the  schools  of  the 
country,  for  instance,  could  devote  one  of 
the  school  months  in  each  year  to  rambling 
over  the  hills  and  the  fields,  and  gathering 
practical  lessons  in  the  geology  and  botany 
of  the  section  of  country  in  which  the  chil- 
idren  were  born  and  reared,  how  incompar- 
ably more  valuable  and  useful  the  time  thus 
spent  would  be  to  them  in  after  life,  than 
would  the  present  mode  of  shu.tting  out  the 
joyous  sunshine  of  life,  and  expending  both 
life  and  vitality  in  studying  metaphysical 
mathematics,  or  the  most  of  the  other  text- 
books that  impart  nothing  that  is  worth  the 
carrying  home  to  the  child's  stock  of  knowl- 
edge. At  all  events,  the  chapter  in  a 
county's  history  that  tells  its  geological  for- 
mation is  of  first  importance  to  all  its  people, 
and  if  properly  prepared  it  will  become  a 
source  of  great  interest  to  all,  and  do  much 
to  disseminate  a  better  education  among  the 
people,  and  thus  be  a  perpetual  blessing  to 
the  community. 

The  permanent  effect  of  the  soil  on  the 
people  is  as  strong  and  certain  as  upon 
the  vegetation  that  springs  from  it.  It  is  a 
maxim  in  geology  that  the  soil  and  its  un- 
derlying rocks  forecast  unerringly  to  the 
trained  eye  the  character  of  the  people,  the 
number  and  the  quality  of  the  civilization 
of  those  who  will,  in  the  coming  time,  occuj^y 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


227 


it.  Indeed,  so  close  are  the  relations  of 
the  geology  and  the  people,  that  this  law  is 
plain  and  fixed,  that  a  new  countiy  may 
have  its  outlines  of  history  written  when  first 
looked  upon,  and  it  is  not,  as  so  many  sup- 
pose, one  of  those  deep,  abstruse  subjects 
that  are  to  be  given  over  solely  to  a  few  great 
investigators  and  thinkers,  and  to  the  masses 
must  forever  i*emain  a  sealed  book.  The 
youths  of  your  country  may  Jearn  the  impor- 
tant outlines  of  the  geology  of  their  country 
with  no  more  difficulty  than  they  meet  in 
mastering  the  multiplication  table  or  th« 
simple  rule  of  three.  And  we  make  no  ques- 
tion that  a  youth  need  not  "possess  one-half 
of  the  mental  activity  and  shrewdness  in 
making  a  fair  geologist  of  himself  that  he 
would  find  was  required  of  him  to  become 
a  successful  jockey  or  a  trainer  of  retriever 
dogs. 

On  the  geological  structure  of  a  country 
depend  the  pm-suits  of  its  inhabitants,  and 
the  genius  of  its  civilization.  Agriculture  is 
the  outgrowth  of  a  fertile  soil;  mining  results 
from  mineral  resoiu'ces,  and  from  navigable 
rivers  spring  navies  and  commerce.  Every 
great  branch  of  industry  requires,  for  its 
successful  development,  the  cultivation  of 
kindred  arts  and  sciences.  Phases  of  life 
and  modes  of  thought  are  thus  induced, 
which  give  to  difierent  communities  and 
states  characters  as  various  as  the  diverse 
rocks  that  underlie  them.  In  like  manner, 
it  may  be  shown  that  their  moral  and  intel- 
lectual qualities  depend  on  materal  con- 
ditions. Where  the  soil  and  subjacent  rocks 
are  profuse  in  the  bestowal  of  wealth,  man  is 
indolent  and  effeminate:  where  effort  is  re- 
quired to  live,  he  becomes  enlightened  and 
virtuous.  A  perpetually  mild  climate  and 
bread-growing  upon  the  trees,  will  produce 
only  ignorant  savages.  The  heaviest  mis- 
fortune that  has  so  long  environed  poor,  per- 


secuted L-eland  has  been  her  ability  to  pro- 
duce the  potato,  and  thus  subsist  wife  and 
children  upon  a  small  patch  of  ground. 
Statistics  tell  us  that  the  number  of  mar- 
riages are  regulated  by  the  price  of  corn, 
and  the  true  philosopher  has  discovered  that 
the  invention  of  gunpowder  did  more  to 
civilize  the  world  than  any  one  thing  in  its 
history. 

Geology  traces    the  history  of    the   earth 
back  through  successive    stages  of   develop- 
ment, to  its  rudimental  condition  in  a  state 
of  fusion.     The    sun,  and  the  planetary  sys- 
tem that  revolves  aroand  it,  were  originally 
a  common  mass,  that  became  separated  in  a 
gaseous    state,    and   the    loss    of  heat    in   a 
planet  reduced  it  to  a  plastic  state,  and  thus 
it  commenced  to   write  its  own    history,  and 
place    its  records    upon  these   imperishable 
books,  where  the  geologist  may  go  and  read 
the  strange,  eventful  story.     The  earth  was 
a  wheeling  ball  of  fire,  and  the  cooling  event- 
ually formed  the  exterior  crust,   and  in  th« 
slow  process  of  time  prepared  the   way  for 
the  animal  and  vegetable  life  it  now  contains. 
In  its  center  the  fierce  flames  still  rage,  with 
undiminished  energy.     Volcanoes  are  outl.its 
for  these  deep-seated  tires,  where  are  gener- 
ated those  tremendous  forces,  an  illustration 
of  which  is  given  in  the   eruptions  of    Vesu- 
vius, which  has  thrown  a  jet  of  lava,  resem- 
bling a    column  of   flame,  10,000  feet   high. 
The  amount  of  lava  ejected  at  a  single  erup- 
tion  from  one  of  the  volcanoes  of  Iceland 
has  been  estimated  at  40,000,000,000  tons,  a 
qiTantity  sufficient  to  cover  a  large  city  with 
a  mountain  as  high  as  the  tallest  Alps.     Our 
world  is  yet  constantly   congealinsr,    just  as 
the  process  has  been  going  on  for  billions  of 
years,  and  yet  the  rocky  crust  that  rests  upon 
this  internal  fire  is  estimated  to  be  only  be- 
tween  thirty   and  forty  miles   in  thickness. 
In  the  silent  depths  of  the  stratified  rocks 


228 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


are  the  former  creation  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals, which  lived  and  died  during  the  slow, 
dragging  centui'iesof  their  formation.  These 
fossil  remains  are  fragments  of  history, 
which  enable  the  geologist  to  extend  his  re- " 
searches  far  back  into  the  realms  of  the  past, 
and  not  only  determine  their  former  modes 
of  life,  but  study  the  contemporaneous  his- 
tory of  their  rocky  beds,  and  group  them  into 
systems.  And  such  has  been  the  profusion 
of  life,  that  the  great  limestone  fonnations 
of  the  globe  consist  mostly  of  animal  re- 
mains, cemented  by  the  infusion  of  animal 
matter.  A  large  part  of  the  soil  spread  over 
the  earth's  surface  "has  been  elaborated  in 
animal  organisms.  First,  as  nourishment 
it  enters  into  the  structure  of  plants,  and 
forms  vegetable  .tissue,  passing  thence,  as 
food,  into  the  animal  it  becomes  endowed 
with  life,  and  when  death  occurs  it  retiu-ns 
into  the  soil  and  imparts  to  it  additional 
elements  of  fertility. 

The  counties  of  Union,  Alexander  and  Pu- 
laski contain  an  area  of  812  square  miles,  em- 
bracing all  that  south  end  of  the  State  from 
the  confluence  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio 
Eiver,  extending  north  to  the  north  line  of 
Union,  and  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the 
east  line  of  Pulaski  County. 

The  general  trend  of  the  line  of  uplift  .in 
this  section  of  country  is  from  northwest  to 
southeast,  and  the  dip,  with -some  local  vari- 
ations, is  to  the  northeastward.  Hence  the 
escarpments  on  the  south  and  west  sides  of 
the  ridges  are  steeper  and  more  rugged  than 
those  of  the  north  and  east.  The  river  bluffs 
along  the  Mississippi  are  high  and  rocky, 
and  are  frequently  cut  up  into  ragged  de- 
clivities and  sharp  summits,  and  are  formed 
by  the  chert  limestones  of  Upper  Silurian 
and  Devonian  age,  which  constitute  the  more 
soiithern  extension  of  the  bluffs  into  Alexan- 
der County.     Commencing  in  the  northeast- 


ern portion  of  Union  County  is  a  sandstone 
ridge,  which  forms  the  water-shed  between 
the  streams  running  northward  into  the  Big 
Muddy,  and  those  running  south  into  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  This  ridge 
presents  a  perpendicular  escarpment  on  its 
southern  face,  indicating  it  was  once  a  bluff 
to  some  river,  although  its  course  is  nearly  at 
right  angles  to  the  present  water-courses. 
Its  summit  is  formed  by  conglomerate  sand- 
stone, and  its  base  by  the  Lower  Carbonif- 
erous limestone.  South  of  this  chain  of 
bluffs,  and  extending  along  the  line  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  from  Cobden  to 
the  bottom-lands  of  Alexander  County,  is  a 
broad  beltgf  couatiy  underlaid  by  the  Lower 
Carboniferous  limestone,  in  which  the  ridges 
are  less  abrupt  and  the  surface  so  gently 
rolling  as  to  be  susceptible  of  the  highest 
cultivation.  There  are  in  this  belt  an  abun- 
dance of  most  elegant  springs,  and  this  will 
some  day  be  the  great  blue-grass  district 
of  Southern  Illinois,  that  will  equal  in 
value,  for  dairy,  sheep-growing  and  the 
production  of  line  stock,  the  celebrated  blue 
i  grass  region  of  Kentucky,  if  it  does  not 
siu-pass  it.  All  it  wants  to  induce  a  spon- 
taneous growth  of  blue  grass  is  for  the  un- 
dergrowth to  be  cleared  up  and  put  to  past- 
ure. Here  are  water,  soil,  climate  and 
rocks  tliat  clearly  indicate  what  must  some 
day  inevitably  come.  Men  must  come,  or 
grow  up  here,  who  understand  fully  the  geo- 
logical formations  of  this  belt,  to  make  it  one 
of  the  most  beautiful,  as  well  as  the  most 
productive,  portions  of  the  State. 

For  nearly  eighty  years,  the  people  have 
lived  and  farmed  this  land  in  their  little 
patches  of  corn,  wheat  and  oats,  much  after 
the  fashion  they  would  have  managed  their 
farms  had  they  been  in  the  woods  of  Tennes- 
see or  "Middle  Illinois.  Because  they  could 
do  quite  as  well  as  their  neighbors  in  this  or 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


229 


the  adjoining  States,  they  have  been  content. 
They  knew  their  land  would  produce  wheat 
that  would  command  a  premium  in  all  the 
markets  of  the  world,  and  that  their  crops 
never  totally  failed,  as  they  often  did  in 
other  places,  and  they  contentedly  concluded 
it  was  exclusively  a  wheat- gi-owing  countiy. 
The  intelligent  geologist  could  have  told 
them,  two  generations  ago,  that  their  won- 
derful soil  was  better  adapted  to  that  better 
farming  where  there  are  no  such  things  as 
evil  effects  from  rains  or  di'oughts,  early 
frosts  or  late  springs ;  where  wealth  was 
absolutely  certain,  and  where  the  profits  and 
pleasui'es  of  farming'  would  [make  it  one  of 
the  most  elevating,  refining  and  elegant  piu'- 
suits  of  life;  where  life  upon  the  farm  was 
divested  of  that  di'udgery  and  unrequited  toil 
that  too  often  drive  the  young  men  from  the 
farms  to  the  even  more  wretched  life  of  a  pre- 
carious clerkship  in  the  towns  and  villages. 
Farming  is  much  as  any  of  the  other  pursuits 
of  life.  A  certain  locality  will  make  of  the 
farmers  the  most  elegant  a^l  refined  of  peo- 
ple, and  their  lives  will  be  siu'rounded  by  the 
comforts  and  luxuries  of  the  world.  Their 
sons  and  daughters  will  attend  the  best 
schools,  and  will  complete  their  education 
with  travels  in  foreign  countries,  and  thus 
attaining  that  refinement  and  cultui'e  that 
will  make  them  the  foremost  people  in  the 
country.  Fortunes  are  made  cultivating 
wheat  and  corn,  but  only  by  the  hardest  work 
and  closest  economy,  and  such  fortunes  are 
generally  gained  at  the  expense  of  all  self- 
cultui-e  among  the  families  that  thus  work 
their  way  along  their  slow,  heavy  road. 
There  are  few  things  more  pitiable  in  life 
than  to  go  into  a  family  where  there  is  wealth 
and  ignorant  gieed  combined — that  mockery 
of  all  the  civilizing  influences  that  wealth 
should  bring,  and  the  stupid  conviction  that 
ignorance  is  adorned  by  a  bank  account,  and 


gentility  and  sense  are  only  intended  for 
people  who  have  no  money.  The  truth  is, 
wealth  should  always  be  a  blessing  to  its  pos- 
sessor; yet  how  generally  is  it  a  curse,  be- 
cause its  acquisition  has  been  at  the  expense 
of  that  self-cultm-e  that  the  inexorable  laws 
of  nature  require  at  every  man's  hands. 

The  Lower  Carbonifei'ous  limestone  men- 
tioned above  ab  a  belt  extending  nearly  en- 
tirely across  Union  and  through  Alexander 
to  the  bottom  lands  above  Cairo,  extend  into 
the  northern  and  northwestern  portions  of 
Pulaski  County,  and  forms  gently  sloping 
low  hills,  with  a  fertile  soil,  a  rich,  are- 
naceous loam.  The  hills,  as  is  the  case  in 
Union  and  Alexander  Counties,  are  covered 
with  heavy  timber,  consisting  principally  of 
white  oak,  black  oak,  pigniit  hickory,  scaly- 
bark  hickory,  yellow  poplar,  black  gum, 
black  walnut  and  dogwood.  They  slope 
generally  to  the  southwest,  in  the  direction 
of  the  nearest  stream. 

The  rich  river  bottoms  along  the  Missis- 
sippi are  of  an  average  of  nearly  five  miles 
in  width,  and  are  as  rich  in  vegetable  food 
as  is  the  valley  of  the  celebrated  Nile  in 
Egypt.  The  bottoms  were  originally  covered 
with  forest  trees  that  often  attained  to  enor- 
mous size.  Except  that  these  bottoms  are 
subject  to  overflow  at  high  stages  of  water 
in  the  river,  there  would  be  no  farms  in  the 
world  more  productive  than  would  here  be 
found . 

The  main  body  of  the  iipland  of  Pulaski 
County,  between  Cache  and  the  Ohio  Rivers, 
is  underlaid  with  Tertiary  strata,  and  may 
be  called  oak  barrens.  They  consist  of  al- 
ternations gently  sloping,  more  or  less  sharp- 
ly rolling  or  broken  ridges.  Their  soil  is  a 
yellow  finely  arenaceous  loam,  which  extends 
to  a  considerable  depth.  The  gi'owth  in  the 
central  portion,  and  extending  nearly 
through  the   whole  width  of   the  county,  is 


2:5C 


HISTORY  OF  UN^I0:N^  COUNTY. 


characterized  by  an  abundance  of  small, 
brushy,  bitter  oak,  an  upland  variety  of  the 
Spanish  oak,  a  tree  which  is  hardly  "found 
anywhere  farther  north,  and  replaces  the 
black  oak  and  f  black  jack.  The  bitter  oak 
usually  forms  a  dense  underbrush,  together 
with  an  abundance  of  hazel,  sassafras  and 
sumac,  with  some  white  oak,  black  oak 
barren  hickory,  pignut  hickory,  black 
gum,  and  in  some  places  small  yellow  poplar. 
These  oak  barrens  are  only  now  beginning 
to  be  understood.  They  were  called  the 
"  barrens,"  and  the  name  indicated  all  the 
people  supposed  they  were  good  for  as  agricult- 
ural lands.  Thrifty  settlers  avoided  them, 
and  the  coon-skin  tribe  of  early  settlers  were 
too  often  ready  to  adopt  these  unfavorable 
judgments  of  these  lands,  and  offer  that  as 
an  excuse  for  their  own  laziness  and  igno- 
rance of  a  soil  that  was  really  very  strong  in 
all  the  elements  of  fertility,  and  capable  of 
being  made  the  rich  garden  spot  of  Illinois. 
But  the  ipast  decade  has  -brought  a  revela- 
tion to  this  valuable  part  of  the  State,  and  a 
new  style  of  farming  has  rapidly  taken  the 
place  of  the  old,  and  the  farmers  are  learn- 
ing that  for  wheat  their  country  is  unap- 
proachable; that  their  crops  never  fail,  and 
there  is  hardly  anything,  either  of  the  North 
or  the  South,  but  that  they  can  produce  to 
great  profit.  A  "single  instance  may  suffice 
to  illustrate  our  meaning.  Only  three  or 
foui-  years  ago  an  enterprising  farmer,  sim- 
ply because  he  was  too  poor  to  buy  teams 
and  the  modern  expensive  agricultural  imple- 
ments, planted  sweet  potatoes.  The  yield 
was  over  three  hundred  [bushels  to  the  acre, 
and  these  he  sold  for  $4  per  barrel.  This 
chance  experiment  taught  the  people  that 
they  could  raise  sweet  potatoes  in  as  great 
abundance,  and  of  as  fine  quality,  as  could 
be  produced  anywhere,  and  the  profits  of 
this  crop  were  simply  immense.     Sweet  pota- 


toes are  now  a  staple  product  of  Pulaski 
County,  and  in  a  few  years,  we  make  no 
doubt,  the  yield  will  be  very  large. 

There  are  no  true  coal-bearing  rocks  in  the 
limits  of  the  three  counties  of  Union,  Alex- 
ader  and  Pulaski,  and  hence  there  is  no  rea- 
sonable expectation  of  finding  extensive  or 
paying  deposits  of  coal.  From  time  to  time, 
much  labor  has  been  expended  in  digging 
for  coal  west  of  Jonesboro,  in  the  black  slate 
of  the  Devonian  series;  but  as  this  slate  lies 
more  than  a  thousand  feet  below  the  horizon 
of  any  true  coal -bearing  strata,  the  labor  and 
means  so  expended  were  only  in  vain.  There 
are  some  thin  streaks  of  coal,  but  it  only  ap- 
pears locally,  as  it  is  interstratified  with  the 
shales  of  the  Chester  series;  but  it  has 
never  been  found  so  developed  as  to  be  of 
any  practical  value. 

The  brown  Hematite  ore  exists  in  Union 
and  the  upper  portions  of  Alexander  and  the 
northwestern  part  ;^of  Pulaski,  but  so  far  no 
deposit  of  this  kind  has  been  discovered  suffi- 
ciently extensive -jand  free  from  extraneous 
matter  to  justify  mining  it  and  erecting 
furnaces  for  its  reduction,  and  the  iron  ore 
is  generally  so  intermingled  with  chert,  that 
its  per  cent  of  metallic  iron  is  small. 

The  sulphuretof  lead,  or  galena,  has  been 
found  in  small  quantities  in  the  cherty  lime- 
stones of  the  Devonian  series.  On  Huggins 
Creek,  on  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  1, 
Township  11,  Range  3  west,  it  has  been 
found  near  Mr.  Gregory's.  The  galena 
occurs  here,  associated  with  calcspar,  filling 
small  pockets  in  the  rock.  If  this  ore  is 
ever  found  in  quantities  in  this  portion  of 
Illinois,  it  will  be  in  pockets,  and  it  is  very 
doubtful  if  it  will  ever  be  discovered  in  suffi- 
cient quantities  to  pay  for  the  digging. 

An  excellent  article  of  potter's  clay  occurs 
in  many  localities  in  the  three  counties.  In 
Section  2,  Town  12  south,  Range  2  west,  a  very 


HISTORY  OF  UN^ION  COUNTY. 


231 


fine  white  pipe-clay  is  found,  which  is  used 
by  Mr.  Kirkpatrick,  of  Anna,  for  the  manu- 
facture '  of  common  stone- ware,  by  mixing 
with  a  common  clay  found  near  the  town  of 
Anna.  This  pipe-clay  is  nearly  white  in 
color,  with  streaks  of  purple  through  it,  and 
appears,  from  its^olors,  to  have  been  derived 
from  the  striped  shales  known  locally  in  this 
part  of  the  State  as  "  calico  rock."  Except 
for  the  coloring  matter  which  it  contains,  this 
clay  seems  to  be  of  a  quality  suited  for  the 
manufacture  of  a  fine  .article  of  white  ware. 
The  clays  of  the  Tertiary  formation  are  found 
in  abundance,  and  they  are  valuable  for  the 
manufacture  of  potter's  ware,  and  for  years 
one  variety  has  been  in  use  at  Santa  F6.  It 
is  of  a  gray  color,  and  is  sufficiently  mixed 
with  sand  to  be  used  without  any  farther  ad- 
dition of  that  material.  Before  burning,  the 
ware  is  washed  with  the  white  clay,  to  im- 
prove its  color,  and  the  inside  of  the  vessel 
is  washed  with  Mississippi  mud  to  improve 
the  glazing.  The  white  clays  near  Santa  ¥6 
are  supposed  to  be  well  adapted  to  the  man- 
ufacture of  white  ware,  but  they  have  not 
been  properly  tested.  The  white  clays  result 
from  the  decomposition  of  the  siliceous  beds 
of  the  Devonian  series.  The  Devonian  sand- 
stone found  in  the  northeast  portion  of  Un- 
ion County  is  often  quite  pure  and  free  from 
coloring  matter,  and  is  well  adapted  to  the 
manufacture  of  glass. 

Those  portions  of  Pulaski  and  Union 
County  that  are  underlaid  with  limestone 
have  a  rich,  light,  warm  soil,  which  yields 
the  most  ample  rewards  for  the  labor  be- 
stowed upon  it.  The  southern  latitude  makes 
it  favorable  to  nearly  every  crop  that  has 
ever  been  tried  upon  it,  and  almost  every 
year  experiments  show  that  its  range  of  pro- 
duction is  most  extensive.  Many  years  ago, 
it  was  discovered  that  all  this  portion  of  Illi- 
nois  was   fertile   in   the   yield  of   peaches, 


apples  and  the  small  fruits,  and  lately  it  has 
demonstrated  that  in  all  garden  vegetables  it 
was  unsurpassed,  and  just  now  it  is  coming 
to  light  that  the  barren  ridges  promise  the 
best  results,  the  yellow  loam  being  one  of 
the  finest  and  most  inexhaustible  soils  in  the 
world.  On  the  wide  bottoms  of  Cache  River 
is  found  very  superior  land,  as  is  indicated 
by  the  timber  growth  upon  it.  The  low  bot- 
tom ridges  or  swells  have  a  black,  sandy  soil, 
which  is  more  or  less  mixed  with  clay,  and 
they  produce  most  bountifully.  They  are 
above  the  flood  level,  but  are  surrounded  by 
low  lands,  which  are  wet  and  often  impassable 
and  frequently  overflowed.  One  difficulty  in 
these  bottom  ridges  is  pure,  healthy  water, 
but  this  defect  could  be  supplied  by  cisterns. 
The  low  lands  are  very  rich,  are  also  very 
fertile,  but  somewhat  heavy  soil.  In  the 
course  of  time  these  will  become  very  valu- 
able. The  timber  is  heavy,  and  is  being 
rapidly  cut  out  to  supply  the  extensive  saw 
mills  on  the  railroads  and  Cache  River.  The 
removal  of  the  timber  has  a  drying  efifect  on 
the  soil,  and  places  which  a  few  years  ago 
were  continuous  swamps  are  now  becoming 
dry,  and  are  capable  of  growing  fine  crops  of 
corn.  This  influence  will  be  more  and  more 
felt  as  time  goes  on,  and  once  the  channel  of 
the  river  is  cleared  of  obstructions,  and  the 
soil  is  broken  with  the  plow,  large  stretches 
of  now  swamp  land  will  be  reclaimed  and 
converted  into  a  tine  agricultui'al  district. 
With  this  will  be  correspondingly  improved 
the  health  of  that  part  of  the  country.  Some  at- 
tempts have  been  made  to  drain  the  extensive 
cypress  swamps  of  Pulaski  County,  as  well 
as  in  Alexander  and  Union  Counties.  Some 
years  ago,  a  ditch  was  cut  from  Swan's  Pond, 
situated  in  Sections  22,  23,  20  and  27,  Town- 
ship 14,  Range  2  east,  to  Post  Creek,  which 
empties  into  Cache  River,  in  order  to  dry 
the  pond;  but  those  who  planned  the  'work 


•J32 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


were    incompetent   engineers;  the   necessary- 
preliminary  levelings  seem  not  to  have  been 
executed  at  all,  or  badly  exncuted;  for  when 
the  ditch  was  completed,   it   conducted  the 
water  the  wrong  way — that  is,  from  the  river 
to  the  pond,  instead  of  from  the  pond  to  the 
river.    Accurate  topographical  surveys  would 
readily  point  out  a  way  to  drain  the  swamp 
lands  of  the  Cache  River,  and  thus  reclaim 
a  very  large  and  rich   agricultural  section. 
All   over  this    district  is   found  a  soil  from 
three  feet  to  one  hundred  feet  in  depth,  that 
will  never  be  exhausted  by  the  husbandman. 
In  even  the  uplands  and  in  the  oak  barrens 
the  subsoil,  when  taken  from  a  depth  of   fif- 
teen or  twenty  feet,  needs  but  a  short  time  to 
mellow  and  then  produces  nearly  as  well  as 
the  Bui-face  soil.     The  richness  of  the  land, 
and  the  wonderful  store  of  elements  of  fertil- 
ity can,  therefore,  not  be  doubted.     All  that 
is  needed   is  to   keep  it   stirred,  and  as  the 
skimmed  surface  is  exhausted  simply  culti- 
vate   a   little   deeper,   and   here    is    a   bank 
against   which    the   farmer    may   draw   his 
checks  that  will  always  be  honored.     There 
is  a  just  mixture  of   sand  in  the  upland  soils 
that  makes  them  warm,  rich  and  porous,  caus- 
ing them  to  produce  an  unlimited  variety  of 
vegetation,   to  defy  the  droughts   as  well  as 
the    drowning   rains.     Hence  the    too  little 
known  fact  that  two  years  ago,  when   an  un- 
usually diy  summer  followed  a  wet  spring, 
the  crops  in  neai'ly  all  the  Mississippi  Valley 
failed,  and   yet   the  wheat   and  corn  in  the 
oak  barrens  of  Pulaski  County  produced   a 
good  average  crop.  Corn,  we  are  told  by  rep- 
utable farmers  in   that   district,   was  raised 
that  produced  forty  bushels  to  the  acre,  that 
was  rained  on  only  once   between   planting 
and  maturity.     No  industrious  farmer  need 
be  afraid  to  trust  such  a  soil  with  his  labor; 
he   may   be  certain   of  being   repaid,    with 
large  interest;  but  the  tendency  to  cultivate 


over-large  tracts,  slovenly,  proves   injurious 
to   the    land,    and   this    great   mistake    has 
caused  many  to  misjudge  the  land,  and  even 
pronounce  it  of   inferior  quality.     Here  is  a 
wonderful  and  only  partially  developed  coun- 
try,   destined,    some   time,    to   be   the    most 
valuable  spot  on  the  continent;  capable  of 
producing   tobacco,    cotton,    sweet   potatoes, 
fruits,    garden    vegetables,    corn,    wheat  and 
blue  grass;  supplied  with  magnificent  springs 
abundantly;  the  Mecca  of  the  coming  farmer; 
the  home  of  blooded  stock  of  all  kinds,  and 
eventually  a  race  of    people   who   may  take 
their  places  in  the  front  ranks  of  the  splendid 
civilization  of  the  Western  Hemisphere.    The 
shiftless  half  farmei',  half  coon-skin   hunter, 
and  the  slave  of  ignorance  and  a  life  of  mis- 
guided toil,  disease  and    suffering,  will   pass 
away,  as  have  the  red  wild  men  of  the  forest, 
and  here  will  take  their  places  a  type  of  re- 
finement,   intelligence,     cultui'e,    enterprise, 
wealth  and  comfort  that  produces  the  noblest 
races  of  men  and  women.     Natui'e's  bounties 
have   been   poured    out  upon    this    land   in 
boundless  profusion,  and  the  evil,  so  far,   has 
only    come    from  the    plethora  of   ignorance 
that  has  tried  in  vain  to    utilize  this  excess 
of  nature's  rich  profusion,  and  this  has  often 
given  gi'iefs  and  pain  where  only  should  have 
come    the    promised  joys.      It   will,    at    the 
rate    intelligence   has    progressed   since  the 
dawn  of  history,  be  a  long  time  yet,  perhaps, 
before  ignorance  ceases  to  afflict  mankind. 
And   it  should  be   borne  in   mind,    that  all 
pains   in  this  world  are  the  penalties  we  pay 
to  ignorance.  It  is  hardly  possible  for  a  pang 
to  come  from  any  other  source.    The  most  of 
us  are  incapable  of   understanding  or    inves- 
tigating  nature's  laws.       Hence,    we   come 
into  the  world  law-breakers,  and  thus  make 
of    this  otherwise  bright  and  beautiful  and 
joyovis  home  a  penal  colony  for  the  children 
of  men,  where  we  war  and  struggle  for  exist- 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


238 


ence,  and  suffer  long  and  die,  and  the  fitful 
fever  is  over,  and  the  unchangeable  and  in- 
exorable laws  of  God  go  on,  exactly  as  they 
have  always  gone  on  without  beginning,  and 
as  they  will  forever  without  ending 

Building  Stone  and  Marble. — The  whole 
southern  extremity  of  Illinois  has  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  superior  building  stone,  and 
some  day  the  quarries  will  be  properly 
opened,  and  then  the  amount  and  (quality  of 
the  material  they  will  afford  will  be  better 
known.  Here  will  then  be  a  vast  and  profit- 
able industry  developed.  First  in  impor- 
tance, pefhaps,  not  only  from  the  thickness 
of  the  formation,  and  consequently  the  large 
amount  of  material  it  will  afford,  is  the 
Trenton  Limestone,  which  has  outcropped 
more  extensively  on  the  river  blufis  below 
Thebes  than  anywhere  else.  This  formation 
is  about  seventy  feet  in  thickness  above  the 
low  water  level  of  the  river,  and  consists  of 
white  and  bluish-gray  limestone,  partly  in 
heavy  beds  of  from  two  to  three  feet  in  thick- 
ness. It  is  generally  free  from  siliceous  or 
fen-uginous  matter,  can  be  easily  cut  into  any 
desired  form,  and  is  susceptible  of  a  high 
polish,  and  is  adaj)ted  to  various  uses  as  a 
marble.  It  has  been  extensively  quarried  at 
Cape  Girardeau,  since  the  earliest  settlement 
of  the  country,  both  for  lime  and  for  the 
various  purposes  for  which  a  fine  building 
stone  is  required,  and  is  widely  known  and 
appreciated  as  the  "Cape  Girardeau  Marble" 
along  the  river.  For  the  consti'uction  of 
fine  buildings  and  the  display  of  elaborate 
architectural  designs,  this  rock  has  no  su- 
perior in  the  West. 

The  mottled  beds  of  the  Upper  Silurian 
series  consists  of  hard,  compact  limestone, 
and  are  susceptible  of  a  fine  polish,  and 
make  a  beautiful  marble.  The  prevailing 
colors  are  red,  buff  and  gray,  vai-ying  some- 
what at  different  localities.   The  rock  is  some- 


what siliceous,  and  consequently  harder  to 
work  than  the  white  limestone  of  the  Trenton 
group,  but  it  ,will,.  no  doubt,  retain  a  fine 
polish  much  longer  than  a  softer  material, 
and  the  varieties  of  colors  which  it  affords 
renders  it  well  adapted  to  many  uses  as  an 
ornamental  stone,  for  which  the  other  woald 
not  bo  required.  Thpse  mottled  layers  vary 
from  ten  to  twenty  feet  in  thickness,  and 
can  be  most  economically  quarried  where 
the  overlying  strata  have  been  removed  by 
erosion.  For  table-tops,  mantels,  etc.,  this 
is  one  of  the  handsomest  rocks  at  present 
found  in  the  country. 

The  St.  Louis  limestone  affords  a  good 
building  material,  especially  the  upper  and 
lower  divisions.  At  the  quarries  west  of 
Jonesboro,  the  rock  is  a  massive,  nearly 
white,  limestone,  free  from  chert,  and 
dresses  well,  and  in  a  dry  wall  will  prove  to 
be  dm'able,  but  splits  when  used  for  curbing, 
or  whenever  it  is  subject  to  the  action  of 
water  and  frost.  The  middle  of  this  division 
is  a  dark  gray  cherty  limestone,  that  might 
answer  well  for  rough  walls,  but  would  not 
dress  well,  in  consequence  of  the  cberty  mat- 
ter so  generally  disseminated  through  it. 
The  upper  division  of  this  stone  quarried 
east  of  Anna,  is  a  light  gray,  massive  lime- 
stone, tolerably  free  from  chert,  and  in  qual- 
ity similar  to  the  quany  rock  just  west  of 
Jonesboro. 

The  best  limestone  for  the  manufacture  of 
quicklime,  is  found  in  the  upper  portion  of 
the  St.  Louis  groiip,  and  is  extensively  quar 
ried  in  the  eastern  part  of  Anna  Precinct, 
and  in  the  edge  of  the  village  of  Anna, 
where  several  kilns  are  constantly  in  opera- 
tion. The  rock  is  a  crystalline,  and  partly 
o  Uitic,  light-gray  limestone,  nearly  a  pure 
carbonate  of  lime  in  its  composition,  and 
makes  a  fine,  white  lime,  similar  in  quality 
to  the  Alton  lime,  made    from   the  same  for- 


234 


HISTORY  OF  UI^TON  COUNTY. 


mation.  Much  of  Central  and  Southern  Illi- 
nois and  the  South  is  supplied  from  these 
kilns.  The  supply  of  this  stone  is  almost  in- 
exhaustible. 

The  Thebes  sandstone  affords  an  excellent 
dimension  stone  and  material  adapted  to  the 
construction  of  foundation  walls,  culverts, 
etc.  It  dresses  well,  and  is  durable.  Some 
of  the  beds  are  of  suitable  thickness,  and 
make  good  flagstones.  All  these  beds  out- 
crop along  the  banks  and  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  and  consequently  may 
be  made  available,  at  a  small  cost,  to  all  the 
lower  country  bordering  on  the  Mississippi 
River  that  is  destitute  of  svich  material, 
which  is  the  case  with  the  entire  country 
from  Cairo  to  New  Orleans. 

Millstones. — The  en  jrmous  masses  of  chert 
rock  contained  in  the  Clear  Creek  limestones 
afford,  at  some  points,  a  buhr  stone  that  ap- 
pears to  be  nearly  equal,  if  not  quite  equal, 
in  quality  to  the  celebrated  French  buhr 
stones  so  extensively  used  for  millstones  in 
this  country.  Some  of  the  specimens  ob- 
tained here  seem  to  possess  the  requisite 
hai'dness  an(i  porosity,  and  some  millstones 
have  been  obtained  from  'the  chert  beds  of 
Bald  Knob  that  are  said  to  have  answered 
a  good  purpose,  and  have  been  used  in  the 
neighboring  mills.  But  these  were  made 
from  the  rock  that  had  been  long  exposed  at 
the  surface,  and  perhaps  were  not  taken  f rorn 
the  best  part  of  that;  while  the  beds  lying 
beyond  the  reach  of  atmospheric  influences 
have  not  been  tested. 

Grindstones. — Some  of  the  evenly-bedded 
sandstones  of  the  Chester  group,  and  es- 
pecially the  lower  beds  of  the  series,  are  fre- 
quently developed  in  thin,  even  layers,  that 
could  be  readily  manufactured  into  grind- 
stones. The  rock  has  a  fine,  sharp  grain ^ 
and  if  too  soft  when  freshly  quarried,  would 
harden  sufficiently  on  exposm-e  to  give  them 


the  necessary  durability.  Some  beds  of  the 
conglomerate  sandstone  also  have  a  sharp 
grit,  and  when  sufficiently  compact  in  text- 
ure and  even  bedded  will  make  good  grind- 
stones. 

Mineral  Siyrings,  at  Western  Saratoga,  in 
Union  County,  were  widely  known  as  far  back 
as  the  recollection  of  man  reaches  in  this  sec- 
tion. In  the  eai'ly  times,  it  was  a  noted 
"  deer  lick, "  and  the  deer  would  gather  here 
in  great  numbers  to  quench  their  thirst  and 
feed  at  their  "  licks."  It  was  a  noted  Indian 
camping-ground,  where  they  would  come  and 
hunt.  That  the  waters  possessed  mineral 
properties  was  known  to  the  earliest  settlers, 
and  as  early  as  1830  people  began  visiting 
the  place  from  Jonesboro  and  the  country 
north  to  Kaskaskia.  In  1838,  Dr.  Penoyer, 
who,  perhaps,  had  lived  in  Union  County 
some  little  time,  purchased  a  tract  of  160 
acres,  and  proceeded  to  lay  out  a  city,  of 
which  the  springs  were  to  form  the  center, 
and  gave  it  the  name  of  Saratoga.  Penoyer 
made  the  mistake  of  platting  his  town  and 
dedicating,  in  its  center,  a  square  to  the 
public,  and  this  precluded  any  one  from  tak- 
ing hold  of  it  and  developing  it  as  it  de- 
served. Another  error,  that  was  fatal  to  the 
development  of  the  place,  was  placing  upon 
the  lots  so  high  a  price  that  no  one  felt  they 
could  afford  to  invest.  However,  about  1840,  a 
man  named  Bradley  purchased  a  small  tract, 
and  erected  a  boarding-house.  This  stood 
until  1878,  when  it  was  burned.  Dr.  Penoyer 
and  a  man  named  Harkness,  whom  the  Doc- 
tor had  associated  with  him,  built  a  bath- 
ing-house, about  forty  rods  from  the  spring, 
and  connected  with  it  by  a  series  of  pipes. 
This  bathing-house  was  about  one  hundred 
feet  long  and  nine  feet  wide.  This  was  used 
for  some  time,  but  gi'adually  falling  into  dis- 
use it  rotted  down.  As  long  as  people  could 
get  accommodation,  they  flocked  here  in  great 


HISTORY  OF  I'NIOX   COUNTY. 


23") 


numbers.  They  came  from  all  directions, 
but  especially  from  the  Southern  States,  Mis- 
souri. Mississippi  and  Louisiana.  For  many 
summers,  the  boarding-houses,  and  all  who 
would  accommodate  boarders,  had  all  and 
more  than  they  could  accommodate,  and 
many  were  sometimes  turaed  back  by  learn- 
ing they  could  not  get  accommodations.  The 
price  of  lots  still  continued  exorbitantly 
high,  and  so  wretched  were  the  meager  ac- 
commodations, people  ceased  to  come,  and 
the  place  fell  into  decay.  A  spring  house, 
which  was  under  way,  was  left  to  its  fate  un- 
finished, and  the  timbers  now  lie  around  the 
spring  in  a  decaying  condition.  When  too 
late,  the  Doctor  discovered  his  mistake,  and 
had  what  he  called  a  deed  from  the  public  to 
himself  made,  conveying  the  spring  back  to 
himself.  This  cui'ious  document  was  signed 
by  the  visitors  who,  from  time  to  time,  were 
attracted  to  the  place,  and,  as  legal  wisdom 
spread  among  the  people,  it  eventually  came 
to  be  looked  upon  as  fraudulent.  Armed 
with  this  document,  the  Doctor  set  about  try- 
ing to  sell  the  springs. '  He  made  a  sale  to  a 
St.  Louis  and  also  to  a  Chicago  firm,  but 
when,  in  each  case,  the  abstract  of  title  was 
made  out,  the  trade  fell  through.  At  present 
the  springs  are  uncared-for  in  the  public 
square,  and  at  times  the  wayfarer  comes, 
drinks  of  the  Pool  of  Siloam,  and  is  benefit- 
ed. Over  one-half  of  the  original  town  plat, 
including  the  park,  lies  in  the  farm  of  Mr. 
Taylor  Dodd.  The  remainder  is  owned  by 
a  few  of  the  older  inhabitants,  most  of  whom 
look  forward  to  better  times  coming  for  the 
place.  Dx'.  T.  J.  Rich  resides  upon  part  of 
the  old  town  plat,  and  cultivates  his  fruit 
trees  where  once  it  was  intended  to  erect 
large  brick,  stone  and  iron  houses. 

The  property  is  located  in  Section  1, 
Township  12  south.  Range  1  west.  It  is  a 
tolerably  strong  sulphur  water,  and  contains 


sulphureted  hydrogen,  a  small  quantity  of 
sulphate  of  lime,  carbonate  of  soda,  chloride 
of  sodium,  and,  perhaps,  a  little  alumina  and 
magnesia.  The  water  is  said  to  be  a  specific 
for  dyspepsia  and  chronic  diseases  of  the 
skin.  It  is  also  said  to  be  beneficial  in  cases 
of  scrofula.  The  water  is  strongest  during 
the  dry  season  of  the  year,  being  then  less 
afi'ected  |by  the  admixture  of    surface  water. 

Dr.  Penoyer  seems  to  have  been  a  poor 
manager,  and  yet  the  waters,  were  shipped 
and  sold  by  him,  in  quantities,  to  many  parts 
of  the  country.  For  some  years  he  made  a 
practice  of  boiling  it  down  and  bottling  and 
peddling  it  about  the  country,  and  shipping 
to  those  wanting  it  at  a  distance. 

In  conversation  with  Dr.  T.  J.  Rich,  the 
following  additional  facts  were  learned;  The 
chief  ingredients  of  the  water  are  soda,  sul- 
phuret,  patash  and  traces  of  iron  and  iodine. 
The  odor  which  is  noted  upon  drinking  the 
water  is  caused  by  the  presence  of  sulphuret 
of  hydrogeo;  this  is  said  to  pass  away  entire- 
ly when  the  water  is  allowed  to  stand  an 
hoiu'  or  two. 

The  Doctor's  method  of  boiling  the  water 
was  to  take  100  gallons,  and  boil  it  until 
only  one'" remained.  This  one  gallon  was 
quite  thick,  and  tasted  like  soft  soap-suds, 
or  very  strong  soda-water.  It  was  about  the 
time  that  the  Doctor  was  engaged  in  making 
this  medicine,  probablj^  about  1850,  that 
there  was  an  epidemic  of  flux.  It  was  very 
fatal,  and  the  physicians  gave  up  many  cases, 
which  Dr.  Penoyer  was  able  to  cure  with  his 
medicine,  in  every  instance  in  which  it  was 
given  a  fair  trial. 

That  the  water  contains  ingredients  that 
are  full  of  strong  curative  powers  in  many  of 
the  human  ailments,  is  beyond  all  reasonable 
doubt,  and  nothing  short  of  Dr.  Penoyer' s 
folly  could  have  prevented  this  place  from 
loner  asro   becomins:  one  of   the   most   noted 


23G 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUNTY. 


health  rpsorts  in  the  coimtiy.  In  many 
chronic  ailments,  and  in  all  skin  diseases, 
and  for  old  sores,  it  has,  in  so  many  in- 
stances, and  unfailingly,  cured,  that  it  may 
be  said  to  be  a  specific. 

Road  Material. — An  inexhaustible  amount 
of  the  very  best  material  for  the  construction 
of  turnpike  or  common  roads,  abounds  on  all 
the  watercourses  that  intersect  the  uplands 
of  this  district,  and  is  derived  from  the 
cherty  limestones  of  the  Upper  Silurian  and 
Devonian  age.  It  consists  of  a  brown  flint 
or  chert,  finely  broken  for  use,  and  occurs 
abundantly,  tilling  the  valleys  of  the  small 
streams  that  intersect  the  limestones  above 
named.  This  has  been  used  at  St.  Louis  for 
the  manufacture  of  "concrete  stone,"  and  is 
found  equal  to  the  best  English  flint  for  this 
purpose.  The  material  with  which^  this  ex- 
periment was  made  was  obtained  in  Union 
County,  bat  it  differs  in  no  way  from  the  flint 
found  in  Pulaski  and  Alexander  Counties. 

Next  to  the  immense  deposits  of  coal,  the 
St.  Louis  limestone  is  reckoned  one  of  the 
most  important  formations.  It  receives  its 
name  from  the  city  where  its  lithological 
character  was  first  studied.  Imbedded  in 
its  layers  are  found  Crinoids,*  in  a  profusion 
found  nowhei'e  else  in  the  world.  Though 
untold  ages  have  elapsed  since  their  incar- 
ceration in  the  rocks,  so  perfect  has  been 
their  preservation,  their  structure  can  be  de- 
termined with  almost  as  much  precision  as 
if  they  had  perished  but  yesterday. 

The  soil  was  originally  .formed  by  the  de- 
composition of  rocks.  These,  by  long  ex- 
posure to  the  air,  water  and  frost,  became 
disintegrated,  and  the  comminuted  material 
acted  upon  by  vegetation,  forms  the  fruitful 
mold  of  the  surface.  When  of  local  origin, 
it  varies  in  composition  with   changing  ma- 

*  Crinoidea — An  order  uf  lily-shaped  marine  auiuials.  They 
generally  grow  attached  to  the  hottom  of  the  sea  by  a  pointtd  stem, 
analagouB  to  the  growth  of  plants. 


terial  from  which  it  is  derived.  If  sand- 
stone prevails,  it  is  too  porous  to  retain  fer- 
tilizing agents;  if  limestone  is  in  excess,  it 
is  too  hot  and  dry,  and  if  slate  predominates, 
the  resulting  clay  is  too  wet  and  cold. 
Hence,  it  is  only  a  combination  of  these  and 
other  ingredients  that  can  properly  adapt  the 
earth  to  the  growth  of  vegetation.  Happily 
for  nearly  all  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the 
origin  of  its  surface  formations  precludes  the 
possibility  of  sterile  extremes  arising  from 
local  causes.  And  these  causes  are  more 
abundant  in  the  south  end  of  Illinois  than 
in  probably  any  other  place  in  the  great  val- 
ley. The  surface  of  the  country  is  a  stratum 
of  drift,  formed  by  the  decomposition  of 
every  variety  of  rock  in  its  distribution. 
This  immense  deposit,  varying  from  fifteen 
to  two  hundred  feet  in  thickness,  requires 
for  its  production  physical  conditions  which 
do  not  exist  now.  We  must  go  far  back  in 
the  history  when  the  polar  world  was 
a  desolation  of  icy  wastes.  From  these 
dreary  realms  of  endui'ing  frosts,  vast 
glaciers,  reaching  southward,  dipped  into  the 
waters  of  an  inland  sea,  extending  over  a 
large  'part  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  Valley. 
The  ponderous  masses,  moving  southward 
with  an  irresistible  power,  tore  immense 
bowlders  from  their  parent  ledges  and  in- 
corporated them  in  their  structure.  By 
means  of  these,  in  their  further  progress, 
they  grooved  and  planed  down  the  subjacent 
rocks,  gathering  up  and  caiTying  with  them 
part  of  the  abraded  material,  and  strewing 
their  track,  for  hundi-eds  of  miles,  with  the 
remainder.  On  reaching  the  shore  of  the  in- 
terior sea,  huge  icebergs  were  projected  from 
their  extremities  into  the  waters,  which, 
melting  as  they  floated  into  the  warmer  lati- 
tudes, distributed  the  detrital  matter  they 
contained  over  the  bottom.  Thus,  long  be- 
fore the  plains  of  Illinois  clanked  with  the 


HISTORY  OF   UNION  COUNTY 


237 


din  of  railroad  trains,  these  ice-formed  navies  j 
plowed    the   seas    in  which   they   were  sub- 
merged,  and  distributed   over  them  cargoes  : 
of     soil-producing   sediment.       No    mariner  i 
walked   their   crystal    decks   to  direct  their 
course,  and  no  pennon,  attached  to  their  glit- 
tering masts,  trailed  in  the  winds  that  urged 
them  forward;  yet  they  might,  perhaps,  have 
sailed  under  flags  of  a  hundred  succeeding  em- 
pires, each  as  old  as  the  present  nationalities 
of  the  earth,  during  the  performance  of  their 
labors.      This  splendid   soil-forming  deposit 
is  destined  to  make    Illinois  the  great  center 
of   American  wealth   and  population.     Per- 
haps no  other  country  of  the  same   extent  on 
the  face  of   the  globe   can   boast  a  soii   so 
ubiquitous  in  its  distribution,  and  so  univer- 
sally productive.     And  here,  on  the  southern 
point  of  land  that  forme  the  extreme  South- 
ern Illinois,  is  a  soil  enriched  to  an  extraor- 
dinary depth  by  all  the  minerals  in  the  crust 
of   the  earth,  and  it  contains    an  unequaled 
variety  of    the    constituents  of   plant    food. 
Since  plants  differ  so  widely  in  the  elements 
of  which  they  are  composed,  this  multiplic- 
ity of  composition  is  the  means  of  gi'owing  a 
great  variety  of  crops,  and  the   amount  pro-^ 
duced  is  coiTespondingly  large.      So  gi'eat  is 
the  fertility  that  years  of    continued  cultiva- 
tion do  not   materially  diminish   the   yield, 
and  should  sterility  be  induced  by  excessive 
working,  the  subsoil  can  be  made    available. 
The  cultivation  of  the  soil   in  all  ages  has 
furnished    employment    for  the    largest   and 
best  portions  of    mankind;  yet  the  honor  to 
which  they  are  entitled  has  never  been  fully 
acknowledged.     Though  their  occupation  is 
the  basis  of  national  prosperity,  and  upon  its 
progress  more  than  any   other  branch  of  in- 
dustry, depends  the  march  of  civilization,  yet 
its   history  remains,  to    a  great  extent,  un- 
written.    Historians  duly  chronicle  the  feats 
of  the  warrior  who  ravages  the  face  of   the 


earth  and  beggars  its  inhabitants,  but  leaves 
unnoticed  the  labors  of  him  who  causes  the 
desolated  country  to  bloom  again,  and  heals, 
with  balm  of  plenty,  the  miseries  of  war. 
When  true  worth  is  duly  recognized,  instead 
of  the  mad  ambition  which  subjugates  na- 
tions to  acquire  power,  the  heroism  which 
subdues  the  soil  and  feeds  the  world  will  be 
the  theme  of  the  poet's  song  and  the  orator's 
eloquence. 

The  counties  of  Union,  Alexander  and 
Pulaski  form  the  extreme  south  end  of  the 
State,  occupying  nearly  all  that  point  of  land 
south  of  the  grand  chain  that  extends  across 
the  lower  end  of  the  State,  and  are  in  height 
from  500  to  700  feet,  and  that  make  a  strong 
line  of  difference  in  the  geological  forma- 
tions that  extend  to  the  bottom  lands  near 
Cairo,  as  well  as  exercising  a  strong  influ- 
ence upon  the  meteorological  changes  that 
occur  in  this  district.  The  timber,  soil, 
drainage  and  climate  of  this  district  cannot 
be  excelled.  Nature  has  strewn  here  rich 
and  inexhaustible,  and  formed  a  land  capable 
of  sustaining  a  greater  population  to  the 
area  than  any  other  district  in  the  country. 
"When  cultivated  and  tended,  as  it  will  be 
some  day,  to  its  full  capacity,  there  is  more 
dollars  per  acre  here  than,  perhaps,  in  any 
other  spot  on  the  globe.  Only  think  for  a 
moment,  it  is  no  experiment  to  make  fi'om 
$300  to  $500  net  on  a  single  acre  of  ground, 
and  that,  too,  on  land  that  you  can  buy  at 
from  $5  to  $20  per  acre.  It  is,  too,  most 
fortunately  situated  as  to  markets.  Markets 
that  can  never  be  overstocked  are  at  your 
door;  at  least,  so  near  at  ihand  that  transpor- 
tation is  merely  nominal.  Cincinnati, 
I  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  in  fact  all  the  North, 
I  and  especially  the  growing  giant,  the  North- 
west Mississippi  Valley,  whose  climate  will 
make  it  always  come  here  as  the  best  of  cus- 
i  tomers,  and  then  there  is  the   entire  South, 


23  8 


HISTORY   OF   UNION    COUNTY 


to  the  Gulf,  that  will  be  perpetual  customers 
for  all  youi*  corn,  hay,  flour  and  all  domestic 
animals,  with  railroads  to  take  the  perish- 
able goods  ;vith  dispatch  to  their  destination, 
and  both  railroad  and  the  great  rivers  to  take 
the  bulky  and  more  durable  stuff  to  all  the 
world.  The  climate  alone  is  an  incalculable 
fortune,  a  perennial  fountain  of  gold,  as  it 
combines  the  advantages  of  the  North  and 
the  South,  enabling  yoii  to  produce  the  ear- 
liest fruits  and  vegetables  of  all  descriptions, 
thus  putting  you  in  the  mai'ket  when  com- 
petition is  impossible,  and  at  the  same  time 
you  can  grow,  to  the  best  advantage,  not  only 
winter  wheat,  but  all  the  cereals,  as  well  as 
compete  with  any  spot  in  the  country  in  rais- 
ing of  all  kinds  of  stock.  Then,  too,  you  are 
equally  fortunate  in  the  topography  of  your 
county,  both  for  tillage  and  for  health.  The 
hills,  undulations  and  rolling  bottom  lands 
giving  you  the  very  best  natural  di'ainage,  and 
here  you  will  be  equally  blest  with  health 
and  rugged,  happy  people,  as  soon  as  the 
heavy  timbers  in  the  bottoms  and  near  the 
lakes  are  a  little  more  cut  off,  and  the  pene- 
trating sunlight,  as  it  always  has  done  and 
always  will,  drives  away  all  malaria  and 
miasma.  Your  excellent  natural  drainage 
will  protect  you  from  the  drowning  spring 
waters  that  so  often  visit  the  central  and 
northern  portions  of  the  State,  and  this  very 
drainage  will  be  almost  a  specific  against  the 
drouths  that  sometimes  visit  nearly  all  por- 
tions of  our  country  with  such  a  heavy  hand. 
Thpse  truths  about  Southern  Illinois 
should  be  widely  disseminated.  Only  see 
what  wonders  have  been  performed  by  the 
railroads  in  peopling  the  treeless,  windy, 
diy,  grasshopper  regions  that  were  once 
known  as  the  Great  American  Desert.  That 
land  of  alkali,  sage-brush,  coyotes,  cow- boys, 
scalping  Indians  and  desolate  dogtowns. 
Th^y  blew  their  horns,  and  cried  aloud  from 


the  housetops;  they  advertised,  spent  thou- 
sands of  dollars,  and  have  been  repaid  in 
millions.  Here  is  the  difference:  Northenr 
Illinois,  Iowa,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  are  situ- 
ated in  the  natural  line  of  travel  for  the  old 
Eastern  States,  and  for  that  wonderful  tide 
of  immigration  poui'ing  constantly  into  this 
country  from  Europe,  thus  this  part  of  Illi- 
nois has  had  her  light,  so  far  as  emigration 
was  concerned,  hid  under  a  bushel.  Her 
unapproachable  sources  of  wealth  and  her 
incomparable  beauties  and  advantages  have 
been  unseen  and  unheeded. 

But  little  or  nothing  has  ever  been  done  to 
remedy  this  evil.  On  the  9th  of  last  Decem- 
ber, a  meeting  was  held  in  Cairo,  composed 
of  representative  men  from  Alexander,  Jack- 
son, Johnson,  Massac,  Perry,  Pulaski,  Will- 
iamson and  Union  Counties,  to  consider  the 
question  of  organizing  an  Emigration  Society 
for  Southern  Illinois.  They  concluded  to 
organize  under  the  corporation  law  of  the 
State,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $10,000.  They 
seemed  to  realize  it  as  a  fact,  known  to  ail 
intelligent  people  in  Southern  Illinois,  that 
we  have  sufi"ered  grievously  from  wi'ong  im- 
pressions, years  ago  spread  abroad  over  the 
country,  with  regard  to  our  climate,  soil  and 
general  material  conditions,  the  consequences 
of  which  are,  we  have  not  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  immigrants  that  our  merits  de- 
served, and  these  promoters  of  a  community's 
wealth  and  prosperity  have  passed  this  sec- 
tion by  and  gone  West,  and  fared  infinitely 
worse.  They  go  into  the  arid  wastes  of  the 
West,  and  suffer  untold  hardships.  The 
facts  are,  there  is  not  an  emigrant  that  em- 
barks for  America  that  has  ever  heard  of 
Southern  Illinois;  but  he  puts  on  his  hob- 
nailed shoes  and  starts  for  the  laud  of  free- 
dom and  hope,  in  the  firm  conviction  that 
Nebraska,  Kansas  and  the  Texas  Pan-Handle 
are  the  real  United  States — the  land  of  peace, 


HISTORY   OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


33  9! 


plenty,  hope  and  happiness.  His  pockets 
are  stuffed  with  glowing  literatiu'e  extolling 
these  places,  and  the  cunning  railroads  have 
hired  the  most  brilliant  writers  to  picture,  in 
flowing  and  fascinating  terms,  these  places 
that  catch  the  swift-coming  tide  of  immigra- 
tion. If  the  outside  world  does  hear  anything 
from  this  favored  and  incomparable  section  of 
country,  it  is  the  cheap  stock-slander  about 
"  EgyP^  ^^^  i^s  darkness  and  ignorance," 
until  frightened  simpletons,  who  swallow 
those  slanders,  are  tempted  to  travel  out  of 
their  way,  in  order  to  not  pass  through  this 
section  of  "  ignorant  barbarians. "  A  silly 
lie  can  always  outtravel  the  truth,  particu- 
larly when  the  slandered  community  treat  the 
slander  with  silent  contempt,  and  make  no 
effort  to  correct  the  story  and  present  the 
facts.  This  outside  prejudice  against  this 
section  must  be  overcome,  and  the  truth  dis- 
seminated in  its  place.  Why,  if  you  could, 
by  some  magic,  transport  this  part  of  Illi- 
nois, with  every  physical  fact  sm-rounding, 
exactly  as  the  facts  now  exist,  the  soil,  the 
production,  the  facilities  for  markets,  the 
health,  the  climate,  everything,  in  fact,  ex- 
actly as  it  is,  except  the  removal,  to  the 
northern  or  middle  portion  of  the  State,  the 
land  that  now  sells  for  $10  or  $15  per  acre, 
could  not,  in  three  months  after  the  change 
in  locality,  and  with  no  other  change,  mark 
you,  be  bought  for  $500  per  acre,  no,  nor  for 
$1,000  per  acre.  And  then,  in  a  very  few 
years.  Cook  County  would  be  the  only  county 
in  the  State  that  would  equal  this  section  in 
population.  Immigrants  going  to  a  new  coun- 
try are  much  like  a  flock  of  sheep  crossing  a 
fence.  They  follow  the  bell-sheep  without 
looking  to  the  right  or  left.  Of  course,  there- 
fore, it  is  more  difficult  to  aiTest  their  atten- 
tion now,  and  to  show  them  that  they  are 
sadly  deceived,  and  are  passing  b}',  in  ignor- 
ance, the    most   favored    spot  on   earth,    and 


going  to  not  the  most  favored  place,  even, 
in  this  Western  country.  We  see  the  poor- 
est country  in  America,  exactly  like  a  quack 
doctor,  can  grow  great  and  prosperous,  and 
smile  at  its  betters,  by  simply  advertising 
itself — using  printer's  ink.  This  is  the 
magic  ring — the  Aladdin's  lamp  that  brings 
wealth  and  prosperity  to  its  friends  and  pa- 
trons. The  ubiquitous,  restless,  dashing, 
energetic,  audacious  and  tireless  Yankee  of 
the  North  has  always  keenly  realized  this, 
and  has  subsidized  it  to  his  use  and  complete 
control,  and  when  he  got  a  land-grant  for  a 
railroad,  he  cared  not  what  the  country  was 
where  he  built  his  road  and  got  his  lands; 
he  printed  books,  pictures,  placards,  chro- 
mos,  handbills  and  "  dodgers"  by  the  mill- 
ion, and  told  all  the  world,  and  soon  con- 
vinced it,  too,  that  by  coming  to  him  they 
were  on  the  only  road  to  an  earthly  paradise. 
Could  the  outside  world  be  divested  of  its 
unjust  prejudices  about  this  locality,  and 
could  the  simple  truth — the  plain,  palpable 
facts — be  made  known  to  them,  what  a  quick 
revolution  it  would  produce  here — what  a 
transformation  scene  would  take  place. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  advantage  of  soil, 
climate  and  commerce;  we  have  only  spoken 
of  the  soil,  climate,  agricultural,  commercial 
and  market  advantages.  In  all  these  you  are 
not  only  unequaled,  but  you  are  simply  un- 
apjiroachable.  You  can  laugh  at  rivalry  in 
each  and  every  one  of  these  things.  In  fact, 
there  is  no  possibility  of  rivalry  fi-om  any 
other  section  for  anything  you  can  produce 
to  the  best  advantage.  Your  wheat  commands 
a  royal  premium  in  all  the  markets  of  the 
world;  your  corn  cannot  be  excelled  in  qual- 
ity; your  potatoes  are  not  only  excellent,  but 
they  go  to  the  Northern  market  at  a  season 
when  you  can  always  dictate  your  own  price 
per  bushel. 

The  topographical  advantages  seem  to  be 


240 


HISTORY  OF   UNIOJ^   COUNTY 


as  little  understood  by  the  people  as  is  the 
geology  of  this  locality.  The  geology  and 
topography  of  the  country  are  singularly  pe- 
culiar, the  remarkable  fact  being  that  these 
two  features — especially  the  topography — 
place  in  your  hands  advantages  that  will  for- 
ever exclude  competition  from  any  other 
section  of  the  country.  It  is  situated  just 
south  of  the  only  true  mountain  range  in 
Illinois,  the  spur  crossing  the  State  fi'om  the 
Ozark  Mountains  and  traceable  into  Ken- 
tucky. This  not  only  protects  it  fi'om  the 
severest  part  of  the  "  blizzards "  that  visit 
every  portion  of  the  West  each  winter,  but 
it  gives  it  warmth  of  soil  that  enables  you  to 
raise  early  fruits,  potatoes  and  garden  veg- 
etables, and  place  them  in  the  markets  at 
immense  advantage.  You  thus  have  the 
healthy,  bracing  air  of  the  Xorth.  that  im- 
parts a  tonic  and  vigor  to  all  animal  life,  as 
well  as  the  genial  warmth  of  more  southern 
localities — combiningr  the  bracingr  Northern 
atmosphere  and  the  early  fructifying  tropical 
warmth.  Your  advantages  in  this  line  are 
already  demonstrated  in  reference  to  fruits 
and  early  vegetables  of  all  kinds,  and  the 
same  great  truths  will  be  some  day  equally 
well  demonstrated  in  regard  to  another  and 
vastly  profitable  industry  for  the  people, 
namely,  the  raising  of  blooded  cattle  and  the 
establishment  of  creameries  and  butter  manu- 
factories. Here  is  an  unexplored  mine  of 
incalculable  wealth,  where  it  is  again  most 
fortunate  indeed.  We  know  of  no  point  in 
the  country  where  a  creamery  would  yield  as 
much  profit  on  the  capital  invested  as  here. 
The  cold  spring  waters,  pure  air  and  superior 
pasturage  would  make  the  greatest  yield  of 
butter  of  the  "  gilt-edge  "  quality,  and  then 
you  are  where  you  could  command  the 
choicest  of  the  butter  trade  of  the  entire 
South.  And  in  this  respect  there  is  as  little 
danger  of  competition  from  other  sections  of 


the  country  as  there  is  in  your  fruits  and 
vegetables  for  shipment  North.  For  instance, 
Cairo  is  always  ready  to  pay  about  10  cents 
per  pound  more  for  choice  butter  than  the 
Chicago  price.  They  never  can  make  good 
butter  south  of  this  part  of  Illinois,  and 
hence,  you  are  at  their  door  with  all  the  fa- 
cilities and  advantages  of  any  Northern  point 
in  production,  and  the  immense  advantage 
of  being  the  favored  ones  in  the  valuable 
Southern  trade.  Thus  the  profits  are  multi- 
plied each  way.  And  is  it  not  plain  that  if 
the  creameries  of  Northern  Illinois  are  a 
source  of  gi-eat  profit,  both  to  the  factories 
and  to  all  the  farmers  for  a  wide  circuit  of 
miles  around  them,  would  they  not  be  im- 
mensely more  profitable  and  beneficial  if  lo- 
cated in  Union  County?  This  is  not  all  the 
profits  that  are  to  be  made  oflf  domestic  cattle 
here.  This  disti-ict  is  the  home  of  the  nutri- 
tious grasses  that  enter  into  the  business  of 
stock-raising — producing  these  in  gi-ea<est 
abundance  and  of  the  finest  quality.  Show 
the  world  the  truth,  just  as  it  exists,  and  you 
will  soon  see  your  county  filled  with  graded 
cattle,  when  the  industry  of  butter-making 
alone  would,  of  itself,  make  your  people 
prospei'ous  and  rich.  Your  command  of  the 
great  and  best  mai'kets  in  the  world — the 
South  for  your  butter,  eggs  and  poultry,  is 
one  of  those  peculiar  advantages  of  climate, 
soil  and  topography  that  makes  it  a  favored 
locality.  Eggs  and  butter  may  yet  become 
a  fountain  of  more  wealth  to  the  county  than 
are  now  the  wheat  and  corn  of  any  county  in 
the  State.  Thus,  this  point  of  Illinois  is  the 
doorway  of  the  world's  best  markets,  particu- 
larly the  North  and  the  South,  where  it  will 
practically  always  remain  without  competi- 
tion. 

One  day  last  winter  there  was  a  car-load 
of  mules  and  horses  that  had  been  pur- 
chased in  Anna,  and  were  on  the  switch   at 


HISTORY  OF   UNION   COUNTY. 


243 


the  depot  preparatory  to  starting  to  Nebraska, 
and  while  they  stood  there,  the  freight  train 
passed,  going  South,  and  had  several  car- 
loads of  horses  and  mules  that  had  been 
gathered  up  in  the  central  portion  of  the 
State  for  the  Southern  markets. 

A  few  years  ago,  some  Germans  came  into 
Union  County  from  Pennsylvania,  and 
among  their  purchases  were  some  of  the  old- 
est farms  in  the  county;  farms  that  had  been 
badly  cared  for,  and  "skinned"  and  washed 
until  they  were  supposed  to  be  nearly  worth- 
less. Great  gullies  had  been  plowed  through 
the  fields  in  every  direction  by  the  waters, 
and  the  rich  soil  had  disappeared.  These 
thrifty  and  industrious  people,  nothing 
dau.nted,  went  to  work,  and  now  the  soil  is 
restored,  the  gullies  and  washouts  are  filled, 
and  the  finest  and  largest  crops  every  year 
are  the  rich  rewards  of  their  careful  foresight 
and  industry.  The  geologist  will  tell  you 
that  your  land  will  never  wear  out  under  in- 
telligent treatment,  because  there  is  stored 
in  the  subsoil  an  inexhaustible  source  of 
wealth — a  bank  that  will  never  break  nor  run 
away  with  the  deposits,  upon  which  the 
farmer  may  draw  checks  that  will  always  be 
honored,  and  paid  in  glittering  gold.  The 
same  geologist  will  tell  you  that  the  geolog- 
ical formation  of  a  county  always  determines 
the  quantity,  quality  and  value  of  its  popu- 
lation— not  only  the  numbers  of  the  people 
that  will  some  day  live  upon  it,  but  will  pre- 
figure their  comforts,  wealth,  enjoyments  and 
the  possibilities  of  their  enlightenment  and 
civilization.  Hence,  what  is  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  your  land  is  of  the  very  greatest  im- 
portance to  all. 

In  Pulaski  County  is  a  similar  experiment 
of  what  a  little  intelligent  treatment  may  do 
for  a  farm  that  had  been  pronounced  worn 
out  by  the  "  skinning"  process  of  farming, 
on  the  farm  occupied  by  Dr.  G  .AV.  Bristow, 


near  New  Grand  Chain.  The  Doctor  has 
only  required  foui*  years  to  convert  it  into 
one  of  the  best  f  ai'ms  in  the  county,  and  richer 
than  it  was  when  the  virgin  soil  was  first 
turned  by  the  plow. 

The  past  winter  fui'nished  some  remarkable 
testimony  as  to  the  meteorological  advan- 
tages this  end  of  Illinois  possesses  in  cli- 
matic arrangements.  The  Northeast,  the 
West  and  Southwest — in  fact,  the  entire  coun- 
try— was  visited  by  some  remarkable  winter 
storms,  sometimes  termed  "blizzards,"  that 
passed  over  the  country,  carrying,  often,  de- 
struction to  man  and  beast.  In  the  cattle  and 
sheep  regions  of  the  "West  and  Southwest, 
there  was  great  loss  of  stock  from  these 
storms.  The  fierce  winds  were  almost  like  a 
tornado,  and  they  carried  the  blinding  snow 
and  frost  at  such  a  rate  as  to  send  the  ther- 
mometer down  from  forty  to  sixty  degrees 
in  a  few  hours.  Several  of  these  storms  were 
unparalleled  in  intensity,  and  so  widespread 
were  they  that  much  stock  was  destroyed  as 
far  South  as  Central  Texas.  The  repord  of 
the  thermometer  on  one  of  these  occasions' 
marked  17^  below  zero  at  St.  Louis,  and  5° 
below  zero  at  Dallas,  Tex.,  and  at  the  same 
time  it  barely  reached  zero  in  any  of  this 
part  of  the  State  south  of  the  north  line  of 
Union  County.  At  no  time,  dm'ing  the  entire 
winter,  did  the  mark  go  below  zero  here, 
when  it  passed  below  that  point  six  or  seven 
hundred  miles  south  of  this.  And  during  the 
cold  storms,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  there 
was  a  difference  of  fifteen  or  twenty  degrees 
between  this  place  and  any  point  forty  or 
fifty  miles  north  of  this.  This  remarkable 
state  of  facts  results  from  the  topography 
of  this  part  of  Illinois.  The  mountain  chain, 
six  or  seven  hundred  feet  high,  passing  across 
the  State,  just  north  of  this  district,  forms 
a  barrier  to  the  tierce  winds  from  the  north, 
and    deflects  them  to  the    west  or  east,    or 

14 


244 


HISTORY   OF    UNION  COUNTY. 


raises  them  so  high,  that  they  pass  above  us 
and  produce  little  or  no  efifect.  Then,  again, 
the  great  river,  leading  directly  from  the 
Gulf,  forms  a  complete  isothermal  line,  that 
is  unobstructed  in  its  course  until  it  strikes 
this  mountain  range,  when  it  stops,  and,  to 
some  extent,  recoils  upon  the  northern  part 
of  Union  County. 

These  are  some  of  the  geological,  meteoro- 
logical and  topographical  advantages 
Union,  Alexander  and  Pulaski  Counties  pos- 
sess over  all  other  portions  of  the  great  and 
and    rich    State    of    Illinois,    and    in    the 


interests  of  truth  and  justice,  and  in  vindica- 
tion of  a  long-neglected,  misunderstood  and 
grossly  misrepresented  portion  of  our  be- 
loved native  State,  we  have  attempted  briefly 
to  explain  the  more  important  facts.  To  give 
the  skeleton  oulines  of  such  well-established 
truths  as  will  enable  the  people  to  go  look 
for  themselves,  and  to  continue  the  investi- 
gation in  all  its  detail,  and  the  conclusion  in 
every  case,  whether  a  friend  or  a  prejudiced 
foe  of  this  southern  end  of  Illinois,  he  will 
rise  from  the  investigation  ready  to  exclaim, 
"  the  half  has  not  been  told." 


CHAPTER  II. 


"For  the  truth  is,  that  time  seemeth  to  be  of 
the  nature  of  a  river  or  stream,  which  carrieth  down 
to  us  that  which  is  light  and  blown  up,  and  sinketh 
and  drowneth  that  which  is  weighty  and  solid."— 
Bacon. 

AS  to  the  many  different  peoples  that  have 
occupied  all  this  portion  of  the  coun- 
try, in  the  long-baried  ages  of  the  past,  are 
questions  that  have  long  been,  and  are  now, 
of  deep  interest  to  archaeologists.  How  many 
different  and  distinct  races;  how  many  cent- 
uries intervened  between  their  rise  and  ex 
tinction;  what  manner  of  people  they  were, 
and  how  they  came  and  then  passed  away — 
many  of  them,  perhaps,  leaving  no  wrack 
behind,  while  others  built  the  mounds,  the 
military  posts  of  defense,  the  burial  monu- 
ments, the  flint  instruments  of  the  chase,  and 
the  varieties  of  pottery  that  are  dug  up  here 
and  there,  as  the  mute  but  eloquent  story  of 
an  unknown  people,  who  here,  at  some  time 


PRE-HISTORIC  RACES— THE  MOUND  BUILDERS— FIRE  WORSHIPERS— RELICS  OF  THESE  UNKNOWN 

PEOPLE— MOUNDS,  WORKSHOPS  AND  BATTLE-GROUNDS  IN  UNION,  ALEXANDER   AND 

PULASKI  COUNTIES— VISITS  OF  NOXIOUS  INSECTS— HISTORY  THEREOF,  ETC. 

in  the  world's  history,  lived,  flourished, 
struggled  and  died.  Could  we  unravel  the 
strange,  eventful  story  of  these  different  peo- 
ples, what  fairy-like  legends  they  would  be. 
Thus,  the  busy  investigators  are  digging  in 
the  mounds,  visiting  the  battle-fields  and 
delving  in  the  burial  places,  and  laboriously 
and  patiently  trying  to  unravel  and  gather 
up  their  histories,  and  rescue  them  from  the 
oblivion  that  has  so  long  rested  upon  their 
memories. 

Until  within  a  period  considerably  less 
than  a  century  ago,  few,  comparatively,  of 
even  the  thinking  and  investigating  portion 
of  mankind,  were  much  concerned  about  the 
question  of  the  antiquity  of  the  race.  The 
church  maintained,  through  centuries,  that 
the  Bible  was  the  only  authentic  and  trust- 
worthy record  of  antiquity,  and  maintained, 
equally,  that  itself  was  the  only  authorized 
interpreter  of   this  record  and  on   this  basis 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY 


345 


certain  vague  chronology,  which  did  not,  in 
its  various  forms,  agree  with  itself  by  some 
three  or  four  thousand  years,  and  this  vague 
belief  as  to  time,  which  fixed  the  origin  of 
man  and  of  the  globe  he  inhabits  at  a  period 
now  some  six  thousand  years  ago,  was  gener- 
ally accepted  as  not  to  be  disputed.  Now  and 
again  some  thinker,  bolder  than  his  fellows, 
formulated  some  theory  which  looked  toward 
a  far  greater  antiquity  for  the  race.  As 
early  as  1734,  Mahudel,  and  at  a  later  period 
Mercatl,  ventui-ed  the  suggestion  that  the 
flints  found  pretty  much  all  over  the  globe, 
"  from  Paris  to  Nineveh,  from  China  to  Cam- 
boja,  from  Greenland  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,"  were  the  weapons  of  the  men  who 
lived  "  before  the  flood."  But  these  were 
looked  upon,  when  they  received  any  atten- 
tion at  all,  as  merely  fanciful,  not  to  say 
ridiculous,  speculations.  Even  when  Buffon, 
in  1788,  "  affirmed  again  that  the  first  men 
began  by  sharpening  into  the  form  of  axes 
these  hard  flints,  jades  or  thunderbolts, 
which  were  believed  to  have  fallen  from  the 
clouds  and  to  be  formed  by  the  thunder,  but 
which,  said  he,  '  are  merely  the  first  move- 
ments of  the  art  of  man  in  a  state  of  nature,' 
the  simple  and  just  theory,  upon  the  sub- 
stantial truth  of  \^hich  all  scientific  men  are 
now  agreed,  was  allowed  to  pass  without 
notice."  Later,  Mr.  Bouche  de  Perthes  was 
virtually  laughed  at  upon  the  presentation 
of  an  account  of  his  discoveries,  and  the 
theories  he  deduced  from  them,  to  the  French 
Institute,  and  it  was  not  until  the  lapse  of 
fifteen  or  twenty  years  from  th^  time  when 
he  first  called  the  attention  of  that  body  to 
these  discoveries  and  theories  that  they  were 
given  any  serious  consideration.  Even  then, 
the  attention  was  not  what  a  purely  scientitic 
question  should  have.  De  Perthes  himself 
says:  "  A  poi-ely  geological  question  was 
made   the    subject  of   religious   controversy. 


Those  who  threw  no  doubt  upon  any  religion 
accused  me  of  rashness;  an  unknown  archae- 
ologist, a  geologist  without  a  diploma,  I  was 
aspiring,  they  said,  to  overthi-ow  a  whole 
system  confirmed  by  long  experience  and 
adopted  by  so  many  distinguished  men. 
They  declared  that  this  was  a  strange  pre- 
sumption on  my  part.  Strange,  indeed;  but 
I  had  not  then,  and  I  never  have  had,  any 
such  intentions.  I  revealed  a  fact;  conse- 
quences were  deduced  from  it,  but  I  had  not 
made  them.  Truth  is  no  man's  work;  she 
was  created  before  us,  and  is  older  than  the 
world  itself;  often  sought,  more  often  re- 
pulsed, we  find  but  do  not  invent  her.  Some- 
times, too,  we  seek  her  wrongly,  for  truth  is 
to  be  found  not  only  in  books;  she  is  every- 
where; in  the  water,  in  the  air,  on  the  earth; 
we  cannot  make  a  step  without  meeting  her, 
and  when  we  do  not  perceive  her  it  is  be- 
cause we  shut  our  eyes  or  turn  away  our 
head.  It  is  our  prejudices  or  our  ignorance 
which  prevent  us  from  seeing  her — from 
touching  her.  If  we  do  not  see  her  to-day, 
we  shall  see  her  to-morrow;  for,  strive  as 
we  may  to  avoid  hei",  she  will  appear  when 
the  time  is  ripe."  These  are  very  simple 
truths,  and  yet  it  is  only  the  man  who  has 
the  courage  to  see  facts  who  is  also  capable 
of  seeing  these  truths  of  reason.  The  change 
froiu  that  day  to  this  is  remarkable  indeed. 
Neither  ridicule  nor  disbelief  is  now  the  por- 
tion of  the  believer  in  that  antiquily  of  the 
race  which  goes  back. of  a  supposed  Biblical 
chronology.  Even  upon  the  point  of  that 
chronology  itself,  scientific  men  and  the  most 
learned  theologians  alike  are  almost  or  quite 
ao-reed  to  coincide  with  Sylvestre  de  Sacy, 
himself  a  savant  and  devout  Christian  also, 
who  said:  "People  perplex  their  minds 
about  Biblical  chronology,  and  the  discrep- 
ancies which  exist  between  it  and  the  dis- 
coveries of  modern  science.     They  are  great- 


246 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


ly  in  error,  for  there  is  no  Biblical  chronol- 
og}'."  While  this  is  true  of  the  thinking 
people  of  the  world,  it  is  in  far  less  degree 
true  of  the  unthinking  masses,  and  the  liberal 
thinker  is  even  yet  looked  upon  by  many  as 
a  sort  of  monster.  This  is  not,  however,  a 
fact  that  ought  to  produce  any  uneasiness, 
since  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  thinkers  which, 
sooner  or  later,  makes  the  opinion  of  the 
world. 

This  territory,  including  the  three  coun- 
ties of  Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski,  are 
rich  in  these  remains  and  relics  of  men  of  a 
time  reaching  back  to  the  paleolithic  and 
the  neolithic  civilizations,  or  rather  of  the 
slow  evolution  of  civilization  in  those  divis- 
ions of  the  so-called  stone  age,  of  which  those 
"  fairy  tales  of  science"  that  were  started 
into  life  dm-ing  the  past  quarter  of  a  century 
were  written.  The  mounds,  and  the  great 
workshops  for  the  manufacture  of  flint  in- 
struments, the  battle-grounds  and  the  burial- 
places,  indicate  that  some  one  race  of  these 
stone-age  people  probably  made  their  na- 
tional headquarters  in  the  upper  portion  of 
Alexander  County,  and  from  this  point  they 
extended  their  habitations-  and  working 
places  in  every  direction,  into  Kentucky, 
jVfissouri  and- the  uppor  portion  of  Illinois. 
The  most  recent  "  finds  "  have  been  so  traced 
as  to  plainly  point  out  that  from  here  they 
must  have  traveled  into  and  through  Mexico 
and  into  South  America,  and  that  in  making 
this  extended  voyage  they  passed  directly 
southwest  from  this  point,  and  in  returning 
they  came  from  the  Gulf  toward  the  lower 
portion  of  the  Ohio  River,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  improvement 
■  made  in  the  few  flio  t  instruments,  and  again 
in  the  pottery  vessels,  mark  as  well  the  ad- 
vances these  pre-historic  races  made  as  the 
course  of  their  slow  travels  over  the  con- 
tinent.   If  the  cave  people  were  here  in  these 


hills  of  Southern  Illinois,  their  resorts  or 
dwelling-places  have  not  yet  been  discovered, 
yet  the  hunt  for  them  has  hardly  com- 
menced, as  the  investigations  are  so  far  con- 
fined to  the  mounds  and  the  graves,  as  well 
as  the  flint  instruments  that  are  plowed  up 
in  the  fields  and  found  nearly  everywhere 
over  the  face  of  the  country.  The  topog- 
raphy of  the  country  has,  most  probably,  in- 
vited here,  at  some  time,  the  cave-dwellers. 
The  action  of  man  himself  should  be  well 
considered  in  seeking  the  causes  which  have 
brought  about  the  filling  of  the  caves ;  for  in 
many  cases  they  have  served  as  dwellings,  as 
refuges,  as  the  rendezvous  of  hunters,  as 
meeting  places  or  tombs  to  the  earliest  popu- 
lations of  these  districts.  It  is,  therefore, 
not  surprising  that  they  should  have  left  in 
them  their  mortal  remains,  the  fragments  of 
their  daily  meals,  their  weapons,  their  tools — 
in  a  word,  the  still  simple  products  of  their 
dawning  industry.  Unfortunately,  we  can- 
not always  be  sui*e  that  these  objects  are  of 
the  same  date  as  the  bones  of  extinct  species 
with  which  they  are  found.  Accidental  dis- 
turbances of  the  soil,  occuring  at  widely- 
separated  jpeiiods,  may  have  mixed  the  pro- 
ductions of  human  industry  with  the  bones 
of  a  very  difi"erent  date.  This  is  evidently 
the  case  in  the  cave  of  Fausan  (Herault),  where 
Marcel  de  Sevres  found  a  fragment  of  enameled 
glass  embedded  in  a  skull  of  Ursus  Spelaeus  ; 
specimens  of  fire-baked  pottery,  relatively 
quite  modern,  were  found  at  Bize,  by  the 
same  naturalist,  side  by  side  with  other  ves- 
sels of  unbaked  clay  and  of  far  ruder  work- 
manship. Similar  facts,  which  may  have  oc- 
casioned many  mistakes,  have  been  observed 
in  several  other  caves,  among  which  it  is 
sufficient  for  the  moment  to  cite  those  of 
Herm  and  Auvignac.  We  cannot,  therefore, 
always,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  conclude 
that  the  human  bones  found  in  company  with 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


247 


the  remains  of  extinct  animals  were  contem- 
poraiy  with  each  other.  But  doubt  is  no 
longer  reasonable  when  the  bones  of  animals 
and  those  of  om-  own  species,  uniformly 
mixed,  imbedded  ;in  the  same  sediment,  and 
which  have  undergone  the  same  alterations, 
are,  moreover,  covered  by  a  thick  layer  of 
stalagmite;  when  objects  of  a  completely 
primitive  industry  occupy  the  same  bed  with 
bones  belonging  to  extinct  species;  when  the 
latter  bear  the  evident  marks  of  human 
workmanship;  finally,  when  we  find  in  the 
diluviau  strata  of  the  valleys  manufactured 
objects  and  bones  exactly  like  those  dis- 
covered in  caves  of  the  same  date.  Now,  all 
these  circumstances  occitr  together  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Somme,  the  Khine,  the 
Thames,  etc. ,  as  well  as  in  certain  caves  of 
France,  England,  Belgimn,  Italy,  Sicily,  etc. 
Dr.  W.  R.  Smith,  of  Cairo,  informs  us 
that  he  has  extensively  examined  the 
mounds,  burial-places  and  workshops  of 
Southern  Illinois,  and  across  the  river  into 
Kentucky  and  Missouri.  He  finds  within 
this  scope  of  country  the  biu'ial  mounds,  tem- 
ple mounds,  altar  mounds  and  mounds  of 
observation,  the  distinction  in  them  being 
clear  and  distinct,  and  he  finds  many  facts 
corroborating  the  belief  that  the  upper  part 
of  Alexander,  or  the  lower  portion  of  Union 
County,  was  the  center  or  gi-eat  meeting 
place  of  the  surrounding  tribes.  In  the  tem- 
ple mounds  are  many  evidences  that  they 
were  erected  by  the  fire- worshipers.  The 
Lake  Millikin  mound,  in  Dogtooth  Bend,  is 
the  third  largest  mound  in  size  in  the  United 
States.  A  large  number  of  mounds  in  th« 
western  and  southern  parts  of  Union,  and  in 
the  upper  part  of  Alexander  County,  are  all 
bui-ial  mounds,  and  one  very  large  one  in 
Alexander  is  composed  of  chert  stone,  and 
was  evidently  the  point  where  they  manu- 
factured their  rude    implements  of  industry 


and  the  chase,  and,  most  singularly,  it  seems, 
they  carried  the  flinty  chert  rock  to  their 
working  place  instead  of  moving  their  work- 
ing place  to  the  hills  where  ihey  dug  out  the 
chert  used  in  the  manufactm-e.  This  mound 
has  every  appearance  of  having  been  fonned 
as  chip  mounds  are  formed  near  the  wood 
piles  where  the  wood  is  chopped,  and  the 
chips  left  to  rot  and  accumulate.  The  im- 
mensity of  the  works  may  be  imagined  when 
the  workmen's  chips  would  accumulate  into  a 
large-sized  mound  that  would  remain  through 
all  these  ages,  and  another  most  singular  cir- 
cumstance is  the  fact  that  no  implements  can 
be  found  at  these  points  where  they  were  evi- 
dently made.  Across  in  Kentitcky  is  an  ex- 
tensive region  underlaid  with  remnants  of 
pottery,  and  the  grounds  about  Fort  Jefifer- 
son  seem  to  have  been  the  main  headquarters 
for  this  industry,  the  bm-ned  fragments,  in 
some  places,  underlying  the  thin  surface  soil 
to  a  considerable  depth.  In  Kentucky  and 
Missouri,  near  Cairo,  a  gi-eat  many  pieces  of 
pottery  have  been  found,  in  a  perfect  state 
of  preservation,  particularly  some  perfectly 
formed  water  jugs,  that  are  so  true  and  per- 
fect in  construction  that  skilled  workmen 
who  have  examined  them  have  believed  they 
could  only  have  been  made  upon  a  potter's 
wheel.  Dr.  Smith  suggests  that  they  shaped 
or  fashioned  their  flint  implements,  and  were 
enabled  to  chip  and  break  them  into  the 
many  forms  they  did,  by  means  of  heat,  and 
then  deftly  touching  with  a  wet  stick  at  just 
those  points  which  they  wished  to  scale  oflf. 
It  is  possible  that  in  this  way  they  made 
their  flint  or  chert  darts  and  arrow-heads, 
while  other  rocks  show  they  were  shaped  by 
rubbing  and  the  slow  process  of  fi'iction. 

Ethnology  has  hardly  yet  begun  to  be  a 
science,  and  yet  its  progress  is  sufiicient  to 
demonstrate  that,  in  the  slow  progi-ess  of 
evolution,    many     millions    of    years     have 


348 


HISTORY  OF  rXIOX  COUNTY 


passed  away  since  man,  in  some  form,  ap- 
peared upon  our  continent.  But  why  a 
numerous  people  should  appear  in  the  world, 
live  out  their  allotted  time,  and  wholly  dis- 
appear, and  in  the  long  course  of  time  be 
followed  by  another  and  yet  a  distinct  race 
of  people.  Did  they  come  at  fixed  periods, 
think  you,  after  the  manner  of  the  seventeen- 
year  locusts?  Evidently  not;  as  the  old 
law  of  transmigration  of  souls  would  have 
to  be  revived,  in  order  to  account  for  those 
long  periods  of  absence  of  each  race  from  the 
earth.  In  the  investigations  thus  far,  these 
two  points  only  are  established;  that  is: 
That  distinct  races  have  come,  lived  their 
brief  time  upon  the  earth,  and  then  passed 
away  eutirely,  to  be  succeeded  by  another 
race  of  human  beings,  and  this  by  still  an- 
other. How  many  of  these  have  played  their 
separate  parts  in  this  wonderful  world's 
drama  we  may  never  know,  and  so  blended 
now  are  the  remains  and  traces  they  have 
left,  that  it  may  be  forever  impossible  to  ar- 
rive at  the  numbers  of  the  difierent  races, 
much  less  to  fix  the  period  of  the  coming  of 
the  first,  or  the  length  of  time  intervening 
between  the  disappearance  of  one  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  other.  Indeed,  so  little  can 
we  yet  positively  know,  that  it  may  even  be 
conjectui'ed  that  one  people  would  come  and 
displace  those  they  found  here,  much  as  the 
white  man  has  superseded  the  Indian,  and  in 
the  course  of  long  centuries  have  driven 
them  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

In  the  northeast  part  of  Pulaski  County, 
where  the  river  bank  is  rugged  and  rocky, 
the  sandstone  rocks  have  been  washed  bare, 
in  the  solid  rocks  are  the  footprints  of  three 
persons,  a  man,  woman  and  a  child,  the  child 
supposed  to  have  been  about  six  years  old. 
The  impressions  of  the  feet  are  clear,  and 
every  outline  sharply  defined,  and  are  sunk 
into  the  rock  nearly  an  inch  in  depth.     They 


are  ordinary  sized  feet,  and  indicate  arched 
instep  and  wide  and  long  toes — feet,  evi- 
dently, that  had  never  been  cramped  by  tight 
shoes.  The  position  of  the  tracks  would  in- 
dicate the  man  and  woman  (and  it  is  only 
supposed  to  be  a  woman's  track  because 
somewhat  more  delicate  and  smaller  than 
the  other)  stood  facing  each  other,  and  five 
or  six  feet  apart,  and  the  child  stood  to  the 
man's  lef t^  a  few  feet.  A  few  feet  from  these 
are  plainly  marked,  on  the  same  rock,  tui'key 
tracks,  and  these  you  can  trace  where  the 
tiu-key  walked  out  and  circled  and  returned 
by  the  same  way  that  it  came.  The  surface 
soil  at  one  time  had  covered  this  rock  three 
or  foui'  feet  in  depth. 

Insect  Plagues. — At  irregular  periods,  in 
nearly  ail  portions  of  the  world,  appear  those 
extraordinary  visitations  of  insects,  that  sud- 
denly come,  and  often  as  suddenly  disap- 
pear, and  we  can  no  more  tell  from  whence 
they  come  than  we  can  tell  whither  they  go. 
All  of  the  southern  and  central  portions  of 
Illinois,  particularly  this  extreme  southern 
end  of  the  State,  received  one  of  these  un- 
accountable visits  this  year  (1883),  in  the 
foiTu  of  innumerable  caterpillars.  They  over- 
ran the  country  in  immense  numbers,  and  as 
they  came  with  the  early  tree  leaves,  they 
left  the  apple  trees  and  certain  kinds  of 
forest  trees,  upon  which  they  fed,  as  barren 
of  foliage  as  the  middle  of  winter.  The 
forest  ti'ees  upon  which  they  would  feed  were 
the  walnut  and  sweet  gum  and  the  red  oak. 
The  injury  these  insects  caused  was  not 
regularly  inflicted  upon  all  the  orchards,  as 
there  wei'e  places  where  they  did  not  seem  to 
go,  and  thus  some  orchards  escaped  their 
visitations,  while  in  other  localities  it  is  much 
feared  the  trees  are  permanently  injm*ed. 
They  were  called  caterpillars,  and  yet  they 
were  a  different  variety  from  the  regular  old 
orchard    insect    that     weaves    its     web    and 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


249 


hatches  its   young  to  feed  upon    the    leaves, 
and  more   or   less  of   which  we   have  every 
year.     They  were   like  those  noxious  insects 
that  have  from  time  immemorial  visited  the 
world,  that   are  to  the    insect  world  much  as 
the  wandering  comets  to  the  heavenly  bodies. 
The  sudden  appearance,  and  the  no  less  sud- 
den disappearance,  of    noxious  insects,  have 
given  rise  to  much  speculation  concerning 
their  cause.     They  have  been  common  in  all 
countries,  from  the  equator  to   those  nearest 
the  poles.     The  earliest  historians  took  note 
of   them.     Moses   has  described   the    insect 
plagues    of  ancient   Egypt,    and    Greek  and 
Roman  writers   furnish  graphic    accounts  of 
the   ravages  of  insects  in  other  countries  of 
antiquity.       In    times    when   religious    and 
superstitious  beliefs  were  stronger  than  they 
are  at  present,  it  was  generally  thought  that 
insects  were  sent  to  various  jjarts  of  the  earth 
to  inflict  punishments  for  the  sins  of  the  peo- 
ple.    It  appears  certain   that  the  coming  of 
large    numbers  of  noxious    insects  has  been 
accompanied    with     outbreaks    of    epidemic 
diseases  among  human  beings  and  domesti- 
cated animals.     Possibly  the  climatic  condi- 
tions that  favored  the  production  of  these  in- 
sects were  unfavorable  to  the   health  of    ani- 
mals, human  beings    included.     When   some 
of   the  vegetation  was   destroyed,  it  was  but 
natural  that  the   physical    condition  of   the 
animals   that   gained  their   sustenance  from 
them  should  be  reduced.     The    sudden  de- 
struction of  vast  numbers  of  insects  would  be 
likely  to  vitiate  the  air  and  to  render  water 
unlit  to  drink.     If  we  can  credit  ancient  his- 
torians, the  sudden  appearance  of  large  num- 
bers of  insects,  especially  of  those   not  com- 
mon to  the  country,  was  generally  accompa- 
nied by  earthquakes,  floods  and  various  other 
calamities.     No  natural  connection,  of  course, 
exists  between   the   flight  of    locusts  and  an 
upheaval  of  the  earth.      The  early  accounts 


of  insect  plagues  are  generally  meager,  and 
probably  very  inaccurate. 

About  the  year  141,  we  are  told  that  "  de- 
vastation from   every   variety  of    the   insect 
tribe "  presaged    the    outbreak  of   an  awful 
pestilence  at  Rome  in  that  year.    In  158,  all 
the  grain  in   Scotland  was  destroyed,  famine 
ensuing.     An  ecclesiastical  chronicler  relates 
that  when  the  King  of  Persia  was  besieging 
Nisibin  in    260,  swarms   of   gnats   suddenly 
appeared,   and    attacked    his    elephants   and 
beasts  of  burden  so  furiously  as  to  kill  or  dis- 
able   most   of    them.      The    siege  had  to  be 
raised  in  consequence,  a  step  which  ultimate- 
ly   led  to   the    discomfiture  of    the    Persian 
Army.     In  406,  multitudes  of  grasshoppers 
infested  Egypt.     They  are  said  to  have  been 
so  numerous    that  the  putrifaction  of    their 
dead  bodies  occasioned  a  plague  in  the  coun- 
try.  It  is  not  improbable  that  locusts  are  the 
insects   meant,   for  we    frequently    find   old 
writers   calling    locusts    grasshoppers;    and, 
besides,    there    are    many    instances    of    the 
advent  of  locusts   in   a  country  beino-    fol- 
lowed   by    a    pestilence.       In    1807,    after 
a    shower   of    blood    in    England,    Grafton 
says  that  there  "  ensued  a  great  and  exceed- 
ing number  and  multitude  of  flies,  the  which 
were  so   noxious    and  contagious  that    they 
slew  many  people."     What  might  be  the  nat- 
ure   of   these    deadly  flies  we  are    unable  to 
conjecture. 

The  army  of  Philip  of  France,  while  at 
Gerona,  in  1283,  was  attacked  by  swarms  of 
flies,  the  poisonous  stings  of  which  were 
fatal  both  to  the  men  and  the  horses.  The 
insects  are  described  as  being  the  size  of 
acorns.  Two  species  have  been  suggested  as 
likely,  neither  of  them,  however,  indigenous 
to  Spain,  viz.,  the  Simulum  reptans,  a  native 
of  Eastern  countries,  and  Chrj/sops  coecu- 
tiens,  an  African  fly,  which  is  said  to  attack 
horses.     The   French  Armv  lost  about  four 


250 


HISTORY  OF  UNI0:N^  COUNTY. 


thousand  men,  and  as  many  horses,  through 
the  attacks  of  this  insect  The  plague  was 
attributed  to  a  miracle  wrought  by  St.  Nar- 
cissus. In  128'),  "a  curious  worm,  with  a  tail 
like  a  crab,"  appeared  in  numbers  in  Prussia. 
The  sting  of  the  creatiu'e  was  fatal  to  animals 
within  three  days. 

Riverius,  a  medical  writer,  mentions  that 
in  April  and  May,  1580,  prodigious  swarms 
of  insects  obscured  the  daylight,  and  were 
crushed  on  the  roads  by  the  million.  The 
species  is  not  indicated,  but  they  were  sup- 
posed to  have  risen  out  of  the  earth.  In  1612, 
previous  to  the  outbreak  of  epidemic  pestilence 
in  Germany,  Goelenius  relates  that  "  a  sud- 
den and  amazing  number  of  spiders  ap- 
peared." It  is  curious  that  the  same  phe- 
nomenon occurred  at  Seville  nearly  a  century 
afterward.  In  1708,  just  before  the  plague 
broke  out  in  that  city,  imrpiense  swarms  of 
insects  appeared,  most  conspicuous  among 
which  were  spiders.  Why  spiders  in  par- 
ticular should  herald  pestilence  it  is  difficult 
to  understand.  In  the  summer  of  1664,  the 
ditches  in  England  were  filled  with  frogs 
and  various  kinds  of  insects,  the  houses  liter- 
ally swarmed  with  flies,  and  ants  were  so 
numerous  that  they  might  have  been  taken 
in  handfuls  from  the  highways.  This  abund- 
ance of  insect  life  was  said  to  foreshadow 
the  great  plague  of  London  which  followed. 
Five  years  later,  a  remarkable  swarm  of 
"ant-flies"  alighted  at  Litchfield  and  other 
places.  They  appeared  over  the  city  about 
noonday,  and  were  so  thick  that  they  dark- 
ened the  sky.  On  alighting,  they  "filled 
the  houses,  stung  many  people  and  put  all 
the  horses  mad."  All  who  happened  to  be 
out  of  doors  had  to  flee.  The  market  people 
packed  up  their  goods  and  made  off,  and 
those  in  the  harvest  field  were  all  driven 
home.  After  remaining  on  the  ground  for 
three   hours,    the    swarm    took   flight    in    a 


northerly  direction.  So  many  of  the  insects 
were  left  dead  on  the  streets  that  their  bodies 
were  swept  into  great  heaps. 

In  1679,  the  little  town  of  Czierko,  in 
Hungary,  was  the  scene  of  a  curious  visita- 
tion. During  the  summer,  a  winged  insect, 
of  an  unknown  species,  made  its  appearance, 
and  inflicted  mortal  wounds  upon  men, 
horses  and  oxen  with  its  sting.  Thirty-five 
men  and  a  great  number  of  animals  wore 
killed.  In  the  case  of  the  men,  the  insect 
inserted  its  [sting  wherever  the  skin  was  un- 
protected, i,  e.,  the  face,  neck  and  hands. 
Shortly  after  the  infliction  of  the  wound,  a 
tumor  was  formed.  Unless  the  poison  was 
extracted  at  once,  the  victims  died  within  a 
few  days.  The  Poles,  it  seems,  were  the 
chief  sufiferers,  on  account  of  their  habit  of 
wearing  short  hair,  and  thus  exposing  their 
necks.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  insects 
confined  their  ravages  to  Czierko,  a  circum- 
stance which  caused  many  people  to  regard 
them  as  a  divine  punishment. 

Sir  Thomas  Molyneux,  in  the  "  Natural 
History  of  Ireland,"  gives  an  account  of  an 
invasion  of  cockchaflfers,  which  occurred  in 
1088.  He  says:  "They  appeared  on  the 
southwest  coast  of  the  county  of  Galway, 
brought  thither  by  a  southwest  wind."  Pass- 
iog  inland  toward  Headford,  "  multitudes  of 
them  showed  themselves  among  the  trees  and 
hedges  in  the  day-time,  hanging  by  the 
boughs,  thousands  together,  in  clusters, 
sticking  to  the  back  one  of  another,  as  in  the 
manner  of  bees  when  they  swarm.  Those 
that  were  traveling  on  the  roads,  or  abroad 
in  the  fields,  found  it  very  uneasy  to  make 
their  way  through  them,  they  would  so  ])eat 
and  knock  themselves  against  their  faces  in 
their  flight,  and  with  such  force  as  to  smart 
the  place  they  hit,  and  leave  a  slight  mark 
behind  them.  A  short  while  after  their  com- 
ing, they  had  so  entirely  eaten  up  and  de- 


HISTORY  OF  UXION  COUNTY. 


251 


stroyed  all  the  leaves  of  the  trees  for  some 
miles  about,  that  the  whole  country,  though 
it  was  the  middle  of  summer,  was  left  as 
bare  and  naked  as  if  it  had  been  the  depth 
of  winter,  making  a  most  unseemly,  and,  in- 
deed, frightful  appearance;  and  the  noise 
they  made,  whilst  they  were  seizing  and 
devouring  this  their  prey,  was  as  surprising, 
for  the  grinding  of  the  leaves  in  the  mouths 
of  this  vast  multitude  altogether,  made  a 
sound  very  much  resembling  the  sawing  of 
timber.  Out  of  the  gardens  they  got  into  the 
houses,  where  numbers  of  them,  crawling 
about,  were  very  irksome." 

The  ensuing  spring  (1689)  brought  but 
little  improvement,  for  the  young  of  the  in- 
sect, "  lodged  under  the  ground,  next  the  up- 
per sod  of  the  earth,"  did  great  mischief  by 
devouring  the  roots  of  the  corn  and  grass. 
These  indispensable  crops  having  failed,  the 
people  were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  cook- 
ing the  cockchaffers  and  eating  them,  while 
the  hungry  "  swine  and  poultry  of  the  coun- 
try at  length  grew  so  cunning  as  to  watch 
under  'the  trees  for  their  falling."  The 
plague  was  fortunately  checked  by  high  winds 
and  wet  weather,  which  was  so  disagreeable 
to  the  insects  that  many  millions  of  them 
died  in  one  day's  time.  Smoke  was  also  dis- 
tasteful to  them,  and  some  places  were  pro- 
tected from  their  ravages  by  making  fires  of 
weeds  and  heath.  Some  years  after  this, 
the  dead  insects  lay  in  such  quantities  on 
the  Galway  shore  as  to  form  at  least  forty  or 
fifty  horse  loads.  In  1697,  they  reached  the 
Shannon,  and  some  of  them  crossed  the  river 
and  entered  Leinster;  but  there  they  were 
met  by  an  "  army  of  jackdaws,  that  did  much 
damage  among  them,  killing  and  devom'ing 
great  numbers.  Their  main  body  still  kept 
in  Connaught,  and  took  up  their  quarters  at 
a  well-improved  English  plantation,  where 
they  found   plenty  of   provisions,   and  did  a 


great  deal  of  mischief  by  stripping  the 
hedges,  gardens  and  groves  of  beech  quite 
naked  of  all  their  leaves. "  The  cockchaffer, 
which  is  called  in  Irish  Primpelan,  still  ex 
ists  in  the  countr}\ 

Immediately  after  the  destruction  of  Port 
Royal  (Jamaica),  in  June,  1692,  by  an 
earthquake,  great  numbers  of  mosquitoes  and 
flies  appeared.  The  same  thing  has  been  ob- 
served after  earthquakes  and  volcanic  erup- 
tions elsewhere.  Thus,  in  1783,  after  a 
tremendous  eruption  of  the  volcano  Skaptar 
Jokul,  in  Iceland,  the  pastures  swarmed 
with  little  winged  insects,  of  blue,  red,  yel- 
low and  brown  colors,  which  belonged  to  a 
species  until  then  unknown  in  the  island. 
They  were  not  at  all  destructive,  but  caused 
considerable  inconvenience  to  the  haymakers, 
who  were  covered  with  them  from  head  to 
foot.  The  cause  of  the  sudden  appearance 
of  insects  at  such  times  may  be  the  rise  of 
temperature  due  to  volcanic  activity  induc- 
ing premature  development.  The  so-called 
new  species  may  possibly  have  been  one  in- 
digenous to  the  island  at  a  remote  period, 
when  its  climate  was  different,  some  long- 
buried  larvpe  of  which  the  volcanic  heat  serve 
to  develop. 

In  the  year  1858,  there  was  a  visitation,  in 
pretty  much  all  Southern  Illinois,  of  the 
"  army  worm. "  In  places,  they  almost  cov- 
ered the  face  of  the  earth,  and  often  a  person 
could  not  walk  along  the  highway  without 
crushing  them  under  his  feet.  They  seemed 
to  be  constantly  traveling  in  the  hunt  of 
timothy  grass  or  the  wheat  fields.  They 
would  leave  the  grass  fields  looking  much  as 
though  a  fire  had  passed  over  them,  and,  if 
the  wheat  had  well  "headed  out,"  they 
would  feed  upon  the  leaves  of  the  stalk  and 
do  no  harm.  In  fact,  many  farmers  believed 
that,  under  these  circumstances,  they  were  a 
benefit    to   the   wheat.      Chickens,    turkeys, 


252 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


birds  and  hogs  would  devour  the  army  worm 
in  great  quantities,  yet  they  came  in  such 
numbers  that  such  enemies  made  no  apparent 
impression  upon  their  volume,  and  farmers 
would  dig  trenches  about  the  timothy  and 
field  of  young  corn,  and  then  they  would 
tumble  into  the  trench  until  it  was  nearly 
full,  would  hitch  a  horse  to  a  log  and  drag 
it  along  the  trench,  and  thus  crush  them  by 
millions,  and  yet,  by  the  time  he  would  thus 
go  around  his  field,  the  ditch  would  again  be 
full. 

The  locusts  have  made  their  irregular,  and 
yet  somewhat  regular,  visitations  to  all  parts 
of  the  State,  and  this  portion  of  Illinois; 
being  all  heavily  timbered,  they  have  come 
hero  in  much  greater  numbers  than  in 
many  other  parts  of  Illinois.  They  are  an 
arboreal  insect,  and  although  capable  of  ex- 
tended flight,  yet  they  do  not  care  to  travel 
farther  than  from  tree  to  tree,  at  very  short 


distances.  They  inflict  much  injury  to 
orchards,  as  well  as  some  of  the  forest 
trees,  in  the  process  of  depositing  their  eggs 
in  the  young  twigs.  They  always  come  about 
the  middle  of  spring,  when  the  leaves  are 
unfolded  and  the  new  and  tender  twigs  of 
the  limbs  of  the  tree  are  growing.  They 
select  this  new  growth  to  bore  into  and  de- 
posit their  eggs.  They  find  a  place,  and 
bore  two  holes  into  the  wood,  and  these  holes 
circle  and  come  together,  this  junction  al- 
ways being  toward  the  body  of  the  tree.  Sp 
perfectly  is  the  work  done,  that  the  twig  will 
soon  break,  the  leaves  will  die,  and  after  a 
certain  time  it  will  fall  to  the  ground,  carry- 
ing every  egg  with  it,  and  this  falling  of  the 
dead  twig  is  timed  exactly  to  the  time  when 
the  egg  is  ready  to  hatch  out  a  grub,  and 
at  once  it  goes  into  the  ground  on  its  thir- 
teen or  seventeen  year  trip,  according  to  the 
kind  to  which  it  belongs. 


CHAPTER    III. 


THE  DARING  DISCOVERIES  AND  SETTLEMENTS  BY  THE  FRENCH -THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONARIE.S- 

DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER— SOME  CORRECTIONS  IN  HISTORY— A  WORLDS 

WONDERFUL  DRAMA  OF   NI^ARLY  THREE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  DURATION,    ETC. 


"Should  you  ask  me,  whence  these  stones, 
Whence  these  legends  and  traditions 
With  the  odors  of  the  forests, 
With  the  curling  smoke  of  wigwams, 
With  the  rushing  of  great  rivers 

I  repeat  them  as  I  heard  them." — Longfellow. 

THE  truth  of  history  in  regard  to  the  great 
Mississippi  Valley  is  only  just  now  being 
examined  closely  by  the  impartial  investiga- 
tors, and  the  facts  in  relation  thereto  are  slowly 
coming  to  light.  For  this  empire  of  mag- 
nificent proportions,  the  great  powers  of  the 
Old  World  contended  for  nearly  three  hundred 
years,  and  it  is  a  singular   fact   that   these 


warlike  nations  that  only  struggled  for  wealth 
and  empire  by  the  power  of  the  sword,  were 
in  nearly  all  instances  guided  and  pointed 
the  way  into  the  heart  of  the  New  World,  and 
the  home  of  the  powerful  savage  tribes  by 
the  missionaries  of  the  Catholic  Church,  who 
carried  nothing  more  formidable  for  defense 
or  attack  than  their  prayer  books  and  rosaries, 
and  the  word,  "peace  on  earth  and  good 
will  to  men."  The  French  Catholic  mission- 
aries were  as  loyal  to  their  Government  as 
they  were  true  to  their  God.  They  planted 
the  lilies  of  France  and  erected  the  cross  of 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


253 


the  Mother  Church  in  the  newly  discovered 
countries,  and  chanted  the  solemn  mass  that 
soothed  the  savage  breast,  and  spoke  peace 
and  good  vs^ill,  and  smoked  the  calumet  with 
wild  men  of  the  woods. 

The  settlement  of  the  West  and  the  iivst 
discoveries  were  made  by  the  French,  and  it 
was  long  afterward  the  country  passed  into 
the  permanent  possession  of  the  English;  the 
latter  people  wrote  the  histories  and  tinged 
them  from  first  to  last  with  their  prejudices, 
and  thus  promulgated  many  serioiis  errors  of 
history.  Time  will  always  produce  the  icon- 
oclast who  will  dispassionately  follow  out  the 
truth  regardless  of  how  many  fictions  it  may 
brush  away  in  its  course.  Thus,  history  is 
being  continually  re- written,  and  the  truth  is 
ever  making  its  approaches;  and  the  glorious 
deeds  of  the  noble  sons  of  France  are  becom- 
ing manifest  as  the  views  of  our  history  are 
brought  to  light,  particularly  their  occupancy 
of  the  valley  of  the  Father  of  Waters.  As 
early  as  150-t  the  French  seamen,  from  Brit- 
tany and  Normandy  visited  the  fisheries  of 
Newfoundland  and  Nova  Scotia.  These  bold 
and  daring  men  traversed  the  ocean  through 
the  dangers  of  ice  and  stormsto  pursue  the  oc- 
cupation of  fishery,  an  enterprise  which  to-day 
has  developed  into  one  of  gigantic  magnitude. 

France,  not  long  after  this,  commissioned 
James  Cartier,  a  distinguished  mariner,  to 
explore  America.  In  1535,  in  pursuance  of 
the  order,  they  planted  the  cross  on  the 
shores  of  the  New  World,  on  the  banks  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  bearing  a  shield  witb  the 
lilies  of  France.  He  was  followed  by  other 
adventurous  spirits,  and  among  them  the  im- 
mortal Samuel  Champlain,  a  man  of  great 
enterprises,  who  founded  Quebec  in  1608. 
Champlain  ascended  the  Sorel  Eiver;  ex- 
plored Lake  Champlain,  which  bears  his 
name  to-day.  He  afterward  penetrated  the 
forest    and   found  his    grave    on    the    bleak 


shores  of  Lake  Huron.  He  was  unsurpassed 
for  bravery,  indefatigable  in  industry,  and 
was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  explorations 
and  discoveries  in  the  New  W^orld. 

In  the  van  of  the  explorations  on  this  con- 
tinent were  found  the  courageous  and  pious 
Catholic  missionaries,  meeting  dangers  and 
death  with  a  crucifix  upon  their  breasts,  bre- 
viary in  hand,  whilst  chanting  their  matins 
and  vespers,  along  the  shores  of  our  majestic 
rivers,  great  lakes  and  unbroken  forests. 
Their  course  was  marked  through  the  track- 
less wilderness  by  the  carving  of  their  em- 
blems of  faith  upon  the  roadway,  amidst 
perils  and  dangers,  without  food,  but  pounded 
maize,  sleeping  in  the  woods  without  shelter, 
their  couch  being  the  ground  and  rock;  their 
beacon  light,  the  cross,  which  was  marked 
upon  the  oak  of  the  forest  in  their  pathway. 

After  these  missionaries  had  selected  their 
stations  of  worship,  the  French  hunters, 
couriers  de  bois,  voyagers  and  traders,  opened 
their  traffic  with  the  savages.  France,  when 
convenient  and  expedient,  erected  a  chain  of 
forts  along  the  rivers  and  lakes,  in  defense 
of  Christianity  and  commerce. 

France,  from  1608,  acquired  in  this  conti- 
nent a  territory  extensive  enough  to  create  a 
great  empire,  and  was  at  that  time  untrod  by 
the  foot  of  the  white  man,  and  inhabited  by 
roving  tribes  of  the  red  man.  As  early  as 
1615,  we  find  Father  Le  Carron,  a  Catholic 
priest,  in  the  forests  of  Canada,  exploring 
the  country  for  the  purpose  of  converting  the 
savages  to  the  Christian  religion.  The  fol- 
lowing year  he  is  seen  on  foot  traversing  the 
forests  amongst  the  Mohawks,  and  reaching 
the  rivers  of  the  Ottawas.  He  was  followed 
by  other  missionaries  along  the  basin  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  Kennebec  Rivers,  where 
some  met  their  fate  in  frail  barks,  whilst 
others  perished  in  the  storms  of  a  dreadful 
wilderness. 


254 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


In  1635,  we  find  Father  Jean  Brebeauf, 
Daniels  and  Gabriel  Lallamand  leaving 
Quebec  with  a  few  Huron  braves  to  explore 
Lake  Huron,  to  establish  chapels  along  its 
banks,  from  which  sprung  the  villages  of  St. 
Joseph,  St.  Ignatius  and  St.  Louis.  To 
reach  these  places  it  was  necessary  to  follow 
the  Ottawa  River  through  a  dangerous  and 
devious  way  to  avoid  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas, 
Cayugas,  Senecas  and  Iroquois,  fonning  a 
confederacy  as  the  ''Five  Nations,"  occupy- 
ing a  territory  then  known  as  the  New  York 
colony,  who  were  continually  at  war  with  the 
Hurons,  a  tribe  of  Indians  inhabiting  Lake 
Huron  territory. 

As  early  as  1639,  three  Sisters  of  Charity, 
from  France,  arrived  at  Quebec,  dressed  in 
plain  black  gowns  with  snowy  white  collars, 
whilst  from  their  girdle  hung  the  rosary.  They 
proceeded  to  the  chapel,  led  by  the  Governor 
of  Canada,  accompanied  by  braves  and  war- 
riors, to  chant  the  Te  Deum.  These  holy 
and  pious  women,  moved  by  religious  zeah 
immediately  established  the  Ursuline  Con- 
vent for  the  education  of  girls.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  King  of  France  and  nobility  of 
Paris  endowed  a  seminary  in  Quebec  for  the 
education  of  all  classes  of  persons.  A  public 
hospital  was  built  by  the  generous  Duchess 
of  D'Arguilon,  with  the  aid  of  Cardinal 
Eichelieu,  for  the  unfortunate  emigrants,  to 
the  savages  of  all  tribes,  and  afflicted  of  all 
classes.  A  missionary  station  was  established 
as  early  as  1641,  at  Montreal,  under  a  rude 
tent,  from  which  has  grown  the  large  city  of 
to-day,  with  its  magnificent  cathedral  and 
churches,  its  massive  business  houses,  audits 
commerce. 

The  tribes  of  Huron  Lake  and  neighboring 
savages,  in  1641,  met  on  the  banks  of  the 
Iroquois  Bay  to  celebrate  the  "  Festival  of 
the  Dead."  The  bones  and  ashes  of  the  dead 
had'  been  gathered  in  coffins  of  bark,  whilst 


wrapped  in  magnificent  furs,  to  be  given  an 
affectionate  sepulture.  At  this  singular  fes- 
tival of  the  savages  the  chiefs  and  braves  of 
different  tribes  chanted  their  low,  mournful 
songs  day  and  night,  amidst  the  wails  and 
gi-oans  of  their  women  and  children.  During 
this  festival  appeared  the  pious  missionai'ies, 
in  their  cassocks,  with  beads  to  their  girdle, 
sympathizing  with  the  red  men  in  their  de- 
votion to  the  dead,  whilst  scattering  their 
medals,  pictures  of  oiu*  Savior,  and  blessed 
and  beautiful  beads,  which  touched  and  won 
the  hearts  of  the  sons  of  the  forest.  What  a 
beautiful  spectacle  to  behold,  over  the  graves 
of  the  fierce  warriors,  idolatry  fading  before 
the  Son  of  God!  Father  Charles  Raymbault 
and  the  indomitable  Isaac  Joques,  in  1641, 
left  Canada  to  explore  the  cotintry  as  far  as 
Lake  Superior.  They  reached  the  Falls  of 
St.  oMary's,  and  established  a  station  at 
Sault  de  Ste.  Mai'ie,  where  were  assembled 
many  warriors  and  braves  from  the  great 
West,  to  see  and  hear  these  two  apostles  of 
religion  and  to  behold  the  cross  of  Chris- 
tianity. These  two  missionaries  invoked 
them  to  worship  the  true  God.  The  savages 
were  struck  with  the  emblem  of  the  cross 
and  its  teachings,  and  exclaimed  :  "  We 
embrace  you  as  brothers  ;  come  and  dwell  in 
our  cabins. " 

When  Father  Joques  and  his  party  were 
returning  from  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary's  to 
Quebec,  they  were  attacked  by  the  Mohawks, 
who  massacred  the  chief  and  his  braves  who 
accompanied  him,  whilst  they  held  Father 
Joques  in  captivity,  showering  upon  him  a 
great  many  indignities,  compelling  him  to  run 
the  gantlet  throitgh  their  village.  Father 
Brussini  at  the  same  time  was  beaten,  muti- 
lated, and  made  to  walk  barefooted  through 
thorns  and  briars,  and  then  scotirged  by  a 
whole  village.  However,  by  some  miracu- 
lous way,  they  were  rescued  by  the  generous 


HISTORY  OF  UNI0:N  COUNTY 


255 


Dutch  of  New  York,  and  both  afterward  re- 
turned to  France.  Father  Joques  again  re- 
turned to  Quebec,  and  was  sent  as  an  envoy 
amongst  the  "Five  Nations."  Contrary  to 
the  savage  laws  of  hospitality,  he  was  ill- 
treated,  and  then  killed  as  an  enchanter,  his 
head  hung  upon  the  skirts  of  the  village,  and 
his  body  thrown  into  the  Mohawk  River. 
Such  was  the  fate  of  this  courageous  and 
pious  man,  leaving  a  monument  of  martyr- 
dom more  enduring  than  the  Pyi-amids  of 
Egypt. 

The  year  1645  is  memorable,  owing  to  a 
congress  held  by  France  and  the  "Five  Na- 
tions," at  the  Three  Rivers,  in  Canada. 
There  the  daring  chiefs  and  warriors  and  the 
gallant  officers  of  France  met  at  the  great 
council  fires.  After  the  war-dance  and  numer- 
ous ceremonies,  the  hostile  parties  smoked  the 
,  calumet  of  peace.  The  Iroquois  said:  "Let 
the  clouds  be  dispersed  and  the  sun  shine  on 
all  the  land  between  us."  The  Mohawks 
exclaimed:  "We  have  thrown  the  hatchet  so 
high  into  the  air  and  beyond  the  skies  that 
no  man  on  eairth  can  reach  to  bring  it  down. 
The  French  shall  sleep  on  our  softest  blankets, 
by  the  warm  fire,  that  shall  be  kept  blaz- 
ing all  night."  Notwithstanding  the  elo- 
quent aud  fervent  language  and  appearance 
of  peace,  it  was  but  of  short  duration,  for 
soon  the  cabin  of  the  white  man  was  in 
flames,  and  the  foot-prijit  of  blood  was  seen 
along  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  once  more  a 
bloody  war  broke  out,  which  was  disastrous 
to  France,  as  the  Five  Nations  returned  to  the 
allegiance  of  the  English  colonies. 

The  village  of  St.  Joseph,  near  Huron 
Lake,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1648,  whilst  her 
warriors  were  absent,  was  sacked,  and  its 
people  murdered  by  the  Mohawks.  Father 
Daniel,  who  officiated  there,  whilst  endeavor- 
ing to  protect  the  children,  women  and  old 
men,  was  fatally  wounded  by  numerous  ar- 


rows, and  killed.     Thus  fell  this  martyr  in 
the  cause  of  religion  and  progress. 

The  next  year,  the  villages  of  St.  Ignatius 
and  St.  Louis  were  attacked  by  the  Iroquois. 
The  village  of  St.  Ignatius  was  destroyed, 
and  its  inhabitants  massacred.  The  village 
of  St.  Louis  shared  the  same  fate.  At  the 
latter  place,  Father  Brebeauf  and  Lalle- 
mand  were  made  prisoners,  tied  to  a  tree, 
stripped  of  their  clothes,  mutilated,  burnt 
with  fagots  and  rosin  bark,  and  then  scalped. 
They  perished  in  the  name  of  France  and 
Christianity. 

Father  de  la  Ribourde,  who  had  been  the 
companion  of  La  Salle  on  the  Griffin,  and 
who  officiated  at  Fort  Creve  Cceur,  111., 
whilst  returning  to  Lake  Michigan,  was  lost 
in  the  wilderness.  Afterward,  it  was  learned 
he  had  been  murdered  in  cold  blood  by  three 
young  warriors,  who  carried  his  prayer-book 
and  scalp  as  a  trophy  up  north  of  Lake  Su- 
perior, which  afterward  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  missionaries.  Thus  died  this  martyr  of 
religion,  after  ten  years'  devotion  in  the  cab- 
ins of  the  savages,  whose  head  had  become 
bleached  with  seventy  winters.  Such  was 
also  the  fate  of  the  illustrious  Father  Rine 
Mesnard,  on  his  mission  to  the  southern 
shore  of  Lake  Superior,  where,  in  after  years, 
his  cassock  and  breviary  were  kept  as  amu- 
lets among  the  Sioux,  After  these  atrocities, 
these  noble  missionaries  never  retraced  their 
steps,  and  new  troops  pressed  forward  to 
take  their  places.  They  still  continued  to 
explore  our  vast  country.  The  history  of 
their  labors,  self  sacrifice  and  devotion  is 
connected  with  the  origin  of  every  village  or 
noted  place  in  the  North  and  great  West. 

France  ordered,  by  Colbert,  its  great  min- 
ister, that  an  invitation  be  given  to  all  tribes 
West  for  a  general  congress.  This  remark- 
able council  was  held  in  May,  1671,  at  the 
Falls  of  St.   Mary's.      There  was  found  the 


256 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY 


chiefs  and  braves  of  many  nations  of  the 
West,  decorated  in  their  brightest  feathers 
and  furs,  whilst  the  French  officers  glistened 
with  their  swords  and  golden  epaulets.  In 
their  midst  stood  the  undaunted  missionaries 
from  all  parts  of  the  country.  In  this  re- 
markable congress  rose  a  log  cedar  cross,  and 
upon  a  staff  the  colors  of  France. 

In  this  council,  after  many  congratvilations 
offered,  and  the  war  dances,  the  calumet  was 
smoked  and  peace  declared.  France  secured 
here  the  friendship  of  the  tribes,  and  domin- 
ion over  the  great  West. 

Marquette,  while  on  his  mission  in  the 
West,  leaves  Mackinac  on  the  13th  of  May, 
1673,  with  his  companion.  Joliet,  and  five 
Frenchmen  and  two  Indian  guides,  in  two 
bark  canoes,  freighted  with  maize  and  smoked 
meat,  to  enter  into  Lake  Michigan  and  Green 
Bay  until  they  reached  Fox  River  io  Illinois, 
where  stood  on  its  banks  an  Indian  village  oc- 
cupied by  the  Kickapoos,  Mascoutins  and 
Miamis,  where  the  noble  Father  Allouez  offi- 
'ciated.  Marquette  in  this  village  preaches 
and  announces  to  them  his  object  of  discover- 
ing the  great  river.  They  are  appalled  at 
the  bold  proposition.  They  say:  "Those 
distant  nations  never  spare  the  strangers  ; 
their  mutual  wars  fill  their  borders  with 
bands  of  warriors.  The  great  river  abounds 
in  monsters  which  devour  both  men  and 
canoes.  The  excessive  heat  occasions  death." 

From  Fox  Kiver  across  the  portage  with 
the  canoes  they  reach  the  Wisconsin  River. 
There  Marquette  and  Joliet  separated  with 
their  guides,  and,  in  Marquette's  language, 
"  Leaving  us  alone  in  this  unknown  land  in 
the  hands  of  Providence,"  they  float  down 
the  Wisconsin  whose  banks  are  dotted  with 
prairies  and  beautiful  hills,  whilst  sur- 
rounded by  wild  animals  and  the  buffalo. 
After  seven  days'  navigation  on  this  river, 
their  hearts  bound  with  gladness  on  behold- 


ing, on  the  17th  day  of  June,  1673,  the  broad 
expanse  of  the  great  Father  of  Waters,  and 
upon  its  bosom  they  float  down.  About  sixty  ■ 
leagues  below  this  they  visit  an  Indian  vil- 
lage. Their  reception  from  the  savages  was 
cordial.  They  said  :  "We  are  Illinois,  that 
is,  we  are  men.  The  whole  village  awaits 
thee  ;  then  enter  in  peace  our  cabins. "  After 
six  days'  rest  on  the  couch  of  furs,  and 
amidst  abundance  of  game,  these  hospitable 
Illinois  conduct  them  to  their  canoes,  whilst 
the  chief  places  around  Marquette's  neck  the 
calumet  of  peace,  being  beautifully  decorated 
with  the  feathers  of  birds. 

Their  canoe  again  ripples  the  bosom  of  the 
great  river  (Mississippi),  when  further  down 
they  behold  on  the  high  bluffs  and  smooth 
rock  above  (now  Alton),  on  the  Illinois  shore, 
the  figures  of  two  monsters  painted  in  vari- 
ous colors,  of  frightful  appearance,  and  the. 
position  appeared  to  be  inaccessible  to  a 
painter.  They  soon  reached  the  tui-bid  wa- 
ters of  the  Missouri,  and  thence  floated  down 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio. 

Farther  down  the  river  stands  the  village 
of  Mitchigamea,  being  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river.  When  approaching  this  place  its 
bloody  warriors,  with  their  war  cry,  embark 
in  their  canoes  to  attack  them,  but  the  calu- 
met, held  aloft  by  Marquette,  pacifies  them. 
So  they  are  treated  with  hospitality,  and  es- 
corted by  them  to  the  Arkansas  River.  They 
sojourn  there  a  short  time,  when  Marquette, 
before  leaving  this  sunny  land,  cele- 
brates the  festival  of  the  church.  Marquette 
and  Joliet  then  turn  their  canoe  northward  to 
retrace  their  way  back  until  they  reach  the 
Illinois  River,  thence  up  that  stream,  along 
its  flowery  prairies.  The  Illinois  braves  con- 
duct them  back  to  Lake  Michigan,  thence 
k)  Green  Bay,  where  they  arrived  in  Septem- 
ber, 1673. 

Marquette   for  two  year's   officiated  along 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


257 


Lake  Michigan;  afterward  visited  Mackinaw; 
from  thence  he  enters  a  small  river  in  Mich- 
igan (that  bears  his  name),  when,  after  say- 
ing mass,  he  withdraws  for  a  short  time  to 
the  woods,  where  he  is  found  dead.  Thus 
died  this  illustrious  explorer  and  remarkable 
priest,  leaving  a  name  unparalleled  as  a 
brave,  good  and  virtuous  Christian. 

Robert  Caraiin  La  Salle,  a  native  of  Nor- 
mandy, an  adventurer  from  France,  arrived 
in  Canada  about  1670.     Being  ambitious  to 
distinguish  himself  in  making  discoveries  on 
this  continent,  he  returned  to  France  to  so- 
licit aid  for  that  purpose.     He    was    made 
chevalier,  upon  the  condition  that  he  would 
repair  Fort  Frontenac,  located  on  Lake  On- 
tario, and  open  commerce  with  the  savages. 
In  1678,  he  again  retui-ned  to  France,  when 
in   July,    1677,    with    Chevalier    Tonti,    his 
Lieutenant,  with  thirty  men,  he  left  Rochelle 
for  Quebec  and  Fort  Frontenac.     Whilst  at 
Quebec,  an  agreement  was  made  by  the  Gover- 
nor of  Canada  with  La  Salle  to  establish  forts 
along  the   northern  lakes.     At  this  time  he 
undertook  with  great  activity  to  increase  the 
commerce  of  the  "West,   by  building  a  bark 
of  ten  tons  to  float  on  Lake  Ontario.    Shortly 
afterward,  he  built  another  vessel,  known  as 
the  Griffin,   above  Niagara    Falls,   for  Lake 
Erie,  of  sixty  tons,  being  the  first  vessel  seen 
on   the   Northern     lakes.      The    Griffin    was 
launched  and  made  to  float   on   Lake   Erie. 
"On  the  prow  of  this  ship,  armorial  bearings 
were  adorned  by  two  griffins  as  supporters;  " 
upon  her  deck  she  carried  two  brass  cannon 
for  defense.     On    the    7th  of  August,  1679, 
she  spread  her  sails  on  Lake  Erie,  whilst  on 
her  deck  stood  the  brave  naval  commander 
La  Salle,  accompanied  by  Fathers  Hennepin, 
Ribourdo  and  Zenobi,  surrounded  by  a  crew 
of  thirty  voyageurs.      On  leaving,    a  salute 
was  tired,  whose  echoes  were  heard  to  the  as- 
tonishment of  the  savages,  who  named  the 


Griffin  "The  Great  Wooden  Canoe."     This 
ship  pursued  her  course  through  Lakes  Erie, 
St.   Clair  and  Huron    to   Mackinaw,    thence 
thi'ough  that  strait  into  Lake  Michigan,  thence 
to  Green  Bay,  where  she  anchored  in  safety. 
The  Griffin,  after   being  laden  with  a  cargo 
of  peltries  and  fiu's,  was  ordered  back  by  La 
Salle  to  the  port  from  whence  she  sailed,  but 
unfortunately  on  her  return  she  was  wrecked. 
La  Salle,  during  the  absence  of  the  Griffin, 
determined  with  fourteen  men  to  proceed  to 
the  mouth  of    the  Mi  amis,  now  St.  Joseph, 
where  he  built  a  fort,  from  which   place  he 
proceeded  to  Rock  Fort  in  La  Salle  County, 
111.      La   Salle    hearing  of  the  disaster  and 
wreck  of  the  Griffin,  he  builds  a  fort  on  the 
Illinois    River    called   Creve    CcBur  (broken 
heart).     This   brave  man,    though    weighed 
down  by  misfortune,  did   not   despair.     He 
concluded  to  retm'n  to   Canada,    but  before 
leaving  sends  Father  Hennepin,  with  Piscard, 
Du  Gay  and   Michael  Aka,  to    explore    the 
sources  of    the   Upper     Mississippi.      They 
leave  Creve  Coeur  February  29,   1680,  float- 
ing  down   the  Illinois  Rivei',  reaching   the 
Mississippi    March  8,    1680;  then    explored 
this   river  up  to  the  Falls  of  St.   Anthony; 
from  there  they  penetrated  the  forests,  which 
brought  them  to  the  wigwams  of  the  Sioux, 
who  detained  Father  Hennepin  and  compan- 
ions for  a  short  time  in  captivity;  recovering 
their  liberties,  they  retiu-ned  to  Lake  Superior 
in    November,    1680,    thence  to    Quebec  and 
France.     During  the   explorations  of  Father 
Hennepin,  La  Salle,  with  a  courage  unsur- 
passed,   a    constitution   of    iron,   returns   to 
Canada,  a  distance  of  1,200  piiles,  his  path- 
way being  through  snows,    ice  and  savages 
along  the  Lakes  Michigan,  Erie  and  Ontario 
Reaching  Quebec,  he  finds  his  business  in  a 
disastrous    condition,    his    vessels    lost,    his 
goods  seized    and    his   men    scattered.     Not 
being  discouraged,  however,  he  returns  to  his 


258 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


forts  in  Illinois,  which  he  finds  deserted; 
takes  new  courage;  goes  to  Mackinaw;  finds 
his  devoted  friend  Chevalier  Tonti  in  1681, 
and  is  found  once  more  on  the  Illinois  River 
to  continue  the  explorations  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, which  had  been  explored  by  Father 
Marquette  to  the  Arkansas  River,  and  by  Fa- 
ther Hennepin  up  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony, 
La  Salle,  from  Fort  Creve  Cceur,  on  the  Illi- 
nois River,  with  twenty-two  Frenchmen, 
amongst  whom  was  Father  Zenobi  and  Chev- 
alier Tonti,  with  eighteen  savages  and  two 
women  and  three  children,  float  down  until 
they  reached  the  Mississippi  on  F  ebruary  6, 
1682.  They  descend  this  mighty  river  until 
they  reach  its  mouth  April  6,  1682,  where 
they  are  the  first  to  plant  the  cross  and  the 
banners  of  France.  La  Salle,  with  his  com- 
panions, ascends  the  Mississippi  and  returns 
to  his  forts  on  the  Illinois;  returns  again  to 
Canada  and  France. 

La  Salle  is  received  at  the  French  court 
with  enthusiasm.  The  King  of  France  orders 
foui-  vessels,  well  equipped,  to  serve  him, 
under  Beaugerr,  commander  of  the  fleet,  to 
proceed  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  to  discover  the 
Balize.  UnEoi'tunately  for  La  Salle,  he  fails 
in  discovering  it,  and  they  are  thrown  into 
the  bay  of  Matagorda,  Texas,  where  La  Salle, 
with  his  280  persons,  are  abandoned  by 
Beaugerr,  the  commander  of  the  fleet.  La 
Salle  here  builds  a  fort,  then  undertakes,  by 
land,  to  discover  the  Balize.  After  many 
hardships,  he  returned  to  his  fort,  and  again 
attempts  the  same  object,  when  he  meets  a 
tragical  end,  being  murdered  by  the  desper- 
ate Duhall,  one  of  his  men.  During  the 
voyage  of  La  Salle,  Chevalier  Tonti,  his 
friend,  had  gone  down  the  Mississippi  to  its 
mouth,  to  meet  him.  After  a  long  search  in 
vain  for  the  fleet,  he  returned  to  Rock  Fort, 
on  the  Illinois.  After  the  unfortunate  death 
of  La  Salle,   great  disorder  and  misfortune 


occurred  to  his  men  in  Texas.  Some  wan- 
dered amongst  the  savages,  others  were  taken 
prisoners,  others  perished  in  the  woods. 
However,  seven  bold  and  brave  men  of  La 
Salle's  force  determined  to  return  to  Illinois, 
headed  by  Capt.  Joutel,  and  the  noble  Father 
Anatase.  After  six  months  of  exploration 
through  the  forest  and  plain,  they  cross  Red 
River,  where  they  lose  one  of  their  comrades. 
They  then  moved  toward  the  Arkansas  River, 
where,  to  their  great  joy,  they  reached  a 
French  fort,  upon  which  stood  a  large  cross, 
where  Couture  and  Delouny,  two  Frenchmen, 
had  possession,  to  hold  communication  with 
La  Salle.  This  brave  band,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  young  Bertheley,  proceeded  up  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Illinois  forts  ;  from  thence 
to  Canada. 

This  terminated  La  Salle's  wonderful  ex- 
plorations over  oiu"  vast  lakes,  great  rivers 
and  territory  of  Texas.  He  was  a  man  of 
stern  integrity,  of  undoubted  activity  and 
boldness  of  character,  of  an  iron  constitution, 
entertaining  broad  views,  and  a  chivalry  un- 
surpassed in  the  Old  or  New  World. 

France,  as  early  as  possible,  established 
along  the  lakes  permanent  settlements.  One 
was  that  of  Detroit,  which  was  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  lovely  positions,  which 
was  settled  in  1701,  by  Lamotte  de  Cardillac, 
with  one  hundred  Frenchmen. 

The  discovery  and  possession  of  Mobile, 
Biloxi  and  Dauphine  Island  induced  the 
French  to  search  for  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  formerly  discovered  by  La- 
Salle.  Lemoine  d'Iberville,  a  naval  officer  of 
talent  and  great  experience,  discovered  the 
Balize,  on  the  2d  of  March,  1699;  proceeded 
up  this  river  and  took  possession  of  the 
country  known  as  Louisiana.  D'Iberville 
returned  immediately  to  France  to  announce 
this  glorious  news.  Bienville,  his  brother, 
was  left  to  take  charge  of   Louisiana  during 


^*S5i    ^ 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


261 


his  absence.  D'lberville  returned,  when 
Bienville  and  St.  Denis,  with  a  force,  was 
ordered  to  explore  Ked  River  and  thence  to 
the  borders  of  Mexico.  La  Harpe  also  as- 
cended Red  River  in  1719  built  a  fort  called 
Carlotte;  also  took  possession  of  the  Arkan- 
sas River;  afterward  floated  down  this  river 
in  pirogues,  finding  on  its  banks  many  thriv- 
ing Indians  villages.  France,  in  September, 
1712,  by  Letters  Patent,  gi-anted  Louisi- 
ana to  Crozas,  a  wealthy  Frenchman,  who 
relinquished  his  rights  and  power  in  1717  to 
the  Company  of  the  West,  established  by  the 
notorious  banker,  John  Law.  Under  a  fever 
of  great  speculations,  great  efforts  were  made 
to  advance  the  population  and  wealth  of 
Louisiana.  New  Orleans  was  mapped  out  in 
1718,  and  became  the  important  city  of 
Lower  and  Upper  Louisiana.  The  charter 
and  privileges  of  ' '  Company  of  the  West, " 
after  its  total  failure,  was  resigned  to  the 
crown  of  France  in  1731.  The  country,  era- 
bracing  Louisiana,  was  populated  by  numer- 
ous tribes  of  savages.  One  of  these  tribes 
was  known  as  the  Natchez,  located  on  a  high 
bluff,  in  the  midst  of  a  glorious  climate, 
about  300  miles  above  New  Orleans,  on  the 
river  bank.  The  Natchez  had  erected  a  re- 
markable temple,  where  they  invoked  the 
''Great  Spirit,"  which  was  decorated  with 
yarious  idols  moulded  from  clay  baked  in  the 
sun.  In  this  temple  burned  a  living  tire, 
where  the  bones  of  the  brave  were  burned. 
Near  it.  on  a  high  mound,  the  Chief  of  the 
Nation,  called  the  Sun,  resided,  where  the 
warriors  chanted  their  war  songs  and  held 
their  great  council  fires.  The  Natchez  had 
shown  great  hospitality  to  the  French.  The 
Governor  of  Louisiana  built  a  fort  near  them 
in  1714,  called  Fort  Rosalie.  ChOpart,  after- 
ward commander  of  this  fort,  ill-treated  them 
and  unjustly  demanded  a  part  of  their  vil- 
lages.    This  unjust  demand  so  outraged  their 


feelings  that  the  Natchez  in  their  anger 
lifted  up  the  bloody  tomahawk,  headed  by 
the  "Great  Sun,''  attacked  Fort  Rosalie  No- 
vember 28,  1729,  and  massacred  every  French- 
man in  the  fort  and  the  vicinity.  During 
these  bloody  scenes  the  chief  amidst  this  car- 
nage stood  calm  and  unmoved,  whilst  Cho- 
part's  head  and  that  of  his  officers  and  sol- 
diers were  thrown  at  his  feet,  forming  a  pyra- 
mid of  human  heads.  This  caused  a  bloody 
war,  which,  after  many  battles  fought,  termi- 
nated in  the  total  destruction  of  the  Natchez 
nation.  In  these  struggles  the  chief  and  his 
400  braves  were  made  prisoners,  and  after- 
ward inhumanly  sold  as  slaves  in  St.  Domin- 
go- 

The  French  declared  war  in  1736  against 
the  Chickasaws,  a  warlike  tribe,  that  in- 
habited the  Southern  States.  Bienville, 
commander  of  the  French,  ordered  a  re-union 
of  the  troops  to  assemble  on  the  10th  of  May, 
1736,  on  the  Tombigbee  river.  The  gallant 
D'Artaquette  from  1^'ort  Chartres,  and  the 
brave  Vincennes  from  the  Wabash  River,  with 
a  thousand  warriors,  were  at  their  post  in 
time;  but  were  forced  into  battle  on  the  20th 
of  May  without  the  assistance  of  the  other 
troops;  were  defeated  and  massacred.  Bien- 
ville shortly  afterward,  on  the  27th  of  May, 
1736,  failed  in  his  assault  upon  the  Chickasaw 
forts  on  the  Tombigbee,  where  the  English 
flag  waved,  and  was  forced  to  retreat,  with 
the  loss  of  his  cannons,  which  forced  him  to 
return  to  New  Orleans.  In  1740,  the  French 
built  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Francois 
River,  and  moved  their  troops  into  Fort  As- 
sumption, near  Memphis,  where  peace  was 
concluded  with  the  Chickasaws. 

The  oldest  permanent  settlement  on  the 
Mississippi  was  Kaskaskia,  first  visited  by 
Father  Gravier.  date  unknown;  but  he  was 
in  Illinois  in  1693.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Fathers  Pinet  and  Binetan.      Pinet  became 


263 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


the  founder  of  Cahokia,  where  he  erected  a 
chapel,  and  a  goodly  number  of  savages  as- 
sembled to  attend  the  great  feast.  Father 
Gabriel,  who  had  chanted  mass  through  Can- 
ada, officiated  at  Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia  in 
1711.  The  missionaries  in  1721  established 
a  college  and  monastery  at  Kaskaskia.  Fort 
Chartres,  in  Illinois,  was  built  in  1720;  be- 
came an  important  post  for  the  security  of  the 
French,  and  a  great  protection  for  the  com- 
merce on  the  Mississippi.'  "The  Company 
of  the  West  "  sent  an  expedition  under  Le 
Sieui*  to  the  Upper  Louisiana  about  1720,  in 
search  of  precious  metals,  and  proceeded  up 
as  far  as  St.  Croix  and  St.  Peters  Rivers, 
where  a  fort  was  built,  which  had  to  be 
abandoned  owing  to  the  hostilities  of  the 
savages. 

The  French,  as  early  as  1705,  ascended  the 
Missouri  River  to  open  traffic  with  theMissou- 
ris  and  to  take  possession  of  the  country.  M. 
Dutism,  from  New  Orleans,  with  a  force, 
arrived  in  Saline  River,  below  Ste.  Genevieve, 
moved  westward  to  the  Osage  River,  then 
beyond  this  about  150  miles,  where  he  found 
two  large  villages  located  in  fine  prairies 
abounding  with  wild  game  and  buffalo. 

France  and  Spain,  in  1719,  were  contend- 
ing for  dominion  west  of  the  Mississippi. 
Spain,  in  1720,  sent  from  Santa  Fe  a  large 
caravan  to  make  a  settlement  on  the  Missouri 
River,  the  design  being  to  destroy  the  Missou- 
ris,  a  tribe  at  peace  with  France.  This  car- 
avan, after  traveling  and  wandering,  lost  their 
way,  and  marched  into  the  camp  of  the 
Missouris,  their  enemies,  where  they  were  all 
massacred,  except  a  priest  who,  from  his  dress, 
was  considered  no  warrior.  After  this  expe- 
dition from  Santa  Fe  upon  Missouri,  France, 
under  M.  DeBoui-gment,  with  a  force  in  1724 
ascended  the  Missouri,  established  a  fort  above, 
on  an  island  above  the  Osage  River, 
named  Fort  Orleans.     This  fort  was  after- 


ward   attacked  and  its  defenders  destroyed 
and  by  whom  was  never  ascertained. 

The  wars  between  England  and  France 
more  or  less  affected  the  growth  of  this  con- 
tinent. The  war  in  1689,  known  as  "  King 
William's  war,"  was  concluded  by  the  treaty 
of  Ryswick,  1697.  "Queen  Anne's  war," 
terminated  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713. 
"  King  George's  war  "concluded  by  the  treaty 
of  Aix  la  Chapelle,  in  1748.  These  wars 
gave  England  supremacy  in  the  fisheries,  the 
possession  of  the  Bay  of  Hudson,  of  New- 
foundland and  all  of  Nova  Scotia. 

The  French  and  Indian  wars,  between  1754 
and  1763.  The  struggle  between  England 
and  France  as  to  their  dominion  in  America 
commenced  at  this  period.  It  was  a  disas- 
trous and  bloody  war,  where  both  parties  en- 
listed hordes  of  savages  to  participate  in  a 
warfare  conducted  in  a  disgraceful  manner 
to  humanity.  France  at  this  time  had  erected 
a  chain  of  forts  from  Canada  to  the  great 
lakes  and  along  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The 
English  controlled  the  territory  occupied  by 
her  English  colonies.  The  English  claimed 
beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains  to  the  Ohio 
River.  The  French  deemed  her  right  to  this 
river  indisputable.  Virginia  had  granted  to 
the  "Ohio  Company"  an  extensive  territory 
reaching  to  the  Ohio.  Dinwiddle,  Governor 
of  Virginia,  through  George  Washington,  re- 
monstrated against  the  encroachment  of  the 
French.  St.  Pierre,  the  French  commander, 
received  Washington  with  kindness,  returned 
an  answer,  claiming  the  territory  which 
France  occupied.  The  "  Ohio  Company  " 
sent  out  a  party  of  men  to  erect  a  fort,  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Alleghany  and  Mononga- 
hela  rivers.  These  men  had  hardly  com- 
menced work  on  this  fort  when  they  were 
driven  away  by  the  French,  who  took  posses- 
sion and  established  a  "Fort  Du  Quesne." 
AVashington,  with  a   body  of   provincials 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


2t)3 


from  Virginia,  marched  to  the  disputed  ter- 
ritory, when  a  party  of  French,  under  Jumon- 
ville,  was  attacked  and  all  either  killed  or 
made  prisoners.  Washington  after  this 
erected  a  fort  called  Fort  Necessity.  From 
thence  Washington  proceeded  with  400  men 
toward  Fort  Du  Quesne,  where,  hearing  of 
the  advance  of  M.  DeVilliers,  with  a  large 
force,  he  returned  to  Fort  Necessity,  where 
after  a  short  defense  Washington  had  to 
capitulate  with  the  honorable  terms  of  re- 
turning to  Virginia. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1 754,  the  day  that 
Fort  Necessity  surrendered,  a  convention  of 
colonies  was  held  at  Albany,  N.  Y. ,  for 
a  union  of  the  colonies  proposed  by  Dr.  Ben. 
Franklin,  adopted  by  the  delegates,  but  de- 
feated by  the  English  Government.  How- 
ever, at  this  convention  a  treaty  was  made 
between  the  colonies  and  the  ' '  Five  Nations," 
which  proved  to  be  of  great  advantage  to 
England.  Gen.  Braddock,  with  a  force  of 
2,000  soldiers,  marched  against  Fort  Du 
Quesne.  Within  seven  miles  of  this  fort,  he 
was  attacked  by  the  French  and  Indian  allies 
and  disastrously  defeated,  when  Washington 
covered  the  retreat  and  saved  the  army  from 
total  destruction. 

Sir  William  Johnson,  with  a  large  force, 
took  command  of  the  army  at  Fort  Edward. 
Near  this  foi't,  Baron  Dieskan  and  St.  Pierre 
attacked  Col.  Williams  and  troop  where  the 
English  were  defeated,  but  Sir  Johnson  com- 
ing to  the  rescue  defeated  the  French,  who 
lost  in  this  battle  Dieskan  and  St.  Pierre. 

On  August  12,  1756,  Marquis  Montcalm, 
commander  of  the  French  Army,  attacked 
Fort  Ontario,  garrisoned  by  1,400  troops 
capitulated  as  prisoners  of  war,  with  134 
cannon,  several  vessels  and  a  large  amount  of 
military  stores.  Montcalm  destroying  this 
fort  returned  to  Canada. 

By  the  treaty  of  peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle 


of  October,  1748,  Arcadia,  known  as  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Brunswick,  had  been  ceded  by 
France  to  England.  When  the  war  of  1754 
broke  out,  this  territory  was  occupied  by  nu- 
merous French  families.  England  fearing 
their  sympathy  for  France,  cruelly  confiscat- 
ed their  property,  destroyed  their  humble 
homes  and  exiled  them  to  their  colonies  in 
the  utmost  poverty  and  distress. 

In  August,  1757,  Marquis  Montcalm,  with 
a  large  army,  marched  on  Fort  William  Hen- 
r}-,  defended  by  3,000  English  troops.  The 
English  were  defeated,  and  sm'renderd  on 
condition  that  they  might  march  out  of  the 
fort  with  their  arms.  The  savage  allies,  as 
they  marched  out,  in  an  outrageous  manner 
plundered  them  and  massacred  some  in  cold 
blood,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the 
French  officers  to  prevent  them.  The  mili- 
tary campaign  so  far  had  been  very  disas- 
trous to  the  English,  which  created  quite 
a  sensation  in  the  colonies  and  in  Eng- 
land. At  this  critical  period,  the  illustrious 
IVIr.  Pitt,  known  as  Lor<l  Chatham,  was 
placed  at  the  helm  of  state  on  account  of 
his  talent  and  statesmanship,  and  he  sent  a 
large  naval  armament  and  numerous  troops 
to  protect  the  colonies. 

July  8,  1758,  Gen.  Abercrombie,  with  an 
army  15,000,  moved  on  Ticonderoga,  defend- 
ed by  Marquis  Montcalm.  After  a  great 
struggle,  the  English  were  defeated  with  a 
loss  of  2,000  dead  and  wounded. 

August  27,  1758,  Col.  Bradstreet,  with  a 
force,  attacked  the  French  fort.  Fort  Fronte- 
nac,  on  Lake  Ontario,  took  it  with  nine 
armed  vessels,  sixty  cannon  and  a  quantity 
of  military  stores,  while  Gen.  Forbes  moved 
on  Fort  Du  Quesne,  who  took  it,  which  fort 
was  afterward  called  Pittsburgh,  in  honor  of 
Mr.  Pitt. 

In  1759,  the  French  this  year  evacuated 
Ticonderoga,   Crown  Point,  Niagara.     Gen. 


364 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


Wolf e  advanced  against  Quebec,  then  defend- 
ed by  the  gallant  Montcalm,  where  a  terri- 
ble and  bloody  battle  took  place  between 
the  two  armies.  Gen.  Wolfe  was  killed 
and  a  great  number  of  English  officers. 
When  the  brave  Wolfe  was  told  the  English 
were  victorious,  he  said  he  "  died  contented." 
Mont<;alm,  when  told  his  wound  was 
mortal  said,  "So  much  the  better:  I  shall 
not  live  to  see  the  surrender  of  Quebec,'' 
which  city  surrendered  September  18,   1759, 

In  1760,  another  battle  was  fought  near 
Quebec,  which  drove  the  English  into  their 
fortifications,  and  were  only  relieved  by  the 
Encrlish  squadron.  Montreal  still  contended  to 
the  last,  when  she  was  compelled  to  surren- 
der, which  gave  Canada  to  the  English. 

Treaty  of  peace,  February  10,  1763.  By 
this  France  ceded  to  England  all  her  posses- 
sions on  the  St.  Lawi-ence  River,  all  east  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  except  that  portion 
south  of  Iberville  River  and  west  of  the 
Mississippi.     At  the  same  time,  all  the  terri- 


tory here  reserved  being  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  Orleans  territory,  was  trans- 
ferred to  Spain.  France,  after  all  her  la- 
bors, toil  and  expenditures,  and  great  loss  of 
life  surrendered  to  England  and  Spain  her 
great  domain  in  North  America.  The  histo- 
ry of  France,  embracing  a  term  of  228  years, 
is  replete  with  interest  and  with  thrilling 
events  in  this  country  up  to  1763.  The  de- 
feats of  the  French  in  North  America  great- 
ly led  to  the  establishment  of  the  United 
States  Government.  The  accomplishment  of 
such  a  glorious  end  was  largely  due  to  the 
gallant  Frenchmen.  As  long  as  the  anni- 
versary of  the  American  Independence  shall 
be  celebrated,  the  names  of  Washington  and 
Lafayette  will  ever  be  remembered  by  a 
grateful  people.  We  can  but  congratulate 
ourselves,  as  citizens  of  this  great  valley, 
that  owing  to  the  sympathy  of  France  and 
her  people  under  the  great  Napoleon  and  the 
immortal  Jeffersou,  that  we  to  day  are  a  por- 
tion of  this  grand  republic. 


CHAPTER    IV, 


FOLLOWING  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF  THE    FIRST   PIONEERS— WHO   THEY  WERE— HOW    THEV  CAME— 

WHERE   THEY  STOPPED— FROM    1795    TO    1810— CORDELING— BEAR    FIGHT— FIRST 

SCHOOLS,  PREACHERS  AND  THE  KIND  OF  PEOPLE  THEY  WERE—JOHN 

GRAMMER.THE  FATHER  OF  ILLINOIS  STATE-CRAFT.  ETC. 


'•  Yet  even  these  bones  from  insult  to  protect, 
Implore  the  passing  tribute  of  a  sigh.''  —  Gray. 

More  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  a  large 
portion  of  the  territory  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  passed  nominally  at  least  from 
under  the  exclusive  dominion  of  the  savage 
races  and  the  wild  beasts  to  that  of  the  tri-color 
of  France  and  the  benign  sway  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  In  the  year  1673,  those  bold  ex- 
plorers,   Joliet    and    Marquette,   with    their 


small  company  of  five  white  men  and  thi-ee 
Indian  guides,  floated  down  the  Mississippi 
River  and  within  the  bounds  of  the  territory 
that  is  now  Union  County.  It  is  not  at  all 
probable  that  they  rounded  to  their  frail, 
light  crafts  and  placed  their  feet  upon  the 
actual  soil  of  Union  County,  yet  they  were 
upon  our  waters,  and  as  they  floated  down 
the  "  Father  of  Waters  "  they  took  possession 
by  virtue  of  discovery,  Joliet  in  the  name  of 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


265 


France  and  Marquette  in  the  name  of  his 
chiirch.  This  voyage  of  discovery  resulted 
in  the  French  settlement  of  Kaskaskia,  and 
afterward  of  Cahokia — five  miles  below  St. 
Louis,  on  the  Illinois  side.  It  is  not  at  all 
probable  that  any  of  the  early  Kaskaskia 
settlers  ever  ventured  as  far  away  from  their 
fort  and  fortifications  as  to  come  into  the 
county,  even  upon  hunting  expeditions.  The 
nest  nearest  settlement  of  the  white  men  was 
at  Fort  Massac,  on  the  Ohio  Kiver,  about 
thirty-six  miles  above  Cairo.  This  was 
founded  in  1711,  and  in  the  course  of  time 
became  the  only  trading  point  for  the  earliest 
pioneers  of  the  extreme  southern  limits  of 
Illinois.  It  was  for  many  years  called 
Fort  Massacre,  and  it  got  this  blood-curdling 
name  from  some  Indian  strategy  that  re- 
sulted in  the  massa^^re  of  every  man  in  the 
fort.  The  Indians  dressed  themselves  in 
bear  skins  and  appeared  on  the  Kentucky 
side  of  the  river,  in  full  view  of  the  fort, 
walking  and  acting  like  beai's,  when  the 
soldiers  and  people,  after  watching  their 
antics  for  some  time,  made  up  a  company, 
including  the  most  of  the  men  in  the  fort, 
gathered  their  guns  and  crossed  tihe  river  in 
skifi's  for  a  great  bear  hunt.  The  few  per- 
sons who  did  not  go  in  the  hunt  were  gath- 
ered upon  the  river  bank  watching  with  ea- 
ger interest  their  friends  as  they  crossed  the 
river.  The  moment  the  Indians  saw  their 
trick  was  successful,  they  retired  to  the  brush 
from  view,  and,  making  a  hasty  detour, 
crossed  the  river  unseen,  in  a  bend  a  short 
distance  above,  and  by  a  small  circuit  reached 
the  fort  from  the  rear  and  entering  when 
there  was  not  a  soul  left,  secured  the  few  re- 
maining guns  and  then  commenced  the  mas- 
sacre, which  only  stopped  when  no  white 
person  was  left  alive  in  or  about  the  fort. 
They  then  sacked  and  burned  the  buildings. 
A  few  years  after,  it  was  rebuilt  and  called 


for  a  long  time  Fort  Massacre,  but  in  the 
coui'se  of  time  it  again  resumed  its  original 
name,  Fort  Massac,  by  which  it  is  known  to 
this  day. 

For  some  years  after  the  trappers,  fishers 
and  pioneers  began  to  skirt  with  sparse  cab- 
ins the  Ohio  River  and  the  Cache  River, 
Fort  Massac  was  the  only  point  within  reach 
where  these  people  could  resort  for  the  little 
trading  in  those  essential  supplies  of  ammu- 
nition, etc.,  that  they  were  compelled  to  have. 
For  a  long  time,  too,  this  place  was  the  land- 
ing point  for  all  those  pioneers  from  the 
Carolinas,  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  that 
came  down  or  crossed  the  Ohio  River  on 
their  way  to  Kaskaskia  or  Cahokia.  At  first 
this  was  a  route  for  nearly  all  the  immigra- 
tion into  Southern  Illinois,  much  of  which 
came  down  the  Ohio  River  on  batteaus,  pi- 
rogues and  canoes  and  skifi's,  while  some 
crossed  the  river  at  Shawneetown  and  some  at 
Fort  Massac.  In  the  year  1 797,  some  years 
before  any  white  man  had  ventured  into 
what  is  now  Union  County,  in  the  hunt  of  a 
permanent  home,  a  colony  of  Virginians, 
numbering  126  persons,  landed  at  Fort  Mas- 
sac, and  pursued  their  toilsome  and  tedious 
way  through  the  dense  forests  to  New  De- 
sign. The  distance  thus  traversed  was  only 
about  135  miles,  yet  the  little  colony  was 
twenty-six  days  on  the  road,  and  so  great 
was  their  toil  and  exposure  that  within  a  few 
months  after  reaching  their  destination  a 
majority  of  them  died.  These  emigi'ants 
may  have  touched  the  northeastern  portion 
of  the  county  on  their  way  through  the  ter- 
ritory to  their  destination.  If  they  passed 
through  any  portion  of  Union  County,  then 
they  were  the  first  here  after  the  long  lapse 
of  years  since  Joliet  and  Marquette  had 
passed  down  the  Mississippi,  and  in  the 
name  of  France  and  Papal  Christendom 
started    that    tremendous  drama  that  lasted 


266 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


for  more  than  ninety  years,  and  in  which 
France  and  the  chtu'ch  were  the  principal 
actors.  New  Design,  in  the  present  county 
of  Monroe,  was  established  in  178/*,  and  un- 
til the  time  of  the  advent  of  this  Virginia 
colony,  it  was  the  attractive  point  in  the 
territory  for  immigrants.  But  the  news  of 
the  calamities  that  befel  this  colony  were 
carried  back  to  the  old  States,  and  for  some 
years  the  impression  widely  prevailed  that 
all  this  territory  was  a  mere  plague  spot 
where  civilized  people  could  hardly  hope  to 
loner  survive  a  removal  to  it,  and  this  re- 
tarded the  heavy  immigration  that  afterward 
came. 

In  the  year  1803 — just  eighty  years  ago — 
the  first  white  settlement  was  made  in  the 
territory  now  comprising  Union  County. 
This  feeble  colony  thus  braving  the  wilds, 
the  dense  forests  and  its  almost  impenetra- 
ble undergrowth,  consisted  of  two  families, 
namely,  Abram  Hunsaker's  and  George 
Wolf's.  They  had  come  down  the  Ohio 
River  and  up  the  Cache,  hunting  and  fish- 
ing, and  finally  started  on  an  overland  route, 
intending,  it  is  supposed,  to  strike  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  and  ascend  the  same  to  the 
settlements  of  Kaskaski a  and  Cahokia.  Those 
wanderers  camped  one  night  a  short  distance"' 
from  where  Jonesboro  now  is,  and  the  next 
morning  the  men  found  that  they  had  to  re- 
plenish their  meat  supply,  and  they  shouldered 
their  guns  and  in  a  few  minutes  killed  a 
large  and  fat  bear,  and  in  a  little  while  after 
getting  the  bear  they  added  a  fine  turkey 
gobbler  to  their  store.  They  were  so  de- 
lighted with  the  land  of  plenty,  both  of  game 
and  excellent  water,  that  they  concluded  to 
rest  a  few  days,  and  before  the  few  days  had 
expired  the  men  were  busy  at  work  building 
cabins  in  which  to  house  their  families  and 
make  this  their  permanent  home.  Just 
eighty  years!     How  feeble  this  little  begin- 


ning of  the  white  man  and  civilization  must 
have  appeared  in  the  face  of  the  riot  of  un- 
bridled strength  of  wilderness,  the  wild 
beast  and  the  more  deadly  and  treacherous 
savage.  For  two  years,  in  all  that  region 
then  included  in  Johnson  County,  these 
were  the  only  white  settlers.  They  knew  of 
no  neighbors  in  the  Illinois  Territory,  and 
the  nearest  white  settlements  were  at  Kas- 
kaski a  and  Cahokia,  which,  for  any  purpose 
of  trade  or  communication,  had  as  well  been 
at  the  farthest  ends  of  the  earth.  For  years 
they  saw  no  white  face  except  the  members 
of  their  own  families.  They  held  no  inter- 
course with  their  fellow-men;  they  had  placed 
behind  them  the  comforts  and  blessings  of 
civilization. 

There  is  a  tradition,  not  well  authenti- 
cated, that  in  the  year  1804  a  man  whose 
name  will  never  now  be  known,  had  fixed  his 
residence  in  the  hills  of  the  northwest  part 
of  the  county  and  here  alone  he  lived  for 
some  years.  The  story  is  that  he  had  se- 
lected this  wild  spot  that  he  might  hide  him- 
self from  his  fellow-men,  because  at  some 
time  he  had  committed  a  great  crime  and 
was  a  fugitive  from  justice;  that  he  fled  as 
soon  as  he  ascertained  there  had  been  a  set- 
tlement in  this  part  of  the  country,  and  it 
was  only  by  the  discovery  of  his  deserted 
cabin  long  after  he  had  gone,  and  probably 
there  were  some  things  found,  either  old 
files  of  papers  or  something  else  to  give  cur- 
rency to  the  stories  as  to  who  he  was  and 
why  he  thus  fled  from  the  presence  of  all 
men. 

The  next  year,  1805,  David  Green  came 
with  his  little  family  and  built  his  cabin  in 
the  Mississippi  bottom,  about  a  half  mile 
north  of  what  is  known  as  the  Big  Barn. 
He  was  a  Virginian,  and  had  been  engaged 
in  navigating  the  rivers  in  the  early  flat-boat 
days,  and  in  waiting  upon  the  banks  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY, 


267 


river  and  hunting  for  game  he  came  upon 
the  spot  where  he  afterward  lived,  and  re- 
turned to  his  family  and  brought  them  with 
him  to  his  new  home.  It  was  a  long  time 
before  he  knew  the  Hunsakers  and  Wolfs 
were  his  nearest  neighbors. 

There  was  an  Indian  trail  that,  as  was 
generally  the  case,  was  following  a  buffalo 
path  that  passed  diagonally  across  the  lower 
portion  of  the  State  and  passed  near  where 
Jonesboro  now  is  but  a  little  to  the  south. 

During  even  the  early  part  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  there  were  white  men  passing 
up  and  down  the  Ohio  River,  and  the  govern- 
ments that  at  different  periods  had  posses- 
sions had  erected  [Fort  Massac,  Fort  Wil- 
kinson and  Fort  Jefferson  and  here  were  sta- 
tioned soldiers,  but  these  were  merely  guard 
posts  of  armed  men  for  the  purpose  of  keep- 
ing the  possession  and  retaining  the  owner- 
ship of  the  country.  And  often  the  Indians 
would  gather  in  great  force  and  besiege  the 
place  and  bloody  battles  would  ensue,  and  then 
for  years  the  place  would  be  evacuated  and  left 
untenanted.  The  tenure  of  these  possossions 
was  frail  and  uncertain,  as  they  were  often 
the  prizes  to  contend  for  among  unfriendly 
whites  as  well  as  with  the  native  savages. 

Skirting  along  the  Ohio  River  from  Fort 
Massac  to  the  junction  of  the  rivers,  there 
were  temporary  settlements  or  camps  of  pio- 
neers on  the  banks  as  early  as  1795.  At  the 
junction  where  Caii'o  now  is,  William  Bird, 
in  company  with  his  parents,  remembered  in 
his  lifetime  of  stopping  and  camping  a 
short  time  at  the  point  where  the  two  rivers 
join,  but  after  a  rest  of  a  few  days  the  fam- 
ily proceeded  up  the  river  and  settled  near 
Cape  Girardeau.  He  bearing  in  mind  the 
impression  the  junction  of  the  two  great  riv- 
ers had  made,  returned,  being  then  hardly 
grown,  to  the  place,  in  the  year  1817,  and 
made  a  permanent  and  the  first  settlement  of 


Caii-o.  Thus  during  all  the  early  years  the 
extreme  point  of  land  at  the  confluence  of 
the  two  rivers  was  known  as  Bird's  Point, 
and  it  was  only  in  years  after  it  came  to  be 
known  as  Cairo,  and  the  name  Bird's  Point 
crossed  the  river  when  the  Bird  family  made 
their  resid«^nce  at  that  place. 

James  Conyers  with  his  family  came  down 
the  river  from  Kentucky  and  camped  where 
Cairo  now  stands.  His  son,  Bartlett  Con- 
yers, was  then  seven  years  old.  He  is  now 
an  active,  well-to-do  man,  eighty-five  years 
old  and  lives  in  Menard  County,  111. 

Through  the  politeness  of  Mr.  Potter,  of 
the  Argus,  we  were  shown  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Bartlett  Conyers,  of  June,  1881,  in  which  he 
gives  some  of  his  recollections  of  the  country 
now  composed  of  Alexander  and  Pulaski  Coun- 
ties. Among  other  things  he  says:  "We  made 
our  first  halt  and  went  into  camp  where 
Cairo  now  is.  We  had  moved  from  Livings- 
ton County,  Ky.  It  was  then  a  wilderness, 
and  wild  game,  such  as  turkey,  deer,  wolves 
and  bears,  was  plenty."  He  says  he  killed 
a  number  of  bears  as  well  as  other  game  in 
what  is  now  the  city  boundaries.  He  tells 
of  an  encounter  he  had  as  follows:  "  I  went 
out  hunting  and  had  only  two  balls  for  m}' 
gun.  The  first  shot  I  killed  a  very  large 
bear  dead  in  his  tracks;  with  my  second  ball 
I  slightly  wounded  another.  Although  I 
was  but  sixteen  years  old,  I  thought  I  could 
kill  him  with  my  knife,  so  I  followed  him 
up  and  went  into  the  fight  in  earnest,  but 
after  a  short  tussle  in  which  neither  got 
much  worsted,  I  beat  a  hasty  reti-eat.  The 
bear  retreated  at  the  same  time  I  did,  but 
for  some  strange  cause,  retreated  in  the  same 
direction  I  did,  and  only  a  few  feet  behind 
me,  but  I  soon  got  out  of  his  way.  I  then 
cut  a  good,  short  club  and  followed'him  up, 
but  was  more  cautious.  I  soon  came  up 
with  him,  and  after  a  little  maneuvering  hit 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


him  a  fair  lick  on  the  head.  I  expected  to 
Bee  him  fall,  buf.  all  the  effect  it  had  was  to 
make  him  take  right  after  me  again.  In  this 
way  we  continued  the  tight  foi  at  least  an 
hour,  when  I  accidentally  hit  him  on  the 
back  of  the  head,  which  knocked  him  down. 
For  the  first  time  my  knife  came  in  good 
play,  and  I  soon  finished  him. " 

Mr.  Conyers  remembers  spending  five 
years  hunting  exclusively,  and  all  this  time 
had  only  Indians  for  associates  and  bed- fel- 
lows. He  says  his  father,  James  Conyers, 
located  twelve  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio  in  1805,  at  a  point  which  was  after- 
ward America,  now  Pulaski  County.  This 
was  the  first  white  family  in  that  county. 
The  Indians  were  friendly  and  often  visited 
the  house.  The  next  settlement  in  the  coun- 
ty was  Jesse  Perry  and  family.  His  place 
was  two  miles  above  Conyers.'  The  nearest 
settlement  to  these  two  families  at  that  time 
was  one  near  Jonesboro,   in  Union  County. 

Mr.  Conyers  says  they  had  no  communica- 
tion with  the  outside  world;  each  family  de- 
pended solely  upon  itself  for  everything.  The 
little  bread  they  used  was  pounded  in  a  mor- 
tar or  eventually  ground  on  a  hand  mill, 
depending  wholly  on  game  for  meat,  which 
was  plenty.  In  1807,  Thomas  Clark  settled 
where  Mound  City  now  stands.  And  in  a 
short  time  a  man  named  Humphrey  came 
and    settled   where   Caledonia    now   stands. 

Solomon  Hess  next  came  and  settled  at  the 
mouth  of  what  was  afterward  called  Hess 
Bayou.  A  man  named  Kennedy  was  living 
on  Clark's  place  in  1812,  when  the  Indian 
Massacre  occui-red.  George  Hacker  was  the 
first  settler  on  Cache  River;  he  came  there 
in  1806;  soon  after,  John  Shaver  settled  near 
him,  and,  about  the  year  1810,  Rice  and 
William  Sams  located  on  the  Cache.  This 
includes  every  soul  in  all  that  region  prior 
to  the  war  of   1812.     The  people  wei'e  not 


troubled  for  years  in  holding  elections  or 
paying  any  taxes.  The  war  of  1812  stopped 
all  immigration  for  some  years,  and  the  In- 
dians became  troublesome,  and  the  citizens, 
for  self -protection,  had  to  gather  together,  and 
the  house  of  James  Conyers  was  selected  for 
the  rendezvous  and  converted  into  a  fort  or 
block-house,  and  the  settlers  all  "  forted " 
there. 

The  Indians  had  a  regular  crossing  about 
one  mile  above  Conyers'  place,  and  it  was 
here  Tecumseh  crossed  the  river  when  he 
went  south  to  incite  the  Creek  and  other 
tribes  to  go  to  war.  This  crossing  may  yet 
be  found,  as  it  is  at  the  mouth  of  a  little 
creek  about  one  mile  above  America. 

Mr.  Conyers  furaishes  us  some  new  facts 
in  reference  to  the  first  attempt  to  settle  the 
point  of  land  at  the  junction  of  the  two  riv- 
ers. His  recollection  is  distinct  that  it  was 
a  man  named  Drakeford  Gray.  He  built  his 
house  on  posts  or  stilts,  and  above  the  high 
waters.  During  very  high  water,  the  build- 
ing caught  fire  and  biu-ned.  A  boat  hap- 
pened to  be  passing,  and  took  the  people  off, 
otherwise,  there  is  hardly  a  doubt  they 
would  have  all  perished. 

The  earliest  settlements  naturally  were 
made  along  the  Ohio  Rivei*,  and  a  short  dis- 
tance up  its  tributaries.  The  pioneer  river 
men  became  the  pioneer  settlers,  and  the 
name  of  Cache  River  is  a  history  of  itself,  of 
those  who  came  there  and  why  they  came.  A 
"  cache"  is  thus  described  in  Irving's  "  Asto- 
ria:" "A  place  for  the  cache  is  situated 
near  a  running  stream,  a  circular  sod  is  cut 
out  and  laid  aside,  a  hole  is  then  dug  wider 
at  the  bottom  than  at  the  top,  the  earth  is 
thrown  into  the  stream,  the  cache  filled  with 
such  goods  as  are  to  be  concealed  and  the 
sod  carefully  replaced."  The  earliest  set- 
tlements, or  rather  encampments  of  settlers, 
at  the  mouth   and  a  short  distance  up  this 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


26  9 


stream,  date    back  to    1795.     In   1809,  four 
familievS  had  settled  in  what  is  now  Dogtooth 
Bend.       They    were    named   Han-is,  Crane, 
Wade    and    Powers.      They    built    a  school- 
house,  the  first  so  far  as  can  be  now    ascer- 
tained in  this  section  of  the  State.      The  lit- 
tle house  was  made  of  a  cottonwood  tree  that 
had  been  split  into  rails,  and  the  first  teacher 
was    an    unknown    Irishman.     He    took   his 
toddy   and  shed  the  light  of  his  birch  rods 
with  no  scanty  or   light  hand.      One   of  his 
pupils  was  John  S.  Hacker,  who,  it  seems,  here 
laid  the  foundations  for  those  political  tilts 
that   he   was  afterwai'd   to  engage  in   with 
John  Grammer.     ^lany    of    the    immigrants 
into  this  part  of  Illinois  had  fled  for  safety 
to  these  high  hills    from  the    great    earth- 
quake of  1811.     This  brought  ex-Gov.  John 
Dougherty,  a  small  child  at  that  time;  he  re- 
moved  to   near    Cape  Girardeau   and  after- 
ward to  Union  County.     The  earliest  settlers 
along  the  river  were  supplied  with  salt,  iron, 
ammunition,    etc.,    by  keel -boats.      The   fol- 
lowing description  of   keel  boating  was  fur- 
nished Rev.  E.  B.  Olmstead  by  Col.  John  S. 
Hacker,  who  had  often   acted  as  bowsiuan  in 
trips  up  and  down  the  river:      The  hull  was 
much  like  a  modern  barge    or    small  steam- 
boat; a  mast  about  forty  feet  high  was  erect- 
ed near  the  bow,    to  the  top  of  which  a  line 
nearly  two  hundred  yards  long  was  attached. 
The  men,   with  the   line  on  their  shoulders, 
walked  on  the  bank,  drawing  the  load  slowly 
against  the  cuiTent.      To  the  tow  line  a  line 
was  attached  about  thirty  feet  long,  called  a 
stirrup;  the  end  next  the  boat  passed  through 
a  ring  on  the  tow   line,  so  as  to  be  within 
reach  of  the   bowman,    who'  by    this    means 
kept  the  boat  from  swinging  out,  and  with  a 
pole  kept  it  oif  the   banks.     In  this  he  was 
aided  by  the  pilot  or  helmsman  at  the  steer- 
ine:  oar.       This  was  called  c«)rdeling.       When 
the   current    of    the   river   was   very  strong. 


warping  was  resorted  to.  A  line  was  sent 
ahead,  fastened  to  a  tree  and  the  boat  di-awn 
up;  as  the  line  was  drawn  in,  another  was 
paid  out  and  sent  ahead.  Often  two  to  four 
miles  was  all  the  advance  a  day's  hard  work 
yielded.  But  ten  miles  could  frequently  be 
made,  and  when  the  wind  allowed  a  sail  to 
be  unfurled  it  proved  a  blessing  to  the  men. 
It  required  ninety  days  to  make  the  trip 
from  New  Orleans  to  Louisville,  and  forty 
men  to  man  the  boat.  Wages  were  $100  for 
the  trip  up,  and  freight  was  $5  per  hundred 
pounds.  The  adventurous  and  daring  navi- 
gators saw  the  beautiful  country  along  the 
banks  of  the  river  and  marked  them  for  their 
future  homes.  Prominent  among  these  was 
Capt.  James  Riddle,  of  Cincinnati.  He  was 
afterward  one  of  the  proprietors  of  Trinity, 
America  and  Caledonia,  and  still  later  of  the 
Mounds. 

In  1816,  James  Riddle,  Nicholas  Berth- 
end,  Elias  Rector  and  Hem-y  Bechtle  entered 
lands  extending  from  below  the  mouth  of 
Cache  River  to  the  Third  Principal  Meridian, 
and  by  a  general  subdivision  established 
Trinity.  No  town  lots  were  sold,  but  James 
Beny  and  afterward  Col.  H.  L.  Webb,  in 
about  the  year  1817,  coumenced  a  hotel  here 
and  commenced  a  trading  and  supply  busi- 
ness. Goods  were  shipped  here  for  St. 
Louis,  and  as  early  as  1818  a  town  was  laid 
out  on  an  extensive  scale.  The  propri- 
etors were  James  Riddle,  Henry  Bechtle  and 
Thomas  Sloo,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Stephen  and 
Henry  Rector,  of  St.  Loiiis.  The  agent  of  the 
proprietors  was  William  M.  Alexander,  who 
then  resided  at  America.  The  agent  of  Mr. 
Riddle  was  John  Dougherty,  whose  son  Will- 
iam is  a  citizen  of  Mound  City.  Mr.  Alexander 
was  one  of  the  extraordinary  men  of  the 
early  day.  A  physician  of  great  eminence, 
and  immediately  upon  the  formation  of  Al- 
exander Cotinty,  was  elected  its  first  Represen- 


270 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


tativG  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  was 
chosen  Speaker  of  the  House.  Dr.  Alexan- 
der was  here  when  Union  County  did'not  ex- 
ist; he  was  here  and  traversing  the  entire 
county,  and  was  well  known  to  all  the  peo- 
ple in  the  district  when  Union  County  em- 
braced all  of  the  now  three  counties.  His 
reputation  extended  throughout  the  State, 
and  he  was  intent  upon  building  a  great  city 
•at  or  near  the  confluence  of  the  two  great 
rivers.  Something  of  what  was  going  on  in 
the  way  of  city  building  may  be  gleaned 
from  an  extract  or  two  of  the  Doctor's  letters. 
In  one  dated  ]"  Town  of  America,  April  4, 
1818,"  to  James  Riddle,  of  Cincinnati,  he 
says:  "  The  survey  and  additions  will  be 
completed  in  probably  two  weeks;  nothing 
but  a  desire  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the 
place  could  justify  us  in  selling  property 
which  must  become  erelong  of  immense 
valu^."  In  another  letter  dated  March  10, 
1819,  not  quite  one  short  year,  he  says:  "The 
present  is  the  crisis  of  its  [the  town's]  fate. 
I  wish  you  could  be  at  America  and  view 
with  your  own  eyes  the  necessity  for  somo 
exertion.  Only  see  what  has  been  effected 
by  my  feeble  exertions  since  the  1st  of  De- 
cember. I  say  it  with  difiidence,  but  I  must 
say  it,  if  I  had  not  gone  there  at  that  criti- 
cal time,  America  must  have  fallen  in  a 
long  sleep.  The  public  mind  of  the  coun- 
try was  prejudiced  against  it.  I  opened 
Ohio  street  as  far  as  Washington,  Washington 
as  far  as  the  public  square,  a  road  to  Jonesboro 
and  one  to  Cape  Girardeau.  Had  all  the  timber 
from  the  mouth  of  the  creek  leveled  down 
with  the  earth,  set  the  first  example  of  erect- 
ing a  house,  have  so  conciliated  the  good 
will  of  the  citizens  that  they  have  petitioned 
to  have  America  made  the  seat  of  justice. 
Now  all  may  bid  defiance  to  opposition,  but 
let  us  not  sleep.  What  I  have  said  of  my- 
self is  not  by   way  of  boasting,  but  to  show 


the  effect  of  limited  means,  to  show  what 
youi*  superit)r  ability  could  effect  if  exerted. 
The  Commissioners  for  fixing  the  seat  of  jus- 
tice were  selected  by  myself,  and  will  of 
course  be  favorable  to  our  views.  The  con- 
dition of  its  establishment  will  be  the  pay- 
ment of  $4,000  in  installments  for  public 
buildings.  I  have  completely  abandoned 
the  idea  of  making  an  immediate  specula- 
tion. We  must  wait  patiently  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  towD.  We  must  dig  a  well, 
build  a  free  bridge  over  the  Cache,  so  as  to 
draw  the  trade  of  the  Dutch  in  Union  Coun 
ty  Send  us  down  mechanics  of  all  sorts. 
As  the  Legislature  has  made  the  County 
Commissioners  one  of  the  most  influential  and 
respected  offices  in  Ihe  State,  I  shall  be  a 
candidate  for  that  office  in  Alexander  Coun- 
ty, which  is  the  name  the  Legislature  has 
given  the  new  county.  If  I  am  elected,  I 
will  bend  the  whole  county  to  such  improve- 
ments as  will  promote  the  interests  of  Amer- 
ica. I  shall  take  immediate  steps  for  tne 
erection  of  the  public  buildings." 

William  M.  Alexander  soon  left  America 
and  Union  County  and  resided  at  some  time 
in  Kaskaskia.  He  was  determined  to  join 
his  fate  to  some  new  Western  town  that 
would  grow  at  once  into  a  great  and  pros- 
perous city,  and  the  fates  seemed  to  pursue 
him.  America  went  "  to  sleep,"  as  the  Doc- 
tor feared  it  would  in  one  of  his  letters,  and 
he  was  hardly  more  than  fixed  in  Kaskaskia 
when  the  capital  of  the  State  was  moved  to 
Vandalia,  and  that  old  town  followed  the 
fate  of  its  more  humble  contemporary,  Amer- 
ica. After  residing  in  Kaskaskia,  he  went 
South  and  died. 

In  the  year  1809,  in  the  south  part  of  what 
is  now  Union  County,  the  family  of  Law- 
rences, thi-ee  in  number,  and  William  Clapp, 
making  four  families,  settled.  They  lived 
on  Mill   Creek     In  a  short  time  after  this, 


HISTORY   OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


271 


John  Stokes,  William  Gwinn,  George  Evans 
and  Thomas  Standard  settled  in  the  last  part 
of  the  county  in  what  has  long  been  known 
as  the  Stokes  settlement. 

Hon.  John  Grammer. — About  this  time,  it 
may  have  been  earlier,  as  the  most  diligent 
search  has  failed  to  fix  the  date,  and  which  is 
much  to  be  regretted,  there  came  to  this 
county  John  Grammer,  the  model,  the  won- 
derful, the  extraordinary  pioneer;  the  fisher, 
hunter,  trapper,  politician  and  statesman. 
So  little  was  his  appearance  an  index  to  the 
man  that  he  was  an  old  settler  before  any 
one  there  knew  that  such  a  being  existed. 
His  presence  was  heralded  by  no  star  in  the 
east  or  west  to  point  him  out  and  say  to  all 
the  world  "  behold  the  man!"  The  inferences 
from  the  early  records  are  that  he  was  accom- 
panied by  his  brother  William  in  his  com- 
ing. It  cannot  be  ascertained  what  his  age 
was  when  he  came,  or  where  he  was  from. 
We  only  know  that  among  the  early  and  re- 
markable productions  of  the  county,  Johnson 
County  then  embracing  all  the  territory  of 
Union,  Alexander  and  Pulaski  Counties, 
was  the  Hon.  John  Grammer,  who  settled  in 
what  is  now  Union  County,  a  little  south  of 
Jonesboro.  He  was  one  of  the  first  offi- 
cials in  the  county,  representating  John- 
son County  in  the  first  Territorial  Legis- 
lature as  early  as  1812,  when  there  were  but 
five  counties  in  the  State,  and  the  entire  Assem- 
bly would  gather  about  a  good-sized  table  in 
Kaskaskia  and  talk  in  a  coversational  way 
for  an  hour  or  two,  and  then  join  in  one  of 
those  exciting  games  of  "  crack-loo  "  for  the 
drinks,  and  in  this  august  assembly  Gram- 
mer was  a  statesman  of  the  rough  diamond, 
barefoot  persuasion.  He  was  as  illiterate  as 
he  was  indifferent  to  fine  clothes  and  per- 
fumed soap;  as  slouchy,  careless  and  xin- 
couth  in  manners  mostly  as  he  was  reckless 
and  indifi'erent  in  the  use  of  the  King's  Eng- 


lish, when  pouring  forth  from  the  stump  one 
of  his  towering  philippics.  He  came 
among  the  early  simple  hunters  and  trap- 
pers of  Union  County  like  an  Aurora  in 
soiled  linen  or  an  unshod,  burr-tailed  colt 
from  the  mountain  "  deestrict,"  and  he 
waked  the  echoes  of  the  primeval  forests,  and 
as  a  politician  bore  down  all  opposition,  as 
he  rode  in  triumph  into  the  affections  of  the 
voters  and  into  high  official  positions.  In 
the  very  first  election  ever  held  in  the  coun- 
ty he  was  made  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  from 
which  foothold  he  essayed  and  accomplished 
dizzy  flights  to  higher  positions, until  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate,  which  position 
he  filled  time  and  again,  from  which  vantage- 
point  his  name  and  fame  extended  through 
the  entire  State,  until  "  as  -John  Grammer 
says  '■  became  a  by-word  from  Galena  to 
Cairo.  He  was  no  common  man  in  any- 
thing; he  was  no  man's  man,  bitt  strong, 
original,  honest  and  incorruptible,  he  trod 
alone,  sword  in  hand,  his  great  life  pathway, 
with  an  eye  that  never  quailed  and  heart  for 
every  fate.  He  was  unlearned  in  the  books, 
i  but  original  and  strong  in  intellect.  It  was 
from  the  rude,  simple,  illiterate  John  Gram- 
mer that  the  statesmen  of  Em-ope  learned 
that  when  a  legislator  is  called  upon  to  vote 
in  a  legislative  body,  if  he  don't  fttlly  under- 
stand the  question,  to  always  vote  "no." 
This  was  John  Grammer  s  rule,  from  which  he 
never  deviated  in  the  Illinois  Senate.  Nor  had 
he  any  of  that  false  pride  and  silly  fear  of  be  - 
ing  laitghed  at  that  so  often  makes  weaker 
minded  men  assume  to  know  all  things 
brought  before  them,  and  to  hide  their  igno- 
rance in  silence.  This  was  John  Grammer's 
cardinal  idea  of  statesmanship;  the  idea  and 
practice  was  his  invention  or  discovery,  and 
the  great  Frenchman  De  Tocqueville,  when 
studying  this  government,  was  attracted  to 
Grammer,  and  in  his  book  on  American  insti- 


372 


HISTOKY   OF  UNION   COUNTY. 


tutions,  the  Frenchman  called  the  attention 
of  Europe  to  it  in  terms  of  highest  commen- 
dation. 

What  other  statesman    has    America   pro- 
duced that  has  been  thus  handsomely  started 
on  the   road   to  a  deserved   immortality,  to 
equal     this    unwashed,    unkempt,     illiterate 
backwoodsman?       Early     Illinois   produced 
many  remarkable  men,  but  none   so  strongly 
original,   so  uncouth,   so  illiterate,   or  so  in- 
teresting as  John  Grammer.     As  said  before", 
he   borrowed    nothing    from  the  books,    and 
his  illiteracy  was  so  marked  that  it  amounted 
to  a  gift  or  talent.     He  borrowed  or  copied 
from  nothing.  He  never  hesitated  for  a  word, 
for  when  he   wanted    one   he  would  coin  it 
upon    the    instant.      When    addressing    the 
Senate,    he  would    shake    his    frowsy    locks 
and  point  his  finger  at  the  chair  and  exclaim: 
"  Mr.  President,  I    give  you    a  'pernipsis'  of 
that  bill. "  All  other  business  stopped  while  he 
was  giving  his  promised  synopsis.      When 
thoroughly  warmed  up,   his  eloquence  was  a 
Niagara  of  words,  until  sometimes  his  tongue 
would   trip    and    he    would  land  souse  in  a 
"  tangled  priminary,"  as  he  always  called  a 
dilemma,     when    he    would    appeal    to    the 
brother  "siniters"   to   help  him   out  of  the 
difficulty,  which  some  of  them  would  always 
do,    when  with  unruffled  plumes   he    would 
sail  away'  again   so  grandly,  with  such  gor- 
geous  home-made   rhetoric   as    would   have 
paled  the  meteoric  glories  of  even  Sir  Boyle 
Roche  himself.  Something  of  his  greatness,  in 
fact,  lay  in  his  ready   aptness  in  word-coin- 
ing and  phrase -making,  and  it  was   no  trav- 
esty   upon    grammar — the    science    of    lan- 
guage— when  his  patronymic  was   solemnly 
recorded    as  John   Grammer,    the    father  of 
Illinois  true  Statecraft,    the  author  of   amus- 
ing bulls,   quaint  mistakes    and  pat  phrases 
that    deserve    to    live    forever  in    connection 
with,  his  name.     The  heaviest  constitutional 


questions  had  no  terrors  for  him,  and  when 
he  found  a  fellow-senator  attempting  some 
real  or  fancied  innovation  upon  the  funda- 
mental laws,  he  snuffed  the  battle  afar  off 
and  clothed  his  neck  with  thunder.  Upon 
an  occasion  of  this  kind,  he  controlled  his 
patience  as  long  as  he  could,  when  he  arose, 
and  in  a  voice  that  pierced  the  marrow  in 
members'  bones,  exclaimed,  "  You  can't  do 
that.  It's  fernent  the  compack!  "  and  the 
country  was  saved,  and  John  Grammer  sat 
down  immortal  and  to  this  day  in  all  South- 
ern Illinois,  when  a  thing  is  "  fernent  the 
compack,"  it  is  a  dead  cock  in  the  pit. 

Many  of  the  early  statesmen  in  Union 
County,  in  fact  in  all  this  then  very  large 
Senatorial  district,  have  been  sadly  worsted 
in  their  attempts  to  supersede  him  among 
the  voters.  They  found  him  wily,  tough, 
stubborn  and  full  of  resources.  He  under- 
stood the  people.  He  did  not,  when  in  a 
campaign,  or  any  other  time  for  that  matter, 
array  himself  in  purple  and  fine  linen;  nor 
did  he  drive  a  tandem  team  of  blooded  trot- 
ters with  gold-mounted  harness.  A  log 
wagon  bull  team,  trimmed  with  bark  and 
hickory  withes  was  the  most  sumptuous  go- 
to meetin'  rig  he  ever  possessed  or  used. 
And  when  dressed  in  his  best  on  such  oc- 
casions, he  Avas  generally  barefoot,  and  thus 
arrayed  it  only  seemed  fo  add  force  and  fire 
to  his  vehement  eloquence,  if  his  breeches 
were  rolled  up  to  the  knees,  and  a  twist  of 
tobacco  in  one  pocket  and  the  Democratic 
platform  in  the  other.  He  was  Nature's  un- 
adorned progeny — rather  broad  and  liberal 
in  his  mode  of  thought,  either  in  politics  or 
religion,  as  well  as  his  customs,  manners, 
morals  and  habits.  Like  pretty  much  all  of 
his  day  and  time,  he  would  sometimes  in- 
dulge his  appetite  beyond  stern  pm-itan 
ideas,  but  he  seldom  went  so  far  in  this  way 
as  not  to  keep  an   eye  on  the  main  chance. 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


273 


An  instance  of  this  is  given  when  on  one  oc- 
casion there  was  a  great  political  rally,  for 
the  benefit  of  candidates,  down  in  the  north 
part  of  Alexander  County,  and  Grammer  was 
posted  for  a  big  speech.  He  reached  the 
grounds  some  time  before  speaking  was  to 
commence,  and  before  that  hour  had  arrived 
he  was  out  of  all  condition,  and  he  realized 
this  so  fully  that  he  reported  himself  sick, 
and  sought  seclusion,  where  he  would  soon 
brace  up  ard  be  all  right  for  the  ordeal. 
The  crowd  foolishly  gathered  about  him 
densely,  when  his  rival  pushed  into  the 
crowd  and  shouted:  "  Stand  back,  men;  give 
him  air!"  Grammer  rolled  his  helpless  head, 
eyed  his  rival  and  understood  he  only 
wanted  to  expose  him,  and  he  said:  "  D — n 
you,  I  understand  you.  I'll  be  thar  or  bust 
yet,"  and  so  he  did,  and  made  one  of  his 
iiiOst  effective  speeches. 

As  did  all  men  in  those  days,  he  hunted  a 
great  deal.  On  one  occasion  he  was  out  in 
the  rain  all  day,  getting  very  wet;  at  night 
he  hung  his  powder-horn  on  one  side  of  the 
large  open  fire-place,  so  that  the  large  tow 
string  by  which  he  swung  it  over  his  shoulder 
might  dry.  During  the  night,  the  "  fore- 
stick  "  burned  in  two  in  the  middle,  and 
the  end  flipped  up  and  set  the  tow  string  on 
fire.  It  burned  off"  and  the  horn  fell  into  the 
coals,  and  soon  the  sleeping  household-  was 
startled  by  the  explosion,  which  scattered  the 
fire  all  over  the  room,  and  even  on  the  bed 
where  the  man  and  wife  slept.  The  woman 
soon  brushed  and  swept  up  the  coals,  and  all 
was  safe  and  serene  again.  But  Grammer 
didn't  return  to  bed,  but  walked  the  floor  in 
great  distress,  his  hands  clasped  across  his 
stomach.  Finally  his  wife,  in  great  alarm, 
asked  what  was  the  matter.  "  Oh,  Lord! 
Oh,  Lord!  "  exclaimed  the  poor  man;  "  it  is 
not  the  loss  of  the  powder,  or  the  horn.  I 
could   stand    all  that;  but,    Sal,  suppose  it 


purtends  a  sign!"  And  again  and  again 
the  distressed  man  moaned  like  the  sad,  wet 
winds. 

In  the  simplicity  of  his  soul,  he  dreaded 
a  "sign,"  a  portent  from  a  displeased  heaven. 
Here  was  greatness  and  childish  simplicity 
and  credulity  that  brings  to  mind  the  agony 
of  fear  that  is  sometimes  said  to  seize  the 
huge  elephant  upon  seeing  a  ridiculous  little 
mouse. 

He  was  a  peculiar  bundle  of  wisdom  and 
weak  and  childish  fears  and  superstitions;  a 
medley  of  strange  contradictions;  a  man 
who,  perhaps,  amid  other  surroundings, 
would  never  have  emerged  from  the  profound 
obscurity  that  surrounded  his  early  life,  and 
it  now  strikes  the  ear  of  the  reader  like  the 
happy  fictions  of  the  romance  writers,  when 
they  are  told  that  this  obscure,  illiterate 
man,  at  the  first  moment  an  opportunity  pre- 
sented itself  in  the  State,  to  ofler  his  services 
as  a  law-maker  to  the  people,  and  they  read- 
ily accepted  the  offer.  How  did  this  silent 
hunter,  this  illiterate  recluse,  ever  come  to 
know  that  Illinois  had  been  advanced  to  a 
second  grade  Territory,  and  would  want,  as 
early  as  1812,  the  people  to  elect  a  Legisla- 
ture, to  go  to  Kaskaskia  and  enact  laws,  and 
fix  the  governmental  machinery  that  was  to 
bear  aloft  the  weal  and  destiny  of  the  young 
giant  State.  He  read  no  newspapers,  aud  the 
obscurity  that  envelopes  the  first  years  of  kis 
life  in  these  wild  woods,  indicates  that  he 
held  no  converse  or  communication  with  liv- 
ing thing,  except  with  the  wild  game,  to 
which  he  spoke  with  the  keen  crack  of  his 
rifle,  and  its  reverberating  echoes  among  the 
hills.  But  when  his  adopted  State  called  for 
statesmen  he  stepped  forth,  regal  in  coon- 
skin  and  deer-skin  clothes,  and  filled  the  be- 
hest and  was  immortal.  No  proper  history 
of  Illinois  will  ever  be  written  which  omits 
the  name  of  John  Grammer.      The  fu*st  Ter- 


274 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


ritorial  Legislature  convened  Novembei'  25, 
1812,    and   adjourned   December  25  of    the 
same  year.    The  second  session  met  and  com- 
pleted its  session  and   adjourned   on  the  8th 
day   of  November,  1813.      A   prominent,  if 
not  pre-eminent,  member  of   that   body  was 
John  Grammer.     He  then    retired  from  the 
legislative  halls  for  one  session,    and  then 
was  elected  in  1816    again.      When    Illinois 
became  a  State,  he  was    elected  to  the  State 
Senate.     In  the  Territorial  times,  the  Legis 
lative  Assembly  consisted  of    a   Council  and 
House  of  Eepresentatives.     In    the  first  As- 
6eml)ly — 1812 — John  Grammer   was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Representatives,  repre- 
senting  one  of   the  five  counties,   St.  Clair, 
Randolph,  Gallatin,  Madison   and    Johnson, 
that  then  constituted  the  State.     In  1816,  he 
was   elected    again,  but   was    promoted  to  a 
member  of  the  Council  (now  called  the  Sen- 
ate), and  was  re-elected  to  the  session  of    the 
same  body  for  the  session  of    1817-18.      He 
was    again   elected   to  the    State    Senate  in 
1822-24,  and  again  to  the  Assembly  of  1824- 
26,  and  again  re-elected   Senator  to  the  As- 
sembly  of   1880-32,    and     again     1832-34. 
Here  was  a  long  service  in  the  legislative  de- 
partment  of    the    State.        The    importance 
with  which  he  was  esteemed  is  fairly   illus- 
trated by  the  fact  that,  while  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the   Senate,  the   first  compilation  of 
the 'Illinois  laws  was  made,  and    among  the 
people  they  were  distinguished   by  the  name 
of  the  "  Grammer  laws. "     It  is  reported  that 
a  certain  Judge  Block  was   holding  court  in 
Vienna    in   the    earl},   rude    times.     Jeptha 
Hardin  was  arguing  a  case   before  him,  and 
when  he  undertook  to  fortify  himself  by  read- 
ing from  a  book  which  he  held  in  his  hand, 
"  What  book  is  that  yoa  are  reading  from  ?" 
demanded  Judge   Block,   sternly.     "  May  it 
please  the  court,"  said  Hardin,  blandly,    "  it 
is    Chitty   on    Contracts."     "Chitty!"    said 


the  Judge,  "  Chitty!  Take  it  away,  sir!  take 
it  away!  What  did  our  fathers  fight  for  ? 
Take  it  away;  we  will  try  this  case  by  the 
Grammer  laws!  " 

In  Stuv6  and  Davidson's  history  of  Illi- 
nois, John  Grammer  is  mentioned  as  the 
father  of  Illinois  demagogues.  This  is  an  in- 
justice to  that  sturdy,  honest-minded  old 
pioneer.  The  charge  is  an  injustice  to  his 
memory.  He  simply  voted  "No,"  and  had 
the  moral  courage  to  oppose  the  public  craze 
of  1837,  on  the  subject  of  internal  improve- 
ments, and  for  this  wise  stand  in  defense  of 
the  people  he  lost  the  affection  of  the  voters, 
and  was  then,  for  their  first  time,  defeated  at 
the  polls.  Had  he  been  a  demagogue,  he 
would  have  played  the  demagogue's  part,  and 
simply  trimmed  his  sails  to  the  popular  breeze, 
and  only  have  increased  his  power,  not  lost  it. 
The  same  historj'  relates  an  anecdote  of 
Grammer,  and  while  it  is  nut  well-authen- 
ticated, nor  is  it,  on  its  face,  a  reasonable 
story,  yet  we  give  the  substance  of  it,  be- 
cause it,  to  some  extent,  explains  his  humble 
beginning  in  life.  When  he  was  first  elected 
to  the  Legislature— so  the  story  runs — there 
was  much  counseling  and  financiering  in  his 
own  and  his  neighbors'  families  as  to  how  a 
suit  of  clothes  could  be  got  for  him  to  go  to 
Kaskaskia  in.  Eventually,  he  and  family 
gathered  nuts  and  carried  them  to  Fort 
Massac  trading  post,  and  exchanged  them 
for  a  few  yards  of  "blue  drilling."  This 
was  carried  home,  and  the  neighbors  called 
in  to  cut  and  make  the  clothes.  After  meas- 
uring, tuiming,  twisting  and  stretching,  the 
cloth  was  short  and  finally  it  was  cut  into  a 
hunting  shirl  and  then  there  was  only  enough 
left  to  make  a  pair  of  high  "leggins,"  and 
thus  arrayed 'he  served  his  term  in  the  Leg- 
islature. 

This  is  something  of  the  life  and  times 
and  character  of  John  Grammer — a  hiHtorical 


HISTORY  OF  UNION   COUNTY. 


275 


landmark  in  the  early  history  of  Illinois — a 
study  and  a  delight  for  the  coming  children  of 
men.  He  left  numerous  descendants,  but  his 
scepter  of  power,  originality  and  invention 
passed  away  forever  with  the  breath  from  his 
body.  He  was  a  just  man  in  his  judgment 
it  seems,  and  wholly  fearless  in  following 
the  convictions  that  took  hold  of  him.  It 
appears  that  he  about  equally  divided  his  time 
in  a  rigid  and  exemplary  membership  of  the 
church,  and  then  a  jolly,  won't-go-home-till- 
morning  with  his  good  friends  and  neigh- 
bors, and  whether  it  was  one  or  the  other,  he 
allowed  no  grass  to  grow  under  his  feet,  as 
his  enez'gy  and  industry  kept  even  pace  with 
his  quick  mother  wit,  shrewd  good  sense  or 
bad  grammar.  He  never  made  a  long  speech 
in  his  life,  but  he  never  took  his  seat  after 
an  effort  of  the  kind  without  having  made 
just   such  a   speech,  particularly    in   words, 


quaint  phrases,  construction,  and  sometimes 
ideas,  as  no  other  man  in  the  world  could 
have  imitated,  miich  less  made.  His  was  a 
rich  and  incomparable  vein  of  originality — 
often  the  most  humorous  when  he  felt  the 
most  solemn,  as  at  other  times  he  was  as 
funereal  as  a  hearse  when  he  fancied  his  wit 
and  humor  the  most  sparkling.  He  always 
opened  a  stumping  campaign  by  announcing 
that  he  believed  there  were  men  "  more  fitner" 
for  the  office  than  he  was,  but  his  friends 
would  "anommate"  him  "  wherer  or  no," 
and  "  thairfore"  he  would  make  the  race, 
and,  if  elected,  would  do  the  best  he  could; 
and  thus  he  would  beat  his  eloquent  huzzy- 
guzzy  and  sound  his  thew-gag  down  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  up  the  Ohio, 
till  the  deep-tangled  wildwood  echoed  his 
eloquent  refrain,  and  victory  floated  out 
upon  his  banners. 


CHAPTER   V. 


SETTLERS  IN  UNION.  ALEXANDER  AND    TULASKI— LEAN    VENISON    AND    FAT    BEAR— PRIMITIVE 

'  FURNITURE— A  PIONEER  BOY  SEES  A  PLASTERED  HOUSE  — HOW  PEOPLE    PORTED— 

THEIR  DRESS  AND  AMUSEMENTS— AVITCHCRA FT,  WIZARDS,  ETC.— NO  LAW 

NOR    CHURCH- SPORTS,     ETC. —GOV.    DOUGHERTY— PHILIP 

SHAVER  AND  THE  CACHE   MASSACRE  —  FAMILIES 

IN  THE  ORDER  THEY  CAME,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"The  sound  of  the  war-whoop  oft  woke  the 
sleep  of  the  cradle." 

THERE  is  much  of  romance  in  the  story 
of  the  first  settlers  upon  this  southern 
point  of  Illinois,  which  is  now  comprised  in 
the  three  counties — Union,  Alexander  and 
Pulaski.  The  first  white  men  that  were  here 
trod  the  soil  of  St.  Clair  County,  then  em- 
bracing the  State— 1790.  Then  they  were 
citizens  of  Randolph  Coiinty;  then  Johnson 
County,  then  Union    Covmty.   and    from   the 


teiTitory  of  this  last-named  county  was 
formed  Alexander  County,  and  eventually' 
Pulaski — mostly  from  Alexander  County,  but 
partly  from  Pope  and  Johnson  Counties. 

The  spirit  of  adventure  allured  these  pio- 
neers to  come  into  this  vast  wilderness.  The 
beauty  of  the  country  gratified  the  eye,  its 
abundance  of  wild  animals  the  passion  for 
hunting.  They  were  surrounded  by  an  enemy 
subtle  and  wary.  But  those  wild  borderers 
flinched   not    from  the  contest ;    even  their 


276 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


women  and  childi'en  often  performed  deeds 
of  heroism  in  the  land  where  "  the  sound 
of  the  war-whoop  oft  woke  the  sleep  of  the 
cradle,"  from  which  the  iron  nerves  of  man- 
hood might  well  have  shrunk  in  fear. 
•  They  had  no  opportunity  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  arts  and  elegancies  of  refined  life. 
In  their  seclusion,  amid  danger  and  peril, 
there  arose  a  peculiar  condition  of  society, 
elsewhere  unknown.  The  little  Indian 
meal  brought  with  them  was  often  expended 
too  soon,  and  sometimes  for  weeks  or  months 
they  lived  without  bread.  The  lean  venison 
and  the  breast  of  wild  turkey  thoy  taught 
themselves  to  call  bread.  The  flesh  of  the 
bear  was  denominated  meat.  This  was  a 
wretched  artifice,  and  resulted  in  disease  and 
sickness  when  necessity  compelled  them  to  in- 
dulge in  it  too  long,  preceded  by  weakness 
and  a  feeling  constantly  of  an  empty 
stomach,  and  they  would  pass  the  dull  hours 
in  watching  the  potato  tops,  pumpkin  and 
squash  vines,  hoping  from  day  to  day  to  get 
something  to  answer  the  place  of  bread. 
What  a  delight  and  joy  was  the  first  young 
potato!  What  a  jubilee  when  at  last  the 
young  corn  could  be  pulled  for  roasting  ears, 
only  to  be  still  intensified  when  it  had  at- 
tained sufiicient  hardness  to  be  made  into  a 
johnny  cake  by  the  aid  of  a  tin  grater. 
These  were  the  harbingers  from  heaven,  that 
brought  health,  vigor  and  content  with  the 
surroundings,  poor  as  they  were. 

The  first  settlers  along  the  rivers  and 
among  these  hills  of  Southern  Illinois 
judged  the  soil  upon  their  first  coming  here 
by  what  they  knew  of  North  Carolina,  Vir- 
ginia and  Tennessee;  and  that,  with  a  few 
years'  cultivation,  it  would  wear  out  and  have 
to  be  abandoned.  We  now  know  they  were 
utterly  mistaken  in  this  I'espect.  The 
grounds,  when  pastured,  soon  produced  rich 
grasses,   that  afforded  pasture  for  the  cattle, 


by   the  time  the  wood   range  was  eaten  out, 
as  well    as  to    protect  the  soil    from    being 
washed    away    by   rains,  so    often    injurious 
to  hilly  countries. 

The  difiiculties  these  people  encountered 
were  very  great.  They  were  in  a  wilderness, 
remote  from  any  cultivated  region,  and  am- 
munition, food,  clothing  and  implements  of 
industry  were  obtained  with  great  difficulty. 
Then,  as  early  as  1810,  the  merciless  savage 
had  begun  to  paint  himself  for  war  and  put 
on  his  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife,  and 
there  was  then  only  increased  danger,  toil 
and  suffering  foi'  the  few  and  widely  separ- 
ated settlers. 

The  furniture  for  the  table  for  several 
years  after  the  settlement  of  the  country 
consisted  of  a  few  pewter  dishes,  plates  and 
sometimes  spoons,  wooden  bowls,  trenchers 
and  noggins,  gourds  and  hard- shelled 
squashes,  that  were  brought  from  the  old 
States,  along  with  the  salt  and  iron,  on  pack- 
horses.  '"  Hog  and  hominy"  were  the  viands 
that  were  served  upon  this  table  furniture. 
Johnny-cake  and  pone  bread  were  in  use  for 
dinner  and  breakfast;  at  supper  milk  and 
mush  was  the  standard  dish.  Ask  any  of 
these  very  old  settlers  you  meet  if,  in  his 
)'Outh,  he  did  not  have  many  a  scramble,  and 
often  a  battle-royal,  with  his  brothers  and 
sisters,  for  the  "scrapings"  of  the  mush-pot. 

Dr.  Doddi'idge,  in  1824,  said  in  his  diary: 
"  I  well  recollect  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  a 
teacup  and  saucer,  and  tasted  coffee.  My 
mother  died  when  I  was  six  years  old;  my 
father  then  sent  me  to  Mai-yland.  to  school. 
At  Bedford,  everything  was  changed.  The 
tavern  at  which  I  stopped  was  a  stone  house, 
and  to  make  the  change  still  more  complete, 
it  was  plastered  on  the  Id  side,  both  as  to  the 
walls  and  ceiling.  On  going  into  the  dining 
room,  I  was  struck  with  astonishment  at  the 
appearance  of  the  house.    I  had  no  idea  there 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


279 


was  a  house  in  the  world  not  built  of  lo^s; 
but  here  I  looked  around  the  house  and  could 
see  no  logs,  and  above  I  could  see  no  joists. 
Whether  such  a  thing  had  been  made  so  by 
the  hands  of  man,  or  grown  so  of  itself,  I 
could  not  conjecture.  I  had  not  the  courage 
to  inquire  anything  about  it.  I  watched  at- 
tentively to  see  what  the  big  folks  would  do 
with  their  little  cups  and  spoons.  I  imitated 
them,  and  found  the  taste  of  the  coffee  naus- 
eous beyond  anything  I  had  ever  tasted  in 
my  life.  I  continued  to  drink,  as  the  rest 
of  the  company  did,  with  tears  streaming 
from  my  eyes;  but  when  it  was  to  end  I  was 
at  a  loss  to  know,  as  the  little  cups  were 
filled  immediately  after  being  emptied.  This 
circumstance  distressed  me  very  much,  and 
I  durst  not  say  I  had  enough.  Looking  at- 
tentively at  the  grand  persons,  I  saw  one 
person  turn  his  cup  bottom  upward  and  put 
his  little  spoon  across  it.  I  observed  after 
this  his  cup  was  not  filled  again.  I  followed 
ijis  example,  and,  to  my  great  satisfaction, 
the  result,  as  to  my  cup,  was  the  same." 

The  hunting-shirt  was  universally  worn. 
This  was  a  loose  frock,  reaching  half  way 
down  the  thighs,  with  large  sleeves,  open 
before,  and  so  wide  as  to  lap  over  when 
belted.  It  generally  had  a  large  cape,  and 
was  made  of  cloth  or  buckskin.  The  bosom 
of  this  shirt  served  as  a  wallet,  to  hold  bread, 
jerk,  tow  for  wiping  the  barrels  of  his  rifle, 
or  any  other  necessary  article  for  the  warrior 
or  hunter.  The  belt,  which  was  tied  behind, 
answered  several  purposes  besides  that  of 
holding  the  dress  together.  Moccasins  for 
the  feet  and  generally  a  coon-skin  cap  were 
the  fashion.  In  wet  weather,  the  moccasins 
were  only  a  '*  decent  way  of  going  bare- 
footed," and  were  the  cause  of  much  rheu- 
matism among  the  people.  The  linsey  petti- 
coat and  bed-gown  were  the  dress  of  the 
women  in   early  times,  and  a   Sunday  dress' 


was  completed  by  a  pair  of  home-made  shoes 
and  handkerchief. 

The  people  "forted"  when  the  Indians 
threatened  them.  The  stockades,  bastions, 
cabins  and  block-house  were  furnished  with 
port-holes.  The  settlers  would  occupy 
their  cabins,  and  would  reluctantly  move 
into  the  block-house  when  an  alarm  was 
given.  The  couriers  would  pass  ai'ound  in  the 
dead  hours  of  the  night,  and  warn  the  people 
of  the  danger,  and  in  the  silence  of  death 
and  darkness  the  family  would  hastily  dress 
and  gather  what  few  things  they  could  lay 
their  hands  on  in  the  darkness,  and  hurry  to 
the  fort. 

For  a  long  time  after  the  first  settlement, 
the  inhabitants  married  young.  There  were 
no  distinctions  in  rank,  and  but  little  of  fort- 
une. A  wedding  often  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  the  whole  neighborhood,  and  the 
frolic  was  anticipated  by  old  and  young  with 
eager  expectation.  This  was  natural,  a  its 
was  the  only  party  which  was  not  accompa- 
nied with  the  labor  of  log-rolling,  building  a 
cabin  or  planning  some  scout  or  campaign. 
On  the  morning  of  the  wedding,  the  groom 
and  his  friends  would  assemble  at  tlie  house 
of  his  father,  and  they  would  proceed  to 
the  house  of  the  bride,  reaching  there  by 
noon,  and  hei'e  they  would  meet  the  friends 
of  the  bride,  and  a  bottle  race  would  ensue, 
and  the  joy  of  life  was  in  full  sway.  The 
gentlemen,  dressed  in  shoe-packs,  moccasins, 
leather  breeches,  leggins,  linsey  huntinu-- 
shirts,  and  all  home-made;  the  ladies  dressed 
in  linsey  petticoats  and  linsey  or  linen  bed- 
gowns, coarse  shoes,  stockings  and  handker- 
chiefs, and  all  home-made.  After  dinner, 
the  dancing  commenced,  and  would  generally 
last  until  daylight  next  morning.  About  10 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  a  deputation  of  youno- 
ladies  would  steal  off  the  bride,  and  ascend 
the  ladder  to  the  loft,  and  passing  softly  over 

16 


280 


HISTORY  or  UNION  COUNTY 


the  loft  floor,  which  was  made  of  clapboards, 
lying  loose,  put  the  bride  to  bed.  A  deputa- 
tion of  young  men  would  then  steal  off  the 
groom,  and  similarly  put  him  to  bed,  and 
below  the  dance  went  on.  The  next  day, 
the  "  infair"  went  on  at  the  house  of  the 
bride,  much  as  it  had  at  the  house  of  the 
groom,  and  sometimes  this  feasting  and 
dancing  was  continued  for  days. 

A  grater,  the  hominy  block,  the  hand- 
mills  and  the  sweep,  were  the  order  of  the 
coming  of  the  mechanic  arts  in  bread-mak- 
ing. Pretty  much  each  family  was  its  own 
tanner,  weaver,  shoe-maker,  tailor,  carpenter, 
blacksmith  and  miller.  The  first  water-mill 
was  a  grand  advance  in  the  comforts  of  civili- 
zation. They  were  often  called  tub-mills, 
and  consisted  of  a  perpendicular  shaft,  to  the 
lower  end  of  which  a  horizontal  wheel  of  four 
or  five  feet  in  diameter  was  attached. 

Amusements  are,  in  many  instances,  either 
imitations  of  the  business  of  life,  or  at  least 
of  some  of  its  particular  objects  of  pursuit. 
Many  of  the  sports  of  the  early  settlers  were 
imitative  of  the  exercises  and  stratagems  of 
hunting  and  war.  Boys  were  taught  the  use 
of  the  bow  and  arrow  at  an  early  age,  and  ac- 
quired considerable  expertness  in  their  use. 
One  important  pastime  of  the  boys  was  that 
of  imitating  the  noise  of  every  bird  and  beast 
in  the  woods.  This  faculty  was  a  very  nec- 
essary part  of  education,  on  account  of  its 
utility  in  certain  circumstances.  The  imita- 
tion of  gobbling  and  other  calls  of  the  turkey 
often  brought  these  keen-eyed  denizens  of  the 
forest  within  reach  of  the  rifle.  The  bleat- 
ing of  the  fawn  brought  its  dam  to  her  death 
in  the  same  way.  The  hunter  often  collected 
a  company  of  mopish  owls  to  the  trees  about 
his  camp,  and  amused  himself  with  their 
hoarse  screaming.  His  howl  would  raise  and 
obtain  a  response  from  a  pack  of  wolves,  so 
as  to  inform  him  of    their  neighborhood,  as 


well  as  to  guard  him  against  their  depreda- 
tions. This  imitative  faculty  sometimes  was 
requisite  as  a  measure  of  precaution  in  war. 
The  Indians,  when  scattered  about  in  a 
neighborhood,  often  collected  together,  by 
imitating  turkeys  by  day  and  wolves  by  night. 
And  sometimes  a  whole  people  would  be 
thrown  into  consternation  by  the  screeching 
of  an  owl.  Throwing  the  tomahawk  was 
another  sport,  in  which  many  acquired  great 
skill.  The  tomahawk,  with  its  handle  a  cer- 
tain length,  will  make  a  given  number  of 
turns  in  a  given  distance.  At  one  certain 
distance,  thrown  in  a  certain  way,  it  will 
stick  in  a  tree  with  the  handle  down,  and  at 
another  distance  with  the  handle  up.  Prac- 
tice would  enable  the  boy  to  measiu'e  with  his 
eye  the  distance  so  accurately,  that  he  could 
throw  the  ax  and  stick  it  into  the  tree  any  way 
he  might  choose.  Wrestling,  running  and 
jumping  were  the  athletic  sports  of  the  young 
men.  A  boy  when  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
of  age,  when  it  was  possible  so  to  do,  was 
furnished  with  a  light  rifle,  and,  in  killing 
game,  he  soon  could  handle  it  expertly.  Then 
he  was  a  good  fort  soldier,  and  was  assigned 
his  port-hole  in  case  of  an  attack.  Dancing, 
quiltings,  singing  schools  and  "meetin's" 
soon  were  the  amusements  of  the  yoimg  of 
both  sexes.  Shooting  at  a  mark  was  a  com- 
mon diversion  of  the  men,  when  their  stock 
of  ammunition  would  allow  ;  this,  however, 
was  far  from  being  always  the  case.  The 
modern  mode  of  shooting  off-hand  was  not 
then  in  practice.  This  mode  was  not  consid- 
ered as  any  trial  of  the  value  of  a  gun  ;  nor, 
indeed,  as  much  of  a  test  of  the  skill  of  the 
marksman.  Such  was  their  regard  to  accuracy 
in  those  sportive  trials  of  their  rifles,  and  in 
their  own  skill  in  the  use  of  them,  that  they 
often  put  moss,  or  some  other  soft  substance, 
on  the  log  or  stiunp  from  which  they  shot, 
for  fear  of  having  the  bullet  thi-own  from  the 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


281 


mark  by  the  spring  of  the  barrel.  When  the 
rifle  was  held  to  the  side  of  the  tree,  it  was 
pressed  lightly  for  the  same  reason. 

The  belief  in  witchcraft  was  so  prevalent 
among  the  early  settlers  as  to  be  a  sore  afflic- 
tion. To  the  witch  was  ascribed  the  power 
of  inflicting  strange  and  incurable  diseases, 
particularly  on  children  ;  of  destroying  cattle 
by  shooting  them  with  hair  balls,  and  a  grreat 
variety  of  other  means  of  destruction  ;  of  put- 
ting upon  guns  spells,  and  of  changing  men 
iato  horses,  and  after  bridlinor  and  saddling 
them,  riding  them  at  full  speed  over  hill  and 
dale,  to  their  frolics  and  places  of  rendez- 
vous. The  power  of  the  witches  was  ample, 
hideous  and  destructive.  Wizards  were  men 
supposed  to  possess  the  same  mischievous 
power  as  the  witches  ;  but  these  were  seldom 
exercised  for  bad  purposes.  The  powers  of 
the  wizards  were  exercised  almost  exclusively 
for  the  purpose  of  counteracting  the  malevo- 
lent influences  of  the  witches  of  the  other 
sex.  They  were  called  witch-masters,  who 
made  a  profession  of  curing  the  diseases  in- 
flicted by  the  influence  of  witches,  and  they 
practiced  their  profession  after  the  manner 
of  physicians.  Instead  of  "pill-bags, "  they 
carried  witch  balls  made  of  hair,  and  in 
strange  manner  they  moved  these  over  the 
patient,  and  muttered  an  unknown  jargon, 
and  exorcised  the  evil  spirits.  One  mode  of 
cure  was  to  make  the  picture  of  the  supposed 
witch  on  a  stump,  and  fire  at  it  a  bullet  with 
a  small  portion  of  silver  in  it.  This  silver 
bullet  transferred  a  painful,  and  sometimes 
mortal  spell,  on  that  part  of  the  witch  cor- 
responding with  the  part  of  the  portrait 
struck  by  the  bullet.  Another  method  was 
to  cork  up  in  a  vial,  or  bottle,  the  patient's 
urine,  and  hang  it  up  in  the  chimney.  This 
gave  the  witch  strangury,  which  lasted  as 
long  as  the  vial  hung  in  the  chimney.  The 
witch  had  but  one  way  of    relieving  herself 


of  any  spell  inflicted  on  her  in  any  way, 
which  was  that  of  borrowing  something,  no 
matter  what,  of  the  family  to  which  the  sub- 
ject of  the  exercise  of  her  witchcrait  be- 
longed. And  thus  often  was  the  old  woman 
of  a  neighborhood  surpi-ised  at  the  refusal  of 
a  family  to  loan  her  some  article  she  had  ap- 
plied for,  and  go  home  almost  broken-heart- 
ed, when  she  learned  the  cause  of  the  refusal. 
When  cattle  or  dogs  were  supposed  to  be  un- 
der the  influence  of  witchcraft,  they  were 
burned  in  the  forehead  by  a  branding- iron, 
or  when  dead,  burned  wholly  to  ashes.  This 
inflicted  a  spell  upon  the  witch,  which  could 
only  be  removed  by  borrowing,  as  above  de- 
scribed. Witches  were  often  said  to  milk  the 
cows.  This  they  did  by  fixing  a  new  pin  in 
a  new  towel  for  each  cow  intended  to  be 
milked.  This  towel  was  hung  over  her  own 
door,  and  by  means  of  certain  incantations, 
the  milk  was  extracted  from  the  fringes  of 
the  towel,  after  the  manner  of  milking  a  cow. 
This  only  happened  when  the  cows  were  too 
poor  to  give  much  milk.  Once  upon  a  time, 
the  German  glass-blowei's  drove  the  witches 
out  of  their  furnaces,  by  throwing  living 
puppies  into  them. 

Voudouism  was  one  of  the  miserable  su- 
perstitions of  witchcraft  that  was  largely  be- 
lieved in  early  times.  The  distinction 
between  this  and  the  original  belief  iu 
witches  is  in  the  fact  that  it  applies  wholly 
to  the  negro  conjuring.  An  African  slave 
by  the  name  of  Moreau,  was,  about  the  year 
1790,  hung  on  a  tree,  a  little  south  of  Caho- 
kia.  He  was  charged  with  this  imaginary 
crime.  He  had  acknowledged,  it  is  said, 
that  by  his  power  of  devilish  incantation, 
"  he  had  poisoned  his  master;  but  that  his 
mistress  proved  too  powerful  for  his  necro- 
mancy," and  this,  it  seems,  was  fully  be- 
lieved, and  he  was  executed.  In  the  same 
village,  ignorantly  inspired  by  a  belief  in  the 


283 


HISTORY   OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


existence  of  this  dread  power  of  diabolism, 
another  negro's  life  was  offered  up  to  the 
Moloch  of  superstition,  by  being  shot  down 
in  the  public  streets.  One  of  the  first  acts  of 
the  first  civil  Governor  of  Illinois  Territory, 
Lieut.  Tod,  was  an  order  to  take  a  convict 
nec^ro  to  the  water's  edge,  burn  him  and  scat- 
ter his  ashes  to  the  touv  winds  of  heaven,  for 
the  crime  of  voudouism.  It  was  a  very  com- 
mon feeling  among  the  French  to  dread  to 
incur  in  any  way  the  displeasure  of  certain 
old  colored  people,  imder  the  vague  belief 
and  fear  that  they  possessed  a  clandestine 
power  by  which  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  evil 
one  to  work  mischief  or  injury  to  person  or 
property.  Nor  was  the  belief  confined  to  the 
French,  or  this  power  ascribed  wholly  to 
negroes.  The  African  belief  in  fetishes,  and 
the  power  of  their  divination,  is  well  known. 
Many  superstitious  negroes  have  claimed  the 
descent  to  them  of  fetish  power  ;  the  in- 
fatuation regarding  voudouism  is  itill  to  be 
found  among  the  ignorant  blacks  and  whites. 
In  1720,  Mr.  Eeuault,  agent  of  the  "  Com- 
pany of  the  West,"  bought  in  San  Domingo 
500  slaves,  which  he  brought  direct  fi'om 
Africa  to  Illinois.  Mankind  have  been  prone 
to  superstitious  beliefs  ;  there  are  many  per- 
sons now  who  are  daily  governed  in  the  mul- 
tiplied affairs  of  life  by  some  sign,  omen  or 
augury. 

The  red  children  of  the  forest  seem  to 
have  been  as  ignorant  as  the  whites  upon  this 
subject.  The  one-eyed  Prophet,  a  brother  of 
Tecumseh,  who,  commanded  at  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe,  in  obedience,  as  he  said,  to  the 
commands  of  Manitou,  the  G-reat  Spirit,  ful- 
minated the  penalty  of  death  against  those 
who  practiced  the  black  art  of  witchcraft  or 
magic.  A  number  of  Indians  were  tried, 
convicted,  condemned,  tomahawked  and  con- 
sumed on  a  pyre.  The  chief's  wife,  his 
nephew,    Billy    Patterson,  and   one   named 


Joshua,  were  accused  of  witchcraft;  the  two 
latter  were  convicted  and  executed  by  burn- 
ing ;  but  a  brother  of  the  chief's  wife  boldly 
stepped  forward,  seized  his  sister  and  led  her 
from  the  council  house,  and  then  returned 
and  harangued  the  savages,  exclaiming  : 
"Manitou,  the  evil  spirit  has  come  in  our 
midst  and  we  are  murdering  one  another. ' ' 
It  is  a  sad  confession  to  make  that  no  white 
man  had  the  sense  and  courage  to  thus  save 
his  friends  and  family  and  rebuke  the  miser- 
able murders  that  were  being  perpetrated  in 
the  name  of  witchcraft. 

For  some  time  this  was  a  country  with 
"neither  law  nor  Gospel,"  and  for  a  long 
time  the  people  knew  nothing  of  churches, 
courts,  lawyers,  magistrates,  Sheriffs  or  Con- 
stables. Every  one  was,  therefore,  at  liberty 
"  to  do  whatsoever  was  right  in  his  own  eyes." 
Public  opinion  answered  the  place  of  church 
and  State.  The  turpitude  of  vice  and  the 
majesty  of  virtue  were  then  far  more  apparent 
than  now,  and  people  held  these  crimes  in 
greater  aversion  then  than  now.  Industry 
in  working  and  hunting,  bravery  in  war, 
candor,  hospitality,  honesty  and  steadiness  of 
deportment,  received  their  full  reward  of  pub- 
lic honor  and  public  confidence  among  these 
om'rude  forefathers,  to  a  degree  that  has  not 
been  sustained  by  their  more  polished  de- 
scendants. The  punishments  they  inflicted 
upon  offenders  were  unerring,  swift  and  in- 
exorable in  their  imperial  court  of  public 
opinion  and  were  wholly  adapted  for  the  ref- 
ormation of  the  culprit  or  his  expulsion 
from  the  community.  They  had  no  law  for 
the  collection  of  debts,  and  yet  every  man 
was  rigidly  compelled  to  sacredly  keep  his 
promises.  Any  petty  theft  was  punished 
with  all  the  infamy  that  could  be  heaped 
on  the  offender.  A  man  on  a  campaign  stole 
from  his  comrade  a  cake  out  of  the  ashes,  in 
which  it  was  baking.      He  was  immediately 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


283 


named  "  the  bread  rounds."  This  epithet  of 
reproach  was  bandied  about  in  this  way;  when 
he  came  in  sight  of  a  group  of  men,  one  of 
them  would  call,  "Who  comes  there?" 
another  would  answer,  "  The  bread  rounds." 
Another  would  say,  "Who  stole  a  cake  out 
of  the  ashes?''  when  another  would  reply 
giving  the  name  of  the  man  in  full.  And 
this  he  would  hear  during  the  campaign  and 
after  his  return  home.  If  a  theft  was  de- 
tected, the  thief  was  tried  by  his  neighbors, 
and    if  guilty  severely  whipped  and  ordered 

out  of  the  country. 

With  all  their  rudeness,  these  people 
were  given  to  hospitality,  and  freely  divided 
their  rough  fare  with  a  neighbor  or  stranger 
and  would  have  been  offended  at  the  offer 
of  pay.  In  their  settlements  and  forts, 
they  lived,  they  worked,  they  fought  and 
feasted,  or  suffered  together  in  cordial  har- 
mony. They  were  warm  and  constant 
in  their  friendships.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  were  revengeful  in  their  resentments. 
And  the  point  of  honor  sometimes  led 
to  personal  combats.  If  one  man  called 
another  a  liar,  he  was  considered  as  having 
given  a  challenge  which  the  person  who  re- 
ceived it  must  accept,  or  be  deemed  a  coward, 
and  the  charge  was  generally  answered  with 
a  blow.  If  the  injured  person  was  quite  un- 
able to  fight  the  aggressor,  he  might  get 
a  friend  to  do  it  for  him.  The  same 
thing  took  place  on  a  charge  of  cowardice  or 
any  other  dishonorable  action,  a  battle  must 
follow,  and  the  person  who  made  the  charge 
must  fight  either  the  fterson  against  whom  he 
made  the  charge,  or  any  champion  who  chose 
to  espouse  his  cause.  This  accounts  for  the 
great  difference  in  then  and  now  in  speaking 
evil  of  your  neighbors. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  we  have  given  an 
account  of  those  who  came  into  the  territory 
now   comprising  Union,  Alexander  aad  Pu- 


laski Counties  prior  to  the  year  1810.  and 
where  the  fii'st  settlements  were  made.  The 
tide  of  immigration  was  then  checked  by  the 
growing  hostility  of  the  Indians  toward  the 
whites,  and  the  prospect  of  a  general  war 
which  did  commence  in  1812.  Indian  mas- 
sacres and  outbreaks  commenced  in  1811,  and 
early  in  1812  a  most  shocking  butchery  of 
all  the  settlers  on  Lower  Cache  occurred.  A 
full  account  of  this  will  be  found  in  the 
chapter  on  Mound  City  and  Precinct. 

Mr,  George  James  came  to  this  part  of 
Illinois  in  1811,  and  settled  west  of  Jones- 
boro,  but  he  had  hai'dly  fixed  his  location 
when  he  was  warned  by  the  Indians,  and  he 
returned  to  his  old  home  in  Kentucky,  and 
after  the  war  was  over  and  a  peace  had  been 
conquered  from  the  Indians,  he  returned  to 
what  is  now  Union  County. 

Ex- Lieut.  Gov.  John  Dougherty  came  to 
this  part  of  Illinois,  in  company  with  his 
parents,  in  the  year  1811.  Like  most  of  the 
immigrants  who  came  to  Illinois  that  year, 
they  were  flying  to  the  hills  fi'om  the  great 
earthquakes.  John  Dougherty  was  of  poor 
parents,  and  when  a  lad  was  apprenticed  to 
a  hatter  to  learn  the  trade,  at  which  he 
worked  for  some  years.  He  married  the 
daughter  of  George  James,  and  lived  out  a 
long  life  among  the  people  of  Soixthern 
Illinois,  practicing  law,  and  fulfilling  the 
many  arduous  duties  of  a  politician  and 
office-holder.  He  was  State  Senator,  Circuit 
Judge  and  Lieutenant  Governor,  besides  fill- 
ino-  several  minor  positions  of  trust.  His 
politics  was  intensely  Democratic  until  after 
the  breaking-out  of  the  war.  In  1860,  he 
was  a  candidate  for  a  State  office  on  what 
Judge  Douglas  called  the  Danite  party's 
ticket.  This  party  was  known  in  Illinois  as 
the  "  Breckenridge  party,"  and  they  bitterly 
opposed  Douglas,  because  his  Democracy  was 
' '  too  weak  on  the  slavery  question. "     Out  of 


284 


HISTORY  OF  UNiON  COUNTY. 


nearly  half  a  million  votes,  Dougherty  got 
something  over  4,000.  The  election  over,  he 
issued  through  a  Cairo  paper  an  address  to 
the  world,  reading  Douglas  and  his  quarter 
million  of  deluded  followers  out  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  solemnly  warned  the 
approaching  Charleston  Convention  not  to 
admit  the  Democratic  (Douglas)  Delegates 
from  Illinois.  Mr.  Dougherty  attended  the 
Charleston  Convention,  and,  it  is  said,  made, 
from  the  steps  of  the  hotel,  after  that  conven  • 
tion  had  dissolved,  a  most  able  and  fiery 
address  to  the  Southern  people  on  the  subject 
of  the  state  of  the  country.  He  ran  upon  the 
Republican  ticket  for  Lieutenant  Governor, 
and  was  elected  and  served  out  his  term  with 
great  fidelity  to  his  party. 

When  the  war  of  1812-15  was  over,  the 
stream  of  Illinois  immigration  again  set  in, 
and  except  occasional  trouble  from  Indians, 
continued  uninterrupted,  and  we  note  the 
following  as  the  arrivals  in  what  is  now 
Union  County,  in  the  order  of  their  coming: 

1812— Thomas  D.  Patterson,  Phillipp 
Shaver,  Adam  Clapp,  Edmund  Vancil. 

Phillipp  Shaver  was  one  of  the  parties  that 
was  in  the  Cache  massacre  of  1812,  and  the 
only  one  who  escaped  alive.  He  was  badly 
wounded  by  a  blow  from  an  Indian's  toma- 
hawk, and  pursued  by  two  savages,  and  swam 
the  icy  bayou,  and  on  foot  made  his  way  to 
the  neighborhood  south  of  where  Jonesboro 
now  stands. 

Thomas  Standard,  John  Gwin,  John  N. 
Stokes,  settled  in  Section  12,  Range  1  east,  in 
the  year  1811.  Robert  Hargrave  came  the 
same  year. 

1814 — The  arrivals  included  the  following 
heads  of  the  households  and  their  families: 
George  Lawrence,  John  Harriston,  John 
Whitaker,  A.  Cokenower,  Giles  Parmelia, 
Samuel  Butcher,  Robert  W.  Crafton,  Jacob 
Wolf,  Michael   Linbaugh,  Alexander  Boren, 


Hosea  Boren,  Richard  McBride,  Thomas 
Green,  Emanuel  Penrod,  George  Hunsaker, 
George  Smiley,  Daniel  Kimmel,  Robert  Har- 
grave, John  Whitaker,  David  Cother,  David 
Brown,  Alexander  Brown,  Alexander  Boggs, 
Daniel  F.  Coleman,  Benjamin  Menees  and 
Jacob  Littleton. 

October  22,  1814,  Thomas  D.  Patterson 
entered  the  northeast  quarter,  of  Section  33, 
Township  11  south,  range  1  east,  the  first 
entry  ever  made  in  the  county.  C.  A.  Smith 
settled  near  Cobden  in  1815. 

Jesse  Echols,  who  was  appointed  by  the 
Legislature  to  fix  the  seat  of  justice  in  Union 
County,  came  to  Illinois  in  1809,  and  settled 
at  Caledonia,  and  afterward  m(;ved  into  what 
is  now  Union  County. 

Two  brothers,  Joseph  and  Ben  Lawrence, 
came  here  on  a  trapping  and  hunting  expe- 
dition in  1807.  They  were  so  pleased  with 
the  country  that  they  selected  a  home  on  Mill 
Creek,  and  one  of  them  returned  to  his  old 
home  and  brought  Adam  Clapp  and  family. 

Jacob  Lingle,  it  is  supposed,  came  in  1807. 
His  son  lives  west  of  Cobden.  In  company 
with  two  other  families,  the  Lingles  came 
down  the  Ohio  River  in  batteaus,  and  landed 
near  where  Caledonia  now  stands,  and  slowly 
continued  their  way  to  their  future  home  in 
Union  County.  Among  the  th-st  settlers  in  the 
eastern  and  southern  part  of  county  was  Geoi'ge 
Evans  and  family  Then  came  John  Brad- 
shaw,  and  Bradsbaw's  Creek  bears  his  name. 
In  1808.  John  McGinnis  and  family  settled 
near  Mt.  Pleasant. 

James  McLaln  was  born  January  8,  1783, 
in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  and  died  May  15. 
1870,  aged  eighty -seven  years  and  four 
months.  He  came  to  Illinois  and  settled 
near  Shawneetown  in  1808,  and  in  1810  came 
to  what  is  Union  County,  and  lived  here 
sixty  years.  He  was  for  years  a  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  and  Associate  Judge  of  the  County 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


285 


Court,  and  had  long  acted  as  a  Constable.  In 
his  last  years,  he  was  a  pleasant  picture  of  a 
bright  and  cheery  old  man,  who  was  a  friend 
to  everybody,  and  nothing  more  pleased  him 
than  to  get  a  good  listener,  when  he  would 
tell  over  by  the  hour  the  story  of  pioneer  life 
in  Illinois,  when  in  the  long  ago  he  had  to 
make  trips  over  all  this  vast  territory  that 
was  then  under  one  jurisdiction.  He  carried 
his  hotel  with  him  in  his  saddle-bags,  as 
often  it  was  fifty  miles  or  more  between 
houses.  He  would  stop  when  darkness  over- 
took him  and  stake  his  horse,  and  his  saddle  for 
a  pillow,  bivouac  beneath  the  twinkling  stars, 


his  lullaby  the  howl  of  the  wolves.  Like  all 
travelers  in  those  days,  even  on  horseback, 
he  had  to  carry  with  him  a  hand  ax,  to  cut 
his  way  through  the  dense,  tangled  under- 
growth that  often  obstructed  his  way.  He 
stood  upon  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  and  saw 
the  soldiers  on  their  way  to  New  Orleans  to 
whip  Packenham.  McLain  was  a  useful  cit- 
izen, and  much  resj)ected  by  all  who  knew 
him.  In  his  death,  there  passed  away  one  of 
the  landmarks  that  divide  the  past  from  the 
present.  He  will  long  be  remembered  for 
his  many  sterling  qualities  and  his  social 
disposition. 


CHAPTER   VI 


ORGANIZATION  OF  UNION  COUNTY— ACT    OF    LEGISLATUKE    FORMING    IT— THE   COUNTY   SEAL- 
COMMISSIONERS'  COURT— ABNER  FIELD— A  LIST  OF  FAMILIES— CENSUS  FROM  1820  TO 
1880— DR.  BROOKS— THE  FLOOD  OF  1844— WILLARD  FAMILY— COL.  HENRY 
L.    WEBB— RAILROADS-SCHOOLS— MORALIZING— ETC.,    ETC. 


''I  "*  HE  act  creating  Union  County  bears  date 
-^  of  January  2,  1818.  It  is  entitled 
*'  An  act  adding  a  part  of  Pope  County  to 
Johnson  County,  and  forming  a  new  county 
out  of  JotuBison  County." 

Section  1  defines  the  boundaries  of  the 
new  county  of  Johnson. 

"  Section  2.  And  be  further  enacted,  that 
all  that  tract  of  country  lying  within  the  fol- 
lowing boundary,  to  wit:  Beginning  on  the 
range  line  between  Kanges  1  and  2  east, 
at  the  corner  of  Townships  10  and  11  south, 
thence  north  along  said  range  line  eighteen 
miles  to  the  corner  of  Towns  13  and  14 
south,  thence  west  along  the  boundary 
line  between  Townships  13  and  14  south,  to 
the  Mississippi  River,  thence  up  the  Missis- 
sippi River  to  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Muddy 


River,  thence  up  the  Big  Muddy  River  to 
where  the  township  line,  between  Towns  10 
and  11  south,  crosses  the  same,  thence  east 
along  said  township  line  to  the  place  of  be- 
ginning, shall  constitute  Union  County  ; 
Provided,  that  all  that  tract  of  country  lying 
south  of  Township  13  south  to  the  Ohio 
River,  and  west  of  the  range  line  between 
Ranges  1  and  2  east,  shall,  until  the  same 
be  formed  into  a  separate  county,  be  attached 
to  and  be  a  part  of  Union  County. " 

Section  3  provides  that  the  courts  for 
the  county  shall  be  held  at  the  house  of 
Jacob  Hunsaker,  Jr. ,  until  a  permanent  seat 
of  Justice  shall  be  established  and  a  court 
hoTise  erected. 

Section  4  provides  for  the  appointment 
of  Commissioners  to  fix  the  seat  of  justice, 


286 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


and,  without  explaining  why,  provides  for 
two  sets  of  these  officials.  It  starts  out  by 
declaring  that  William  Fatridge,  James 
Bane  and  Isaac  D.  Wilcox  be  appointed 
Commissioners  to  fix  the  permanent  seat  of 
justice.  It  then  proceeds  to  say  that  George 
AVolf,  Jessee  Echols  and  Thomas  Cox  are 
appointed  Commissioners  to  fix  the  perma- 
nent seat  of  justice,  etc. 

The  first-named  Commissioners  are  not 
recognized  as  of  the  old  settlers  of  Union 
County,  while  the  other  Commissioners  are. 
And  in  addition  to  this,  Wolf,  Echols  and 
Cox  did  proceed  at  once  to  fulfill  the  position 
as  their  report  following  shows  : 

To  the    HonoTabLe    the   Jusliceg  of   the  Cowitij   Court    nf 

Union : 

The  undersigned  Commissiones,  appointed  by  the 
Legislature  of  Illinois  Territory,  for  the  purpose  of 
designating  a  seat  of  justice  for  said  county,  report  as 
follows  :  That,  they  met  at  the  time  and  place  men- 
tioned in  the  law  establishing  said  county,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  examine  and  to  take  into  view  the  most  cen- 
lal,  convenient  and  eligible  spot  for  the  same,  that 
they  have  chosen  and  designated  to  (your?)  Honors, 
the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  No.  30,  in  Township 
12,  Range  1  west,  and  that  they  have  received  a  deed 
of  conveyiince  for  twenty  acres,  the  donation  required 
by  law,  to  which  you  are  referred  for  particulars. 

They  also  beg  leave  to  designate  and  recommend  the 
center  of  said  donation  as  the  suitable  place  for  the 
erection    of  the  public  buildings.     Given    under    our 
liundsand  seals  this  2oth  day  of  February,  1818. 
(Signed)         .1.   Echols, 

George  Wolf, 
'  Thomas  Cox. 

The  first  Commissioners  were  not  residents 
of  the  county  of  Union,  and  as  the  bounda- 
ries of  Johnson  and  Pope  had  been  dis- 
turbed in  order  to  fix  the  new  county,  it  is 
probable  they  were  to  look  after  any  change 
that  might  be  necessary  to  make  in  these 
older  counties. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  first  part  of  the 
act  describes  the  boundaries  of  Union  County 
exactly  as  they  are  now,   and  it   calls  this 


original  boundary  lino  as  including  Union 
County,  and  then  the  proviso  goes  on  to 
attach  to  this  county  and  make  a  part  thereof, 
"  until  a  new  county  is  formed,"  all  of  what 
is  now  Alexander  County,  and  a  large  por- 
tion of  Pulaski  County.  Union  County,  there- 
fore, extended  to  the  junction  of  the  rivers  at 
Cairo  and  the  major  part  of  Pulasl^i  County 
until  Alexander  County  was  formed,  which 
act  passed  the  Legislature  March  4,  1819,  at 
which  time  Union  County  assumed  exactly 
the  boundary  lines  that  she  now  has. 

The  land  mentioned  in  the  report  of  the 
Commissioners  above  given  for  a  county  seat 
belonged  to  John  Grammer.  On  the  25th  of 
February,  1818,  be  and  his  wife,  Jviliet,  duly 
executed  a  deed  donating  ' '  to  the  Justices  of 
the  County  Court  of  Union  County,"  the 
following  described  lands  :  "Being  a  part  of 
the  northeast  quarter  oi  Section  30,  Town 
12,  Range  1  west;  beginning  near  the  north- 
west corner  of  said  section  at  a  stake  and  a 
dogwood  tree;  thence  running  south  6  poles 
2  links;  thence  east  18  poles  24  links;  thence 
south  21  poles  2  links;  thence  east  28  poles 
23  links;  thence  north  60  poles;  thence  west 
to  the  beginning."  This  is  the  tract  of  land 
that  the  Commissioners,  fixing  the  county 
town,  say  they,  "  beg  leave  to  designate, 
and  recommend  the  center  of  said  donation  as 
the  suitable  place  for  the  erection  of  the 
public  buildings." 

The  county  seal  when  explained,  tells  how 
the  county  came  to  be  named  Union.  The 
figures  upon  the  seal  represents  two  men 
standing  up  and  shaking  hands.  One  of 
them  is  dressed  in  the  old-fashioned  shad- 
bellied  coat  and  vest,  broad  brimmed  hat, 
and  long  hair.  The  other  is  in  the  conven- 
tional ministerial  suit.  It  represents  a  meet- 
ing of  a  Baptist  preacher  named  Jones,  and 
George  Wolf,  aDunkard  preacher,  mentioned 
in  another  place,  asone  of  two  men,  first  in 


HISTOEY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


287 


this  county.  Jones  had  been  holding  a  re- 
mai'kable  series  of  meetings,  and  Wolf  and  he 
met,  shook  hands,  and  agreed  to  hold  or  con- 
tinue the  meeting,  the  two  joining  in  the  work, 
and  calling  it  a  Union  Meeting.  This  was 
held  in  what  is  now  the  southeast  portion  of 
the  county.  The  seal  illustrating  this  his- 
toric incident  in  the  county  was  designed 
and  adopted  by  the  County  Commissioners  in 
1850,  and  it  was,  it  is  said,  the  suggestion  of 
Gov.  Dougherty.  The  meeting  of  these  pio- 
neer preachers  that  thus  became  historical, 
probably  occurred  about  1816  or  1817. 

A  County  Commissioners'  Coui-t  for  the  new 
county  was  elected,  and  consisted  of  Jesse 
Echols,  John  Grammer,  George  Hunsaker, 
Abner  Keith  and  Rice  Sams.  They  met, 
organized  and  held  the  first  court  at  Hunsak- 
er's  house,  as  the  law  directed,  March  2, 
1818.  The  com-t's  first  official  act  was  to 
accept  John  Grammer' s  donation,  and  name 
the  town  Jonesboro. 

Abner  Field  was  Clerk  of  this  court,  and 
Joseph  Palmer  was  the  first  Sherifl"  of  the 
county.  The  Clerk  certifies  that  on  the  2d 
day  of  February,  1818,  George  Hunsaker, 
William  Pyle,  John  C.  Smith,  Rice  Sams, 
Abner  Keith,  Jesse  Echols  and  John  Brad- 
shaw  were  each  commissioned  by  the  Gover- 
nor as  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  Union  County, 
and  the  oath  was  taken  and  they  entered  upon 
their  official  duties.  Robert  Twidy  was  the 
first  Constable. 

The  court  declared  the  road  leading  from 
Elvira  to  Jackson  and  from  Penrod's  to  El- 
vira, public  roads,  and  David  Arnold,  Will- 
iam Pyle,  George  Hunsaker,  Ephraim  Voce 
and  Henry  Larmer  appointed  Road  Overseers 
and  Viewers.  Robert  H.  Loyd  was  licensed 
to  open  a  tavern.  The  first  county  order 
ever  issued  was  one  for  $2  to  Samuel  Penrod 
for  a  wolf  scalp.  The  Constables  for  the 
county  were  John  Wenea,  William   Shelton, 


Samuel  Butcher,  Samuel  Hunsaker  and  Wil- 
lie Sams.  This  court  realized  that  the  main 
stay  of  life  was  "  suthin  "  to  eat  and  drink, 
and  with  a  wise  forethought  that  is  to  be  for- 
ever commended,  they  oi'dered  that  the  price 
of  whisky  should  be  12^  cents  per  half  pint; 
rum,  50  cents  ;  brandy  50  cents;  dinner,  sup- 
per and  breakfast,  25  cents  each;  bed,  12| 
cents;  horse  to  stand  at  hay  and  corn  all  night, 
Zl^  cents. 

Thus,  the  young  county  was  full  blown, 
and  was  well  started  on  her  future  great 
career.  Courts  and  officei's  were  in  their  po- 
sitions, and  the  roads  arranged  for,  and  the 
price  of  meat  and  drink  regulated  to  a  nicety. 
Who  was  here  to  enjoy  all  its  blessings,  fell 
the  great  forest  trees  and  open  farms,  kill 
the  wolves  and  wild  animals  and  tame  and 
civilize  and  make  habitable  for  their  descend- 
ants this  great  wilderness? 

A  record  of  "marks  and  brands,"  opened 
at  once  after  the  county  was  organized,  sh :  we 
the  following  were  here  and  were  interested 
in  domestic  animals.  Jacob  Wolf,  George 
Wolf,  Edmund  Vancil,  William  Dodd, 
Samuel  Hunsaker,  Michael  Linbough,  David 
Brown,  William  Thornton,  Wilkinson  Good- 
win, Edmond  Hallimon,  Joseph  Hunsaker, 
William  Pyle.  William  Grammer,  Rice  Sams, 
Abram  Hunsaker,  Thomas  Sams,  Benjamin 
Menees,  John  Mcintosh,  George  Hunsaker, 
James  Brown,  Jeremiah  Brown,  John  Weigle, 
Christopher  Hansin,  Isaac  Vancil,  R.  W. 
Crofton,  John  Cruse,  James  Jackson,  George 
Smiley.  Joseph  Palmer,  George  James,  Rob- 
ert Hargrave,  John  Hargrave,  John  Hunsaker, 
John  AVhitaker,  Johnson  Som^rs,  Charles 
Dougherty,  Joel  Boggess,  Jonas  Vancil, 
Emanuel  Penrod,  John  Stokes,  Samuel  Pen 
rod,  Cliflf  Hazlewoo  1  and  John  Kimmell. 

Those  who  had  entered  land  that  lies 
within  the  county  up  to  and  including  the 
year   1818  were  John  Yost,  Wilkinson  Good- 


288 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


win,  George  Hunsaker,  William  Thornton- 
John  Huusaker,  John  Miller,  George  Law- 
rence, Henry  Clutts,  Christian  Miller,  James 
Mesam,  John  Harriston,  John  Kimmell,  John 
Frick,  Edmond  Holeman,  Adam  Clapp.  John 
Miller,  George  Devolt,  Michael  Dillon,  John 
Grammer,  Benjamin  Memees,  John  Miller, 
Michael  Halhouser,  John  Hartline,  Anthony 
Lingle,  John  Whitaker,  Phillipp  Shaver, 
Phillipp  Paulus,  William  Worthington,  John 
Bradshaw,  John  Saunders,  John  R.  McFar- 
land,  John  Tyler,  Joseph  Waller,  Joseph 
Walker,  A.  Cokenower,  Andrew  Irwin,  Giles 
Parmelia,  Samuel  Butcher,  Samuel  Penrod, 
Eobert  W.  Grafton,  Edward  Vancil,  John 
Gregory,  Jacob  Lingle,  Israel  Thompson, 
Adam  Cauble,  Jacob  Rentleman,  Jacob  Wei- 
gle,  George  Wolf,  Miehean  Linbough,  Jon- 
athan Hasky,  Joseph  Barber,  Lost  Cope, 
John  Cope,  Barber,  Isaac  Biggs.  Alexander 
Biggs,  the  Meisenheimers,  John  Eddleman, 
Thomas  Mcintosh,  Cornelius  Anderson,  Du- 
vall  Lence,  John  Lence,  Benedict  Mull,  Pe- 
ter Casper,  John  Wooten,  Anthony  Lingle, 
David  Crise,  William  Morrison,  Robert  Crof- 
ton,  Jacob  Hileman,  David  Miller,  A.  Cruse, 
Abraham  Brown,  John  Knupp,  Andrew 
Smith,  David  Meisenheimer,  Josej)h  Smith, 
Thomas  H.  Harris,  Richard  McBride,  S, 
Lewis,  Thomas  Green,  Benjamin  J.  Harris, 
Jacob  Trees,  Joseph  Palmer,  Thomas  Green, 
David  Kimmel,  Alexander  P.  Field,  Anthony 
Morgan,  James  Ellis,  Joseph  McElhany 
Abner  Field,  Thomas  Deen,  Rice  Sams,  Dan- 
iel Spence,  William  Craigle,  David  Miller, 
George  Cripe,  Isaac  Cornell,  Nicholas  Wil- 
son. Henry  Bechtle,  Thomas  Bechtle,  Thomas 
Lanes,  John  Uri,  Stephen  Donahue,  Jacob 
Littleton  and  S.  W.  Smith. 

From  the  best  estimation  we  have  been  en- 
abled to  make,  there  was  here,  in  what  is  now 
Union  County,  a  population  of  1,800  souls. 
About  one-third  of  the  families  were  at  that 
time  freeholders. 


The  official  census  of  1820  shows  a  popu- 
lation of  2,362.  In  the  year  1830,  it  had 
increased  to  3,239;  in  1840,  to  5,524;  in 
1850,  the  population  rose  to  7,615;  in  1860. 
to  11,181;  in  1870,  to  16,518,  and  in  1880, 
to  18,100.  The  smallest  increase  was  from 
1820  to  1830,  which  was  a  little  over  1,000, 
and  the  largest  increase  of  any  decade,  from 
1860  to  1870,  was  5,337.  This  is  ac- 
counted for  by  the  fact  that  it  was  the  period 
of  the  coming  of  the  railroad — a  ray  of  light 
let  in  upon  the  eternal  darkness.  The  com- 
pletion of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  in 
August.  1855,  from  Anna  to  Cairo,  and 
finally  to  Dubuque,  and  then  on  the  1st  day 
of  January,  1856,  the  time  of  the  first  through 
train  on  schedule  time,  from  Chicago  to 
Cairo,  was  an  era  in  the  county's  history. 

The  tide   of    emigration  here  was  never  in 

a  strong:  and  swollen  stream,  as  it  was  in  the 

.  .      .  .   * 

northern  portion  of   Illinois,  and  yet  it  was 

constant  and  increasing,  as  the  census  re- 
turns above  given  show.  The  county's  growth 
has  been  a  slow,  yet  a  steady  and  healthy 
one,  and  it  has  never  suffered  from  what  is 
often  a  serious  condition  of  affairs  in  locali- 
ties where  the  rush  of  people  has  been  very 
great,  and  a  sudden  turn  in  affairs  would 
produce  a  widespread  distress  and  suffering, 
and  a  turbulent  and  restless  population. 

The  first  marriage  nu  the  county  records 
was  John  Murry  and  Elizabeth  Latham,  by 
John  Grammer,  on  the  26th  of  February, 
1818.  On  the  7th  of  April,  1818,  John  Wel- 
don,  Esq.,  certifies  that  he  married  James 
Latham  and  Margaret  Edwards,  on  the  2d. of 
March.  Joseph  Painter  and  Elizabeth  Brown 
were  manned  on  the  26th  of  April,  1818,  by 
George  Hunsaker.  Samuel  Morgan  and  Re- 
becca Casey  were  married  by  Abner  Keith, 
Esq.,  on  the  28th  of  May,  1818.  July  3, 
1818,  Francis  Parker  and  Catharine  Clapp 
were  married  by  George  Wolf,  the  Dunkard 
preacher,  and,  by  the  records,  the  first  min- 


HISTORY  OF  UNTOX  COUNTY. 


280 


ister  who  performed  the  ceremony  in  the 
-coiinty.  August  6,  same  year,  Allen  Crawl 
and  Catharine  Vancil  were  married  by  the 
same  minister.  September  24,  1818,  John 
Rupe  and  Lydia  Brown  were  married  by 
John  Grammer.  December,  same  year,  Eli 
Littleton  and  Ede  Hughes  were  married  by 
AVolf.  This  includes  the  entire  list  of  mar- 
riages of  1818,  as  the  record  shows. 

The  next  year,  1819,  there  was  quite  a 
falling  oif  in  the  activity  of  the  marriage 
market,  there  being  but  two  weddings  the 
•entire  year.  These  were  David  Callahan  and 
Elizabeth  Roberts,  February  25,  and  Isaac 
Finley  and  Polly  Hargrave,  March  17. 

In  looking  further  along  in  the  records,  we 
lind  the  Dunkard  preacher  Wolf  had  per- 
formed four  marriages  in  1818,  and  he  only 
made  his  returns  to  the  County  Clerk  in  1820. 
His  certificate  reads  as  follows:  "I  did,  on 
7th  of  June,  1818.  join  in  marriage,  as  man 
and  wife,  William  McDonald  and  Mary  Mc- 
Lane,  and  Henry  Johnston  and  Nancy  Ath- 
erton.  all  of  the  aforesaid  county."  Strictly 
speaking,  the  good  old  Dunkard  married  the 
double  couple  as  men  and  trives,  and  not,  as 
he  states,  as  ''man  and  wife."  But  we  are 
told  the  marriage  return  was  good  and  strong 
enough,  and  each  couple  picked  themselves 
out  of  the  jumble,  and  were  happy  and  con- 
tent. 

The  year  1820,  however,  showed  a  cheer- 
ful state  of  activity  in  the  line  of  courting 
and  marrying.  We  can  account  for  this  be- 
cause it  was  leap  year,  and  the  dear  girls 
were  resolved  to  "make  hay  while  the  sun 
shines."  John  Russell  and  Percy  Huston 
opened  the  ball,  by  marrying  on  the  3d  of 
February;  Daniel  Ritter  and  Elizabeth  Iseno- 
gle,  March  2;  Peter  Sifford  and  Leyah  Mull, 
February  20;  Jacob  Hunsaker  and  Elizabeth 
Brown,  March  9;  A.  H.  Brown  and  Sarah 
Mathes,  June  19;  William  Ridge  and  Esther 


Penrod,  July  30;  Abraham  Hunsaker  and 
Polly  Price,  May  20;  George  Dougherty  and 
Rachean  Hunsaker,  August  3;  John  Biggs 
and  Sarah  Cope,  September  1;  William 
Clapp  and  Phoebe  Wetherton,  September  8; 
George  Lemen  and  Susan  Lasley,  October 
2;  John  Price  and  Nancy  Vancil,  Octol^er  5; 
John  Leslie  and  Catharine  Wigel,  and  Peter 
Wolf  and  Margaret  James,  Messiah  O'Brien 
and  Charlott  Hotchkiss,  Daniel  T.  Coleman 
and  Lucy  Craft,  Samuel  Dillon  and  Margaret 
Lingle,  December  26. 

In  the  year  1835,  the  county  had  the  cen- 
sus taken,  and  a  careful  count  showed  there 
were  4,147  persons  in  the  county — 2,100 
males,  and  the  remainder  females.  There 
were  forty-seven  negroes.  Only  one  person 
over  eighty  years  of  age,  five  shoe-makers  and 
saddlers,  one  tailor,  two  wagon -makers,  two 
carpenters,  and  one  cabinet-maker  (supposed 
to  be  a  man  named  Bond),  two  hatters  (one  of 
whom  was  James  Hodge)  eleven  black- 
smiths, three  tan-yards  (one  Jaccord's, 
south  of  Jonesboro,  and  the  other, 
Randleman's,  north  of  the  town),  twelve 
distilleries,  two  threshing  machines,  one 
cotton  gin,  one  wool-carding  machine  (Jake 
Frick's),  one  horse  and  ox  saw  mill,  eighteen 
horse  and  ox  grist  mills,  two  water  sawmills, 
and  five  water  grist  mills.  Of  the  shoe- 
makers, were  John  Blatzell,  David  Spence, 
John  Thames  and  Wesley  G.  Nimmo.  The 
tailor  probably  was  William  Kaley,  and 
George  Krite  and  David  Masters  were  the 
wagon-makers,  and  John  Rinehart  was  one  of 
the  carpenters. 

The  venerable  Mrs.  Mcintosh  came  to  the 
county  in  1817,  settling  south  of  Jonesboro. 
Her  husband,  John  Mcintosh  and  one  child, 
now  Mrs.  Malinda  Provo,  constituted  the 
family.  There  were  two  others.  Mrs.  Mc- 
intosh was  a  married  woman  with  a  child 
seven  years  old  when  she   came   to  this  wild 


290 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


territory.  She  has  lived  here  sixty-four 
years,  and  her  physical  strength  is  unusual, 
considering  her  great  age.  Her  neighbors, 
she  remembers  at  first,  were  John  Grammer, 
Robert  Hargrave,  Samuel  Hunsaker,  Rice 
Sums,  Thomas  Sams,  Daniel  Kimmel,  James 
Ellis,  George  Wolf,  Jacob  Wolf,  Winsted 
Davie,  Joseph  McElhany,  John  Meuees,  Har- 
ris Randleman,  Willis,  Elijah  and  William 
Willard,  Geoi'ge  Weigle,  Wiley  Davidson, 
David  Miller,  J.  S,  Cabb,  Jei-emiah  Brown 
and  Mr.  Verble. 

Her  recollection  is  that  the  nearest  carding 
machine,  and  where  they  had  to  go  to  get 
their  wool  carded,  was  at  Jackson,  Mo. — a 
trip  that  it  took  three  days  to  make.  Mr. 
Verble  had  a  water  grist  mill  seven  miles 
southeast  of  Jonesboro.  The  only  lumber 
then  was  cut  with  whip-saws.  The  woods 
were  full  of  an  undergrowth  of  the  pea  vine. 
A  man  named  Griffin  taught  a  school  near 
the  spring  south  of  Jonesboro,  in  a  small 
log  cabin ;  af tex'ward  Winstead  Davie  taught 
the  same  school,  and  then  Willis  Williard 
taught  there  for  some  time. 

Dr.  B.  W.  Brooks  lived  about  half  a  mile 
south  of  Jonesboro.  He  was  a  man  pos- 
sessed of  a  thorough  classical  education,  and 
had  traveled  and  mingled  with  cultured  so- 
ciety, and  read  and  studied  the  best  authors  un- 
til he  was  an  accomplished  scholar  and  was  a 
well-informed  physician.  His  family  were 
possessed  of  ample  means,  and  it  must  have 
been  a  singular  impulse  for  the  fascinations 
of  the  wilderness  that  could  have  induced 
him  to  woo  fortune  here  and  spend  his  life 
among  a  rough  and  unlettered  })eople.  A 
strong  mind,  a  finished  classical  and  profes- 
sional education,  of  polished  and  courtly 
manners,  when  he  felt  the  necessity  of  so  be- 
ing, it  seems  strange  that  he  preferred  the 
rough  and  hard  life  of  a  pioneer,  and  was 
often  ready  to  lay   all  his  accomplishments 


aside,  and  with  the  keenest  zest  enjoy  his  un- 
couth surroundings.  He  was  possessed  of  a 
fine  vein  of  humor,  and  his  practical  jokes, 
sometimes  very  rough  indeed,  were  inex- 
haustible. He  had  an  extensive  practice  all 
over  this  part  of  the  country,  and  his  reputa- 
tion as  a  physician  was  wide  and  of  the  high- 
est order.  He  was  one  of  the  early  County 
Commissioners,  was  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature, and  filled  numerous  minor  official 
positions.  His  love  of  fun  and  his  keen 
sense  of  the  ridiculous  were  evenly  balanced, 
and  it  was  the  delight  of  his  life  to  get  some 
Yahoo  into  a  conversation  and  put  the  whole 
village  into  a  roar  over  his  making-up  with 
his  new  acquaintance  and  so  shrewdly  would 
he  quiz  the  fellow  that  he  would  soon  con- 
vince him  that  he  was  a  native  of  the  particular 
neighborhood  that  "  greeny  "  had  come  from, 
and  finally  that  they  were  close  blood  relatives. 
Often  he  would  call  a  stranger  into  the  tav- 
ern and  agree  to  give  him  $5  to  let  him 
abuse  him  as  much  as  he  pleased  for  one 
hour.  The  conditions  being  that  if  the 
stranger  tired  of  his  bargain  and  did  not 
stand  out  the  hour  that  he  was  to  give  back 
the  money.  It  is  said  he  always  got  his 
money  back  in  the  course  of  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  and  sometimes  a  fight  to  boot;  and 
the  Doctor  would  enjoy  one  about  as  well  as 
the  other.  One  of  the  first  Irishmen  that 
came  to  Union  Covmty  had  the  usual  ready 
Irish  wit  and  repartee,  and  he  was  a  great 
admirer  of  Dr.  Brooks,  and  many  was  the 
bout  at  chaffing  that  they  had  when  the  Irish- 
man would  come  to  town.  One  day  the  Doc- 
tor told  him  how  they  caught  the  wild  Irish, 
by  putting  potatoes  in  a  barrel  with  a  bole 
just  large  enough  for  them  to  get  their  hand 
in,  and  they  would  reach  in  and  grab  a  po- 
tato,and  with  this  in  their  hand  they  were  tight 
and  fast.  By  the  time  the  story  was  told  the 
Irishman  was  fighting  mad. 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOJ^   COUXTY 


291 


In  looking  over  some  of  Dr.    Brooks'  old 
papers  are  found  the  following   graphic  and 
interesting  account  of  the  high  waters  in  the 
Mississippi:      "The  Mississippi  commenced 
rising  on  the   18th   of   May,  1844,  and  con- 
tinued rising  at  the  rate  of  two  feet  to  thirty 
inches  in  twenty-four  hours,  until  the  1st  of 
June,   at    which  time  it  stood  within  eight 
inches    of  the  flood  line  of   1808.       By  the 
10th  of  June  it  fell  five  or  six  feet,  and  left 
the  farms  in  the  bottom   all   free  of  water. 
The  bottom  farms  had  been  more  or  less  cov 
ered  with  water  except  that  of  Jacob   Trees. 
On  the  11th  of  June,  the  waters  commenced 
to  rise  again,  the  flood  coming  down  the  Mis- 
souri and  Mississippi    Rivers,  and  this  time 
it  rose  from  one  foot  to   eighteen  inches  in 
twenty-four  hours.      This  rise  steadily  con- 
tinued until  it  overflowed  the  bottom  land  in 
Union  County  from   eighteen  to  thirty  feet 
deep.     This  was  the  depth   of  the  water  on 
-  ihe  road  to  Littleton's  old  ferry,  and  also  to 
Willard's  landing.      Stock,  crops,  houses  and 
fences    were    carried     away    in   th«   raging 
waters.      The   people  made  great  efforts  to 
save  their  stock,  and  called  to  their  aid  ferry 
and    coal    boats    and   all  floating  craft,  but 
soon  they  found  they  could  only  hope  to  save 
a  few  of  their  household  effects,  and  the  stock 
was  left  to  its  fate  and  the  people  fled  to  the 
hills.       This  rise    continued  steadily   until 
June  29,  when  it  came  to  a  stand.       On  the 
1st  of  July  it   commenced  slowly  to  recede. 
This  was  higher  water  than  that  of   1808  by 
ton  or  twelve  feet.       It  was  higher  than  was 
ever  known,  except  in  1785,  which  Beck  says 
in  his  history  was  the  highest  waters   in  150 
years.       Mr.  Cerre,  one  of  the  oldest  French 
settlers  of  St.    Louis,  said:    'The  flood  was 
higher  by  four  or  five  feet  in   1785  than  in 
1844.      In  1844.  the  steamer   Indiana  trans- 
ported the  nuns  from  the  Kaskaskia  Convent 
to  St.  Louis.     The  boat  recei\'^d  them  from 


the  door  of  Pierre  Menard's  residence,  the 
water  in  front  of  the  house  being  fifteen  feet 
in  depth.  Two  hundred  people  went  from 
Kaskaskia  on  the  Indiana,  and  about  300 
found  shelter  at  Menard's,  while  yet  others 
were  sheltered  in  tents  on  the  blufis.  The 
loss  in  the  bottoms  was  at  least  $1,000,000. 
From  Alton  to  Cairo  there  were  288,000 
acres  of  land  overflowed.  In  Randolph 
County  is  a  document  soliciting  a  grant  of 
lots  from  the  crown  of  France,  and  m-ging  as 
a  reason  the  great  flood  of  1724,  which  over- 
flowed the  village  and  destroyed  it.  Great 
overflows  occurred  in  1542,  1724  and  1785, 
and  in  1844.  The  Mississippi  bottoms  are 
now  very  clean,  as  everything  is  washed  off 
and  many  of  the  small  trees  are  killed." 

Dr.  Brooks  died  September  12,  1845,  aged 
fifty-three  years.  His  widow,  Lucinda 
Brooks,  survived  and  died  in  1881,  16th  of 
July,  aged  eighty- one  years. 

Mrs.  Nancy  Hileman  came  in  1817,  with 
her  father's  (George  Davis)  family.  She  was 
then  twelve  years  old,  and  for  an  active, 
healthy  old  lady,  her  long  life  here  of  sixty- 
six  years  tells  a  strong  story  in  behalf  of  the 
health  of  Union  County. 

Elijah  Willard  came  to  Union  County 
in  the  year  1820,  a  poor  boy,  with  a  scanty 
education,  and  he  was  the  only  support  of  his 
widowed  mother  and  three  small  children. 
The  coming  of  this  family  was  the  most  val- 
uable acquisition  to  the  community  it  prob- 
ably over  made.  At  a  glance,  this  boy  realized 
the  imperative  wants  of  a  rude  people,  and 
he  laid  the  foundations  of  society  upon  which 
have  been  reared  the  structure  we  behold  to- 
day. He  was  the  architect  and  founder  that 
converted  an  almost  unorganized  and  igno- 
rant gathering  of  trappers  and  hunters  into  a 
commercial  and  agricultural  community,  with 
all  the  arts  and  science  of  a  splendid  civili- 
zation.    Before   Elijah   Willard    came,   the 


293 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


people  hunted  game  for  food,  and  exchanged 
peltries  and  honey  for  the  few  articles  of 
commerce  that  were  necessary  to  their  sim- 
ple, scanty  lives.  He  saw  that  highways  to 
the  world's  market  were  the  only  road  to  the 
change  that  must  be  brought  among  the  peo- 
ple, and  he  therefore  obtained  leave  and  built 
the  tiirnpike  across  the  bottom  to  the  river, 
and  opened  "  Willard's  Ferry,"  and  showed 
the  people  that  they  could  raise  produce  and 
export  it,  and  that  by  selling  and  buying  in 
the  markets  they  could  surround  themselves 
with  all  the  comforts  of  life.  He  not  only 
pointed  out  the  way.  but  he  worked  out  his 
designs,  and  by  opening  the  largest  and  best 
farm  in  the  county  demonstrated  that  there 
were  higher  walks  in  life  than  baiting  bears 
and  gathering  coon-skins.  He  led  the  way, 
and  the  people  followed,  and  he  lived,  short 
as  was  his  great  life,  long  enough  to  see  the 
merchandise  that  could  once  be  carried  in  its 
importation  on  a  pack-mule,  rise  to  such  pro- 
portions that  his  anmial  sales  were  more  than 
$100,000.  When  would  the  people  without 
Willard  have  discovered  that  the  key  to  civ- 
ilization and  a  powerful  community  of  farm- 
ers, merchants,  laborers,  manufactui'ers,  and 
the  arts  and  sciences  lay  in  the  direction  of 
the  open  doors  of  such  markets  as  St.  Louis, 
New  Orleans,  Cincinnati  and  New  York? 
And  he  opened  the  way.  We  now  look  upon 
the  great  change,  and  how  few  know  to  whom 
they  owe  these  blessings?  In  the  little  more 
than  twenty  years  of  his  active  life,  he  gave  the 
people  ideas  and  public  improvements  that 
will  continue  to  be  invaluable  benefits  for 
generations  yet  to  come.  He  was  the  master 
spirit  of  Union  County  while  he  lived,  and 
his  influence  will  be  here  when  we  are  all 
gone  and  forgotten.  How  incomparably 
greater  is  such  a  life  than  are  all  the  Napo- 
leons, Bismarcks  or  Alexanders  that  Aver 
lived!     His  life  was  as  different  and  as  much 


greater  than  these  men  as  it  is  better  than  the 
modern  millionaires  of  the  Gould  kind  who 
gather  in  colossal  fortunes  by  gambling — 
pulling  down  and  not  building  up  a  people. 
He  had  saved  from  a  small  salary  $250,  and 
with  this  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  house 
of  Willard  &  Co.,  and  had  so  perfectly  reared 
the  superstructure  that  at  his  death  his 
brother  was  enabled  to  carry  out  his  designs. 

It  would  only  bespeak  on  the  part  of  the 
people  of  Union  County  a  just  appreciation 
of  the  benefits  the  life  of  Elijah  Willard 
has  been  to  them  to  place  in  some  of  its 
public  buildings  a  full-sized  portrait  of  him. 
No  act  could  be  more  appropriate  to  his  mem- 
ory. No  public  expression  of  gratitude  could 
be  more  just. 

Willis  Willard. — Jonathan  Willard,  a  sol- 
dier in  the  war  of  1812,  came  down  the  Ohio 
River  from  Pittsburgh,  and  landed  at  Bird's 
Point  in  1817.  From  here  he  went  to  Cape 
Girardeau,  where  he  died  the  same  year, 
and  left  his  widow,  Nancy,  with  four  children 
— Elijah,  Willis,  Anna  and  William.  The 
widow  with  her  children  came  to  Jonesboro, 
and  in  great  poverty  commenced  the  serious 
struggle  for  life.  Elijah  was  old  enough  to 
commence  clerking  in  a  store  in  Jonesboro, 
and  in  a  few  years  he  bought  out  his  employer 
and  associated  with  himself  his  brother  Wil- 
lis. In  1836,  Elijah  was  made  Internal  Im- 
provement Commissioner  for  the  State  of 
Illinois.     He  died  in  1848,  of  consumptiun. 

The  Williard  family  is  of  English  origin, 
and  dates  back  in  this  country  to  the  first  col- 
onists of  Massachusetts,  Simon  Willard  hav- 
ing landed  in  Boston  in  1634. 

Willis  Willard  was  born  in  Windsor  Coun- 
ty, Vt.,  March  20,  1805.  He  died  May 
12,  1881.  He  was  but  eleven  years  old  when 
he  came  West,  and  had  but  little  schooling, 
and  but  few  opportunities  for  educating  him- 
self in  this  new  country.     His  mother    came 


HISTORY  OF   UNION  COUNTY. 


293 


to  Jonesboro  in  1820,  and  he  was  a  clerk  for 
different  merchants  until  he  was  twenty-one 
years  old.  He  took  charge  of  his  brother's 
business  at  his  death,  and  rapidly  rose  to  be 
the  greatest  merchant  in  Southern  Illinois. 
He  continued  to  merchandise  for  forty-three 
years,  and  the  fame  of  the  house  of  Willard 
&  Co.  extended  over  the  entire  country.  He 
sold  goods  and  operated  extensively  in  real 
estate.  At  one  time  he  owned  13,000  acres 
of  land  in  Union  County.  He  retired  from 
active  business  in  1873,  the  owner  of  4,000 
acres  of  the  choicest  lands  in  the  county,  and 
other  property,  making  a  total  of  over 
$500,000. 

For  a  long  lifetime,  he  was  the  foremost 
man,  not  only  in  his  county,  but  in  Southern 
Illinois,  in  every  enterprise  tending  to  pro- 
mote the  material  and  intellectual  interests 
of  the  people.  He  erected  many  of  the  best 
business  and  private  houses  in  Jonesboro. 
In  1836,  he  built  the  first  steam  saw  and 
grist  mill  that  was  ever  in  the  county.  In 
1853,  realizing  the  wants  of  Union  County, 
he  built  at  his  own  expense  a  female  semi- 
nary in  Jonesboro,  and  sent  to  Boston  and 
brought  two  lady  teachers  to  take  chai'ge  of 
the  institution.  For  years  this  was  a  flour- 
ishing school,  and  gave  the  people  excellent 
facilities  for  educating  their  daughters,  with- 
out being  compelled  to  send  them  to  the  dis- 
tant and  expensive  seminaries  of  the  country. 
His  enterprise  and  benevolence  went  hand  in 
hand.  He  was  not  a  politician,  and  although 
often  tempted  and  persiiaded,  could  never  be 
induced  to  accept  office;  yet,  in  local  politics, 
he  often  took  a  deep  interest,  and  here,  when 
he  so  desired,  he  wielded  a  master  hand.  He 
was  a  consistent  Democrat  all  his  life,  but  in 
political  friend  or  foe  he  respected  iionor 
and  woi-th,  and  despised  all  frauds  and 
shams,  and  for  pretentious  demagogues  he 
had  neither  respect  nor  patience. 


In  1835,  he  was  married  to  Frances  Webb, 
and  of  this  marriage  there  were  eleven  chil- 
dren, live  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Henry, 
the  eldest,  who  had  become  a  successful  mer- 
chant in  Jonesboro,  died  in  1865,  aged 
twenty- eight  years. 

Willis  Willard's  princely  fortune  was  the 
accumulations  that  come  of  those  sterling 
lousiness  qualities  and  sound  judgment  that 
wronged  no  man,  but  tended  to  aid  and  build 
up  all  around  him.  His  word  was  never 
questioned,  his  good  advice  and  ripe  judg- 
ment was  freely  extended  to  all,  the  humblest 
as  well  as  the  highest.  To  his  many  em- 
ployes, he  was  a  most  generous  master,  and 
a  duty  well  performed  was  not  overlooked, 
but  remembered  and  rewarded.  After  a  life 
of  unreniittinc:  toil  and  tireless  energrv,  the 
declining  years  allotted  him  were  spent  in 
that  quiet  retirement  which  he  so  well  had 
earned.  And  when  the  summons  that  awaits 
us  all  finally  came,  he  folded  in  peaceful 
content  those  once  strong  and  bounteous 
hands  upon  a  breast  stilled  of  the  desires, 
hopes,  loves  and  hates  of  this  world,  and 
went  peacefully  to  his  fathers.  May  his 
memory  linger  for  aye,  as  a  benison  to  the 
good  people  of  Union  County. 

Mrs.  Nancy  Willard,  the  mother  of  Wil- 
lis Willard,  died  February  12,  1874, 
aged  ninety-nine  years  ten  months  and  five 
days,  one  of  the  noblest  women  that  ever 
came  West.  Left  poor,  with  four  young  chil- 
di'en  her  whole  life  was  her  children's,  with 
a  devotion  that  never  ceased,  and  in  the  rising 
fortunes  of  her  children  and  grand-children 
was  her  whole  life-thought  and  labor.  For 
half  a  century  she  was  widely  known  as 
"Mother  Willard,"  and  probably  above  all 
women  that  ever  lived  in  Union  County  de- 
served that  appellation  of  love.  She  was 
wise,  earnest,  active  and  charitable;  she  was 
the  friend,  the  "  mother  "  indeed  of  all  who 


294 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


needed  aid  and  comfort.  She  sought  and 
cared  for  the  poor  orphans  with  ceaseless 
anxiety,  and  it  is  said  in  her  just  praise  that 
no  human  being  ever  appealed  to  her  for  aid 
in  vain.  In  every  relation  of  life  she  was 
conspicuous  and  great;  a  lovfng  mother,  a 
dear  friend,  an  earnest,  good  Christian,  full 
of  charity  and  forgiveness  for  all.  For  sev- 
enteen years  before  death,  she  was  blind; 
her  other  faculties  were  unimpaired.  Her 
end  was  peace  and  joy.  She  had  wanted  to 
fill  out  the  even  hundred  years  of  life,  but 
the  summons  came  only  a  few  days  before 
the  full  century  was  reached,  but  she  was 
ready  and  willing  to  go;  she  had  prepared 
"or  it  moie  than  fifty  years  before  it  came. 
A  long  life,  a  valuable  life,  a  life  the  world 
could  but  illy  have  spared.  What  a  sweep 
of  great  events  and  changes  that  one  life 
witnessed.  She  well  remembered  the  sur- 
render of  Yorktown,  and  the  rejoicing  over 
the  acknowledgment  of  our  nation's  inde- 
pendence by  Great  Britain,  in  1783.  She  was 
sixteen  years  old  when  our  national  Consti- 
tution was  adopted,  and  thirty -one  years  old 
when  Napoleon  ceded  to  the  United  States 
the  French  possessions  in  America.  She  was 
forty- two  years  old  when  Napoleon  was  ban- 
ished to  St.  Helena,  and  fifty-three  when  La- 
fayette visited  America.  She  had  seen  Illi- 
nois grow  from  a  wilderness  of  wild  beasts 
and  Indians  to  a  great  State  of  over  three 
millions  of  people.  She  had  seen  those  who 
saw  the  Pilgrims  who  landed  at  Plymouth 
Rock,  from  the  Mayflower.  Blessed  "  Mother 
Willard!"  Hail,  and  farewell! 

The  manner  of  home  life  and  labor  about 
the  cabins  of  the  early  settlers  is  to  some  ex- 
tent well  illustrated  by  the  following  account 
of  a  piece  of  goods  shown  us  by  Judge  Daniel 
Hileman.  It  is  a  cotton -linen  bed  spread, 
and  made  sixty-five  years  ago  in  this  county 
by  his  mother  and  sister.       "With   their  own 


unaided  hands  these  good  women  planted  the 
seed,  both  of  the  cotton  and  the  flax,  tended, 
gathered  and  did  everything  in  the  prepar- 
ation of  the  fiber  in  order  to  make  it  into 
cloth,  and  then  wove  and  bleached  it,  and 
although  it  is  now  sixty-five  years  old,  it  is 
as  white  as  driven  snow  and  soft  and  strong 
of  texture,  and  as  smuoth  as  any  goods  that 
can  be  made  by  the  best  of  modern  improve- 
ments. The  nimble  fingers  that  so  deftly 
spun  and  wove  this  now  interesting  relic 
have  been  still  upon  their  pulseless  bosoms 
these  many  years,  and,  we  confess,  in  con- 
templating the  piece  of  goods  we  were  car- 
ried back  to  those  ancient  days  when  the 
humble  cabins  of  our  fathers,  each  and  all 
presented  these  scenes  of  "  the  good  dames, 
well  content,  handling  the  spindle  and  the 
flax."  This  relic,  telling  its  simple  story  of 
the  dead,  is  now  more  precious  than  fine 
gold;  of  itself  it  is  a  history  of  the  domestic 
life  of  those  brave  and  hardy  people  who  im- 
periled their  lives  in  the  preparation  of  this 
smiling  land  of  happy  homes  for  us  and  ours, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  when  Judge  Hileman's 
family  can  no  longer  keep  and  care  for  this 
precious  memento  it  may  go  into  the  care  of 
the  Government,  the  State,  or  some  historical 
society,  or,  perhaps  best  of  all,  into  the  care 
of  Union  County,  and  be  encased  in  glass, 
with  a  carefully  prepared  history  of  it,  even 
to  the  minutest  details,  where  it  may  be  kept 
as  a  reminder  and  a  monitor  for  the  genera- 
tions to  come  in  the  future  centuries. 

There  are  not  many  facts  now  attainable 
by  which  we  are  enabled  to  write  the  history 
of  the  growth  of  those  ideas  that  have  carried 
our  people  forward  in  civilization.  We  can 
only  guess,  mostly,  about  those  important 
events  that  worked  strong  influences  upon 
the  general  mind.  They  were  a  people  that 
made  as  few  records  for  our  study  and  in- 
spection as  possible.     It  seems  strange,  that 


¥il 


"    "t'  "■^•'l'' 


HISTORY  OF  UN^ION  COUNTY. 


297 


among  all  those  early  pioneers  there  was  so 
little  care  for  what  their  posterity  might  be 
able  to  learn  about  them.  That  there  was 
no  Herodotus  to  jot  down  the  details  of  every 
movement  of  the  people,  and  realize  that  the 
most  trilling  and  tiresome  details  would  now 
be  of  intense  interest  So  far  as  we  can  now 
learn,  in  the  three  counties  of  Union,  Alex- 
ander and  Pulaski,  there  were  only  two  men 
who  wrote  down  their  observations  and  ac- 
counts of  events  that  passed  before  their 
eyes — Dr.  B.  W.  Brooks  and  Col.  Henry  L. 
Webb.  Dr.  Brooks'  papers  and  records  are 
scattered,  and  many,  doubtless,  lost;  and  we 
almost  accidentally  came  across  his  account  of 
the  high  water  of  1844,  which  we  publish  else- 
where. And  we  are  indebted  to  Mrs.  M.  M. 
Goodman,  of  Jonesboro,  for  some  invaluable 
reminiscences  of  Col.  Henry  L.  Webb,  which 
he  had  written  out  concerning  the  early  set- 
tlement of  what  is  now  Pulaski  County,  and 
for  the  perusal  of  which  we  refer  the  reader 
to  the  history  of  that  county,  in  another  part 
of  this  work. 

The  living  but  seldom  realize  in  what  light 
their  humble  lives  may  be  reflected  upon 
posterity.  They  know  that  they  are  deeply 
interested  in  the  story  of  their  fathers,  but 
they  never  dream  that  such  will  also  some 
day  be  the  case  of  their  own  descendants 
about  them.  To  their  minds  their  fathers 
were  important,  great  and  good  men,  while 
they  themselves  and  their  suiToundings  are 
insignificant  and  wholly  worthless.  Hence 
tbe  vagueness  and  imperfection  of  any  his- 
tory of  the  human  race  that  can  ever  be  wi-it- 
ten.  And  just  here  comes  in  the  one  great- 
est loss  to  the  human  race.  To  know  the 
true  history  of  mankind  is  to  have  nearly  all 
knowledge;  for,  indeed,  this  "history  is  phi- 
losophy teaching  by  example."  It  is  not  the 
dates  and  days  of  supposed  great  events  that 
constitute  any  part  of  history.     Battles,  earth- 


quakes, floods,  famines,  the  birth  of  empires 
and  the  death  of  kings,  are  interesting  events 
to  know,  but  they  are  little  or  no  part  of 
true  history,  because  real  history  is  an  ac- 
count of  the  human  mind — how  it  has  been 
affected,  what  influenced  it  to  march  forward 
in  the  path  of  civilization,  or  caused  it  to 
recede  or  stand  still  and  stagnate.  It  is  the 
doings  of  the  mind,  and  not  so  much  the  acts 
of  the  body,  that  constitute  history.  And 
what  data  has  the  student  now  for  the  gain- 
ing of  this  divine  knowledge  ?  Could  such  a 
book  be  written,  it  would  be  worth  a  million 
times  all  that  ever  yet  came  from  tbe  print- 
ing press.  The  present  century  has  produced 
two  or  three  minds  that  weie  great  enough 
to  grasp  this  truth,  and  the  work  of  re-writing 
the  world's  history  has  now  commenced. 
And  the  scant  marerials  will  some  day  be 
worked  out  and  fashioned  by  great  minds. 
If  we  had  a  complete  chronology,  or  the  full 
statistics  of  all  the  nations  that  have  lived, 
there  would  soon  come  men  who  could  write 
almost  the  true  history — the  tragic  storv^  of 
the  ebb  and  flux  of  civilization.  Hence  the 
loss,  the  irreparable  loss,  of  all  those  details 
and  statistics  about  a  people  that  constitute, 
not  their  histoiy,  but  their  chronoloo-y — the 
instruments  and  materials  which,  in  the 
hands  of  a  real  historian,  can  be  made  into 
history— a  text-book  superseding  all  the 
school  books,  the  schools,  colleges  and  uni- 
versities in  the  world.  True,  with  all  the 
materials  ready  to  hand,  no  mere  chronicler 
could  then  write  history,  because  he  must  be 
a  philosoper,  indeed,  in  order  to  trace  cause 
and  effect  upon  the  general  mind;  not  only 
such  things  as  had  strong  effects,  but  to  go 
deep  enough  to  attach  cause  and  effect  together, 
wherein  circumstances  or  events  are  to  the 
ordinary  mind,  not  only  widely  separated, 
but  so  distant  as  to  apparently  have  no  pos- 
sible connection. 


298 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUNTY. 


By  all  this  disconnected  moralizing  we 
only  desire  to  impress  upon  the  reader  that 
some  time  it  may  be  many  years  after  he  has 
passed  away,  there  will  come  the  future  his 
torian,  who  will  be  prying  into  the  circum- 
stances of  his  times,  and  even  with  a  sharper 
interest  than  we  are  now  tm-ning  over,  perusing 
and  gathering  up  all  the  details  of  those  who 
have  preceded  us,  and  putting  it  in  a  story 
for  the  pleasure  and  instructions  of  the  yet 
unborn  generations.  Preserve  old  files  and 
records  and  papers;  then,  and  yet  more,  when- 
ever there  is  an  accident,  an  unusual  season, 
an  event  of  any  kind,  even  trifling  circum- 
stances, go  and  do  as  Capt.  Cuttle,  "  when 
found,  make  a  note  on't. " 

An  extended  account  of  the  two  railroads 
passing  through  TTninn  County  may  be  found 
in  the  chapter  on  railroads,  in  the  history  of 
Cairo,  in  another  part  of  this  volume.  A  fact 
illustrating  how  the  most  trifling  circum- 
stances sometimes  produce  important  results 
is  given  in  the  first  operations  of  building 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  The  engineers 
had  sm'veyed  the  line  just  where  the  road 
runs.  The  people  of  Jouesboro,  that  is,  a 
few  of  them,  became  solicitous  about  the  road 
not  being  suiweyed  through  Jonesboro.  A 
self-appointed  committee  of  two  or  three 
of  the  people  of  that  ancient  town  waited  on 
the  engineer,  Ashley,  and  had  an  extended 
interview  with  him.  They  explained  what  they 
wanted,  and  insisted  that  from  the  "  pass  " 
where  the  road  would  cross  the  hills  north 
of  this,  a  shorter  and  as  good  a  line  could  be 
found  via  Jonesboro,  as  by  the  sui'vey  made. 
Mr.  Ashley  finally  agreed  that  if  the  town 
would  pay  §50  to  defray  the  expense  of  a 
survey  by  that  route,  he  would  order  one 
made.  The  committee  reported  to  the 
people,  but  so  confident  were  they  that  the 
road  must  touch  their  town,  that  they  would 
not  contribute  a  cent  for  the  survey.      They 


felt  certain  the  survey  as  made  and  this  offer 
of  a  new  one,  was  only  a  weak  attempt  to 
get  money  from  them  for  nothing.  They  re- 
fused to  give  the  money,  and  the  result  is  the 
town  of  Anna  came  into  existence,  and  has 
finally  outstripped  the  old  town  in  the  race  of 
life.  Had  the  road  been  built  through  Jones- 
boro, it  is  easy  enough  to  believe  that  it 
would  have  had  many  more  people  in  it  to- 
day than  there  are  now  in  both  the  towns. 
For  many  years,  Jouesboro  was  the  leading 
town  in  Southern  Illinois.  It  has  lost  that 
prestige.  It  is  possible  it  could  not  have 
kept  in  the  van  under  any  circumstances,  but 
one  thing  is  certain,  had  the  road  been 
built  there  it  would  have  made  a  thrifty, 
rich  and  prosperous  little  city.  This  would 
have  gi'eatly  benefited  the  whole  county,  as 
it  would  have  tended  to  bring  people  here  of 
energy,  capital  and  enterprise,  and  the  farm- 
ers of  the  county  would  have  kept  pace  to 
some  extent  with  the  prosperity  of  the  town. 
In  the  end.  Jonesboro  lost  the  Central  road, 
and  in  years  after  subscribed  S50,000  to  the 
Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  that  now  passes 
through  the  place,  but  as  if  fate  was  against 
it,  there  has  sprung  up  several  little  towns 
about  it  that  more  or  less  divide  the  trade  of 
the  place  instead   of  helping  to  build   it  up. 

Schools. — In  another  chapter  we  have 
spoken  at  some  length  of  the  early  schools  in 
the  first  settlement  of  the  county.  They  were 
somewhat  slow  to  come,  and  they  did  not 
seem  to  grow  and  floui'ish  to  any  great  extent 
when  they  did  come. 

The  law  requires  that  school  directors  shall 
report  the  number  of  persons  between  twelve 
and  twenty-one  years  of  age  who  cannot  read 
and  write.  The  United  States  census  of  18S0, 
and  the  school  census,  show  a  strange  incon- 
sistency on  this  point.  The  former  report 
the  number  of  persons  under  twenty-one  in 
the  county  at  9,878.      The  school  census  re- 


HISTORY  OF  rXlOX   COUNTY. 


299 


ports  it  at  9,564.  The  school  census  reports 
the  number  of  persons  who  cannot  read  and 
wi'ite  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  twenty- 
one  at  130.  The  Government  census  reports 
this  class  of  persons  at  658,  the  last  t^ives 
those  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  twenty- 
one.  This  is  a  glaring  discrepancy,  and  we 
have  no  hesitation  in  adopting  the  Govern- 
ment report  as  much  nearer  the  truth.  Union 
County  is  not  any  worse  in  this  respect  than 
the  counties  of  the  State  generally.  Not  nearly 
so  bad  as  many.  For  instance,  Jasper  re- 
ports twenty-three  illiterates,  and  the  Gov- 
ernment reports  for  that  county  534,  who  can- 
not read  and  write.  We  do  not  believe  in 
compulsory  education,  and  yet  we  con- 
fess it  is  not  a  cheering  sign  to  see  a  large 
per  cent  of  illiterates.  It  is  a  misfortune  for 
any  people  to  have  very  many  who  cannot  read 
and  wi'ite,  but  it  is  a  greater  misfortune  to 
the  individual  sufifererthan  the  body  politic; 
but  so  is  it  a  misfortune  to  have  poor  health, 
poor  teeth  or  a  bald  head.  It  is  a  misfortune 
to  have  young  men  grow  to  maturity  without 
any  of  those  refinements  and  polish  that  make 
social  life  so  pleasant,  but  you  cannot  legis- 
late away  the  clowns  and  roughs,  though  their 
presence  may  mar  society  never  so  much.  We 
have  too  much  law  concerning  the  schools 
already  and  too  little  education.  A  compul- 
sory school  law  has  been  practiced  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe  for  generations.  It 
can  hardly  be  said  to  be  an  experiment.  If 
it  corrects  the  evil  of  illiteracy,  and  in  return 
gives  us  the  much  greater  ills  of  a  paternal 
government,  where  are  the  benefits?  There 
are  always  a  class  of  men  who  are  infinitely 
more  dangerous  to  society  than  are  those  who 
cannot  read  and  write.  These  are  the  reform 
fanatics,  who  would  legislate  away  all  evils, 
and  legislate  into  force  all  morals.  They  see 
a  real  or  an  imaginary  wrong  esistirg,  and 
they  fiy  to  the  Legislature  and  call  for  a  police- 


man to  remedy  the  wrong.  They  know  no 
power  for  good  except  the  brute  force  of  gov- 
ernment. The  same  class  of  men  a  few  \ears 
ago  were  in  power  in  most  of  the  governments. 
They  made  the  blue  laws  of  New  England, 
and  talked  in  a  heavenly,  pious  twang,  and 
burned  poor  old  helpless  women  for  witches, 
and  murdered  hundreds  of  thousands  of  other 
people  for  the  shocking  crime  of  heresy. 
Power  in  the  hands  of  such  lunatics  is  indeed 
a  menace  to  mankind.  They  have  no  more 
idea  of  the  part  and  province  of  a  o"overn- 
ment  than  has  an  enraged  bull-  dog  of  human- 
ity and  justice.  It  is  not  a  great  while  since 
these  fanatics  had  a  compulsory  church  at 
tendence  law  in  Scotland,  and  policemen  ap- 
pointed to  visit  the  houses  and  see  that  every 
one  attended.  Did  they  have  a  doubt,  think 
you,  that  they  could  legislate  people  into 
heaven  ?  The  work  of  forming  strong  pater- 
nal governments  has  been  going  on  for  six 
thousand  years,  at  least,  and  the  supreme 
evil  that  has  afflicted  mankind  in  all  these 
centuries  has  been  over- legislation — too  much 
law,  too  much  interference  with  the  people, 
too  many  government  officials,  too  much  of 
governments  trying  to  do  what  only  individ- 
uals can  do  for  themselves.  Tliat  man  is  not  fit 
for  the  noble  duty  of  self-government  who 
thinks  government  ever  did  or  ever  can  legis- 
late men  either  into  morals,  religion  or  educa- 
tion. That  man  is  insufferably  ignorant  who 
does  not  know  that  the  only  way  to  make  men 
good,  and  to  cleanse  him  from  all  evils  is  to 
first  remove  his  ignorance.  It  is  ignorance 
that  has  brought  into  this  world  all  our  woe. 
An  ignorant  man  is  a  menace  to  a  community. 
But  simply  to  know  how  to  read  and  write  is 
not  a  proof  of  the  absence  of  ignorance.  If 
people  had  the  correct  ideas  of  schools  and 
education,  there  would  not  be  a  child  (except 
idiots)  that  would  grow  to  the  age  of  twelve 
in  the  land  but  that  could  read  and  write.  It 


300 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


is  no  more  trouble  to  teach  any  child  to  do 
this  than  it  is  to  teach  it  to  eat  with  a  knife 
and  fork.  When  people's  ignorance  is  re- 
moved, they  will  no  more  grow  children 
that  cannot  read  and  write  than  they  will 
who  cannot  dress  themselves,  or  talk,  or 
play  the  innocent  and  healthy  plays  of  chil- 
dren. A  compulsory  law  to  wash  the  child's 
face  and  comb  its  hair  might  now  be  neces- 
sary in  say  an  average  of  one  family  to  a 
coimty.  Reading  and  writing  are  not  edu- 
cating; they  are  simply  a  species  of  training 
and  of  themselves  of  no  higher  grade  than 
those  of  ordinary  acts  of  politeness,  cleanli- 
ness or  decency.  An  ignorant,  savage  peo- 
ple must  have  a  school,  if  their  children  ever 
learn  to  read  and  wi'ite,  but  no  civilized  fam- 
ily has  to  have  any  such  assistance.  And 
you  may  mark  it  well,  that  the  day  is  either 
now  here  or  it  is  very  near,  when  such  a 
thing  as  people  sending  their  children  to 
school  to  learn  to  read  and  write  will  be  as 
unknown  as  is  now  the  custom  of  sending 
them  out  to  be  washed  and  their  heads 
cleaned.  The  reader  who  feels  his  own  con- 
victions outraged  by  these  sentiments  is  most 
respectfully  requested  to  turn  back  and  ex- 
amine carefully  over  again  the  definition  of 
the  word  education.  What  is  it  ?  Not  as  the 
dictionaries  will  tell  you  e  from,  and  duco  to 
lead.  You  can  get  no  idea  from  the  defini- 
tion you  will  find  in  the  dictionaries  of  wbat 
the  real  meaning  of  the  word  is.  "  To 
lead  from  ignorance  "  is  like  the  old  defini- 
tion of  heat  as  the  absence  of  cold,  and  cold, 
then,  would  be  the  absence  of  heat.  You 
might  study  such  definitions  a  thousand 
years  and  you  would  not  have  nearly  so  good  a 
definition  of  heat  as  the  child  when  it  tells 
you    "  it    burns."     Ask    any    man  you  meet 


what  education  is,  and  the  chances  are  ninety- 
nine  in  a  hundred  he  will  tell  you  so-and-so 
is  highly  educated,  because  he  can  read  Latin 
and  Greek,  when  the  facts  are  a  man  may 
read  all  the  dead  and  living  languages  of  the 
world  and  still  not  be  educated  at  all — still 
be  very,  very  ignorant.  You  cannot  think, 
much  less  talk,  intelligently  about  education 
unless  you  first  know  the  full  and  true  mean- 
ing of  the  word.  Education  is  getting  knowl- 
edge, and  knowledge  is  understanding  the 
mental  and  physical  laws.  We  start  you  on 
the  way  of  mastering  the  understanding  of 
the  word  education.  You  can  pursue  it  and 
follow  it  out  to  its  complete  understanding  if 
you  so  desire. 

The  School  Superintendent  of  Union  Coun- 
ty, W.  C.  Rich,  in  a  report  to  the  State 
Superintendent  in  18S4,  says: 

"  Irregularity  of  attendance  in  country 
schools — this  can  only  be  met  by  a  compul- 
sory act.  The  object  of  the  free  school  sys- 
tem is  to  give  every  child  of  school  age  a 
common  school  education,  but  in  the  absence 
of  a  compulsory  law,  the  object  of  a  free 
school  system  will  never  be  accomplished." 

In  Union  County  there  are  three  brick 
schoolhouses,  sixty  frame  houses  and  eleven 
loghouses,  making  a  total  number  of  school- 
houses  seventy  four.  One  new  one  was  built 
in  1882;  of  these  are  seven  graded  schools. 
Number  of  male  teachers  in  graded  schools, 
10;  females,  15.  Number  of  male  teachers  in 
uncrraded  schools,  52;  number  of  females, 20; 
making  the  total  number  of  teachers  in  the 
county  97. 

Certainly  a  creditable  showing  as  to  both 
the  number  of  houses,  teachers  and  pupils  in 
a  county  of  only  a  little  over  18,000  popula- 
tion. 


HISTORY  or  UNION  COUNTY, 


301 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR  — GOVERNOR  REYNOLDS— EARLY  COURTS  — FIRST  TERM  AND  OFFICERS- 
DANIEL  P.  COOK— CENSUS  OF  1818— COUNTY  OFFICERS  TO  DATE— ABNER  AND  ALEXANDER 
P.   FIELD— WINSTED  DAYIE— YOUNG   AND    M' ROBERTS— VISITING    AND    RESIDENT 
LAWYERS  — GRAND    JURIES    PUNCHED— HUNSARER'S  LETTER —WAR  BE- 
TWEEN  JONESBORO   AND   ANNA  — COUNTY   VOTE,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"Ambition  sighed;  she  found  it  vain  to  trust 
The  faitliless  column,  and  the  crumbling  bust." 

TN  the  early  organization  of  a  county, 
-*-  especially  away  back  in  the  history  of 
Illinois  to  1817,  the  date  of  the  formation  of 
this  county,  the  coui'ts,  and  their  short  bi- 
ennial sessions,  the  judges,  the  judges'  great. 
ness  and  dignity  that  those  people  readily 
conceded  the  judicial  toga,  the  lawyers,  as 
they  traveled  over  the  large  circuits,  through 
the  many  large  and  sparsely  settled  counties, 
were  objects  of  much  awe  and  admiration 
among  the  people.  Even  the  Clerks  of  the 
Courts,  the  Sheriffs,  the  foreman  of  the  grand 
jury,  as  well  as  other  petty  officers  about  the 
court  house,  who,  by  virtue  of  their  official 
positions,  could,  on  tei-m?  of  apparent  great 
familiarity,  exchange  a  few  words  with  the 
Judge  and  the  lawyers,  were  temporarily 
greatly  enlarged  and  magnified,  and  perhaps 
envied  sometimes  by  the  common  crowd. 
But  soon  after  the  organization  of  each 
county  came  the  local  lawyer,  the  permanent 
dweller  at  the  county  seat,  and  thus  some  of 
the  glamour  that  invested  the  profession  of 
the  law  passed  away.  Their  numbers  in- 
creased, and  as  law  and  politics  were  then 
synonymous  terms,  and  they  still  more  mixed 
among  the  people,  and  coaxed  and  wheedled 
them  out  of  their  votes,  kissing  the  babies, 
pattfng  the  frowzled-headed,  dirty- faced 
youths  on  the  head,  talking  taffy  to  the  vain 
old  mothers,  hugging,  like  a  very  brother. 


the  voters,  and  dividing  with  them  their 
plug  tobacco,  and  making  spread-eagle  stump 
speeches  everywhere  and  upon  all  occasions, 
and  upon  the  slightest  opportunities,  and 
thus  still  more  of  the  awe-inspiring  great- 
ness of  the  profession  passed  away.  Thus,  in 
the  long  process  of  time,  a  lawyer  came  to  be 
only  a  human  being,  and  even  the  high  Judge, 
as  the  boy  said  about  the  preacher,  "nothing 
but  a  man."  But  the  fact  remains  that  in 
the  early  settlement  of  the  State,  and  in  the 
formation  of  the  county  municipalities,  these 
legal  gentlemen  had  very  much  to  do  in 
those  initiatory  steps  that  have  shaped  and 
fashioned  the  destiny  of  both  the  State  and 
the  counties  that  transformed  this  wilderness 
of  wild  men  and  wild  beasts  into  the  fourth 
commonwealth  in  this  cluster  of  great  and 
growing  States,  and  from  this  vantage-point 
our  State  is  entered  in  the  race  for  the  tliird 
place,  then  the  second  place,  and  then  the 
great  goal  of  first  place  in  the  galaxy  of 
States.  The  finger-marks  of  these  founders, 
and  largely  the  architects  of  the  early  State 
polity  that  has  so  swiftly  led  to  these  as- 
tounding results,  are  to  be  seen  everywhere, 
and  the  meed  of  praise  is  justly  theirs  for 
this  beneficent  foresight,  patriotism  and  un- 
yielding integrity  that  have  stood  like  beacon 
lights  upon  the  troubled  waters,  when  the 
storms  raged  and  beat  upon  the  ship  of 
State. 

Amonij  the  earliest  of  the  Illinois  lawyers, 


302 


HISTOKY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


who  at  one  time  lived  in  the  county  that  then 
included  what  is  now  Uoion  County,  was 
John  Reynolds- -the  Old  Ranger.  The  ap- 
pellation of  Old  Ranger  was  given  him  for 
his  great  services  in  the  soldiery  that  fought 
the  Indians.  In  the  early  days,  these  soldiers 
were  mounted  men,  and  often  they  were 
designated  in  their  military  capacity  as 
rangers. 

Gov.  John  Reynolds  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  came  to  Illinois  and  located  in 
Kaskaskia  in  the  year  1800.     Only  eighteen 
years  after  the  first  American    flag  had  been 
unfurled  over  all  this  territory,  and  the  land 
had  become  a  part  and  parcel  of    the  posses- 
sions   of     the    United    States,    under    Lieut. 
Todd,  who  had  been  commissioned  by  Gov. 
Patrick  Henry  to  come  here,  take  possession 
in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  and  put  in 
force  aod   operation    the  principles   of    our 
present    free    and    enlightened  Government. 
Gov.  Henry  wrote   this   important   document 
within  hearing  of  the  booming  of   the  guns 
of  the  Revolution.     The  Governor  appointed 
a  messenger  to  bear  the  important   commis- 
sion  to   Lieut.  Todd,  who  was    fighting    the 
Indians  and  British  somewhere  in  the  North- 
west, and  it  took  the    bearer  nearly  or  quite 
a   year   to   find   Todd    and    invest  him  with 
the    important   authority  of  organizing    and 
establishing   upon    an    enduring    basis    the 
benign  government  that  now  blesses  so  many 
people  of  the  great  Mississippi  Valley.     Thus 
it  was  the  soldier,  Lieut.  Todd,  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  a  free  government  here,  and 
upon  this   foundation  has   risen  the   grand 
superstructure  we  now  behold,  and,  as  before 
remarked  in  this  work,  a  great  deal  of  credit 
is  due  the  early  lawyers  of  Southern  Illinois, 
and  among  the  earliest  and  mo"3t  valuable  of 
these,  to  the  then  young  Territory,  was  John 
Reynolds,  whose  life,  after  he  came  here,  was 
spared  to  us  sixty-five  years.     He  was  a  re- 


markable man  in  many  respects.     The  writer 
hereof  first  saw  him  in  1844,  and  to  his  boy- 
ish eyes  the  Old  Ranger  was  the  one  great 
man  that  he  ever  expected  to  see.     He  was 
tall,  slim,  erect,  with  classical  features,  soft, 
white  hair,   moderate  mutton-chop  whiskers 
of  the  same  color,  with  a  wonderfully  pene- 
trating, restless  gray  eye.     It  was  a  warm  day, 
and  he  had  his  coat  off,  and  his  shirt  collar 
unbuttoned,    and  was  battling  for   Polk   for 
President.     He  talked  rapidly,  and  held  the 
closest  attention  of  the  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren present,  ever  and  anon  appealing  per- 
sonally and  by  name  to  some  voter   in  the 
audience,  and  always  addressing  him  by  his 
given  name,  and  so  adroitly  did  he  manage 
this,  that  by  the   time   he  would  finish   his 
speech  he  had  thus  appealed  to  about  every 
voter  in  his  audience.     It  was  told  of  him, 
that  in  aboiit  every  county  in  Southern  Il- 
linois he  could  pass  through  them  on  an  elec- 
tioneering tour,  and  shake  hands  with  every 
voter  he  met,  and    call    him,   by   his   given 
name.      His  knowledge  of  men,  his  ready  wit, 
his  practical,  shrewd  sense,  his  big,  warm  and 
generous  heart,  and    incorruptible  integrity 
both    in    private    and   public    life,  were  the 
som-ces  of    his  invincible    power  among  the 
people.     When  the  least  bit  embarrassed,  he 
had  a  singular  way  of  rubbing  his  hand  down 
over  his  face  and  at  the  same  time  giving  his 
nose  a  slight  pull.     His  speeches  were  some- 
what in  a   familiar    conversational   manner, 
and  interjected  with  side  remarks  that  were 
explanatory  and  often  intensely  amusing.   In 
many  respects   he    was    admirably  equipped 
for  a  great   and  successful   demagogue,  and 
for  sixty- five  years  he  plied  his  vocation  to 
such  an  advantage   that    he   occupied    from 
time  to  time  nearly  all  the  exalted  positions 
in  the  State,  as  well  as  Financial  Agent  of 
the    State    in   negotiating  the  Internal  Im- 
provement Loan  of  $4,000,000  to  Europe. 


HISTORY   OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


303 


It  is  not  proposed  here  to  give  a  detailed 
biography  of  the  Old  Ranger,  for  this  is  a 
familiar  subject  to  all  our  people.  His  last 
years  among  us  was  the  happy  rounding  out 
of  a  well-spent  and  valuable  life.  And  when 
started  once  upon  his  favorite^  theme,  the 
venerable  old  kindly  face  would  kindle  and 
flame  with  recollections  of  the  pioneer  times 
and  people,  and  his  talk  became  as  intensely 
interesting  as  his  fund  of  incident  and  anec- 
dote seemed  inexhaustible,  and  of  him  and 
about  him  there  was  current  among  the  people 
nearly  an  equal  fund  of  anecdote.  These 
the  old  Govex'nor  never  referred  to  in  his 
conversations,  especially  that  one  in  refer- 
ence to  his  sentencing,  while  on  the  circuit 
bench,  a  man  to  be  hung:  "Mr.  Green,"  said 
the  Judge,  addressing  the  prisoner,  "  the  jury 
and  the  law  have  found  you  guilty  of  murder. 
I  am  very  sorry  for  you  Mr.  Grreen.  I  wish 
you  would  send  word  to  your  friends  down  on 
Flat  Creek  that  it  was  the  jury  and  the  law, 
and  not  me,  that  sentenced  you  to  be  hung. 
What  day  would  suit  you  best  to  be  hung, 
Mr.  Green?  Well,  1  will  do  all  I  can  for 
you.  The  law  permits  me  to  extend  your  life 
four  weeks  and  I  will  give  you  all  the  time  I 
can."  Then  addressing  the  clerk  he  said  : 
* '  Mr.  Clerk,  I  wish  you  would  look  at  the 
almanac  and  see  If  next  Friday  four  weeks 
comes  on  Sunday"? "  "  You  see,  I  don't  want 
to  hang  you  on  Sunday,  Mr.  Green."  And 
thus  this  really  sad  and  afflicting  duty  of  this 
kind-hearted  official  was  gotten  through  with. 
Green  was  duly  hung,  but  his  friends  on  Flat 
Creek,  as  Green  exhorted  them  from  the 
scaffold  to  do,  always  afterward  voted  for  the 
Old  Ranger  unanimously. 

The  old  Governor  would  often  in  his 
speeches,  especially  if  there  were  ladies 
present,  tell  the  story  about  his  riding  along 
the  road  one  day  in  the  early  time,  and  coming 


and  wagon.  He  finally  asked  her  opinion  of 
the  counti-y.  "Oh;  well,"  said  the  good 
dame,  "  it  seems  to  be  good  enough  for  men 
and  dogs,  but  is  powerful  tryin'  on  women 
and  oxen." 

The  first  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  convened 
in  Union  County  was  in  Jonesboro,  at  the  house 
of  Jacob  Hunsaker,  May  11,  1818;  Daniel 
P.  Cook,  Presiding  Judge.  A  picture  of 
this  pioneer  court  room  and  the  gathering  of 
the  people  in  this  humble  log  house  of  jus- 
tice, in  their  hunting  shirts,  coon-skin  caps, 
and  generally  each  man  with  his  shot-pouch 
hanging  to  his  side,  and  early  as  it  was  in 
the  spring,  many  of  them  barefoot,  and  the 
others  with  deer-skin  moccasins;  when  the 
grand  jury,  after  being  charged  by  the  court 
with  the  affairs  of  the  county  and  the  weal 
or  woe  of  litigants  or  criminals,  filed  out  in 
solemn  silence  in  the  charge  of  an  officer  of 
the  com't,  who  conducted  them  a  short  dis- 
tance in  the  woods  to  their  grand  jury  room, 
which  consisted  simply  of  a  log  lying  be- 
neath the  old  forest  trees;  and  then,  after  a 
hot  trial  as  to  whom  the  meat  belonged  to  of 
a  certain  wild  hog  that  one  hunter  had  shot 
and  another  had  captured,  to  see  the  petit 
jmy  similarly  file  out  to  another  log  in 
another  part  of  the  woods  to  be  "locked  up," 
or  rather  seated  on  another  log  to  deliberate 
on  their  verdict.  We  say,  this  in  a  picture 
would  now  look  curious  and  very  rude  in- 
deed. And  so  it  was  in  some  respects,  and 
yet  when  more  deeply  studied  and  under- 
stood, it  would  be  seen  that  there  were  here 
in  this  log  court  house,  with  all  its  primitive 
surroundings,  men  of  ability,  education, 
and  forensic  talents,  that  might  have  adorned 
the  most  elevated  or  historical  woolsacks  in 
the  world. 

Daniel  P.  Cook  will  take  his  place  in  the 
history  of  Illinois  as  second  to  no  other  man 


U  )    \7.j1    I 


woman  who  was  driving  an  ox  teamin  the  State  except  Stephen  A.  Douglas.    He 


304 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


came  from  Missouri  to  Kaskaskia  a  very 
young  man  and  in  very  delicate  health;  stud- 
ied law  with  his  uncle,  Nathaniel  Pope;  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  at  once  took  his 
position  among  the  great  lawyers  of  his  day; 
was  the  Territorial  Delegate  in  Congress, 
and  framed  the  measure  and  passed  it 
through  Congress  admitting  the  State  into 
the  Union;  in  1819,  was  elected  Attorney 
General  of  the  State,  and  afterward  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  defeating  McLean  in  a  con- 
test extending  all  over  Southern  Illinois,  and 
that  was  conducted  by  joint  discussions,  and, 
it  is  said,  was  never  excelled  for  displaying 
great  talents,  unless  it  was  in  the  campaign 
of  Douglas  and  Lincoln  in  1858.  In  the  bill 
to  admit  Illinois,  the  committee  reported  the 
north  boundary  line  of  the  State  to  run  due 
west  on  a  line  parallel  with  the  southern 
bend  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  it  is  due  to 
Judge  Cook  that  this  was  changed  to  its 
present  line,  and  thus  the  fourteen  northern 
counties,  including  the  city  of  Chicago,  were 
taken  from  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin.  He 
showed  Congress  that  the  lakes  of  the  North 
and  constant  navigation  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  must  not  be 
separated  by  dividing  State  lines  —  that 
Illinois  must  be  made  a  Keystone  State  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  He  then  foresaw 
would  come  the  great  questions  between  the 
North  and  the  South  that  did  come,  and  his 
wise  forethought  was  the  architect  of  the 
^Yest  and  of  the  Union  as  we  now  have  it, 
and  it  is  highly  px'obable  that  his  action  here 
did  more  ultimately  to  preserve  the  integi'ity 
of  the  union  of  States  in  the  late  civil  war 
than  any  other  one  thing  in  our  history. 

Such  was  something  of  the  magnificent 
record  of  a  man  who  sank  into  his  grave  at 
the  age  of  thirty-seven  years,  and  who  nearly 
all  his  life  was  an  invalid  and  sufferer.  His 
bi'ief    life,  his  wonderful   achievements,  his 


lingering  death  from  consumption  upon  the 
threshold  of  his  manhood,  are,  indeed,  "a 
strange,  eventful  story."  His  was  one  of 
the  few  lives  that  adorned  the  morning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  and  was  a  blessing  to 
American  civilization  that  only  ignoble  de- 
scendants will  ever  forget  or  cease  to  cherish. 

At  this,  the  first  term  of  the  court,  the 
Sheriff  returned  the  following  grand  jury: 
James  Westbrook,  George  Woo  If,  John  Riton, 
John  Weigle,  John  Mcintosh,  Michael  Lin- 
burg,  Thomas  Sams,  Joel  Boggis,  Alexander 
Beggs,  Benjamin  McCravens,  James  Murphy, 
John  Whitaker,  Nicholas  Wilson,  Samuel 
Spi-ood,  Rice  Sams,  David  Mclntuff,  Benja- 
min Worthenton,  Adam  Clapp,  Richard  Mc- 
Bride,  George  Godwin,  Hemy  Lamer,  John 
Crise,  David  Penrod,  and  Owen  Evans.  John 
Whitaker  was  appointed  foreman. 

James  Evans,  Esq.,  on  exhibiting  license 
from  the  Superior  Court,  was  admitted  as  an 
attorney  at  law. 

This  was  then  known  as  the  Western  Dis- 
trict of  the  Territory  of  Illinois. 

The  first  day's  proceedings  were  a  contin- 
uance of  the  case  of  Daniel  Ritter  vs.  Joseph 
Taylor,  action  on  the  case.  Letters  of  ad- 
ministration were  granted  John  Bradshaw, 
on  the  estate  of  Charles  Murphy.  The  case 
of  Joseph  Taylor  vs.  Thomas  Giles,  con- 
tinued. A  judgement  taken  upon  confession 
against  John  Stokes,  one  of  the  defendants, 
for  $1.10. 

The  grand  jury  returned  into  court  an  in- 
dictment against  John  C.  Thomas,  felony. 
The  court  disposed  of  case  of  "  Milly,  a  black 
woman,"  on  habeas  corpus,  was  dismissed. 

On  the  second  day,  the  case  of  John  C. 
Thomas,  continued  for  the  term.  The  next 
criminal  case  was  the  indictment  against 
Samuel  G.  Penrod  for  retailing  liquors 

The  seccmd  term  of  the  court  was  held  by 
Judge  John  Warnock. 


HISTORY  OF  TmiON  COUNTY. 


305 


Johnson  Renny  was,  at  the  September  term, 
May,  1818,  admitted  to  practice  law.  At  this 
term  of  the  court,  William  Russell  is  ad- 
mitted as  an  attorney.  Mr.  E.  K.  Kane  also 
appeared  as  an  attorney.  At  this  term,  John 
Reynolds,  the  "  Old  Ranger,"  appeared  as  an 
attorney. 

At  a  term  court,  May  13,  Richard  M. 
Young  produced  license  and  was  admitted 
as  an  attorney.  On  Tuesday,  September 
14,  1819,  David  T.  Maddox  was  ad- 
mitted as  an  attorney.  At  this  term  of 
the  court,  Daniel  T.  Coleman  prosecuted  his 
suit  for  divorce  against  his  wife,  Judah.  A 
jury  was  called  and  the  divorce  granted. 

At  April  term,  on  April  10,  1820,  Charles 
Dunn  produced  in  court  a  license  to  practice 
law  and  was  duly  enrolled.  Thomas  Rey- 
nolds was  acting  as  Circuit  Attorney. 

April  term,  1821,  Thomas  C.  Browne  was 
the  Presiding  Judge.  David  J.  Baker  appears 
as  an  active  and  practicing  attorney  at  this 
term. 

In  another  chapter,  we  have  given  the  order 
of  the  organization  of  the  County  Commis- 
sioners' Court,  the  platting  of  the  town  of 
Jonesboro,  and  the  election  and  appointment 
of  the  county  officers,  and  the  commenee- 
inent  of  the  work  of  putting  into  operation 
the  county  machinery,  which  constituted  the 
coxmty's  government.  When  the  little  county 
ship  of  State  was  duly  launched,  it  was  in 
power  over  the. large  territory  that  now  em- 
braces Union,  Alexander  and  Pulaski  Coun- 
ties, and  contained  a  population  in  1818  of 
2,482  souls,  and  was  in  the  number  of  its  in- 
habitants the  fifth  county  in  the  State.  The 
counties  outnumbering  it  were  Gallatin,  with 
3,256  people;  Madison,  5,456;  Randolph, 
2,939;  and  St.  Clair,  4,519.  The  total  pop- 
ulation of  Illinois  at  that  time  was  40,156. 

Joseph  Palmer,  as  stated,  was  the  first 
Sheriff  of   the  county,  and  he  and  the  Com- 


missioners' Court,  upon  a  settlement,  could 
not  agree,  and  the  court  i!laimed  he  was  $260 
behind  in  his  payments  of  money  collected, 
and  they  entered  judgments  for  that  amount, 
and  also  assessed  the  State  penalty,  which 
was  that  such  delinquents  were  to  pay  twelve 
per  cent  per  month  from  the  rendering  of 
Buch  judgments  until  the  judgment  should  be 
paid.  The  case  was  in  litigation  some  time, 
and  finally  compromised  by  the  court  allow- 
ing a  part  of  Palmer's  set-offs,  and  his  pay- 
ing the  remainder.  In  1821,  George  Hun- 
saker  was  the  Sheriff  of  the  county.  Abner 
Field  was  acting  as  County  and  Circuit  Clerk, 
and  his  entire  salary  for  performing  the 
duties  of  the  two  offices  for  one  year  was  $60. 
He  resigned. 

Winstead  Davie,  at  the  April  term, 
1822,  of  the  Circuit  Court,  was  ap- 
pointed Clerk,  by  Judge  Browne,  Presiding 
Judge.  And  at  the  March  term,  1823,  there 
appears  upon  the  records  the  following : 
"  Winstead  Davie  having  been  before  ap- 
pointed Clerk,  in  the  place  of  Abner  Field, 
resigned,  he  presented  his  bond  as  Clerk  of 
the  Circuit  and  County  Court,  Recorder  and 
Notary  Public."  The  bond  was  approved. 
There  is  no  man  whose  history  is  more 
closely  interwoven  with  the  early  accounts  of 
the  county,  or  whose  history  is  more  interest- 
ing  and  instructive,  than  that  of  Winstead 
Davie.  A  complete  story  of  his  life  would 
read  like  a  well-constructed  romance.  Born 
with  physical  infirmities'  that  rendered  him 
a  cripple  for  life — requiring  the  constant  use 
of  two  crutches — he  commenced  in  poverty 
the  struggle  for  existence,  and  worked  out  a 
career  that  points  him  out  as  •  the  child  of 
destiny.  He  was  the  crippled,  helpless  in- 
valid child  of  poor  parents,  with  a  large 
family  of  children.  It  is  told  of  him,  that 
in  hie  youth  he  overheard  his  parents  talking 
and   lamenting   over   his    affliction    and    his 


306 


HISTOEY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


gloomy  outlook  for  the  future.     They  agreed 
he  would  be  a  burden  upon  them   as  long  as 
he  or  they  lived  ;    that   they  would  tenderly 
care   for  him  as  long    as  they  lived,  then  in- 
voke the  protecting    mercies  of    heaven,  and 
resign  him  to  this  not  very  charitable  world. 
The    hearing  of    this   conversation    was  the 
turning   point    in   the    youth's   life.      Every 
word  had   sunk   deeply  in   his    heart,    and, 
young    and   crippled    as    he  was,  he   looked 
fortune  in   the    face,  and   resolved    that  he 
would  go  out  into  the  world  and  tight  his  own 
battles  of    life.      He  commenced  to  educate 
himself,  and  in  a  yeai'  or  two  concluded  he 
was  prepared  to  teach  school.     It  is  told  of 
him  that  the   first  house    he  visited   for  the 
pui-pose  of  making  up  his  school,  the  family 
saw  the  poor  cripple  hobbling  toward  their 
door,    and,    supposing    he    was    a    beggar, 
slammed  the    door    in  his  face,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  turn  away.      But  he  persevered, 
and   became    a   school  teacher.     In  1817,  he 
came  to  Illinois,  and  among  those  rough  peo- 
ple commenced  a  school   a  short  distance  be- 
low Jonesboro.     Afterward   he    was    put    in 
possession  of  a  small  stock  of  goods  in  Jones- 
boro, to  sell  on  commission.    For  many  years 
he  was  Recorder,  .County    and  Circuit  Clerk, 
and  Probate  Judge,  and  he  was    eventually 
able  to  purchase  the  stock  of    goods  that  he 
had  been  managing  on  commission.     So  in- 
timately had  his  life  become  interwoven  with 
the  courts  of    the  county,  that  when   it  came 
to    adopt    the  design    for   the    county    seal, 
it    appropriately    was    formed   representing 
Davie  sitting   at  a  desk  writing,  showing 'his 
crooked  and  crippled  lower  limbs,  and  crossed 
and  forming  an  arch  above  the  desk  were  his 
two  crutches.     It  is  now  to  be  regi*etted  that 
this  design  was  ever  changed  and  a  new  seal 
adopted,  as   was   done,    and    an    account   of 
which  appears  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
When  Mr.  Davie  had  purchased  the  little 


store,  he  then  commenced  his  true  career,  and 
he  extended,  enlarged  and  pushed  the  busi- 
ness,  successfully  fighting  his    way  against 
Willis    Willard,    his  brother-in-law,   or  any 
and  all  competition  that  could  come  against 
him,  and  he  retired  from  ofl&ce  and  gave  his 
entire  attention  to  his  business,  which  soon 
grew  to  vast  proportions.      He  possessed  an 
energy,  clear,  strong  judgment  and   a  fore- 
sight in  all  business  affairs  that  were  never 
at  fault.     His  physical    defects   were   more 
than  compensated  for  in  his  active  and  pow- 
erful intellect,  and  he  amassed  great  wealth, 
and  at  one  time  had  more  employes  and  de- 
pendents than  any  other  man  in  the  county. 
His  master  mind  guided  and  controlled  and 
managed  much  of  the  business  affairs  of  the 
county,  and  hej-e  he  was  even  more  valuable 
to  the  growing  young  community  than  he  had 
been  as  an  officer  and  executive  in  the  official 
matters  of  the  county.     His  charity  was  ex- 
pansive and  just,  and  while  he  ruled  with 
firm  decision  and  strong  emphasis,  he  scrupu- 
lously rewarded  merit  and  never  overlooked, 
even  in  his  humblest  dependents,  true  worth. 
Nature  had  so  equipped  him  for  life  that  the 
very  misfortunes    that  environed   him  were 
converted  into  stimulants  to  urge  him  forward 
to  the  accomplishment  of  great  enterprises, 
where  others  under  the  same  circumstances 
would  have  despaired  and  turned  their  faces 
to  the  poor  house. 

He  married  Anna  Milliard  and  it  is  whis- 
pered that  at  this  important  period  of  his  life 
he  met  the  same  troubles  that  attended  his 
first  effort  to  secure  a  school.  The  same  old 
objection  was  made,  that  he  was  a  cripple  and 
poor,  and  here  again  came  back  and  was  re- 
newed the  great  resolve  of  his  boyhood,  that 
he  would  have  a  fortune  that  should  equal  or 
sm-pass  that  of  those  who  urged  these  objec- 
tions against  him,  and  he  did. 

Like  the  generality  of    cripples,    he  was 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


30'; 


very  sensitive  on  the  subject,  and  never  al- 
luded to  it.  When  it  was  spoken  of  by  others 
in  his  presence,  he  would  change  the  subject, 
and  any  attempt  to  force  sympathy  upon  him 
was  sternly  rejected.  On  one  occasion,  after 
he  had  sold  a  customer  a  large  bill  of  goods, 
and  all  was  satisfactorily  settled,  the  custom- 
er commenced  the  usual  story  of  his  sorrow 
and  sympathy  for  Davie's  misfortunes.  Da- 
vie made  several  efiforts  to  turn  the  subject, 
and  when  his  patience  was  exhausted  he  gave 
the  man  a  most  meaning  look  and  answered, 
' '  Yes,  yes,  but  after  all  it  is  better  to  be  crip- 
pled in  the  legs  than  in  the  head." 

Some  years  ago,  Mr.  Davie  divided  the  bulk 
of  his  large  property  among  his  children  and 
retired  from  business  life.  His  great  mind 
had  burned  out  its  strength  and  brightness, 
and  a  recluse  and  an  invalid  he  day  by  day 
and  now  almost  hour  by  houi'  calmly  awaits 
that  summons  from  the  high  court  of  God 
that  will  come  to  us  all. 

Richard  M.  Young  was  among  the  earliest 
lawyers  in  Union  County.  He  was  appointed 
pro  tern.  Circuit  Attorney  at  the  March  term 
of  the  Circuit  Court  in  1823.  Judge  Young 
was  a  bright  young  man,  and  had  the  gift  of 
fine  colloquial  powers,  and  in  his  intercourse 
with  men  was  smooth  and  urbane,  and  al- 
together an  address  well  calculated  to  im- 
press all  he  met  as  a  man  of  excellence  and 
worth,  in  which  lay  the  secret  of  his  success, 
rather  than  in  the  force,  vigor  and  compass 
of  intellect.  His  talents  were  respectable, 
and  above  mediocrity.  He  was  a  Kentuckian, 
of  spare  build,  rather  tall,  educated,  and  a 
lawyer  by  profession.  In  1824,  he  was 
elected  by  the  Legislatui'e  one  of  live  Circuit 
Judges,  and  assigned  to  the  Second  Circuit. 
He  was  elected  to  succeed  Gen.  W.  L.  D. 
Ewing  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
served  out  a  full  term,  from  March  4,  1837, 
to  March  4,  1843.     Samuel  McRoberts  was 


his  principal  opponent ;  Ai'chie  Williams 
and  Gen.  Ewing  also  received  some  votes, 
the  former  twenty-one  and  the  latter  thirteen. 
In  1839,  Judge  Young  was  appointed  by  Gov. 
Carlin  one  of  the  State  agents,  in  connection 
with  Gov.  Reynolds,  to  negotiate  the  §4,000,- 
000  canal  loan,  for  which  purpose  they  re- 
paired to  Europe,  and  their  advances  of  $1,- 
000,000  in  Illinois  bonds  to  the  house  of 
Wright  &  Co.,  of  London,  proved  a  heavy  loss 
to  the  State.  Yet,  under  party  opei-ations,  be- 
fore his  Senatorial  term  expired,  he  was  made, 
February  3,  1842,  a  Supreme  Judge,  a  posi- 
tion which  he  held  until  1847.  He  died  in 
Washington  in  an  insane  asylum. 

Alexander  and  Abner  Field  were  here  at 
the  very  commencement  of  the  county's  ex- 
istence. They  were  men  of  strong  charac- 
ters, and  Alexander  Field's  long  life  career 
clearly  points  out  that  he  was  no  ordinary 
man.  He  took  from  the  very  first  of  his  en- 
try into  the  bar  a  commanding  position. 
A  good  lawyer,  sound  reasoner  and  a  brilliant 
orator,  either  at  the  bar  or  on  the  stump. 
He  won  his  way  to  a  large  law  practice,  and 
from  county  otlHces  was  appointed  Secretary 
of  State  December  31,  1828,  and  with  a  con- 
stant war  upon  him  of  rival  candidates  for 
that  office,  he  held  it  until  November  30, 
1840.  When  he  became  Secretary  of  State, 
he  changed  his  residence  to  Vandalia  and 
Springfield,  and  for  years  he  was  one  of  the 
"  circuit  riders  "  of  the  Illinois  bench  and 
bar,  and  continued  to  add  to  his  already  ex- 
tended reputation  as  one  of  the  celebrated 
lawyers  of  that  time  that  was  noted  for  its 
remarkable  men.  He  seems  to  have  been  of 
a  roving,  restless  disposition.  He  removed 
his  home  to  St.  Louis,  and  for  some  yeai's 
was  among  the  foremost  lawyers  of  that  city. 
Then  he  went  to  New  Orleans,  and  there 
made  his  home  until  his  death,  a  few  years 
ago,  at  an  advanced  age* 


310 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


2>ro  tern.,  Prosecuting  Attorney.  May,  1842, 
John  A.  McClernand  appeared  among  the 
attorneys.  In  1842,  Thomas  Hodges  was 
Sheriff,  S.  S.  Condon,  Clerk,  and  H.  F. 
Walker,  Coroner.  W.  A.  Denning  was  Pros- 
ecuting Attorney  in  1845. 

In  1844,  Daniel  Hileman  was  Probate 
Judge  of  the  county.  At  September  term, 
1847,  AV.  A.  Denning  was  the  presiding 
Judge;  John  Grear  was  County  Coroner.  In 
1849.  Thomas  Hileman  became  Clerk  of  the 
Circuit  Court.  Master  in  Chancery,  and  Pro- 
bate Judge.  The  last  two  offices  he  has  held 
ever  since,  and  when  he  fills  out  his  present 
term  of  office,  will  have  held  the  positions 
thirty-six  years — an  average  life-time.  May, 
1851,  Alexander  J.  Nimmo  was  Sheriff,  W. 
K.  Parish,  State's  Attorney,  and  John  C. 
Albright,  Coroner.  May,  1852,  James  W. 
Bailey  was  County  Clerk.  In  1853,  Syrean 
Davis  was  Sheriff,  John  A.  Logan,  Prosecut- 
ing Attorney,  W.  K.  Parish,  Judge,  A.  J. 
Nimmo,  Sheriff.  1858,  M.  C.  Crawford  was 
State's  Attorney.  1859,  Thomas  J.  Finley, 
County  Clerk,  A.  M.  Jenkins,  Judge,  Nimmo, 
Sheriff,  Hileman,  Clerk,  and  A.  P.  Corder, 
Prosecuting  Attorney.  1861,  Lorenzo  P. 
Wilcox,  Sheriff.  At  the  May  term,  1863, 
Thomas  J.  Finley,  Sheriff,  and  at  the  Octo- 
ber term  of  the  same  year,  William  C.  Rich 
was  the  Sheriff.  1864,  John  H.  Mulkey, 
Judge,  W.  C.  Rich,  Sheriff,  M.  C.  Crawford, 
Attorney,  and  Hileman,  Clerk.  At  May  term, 
1865,  George  W.  Wall  was  Prosecuting  At- 
torney, and  A.  J.  Nimmo.  Clerk.  1866,  W. 
H.  Green,  Presiding  Judge.  October  term, 
1867,  M.  C.  Crawford,  Judge,  Joseph  McEl- 
hany.  Sheriff.  1869,  W.  C.  Rich,  Sheriff. 
1871,  Jacob  Hileman,  Sheriff,  Jackson  Frick. 
Prosecuting  Attorney,  and  A.  Polk  Jones, 
Clerk.  Jones  died  about  one  month  after 
entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  for  the 
third  term.      The  Court  appointed  Henry  P. 


Cozby  Clerk  pro  tern.,  who  continued  to  fill 
the  place  until  the  election  of  the  present 
incumbent,  Ed.  M.  Barnwell.  In  1878,  there 
were  elected  for  this  judicial  district  Judges 
Daniel  M.  Browning,  Oliver  A.  Harker.  and 
David  J.  Baker. 

Among  the  attorneys  resident  of  the  coun- 
ty, we  have  given  an  extended  account  of  the 
earliest  who  were  here,  including  Gov. 
Dougherty.  Succeeding  these  were  M.  C. 
Crawford,  John  E.  Nail,  James  H.  Smith, 
David  L.  Phillipps,  W.  A.  Hacker,  W.  L. 
Doughert_y,  Wesley  Davidson,  Semple  G. 
Parks,  who  is  now  Judge  of  the  County  Court 
of  Perry  County. 

W.  A.  Hacker  was  a  native  of  this  county^ 
and  was  educated  at  West  Point.  He  re- 
moved to  Alexander  County,  and  died  there 
a  few  years  later. 

W.  L.  Dougherty  was  a  son  of  Gov. 
Dougherty,  and  was  considered  one  of  the 
promising  young  attorneys  of  the  county. 
Wesley  Davidson  was  a  school-mate  of  the 
writer  of  these  lines  at  McKeadrea  College. 
He  was  a  good,  average  bright  student,  but 
was  impulsive  and  inclined  to  be  erratic.  He 
was  di'owned  a  few  years  ago. 

John  E.  Nail  was  a  common  law  and  chan- 
cery practitioner  of  good  abilities.  Read 
law  with  J.  H.  Smith,  of  Chicago.  Located 
in  Union  County,  and  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  Married  Sarah  J. 
Dishon. 

Alexander  N.  Dougherty  studied  law  in 
his  father's  (Gov.  Dougherty's)  office.  Was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1863,  and  died  in 
Jonesboro  in  1878. 

W.  A.  Spann  was  a  native  of  Union  Coun- 
ty, now  of  Johnson  County.  He  has  been 
twice  in  the  Legislature  from  his  district 

W.  S.  Day  is  a  native  of  Tennessee.  He 
came  to  Union  County  when  very  young, 
studied  law  with   Judge   Crawford,  and  has 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUNTY. 


311 


already  reached  a  prominent  position   at  the 
bar. 

Eobert  W.  Townes,  a  native  of  Illinois, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1861,  and  imme- 
diately went  to  the  war  as  Orderly  Sergeant 
in  Company  C,  Eighteenth  Illiaois  Volun- 
teers. He  was  soon  transferred  to  the  Thir- 
ty-first Regiment  and  made  Adjutant  thereof, 
acting  as  Acting  Adjutant  General  to  Gen. 
Logan  in  the  Fort  Donelson  battle.  He 
was  promoted  to  Lieutenant  Colonel.  When 
he  returned  from  the  war,  he  located  in 
Duquoin,  and  engaged  in  the  active  practice 
of  his  profession.  He  was  elected  Prosecut- 
irg  Attorney  for  the  Third  Judicial  District, 
and  served  the  term  with  ability  and  great 
fidelity.  He  was  at  one  time  Secretary  of 
the  Illinois  State  Senate. 

David  L.  Brooks,  a  son  of  Di-.  B.  W. 
Brooks,  was  a  member  of  the  Union  County 
bar  as  far  back  as  1852.  He  was  a  very 
bright  young  lawyer.     He  died  in  1845. 

Jackson  Frick,  son  of  Caleb  Frick,  was 
born  in  Jonesborn  in  1849.  He  graduated 
at  Yale  College,  and  was  universally  consid- 
ered a  most  promising  and  brilliant  young 
man.  He  studied  law  with  Judge  Crawford. 
He  died  on  the  very  threshold  of  his  young 
life  in  1877. 

Mathew  J.  Inscore,  a  native  of  Robinson 
County,  Tenn.  Was  admitted  about  1860, 
and  has  commanded  a  large  practice. 

Thomas  H.  Phillipps,  a  native  of  St.  Clair 
County,  111.  His  biography  will  be  found  in 
another  column. 

William  C.  Moreland,  born  in  Tennessee, 
studied  law  with  Col.  Bob  Townes,  and  was 
admitted  in  1877. 

Hon.  Sidney  Greer  is  a  native  of  Union 
County,  studied  law  with  Gov.  Dougherty; 
was  licensed  as  attorney  in  1879,  and  is  now 
serving  a  term  in  the  Legislature  as  a  Repre- 
sentative. 


David  W.  Karraker,  the  present  County  At- 
torney, is  a  native  of  Union  County,  read  law 
with  Gov.  Dougherty,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1879. 

W.  C.  Rich  was  admitted  in  1880  to  the 
practice  of  the  law.  He  has  served  the  peo- 
ple as  County  Treasurer  and  also  as  County 
Superintendent  of  Schools. 

Hugh  Andrews,  one  of  the  present  practic- 
ing attorneys  of  the  county.  His  biography 
will  be  found  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

Jesse  Ware  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  was 
licensed  as  a  lawyer  in  1857.  He  came  to  the 
State  in  1855,  and  studied  law  with  Judge 
Reeves,  of  Bloomington,  111.  He  has  served 
two  terms  in  the  State  Senate,  commencing 
in  1872  and  retiring  in  1880. 

W.  B.  Maxey  came  to  the  county  when 
three  years  old,  and  has  lived  in  Union  Coun- 
ty. He  studied  law  with  W.  S.  Day  and  was 
admitted  to  the  practice  in  3882. 

H.  F.  Bussey,  a  native  of  St.  Louis,  came 
to  Anna  in  1877.  He  is  thirty-one  years  old; 
studied  law  with  M.  J.  Inscore,  and  was  ad- 
mitted in  1881. 

Judson  Phillipps  is  a  native  Illinoisian, 
only  recently  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  has 
opened  an  ofiice  in  Anna. 

Townsend  W.  Foster,  of  Cobden,  was  ad- 
mitted in  1881. 

This  includes  the  prominent  facts  of  the 
bench  and  bar  of  Union  County.  The  rem- 
iniscences and  anecdotes  and  remarkable  cir- 
cumstances of  the  earliest  day  of  the  legal 
life  of  the  county  are  now  mostly  forgotten, 
and  are  buried  with  those  who  were  here  and 
were  actors,  but  have  now  passed  away.  Pre- 
vious to  the  organization  of  Union  Couijty, 
there  was  here  a  community  which  grew  to 
more  than  two  thousand  people,  and  were 
literally  without  "  law  or  gospel  "—without 
schools,  churches  or  officers  of  the  law.  Their 
courts  and  police  and  marshals  were   only 


310 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


pro  tern.,  Prosecuting  Attorney.  May,  1842, 
John  A.  McClernand  appeared  among  the 
attorneys.  In  1842,  Thomas  Hodges  was 
Sheriff,  S.  S.  Condon,  Clerk,  and  H.  F. 
Walker,  Coroner.  W.  A.  Denning  was  Pros- 
ecuting Attorney  in  1845. 

In  1844,  Daniel  Hileman  was  Probate 
Judge  of  the  county.  At  September  term, 
1847,  W.  A.  Denning  was  the  presiding 
Judge;  John  Grear  was  County  Coroner.  In 
1849,  Thomas  Hileman  became  Clerk  of  the 
Circuit  Court,  Master  in  Chancery,  and  Pro- 
bate Judge.  The  last  two  offices  he  has  held 
ever  since,  and  when  he  fills  out  his  present 
term  of  office,  will  have  held  the  positions 
thirty-six  years — an  average  life-time.  May, 
1851,  Alexander  J.  Nimmo  was  Sheriff,  W. 
K.  Parish,  State's  Attorney,  and  John  C. 
Albright,  Coroner.  May,  1852,  James  W. 
Bailey  was  County  Clerk.  In  1853,  Syrean 
Davis  was  Sheriff,  John  A.  Logan,  Prosecut- 
ing Attorney,  W.  K.  Parish,  Judge,  A.  J. 
Nimmo,  Sheriff.  1858,  M.  C.  Crawford  was 
State's  Attorney.  1859,  Thomas  J.  Finley, 
County  Clerk,  A.  M.  Jenkins,  Judge,  Nimmo, 
Sheriff,  Hileman,  Clerk,  and  A.  P.  Corder, 
Prosecuting  Attorney.  1861,  Lorenzo  P. 
Wilcox,  Sheriff.  At  the  May  term,  1863, 
Thomas  J.  Finley,  Sheriff,  and  at  the  Octo- 
ber term  of  the  same  year,  William  C.  Rich 
was  the  Sheriff.  1864,  John  H.  Mulkey, 
Judge,  W.  C.  Rich,  Sheriff,  M.  C.  Crawford, 
Attorney,  and  Hileman,  Clerk.  At  May  term, 
1865,  Georgce  W.  Wall  was  Prosecuting  At- 
torney,  and  A.  J.  Nimmo,  Clerk.  1866,  W. 
H.  Gi'een,  Presiding  Judge.  October  term, 
1867,  M.  C.  Crawford,  Judge,  Joseph  McEl- 
hany.  Sheriff.  1869,  W.  C.  Rich,  Sheriff. 
1871,  Jacob  Hileman,  Sheriff,  Jackson  Frick, 
Prosecuting  Attorney,  and  A.  Polk  Jones, 
Clerk.  Jones  died  about  one  month  after 
entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  for  the 
third  term.      The  Court  appointed  Henry  P. 


Cozby  Clerk  pro  tern.,  who  continued  to  fill 
the  place  until  the  election  of  the  present 
incumbent,  Ed.  M.  Barnwell.  In  1878,  there 
were  elected  for  this  judicial  district  Judges 
Daniel  M.  Browning,  Oliver  A.  Harker,  and 
David  J.  Baker. 

Among  the  attorneys  resident  of  the  coun- 
ty, we  have  given  an  extended  account  of  the 
earliest  who  were  here,  including  Gov. 
Dougherty.  Succeeding  these  were  M.  C. 
Crawford,  John  E.  Nail,  James  H.  Smith, 
David  L.  Phillipps,  W.  A.  Hacker,  W.  L. 
Dougherty,  Wesley  Davidson,  Semple  G. 
Parks,  who  is  now  Judge  of  the  County  Court 
of  Perry  County. 

W.  A.  Hacker  was  a  native  of  this  county, 
and  was  educated  at  West  Point.  He  re- 
moved to  Alexander  County,  and  died  there 
a  few  years  later. 

W.  L.  Dougherty  was  a  son  of  Gov. 
Dougherty,  and  was  considered  one  of  the 
promising  young  attorneys  of  the  county. 
Wesley  Davidson  was  a  school-mate  of  the 
writer  of  these  lines  at  McKeadrea  College. 
He  was  a  good,  average  bright  student,  but 
was  impulsive  and  inclined  to  be  erratic.  He 
was  drowned  a  few  years  ago. 

John  E.  Nail  was  a  common  law  and  chan- 
cery practitioner  of  good  abilities.  Read 
law  with  J.  H.  Smith,  of  Chicago.  Located 
in  Union  County,  and  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  Married  Sarah  J. 
Dishon. 

Alexander  N.  Dougherty  studied  law  in 
his  father's  (Gov.  Dougherty's)  office.  Was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1863,  and  died  in 
Jonesboro  in  1878. 

W.  A.  Spann  was  a  native  of  Union  Coun- 
ty, now  of  Johnson  County.  He  has  been 
twice  in  the  Legislature  from  his  district, 

W.  S.  Day  is  a  native  of  Tennessee.  He 
came  to  Union  County  when  very  young, 
studied  law  with  Judge  Crawford,  and  has 


HISTORY  OF  U:n^ION  COUNTY. 


311 


already  reached  a  prominent  position  at  the 
bar. 

Robert  W.  Townes,  a  native  of  Illinois, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1861,  and  imme- 
diately went  to  the  war  as  Orderly  Sergeant 
in  Company  C,  Eighteenth  Illiaois  Volun- 
teers. He  was  soon  transferred  to  the  Thir- 
ty-first Regiment  and  made  Adjutant  thereof, 
acting  as  Acting  Adjutant  General  to  Gen. 
Logan  in  the  Fort  Donelson  battle.  He 
was  promoted  to  Lieutenant  Colonel.  When 
he  returned  from  the  war,  he  located  in 
Duquoin,  and  engaged  in  the  active  practice 
of  his  profession.  He  was  elected  Prosecut- 
irg  Attorney  for  the  Third  Judicial  District, 
and  served  the  term  with  ability  and  great 
fidelity.  He  was  at  one  time  Secretary  of 
the  Illinois  State  Senate. 

David  L.  Brooks,  a  son  of  Dr.  B.  W. 
Brooks,  was  a  member  of  the  Union  County 
bar  as  far  back  as  1852.  He  was  a  very 
bright  young  lawyer.      He  died  in  1845. 

Jackson  Frick,  son  of  Caleb  Frick,  was 
born  in  Jonesboro  in  1849.  He  graduated 
at  Yale  College,  and  was  universally  consid- 
ered a  most  promising  and  brilliant  young 
man.  He  studied  law  with  Judge  Crawford. 
He  died  on  the  very  threshold  of  his  young 
life  in  1877. 

Mathew  J.  Inscore,  a  native  of  Robinson 
County,  Tenn.  Was  admitted  about  1860, 
and  has  commanded  a  large  practice. 

Thomas  H.  Phillipps,  a  native  of  St.  Clair 
County,  111.  His  biography  will  be  found  in 
another  column. 

William  C.  Moreland,  born  in  Tennessee, 
studied  law  with  Col.  Bob  Townes,  and  was 
admitted  in  1877. 

Hon.  Sidney  Greer  is  a  native  of  Union 
County,  studied  law  with  Gov.  Dougherty, 
was  licensed  as  attorney  in  1879,  and  is  now 
serving  a  term  in  the  Legislature  as  a  Repre- 
sentative. 


David  W.  Karraker,  the  present  County  At- 
torney, is  a  native  of  Union  County,  read  law 
with  Gov.  Dougherty,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1879. 

W.  C.  Rich  was  admitted  in  1880  to  the 
practice  of  the  law.  He  has  served  the  peo- 
ple as  County  Treasurer  and  also  us  County 
Superintendent  of  Schools. 

Hugh  Andrews,  one  of  the  present  practic- 
ing attorneys  of  the  county.  His  biography 
will  be  found  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

Jesse  Ware  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  was 
licensed  as  a  lawyer  in  1857.  He  came  to  the 
State  in  1855,  and  studied  law  with  Judge 
Reeves,  of  Bloomington,  111.  He  has  served 
two  terms  in  the  State  Senate,  commencing 
in  1872  and  retiring  in  1880. 

W.  B.  Maxey  came  to  the  county  when 
three  years  old,  and  has  lived  in  Union  Coun- 
ty. He  studied  law  with  W.  S.  Day  and  was 
admitted  to  the  practice  in  1882. 

H.  F.  Bussey,  a  native  of  St.  Louis,  came 
to  Anna  in  1877.  He  is  thirty-one  years  old; 
studied  law  with  M.  J.  Inscore,  and  was  ad- 
mitted in  1881. 

Judson  Phillipps  is  a  native  Illinoisian, 
only  recently  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  has 
opened  an  office  in  Anna. 

Townsend  W.  Foster,  of  Cobden,  was  ad- 
mitted in  1881. 

This  includes  the  prominent  facts  of  the 
bench  and  bar  of  Union  County.  The  rem- 
iniscences and  anecdotes  and  remarkable  cir- 
cumstances of  the  earliest  day  of  the  legal 
life  of  the  county  are  now  mostly  forgotten, 
and  are  buried  with  those  who  were  here  and 
were  actors,  but  have  now  passed  away.  Pre- 
vious to  the  organization  of  Union  Couijty, 
there  was  here  a  community  which  grew  to 
more  than  two  thousand  people,  and  were 
literally  without  "law  or  gospel  "—without, 
schools,  churches  nr  officers  of  the  law.  Their 
courts  and   police  and  marshals  were   only 


312 


HISTOKY   OF  UNION   COUNTY 


public  opinion,  and  a  few  simple  modes  of 
punishing  bad  men  that  were  mild,  swift, 
certain  and  effective.  All  crimes  above  a  cer- 
tain grade,  such  as  are  now  here  grand  and 
petit  larceny,  were  punished  by  banishment, 
and  others  by  whipping,  and  still  others  by 
the  contempt  and  manifest  loathing  toward 
the  guilty  by  the  entire  community. 

The  establishing  of  the  new  order  of  things 
came  strangely  to  these  people.  We  believe 
it  was  Gov.  Eeynolds  who  tells  of  an  early 
court.  The  grand  jury  found  a  true  bill 
against  a  man  for  hog  stealing.  The  jury 
had  not  the  assistance  of  trained  lawyers  to 
write  their  indictments,  and  they  had  no  idea 
how  to  word  it.  They  searched  among  the 
records  and  law  books,  and  finally  found  an 
indictment  for  murder.  They  copied  this, 
merely  substituting  the  thief's  name  for  that 
of  the  murderer,  where  it  occurred  in  the  in- 
strument, and  depended  on  an  "aside  remark" 
to  the  court  to  explain  that  that  particular 
case  was  hog  murder  and  not  human  slaugh- 
ter. And  upon  this  indictment  the  man  was 
tried,  convicted,  whipped  and  ordered  out  of 
the  country,  with  as  much  justice,  accuracy, 
and  with  as  certain  bringing  out  of  the  truth 
in  the  case  as  was  ever  done  in  a  court  where 
the  most  learned  and  noted  lawyer  had 
drawn  all  the  miserable  verbiage  and  idiotic 
iteration  and  reiteration  that  would  make 
a  perfect  indictment,  It  is  an  old  story  that 
necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention.  In 
this  necessity  of  this  jury  was  made  a  true 
discovery,  but  it  was  allowed  to  sleep  and  be 
forgotten.  Its  memory  passed  away  and  left 
no  impression.  The  reader  can  see  for  him- 
self the  moral  force  of  the  incident.  It  dem- 
onstrated that  the  idea  of  the  old  common 
law  indictment  and  its  technicalities,  and 
quibs,  and  quibbles  are  mere  nonsense,  and 
that  their  day  of  usefulness  has  passed  away 
centuries  ago.     The  vast  intricacies,  machin- 


ery, subtleties,  formalities,  red  tape  and  child- 
ish puerilities  of  our  ignorant  ancestors  of 
the  dark  ages — the  dreary  ages  of  feudalism 
and  slavery — are  brought  down  to  afflict  and 
curse  the  people,  and  the  courts,  legislators 
and  lawyers  cling  to  these  barbarisms  with  a 
tenacity  that  makes  our  highest  courts  and 
most  learned  law-makers  the  objects  of  the 
sneers  and  contempt  of  all  men  of  sense.  The 
result  is  that  the  law  that  should  only  protect 
and  guard  the  people's  rights  and  liberties 
is  a  vast  machinery  of  oppression,  outrage 
and  wrong.  The  courts  are  largely  the  refuge 
of  scoundrels,  and  the  dread  and  horror  of 
good  men.  Can  any  man  tell  why  we  retain 
the  grand  jury — a  secret  star  chamber — that 
is  a  menace  to  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
every  good  man  in  community  ;  with  its  pre- 
miums and  rewards  to  every  sneak,  coward 
and  scoundrel  in  the  world  to  go  and  stab  his 
neighbor  in  the  dark  and  assassinate  his  fair 
name,  and  make  the  people  foot  the  bills  of 
his  diabolical  acts.  This  clinging  to  old  bar- 
barisms and  abominations  for  centuries  are 
an  index,  that  cannot  be  mistaken,  that  the 
majority  of  men  are  mere  creatures  of  custom 
and  habits,  and  are  no  more  given  to  look  at 
things  and  reflect  about  them  than  is  a  nest 
of  blind  mice. 

1818 — The  convention  to  adopt  the  State 
Constitution  assembled  at  Kaskaskia  in  July. 
Adjourned  August  26,  of  same  year.  There 
were  thirty-three  delegates.  The  Constitu- 
tion was  adopted  without  being  submitted  to 
the  people.  Approved  by  Congress  Decem- 
ber 3,  1818.  The  members  from  Union 
County  were  William  Echols  and  John  Whit- 
aker. 

In  the  State  Legislature  of  the  same  year 
Thomas  Cox  was  Senator,  and  Jesse  Echols, 
Representative. 

1820— Edmund  B.  W.  Jones,  Senator,  and 
Samuel  Omelveny,  Representative. 


'x^^^aJ 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


315 


1822 — John Grammer,  Senator;  Alexander 
P.  Field,  Representative. 

1824 — Alexander  P.  Field,  of  Union,  was 
a  Presidential  Elector.  In  1828  Richard  M. 
Young  was  an  elector,  and  in  1852  Edward 
Omelveny. 

Assembly,  1824-26 — John  Grammer  was 
Senator  for  Union  and  Alexander  ;  John  S. 
Hacker  and  John  Whitaker,  Representatives. 

Assembly,  1826-28 — George  Hunsaker,  Sen- 
ator, and  Alexander  P.  Field,  Representative. 

1830-32 — John  Grammer,  Senator,  from 
Union,  Johnson  and  Alexander  Counties,  and 
Joseph  L.  Priestly,  Representative  from 
Union. 

1832-34 — John  Dougherty,  Representative 
from  Union. 

1834-36 — John  S.  Hacker,  Senator,  Brazil 
B.  Craig,  Representative. 

1836-38 — John  Dougherty,  Representa- 
tive, 

1838-40 — John  S.  Hacker,  Senator,  and 
Jacob  Zimmerman,  Representative. 

1840-42 — John  Dougherty  Representative. 

1842-44 — John  Dougherty,  Senator,  and 
John  Cochran,  Representative. 

1846-48 — John  Dougherty,  Senator,  Mat- 
thew Stokes,  Representative. 

1848-50 — John  Cochran,  Representative. 

1850-52 — Cyrus  G.  Siramonds,  Repre- 
sentative. 

1852-54 — John  Cochran,  Representative. 

1856-58 — John  Dougherty,  Representative. 

1858-60 — W.  A.  Hacker,  Representative. 

1862-64 — James  H.  Smith,  Representative. 

1864-66— W.  H.  Green,  Senator,  H.  W. 
Webb,  Representative. 

1868-70 — John  Dougherty,  President  of 
the  Senate;  Lieutenant  Governor. 

1872-74— Jesse  Ware,  Senator,  M.  J. 
Inscore,  Representative. 

1880 — Sidney  Grear,  Representative. 

In  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1847, 


Samuel  Hunsaker  represented  Union  County. 
In  the  Convention  of  1862,  W.  A.  Hacker 
represented  Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski 
Counties.  In  the  Convention  of  1870,  W. 
J.  Allen  represented  the  same  counties. 

The  following  letter  will  be  read  with 
universal  interest,  and  is  an  admirable  illus- 
tration of  the  ideas  of  a  government  as 
entertained  by  our  fathers.  It  is  from  the 
Hon.  Samuel  Hunsaker,  and  was  written 
while  in  attendance  at  Springfield  upon  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1847,  and  is  ad- 
dressed to  Judge  T.  Hileman. 

Springfield.  111.,  July  17,  1847. 

Dear  Sir:  I  received  your  kind  letter  of  the  10th 
Inst,  on  yesterday,  and  will  proceed  to  give  you  all 
that  I  have  of  interest,  though  it  is  but  little.  We 
are  moving  along  but  slowly  in  framing  a  constitu- 
tion for  the  people.  I  am  entirely  disappointed  in 
my  calculations,  knowing  as  I  did  that  I  had  but 
one  motive  in  coming  to  this  convention,  and  that 
was,  to  do  the  will  of  the  people  in  making  such 
changes  as  would  be  conducive  to  their  interests  and 
promote  their  future  welfare.  I  reasonably  con- 
cluded that  at  least  a  majority  of  the  members 
would  feel  a  like  disposition,  but,  sad  and  strange  to 
tell,  it  appears  entirely  different,  for  whenever  any- 
thing is  brought  up  that  looks  like  retrenchment  it 
is  jumped  on  by  lawyers  and  doctors  and  young 
politicians  and  strangled  instantly.  We  have  gone 
through  the  executive  and  legislative  reports  in 
committee  of  the  whole,  made  some  changes,  but  if 
we  can  get  them  through  the  convention  as  they 
are,  I  think  they  will  do  some  good,  though  they 
are  not  according  to  my  mind.  The  Governor  is  to 
be  elected  once  in  four  years,  salary,  $1,250,  appoint 
his  own  Secretary,  with  a  salary  of  $800;  the  num- 
ber of  members  in  the  Legislature,  seventy-five  in  the 
House  and  twenty-five  in  the  Senate,  with  |2  per  day 
for  the  first  forty-two  days,  and  $1  per  day  after  that ; 
10  cents  per  mile  for  travel;  elections  to  be  on  the 
first  Monday  in  November,  which  we  of  the  south  are 
entirely  opposed  to,  and  will  use  every  exertion  to 
have  changed.  The  report  of  the  Committee  on 
the  Judiciary  will  come  up  on  Monday,  which  I 
presume  will  occupy  at  least  a  week  ;  it  is  very  ob- 
jectionable, I  think,  in  some  of  its  features;  it 
creates  three  Supreme  Judges  and  twelve  Circuit 
Judges,  the  Supreme  Judges  to  receive  $1,200  and 
Circuit  Judges   $1,000  per  annum.     I  suppose  the 


316 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


salary  would  not  be  much  too  high,  but  their  num- 
ber is  too  great;  it  also  provides  that  one  term  of  the 
Supreme  Court  shall  be  held  yearly  in  each  Judicial 
Circuit,  the  Judges,  Clerks  and  all,  to  be  elected  by 
the  people.  I  have  no  idea  now  that  we  shall  get 
away  from  here  before  September,  and  when  I  look 
forward  and  see  the  amount  of  business  before  us, 
and  look  back  on  what  we  have  done,  it  appears  as 
though  we  would  not  get  through  in  twelve  months, 
but  I  still  hope  for  the  better.  I  still  think  they 
will  get  tired  after  awhile,  and  become  willing  to  do 
things  up  and  go  home.  I  think  that  I  shall  never 
have  any  desire  to  be  in  such  a  body  again,  but  I 
will  try  to  perform  my  duty  faithfully,  to  the  best 
of  my  abilities  this  time.  I  am  enjoying  reasonable 
good  health.  I  have  lost  no  time  from  the  House. 
Give  my  respects  to  all,  and  accept  for  yourself  my 
true  friendship.     (Signed)      Samuel  Hunsaker. 

A  letter  from  Jonesboro,  published  in  tlie 
Cairo  Bulletin,  of  December  9,  1870,  tells  of 
an  episode  that  throws  much  light  on  the 
loQg-drawn  struggle  of  rivalry  between  the 
towns  of  Jonesboro  and  Anna.  The  letter, 
among  other  things,  says :  "  Yesterday  was 
a  day  of  intense  excitement  in  Jonesboro  and 
Anna.  It  is  known  that  a  spirit  of  opposi- 
tion and  rivalry  exists  between  the  two  places. 
Two  years  ago  an  effort  was  made  in  our 
State  Legislature  to  submit  the  question  of 
the  removal  of  the  county  seat  from  Jones- 
boro to  Anna  to  a  vote  of  the  people  of 
Union  County.  This  effort  failed  through 
the  schemes,  etc.,  of  certain  parties.  The 
County  Court,  at  a  recent  session,  ordered 
Mr.  Keonig,  County  Surveyor,  to  prepare 
plans  and  specifications  for  building  a  new 
jail.  The  people  of  Anna,  etc.,  were  opposed 
to  building  a  jail  until  the  location  of  the 
county  seat  had  been  decided  by  the  people 
at  the  ballot  box,  and  prepared  a  petition, 
very  numerously  signed,  to  be  presented  to 
the  County  Court.  Yesterday  was  the  day 
appointed  to  receive  the  report  of  Mr.  Keo- 
nig; whereupon  Charles  M.  Willard,  Esquire 
Bohanan  and  Mr.  Lence  came  over  from 
Anna,  appeared  before  the   court   and  asked 


permission  to  present  their  petition.  Per- 
mission was  granted,  and  Mr.  Willard  read 
it.  Soon  as  he  concluded  the  reading,  the 
County  Judge  fined  Messrs.  Willard,  Bo- 
hanan and  Lence  $50  each,  and  ordered  them 
to  remain  in  the  custody  of  the  Sheriff  until 
the  tines  were  paid,  for  contempt  of  court. 
The  Deputy  Sheriff  immediately  marched 
them  to  the  jail.  Upon  arrival  at  the  gloomy, 
desolatn  and  filthy  old  stone  hut,  Mr.  Wil- 
lard, on  account  of  ill  health, concluded  not 
to  pass  its  iron  grates,  and  paid  his  fine. 
Bohanan  and  Lence,  on  the  contrary,  marched 
into  the  felon's  cell  with  a  firm  step  and  a 
determination  to  await  their  fate.  When 
Mr.  Willard  returned  to  Anna  and  gave  an 
account  of  the  affair,  the  excitement  beggared 
description.  '  Let  us  go  over  and  tear  down 
the  jail  and  liberate  Bohanan  and  Lence,' 
said  one.  'Oh,  what  an  ouirage,'  said  an- 
other. '  Did  not  our  fathers  fight  the  Revo- 
lution for  the  right  of  petition?'  was  fre- 
quently asked.  Attorneys  left  immediately 
for  Cairo  with  a  petition  to  Judge  Baker  for 
a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  behalf  of  the  pris- 
oners." 

Of  course  these  martyrs  in  the  "  old  stone 
bastile  "  wei-e  in  the  end  liberated — the  ex- 
cited people  of  Anna  slept  off  their  anger 
and  "  grim-visaged  war  smoothed  his  wrink- 
led front,"  but  the  rivalry  and  opposition  of 
the  two  towns  have  kept  their  fires  still  burn- 
ing brightly  upon  the  watch-towers.  In  the 
matter  of  moving  the  coanty  seat,  Jones- 
boro is  in  possession,  and  with  the  "nine 
points  of  law,"  she  has  been  able  to  thwart 
the  plans  of  Anna  thus  far. 

A  little  incident  in  theoflfice  of  the  County 
Clerk  is  deemed  worthy  of  mention:  Andrew 
Deordoff  succeeded  Davie  as  County  Clerk 
in  1841,  and  served  one  term.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Wilcox,  who  served  one  term. 
Randolph   V.    Marshall    was    then    elected 


HISTORY   OF    UNION   COUNTY. 


317 


Clerk,  and  had  served  one  term,  and  was  so 
popiilar  that  he  was  re-elected,  ar)d  just  after 
he  had  entered  upon  his  second  term  he  ran 
away,  and  was  never  heard  of  again.  Judge 
Hileman  appointed  Wesley  Davidson  to  fill 
out  his  term  until  an  election  was  held,  when 
Thomas  Finley  was  elected  to  the  office,  in 
which  he  remained  until  1861,  when  A.  J. 
Nimmo  was  elected,  and  the  next  term  James 
Evans  was  elected,  and  the  Governor  refused 
as  long  as  he  could  to  issue  Evans'  certilicate 
of  election,  because  he  deemed  him  disloyal. 
Evans'  disloyalty,  it  seems,  consisted  in  be- 
ing the  Democratic  editor  of  the  county  at 
one  time,  and  a  strong  and  vigorous  writer; 
he  had  lashed  without  mercy  the  lielknaps, 
Babcocks  and  Dorseys  of  the  other  party, 
and  therefore  he  was  disloyal.  Nimmo  was 
elected  Clerk  again  in  1869,  and  at  the  end 
of  his  term  William  Hanners  was  elected,  and 
continued  in  the  office  until  1883,  when  the 
present  incumbent,  J.  H.  Hilboldt,was  elected. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  sudden 
disappearance  of  Marshall  were  somewhat 
singular.  He  was  a  man  of  pleasant  address 
and  great  piety,  a  leading  member  of  the 
church  and  Sunday  school  His  morals  were 
considered  most  exemplary.  In  some  way  or 
other  he  came  into  the  possession  of  a  coun- 
terfeit 120  bill.  He  had  passed  it  once  and 
it  was  returned  to  him.  He  had  offered  it 
to  a  Jonesboro  merchant,  who  judged  it  to 
be  counterfeit.  He  then  passed  it  upon  a 
preacher,  who  was. a  book  agent,  who  sent  it 
to  Baltimore,  when  it  was  returned  and 
marked  "counterfeit,"  and  again  it  confront- 
ed Marshall.  By  this  time  the  grand  jury 
was  about  to  assemble,  and  Marshall  fled. 

The  following  references  to   all   the  laws 
passed  by  the  Illinois  Legislature  in  refer- 
ence to  Union  County,  may  prove   a  valuable 
aid  to  any  one  desirous  of   looking   up  or  in 
vesligating  these  subjects: 


County  to  share  in  proceeds  of  Gallatin 
Salines;  L.  February  16,  1831,  14;  borrow 
money  to  complete  coimty  buildings;  L.  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1840,  75;  A.  Deardoff,  acts  as  Coun- 
ty Clerk,  legalized:  L.  February  26,  1845, 
295;  management  of  school  fund;  Id.  March 
3,  321 ;  taxes  of  1844  remitted  in  part,  ac- 
count of  loss  by  high  water;  Id.  February  21, 
353;  borrow  $1,000  to  repair  court  house; 
L.  February  11,  1853,  234;  borrow  $2,500, 
to  build  jail;  Fr.  L.March  4,  1854,  167;  bor- 
row $5,000 to  build  courthouse;  Pr.  L.  Janu- 
ary 19,  1857,  25;  Sheriff  discharged  from 
liability  for  failing  to  collect  land  tax;  L. 
March  27,  1819,  300;  Isaac  Worley  indicted 
for  murder,  change  of  venue;  Pr.  Laws,  Jan- 
uary 24,  1827,  17;  road,  America  to  Vanda- 
lia,  re-location,  L.  January  7,  1831,  J41;  ex- 
amination of  said  road  between  Jonesboro 
and  county  line  south,  Pr.  L.  December  20, 
1832-33, 199;  same,  Jonesboro  to  Snider's  Fer- 
ry, a  State  road,  L.  February  13,  1835,  122; 
same,  Manville's  Mills  to  Saratoga,  and  Jones- 
boro to  Fredouia,  locations,  L.  February  20, 
1843,  252;  Champion  Anderson,  $28.17,  for 
selling  bank  property,  L.  February  7,  1835, 
78.  School  lands,  Town  12 — 3,  sale  of;  L.  De- 
cember 19,  1835-36,  130.  Saratoga  changed 
to  Western  Saratoga,  L.  January  21, 1843,297. 
Hygean  Spjingat  West  Saratoga  chartered;  L. 
March  1,  1845,  113.  County  charcoal  road 
chartered,  Pr.  L.  February  28,  1817, 160.  An- 
drew Deardoff,  $32.67  repaid;  Id.  February 
24,  181;  Union  Turnpike  Co.,  chartered,  Pr. 
L.  February  12,  1849,  104;  Jonesboro  Pla|k 
Road  chartered,  Pr.  L.  February  13,  1851, 
112;  Amended,  Pr.  L.  February  14,  1855, 
467;  County  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
Society  chartered.  Id.  January  30,  110;  Va- 
cated, Pr.  L.  February  9,  1857,  310;  Rand 
J.  Stacy  convicted  of  larceny,  restored;  L. 
February  24,  1859,  18;  Joseph  G.  Webb  re- 
stored to  citizenship;  2  Pr.   L.  February  21, 


318 


HISTOKY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


1867,  812;  J.  H.  McElhaney  robbed  of 
$9,363.68;  time  of  payment  extended,  L. 
March  13,  1869,  337;  D.  Gow  released  from 
judgment,  on  recognizance,  Id.  April  7, 
840. 

The  total  vote  of  Union  County,  1880,  was 
3,418.  In  1882  it  was  3,160.  Hancock's 
majority  in  the  county    for  President,  1880, 


was  1,120.  The  total  vote  of  the  precincts 
were:  Anna,  577;  Cobden,  473;  Alto  Pass, 
415;  Dongola,  523;  Jonesboro,  575;  Mill 
Creek,  109;  Rich,  218;  Stokes,  181;  Preston, 
42;  Union,  152;  Saratoga,  201;  Meisen- 
heimer,  112.  In  the  election  for  Congress- 
man, 1882,  Murphy  (D.)  1954;  Thomas  (R.) 
993;  McCartney  (Pro.)  86. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


TEIE  PRESS— FINLEY  .\ND  EV.\NS,  AND  THE   FIRST  NEWSP.\PER-"  UNION  COUNTY  DEMOCRAT"— 

.JOHN  CtREAR  — THE  "  RECORD,"    "HERALD"  AND  OTHER  PUBLICATIONS  — HOW  THE 

TELEGRAPH  PRODUCED  DROUGHT  — DR.  S.  S.  CONDEN  —  PRESENT 

PUBLISHERS  AND   THEIR    ABLE  PAPERS  —  ETC. 


"A  cheil's  amang  ye,  takin'  notes."  | 

— Burns.       | 

THOMAS  J.   FINLEY  and   John   Evans  ' 
were  the  first  men  that  had  the  nerve  to  ' 
start  a  newspaper  here  away  back  in  1849 — 
the  Gazette.    It  was  a  modest,  seven-column, 
long    primer.     Democratic     weekly     paper.    ! 
Finley  was  the  writer,  it  seems,  and   Evans 
the  practical  business  man.      When  first  is-  I 
sued,  it  attracted  some   attention,  and   those  ' 
who  could  read  at  all  looked  through  its  well- 
filled  columns  with  a  curious  interest,  and  a 
good  many  people  had  the  enterprise  to  be- 
come  regular  subscribers,   but  the   most  of 
them,  we  are  told,  made  their  subscriptions 
very    short- timed,  as    they    had     no    idea  it 
could  possibly  live  more  than  a  few  weeks, 
and  they  only  cared  to  get  the  first  few  copies 
in  the  expectation  of  laying  them  away,  and 
after    awhile  they  would  have  a  curiosity   to 
show   the   people   of   what    a   rash    attempt 
Evans    and  Finley  had  made  to  establish  a 
paper  in  these  wild  woods.     But  these  print- 
ers did  the  most  of  their  own  work,  and  lived 
along  in  the  most  economical  way  and  kept 


the  paper  alive — generally  getting  it  out 
each  week,  but  when  their  paper  failed  to 
come,  or  the  4th  of  July  came  in  their  way, 
or  Christmas,  and  sometimes  the  circus  and 
such  distracting  accidents  and  incidents, 
would  cause  them  to  miss  a  week  or  two,  but 
they  would  rally  and  make  ample  amends  by 
flooding  their  readers  with  resounding  edi- 
torials and  anecdotes  and  quips  and  italic 
lines  and  exclamation  points,  that  would  put 
to  shame  the  most  hardened  grumbler.  The 
county  paper  of  thirty  years  ago  and  now 
differed  in  many  respects.  There  was  very 
little  of  this  modern,  personal  journalism 
that  is  so  common  now.  Papers  then  were 
more  given  to  long,  dry,  moralizing  and 
heavy  editorials  on  metaphysical  subjects  and 
were  quite  indifferent,  compared  with  papers 
of  to-day,  in  the  enterprise  for  news,  or  scan- 
dalous sensations.  The  appetites  of  readers 
then  had  not  been  whetted  for  much  of  the 
prurient  stuff'  that  is  now  wired  all  over  the 
world  for  the  delectation  of  newspaper  read- 
ers. Publishing  papers  thirty-five  j'ears  ago 
Was  not  so  nearly  a  distinct  profession  as  it 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


319 


is  now.     There  vrere  fewer  readers,  but  they 
were  more  select,  and  their  tastes  were  not 
vitiated    as   now.       They    studied   over    the 
market  columns,  knowing  they  were  from  a 
week  to  a  month  old,  with  great  interest  and 
satisfaction,    never  dreaming   that  many  of 
them    would    live  to  see   the    day   that  the 
markets  and  weather  reports  would  some  time 
be  reported   instantaneously  to  every  village 
and   hamlet   in   the   land.       In   those   days 
people     waited     to     see    what    George    D. 
Prentice     had    to      say     about     a     subject 
before    they  would  come  to   a    conclusion. 
There  were  two  or  three  editors  in  the  country 
whose  names  were  a  great  power  in  the  land, 
and    their  printed  opinions    in  their  papers 
were   a  potent  influence   upon  the   country. 
And  scholars  were  content  to  wait  the  coming 
of  the   Quarterly  Reviews  for  their  mental 
pabulum  on  the  questions  of  the   day.      The 
country  editor  was  an  institution  but  little,  if 
any,  below,  in  importance,   wisdom,   and   all 
knowledge    upon    all    subjects,    the    village 
schoolmaster.     He  was  in  the  eyes  of  many 
a  master  of  the  "  black  art,"  a  magician.   In 
the  highest  work  of  mankind — the  building- 
up  of    civilization — the  press   is  the   one  su- 
preme   factor.     The  post    office,     bookstore 
and  news  stand  are  places  where  you  may  go 
and  see,  and  measure  the  ratio  of  intelligence 
among   the   people.     Men    without   thought 
say,  "look  at  our  schoolhouses  and  churches!" 
While  back  and  beyond  and  more  potent  than 
all  these  combined  are  the  books,  periodicals 
and   papers,    of   which   the   post   office    and 
book  store  tell  the  story.     A  country  print- 
ing office  is  a  dingy   place,  yet  in  the  hands 
of  a  mat-  of  an   intellect,  understanding  his 
responsible  place  in  life,  it  is  the  home  and 
resting-place  for  genius,  where  it  pauses  and 
plumes   its  feathers   for  those  inspired  and 
dazzling  flights  that  attract  and  awe  mankind. 
When  the  late  war  closed,   there  had  been 


completed  a  revolution  in  the  newspaper  [>ub- 
lishing  business.  The  telegraph  had  been 
utilized,  and  men  had  been  taught  to  look 
for  news,  and  not  for  the  opinions  and  fine 
writings  of  certain  individuals.  The  business 
of  writing  for  the  paper  had  to  adjust  it- 
self to  the  change  of  circumstances,  and 
short,  crisp  editorials,  and  the  news  of  the 
hour,  and,  instead  of  the  long  "thundering 
leader,"  came  the  wit,  that  largely  consisted 
of  slang  and  bad  spelling.  The  metropol- 
itan press,  through  the  telegraph,  and  the 
perfected  Hoe  press,  began  to  absorb  from  the 
country,  first,  its  talent  among  wi'iters,  and 
then  to  monopolize  the  business  itself,  until 
t^e  country  paper  found  no  other  avenue  to 
walk  in  except  the  purely  local  news, 
gossip,  and  chit-chat  of  its  immediate  lo- 
cality. The  result  has  been  the  deteriora- 
tion of  quality  of  the  winting  in  the  country 
press,  and  improvement  in  the  mechanical 
department,  and  somewhat  better  edited 
Sheriff  sales  and  tax  lists. 

The  solitary  county  newspaper  antedates 
the  railroad  in  this  county.  Finley  &  Evans 
started  their  paper  in  1849,  and  the  railroad 
came  in  1855.  Can  you  imagine  what  Fin- 
ley's  rather  sharp  and  trenchant  pen  was 
doing  for  his  subscribers  when  it  had  failed 
to  scrape  off  such  ignorance  as  is  told  of 
in  another  part  of  this  work,  where  they 
were  going  to  tear  down  the  telegraph  wires 
because  they  concluded  it  took  all  the  elec- 
tricity— thunder  and  lightning — out  of  the 
county,  and  thus  produced  the  great  drought 
of  that  year?  The  people  were  suffering  for 
rain,  the  crops  were  burning  up,  and  the 
sufferers  called  upon  the  learned  pundits 
and  the  preachers  and  big  farmers,  and  they 
issued  their  "  Pope's  bull  against  the  comet," 
and  in  the  firm  conviction  that  God  had  ab- 
dicated, mostly  in  their  favor,  they  were 
going  to  regulate  the  heat,  the  cold  and  the 


320 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUXTY. 


weather.      Such  egotism  and   ignorance  was 
never  excusable,  and  it  was  the  high  duty  of 
the  local  paper  to  have  exposed  it,  and  held 
it  up  to   the  ridicule    and   contempt   of    all 
men.     There  was   no  paper  published   here 
in  the  early  forties,    and  probably  not  two 
subscribers  to  any  papers  or  paper  published 
in   the   world,    when    F.    H.    Kroh's^  father 
startled  the  county  by  bringing  and  exhibit- 
ino-   the  first  matches   ever   seen    here.     He 
had  been  away  off  traveling,  and  had  been 
'shown  some  matches,  and  he  secured  a  few, 
and   arrived  in   Jonesboro   with    them.     He 
told  the  astounded  people  what  he  had,  and 
they  wanted  to  see  him  ' '  strike  fire "  with 
them.      He  told  them  to  assemble  in  the  pub* 
lie   square   after  dark  and  they   should    see 
the  marvelous  exhibition.     The  word  passed 
around,    and    the    population    gathered    en 
masse.     Kroh  ascended  a  platform  whore  all 
could  see,  and  scraped  the  match,   and    the 
bright    blaze   flashed    upon    the    astounded 
people.      They  looked  on  in  awe  and  terror. 
The  luminous   mark  made  where  the  match 
was  scraped  was  felt  and  smelled  and  exam- 
ined by  all  who  could  get  near  enough,  and 
it  was  pronounced,  sure  enough,   lightning. 
Mr.    Kroh  only  burned  two   or   three — they 
were  too  precious  to  waste,  and  the  few  were 
enough.     The  sulphurous  smell,  the  luminous 
track  it  left  on  the  wall,  the  bright  and  hot 
blaze  of  the  sulphur  and  wood,  all  combined, 
warned  the  people  of  the  angry  artillery  of 
heaven,   the  lurid   lightnings  of   the  storm, 
and  the  thrice  heated  and  flaming   lake  of 
fire  and  brimstone  that  was  so  often  preached 
in  rao-ged  thunderbolts  at  their  heads  from 
the  Sunday  pulpits.      And  the  public  made 
up  their  minds  that  matches  were  a  danger- 
ous,  forbidden    and   unholy    invention,    and 
there  must  not  be  any  more  brought  to  Jones- 
boro, either  to  sell  or  for  the  pui*poses  of 
exhibition.      They  could  see  nothinof  but  evil 


in  thus  mixing  the  lightning  and  brimstone, 
and  Kroh  was  admonished  in  his  future 
travels  to  bring  no  more  matches  with  him, 
but  to  leave  them  to  the  ungodly  and  the 
ignorant 

Finley  &  Evans  found  but  a  meager  sup- 
port for  their  paper,  and  often  it  was  close 
work  to  find  ready  ways  and  means  to  pay 
for  the  little  white  paper  they  used.  They 
sold  the  paper  to  H.  E.  Hempstead,  who  ran 
it  with  varying  success  for  about  two  years. 
In  1855,  it  was  purchased  by  John  Grear, 
who  successfully  conducted  it  for  two  year^, 
when  it  passed,  by  pui'chase,  into  the  hands 
of  Gov.  Dougherty.  The  Governor  was  just 
then  deeply  engaged  in  politics,  and  the 
paper  had  carefully  trimmed  its  sails  in  ac- 
cord with  the  Democratic  party,  under  the 
leadership  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  when 
Douglas  and  Lincoln  were  arranging  the  pre- 
liminaries for  the  contest  for  Senator,  the 
paper  had  begun  to  skirmish  for  Douglas, 
when  Dougherty,  who  was  in  Springfield, 
telegraphed  to  change  its  course — oppose 
Douglas,  and  support  the  Breckinridge,  or 
"  Danite"  party.  After  the  election,  Dough- 
erty sold  it  to  a  joint  stock  company.  Then 
McKinney  had  the  control  of  it  for  some 
time,  and  just  about  the  time  of  the  break- 
ing-out of  the  late  war,  it  again  passed  into 
the  hands  and  control  of  Evans.  In  1861. 
Evans  went  to  the  war,  and  before  going, 
sold  out  to  William  Jones,  who  was  making 
it  a  very  successful  paper,  when  a  military 
donkey  named  Xewbold  suppressed  it  be- 
cause it  was  a  Democratic  paper.  It  had 
probably  had  the  eflfronterv  to  say  it  loved 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  that 
George  Washington  was  a  great  and  pure 
patriot,  and  this  masterly  idiot,  screeching 
for  fi'ee  speech,  suppressed  it  for  treason. 
The  commanding  officer  of  the  district  re- 
voked this  order  of  suppression  as  soon  as  it 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


321 


came  to  his  knowledge,  yet  the  proprietors 
did  not  receive  it,  and  for  six  months  the 
office  was  closed.  It  was  then  piu'chased  and 
revived  by  Joel  G.  Morgan,  who  made  qaite 
a  successful  paper  of  it.  He  continued  in 
possession  until  1864,  when  he  was  offered 
the  position  of  editor  of  the  Cairo  Democrat, 
and  he  sold  to  J.  D.  Ferryman,  and  removed 
to  Cairo.  Morgan  was  well  calculated  to  run 
a  successful  country  paper,  and  was  out  of 
his  element  on  a  pretentious  daily  as  was 
then  the  Cairo  Democrat.  J.  D.  Ferryman 
ran  it  a  short  time,  and  finding  it  unsatisfac- 
tory in  its  returns,  left  the  office  and  returned 
to  Bond  County,  his  home. 

During  much  of  the  time  of  the  real  life  of 
the  paper — of  its  days  of  ability  and  useful- 
ness— it  was  under  the  editorial  management 
of  Di-.  Sidney  S.  Canden,  the  strongest  and 
ablest  writer  the  county  has  yet  had.  He 
wrote  and  published  a  great  deal  of  matter 
during  twenty  years  of  his  life  here.  His 
facile  pen  ran  smoothly  over  the  paper,  and, 
when  he  cared,  he  could  invest  his  subject 
in  strong  and  glowing  language,  but  he  was 
negligent  about  dates,  and  this  often  made 
some  of  his  best  contributions  almost  worth- 
less. Hiw  death,  about  six  years  ago,  was 
most  sad  and  terrible.  He  had  been  called 
to  see  a  patient,  and  on  his  way  returning  he 
was  stricken  dead  by  paralysis,  and  his  body 
was  not  found  until  the  next  day,  when  it 
had  been  mutilated. 

The  Union  County  Democrat  was  started 
in  Jonesboro  as  a  Douglas  paper  or  organ, 
intended  to  counteract  the  baneful  influence 
of  the  Gazette  under  Dougherty,  which  was 
anti -Douglas.  The  Democrat  was  started  in 
the  early  part  of  1858,  by  a  joint-stock  com- 
pany. The  principal  stockholders  were  L. 
P.  Wilcox,  W.  A.  Hacker,  Mr.  Toler,  and 
other  leading  Democrats.  After  the  election 
of  1858,  the  office  was  moved  to  Anna.     The 


editor  of  the  Democrat  was  A.  H.  Marschalk. 

Union  County  Record.— This  was  a  six- 
column  paper,  weekly.  Was  started  in  Anna 
in  July,  1860,  by  W.  H.  Mitchell,  and  was 
strongly  Republican  in  politics.  This  was 
quite  a  vigorous  party  paper,  and  was  edited 
and  managed  with  considerable  ability.  Mr. 
Mitchell,  when  he  ceased  publishing  a  paper 
in  Anna,  left  Illinois,  and  is  now  engaged  in 
publishing  a  paper  in  Minnesota. 

Union  County  Herald. — This  was  venture 
No.  3  in  the  way  of  newspaper  enterprises  in 
Anna.  This  was  independent  in  politics, 
and  its  proprietor,  Mr.  Rich,  had  been  paid 
a  bonus  of  $500  to  establish  his  paper.  Mr. 
Rich  soon  sold  to  Dr.  J.  J.  "Underwood,  and 
after  a  short  and  precarious  existence  it  died. 
The  office  was  sold  and  moved  to  Cairo. 

The  Anna  Union  was  started  in  1874  by 
A.  J.  Alden,  a  Republican  organ  in  politics. 
Mr.  Alden  lived  in  Cairo,  and  came  to  Anna, 
and  when  his  paper  was  sold  to  J.  J.  Fenny 
he  returned  to  Cairo.  Mr.  Penny  published 
the  paper  about  six  months,  when  it  died. 

The  Advertiser  was  published  by  Dough- 
erty &  Galigher,  and  was  established  in 
1870 — a  seven-column  weekly.  Republican 
paper.  After  being  published  about  two 
years,  it  was  taken  to  Jonesboro,  where  in  a 
short  time  it  stopped  publication,  and  the 
office  was  sold  to  John  H.  Barton,  and  taken 
to  Carterville,  in  Williamson  County,  and 
then  in  a  short  time  sold  to  Mr.  Feck,  and  is 
now  used  in  publishing  Peck's  Southern 
Illinoisan. 

Farmer  and  Fruit- Ch^oiver. — Mr.  H.  C. 
Bouton's  agricultural  paper  was  started  in 
1877  as  a  modest  little  experiment,  issued 
semi-monthly  A  four-column,  eight-page 
paper,  devoted  exclusively  to  the  agricultural 
and  horticultural  interests  of  Union  County 
and  Southern  Illinois.  In  the  fall  of  1877, 
it  was  changed   into  a   five- column  quarto, 


323 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


and  was  then  published  as  a  weekly,  and 
then  again  the  demands  upon  its  columns 
were  such  that  its  size  was  increased  to  a 
six-column  quarto,  its  present  size.  The 
Farmer  and  Frtut-Groiver  was,  as  stated,  an 
experiment  in  the  beginning,  and  rather  a 
daring  venture,  but  its  success  has  been 
great,  and  the  good  influence  it  has  exerted 
upon  this  entire  southern  part  of  Illinois  has 
been  wide  and  lasting.  Mr.  H.  C.  Bouton 
has  built  up  the  best  printing  office  that  was 
ever  in  the  county,  and  the  circulation  of  his 
paper  has  reached  the  unparalleled  figures  of 
over  1,200  copies.  The  farmers  and  fj;uit- 
growers  all  over  the  country  deeply  appreciate 
this  as  their  friend  and  organ,  and  all  over 
the  State  it  is  already  well  known  and  highly 
valued.  The  horticultural  department  is  in 
editorial  charge  of  Dr.  'J.  H.  Sanborn, 
who  renders  his  department  valuable  to  the 
horicuitural  and  fruit-growing  interest. 

Unio7i  County  Neics,  by  Hale,  Wilson  & 
Co.,  was  first  issued  in  1880,  a  five-column 
quarto  semi-weekly  paper,  Republican  in 
politics.  Messrs.  Hale,  Wilson  &  Co.  contin- 
ued the  publication  for  about  two  years.  It  was 
soon  changed  from  a  semi-weekly  into  a  five- 
column  folio  weekly.  It  was  then  sold  to  the 
Advocate  Printing  Company,  and  changed  in- 
to the  Southern  Illinois  Advocate,  A.  J.  Nis- 
bet  as  editor.  He  was  succeeded  by  D.  W.  Mil- 
ler, and  Miller  by  W.C.  Ussery.  In  February, 
1882,  it  was  leased  for  one  year  to  J.  H. 
Gropengieser,  who  continued  its  publication 
until  his  lease  expired,  when  the  office  was 
closed.  Mr.  Gropengieser  left  Illinois  and 
is  now  publishing  a  paper  in  Montana.  When 
Mr.  Gropengieser  retired,  Willard  Rushing 
rented  the  office  and  ran  it  as  a  job  office  for 
a  short  time. 

The  Talk  was  started  by  Mr.  W.  W.  Faris, 
of  Clinton,  he  having  purchased  the  princi- 


pal stock  shares  of  the  News  Company,  and 
during  the  spring  of  this  year  (1883)  started 
in  the  old  Advocate  office  his  present  spicy 
and  vigorous  weekly  paper,  that  bids  fair  to 
rapidly  win  its  way  to  general  favor.  The 
Talk  is  independent  in  politics,  but  full  of 
life  in  all  that  goes  to  make  a  good  paper,  and 
we  predict  a  long  and  successful  career  for 
it.  Mr.  Faris  is  a  much  better  writer  than  is 
generally  to  be  found  on  weekly  papers,  and 
we  deem  the  people  of  Anna  most  fortunate 
in  securing  his  location  among  them. 

The  Missionary  Sentinel,  by  Rev.  S.  P. 
Myers,  was  published  first  in  1879,  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  German  Reformed  Church. 
After  being  published  about  one  year,  it  was 
moved  to  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  its  publication 
continued. 

A  parting  word  of  the  newspaper  men  of 
Union  County,  with  whom  we  have  spent  the 
last  few  months  so  pleasantly,  and  we  con- 
clude this  chapter.  The  publishers  of  Union 
County  includes  the  names  of  H.  C.  Bou- 
ton, of  the  Farmer  and  Fruit  Grower ;  John 
Gropengieser,  of  the  Advocate,  recently  gone 
to  Montana,  and  Mr.  W.  W.  Faris,  of  The  Talk 
— all  clever  and  affable  gentleman,  of  whom 
the  good  people  of  Union  County  need  not 
be  ashamed,  and  not  one  of  whom  will  ever 
disgrace  or  dishonor  the  responsible  positions 
they  fill,  and  to  all  and  each  of  whom  we 
return  sincere  thanks  for  many  and  valuable 
favors  and  divers  and  oft-repeated  courtesies 
and  great  kindness. '  And  when  the  next  cen- 
tennial history  of  Union  County  comes  to  be 
written,  and  one  and  all  of  us  are  silent  dust, 
we  beg  the  historian  not  to  forget  to  perpet- 
uate the  name  and  fame  and  good  deeds  of 
these  gentlemen,  and  of  the  Fruit  Grower 
and  The  Talk  we  most  heartily  wish,  esto  per- 
petua.  -^ 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   IX 


MILITARY  HISTORY— "  WARS  AND  RUMORS  OF  WARS"— AND  SOME  OF  THE  GENUINE  ARTICLE- 
REVOLUTIONARY     SOLDIERS  — MEXICAN    WAR  — OUR     LATE    CIVIL    STRIFE  — UNION 
COUNTY'S    HONORABLE    PART    IN    IT— THE    ONE    HUNDRED    AND  NINTH 
REGIMENT— ITS    VINDICATION    IN    HISTORY— ETC.,    ETC. 


"Cry  havoc,  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war!" 

— Shakespeare. 

WHEN  the  learned  Hardshell  announced 
that  of  the  "hull  lot  on  'em,"  he 
reckoned  that  St.  Paul  was  the  "most  know- 
ensomest  man,"  but  St.  Peter  was  the  "  most 
fightensomest  man  "  of  all  the  Scripter  men" 
of  that  good  old  time,  he  was  only  giving 
expression  to  that  world-wide  love  of  bullies, 
prize-fights  and  bloody  battles  that  is  a  lin- 
gering relic  of  man's  barbarism.  The  men 
of  the  new  West  have  more  fight  in  them 
than  their  brethren  of  the  older  States;  not 
that  they  are  more  quarrelsome  by  nature, 
but  once  when  war  is  declared  they  are  first 
in  the  field,  and  in  private  life,  especially 
the  pioneers,  when  deliberately  insulted,  they 
generally  are  found  always  with  an  armful 
of  fights  on  hand.  In  the  early  day  here  in 
Illinois,  there  were  more  fist  fights,  especially 
when  the  general  election  day  was  in  August, 
than  we  have  now,  even  with  the  great  increase 
of  population.  The  time  was  when  every 
county  had  its  "bully,"  and  he  always 
whipped  every  one  who  stood  up  against  him, 
until  finally  he  would  force  a  fight  upon  some 
peaceable  non-combatant  and  get  thrashed 
soundly,  and  then  he  would  be  branded 
Ichabod,  and  anybody  could  blufifand  abuse 
him  at  pleasure  and  with  impunity.  Then  some 
other  fighting  hero  would  step  to  the  front, 
generally  to  wind  up  with  the  same  ignoble 
ending.      These  old-time  bitllies  were  great 


men  in  their  day,  they  received  the  adula- 
tions of  the  ignorant  and  coarse  and  vulgar 
people.  The  bully  of  the  early  day  has 
passed  away  and  the  prize-fighter  of  civiliza- 
tion has  taken  his  place.  And  curious  as  it 
may  be,  the  rough  has  as  an  institution  quit- 
ted the^West  and  taken  up  his  abode  in  the 
old  States  of  the  East.  There  is  not  a  gen- 
uine "  fighter  for  fun  "  in  Southern  Illinois, 
where  at  one  time  a  fair  per  cent  of  the 
grown  men  at  times  indulged  in  this  godless 
pastime,  and  esthetic  Boston — the  land  of 
baked  beans — is  the  proud  possessor  of  the 
greatest  bruiser  in  the  world,  and  he  is  ad- 
mired and  worshiped  to  the  extent  that  his 
presence  in  a  theater  will  draw  the  biggest 
paying  houses  of  any  living  man.  The  nat- 
ural bull-dog  in  man  clings  to  his  nature 
with  a  desperate  tenacity.  When  driven 
from  one  place  of  lodgment,  it  appears  in 
another,  and  when  extirpated  in  one  form  it 
bobs  up  serenely  in  some  other.  In  times  of 
peace,  this  disposition  to  fight  is  not  a  public 
good,  nor  can  it  be  reckoned  among  the  valu- 
able accomplishments  that  adorn  the  race; 
yet,  in  times  of  war,  the  hour  of  justifiable 
war,  when  the  invader  is  driven  away  or 
killed,  the  belligerent  propensities  of  men 
may  be  made  to  subserve  the  noblest  pm-poses, 
and  fight  the  battles  of  humanity  and  win 
victories  that  make  true  heroes  who  deserve 
to  live  in  immortal  epic. 

Many  of  the  earliest  settlers  here  were  from 


324 


HISTORY  OF  UXiOX  COUNTY. 


North  Carolina,  and  some  of  them  were  of 
that  noble  stock  who  constituted  the  heroic 
band  of 

Revolutionary  Soldiers. — Of  these  we  find 
the  names  of  Eli  as  Moiers,  Joseph  C.  Ed- 
wards, Christopher  Lyerle,  Jacob  Frick, 
Peter  Meisenheimer  and  Travers  Morris,  and 
there  were  no  doubt  others  whose  names  we 
could  not  find  on  the  records,  who  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  in  these  tiying  times, 
with  their  brothers  in  arms,  and  fought,  bled 
and  suffered  and  toiled  so  hard,  so  patiently 
and  so  well  in  that  immortal  battle  for  the 
independence  and  all  the  blessings  of  a  free 
government  we  now  enjoy.  At  the  April 
term,  1828,  of  the  Union  County  Circuit 
Court,  Elias  Moiers  filed  a  petition  in  open 
court,  making  application  for  a  pension  as  a 
Kevolutionary  soldier.  The  afiidavit  states 
he  is  wholly  disabled  by  reason  of  his  serv- 
ice in  the  army,  and  then  says:  "I  did  not 
apply  for  a  pension  sooner  because  I  have 
heretofore  been  able  to  make  my  own  liv- 
ing," but  now,  "being  wholly  unable  to  so 
do,"  he  appeals  to  his  country  for  a  small  as- 
sistance, etc.  In  his  affidavit,  he  enumer- 
ates his  earthly  possessions  as  "one  horse, 
$60;  saddle,  bridle  and  saddle  bags,  $15. 
Total,  $75.  He  says  he  volunteered  for  a 
term  of  ten  months  in  the  State  of  South 
Carolina,  under  Capt.  Williams  in  the  regi- 
ment of  Col.  William  Polk,  and  that  he 
served  out  his  term  and  was  discharged  on 
the  "High  Hills  of  Santee,  S.  C."  The  af- 
fidavit states  that  he  has  no  other  property  in 
person,  trust  or  otherwise,  and  is  "  wholly 
disabled  by  age  and  disease."  The  applica- 
tion is  long  and  is  very  minute  in  details, 
and  to  this  there  are  the  corroborating  affi- 
davits of  two  witnesses  and  a  physician.  A 
transcript  of  this  long  record  was  made  by 
the  County  Clerk,  Winstead  Davie,  and 
transmitted  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 


At  April  term,  1829,  of  the  Union  County 
Circuit  Court,  Joseph  C.  Edwards,  aged 
seventy-nine  years, filed  his  sworn  declaration 
and  application  for  a  pension  as  a  soldier  in 
the  Revolution.  He  enlisted,  he  says,  for 
nine  months  in  the  year  1776,  in  Virginia, 
in  Col.  Adam  Slencar's  regiment,  served 
out  his  term  and  was  discharged  at  Martins- 
burg,  Va.  His  property  is  scheduled  as  one 
bed,  $3;  one  ax,  $2;  one  plow,  $3;  one  hoe, 
%l.     Total,  $9. 

In  1831,  Christopher  Lyerle,  a  soldier  of 
the  Revolution,  filed  his  declaration  for  a 
pension.  His  age  then  was  sixty-seven  years. 
He  enlisted  1780  in  North  Carolina,  in  Capt. 
Ly tie's  company.  Col.  McRea's  regiment,  and 
served  eighteen  months,  bis  full  term  of  en- 
listment. His  property  was  three  horses, 
$100;  cattle,  $12;  hogs,  $10;  household  fur- 
niture, $20;  farming  utensils,  $5;  wagon, 
$40;  one- quarter  section  of  land,  $150. 
Total,  $337. 

At  the  October  term  of  the  Circuit  Court, 
1832,  Jacob  Frick  and  Peter  Meisenheimer 
made  application  for  pension  for  services  in 
the  Revolutionary  war.  And  at  the  April 
term,  1833,  Travers  Moiers  made  his  similar 
application. 

The  Black  Hawk  War.  — This  was  the  most 
important  of  the  Indian  wars  in  the  West. 
During  Gov.  Edwards'  administration,  as  ex- 
ecutive of  the  State,  the  Indians  upon  the 
Northwestern  frontier  began  to  be  very 
troublesome.  The  different  tribes  not  only 
commenced  a  warfare  among  themselves,  in 
regard  to  their  respective  boundaries,  but 
they  extended  their  hostilities  to  the  white 
settlements.  A  treaty  of  peace,  in  which  the 
whites  acted  more  as  mediators  than  as  a 
party,  had  been  signed  at  Prairie  du  Chien, 
on  the  19th  day  of  August,  1825,  by  the  terms 
of  which  the  boundaries  between  the  Winne- 
bagoes  and  Sioux,  Chippewas,  Sauks,  Foxes 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUXTY. 


325 


and  other  tribes  were  defined,  but  it  failed  to 
keep  them  quiet.  Their  depi'edatious  and 
murders  continued  frequent,  and  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1827,  their  conduct,  particularly  that 
of  the  Winnebagoes,  became  very  alarming. 
A  combination  was  formed  by  the  different 
tribes  of  Indians  under  Red  Bird,  a  chief  of 
the  Sioux,  to  kill  or  di'ive  off  all  the  whites 
above  Rock  River.  They  commenced  opera- 
tions by  a  massacre,  on  the  24:th  of  July,  1827, 
of  two  white  men  near  Prairie  du  Chien,  and 
on  the  30th  of  the  same  month  they  attacked 
two  keel  boats  on  their  way  to  Fort  Snelling, 
killing  two  of  the  crew  and  wounding  four 
others.  Gov.  Edwards  sent  an  expedition 
against  them  which  punished  the  sav- 
ages and  captured  Chiefs  Red  Bird  and  Black 
Hawk.  The  tribe  was  apparently  humbled, 
and  a  peace  was  declared,  the  Indians  agree- 
ing to  move  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  give 
Tip  the  Rock  River  country  to  the  whites. 
But  they  did  not  go,  and  in  1830  there  was 
another  outbreak.  Black  Hawk  had  assumed 
command  of  the  combined  tribes,  and  he 
ordered  the  whites  to  leave  the  country,  and 
in  April,  1831,  he  re-crossed  the  river  at  the 
head  of  a  force  variously  estimated  at  from 
three  to  five  hundred  braves  of  his  own  tribe, 
and  two  hundred  allies  of  the  Pottawato- 
mies  and  Kickapoos,  to  regain  the  possession, 
as  he  declared,  of  the  ancient  hunting 
grounds  and  the  villages  of  his  tribe.  IJe 
commenced  fii'st  to  destroy  the  property  of  the 
whites  and  order  them  away.  Gov.  Reynolds 
was  Governor  when  he  learned  of  the  state 
of  affairs  ;  issued  a  call  for  volunteers  (May 
27,  1S31),  and  the  whole  northwestern  part 
of  the  State  at  once  resounded  with  the  hasty 
preparations  of  war.  No  county  south  of 
St.  Clair,  nor  east  of  Sangamon  was  included 
in  the  call,  which  was  limited  to  seven  hun- 
dred men,  who  were  to  report  in  fifteen  days' 
time,  mounted  and  equipped,  at  the  place  of 


rendezvous,  which  was  fixed  at  Beardstown, 
on  the  Illinois  River.  More  than  twice  the 
number  called  for  responded,  and  the  Gov- 
ernor concluded  to  accept  the  whole  sixteen 
hundi-ed  men.  June  15,  1831,  they  took  up 
their  march,  and  arrived  at  Rock  River  June 
25.  There  were  six  companies  of  regulars 
sent  up  from  Jefferson  Barracks,  under  com- 
mand of  Gen.  Gaines.  This  met  the  volun- 
teer forces  on  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the 
forces  were  combined  under  Gen.  Gaines. 
But  the  wiley  Black  Hawk,  when  he  found 
this  force  approaching  him,  deserted  his  vil- 
lage and  re-crossed  the  river,  and  the  soldiers 
took  possession  of  the  deserted  village  and 
burned  it.  Gov.  Ford  says:  "  Thus  perished 
this  ancient  village,  which  had  been  the  de- 
lightful home  of  6,000  or  7,000  Indians, 
where  generation  after  generation  had  been 
born,  had  died  and  been  buried."  Gen. 
Gaines  sent  word  to  Black  Hawk  to  come  in 
and  treat  for  peace,  and  on  June  30,  1831, 
Black  Hawk  met  Gen.  Gaines  and  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds in  full  council,  in  which  the  Indians 
agreed  that  in  future  no  Indian  should  cross 
to  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi  without 
permission.  The  troops  were  rhen  disbanded. 
Thus  ended  without  bloodshed  the  first  cam- 
paign of  the  Black  Hawk  war. 

Notwithstanding  the  treaty,  the  trouble 
was  not  yet  ended.  In  the  spring  of  1832, 
Black  Hawk  recrossed  the  Mississippi  (April 
6)  with  500  braves  on  horseback.  When 
Gov.  Reynolds  heard  of  this,  he  called  for 
1,000  volunteers  from  the  central  and  south- 
ern portions  of  the  State,  to  rendezvous  at 
Beai-dstown,  but  this  call  was  soon  extended 
to  the  whole  of  the  State.  Eighteen  hundred 
men  met  at  Beardstown,  and  an  election  for 
field  officers  was  held.  Col.  John  Thomas 
was  elected  to  the  first  regiment.  Col.  Jacob 
Fry  to  the  second,  Col.  Abram  B.  DeAVitt 
to    the    third     regiment,     Col.    Samuel    L. 


336 


HISTORY   OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


Thompson  to  the  fourth.  Maj.  James  D. 
Henry  was  elected  to  command  the  Spy  Bat- 
talion, and  Maj.  Thomas  James  to  command 
the  "  Odd  "  Battalion,  and  there  were  eight 
companies  not  attached  to  any  regiment. 
Gov.  Reynolds  accompanied  the  expedition, 
and  he  placed  Brig.  Gen.  Whiteside  in  im- 
mediate command. 

On  the  29th  of  April,  1832,  the  army  left 
camp  near  Beardsto^vn  and  marched  to  the 
Mississippi  River,  near  where  is  the  present 
town  of  Oquawka.  *  From  here  they  marched 
up  Rock  River,  where  they  were  all  received 
into  the  United  States  service,  and  400  regu- 
lars and  an  armament  of  cannon  was  joined 
to  the  force. 

In  May,  1832,  was  fought  the  battle  of 
"  Stillman's  Run,"  in  which  the  Indians 
were  victorious  against  Gen.  Stillman's  de- 
tachment. 

During  the  night  after  this  battle,  Gov. 
Reynolds  made  a  requisition  for  2,000  nddi- 
fcional  men,  to  be  in  readiness  for  future 
operations,  while  the  utmost  consternation 
spread  throughout  the  State  and  nation. 

Gen.  Scott,  with  1,000  troops,  was  immedi- 
ately ordered  to  the  Northwest,  to  superin- 
tend the  future  operations  of  the  campaign. 
Black  Hawk  and  his  forces  retreated  up  the 
river.  On  the  6th  of  June,  Black  Hawk  at- 
tacked Apple  River  Fort  with  150  warriors. 
There  were  only  twenty-five  men  in  the  fort. 
The  fort  held  out  bravely,  and  was  finally 
relieved  by  the  army  marching  to  the  relief 
of  the  besieged,  when  Black  Hawk  retreated 
and  his  forces  scattered.  Our  army  was  put 
in  pursuit,  and  on  the  2d  of  August  overtook 
the  Indians  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
as  they  were  preparing  to  cross,  and  the  bat- 
tle of  Bad  Axe  was  fought  and  the  Indians 
completely  vanquished.  Their  loss  was  over 
150  killed,  besides  a  large  number  drowned 
and  many  more  wounded.     A    large  number 


of  women  and  children  lost  their  lives,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  it  was  impossible  to  distin- 
guish thsm  from  the  men.  The  American 
loss  was  seventeen.  Black  Hawk  was  soon 
after  captured  and  sent  to  Fortress  Moaroe. 
In  September,  1832,  a  treaty  was  made 
which  ended  the  Indian  troubles  in  this 
State. 

Union  County  had  one  full  independent 
company  that  had  been  called  into  service 
and  mustered  July  13,  1832,  and  mustered 
for  discharge  August  10,  1832.  The  men 
were  enrolled  June  19,  1832.  The  following 
is  a  complete  roster  of  the  company  :  Cap- 
tain. B.  B.  Craig;  First  Lieutenant,  Will- 
iam Craig;  Second  Lieutenant,  John  Newton; 
Sergeants,  Samuel  Moland,  Solomon  David, 
Hezekiah  Hodges,  John  Rendlemau;  Cor- 
porals, Joel  Barker,  Adam  Cauble,  Martin 
Uri,  Jeremiah  Irvine;  Privates,  Aaron  Bar- 
ringer,  John  Barringer,  John  Corgan,  Mathew 
Cheser,  Daniel  Ellis,  William  Farmer, 
Thomas  Farmer,  Moses  Fisher,  Abraham 
Goodin,  William  G.  Gavin,  Hiram  Grammer, 
William  Grammer,  Lot  W.  Hancock,  Daniel 
P.  Hill,  Jackson  Hunsaker,  Peter  Lense, 
John  Langley,  Moses  Lively,  A.  W.  Lingle, 
John  Murphy,  P.  W.  MeCall,  John  Morris, 
Nimrod  Mcintosh,  John  A.  Mackintosh, 
Solomon  Miller,  Thomas  McElhany,  James 
Morgan,  Washington  McLean,  Elijah  Mo- 
Graw,  John  Penrod,  John  Parmer,  John 
Quillman,  W.  H.  Rumsey,  Elijah  Shepherd, 
Daniel  Salmons,  Preston  I.  Staten,  John 
Vincent,  and  Jessee  Wright. 

I'he  Mexican  War. — This  war  made  Illi- 
nois the  first  military  State  in  the  Union. 

On  the  11th  day  of  May,  1846,  Congress 
passed  an  act  declaring  that  "  By  the  act  of 
the  Republic  of  Mexico,  a  state  of  war  exists 
between  that  Government  and  the  United 
States."  At  the  same  time  that  body  made  an 
appropriation  of  .$10,000,000  to  carry  on  the 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


327 


war,  and  authorized  the  President  to  accept 
50.000  volunteers. 

Illinois  was  called  on  for  three  regiments 
of  infantry  or  riflemen.  Gov.  Ford  issued 
a  call  for  thirty  full  companies  of  volunteers, 
of  a  maximum  of  eighty  men,  to  serve  for 
twelve  months,  and  with  the  privilege  of  elect- 
ing their  own  company  and  regimental  ofl&cers 
The  response  to  the  call  was  enthusiastic  and 
overwhelming.  Within  ten  days  thirty-five 
full  companies  had  organized  and  reported. 
By  the  time  the  place  of  rendezvous  had  been 
selected,  there  had  been  seventy-five  com- 
panies recruited,  each  furious  to  go,  of  which 
the  Governor  was  compelled  to  select  thirty, 
and  leave  the  remainder  to  stay  at  home. 
Three  regiments  were  formed:  First,  Col. 
John  J.  Hardin;  Second,  Col.  W.  H.  Bissell, 
and  the  third.  Col.  Ferris  Foreman.  These 
three  regiments  were  mustered  into  the 
service  at  Alton,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1846. 

Hon.  E.  D.  Baker  prevailed  on  the  Govern- 
ment to  accept  another  regiment,  and  on  the 
18th  of  July  the  Fourth  Regiment  was  mus- 
tered into  the  service. 

Union  County  furnished  Company  F  of  the 
Second  Regiment,  Capt.  John  S.  Hacker. 
The  Second  Regiment  was  transported  down 
the  Mississippi  River  and  across  the  Gulf, 
and  went  iato  quarters  at  Camp  Erwin,  near 
the  old  town  of  Victoria,  on  Wenloop  River, 
march  ing  from  thence  to  San  Antonio,  Tex. , 
and  there  joined  Gen.  Wool's  army  of  the 
center.  They  left  that  city  on  the  26th  day 
of  September.  On  the  24th  of  October,  they 
entered  Santa  Rosa.  Thence  they  marched 
to  Monclova,  •  thence  to  Parras,  where  the 
original  idea  of  the  march — the  capture  of 
Chihuahua — was  abandoned. 

They  remained  here  twelve  days,  and 
started  to  intercept,  if  possible,  Santa  Anna's 
attack  on  Monterey,  and  on  the  21st  of  De- 
cembef  occupied  Agua  Neuva,  thus  complet- 


ing in  six  weeks'  march  about  1,000  miles, 
which  had  been  baiTen  of  results.  On  the 
22d  day  of  February,  1847,  was  begun  the 
battle  of  Buena  Vista,  which  ended  on  the 
23d,  and  resulted  in  a  complete  victory  for 
the  American  forces,  and  in  which  the  Second 
Regiment,  Company  F  included,  covered 
itself  with  glory. 

The  roll  of  Company  F,  when  mustered 
out  of  the  service,  was  as  follows:  Captain, 
John  S.  Hacker;  First  Lieuteriant.  Sidney  S. 
Condon;  Second  Lieutenants,  John  Roberts 
and  Joseph  Masten;  Third  Lieutenant,  Al- 
phonso  Grammer;  Sergeants,  John  C.  Hun 
saker,  Alex  J.  Nimmo,  Abram  Hargrave 
and  John  Grammer;  Corporals,  Adam  Creese; 
W^right  C.  Pender,  Henderson  Brown,  Abram 
Cover;  Musicians,  Jacob  Greer  and  George 
H.  Lemley;  Privates.  Talbot  Brown,  John 
Bevins,  John  Brown,  Charles  Barringer,  John 
Z.  Burgess,  Peter  Cripps,  Peter  H.  Casper, 
Elijah  Coffman,  Scipio  A.  B.  Davie,  John 
Davie,  Daniel  Dougherty,  Simeon  Fisher, 
Charles  A.  Finley,  James  Fike,  Jesse  Gray, 
Franklin  Geargvis,  James  Grammer,  Henry 
Flaugh,  William  N.  Hamby,  AVilliam  Henry, 
Samuel  Hess,  Benjamin  F.  Hayward,  Henry  C. 
Hacker,  Fielding  A.  Jones,  Silas  Jones,  John 
Kerr,  Frederick  King,  Adam  Lingle,  Phillip 
Lewis,  John  Lingle,  Daniel  W.  Lyerle,  An- 
drew J.  Lemons,  Daniel  Lingle,  Chesterfield 
Langley,  John  Menees,  Harrison  McCoy, 
Jeflferson  Menees,  William  Miller,  John  H. 
Millikin,  John  Moland,  Samuel  Martin, 
Washington  L.  Mcintosh,  John  McGinnis, 
James  M.  Phelan,  Samuel  Parker,  Garrett 
Resink,  John  W.  Regan,  Franklin  Sprey, 
Amalphus  W.  Simonds,  James  A.  Springs, 
Azel  Thornton,  Le  Roy  Thomas,  James  I. 
Toler,  Thomas  F.  Thurman,  Reuben  Vick 
and  James  Walker. 

Charles  A.  Finley  was  on  detached  service 
in  Quartermaster's  Department  December  30. 


328 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


Henry  C.  Hacker  was  Hospital  Steward  from 
July  25  to  October  5,  and  from  December  17 
to  January  20.  Pless  Martin  was  discharged 
on  Surgeon's  certificate,  at  Saltillo,  March  21. 

Died:  Felix  G.  Anderson,  in  hospital, 
Saltillo,  April  9;  Alexander  Davie,  San  An- 
tonia,  Tex. ,  date  not  known ;  Joseph  Ledger- 
wood,  in  hospital  at  Saltillo,  March  21. 

The  company  was  discharged  June  18, 
1847,  at  Comargo,  Mexico. 

The  Civil  War.  — The  history  of  all  civil  war 
— the  butchery  of  brother  by  brother — should 
be  written  upon  the  water,  or  at  least  the  horrid 
record  should  be  made  only  by  that  kindly 
angel  who  recorded  Uncle  Toby's  oath,  and 
when  the  entry  was  made  ' '  dropped  a  tear  up- 
on it  that  blotted  it  out  forever."  A  family 
quaiTel  is  about  the  meanest  thing  a  human 
being  can  engage  in,  and  there  are  few  con- 
ceivable sights  more  pitiful  or  disgusting 
than  to  hear  one  member  of  a  family  boast- 
ing that  he  had  whipped  his  little  brother, 
sister,  father  or  mother.  To  any  well-reg- 
ulated mind,  it  is  inconceivable  how  such  deg- 
radation can  come  and  root  out  every  elevating 
impulse,  and  all  essence  of  self-respect,  as  to 
glory  in  a  family  light  or  butchery.  A  victory 
in  a  civil  war  may  be  a  good  thing,  but  a 
dire  necessity,  but  it  is  in  fact  but  as  the  chas- 
tisement inflicted  by  a  kind  father  upon  his 
waywai'd  child.  He  whips  his  child,  in- 
flicts the  lash  with  a  bleeding  heart,  and  do 
you  suppose  that  a  natural  father  could 
cherish  and  boast  over  his  victory,  and  the 
cries  of  pain  that  he  extorted  from  his  poor 
erx'ing  child?  A  nation  is  but  a  large  family 
of  brothers  and  sisters,  and  that  individual 
is  badly  made  up  who  has  trained  his  heart 
to  maltreat  without  an  irresistible  cause  any 
portion  of  that  great  family.  AVar  at  best  is 
bad  and  brutalizing  in  its  very  essence,  and 
enough  of  bloody  victories  will  in  the  end 
bring  only  woe  and  desolation  to  the  victors. 


There  is  but  one  kind  of  war  that  can  be  ex- 
cused, or  that  is  not  a  high  crime  against 
God,  and  that  is  a  war  to  repel  invasion — to 
drive  out  the  armed  enemy  that  invades  a 
country  for  conquest  and  to  destroy  the 
liberties  of  the  people.  Here  are  the  fields 
of  glory  to  the  ambitious  soldier.  Here 
alone  may  be  gained  laurels  that  may  be  ever 
kept  green,  and  the  battle-scarred  veterans 
merit  the  love  and  respect  of  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  those  to  whom  they  gave  liberty 
and  national  glory. 

The  action  of  the  people  of  Union  County 
in  the  late  war  is  a  demonstration  that  the 
early  people  here  and  their  descendants,  had 
kept  brightly  burning  the  fires  of  patriotism 
upon  the  altars  of  their  country,  and  were 
ever  ready  upon  the  call  of  their  country,  to 
respond  to  that  call  and  take  their  position 
in  the  "red  gaps  of  war''  and  peril  their 
lives  with  unequaled  heroism  in  the  defense 
of  the  integrity  of  their  v;.)untry.  The 
patriotic  bravery  and  warlike  spirit 
is  manifested  by  the  simple  statement 
that  Union  County,  under  all  the  heavy  calls 
of  the  Government  for  men,  was  one  of  the 
few  counties  in  Illinois  that  was  never  sub- 
jected to  the  draft  in  order  to  fill  up  their 
quota,  she  always  having  in  the  field  more 
than  her  share  of  men,  and  this  was  true  after 
furnishing  substitutes  for  the  busy  brokers 
all  the  way  from  Massachusetts  to  Chicago, 
and  nearly  every  other  regiment  from  Illinois, 
and  even  some  for  Missouri  and  Kentucky  reg- 
iments. From  the  Adjutant  General's  Reports, 
it  is  impossible  to  find  any  account  of  those 
men  from  the  county  who  weni  as  squads  or  as 
individuals  and  volunteers  in  companies  and 
regiments  that  were  credited  to  other  locali- 
ties. From  the  best  information  we  can 
gather,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Union  County, 
from  first  to  last,  gave  3.000  men  to  the 
army;     Illinois     altogether     256,000    men. 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


329 


There  are  102  counties  in  the  State,  an  av- 
erage of  2,500  men  to  the  county,  and  but 
few  counties  but  that  a  portion  of  these  were 
forced  into  the  service  by  the  draft.  These 
figures  are  a  severe  rebuke  to  the  slanders 
upon  Southern  Illinois  from  those  sections 
that  raked  the  country  for  negro  substitutes 
to  fill  their  ranks  and  the  demands  of  the 
"  lottery  of  death,"  the  draft  wheel.  Locali- 
ties that  were  so  loud  with  their  patriotism, 
so  loyal  in  their  votes,  and  so  brave  in  sup- 
plying sutlers,  cotton  speculators  and  camp 
followers,  and  who  so  tenderly  cared  for  the 
war  widows,  and  made  millionaires  of  them- 
selves, and  with  their  mouths  put  down  the 
rebellion,  and  waxed  fat  and  great  at  the 
public  crib,  and  volunteered  in  the  Home 
Guards,  and  hunted  down  their  unarmed 
neighbors  and  arrested  them,  because  they 
were  "off"  in  their  politics,  and  sent  them 
to  the  bastile  or  mobbed  and  killed  them,  and 
by  their  cant  and  hypocrisy  made  the  name 
"  loyalty  "  a  by- word  and  a  synonym  of  all 
that  is  detestable  in  human  nature. 

The  records  show  that  Union  County,  in 
addition  to  the  full  One  Hundred  and 
Ninth  Regiment,  furnished  Capt.  Mack's 
Company,  as  well  as  a  number  of 
men  to  the  Eighteenth  Regiment,  one 
company,  Capt.  Reese,  to  the  Thirty-first 
Regiment.  A  portion  of  the  Sixtieth  Regi- 
ment was  enlisted  here.  This  regiment  ren- 
dezvoused in  this  county,  and  was  filled  out 
with  Union  County  men.  The  county  also 
furnished  a  large  number  of  men  to  the  Sixth 
Cavalry,  in  addition  to  Capt.  Warren  Stew- 
art's Company. 

As  it  is  not  intended  to  give  a  history  of 
the  war  of  the  rebellion,  we  would  be  con- 
tent to  close  this  chapter  just  here,  but  the 
truth  requires  that  some  errors  be  corrected 
in  reference  to  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth 
Regiment,  and  wrongs  heaped  upon  somp  of 


the  best  people  of  the  county  to  some  extent 
righted,  and  the  truth  of  history  vindicated. 
The  following  military  orders  that  are  neces- 
sary to  an  understanding  of  the  matter  are 
given  in  full: 

Headquarters  Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  | 
Lake  Providence,  La.,  April  1,  1863.  \ 

General  Orders.  N^o.  8. 
I.— Commanding  Officers  will  immediately  send 
in  to  these  headquarters  the  names  of  all  officers 
who,  in  their  judgment,  should  be  required  to  sub- 
mit to  an  examination  before  the  "Board  of  Exam- 
iners," convened  in  pursuance  of  Special  Orders, 
No.  53,  from  these  headquarters. 

11. — Field  officers  will  be  examined  in  all  that  is 
required  of  company  officers;  Evolutions  of  the  line; 
elements  of  military  engineering;  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  use  of  tield  artiller}^  is  proper,  and 
all  other  requirements  necessary  to  the  capable  and 
efficient  officer. 

HI. — Company  officers  will  be  examined; 
1st,  On  the  manner  of  instructing  recruits. 
2d,  In  the  schools  of  the  soldier,  company  and  bat- 
talion. 
3rd,  In  the  duties  of  Officers  of  the  Day  and  Officers 
of  the  Guard,  and  particularly  in  the  proper  con- 
duct and  necessary  requirements  of  sentinels. 
4th,  On  the  reports  and  returns  required  under  ex- 
isting orders  and  regulations. 
5th,  In  all  matters  deemed  by  the  board  necessary 
and  proper. 
IV. — Commanding  officers  are  reminded  that  they 
are  responsible  for  the  efficiency   of  their  subordi- 
nates, and  they  will  accordingly  be  held  to  a  strict 
compliance  with  the  requirements  of  this  order. 
By  order  of 

Maj.  Gen.  McPherson. 

This  order  bears  date,  it  will  be  noticed,  of 
April  1,  1863.  From  this  there  emanated 
the  following  order  only  ten  days  after  the 
above,  as  follows: 

Special  Orders,  No.  6. 
Lake  Providence,  La.,  April  10,  1863. 
The  officers  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regi- 
ment Illinois  Volunteers,  except  those  of  Company 
K,  having  been  reported  as  utterly  incompetent  to 
perform  the  duties  of  their  respective  commissions, 
and  evincing  no  disposition  to  improve  themselves, 
are  hereby  discharged  from  the  service  of  the  United 
States.  This  is  the  regiment  which  was  within  a 
few  miles  of  Holly  Springs,  when  attacked  by  the 


330 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


rebels,  failed  to  march  to  the  support  of  their  com- 
rades, but  drew  in  their  pickets,  and  stood  ready  to 
surrender. 

From  nine  companies,  237  men  deserted,  princi- 
pally at  Memphis,  and  but  one  from  Company  K. 

To  render  the  men  efficient,  it  is  necessary  to 
transfer  them  to  a  disciplined  regiment,  and  they  are 
accordingly  transferred  to  the  Eleventh  Regiment 
Illinois  Volunteers,  Company  K,  to  make  the  Tenth 
Company. 

•  It  then  proceeds  to  enumerate  by  name 
every  officer  then  belonging  to  the  regiment, 
except  those  of  Company  K. 

The  following  letter  from  the  War  Depart- 
ment in  Washington,  dated  February  2,1882, 
among  other  things,  says: 

"  April  9,  1863  (the  day  befoi-e  the  above 
order),  Col.  T.  E.  G.  Ransom,  commanding 
Second  Brigade,  Sixth  Division,  Seventeenth 
Army  Corps,  reported  that  the  One  Hundi'ed 
and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteers  was  assigned 
to  his  brigade  March  30,  1863,  that  he  had 
inspected  the  regiment  thoroughly,  as  well 
as  reviewed  and  drilled  it;  that  he  found  the 
men  physically  good,  but  the  officers  all  in- 
competent to  command,  except  the  officers  of 
Company  K;  that  237  deserters  had  been 
dropped  from  the  rolls,  most  of  whom  de- 
serted at  Memphis;  that  he  did  not  believe 
that  the  regiment  could  be  made  efficient 
under  the  organization  it  then  had,  and  there- 
fore recommended  that  the  officers  (except 
those  of  Company  K)  be  mustered  out  of  serv- 
ice, and  that  the  remaining  officers  and  men 
be  transfeiTed  to  some  Illinois  regiment. 
The  recommendation  was  'heartily  approved' 
by  Maj.  Gen.  J.  B.  McPherson,  Commanding 
Department  Tennessee." 

Upon  the  report  and  recommendation  re- 
ferred to,  Brig.  Gen.  L.  Thomas,  Adjt.  Gen. 
U.  S.  Army,  who  was  at  Lake  Providence, 
La.,  the  station  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Ninth  Illinois  Volunteers,  issued  Special 
Order  No.  6,  '  'discharging  the  officers  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Kegiment," 


A  careful  reading  of  the  above  orders  and 
the  letter  of  explanation  given  of  them  by 
the  letter  from  the  War  Department  are  not 
difficult  of  explanation.  Col.  Ransom  was  in 
a  position  where  he  was  ambitious  to  succeed 
to  the  position  of  a  Brigadier  General.  His 
own  regiment  was  decimated,  and  it  is  pos- 
sible he  may  have  coveted  these  men  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regiment,  and  he 
could  only  get  them  by  first  getting  rid  of 
the  officers.  Then  again,  if  they  w^ere  re- 
organizing the  army  and  consolidating  or 
merging  the  small  regiments  into  the  lax'ger 
ones,  then  this  would  necessitate,  perhaps, 
the  mustering  out  of  those  officers  who  were 
so  unfortunate  as  to  belong  to  these  regi- 
ments of  few  men.  Thus,  Col.  Ransom  may 
have  been  deeply  interested  in  the  very  mat- 
ter he  was  appointed  to  investigate  and  report 
upon.  If  he  was  so  interested,  he  was  in  a 
position  where  he  was  judge,  jury  and  exe- 
cutioner, as  well  as  party  to  the  suit. 

With  these  facts  borne  in  mind,  the  out- 
rage of  the  stab  at  thn  good  name  of  these 
men — a  stab,  bear  in  mind,  in  the  dark,  is 
the  better  understood.  They  were  sentenced 
without  trial,  without  conviction,  and  above 
all,  without  the  slightest  opportunity  to  de- 
fend themselves.  They  were  not  called  be- 
fore a  court  of  investigation,  nor  were  they 
reviewed,  nor  were  they  inspected  in  their 
drill.  The  order  dismissing  them  says  they 
were  incompetent,  and  some  of  the  men 
had  deserted.  In  short,  without  trial, 
without  opportunity  to  vindicate  themselves, 
and  without  justice  or  cause,  they  were  dis- 
missed the  service.  On  the  face  of  the  order 
of  dismissal,  its  injustice  is  as  apparent.  It 
makes  the  unsubstantiated  charge  that  the 
officers  were  not  competent  because  some  had 
deserted.  Is  there  a  child  in  the  world  who 
cannot  see  the  gross  and  infamous  injustice 
of    this   star   chamber    conviction?     Is   it  a 


'-^z.eu^  ^^u^i^^^^^-yi^^ 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


333 


crime  for  which  officers  are  cashiered  when 
the  men  desert?  Was  such  a  punishment 
ever  before  inflicted  in  any  army?  Are  men 
to  be  cruelly  assassinated  in  their  good  name 
and  fame  by  a  court  in  secret  sitting,  and 
that  is  deeply  interested  in  convicting  the  ac- 
cused, and  dismissed  the  service  because  cer- 
tain privates  deserted?  Is  the  officer  pun- 
ished for  the  mens  crimes?  This  order  is 
full  of  falsehood  and  slander.  There  were 
officers  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Kegi- 
ment,  particularly  Col.  Nimmo,  Capts.  Hun- 
saker,  S.  P.  McClure,  Hugh  Andrews  and  all 
the  Lieutenants,  whose  courage,  patriotism 
and  competency  were  of  the  highest  order. 
And  either  one  of  whom  as  a  soldier  had  no 
siiperior  in  the  service.  It  is  possible  there 
were  officers  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth 
Regiment  unworthy  the  uniform  they  wore, 
and  who  should  have  been  dismissed  the  serv- 
ice, but  even  they  were  entitled  to  a  fair 
trial  and  examination,  and  dismissed  only 
when  found  guilty. 

In  the  name  of  the  Government  was  an  un- 
holy attempt  made  to  blur  the  fair  fame  of 
some  of  the  best  men  in  the  army,  and 
blacken  thereby  the  good  name  of  Union 
County.  It  was  a  cruel  act,  and  all  mankind 
should  resent  it  with  scnrn  and  indignation. 

To  re-read  "Special  Order  No.  6"  is  to  see 
that    it  is  the  work  of  some  man  trving  to 


hunt  for  a  pretext  or  excuse  for  some  unjusti- 
fiable act  he  is  about  to  do.  It  is  evident 
the  writer  of  that  order  was  racking  his  brain 
to  find  a  charge  against  men  against  whom 
nothing  could  be  proven.  It  says:  "This 
is  the  regiment  which  was  within  a  few  miles 
of  Holly  Springs  when  attacked  by  the  rebels, 
failed  to  march  to  the  support  of  their  com- 
rades, but  drew  in  their  pickets  and  stood 
ready  to  surrender."  That  is  not  only  a 
slander  but  a  cunning  and  dastardly  false- 
hood. The  charge  had  been  circulated  in 
camp,  and  the  matter  had  been  investigated 
by  a  court  of  inquiry  and  the  regiment  exon- 
erated. And  yet  the  "order  "  re-asserts  and 
puts  upon  record,  not  as  the  finding  of  a 
coui't,  not  as  an  established  and  proven  fact, 
but  as  an  assertion  merely,  and  in  the  face 
of  the  truth  that  a  court  of  examination — the 
only  one  ever  granted  the  One  Hundred  and 
Ninth  Eegiment,  and  that  investigated,  and 
had  before  it  no  other  question  but  the  one 
named  above,  had  pronounced  it  false. 

These  are  the  facts  as  they  are  furnished 
by  the  records  and  the  very  officers  who  thus 
attempted  to  heap  disgrace  upon,  and  did 
grossly  wrong  the  officers  and  men  of  as  brave 
a  regiment  as  ever  kept  step  to  the  music  of 
the  Union  or  upheld  the  flag  amid  the  din 
and  smoke  of  battle. 

19 


334 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  X* 


AGRICULTURE— SIMILARITY   OF  UNION  COUNTY  TO  THE   BLUE   GRASS   REGION  OF  KENTUCKY—' 
ADAPTABILITY  TO  STOCK-RAISING  — FAIR  ASSOCIATIONS— HORTICULTURE  —  ITS  RISE, 
WONDERFUL   PROGRESS  AND  PRESENT  CONDITION— VARIETIES  OF  FRUIT 
AND  THEIR  CULTURE  — THE    FRUIT  GARDEN  OF  THE  WEST- 
VEGETABLES— SHIPMENTS— STATISTICS,  ETC.,   ETC. 


"For  as  ye  sow  ye  shall  reap,  etc." 

AGRICULTURE   is  the  great  source  of 
our    prosperity,  and   is    a    subject  in 
which  all  are  interested,  from  the  day- laborer 
to  the  banker  and  railroad  king.     It  has  been 
said  that  gold  is  the  lever  that  moves  the 
world,  and  it  may  be  very  truly  added   that 
agriculture  is  the  power    that   moves   gold. 
We  speak  of  our  moneyed  kings,  our  railroad 
kings  and  political  kings,  but  these  dwindle 
into  insignificance    when  compared  to  that 
monarch— the    farmer.      All    important   in- 
terests, all  thriving  industries,  and  all  trades 
and  professions  receive  their  means  of  sup- 
port, either  directly  or  indirectly,  from  this 
noblest  of   sciences— agriculture.     "In   the 
sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,"  was 
spoken  to  the  eiTing  pair  in  the  garden  of 
Eden,  and  with  them  the  tilling  of  the  ground 
for  subsistence  began,  and  must  continue  to 
the  end  of   time.     It  is   the   foundation  of 
support  of  the  human  family;  none  other hae 
been    devised.      With    all  of    our  inventive 
genius,  we  must  ever  draw  our  sustenance 
from  Mother  Earth. 

"Where  is  the  dust  that  has  not  been  alive? 
The  spade,  the  plow,  disturb  our  ancestors; 
From  human  mold  we  reap  our  daily  bread." 

The  progress  of  agriculture  in  Union 
County  has  been  much  slower  than  in  other 
and   less   favored   regions    of    the   country. 

*By  W.  H.  Perrin. 


With    a  soil,  timber,  drainage   and   climate 
that  cannot  be  excelled,  it  is  capable  of  sus- 
taining a  greater  agricultural  people  to  the 
area  she  possesses  than  any  other  county  in 
the  State.     Nature  has  strewn  here  beauties 
rich  and  inexhaustible,  and  when  cultivated, 
as  it  will  be  some  day,  to  its  full  capacity, 
there  are   more    dollars   per    acre  in  Union 
County  than  in  any  other  spot  of  like  extent, 
almost  in  the  world.     The  Blue  Grass  Region 
of  Kentucky  is  celebrated  and  world- famed 
fur  its  fine  stock — horses,  cattle  and  sheep. 
Examine  that  locality,  critically  and  scientif- 
ically, and  then  turn  to  this  county,  and  the 
two  sections  will  be  found  very  similar  in  all 
their  physical  features.     The  cheapest  lands 
here,   the   roughest   hills,   when   the   heavy 
timber  is  cut  off  and  the  brush  and  under- 
growth cleared  away,  and  the  land  pu<^  under 
pasturage,  will  spontaneously  set  a  splendid 
growth  of  blue  gi-ass — nature  thus  making 
the  finest  pastures  known  to  the  stock-raiser. 
It  has  been  satisfactorily  demonstrated  to 
the  intelligent  mind  that  blue  grass,  spring- 
ing from  a  limestone  soil,  possesses  nourish- 
ing and  fattening  powers  over  any  other  veg- 
etable growth.      A  writer,  from   a  scientific 
standpoint,  speaks   thus    of  the  Blue  Grass 
Region  of  Kentucky:   "  The  vigor  and  lux- 
uriance of    the   vegetable    growth,    and  the 
superior  development  of  the  animals  of  the 
farm,  are  now  acknowledged  by  the  world  at 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


335 


large.  Even  man  himself  seems  to  take  on 
a  higher  development  in  this  favored  region. 
The  native  Kentuckian  has,  from  early  times, 
been  noted  for  his  size  and  strength,  and  this 
traditional  opinion  was  fully  sustained,  dur- 
ing the  late  civil  war,  in  the  actual  measure- 
ment of  United  States  volunteers  of  differ- 
ent nationalities.  From  the  report  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission,  compiled  by  B.  A. 
Gould,  it  is  shown  that  the  men  from  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee,  of  whom  50,333  were  meas- 
ured, exceeded  those  from  other  States  of 
the  Union,  as  well  as  those  from  Canada  and 
the  British  Provinces,  and  from  England, 
Scotland,  Ireland,  Germany  and  Scandina- 
via." This  is  but  a  proof  of  the  nourishing 
qualities  of  blue  grass,  and  particularly  where 
it  grows  upon  a  limestone  soil,  such  as  pre- 
dominates in  this  county.  Central  Kentucky, 
as  a  stock-i-aising  district,  has  not  its  equal 
in  the  world.  Its  horses,  mules,  cattle,  hogs 
and  sheep  are  produced  in  their  most  perfect 
form  and  development.  The  South  and  West 
look  to  its  great  annual  sales  of  short-horns 
for  their  supplies  of  breeding  animals,  and 
the  East  to  its  annual  horse  sales  for  their 
supplies  of  fast  trotters  and  fleet  footed 
coursers.  Many  of  its  best  bloods  have  found 
the  way  across  the  ocean,  with  a  view  to  im- 
proving the  studs  and  herds  of  Great  Britain. 
All  that  this  section  wants  and  requires  to 
make  it  the  peer  of  the  famous  Blue  Grass 
Region  of  Kentucky  is  energy  and  enterprise 
on  the  part  of  the  farmers.  They  have  the 
soil, 'climate,  market  facilities  and,  indeed, 
everything  to  bring  them  into  successful  com- 
petion  with  that  celebrated  locality. 

Especially  is  Union  County  adapted  to 
sheep-raising.  It  requires  no  very  astute  in- 
dividual t  J  see  the  advantages  it  possesses 
over  those  far-western  regions,  for  the  im- 
mense profits  in  sheep  are  plain  and  self- 
evident;    indeed,   so  plain  that  "  even  a  fool 


need  not  err  therein."  Where  there  are  cents 
in  the  far  West  in  sheep,  there  are  dollars  in 
them  in  Union  County,  and  that,  too,  after 
the  farmer  pays  for  the  dogs  annually  killed 
by — vicious  sheep.  With  the  climate,  location 
and  markets  that  are  best  adapted  for  sheep- 
raising,  that  is  to  raise  the  best  sheep  for  the 
least  money,  and  then  to  enjoy  the  best 
markets  and  cheapest^  transportation,  any 
school -boy  can  figure  out  the  colossal  fort- 
unes for  all  who  understandingly  engage  in 
the  business.  The  secret  of  certain  success 
is  in  finding  the  best  location  for  the  business. 
The  neai'est  of  those  Western  sheep  ranches 
are  500  miles  from  market,  and  some  of  them 
1,500  miles  or  more.  Then  in  addition  to 
the  expense  of  transporting  their  wool,  which 
would  make  wool  here  worth  five  cents  per 
pound  more,  there  is  little  or  no  accessible 
markets  for  their  mutton — -one  of  the  chief 
soiu'ces  of  profit  in  sheep -raising. 

Slow  and  backward  as  Union  County  has 
been  in  agriculture,  yet  the  science  is  not  the 
least  interesting,  nor  the  least  important  of 
its  history.  The  pioneers  who  commenced 
tilling  the  soil  here,  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago, 
with  a  few  rude  implements  of  husbandry, 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  system 
of  am'iculture.  They  were  mostly  poor  and 
compelled  to  labor  for  a  support,  and  it  re- 
quired brave  hearts,  strong  arms,  and  willing 
hands— just  such  as  they  possessed — to  con- 
quer the  difficulties  which  confronted  them 
at  every  step.  But  they  went  to  work  in 
earnest,  and  faltex-ed  not,  and  their  labors 
have  brought  the  county  to  what  it  is  to-day. 
It  does  not  equal  the  perfect  system  of 
agriculture  in  the  central  and  northei-n  part 
of  the  State,  but  in  this  section  it  is  unsur- ■ 
passed  in  its  agricultural  prosperity. 

The  tools  and  implements  with  which  the 
pioneer  farmers  had  to  work  were  few  in 
number  and  of  a  poor  kind.      Tlie  plow  was 


336 


HISTOEY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


the  old  "bar-share,"  wooden  mold-board  and 
long  beam  and  handles.  Generally,  they 
were  of  a  size  between  the  one  and  two-horse 
plows,, and  had  to  be  used  in  both  capacities. 
The  hoes  and  axes  were  clumsy  things  and 
were  forged  and  finished  by  the  ordinary 
blacksmith.  There  was  some  compensation, 
however,  for  all  the  disadvantages  under 
which  the  pioneer  labored.  The  virgin  soil 
was  fruitful  and  yielded  bountiful  crops,  even 
under  poor  preparation  and  cultivation.  The 
first  little  crop  consisted  of  a  "  patch  "  of 
corn,  potatoes,  beans,  pumpkins,  and  in  some 
cases  a  few  other  "  eatables. ' '  If  possible,  a 
' '  patch ''  of  flax  was  gi-own,  from  the  lint  of 
which  the  family  clothing  for  summer  was 
manufactured.  This  brought  into  active  op- 
eration the  spinning-wheel  and  loom,  then 
useful  implements,  and  whicb  had  been 
brought  to  the  country  by  the  pioneers,  and 
constituted  the  most  important  articles  of 
housekeeping,  as  all  the  women  and  girls 
could  spin  and  weave. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  county,  the 
pioneers  were  favored  by  the  mildness  of  the 
climate,  the  abundance  of  wild  game,  and 
the  fertility  of  the  land  when  brought  into 
cultivation.  Step  by  step  the  hardy  settlers 
made  their  inroads  into  the  heavy  forests, 
enlai'ged  their  farms  and  increased  their 
flocks  and  herds,  until  they  found  a  surplus 
beyond  their  own  wants  and  the  wants  of 
of  their  families.  There  was  then  but  little 
outlet  for  the  products  of  the  farms,  and  far 
less  of  the  spirit  of  speculation  than  at  the 
present  day.  The  result  was,  that  the  farm- 
ers had  plenty  at  home;  they  handled  less 
money,  it  is  true,  but  they  lived  easier. 
They  did  not  recklessly  plunge  into  debt; 
they  lived  more  at  home  with  their  families, 
and  were  far  happier.  There  was,  too,  much 
more  sociability,  neighborly  feeling  and  good 
cheer   generally    among   them.      There    was 


not  such  a  rush  after  great  wealth,  and  hence 
fewer  failures  among  farmers.  The  accumu- 
lated wealth  of  fax'm  products  directed  atten- 
tion to  the  question  of  markets,  which  had 
hitherto  been  confined  to  a  kind  of  neighbor- 
hood trafiic  among  the  farmers  themselves. 
But  now  the  navigation  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Rivers  was  looked  to  as  a  means 
of  reaching  better  markets,  and  New  Orleans 
became  the  great  center  of  trade  from  this 
region.  It  was  the  principal  market  until 
the  completion  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
way opened  the  best  marts  of  trade,  and 
brought  them,  by  means  of  competition, 
within  the  very  limits  of  the  county.  No 
section  has  better  market  facilities;  markets 
that  can  never  be  overstocked  are  so  easily 
accessible  that  transportation  is  merely  nom- 
inal. With  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  St,  Louis 
and  New  Orleans,  at  their  very  doors,  what 
more  could  any  community  desire,  in  the  way 
of  market  facilities?  With  both  railroads 
and  the  great  rivers,  to  take  her  surplus 
products  to  all  the  world.  Union  County  is 
certainly  a  most  favored  region  for  the 
farmer. 

The  following  statistics  compiled  from  the 
last  report  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture, 
show  something  of  the  material  resources  of 
Union  County,  and  will  doubtless  be  of  in- 
terest to  our  readers : 

Number  of  acres  in  corn 19,941 

Number  of  bushels  produced 698,2.56 

Number  of  acres  in  winter  wheat 26,081 

Number  of  bushels  produced 287,999 

Number  of  acres  in  spring  wheat 102 

Number  of  bushels  produced .  643 

Number  of  acres  in  oats 4,056 

Number  of  bushels  produced 51,927 

Number  of  acres  in  timothy 1,825 

Number  of  tons  of  hay  produced 1,214 

Number  of  acres  in  clover 4,046 

Number  of  tons  produced 5,265 

Number  of  acres  in  apple  orchards 3,800 

Number  of  bushels  produced 149,591 

Number  of  acres  in  peach  orchards 543 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


337 


Number  of  bushels  produced 48,690 

Number  of  acres  in  pear  orchards 143 

Number  of  bushels  produced 3,904 

Number  of  acres  in  other  fruits  and  berries,      2,573 

Value  of  the  same $56,040 

Number  of  acres  in  pasturage 4,164 

Number  of  acres  in  woodland 31,865 

Number  of  acres  of  uncultivated  lands 3,216 

No.  of  acres  of  city  and  town  real  estate  area  475 
Number  of  acres  not  reported  elsewhere. . . .  10,180 
Total  number  of  acres  reported  for  county. .'  114,045 

Number  of  fat  sheep  sold 661 

Number  of  sheep  killed  by  do.sjs 182 

Value  of  sheep  killed  by  dogs $342 

Number  of  pounds  of  wool  shorn  from  sheep,      9, 643 

Dairy  products — Number  of  cows  kept 1,899 

Number  of  pounds  of  butter  sold 42,169 

Number  of  gallons  of  cream  sold 1,100 

Number  of  gallons  of  milk  sold 5,125 

Number  of  fat  cattle  sold 951 

Number  of  fat  hogs  sold 2,721 

Number  of  hogs  and  pigs  died  of  cholera. . .      2,187 

Fairs. — Union  County  is  well  sup]  'lied  with 
agricultural  fairs  and  associations,  it  having 
two  excellent  organizations  of  this  kind.  The 
oldest  of  these  is  the  Union  County  Agricult- 
ural and  Mechanical  Society,  which  dates 
back  to  1855.  It  was  organized  and  held 
under  the  auspices  of  the  citizens  of  Jones- 
boro  and  the  county,  and  the  veteran  Jacob 
Hunsaker  was  its  ftrst  Prsident.  The  next 
year,  it  was  re- organized  under  a  special  act 
of  the  Legislature,  and  Col.  A.  J.  Nimmo  was 
the  first  President  under  the  new  organization. 
Some  years  later,  it  was  again  re-organized 
under  the  present  State  law  governing  agri- 
cultural societies,  and  is  now  known  as  the 
Union  County  Agricultural  Board.  The  pres- 
ent officers  areas  follows:  L.  J.  Hess,  Presi- 
dent; C.  Barringer,  Treasurer;  T.  C.  Cozby, 
Secretary,  and  Hax-rison  Anderson,  Fred  Oli- 
ver, Henry  P.  Stout,  and  M.  J.  Lockman, 
Directors. 

The  association  owns  ten  acres  of  ground, 
wliich  were  purchased  at  $50  per  aci-e,  and  is 
well  improved.  The  buildings  and  sheds 
are    extensive   and   in   good  repair,  and  the 


grounds  are  well  shaded  and  watered.  The 
society  is  flourishing,  and  additional  im- 
provements are  being  made  every  year. 

The  fair  held  at  Anna  was  organized  un- 
der special  act  of  the  Legislature  December 
13,  1879,  and  is  entitled  "The  Southern 
Illinois  Fair  Association."  The  first  set  of 
officers  were  elected  in  August,  1880.  and 
were  as  follows:  M.  V.  Ussery,  President; 
C.  M.  Willard,  Treasurer,  and  E.  R.  Jinnette, 
Secretary.  The  officers  elected  in  1881  were: 
Jacob  Hileman,  President;  M.  V.  Ussery, 
Treasurer,  and  C.  E.  Kirkpatrick,  Secretary. 
In  1882,  the  same  officers  were  re-elected, 
and  are  now  in  office.  The  association  is 
under  the  supervision  of  twenty-one  direct- 
ors elected  for  three  years,  seven  of  Avhom  are 
elected  each  year.  They  bought  some  fifty- 
four  acres  of  land,  for  which  $80  per  acre 
was  paid.  Since  its  purchase,  a  portion  has 
been  sold  to  the  city  of  Anna,  for  $3,000, 
for  a  cemetery.  The  fair  grounds  are  well 
improved,  and  have  buildings  and  other  im- 
provements, worth  perhaps  $5,000.  The 
fair  grounds  at  Jonesboro  belong  to  Union 
County;  those  at  Anna  are  a  private  enter- 
prise, and  owned  by  a  joint  stock  company. 

Horticulture.* — Sacred  history  furnishes 
evidence  of  the  early  devotion  of  mankind  to 
the  pursuit  of  horticulture;  and  both  sacred 
and  profane  history  abound  with  proof  that 
the  condition  of  horticulture  in  any  country 
or  community  may  safely  be  taken  as  a  crite- 
rion from  which  to  judge  the  stage  of  ad- 
vancement of  that  people  in  civilization  and 
refinement.  The  greater  the  progress  any 
nation  makes  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  the 
nearer  to  perfection  will  be  the  ways  and 
means  employed  in  producing  those  crops 
upon  which  the  nation  subsists.  The  Romans 
not  only  had  qaite  a  catalogue  of  cultivated 
fruits,  but  well  understood  the  art  of  pruning 

*By  Dr.  J.  H.  Sanborn. 


338 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY 


and  grafting.  During  the  decline  of  that 
eropire  and  the  long  night  of  the  Dark  Ages, 
horlicnlture,  in  common  with  the  other  arts 
and  sciences,  suffered  by  neglect,  and  fell 
only  to  rise  with  greater  glory  at  a  later  and 
better  period.  France,  Belgium  and  En- 
gland have  since  taken  the  lead  in  horticult- 
ural mat+ers,  and  from  these  countries  we 
have  derived  the  majority  of  our  improved 
fruits,  bulbs  and  flowering  plants,  and  many 
of  our  choicest  vegetables.  But  our  own 
country  is  fast  advancing  to  the  front,  con- 
taining, as  it  does,  all  the  plants  of  the  most 
genial  climes,  on  soil  owned  and  occupied  by 
a  people  constantly  striving,  with  the  aid  of 
mind  and  muscle,  to  wrest  from  Dame 
Nature  those  productions  which  a  diligent 
and  enlightened  system  of  labor  can  alone 
obtain,  and  of  which  the  results  are  already 
most  satisfactory.  Almost  the  only  success- 
ful fruits  now  cultivated  in  this  county  and 
the  West  are  those  of  American  origin.  Our 
natural  advantages  for  gardening  are  so 
great  that  many  are  satisfied  with  the  prod- 
ucts of  but  little,  often  too  little,  labor  and 
skill,  frequently  depriving  themselves  of 
much  which  more  liberal  culture  would  give. 
Horticulture  forms  the  aesthetic  part  of 
rural  life;  it  is  the  poetry  of  agriculture.  It 
generates  and  fosters  a  deeper  love  for  the 
beautiful,  and  a  better  appreciation  of  and 
regard  for  those  things  which  satisfy  the 
longings  of  our  higher  nature.  It  com 
bines  in  one  harmonious  whole  the  practical 
and  the  ornamental.  No  man  can  watch  the 
development  of  a  plant  from  the  time  it  first 
lifts  itself  above  the  ground,  tiny  and  weak, 
until  it  is  crowned  with  rich  blossoms  or  fair 
fruit,  and  see  how  the  rains  and  dews  nourish 
it,  and  the  sunlight  gives  it  beauty  and 
strength,  without  becoming  better  and  more 
humble  for  the  lessons  he  thus  learns.  No 
man  can  thus  watch  the  mysterious  processes 


of  nature  and  her  loving,  tender  care  over 
every  plant  that  springs  from  her  bosom,  and 
not  be  led  from  nature  up  to  nature's  God. 

As  our  country  advanced  with  giant  strides 
toward  the  front  rank  of  enlightened  nations, 
horticulture  kept  pace  with  its  onward  march 
until,  from  the  few  sour  and  imperfect  fruits 
of  our  forefathers'  time  we  can  now  revel  in 
the  delights  of  hundreds  of  varieties  most 
luscious  to  the  taste  and  most  pleasing  to  the 
eye.  With  the  Westward  progress  of  the 
settler  and  civilization,  there  came  the  desire 
for  more  and  better  fruit,  for  the  seedlings 
planted  by  those  who  first  made  their  homes 
in  this  country  failed  to  satisfy  the  craving 
demands  of  those  who  came  later.  Sprouts 
and  suckers  taken  from  varieties  highly 
prized  around  the  old  homes  in  other  States, 
were  brought  here  and  planted  near  the  log 
cabin.  These  in  their  turn,  thougb  answer- 
ing a  good  purpose,  were  found  unsatis- 
factory, and  gradually  the  European  fruits 
were  introduced  with  a  hope  that  they  might 
find  a  climate  and  soil  adapted  to  their  cult- 
ure and  growth.  The  science  of  horticult- 
ure had,  however,  at  this  time,  received  but 
little  attention  or  study,  and  the  adaptation 
of  particular  soils  to  fruits,  had  not  been  de- 
termined in  this  country  with  any  degree  of 
exactness.  Horticultural  journals  were  un- 
known in  the  West,  and  horticultural  societies 
and  associations,  for  promoting  the  cultiva- 
tion of  fruit  and  the  dififusion  of  knowledge 
pertaining  to  this  science,  had  no  inception. 
The  only  knowledge  obtainable  was  that  by 
individual  experience. 

For  the  fifty  years  composing  the  first  half 
of  the  present  century,  from  1800  to  1850, 
the  histoiy  of  horticulture  in  this  county  is 
the  history  of  a  struggle  abounding  in  dis- 
appointments, and  unassisted  by  any  of  the 
more  modern  aids  furnished  by  the  press  and 
local  or  State  associations.     Even  as  late  as 


HISTORY    OF   UNION  COUNTY. 


339 


the  advent  of  the  railroad  in  the  year  1854, 
the  only  considerable  orchards  existing  were 
those  of  seedling  trees,  grown  in  the  effort  to 
reproduce  the  fruit  most  in  favor  in  the  lo- 
cality whence  the  owner  had  emigrated;  and 
as  some  of  the  settlers  came  from  the  South 
Atlantic  States,  the  seedling  stocks  were  not 
all  sufficiently  hardy  nor  suited  to  this  sec- 
tion of  country.  There  were  some  small  or- 
chards of  grafted,  or  nursery  trees,  which  had 
been  brought  by  team  long  distances,  often 
fifty  miles  and  more. 

With  the  commencement  of  the  rvinning 
of  regular  trains  on  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, a  new  era  in  horticulture  burst  upon 
Southern  Illinois,  which  more  directly  affect- 
ed that  portion  embraced  in  Union  County. 
It  had  already  been  discovered  that  such  va- 
rieties of  fruits  as  succeeded  here  at  all.gi'ew 
with  wonderful  vigor  and  attained  a  surj^ris- 
ing  degree  of  excellence.  Through  the  facil- 
ities afforded  by  the  railroad,  large  quanti- 
ties of  grafted  and  budded  trees  were  now 
obtained,  forest  lands  were  cleared  of  the 
encumbering  timber  and  converted  into  or- 
chards; extensive  portions  of  the  fields 
hitherto  devoted  to  the  production  of  wheat 
and  corn,  fields  that  J;iad  once  helped  to  make 
this  country  famous  as  the  land  of  plenty  and 
entitle  it  to  be  called  Egypt,  were  now  set 
with  fruit  trees;  and  in  a  few  years,  instead 
of  a  harvest  of  grain,  there  were  annually 
gathered  untold  quantities  of  rarest  fruits, 
fragrant  with  the  richest  odors,  and  rivaling 
in  magnificence  of  color,  size  and  flavor  all 
that  the  most  vivid  imagination  can  paint  of 
the  fruits  of  Paradise. 

The  first  shipment  of  peaches  from  this 
county  to  the  Northern  markets  were  so  ex- 
traordinarily superior  that  they  attracted 
great  attention,  both  to  the  fruit  and  to  the 
section  where  they  were  produced.  As  a 
natural  consequence,  the  hill  lands  of  Union 


County  rapidly  rose  in  public  estimation  and 
price.  Men  of  experience  and  men  of  inex- 
perience flocked  to  the  new  Eden  and  en- 
gaged in  the  raising  of  fruit.  Horticultural 
societies  were  now  formed,  the  mails  brought 
newspapers  and  agricultural  periodicals,  and 
the  greatest  interest  was  manifested  in  the 
successful  prosecution  of  the  new  enterprise. 
A  spirit  of  inquiry  was  evolved,  experiments 
were  instituted,  and  under  such  a  system  of 
observation  and  investigation  there  originated 
new  and  better  methods  of  culture  and  im- 
proved varieties  of  fruit.  The  small  and 
poor  seedling  apples  and  peaches  were  quickly 
superseded  by  the  improved  kinds,  and  every 
department  of  fruit  culture  made  rapid  prog- 
ress. The  remnants  of  several  of  those  fa- 
mous orchards  of  twenty  years  ago  are  still  to 
be  found,  and  isolated  specimen  trees  yet 
stand,  tottering  monuments  of  their  former 
glory. 

Though  the  beginning  of  fruit  culture  in 
this  county  may  be  said  to  date  from  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  it  received 
but  little  attention  till  the  completion  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  gave  it  its  great 
impetus.  From  that  time  it  became  a  lead- 
ing industry  with  the  people,  especially 
those  living  near  the  depots,  and  gave  char- 
acter to  the  whole  population  and  section  of 
country.  In  1858,  the  shipments  of  fruit 
to  Chicago  first  began  to  assume  importance. 
The  earliest  fruit-grower  on  the  Coben  range 
was  George  Snyder,  who  came  there  in  1857, 
and  embarked  at  once  in  the  business.  He 
had  great  faith  in  the  future  of  Southern 
Illinois  and  in  this  section  as  a  fruit-growing 
region,  and  he  showed  his  faith  by  his  works. 
Pm'chasing  land  about  one  mile  north  of  the 
station,  he  cleared  off  the  heavy  timber  and 
planted  out  fruit  trees,  apple,  pear  and  peach, 
and  continued  to  plant  till  now  he  has  ex 
tensive  orchards  that  are  not  only  a  source  of 


340 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


considerable  income,  but  an  object  of  just 
pride  and  satisfaction  to  the  owner.  The 
next,  perhaps,  to  engage  in  this  new  business 
and  one  of  the  most  prominent  growers  and 
shippers  at  that  early  stage  of  the  enterprise, 
was  Allen  Bainbridge,  who  lived  on  the  Bell 
hill,  near  South  Pass,  and  from  1850  to  1860, 
by  his  enthusiasm  on  the  subject  of  fruit- 
growing, his  experience  and  his  knowledge 
of  the  capabilities  of  the  soil  and  fitness  of 
the  climate,  enlisted  many  others  in  this 
branch  of  horticulture. 

About  the  year  1858,  E.  N.  Clark  and  G. 
H.  Baker  came  to  South  Pass  and  engaged 
in  fruit-growing.  These  gentlemen,  by  their 
skill  and  enterprise,  did  much  to  develop  the 
business  and  increase  its  importance.  From 
1855  to  1860,  the  shipments  consisted  almost 
entirely  of  seedling  fruit.  Benjamin  Vancil 
had  meantime  started  a  nursery  not  far  from 
the  village,  which  now  began  to  supply  fruit 
trees  of  improved  varieties.  He  also  planted 
large  orchards  of  the  best  fruits,  and  for 
years  was  known  as  a  leading  horticulturist 
in  this  county.  Later  still,  James  Bell,  A.  M. 
Lawver,  J.  A.  Carpenter  &  Co.  and  others  had 
nurseries,  more  or  less  extensive,  which  aided 
in  supplying  the  demand  for  grafted  trees. 

The  years  1860  to  1865  witnessed  a  large 
influx  of  people  who  at  once  became  earnest 
and  enthusiastic  fruit-growers.  The  whole 
fruit-growing  interest  had,  up  to  this  time, 
centered  around  the  station  and  village 
known  as  South  Pass,  but  thenceforth  called 
Cobden.  Lands  hitherto  of  little  worth  now 
rapidly  rose  in  value.  Farmers  in  other 
parts  of  the  county  began  to  give  more  atten- 
tion to  the  raising  of  fruit.  Orchards  in- 
creased in  number  and  extent  as  if  by  magic, 
all  over  the  county,  and  in  1866  the  volume 
of  fruit  exported  by  railroad  from  Union 
County  had  reached  such  enormous  dimen- 
sions as  to  necessitate  the  running  of  a  daily 


special  train  to  carry  it,  the  very  freight  on 
which  alone  amounted  in  that  year  to  over 
$75,000.  From  that  year  to  the  present 
time,  the  fruit  crops  have  annually  deman- 
ded the  continuance  of  this  daily  fruit 
train. 

Among  all  the  fruits  grown  in  this  lati- 
tude, the  apple  ranks  first  in  importance. 
Its  many  uses,  its  healthfulness,  its  long 
keeping  qualities  and  its  ease  of  pi'oduction, 
all  serve  to  make  it  the  favorite  fruit,  in  town 
and  on  the  farm.  No  farm  is  complete  with- 
out its  appie  orchard,  and  it  will  be  safe  to 
say  that  no  such  incomplete  farm  exists  in 
Union  County,  The  total  area  given  to  this 
fruit  amounts  to  about  3,800  acres.  The 
early  varieties  commence  to  ripen  in  July. 
These  are  sent  o£f  in  one- third  bushel  boxes, 
and  command  good  prices.  The  Astrachan, 
Red  June,  Early  Harvest  and  Benoui  are  the 
profitable  kinds.  Summer  and  fall  varieties, 
of  which  the  most  popular  kinds  are  Maiden 
Blush  and  Buckingham,  are  shipped  North 
in  barrels,  and  often  pay  the  grower  very 
handsomely.  The  Baldwin,  Spy  and  some 
other  winter  varieties  ripen  here  in  the  fall, 
and  will  not  keep  into  winter.  The  favorite 
varieties,  Ben  Davis,  Rome  Beauty,  Smith's 
Cider,  Winesap,  Jonathan,  Janet,  Rhenish 
May  and  Romanite,  succeed  admirably. 

The  apple  is  the  most  satisfying  of  all 
fruits,  and,  like  bread  and  meat,  never  cloys 
the  stomach.  Since  the  days  of  Adam  and 
Eve,  it  has  been  cultivated  and  held  in  high 
esteem,  and  is  likely  to  continue  in  favor  and 
maintain  its  supremacy  so  long  as  the  world 
repeats  its  seasons.  But  the  apple  in  this 
county  has  probably  seen  its  best  days  and 
reached  its  highest  glory.  The  small  fruits 
have  been  found  to  yield,  so  far,  greater  re- 
turns, and  the  profit  from  apple  orchards  is 
so  inferior  in  comparison  with  the  same  area 
in  berries   taking  one  year  with  another,  that 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


341 


relatively  few  trees   have  been    planted  for 
several  years  past. 

Though  our  location  and  climate  are  pecu- 
liarly favorable  to  this  fi'uit.  as  well  as  to  all 
other  fruits  of  this  zone,  and  our  rich  clay 
soil  most  admirably  adapted  to  its  growth, 
some  skill  and  good  judgment  are  requisite 
in  planting  and  managing  an  orchard.  The 
warm  sun  of  oui-  winter  renders  a  northern 
slope  preferable  for  this  and  most  other  fruits, 
as  the  spring  frosts  are  more  to  be  dreaded 
than  the  extreme  of  the  winter's  cold.  On  a 
northern  slope  the  buds  will  siuwive  a  tem- 
perature of  25°  below  zero,  and  are  seldom 
killed  here.  The  apple  is  properly  a  fruit 
belonging  to  a  cold  climate  and  flourishing 
best  in  Northern  latitudes.  The  more  nearly 
the  location  of  the  orchard  approaches  in 
character  that  of  the  habitat  of  the  fruit,  the 
more  successful  will  be  its  conduct.  Young 
orchards  have  here  been  uniformly  remunera- 
tive. The  "White  "Winter  Pearmain,  ten  to  fif- 
teen years  ago,  produced  abundant  crops  of 
excellent  fruit.  Now,  the  old  trees  have  be- 
come scabby,  and  the  fi'uit  knotty  and  un- 
marketable. As  soon  as  this  stage  occurs,  it 
generally  pays  better  to  cut  down  the  trees 
and  plant  a  new  orchard  elsewhere.  The 
land  needs  rest  and  manure.  Of  the  apple- 
growers,  there  might  scoi'es  be  named  whose 
orchards  and  their  crops  deserve  honorable 
mention.  James  Bell's  orchard,  at  Cobden, 
is  kept  in  prime  order,  and  produced  last 
year  3,000  bushels  of  apples.  C.  D.  Hol- 
combe,  of  Cobden,  is  a  large  shipper  of  this 
fruit.  Jacob  Hilemau  and  Hugh  Andrews, 
of  Anna,  obtain  large  crops  of  remarkably 
fine  Ben  Davis  apples.  Caleb  Miller,  of 
Anna,  in  1881,  picked  over  3,000  boxes  of 
Red  June  apples  from  about  six  acres  of 
sparsely  set  and  old  trees.  In  1881,  there 
were  shipped  from  this  county  58.993  bushels 
of  apples. 


The  apple,  both  tree  and  fruit,  in  the  early 
history  of  fruit-growing  in  Union  County, 
was  quite  free  from  disease.  The  forests 
furnished  shelter  to  the  orchards  and  also  to 
innumerable  birds,  which  destroyed  the  in- 
sects. The  forests  are  now  mostly  gone  and 
the  insect- destroying  birds  are  much  less  nu- 
merous, while  the  insects  themselves  have 
multiplied  beyond  conception  or  endurance, 
and  fruit  crops  of  any  kind  are  only  raised 
with  the  expenditure  of  much  care  and  labor. 
The  woolly  aphis,  the  bark  louse,  the  borer, 
canker  worm,  caterpillar,  blight,  codling  moth, 
etc.,  are  perennial  troubles,  to  which  the 
fruit-grower  gradually  gets  accustomed,  and 
which  he  can  combat,  but  the  semi-annual 
tree  peddler  is  the  greatest  enemy  to  the  horti- 
culturist, ensnaring  him  with  wily  tongue, 
and  beguiling  many  fools  to  trade  their  hard- 
earned  cash  for  his  worthless  trees.  In  view  of 
all  the  disturbing  influences,  the  future  ex- 
tensive planting  of  apple  orchards  in  this 
county  is  hardly  warranted.  What  is  desired 
is  the  introduction  of  more  good  winter  va- 
rieties that  can  be  kept  through  till  the 
spring  months. 

The  pear  is  another  popular  fruit,  greatly 
desired  by  all  horticulturists,  but  very  diffi- 
cult to  raise.  The  insect  enemies  are  not  so 
numerous  as  with  other  fruits,  but  the  dread 
disease  known  as  blight  has  kept  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  pear  in  check  from  the  earliest 
history  of  fruit  culture  in  the  West.  Seed- 
ling trees,  sprouts  and  nursery  grown  trees 
have  been  planted  in  this  county  year  after 
year,  from  the  time  of  the  first  settlers,  but 
only  a  very  small  fraction  of  them  now  sur- 
vive, though  the  tree  is  naturally  long-lived, 
seedling  trees  being  known  to  attain  the  age 
of  200  years  and  more.  Some  of  the  improved 
varieties  came  quickly  into  bearing,  while 
many  others  were  so  tardy  as  to  discourage 
growers,  and  but  few  are  now  in  the  business. 


342 


HISTORY   OF  UNION   COUNTY 


Near  Cobdan,  Parker  Earle  has  sixty  acres 
in  pears.  W.  L.  Parmley,  E.  D.  Lawrence 
and  James  Bell  also  have  excellent  orchards 
of  this  fruit.  At  Anna,  S.  D.  Casper  and  A. 
D.  Finch  are  the  principal  pear  growers. 
The  old  Bell  pear  is  still  one  of  the  most 
reliable.  The  Bartlett,  Howell  and  Duch- 
esse  d'Angouleme  are  the  most  profitable. 
The  Buerre  d'Anjou,  Sheldon  and  Mount 
Vernon  are  excellent  varieties  here.  The 
best  preventive  of  blight,  found  after  long 
trials  and  experiments  with  numberless  so- 
called  remedies,  is  a  wash  composed  of  four 
pounds  of  lime,  two  pounds  of  copperas,  and 
one  pound  of  glue  dissolved  in  a  bucketful 
of  hot  suds,  and  applied  warm  with  a  brush. 
This,  also,  is  a  most  effectual  meaas  of  pre- 
venting rabbits  and  mice  from  injuring  the 
trees,  if  used  often  and  thoroughly.  About 
300  acres  are  planted  with  this  fruit  in  this 
county. 

The  quince  has  been  raised  here  in  small 
quantities,  and  does  well  when  the  trees  are 
on  moist  land,  and  kept  well  manured  and 
cultivated.  In  such  cases  the  crops  are  large 
and  very  profitable,  outselling  the  pear  in 
price  at  that  time  of  the  year.  This  fruit 
deserves  more  extended  planting,  where 
suitable  soil  and  location  can  be  found.  The 
borer  has  damaged  the  trees  some,  and  the 
blight  has  killed  a  few.  There  are  now,  per- 
haps, thirty  acres  in  this  county  set  with 
quince.  The  same  wash  recommended  for 
the  pear  trees  has  been  found  highly  bene- 
ficial to  the  quince  and  apple  al^o. 

The  peach  is  a  fruit  well  suited  to  this 
climate.  The  winters  are  very  seldom  cold 
enough  to  injure  the  trees;  never  cold  enough 
to  kill  them,  and  only  occasionally  .does  the 
mercury  sink  sufficiently  low  to  affect  the 
buds,  which  requires  a  temperature  of  twelve 
degrees  below  zero.  This  fruit  has  been  of 
great  value  to   Union  County,    and    is  likely 


to  again  assume  its  due  importance.  As  a 
general  thing,  high  elevations  have  been 
proved  the  best  locations  for  peach  orchards. 
About  1,000  acres  are  given  to  the  peach, 
but  from  1860  to  1870  the  peach  acreage 
probably  exceeded  this.area.  It  was  in  those 
years  that  this  fi-uit  made  this  section  of 
country  famous  throughout  the  land  as  a 
wonderful  fruit  region.  The  northern  people 
were  astonished  at  the  marvelous  beauty  and 
perfection  of  the  peaches  that  reached  them 
from  the  hills  of  Union  County. 

During  the  palmy  days  of  this  fruit,  the 
railroad  stations  'were  daily  for  hours  sur- 
rounded with  heavily  laden  teams  waiting 
their  turn  to  unload  into  the  north-bound 
train.  At  the  height  of  the  season,  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty-five  carloads  of  peaches 
left  Cobden  daily  for  the  Chicago  and  way 
markets.  The  growers  quickly  discovered 
that  a  single  day's  shipments  poured  into 
Chicago  alone  would  break  the  market  flat, 
and  hence  began  the  system  of  distributing 
the  fruit  to  other  cities  all  over  the  West. 
Under  this  plan,  prices  Avere  maiutained,  and 
the  orchards  continued  soui'ces  of  great  profit. 
In  1881,  the  total  shipments  of  peaches  from 
this  county  were  10,654  bushels,  as  reported 
to  the  Assessor.  The  true  yield  undoubtedly 
greatly  exceeded  this  amount. 

But  many  difficulties  attended  the  success- 
ful management  of  these  orchards.  The  cur- 
culio,  rot,  root  grub  and  spring  frosts  gradu- 
ally discouraged  and  drove  from  the  field 
many  of  the  growers,  so  that,  although  the 
fruit  is  still  greatly  esteemed,  and  in  favor- 
able years  pays  well,  the  former  big  ship- 
ments exist  only  in  memory,  and  the  large 
orchards  have  dwindled  to  comparatively 
small  ones.  The  growers,  however,  may  yet 
be  numbered  by  hundreds,  among  whom 
George  Snyder,  J.  J.  Keith,  Jacob  Rendle- 
man  and  H.  C.    Freeman  may  be  mentioned 


HISTORY  OF  UNION   COUNTY 


343 


as  large  growers  and  shippers.  The  first 
named  gentleman  has  about  4,000  trees  of 
tested  and  approved  varieties,  3,000  of 
which  are  in  bearing  and  will  pay  a  hand- 
some dividend  this  j-^ar  (1883),  being  loaded 
down  with  fruit.  The  early  and  late  varieties 
have  paid  well,  the  middle-season  peaches  only 
serving  to  glut  the  markets  and  lower  prices. 
The  late  sorts  have  occasionally  been  sent 
South  with  remarkable  profit,  but  the  bulk 
of  the  crop  has  been  distributed  among  the 
princij^al  cities  of  the  Northwest. 

The  plum,  worse  than  the  peach,  suffers 
by  the  carculio  and  rot,  so  that  only  the  wild 
kinds  can  be  raised  here.  Experiments 
with  the  other  sorts  have  invariably  resulted 
in  failures.  The  Wild  Goose  and  other  sorts 
of  the  Chickasaw  plum  flourish  well  and 
yield  fair  crops  nearly  every  year,  the  profits 
on  which  vary  greatly.  Only  about  fifty 
acres  have  been  planted  with  this  fruit,  the 
immense  crops  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mis- 
sissippi and  Arkansas  plums  forestalling  the 
markets  and  checking  any  tendency  to  exten- 
sive planting  in  this  county.  The  apricot 
and  nectarine,  from  the  same  reasons,  are  not 
grown,  except  as  specimen  trees  near  the 
dwelling-house. 

Cherry  trees  were  early  planted  in  this 
county,  and  propagated  by  seeds  and 
sprouts.  Trials  of  the  sweet  varieties  de- 
veloped the  fact  that  they  rarely  succeed  in 
ripening  crops.  The  Early  Richmond,  May 
Duke  and  English  Morel lo  have  seldom 
failed  to  yield  good  crops  of  cherries,  which, 
when  thoroughly  ripe,  are  quite  palatable, 
their  acidity  disappearing  as  they  acquire 
color  and  size.  The  Yellow  Spanish  suc- 
ceeds the  best  of  the  sweet  sorts.  Knight's 
Early  Black  does  well  in  suitable  localities, 
and  is  worth  trial.  The  Early  Purple 
Guigne  is  grown  to  some  extent  with  fair 
success.      The  principal  cherry  gi'owers    at 


Cobden  are  J.  B.  Coulter,  C.  C.  Pelton  and 
E.  N.  Clark.  In  the  whole  county  there  may 
be,  all  told,  about  sixty  acres  devoted  to  this 
fruit. 

Man  has  a  natural,  inborn  desire  for  fruit. 
His  appetite  continually  craves  it,  and  this 
inner  craving  prompts  him  to  provide  for  its 
gratification  by  the  planting  of  trees  and 
vines.  Thus  Noah, as  soon  as  the  subsidence  of 
the  waters  would  permit,  hunted  for  a  i-ui table 
location  and  set  out  a  vineyard.  In  case  of 
another  flood,  experience  would  dictate  the 
selection  of  some  other  site  for  a  vineyard 
than  Union  County.'  The  grape  does  not 
flourish  remarkably  here.  The  vines  grow, 
but  bear  not.  In  other  words,  the  grapes 
rot,  wither  and  come  to  naught.  Long  and 
costly  years  of  experiment  have  proved  this. 
The  soil  is  too  rich  and  too  fine  a  loam,  or 
something  else  is  wrong. 

During  the  sixth  and  seventh  decades  of 
this  century,  the  prevailing  raania  for  fruit- 
growing led  to  the  planting  of  numerous 
small  vineyards  in  this  county,  mostly  of  the 
Concord  and  Catawba  varieties.  The  labor 
wassail  lost,  and  the  vineyards,  several  of 
which  were  terraced  and  trellised  at  large 
cost,  went  rapidly  to  destruction.  Great  has 
been  the  grief  among  the  f  ruit-gi'owers,  but 
time  has  satisfied  them  that  there  was  and  is  no 
help  for  it,  and  they  have  retired  in  disgust 
from  the  struggle.  During  the  last  twenty-five 
yeai's,  scores  of  new  grapes,  native  seedlings, 
crosses  and  hybrids,  have  been  brought  into 
notice,  some  of  which  have  proved  equal  to 
the  emergency.  The  Ives'  Seedling  has  been 
proved  to  be  a  good  grape  for  general  culti- 
vation, rotting  but  little,  ripening  early, 
and  bringing  in  a  good  average  profit.  The 
Delaware  succeeds  quite  satisfactorily 
in  most  hands  and  localities.  The  Tele- 
graph rots  but  little.  Norton's  Virginia 
and  Cynthiana  never  rot,  and  bear  enormous 


344 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


crops.  The  Noah  and  Elvira  are  beautiful 
white  grapee,  bearing  heavy  crops  entirely- 
free  from  rot  and  mildew.  The  Perkins  has 
borne  large  crops  of  sound  grapes  for  the 
last  ten  years,  and  is  a  reliable  grape.  The 
Pearl  and  the  Amber  (Rommel's)  are  among 
the  best  grapes  for  this  section,  and  do  not 
rot.  The  Brighton  and  Prentiss  have,  so 
far,  done  well,  and  are  grapes  of  great  prom- 
ise. Grapes  which  otherwise  rot  must  be 
protected  by  tying  each  cluster  in  a  muslin 
bag  when  the  grapes  are  not  larger  than 
small  peas. 

Union  County  has  had,  at  different  times, 
many  vineyards,  but  can  now  boast  of 
none  of  any  magnitude,  and  twenty  acres 
will  embrace  all  the  i-oom  at  present  [ 
given  for  this  purpose.  There  seems  no^ 
reason  why  grape -growing  should  not  be 
profitable  here,  if  those  varieties  are  planted 
which  do  not  rot.  The  season  is  long  and 
the  location  favorable.  That  superior  grape, 
the  Goethe,  which  does  not  ripen  well  north 
of  this  latitude,  here  develops  its  best  qual- 
ities. The  AVorden  and  all  the  hybrids  are 
here  magnificent  grapes,  but  require  to  be 
protected  in  sacks  while  attaining  their 
growth.  ' 

It  is  in  the  production  of  the  small  fruits 
and  early  vegetables,  notably  berries  and  to- 
matoes, that  Southern  Illinois  finds  her  pres- 
ent fame,  and  in  this  division  of  horticult- 
ure Union  County  takes  the  lead.  The  North 
may  exceed  in  apples,  pears  and  plums,  and 
the  South  may  boast  of  its  peaches  and 
oranges,  but  the  great  cities  of  the  North- 
west look  to  Egypt  for  their  main  supplies  of 
the  early  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  fra- 
grant strawberry  is  pre-eminently  the  most 
popular,  profitable  and  widely  cultivated  of 
all  the  berries.  Careful  inquiry  shows  that 
there  are  fully  1,200  acres  of  this  berry,  old 
and  new  plantings,  now  under  cultivation  in 


this  county,  by  about  300  growers.  Since 
the  earliest  days  of  berry-culture  here,  this 
berry  his  been  constantly  growing  in  favor, 
and  never  was  moi'e  popular  than  just  at  this 
time.  Mr.  B.  F.  Smith,  formerly  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany, furnishes  the  following  history  of  the 
early  shipments  of  this  berry. 

"  I  very  well  remember  the  first  package 
shipped  from  that  country  to  the  Chicago 
market.  It  was  a  small  box,  containing 
about  tliree  gallons  of  small  berries,  probably 
Early  Scarlets.  I  carried  them  into  the 
baggage  car.  It  was  in  May,  1860.  They 
were  grown  at  a  little  station  twenty  miles 
north  of  Cairo.  In  the  years  1861  and  1862, 
some  parties  fi'om  the  East  began  berry-grow- 
ing at  Anna  and  Cobden,  thirty -six  and  forty - 
two  miles  north  of  Cairo.  About  this  time 
the  Wilson's  Albany  seedling  was  brought  to 
notice  in  the  West.  By  the  years  1863  and 
1864,  the  small  fruit  business  began  to  at- 
tract the  attention  of  Southern  Illinoisans, 
and  desirable  fi'uit  lands,  near  Cobden  and 
Anna,  sold  for  high  prices,  and  the  farmer 
who  had  two  or  three  acres  of  strawberries 
was  the  lion  of  the  day.  In  those  days  men 
made  from  |800  to  81,000  per  acre  on  their 
strawberries. 

"  The  growth  of  the  berry  business  so  in- 
creased that  by  1864-65  we  had  to  attach 
from  two  to  three  cars  to  each  afternoon  pas- 
senger train.  By  the  spring  of  1867,  the 
strawberries  raised  in  Southern  Illinois  de- 
manded a  fast  fruit  train,  which  was  put  on 
the  road,  starting  from  Anna.  Thus  the  trade 
had  grown  in  seven  years  from  three  gallons 
to  a  train  load.  In  the  beny  season  of  1879, 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  carloads  were  the  daily 
shipments  frorh  Southern  Illinois  to  Chicago 
and  other  points  in  the  North." 

From  the  outset,  Cobden  has  been  the 
heart-center  of  the  fruit  interests,  and  "  Cob- 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


345 


den  fruit "  has  become  a  general  appellation 
abroad  for  all  that  goes  fi'om  this  county,  the 
shipments  from  that  station  comprising  two- 
thirds  of  the  county's  exports.  Fruit-grow- 
ing, however,  is  acquiring  increased  impor- 
tance in  the  other  portions  of  this  county  and 
in  the  counties  north  and  south  of  this.  In 
1880,  Cobden  alone  shipped  113  car  loads  of 
strawberries,  and  in  1881  sent  off  116  car 
loads,  or  about  50,000  cases  of  twenty-four 
quarts  each,  besides  large  quantities  sent  by 
express  in  odd  lots.  The  total  strawberry 
shipments  from  the  whole  county  the  same 
year  were  67,182  cases,  or  1,612,368  quarts. 
The  net  receipts  from  the^e  berries  by  the 
growers  will  average  $1,000  a  car  load,  thus 
showing  Cobden's  income  from  this  one  crop 
to  be  over  $100,000,  As  a  matter  of  record, 
a  few  names  of  the  principal  growers  are 
given:  At  Cobden,  W.  F.  Lamer,  Willis 
Lamer,  E.  N.  Clark,  G.  W.  James,  A.  H. 
Chapman,  James  Bell,  Fay  Rendleman  and 
G.  H.  Baker  have  from  ten  to  thirty  acres 
each  in  strawberries.  At  Anna,  Parker  Earle 
&  Sous  have  eighty  acres  in  strawberries, and 
are  the  leading  growers.  A.  D.  Finch,  E. 
Babcock,  J.  W.  Fuller,  S.  D.  Casper,  Caleb 
Miller,  D.  H.  Rendlemau,  J.  G.  Page  and  S. 
Martin  cultivate  from  ten  to  twenty  acres 
each.  F.  A.  Cliilds,of  Kansas,  was  formerly 
a  leading  grower  of  this  berry  at  A  ana,  and 
an  active  horticulturist.  Cyrus  Shick,  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  also,  till  1880,  an  exten- 
sive berry  grower  and  shipper. 

Until  the  year  1880,  berries  were  shipped 
in  the  fruit  cars  specially  constructed  for  that 
purpose,  and  went  by  the  fruit  train,  or  else 
the  fruit  was  sent  by  express  on  the  regular 
passenger  trains,  as  the  shipper  found  it  to 
be  most  convenient  or  necessary.  In  that 
year, the  berry  shippers  commenced  using  re- 
frigerator cars.  In  1881,  cooling  houses  in 
Cobden  and  Anna  were  built  in  which  to  store 


and  cool  the  fruit  preparatory  to  shipment. 
These  were  the  iirst  buildings  erected  for  this 
purpose  in  Southern  Illinois.  The  refriger- 
ator cars  delivered  the  berries  in  prime  con- 
dition at  Chicago,  Detroit,  Cleveland  and 
Buffalo.  In  1883,  cooling  houses  were  built 
at  other  stations  along  the  railroad.  The  use 
of  these  cooling  houses  and  refrigerator  cars 
permitted  the  growing  and  shipping  of  varie- 
ties otherwise  too  soft  for  carriage  to  distant 
markets,  and  thus  allowed  a  more  extended 
planting  of  berries  than  would  have  been 
possible  without  them. 

Refrigerator  cars  are  also  used  for  the 
transportation  of  raspberries,  blackberries, 
peaches,  tomatoes,  etc.,  in  their  season.  The 
cooling  houses  in  the  winter  form  storage 
places  for  sweet  potatoes  and  fi'uit.  The 
house  in  Anna  was  built  by  P.  Earle  &  Sons, 
to  accommodate  their  own  immense  crops. 
The  Cobden  cooler  was  built  by  the  Cobden 
Refrigerator  &  Shipping  Company,  a  stock 
company  which  receives  berries  from  any 
grower,  and  at  the  low  charge  of  10  cents 
per  case  of  twenty-four  quarts  gives  them 
the  benefit  of  the  cooling  house  and  of  the 
refrigerator  car  to  Chicago.  The  freight, 
$90  per  car,  is  an  additional  expense,  divided 
among  the  shippers  according  to  the  number 
of  cases  sent.  A  car  will  carry  500  cases, 
and  on  a  trip  to  Cleveland  is  recharged 
with  ice  at  Indianapolis.  When  sent  to  Chi- 
cago, the  expense  of  loading  the  berries  at 
Cobden,  and  unloading  in  Chicago,  is  $6.50 
per  car  extra.  The  "  Cobden  Fruit  Growers' 
Association,"  known  also  as  the  "  The  Peo- 
ple's Line,"  is  another  organization  to  facil- 
itate the  cheap  transportation  and  delivery 
of  fruit,  and  handles  the  great  bulk  of  the 
shipments.  These  companies  are  great  aids 
to  the  grower  in  economizing  expense,  and 
have  helped  largely  to  develop  the  fruit- 
growing business  in  the  coiinty. 


346 


HISTOKY  OF  UNION   COUNTY. 


'The    black   raspberries   have    been  raised 
here  iu  great  quantities  in  past  years.    About 
the   year    1873,    the    Turner    red    rasi)berry 
came  into  extensive  cultivation  in  this  county. 
It  vy^as  so  early  in  ripening,  and  so  excellent 
in  its  other  characteristics,  that  it   created  a 
new  era  in  raspberry  culture.     The  profits  on 
this  berry  for  several  years  were  exceedingly 
large,  and    stimulated  the    growers  to  over- 
production.     Fields  of  from  ten  to  twenty 
acres  of  these  raspberries  multiplied  rapidly. 
In  1879,  Union  County  shipped  3,411  bush- 
els of  raspberries,  of  which  amount  Cobden 
shipped  2,736  bushels,  all  in  pint  boxes.     Of 
these,  about  one-fourth  were  black  varieties, 
and  the   rest    were    the    Turner.      In   1880, 
there  were  hundi-eds  of  acres  of  these  berries 
in  bearing,  and  the  market  price  fell  below 
the  cost  of  production.     This  was  the  crown- 
ing year  of  the  raspberry  business,  the  crop 
amounting  to  over   5,000    bushels,  of    which 
Cobden    fm-nished    11,027    cases,    or   4,135 
bushels.      The  growers  then  plowed  up  their 
fields,  and  betook  themselves  to  other  fruits. 
Parker  Earle  &  Sons,  who  were  always  the 
largest  growers  of  this  berry  here,  still  have 
thirty    acres  of  it  in   bearing   at  Anna.      In 
its  best  days,  cases  of  twenty -four  pints  often 
sold  for  $7  and  $8  each.      There  are  at  pres- 
ent only  400  acres  in  raspberries,  of  all  kinds, 
in  this    county.      The    Turner  variety  is  the 
general    favorite   of  the   red   sorts,  and   the 
Miami  of  the   black   sorts.     By  the    careful 
method  used  here  in   picking   and    packing, 
the    Turner, -though    naturally  a  soft    berry 
when   fully  ripe,  was  carried  in    good   order 
to  such  distant  points  as  Chicago,  Milwaukee 
and  Dubuque.     Walter  S.  Lamer  is  the  larg- 
est shipper  of  raspberries   at  Cobden.     His 
berries  are    superior  in  quality  and  in  pack- 
inf,^  and  bring   the  highest   price  in  market. 
The    Lawton  and  Kittatinay  blackberries 
were  grown  to  the  extent  of  180  or  200  acres, 
between  the    yenrs    1870  and  1880.  but  now 


the  total  acreage  given  to  the  blackberry  in 
Union  County  does  not  probably  exceed  100 
acres.  The  fruit  ripens  during  the  hottest 
season  of  the  year,  when  it  is  difficult  to 
make  long  shipments  in  anything  like  good 
condition,  and  when  the  pickers  are  all  tired 
out  with  their  tasks  in  the  strawberry  and 
raspberry  fields.  The  market  also  is  very 
fickle,  as  in  some  years  the  wild  berries  are 
so  good  and  so  plentiful  as  to  seriously  affect 
the  sale  of  the  cultivated  varieties.  The  old 
growers  have  had  their  experience,  are  satis- 
fied with  it,  and  are  now  pretty  much  out  of 
the  business.  The  largest  blackberry  ship- 
pers this  year  are  P.  Earle  &  Sons,  who 
have  out  thirty-two  acres  of  the  Early  Har- 
vest, Wilson's  Early  and  other  varieties  in 
their  extensive  berry  plantation  at  Anna. 

The  red  and  white  currants  have  been 
tried,  time  and  again,  but  no  great  profit 
was  found  in  them.  They  grow  and  yield 
well.  The  black  currants  succeed  finely  and 
make  a  delicious  wine,  the  Black  Naples  va- 
riety being  the  best  for  this  purpose. 
Gooseberries  have  been  grown  by  the  acre, 
but  the  cash  returns  were  nut  such  as  to 
fascinate  the  grower,  and  so  this  fruit  also 
has  become  merely  a  side  show.  The  crops 
were  large  enough,  but  sugar  is  still  too 
costly.  When  the  great  AVest  becomes  a 
sugar-producing  section,  and  the  sorghum 
lands  reduce  the  price  of  sugar  to  a  par  with 
the  gooseberry,  quart  for  quart,  then  this 
great  colic  promoter  will  assume  an  honora- 
ble position  among  the  small  fruits  which 
bring  fame  and  wealth  to  Union  County. 
The  fig  tree  is  a  treacherous  plant  here,  no 
matter  how  well  sheltered.  Trees  have  been 
grown  here  out  of  doors,  of  the  Brown  Ischia 
and  Early  Violet  varieties,  and  borne  fruit, 
but  the  only  certainty^  is  found  by  trans- 
planting the  tree  or  bush  to  the  cellar 
through  the  winter. 

The  mulberry  grows  to    perfection  here; 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


347 


and  now  that  silk  culture  is  being  revived  in 
this  country  and  is  found  to  be  a  profitable  j 
pursuit,  there  might  be  some  advantage    de- 
rived from  giving  it  some  attention   on  our  > 
rich  lands.     The  English  walnut  ripens  here 
perfectly.     There  are  over  a  dozen  trees  near 
Jonesboro,  some  of  which  bear  annual  crops.    , 
A  gi'ove  of  these  trees  would  rival  the  orange 
in  profit.      The  sweet  American  chestnut  is 
also    at   home  on    the  Union  County  hills. 
The  pecan,  shellbark  hickory,  black  walnut, 
buttermit,  etc.,  all  flourish  here,  and  may  be 
made  som'ces  of  considerabl«  profit  by  judi  - 
cious  planting.     The  American  elm,  the  ash, 
beech,  horse  chestnut,  locust,  linden,  maple, 
oak,    sweet  gum,    poplar  and  willow  are   all 
grown    as    ornamental    and  shade   trees  and 
abound   in  the  forests.      The  evergreens  re- 
quire more  care,  but  are  successfully  grown. 
Many  private  residences  in  different  parts  of 
the   county   have    their    lawns    graced   with 
groups  of  the  arbor  vitse,  junipers,  pines  and 
cedars.      The  holly  is  also  seen  here.     Box 
and    privet  serve  as   borders    for  walks    and 
beds.       The   mock   orange    and     the    Osage 
orange  thrive,  and  the  magnolia    grandiflora 
shows   its   huge    snowy  flowers    in    sheltered 
places. 

Flower  gardens,  filled  with  the  richest  and 
gayest  of  roses,  shrubs,  vines,  bulbs  and 
flowering  plants,  that  bewilder  an  amateur, 
are  to  be  seen  around  every  village  and  town 
in  the  county.  The  cut-flower  business  has 
not  grown  in  proportion  to  the  other  depart- 
ments of  horticulture,  or  to  its  merits. 
James  Bell  constructed  quite  an  exteQsive 
green  house  several  years  ago,  from  which 
considerable  quantities  of  roses,  ferns,  etc., 
have  been  sent  to  Northern  cities,  realizing 
excellent  returns.  T.  A.  E.  Holcomb  also 
built  a  beautiful  little  conservatory,  which 
has  been  a  source  of  delight  and  profit  to 
the  owner.      The  science  of   horticulture  has 


not  yet  developed  here  its  aesthetic  side  suffi- 
ciently to  attract  the  masses.  Only  a  por- 
tion of  the  people  take  other  than  the  prac- 
tical, matter  of  fact  view  of  it.  The  culti- 
vation of  flowers  and  care  of  lawns  are  now, 
to  many  of  the  farmers,  just  what  the  grow- 
ing of  small  fruit  was  twenty -five  years 
ago — too  small  business  for  men  to  bother 
about. 

Before  taking  up  other  subjects,  it  is  well 
to  mention  here  that    great  efforts,  many  of 
them  quite  costly  to  the  people,  have  repeat- 
edly been  made  to  economically  and  profita- 
bly dispose  of  the  vast  amount  of  third-class 
fruit  which    annually  goes  to  waste  on  the 
fruit  farms,  for  want  of    time  and  means  to 
save    it.       Evaporators,    itnder    the     Alden 
patent,  were  erected  in  Anna  and  Cobden  in 
1872,  costing  about  $10,000  each,  the   peo- 
ple, as  stockholders,  putting  in    $5,000  cash 
and  land,  and  the  Alden  Company  offsetting 
this  with  the   building  and  machinery,  thus 
making  it  a  stock  concern.      The  evaporators 
were  set  to  work  on  fruit  and  vegetables ;  but 
two  years'  experience  under  the  most  careful 
management  showed  the  mortifying  fact  that, 
do  the  best  they  could,  the  evaporated  fruit 
cost  more  than   it  would  sell   for  in  market. 
In  other  words,  the  Alden  system  was  a  fail- 
ui'e  here.     The  heat  was  developed   from  a 
steam  coil  beneath  the  drying  shaft.      By  re- 
moving the  coil,  putting  the  furnace  in  its 
place  so  as  to  use  direct   heat,  and  avoiding 
all  use  of  steam,  as  has  been  done  elsewhere, 
the  business  might  have  taken  a  profitable 
turn;  but  the  stockholders  had  no  great  de- 
j  sire  to    experiment   further,   and  abandoned 
the  whole  affair,  converting  the  building  to 
;  other  uses. 

I  At  diffei'ent  times  distilleries  have  been 
!  put  in  operation  in  different  parts  of  the 
j  county,  and  made  apple  and  peach  brandies, 
;  etc.     The    injury    proved    greater   than   the 


348 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


benefit  derived,  and  the  growing  temperance 
movement  soon  crowded  the  distilleries  out. 
At  the  present  writing,  the  whole  county  is 
a  solid  unit  for  temperance,  the  principal 
towns  working  under  iron-clad  ordinances, 
and  no  intoxicating  liquor  being  allowed  to 
be  sold  or  made. 

The  tomato,  often  improperly  classed  as  a 
vegetable,  is  a  fruit  which  has  of  late  years 
acquired  such  prominence  in  the  shipments 
from  Union  County  as  to  outrank  the  berries 
in  quantity  if  not  in  value.  Col.  F.  E. 
Peebles,  Secretary  of  the  Fruit  Shij^pers' 
Association,  supplies  many  of  the  following 
facts:  Tonratoes  were  raised  by  David  Gow, 
at  Cobden,  in  1858,  but  the  business  was 
fairly  opened  in  1859  by  D.  Gow,  G.  H. 
Baker  and  Henrj"-  Ede,  gentlemen  who  still 
rank  high  among  the  tomato  growers.  At 
that  time,  these  three  growers  were  able  to 
supply  the  Chicago  market  with  all  the  to- 
matoes it  needed,  and  from  not  over  10,000 
plants.  As  the  tomato  grew  in  favor  as  an 
article  of  diet,  the  demand  called  for  increased 
production,  until  in  1882,  there  were  around 
Cobden  220  growers  cultivating  500  acres  set 
with  nearly  1,000,000  plants,  from  which 
over  225,000  third-bushel  boxes  of  tomatoes 
were  shipped;  and  not  less  than  15,000 
bushels  were  allowed  to  rot,  when  the  price 
fell  too  low.  The  fruit  was  shipped  in  fruit 
cars  to  points  as  far  as  Western  New  York, 
Canada,  Dakota  and  Colorado. 

Cobden,  for  several  years,  has  annually 
grown  and  shipped  more  tomatoes  than  any 
other  place  in  the  United  States.  In  1882, 
the  crop  exceeded  that  of  any  former  year, 
the  total  shipments  by  freight  and  fruit  ex- 
press aggregating  220  car  loads.  On  July 
29  of  that  year,  twenty -five  car  loads  of  to- 
matoes left  Union  County,  of  which  Cobden 
furnished  over  twenty -two  car  loads,  and 
could  have  sent  off  thirty  car  loads,  had  the 


prices  warranted  it.  This  immense  shipment 
on  one  day  was  too  much  for  even  Chicago 
to  hold  up.  The  great  markets  of  the  West 
broke  down  and  were  weak  for  several  days, 
during  which  the  shipments  continued, 
though  at  a  daily  loss  to  the  shippers  of  not 
less  than  $1,000.  The  tomatoes  cost  at  the 
Cobden  depot  at  least  12  cents  a  box.  The 
early  sales  reach  $1  per  box,  and  then  rapidly 
fall  as  the  supplies  increase.  In  1863,  they 
sold  as  high  as  $3  per  box,  but  now  the  ship 
ments  from  Bermuda  and  the  South  take  the 
early  market  prices.  Willis  Lamer  is  a  lead- 
ing grower.  E.  N.  Clark  excels  in  quality. 
J.  T.  Whelpley,  J.  Metz,  Green  &  Vener- 
able, H.  R.  Buckingham  and  A.  H.  Chapman 
are  also  large  growers  of  the  tomato.  Some 
of  these  growers  cleared  $2,000  each  on  the 
crop  of  1882. 

The  watermelon  succeeds  in  this  county 
only  in  particular  localities.  The  soil  is 
generally  too  heavy  for  it;  but  the  musk- 
melon  grows  finely  and  has  become  one  of  the 
famous  products  of  Union  County.  The 
Japan  variety  has  been  grown  in  quite  large 
quantities,  to  the  extent  of  eighty  to  100 
acres.  In  1870,  Horace  Eastman  began  the 
growing  of  melons  at  Anna,  and  for  several 
years  obtained  extraordinary  prices,  ranging 
from  $8  to  $12  per  crate  of  twenty-five  mel- 
ons. In  1879,  the  melon  business  was  at  its 
height,  with  opening  prices  at  $6  per  crate 
of  one  and  one-half  bushels.  Anna  was  the 
principal  shipping  point,  with  sixty  acres  in 
this  crop,  which  yielded  9,200  crates  and 
paid  about  $300  profit  per  acre  above  ex- 
penses. The  leading  growers  at  Anna  were  H. 
Eastman,  I.  C.  Piersol,  E.  G.  Robinson,  J. 
A.  Noyes,  Asa  Harmon  and  J.  B.  Miller.  At 
Cobden,  G.  H.  Baker  is  a  leading  grower  of 
this  fruit. 

In  vegetables  as    in  fruits.  Union   County 
is  a  principal  source  of  supply  and  Cobden  is 


HISTORY  OF  UI^^ION  COUNTY. 


351 


the  largest  shipping  station.  In  any  city  to 
which  Cobden  chooRes  to  send  its  products, 
it  can,  with  a  single  day's  shipments,  break 
down  the  markets  with  either  of  the  follow- 
ing articles:  Strawberries, tomatoes,  rhubarb, 
asparagus,  spinach  or  sweet  potatoes.  Of 
asparagias,  it  has  about  eighty  acres,  grown 
principally  by  Amos  Poole,  M.  A.  Benham, 
A.  Buck  and  E.  Leming  &  Co.  Other  parts 
of  the  county  have  twenty  acres  or  more  in 
this  croj),  making  a  total  of  100  acres.  There 
are  seventy-five  acres  of  rhubarb  grown  in  the 
county,  of  which  Cobden  has  fifty  acres,  and 
ships  by  the  car  load.  The  shipments  of 
rhubarb  from  that  station  for  1880  were  S-tO,- 
465  pounds,  or  170  tons.  A.  Poole  was  the 
principal  grower  at  the  origin  of  the  busi- 
ness, and  last  year  he  gathered  a  barrel  of 
rhubarb  from  seven  hills  at  one  picking.  The 
net  profits  are  about  $125  per  acre.  There 
are  about  120  acres  in  the  county  planted 
with  spinach,  of  which  Cobden  grows  seventy- 
five  acres,  and  in  1882  shipped  fourteen  car 
loads,  or  13,500  crates,  holding  three-fourths 
of  a  bushel  each. 

But  small  attention  is  given  to  peas,  beans, 
lettuce,  beets,  radishes,  cabbage,  etc.,  on  ac- 
count of  the  increasing  production  of  these 
crops  at  points  further  South.  The  total  an- 
nual shipments  of  peas  and  beans  from  this 
county  will  average  about  2,000  boxes;  of 
lettuce,  2,000  cases;  of  radishes,  400  cases; 
of  squashes,  200  cases,  and  of  cucumbers 
about  500  boxes.  Early  onions  are  exten- 
sively grown,  the  crop  of  1882  amounting 
to  1,200  cases,  principally  of  the  variety 
known  as  Scallious,  or  winter  onions.  The 
field  onion  is  also  extensively  grown.  The 
sweet  potato  is  grown  in  great  quantities. 
The  shipments  for  1882  were,  from  Cobden, 
530,460  pounds;  from  Anna,  522,650  pounds; 
from  Dongola,  322,550  pounds;  from  other 
places,    50,000  pounds,  or  a  total  of  23,880 


bushels.  In  these  statements,  Anna  gets  the 
credit  of  much  that  is  grown  around  Jones- 
boro,  and  Cobden  the  credit  of  much  that  is 
grown  around  Alto  Pass.  In  1882,  the  total 
fruit  and  vegetable  shipments  from  Cobden 
WRre  6,480,160  pounds;  from  Anna,  3,285,- 
685  pounds;  from  Dongola  1,444,960  pounds, 
and  from  Alto  Pass  407,040  pounds.  In  the 
year  1877,  the  fruit  train  shipments  fi-om 
Cobden  reached  the  enormous  amount  of  10,  - 
287,835  pounds,  equal  to  643  car  loads. 

The  packages  used  in  shipping  the  prod- 
ucts of  Union  County  are  the  one  third 
bushel  box  for  peaches,  early  apples,  pears, 
plums,  tomatoes,  early  potatoes,  etc. ;  the 
twenty-four  quart  case  for  strawberries, 
blackberries,  cherries  and  vegetables;  the 
twenty -foiu*  pint  case  for  raspberries,  and  the 
one  and  one-half  bushel  crate  for  melons. 
These  packages  are  manufactured  in  the 
county,  principally  by  Mesler  &  Co.,  at  Cob- 
den, M.  M.  Henderson  &  Son,  at  Anna,  and 
E.  T.  Shipley,  at  Jonesboro.  These  firms 
turn  out  several  million  packages  annually, 
which  are  supplied  direct  to  the  growers  in 
all  parts  of  the  West,  and  cannot  be  ex- 
celled for  quality  of  material  or  workmanship. 
The  third  bushel  boxes  are  supplied  at 
a  cost  of  $37.50  per  1,000. 

The  reputation  of  Union  County  as  a  fruit- 
producing  section  is  not  based  wholly  upon 
the  immense  quantities  of  fruits,  etc. ,  shipped 
from  here,  but  largely  upon  the  excellent 
quality  of  the  fruit,  the  superior  character  of 
the  packages,  and  the  unrivaled  jierfection 
of  the  packing.  In  do  other  section  is  fruit 
packed  better,  nor  is  there  anywhere  else  so 
great  skill  and  care  used  in  the  preparation 
of  the  shipments.  The  long  distances  over 
which  much  of  the  fi-uit  is  sent  requires  the 
utmost  nicety  of  preparation  and  attention 
to  the  minutest  particulars.  The  growers 
and  shippers  pride  themselves  on  the  excel- 


353 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


lence  of  their  shipments,  and  in  sustaining 
the  fair  fame  of  their  county  as  the  finest 
fruit  garden  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

Thus  the  cultivation  of  the  fruits  and 
vegetables  in  this  county  has  progressed 
from  the  rudest  beginnings  to  its  present 
noble  proportions.  The  wild  fruits  have 
gradually  given  place  to  improved  and  cul- 
tivated varieties.  Horticulture  has  risen  to 
a  science  calling  for  the  genius  and  talent  of 
the  most  intelligent  men,  and  affording  ob- 
jects for  the  expenditure  of  wealth  and  taste 
to  a  most  liberal  extent.  Several  new  fruits 
have  originated  here  through  the  skill  of  some 
of  the  more  studious  horticulturists.  The 
Freeman's  late  peach  was  originated  by  H. 
C.  Freoman,  of  Alto  Pass;  the  Lawver  apple 
by  John  S.  Lawver,  of  Cobden,  and  the 
Sucker  State  strawberry,  by  John  B.  Miller, 
of  Anna,  all  of  them  fruits  that  do  honor  to 
the  county  and  State  which  gave  them  origin. 

The  future  of  horticulture  in  Union  County 
is  full  of  glorious    promise.      As   the   great 


West  absorbs  the  limitless  population  of  the 
four  quarters  of  the  globe,  its  crowding  mill- 
ions will  call  unceasingly  for  more  and  more 
of  the  fair  fruits  that  bless  the  soil  of  South- 
ern Illinois.  The  resources  of  this  favored 
region  and  the  energies  of  its  people  will  be 
taxed  to  their  utmost  capacity.  The  time  is 
not  far  ahead,  and  the  day  of  preparation  is 
now  at  hand.  The  beginning  is  already  well 
made,  but  the  tenth  part  of  what  is  to  be  has 
not  yet  been  done.  Though  the  history  of 
the  past  fifty  years  of  horticulture  in  this 
county  may  seem  sufficiently  honorable  and 
grand,  that  of  the  next  half  century  will  far 
transcend  anything  that  the  proudest  fruit- 
grower of  this  day  and  generation  can  con- 
ceive. To  our  children  and  our  successors  is 
committed  the  gi'eat  work  of  achieving  this 
result,  and  for  them  this  history  of  our  own 
labors  is  written,  with  the  hope  that  the 
same  God  who  has  prospered  us  thus  far  will 
also  prosper  them,  even  to  the  end  of  time. 


CHAPTER  XI* 


.JONESBORO  PRECINCT— TOrOGRAPHY  AND  PHYSICAL  FEATURES— COMING  OF  THE  WHITES-PIO- 
NEER HARDSHIPS— EARLY  INDU8TUIES— ROADS,  BRIDGES^  TAVERNS,  ETC.— RELIGIOUS 
AND  EDUCATIONAL-STATE  OF  SOCIETY— PROGRESS  AND  IMPROVEMENTS,  ETC. 


"  And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 
On  the  tomb." 

—Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

JONESBORO  PRECINCT  is  situated  in 
the  west  central  part  of  Union  County, 
and  comprises  Township  12  south,  in  Range 
2  west,  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian,  with 
a  few  additional  Sections  which  have  been 
attached  to  it  for  the  sake  of  convenience.    It 

*By  Johu  Grear. 


is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Ridge  or  Alto 
Pass  Precinct,  on  the  east  by  Anna  Precinct, 
on  the  south  by  Meisenlieimer  Precinct  and 
on  the  west  by  Union  Pi-ecinct.  The  surface 
is  rolling,  and  often  rough  and  hilly,  with 
numerous  small  water-courses.  The  princi- 
pal of  these  is  Clear  Creek,  which  flows 
through  the  western  part,  in  a  southerly 
course,  and  passes  into  Meisenheimer  Pre- 
cinct. Several  small  streams  flow  into  it  in 
this    precinct.     In   addition   to    the  streams 


HISTORY  OF  INION  COUNTY 


•6o-6 


mentioned,  there  are  a  number  of  springs 
which  afford  an  abundant  supply  of  excellent 
water  the  entire  year.  Originally,  the  land 
was  covered  with  heavy  timber,  but  much  of 
it  has  disappeared  before  the  oncroachments 
of  the  "  relentless  pioneer,"  but  enough  still 
remains  for  all  practical  uses.  The  St.  Louis 
&  Cairo  Railroad  runs  through  the  precinct, 
and  has  greatly  improved  the  country  since 
its  completion.  The  principal  products  are 
corn,  oats  and  wheat,  some  stock  and  a  liHle 
fruit.  The  latter,  however,  is  grown  more 
for  family  use  than  for  sale,  none  of  the  farm- 
ers devoting  especial  attention  to  it,  as  in 
some  of  the  neighboring  precincts. 

Jonesboro  Precinct  is  one  of  the  oldest  set- 
tled portions  of  Union  County,  more  than 
seventy  years  having  elapsed  since  the  first 
white  people  penetrated  thus  far  into  tbe 
wilderness.  See  the  figures:  1809 — 1883! 
More  than  two-generations  have  passed  be- 
tween these  milestones,  and  many  of  their 
names  have  long  ago  been  "  carved  on  the 
tomb."  The  pioneers  who  bore  the  brunt  of 
life  in  the  wilderness  have  passed  away,  and 
their  bodies  have  moldered  into  dust.  We 
shall  never  see  their  like  again,  for  the  times 
in  which  they  lived  have  changed,  and  there 
can  be  no  necessity  for  the  repetition  of  their 
experiences  fifty  or  seventy-five  years  ago. 
The  life  which  the  pioneer  of  the  far  Western 
Territories  leads  is  vastly  different  to  pioneer 
life  in  Southern  Illinois.  Here  they  had  nune 
of  the  comforts  or  luxuries  of  civilization, 
but  endless  toil  and  extreme  privation  were 
required  to  maintain  existence.  With  the 
railroads  penetrating  the  Great  West  and  the 
unsettled  Territories,  the  pioneer  can  take 
with  him  to  his  new  home  not  only  the  com- 
forts, but  many  of  the  luxuries  of  the 
older  settled  States  with  trifling  cost,  and 
live  with  comparative  ease.  Even  houses 
can  be  transported  to  the  contemplated  settle- 


ment, and  set  up  in  a  short  time  ready  for 
their  occupants.  Not  so  fifty  years  ago. 
The  sett  lers  came  with  nothing,  and  for  years 
it' was  an  incessant  struggle  for  life-itself.  It 
was  only  by  the  most  superhuman  efforts  and 
persevering  industry  that  a  comfortable  home 
was  finally  obtained. 

The  first  settlement  of  this  precinct  was 
made  by  North  Carolinians,  as  were  nearly 
all  of  the  early  settlements  of  the  county. 
It  is  generally  conceded  that  John  Grammer, 
the  hardy,  rough,  rude  old  pioneer — the  rough 
diamond  —was  the  first  settler  in  what  now 
forms  Jonesboro  Precinct,  and  that  1809  was 
about  the  date  of  his  settlement.  We  have  f 
but  little  to  say  of  John  Grammer  in  this 
chapter,  as  considerable  space  has  been  de- 
voted to  him  in  the  preceding  pages,  and  any- 
thing further  would  be  a  repetition.  The 
following  pioneers,  and  early  and  prominent 
citizens  of  Jonesboro,  town  and  precinct, 
have  also  been  written  up,  and  their  lives  and 
deeds  placed  upon  record  in  other  chapters 
of  this  work.  Dr.  S.  S.  Conden,  Thomas  Fin- 
ley,  John  Evans,  W^insted  Davie,  Dr.  B.  W. 
Brooks,  the  Willards,  George  Wolf,  Judge 
Daniel  Hileman,  Jacob  Hunsaker,  John 
Mcintosh,  James  Provo,  Mrs.  Nancy  Hileman, 
Richard  M.  Young  and  Abner  and  Alexander 
P.  Field.  Nothing  new  can  be  said  of  them 
in  this  chapter.  Tliey  were  pioneers,  and 
were  fitted  for  the  work  they  had  to  do,  and 
they  did  it  without  flinching  or  quailing. 

In  addition  to  those  already  given,  we  may 
mention  the  following,  who  were  also  early 
settlers  in  this  precinct:  Abraham  Hunsaker, 
Philip  Shaver,  Adam  Clapp,  Edmond  Vance, 
James  Smiley,  Thomas  D.  Patterson,  Benja- 
min Menees,  Christian  Flaugh,  Jacob  Little- 
ton, John  Whittaker,  A.  Cokenower,  Giles 
Parmlee,  Jacob  Wolf,  Michael  Limbrough, 
William  Grammer,  Emanuel  Penrod,  George 
Hunsaker,  Daniel  Kimmel,  Robert  Hargrave, 


354 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


David  Brown,  Daniel  F.  Coleman,  a  man 
named  Heacock,  Dr.  Priestly,  L.  B.  Lizen- 
bee,  Dr.  Jones,  Nimrod,  Fergueson,  FuUen- 
wider.  etc.  Up  to  and  previous  to  I8I0, 
Abraham  Hunsaker,  Philip  Shaver,  George 
Wolf,  Adam  Clapp,  Edmond  Vance  and 
Thomas  D.  Patterson  came  into  the  precinct. 
Most  of  the  others  mentioned  settled  during 
the  year  1816.  George  Wolf  was  a  Dun- 
kard  preacher,  and  Abraham  Himsaker  was  a 
kind  of  striker,  to  use  a  backwoods  expres- 
sion, for  him.  They  used  to  hold  meetings 
in  the  pioneer  settlements,  and  were  esteemed 
wherever  they  went  for  their  unswerving 
honesty.  Smiley  opened  a  large  farm  near 
Jouesboro;  Lizenbee  was  long  Deputy  Clerk 
of  the  court.  Of  all  those  mentioned  as 
coming  into  the  precinct  up  to  1816,  George 
Wolf  is  the  only  one  known  to  be  alive.  He 
was  living,  when  last  heard  fi'om  in  Califor- 
nia, but  was  growing  very  old  and  feeble. 
The  others  have  gone  to  their  final  reward. 
Philip  Shaver  was  the  only  survivor  of  the 
Cache  Massacre,  which  occurred  within  the 
present  limits  of  Mound  City,  in  1812,  and 
a  full  account  of  which  will  be  found  in 
that  chapter.  Although  he  was  badly  wound- 
ed, he  succeeded  in  making  his  escape,  by 
swimming  the  bayou,  and  then  making  his 
way  on  foot  to  Union  County.  He  settled  a 
short  distance  below  Jonesboro,  where  he 
lived  for  many  years.  Shaver's  name  fre- 
quently appears  among  the  county  records, 
and  sometimes  as  Shafer  and  Shaffer,  but  the 
correct  name  is  Shaver.  He  was  a  North 
Carolinian,  and  came  to  Southern  Illinois 
previous  to  the  war  of  1812.  Among  the 
other  pioneers  of  Jonesboro  Precinct,  whose 
names  have  been  mentioned  above,  were  men 
noted  in  the  community  and  the  times  in 
which  they  lived  for  more  than  ordinary  in- 
telligence, but  space  will  not  allow  extended 
notices  of  them   here.     It  is   enough  to  say 


that  they  were  rough,  uncultivated,  unrefined, 
but  still  noble  in  a  rugged  way,  and  possess- 
ing the  true  qualities  of  heroism,  courage 
and  freedom.  Such  were  the  early  settlers 
of  Jonesboro  Precinct,  and  the  antecedents 
of  those  who  now  fill  their  places. 

Surrounded  by  difiiculties  and  dangers,  the 
early  settlers  labored  to  improve  the  land 
and  bring  it  into  subjection.  Step  by  step 
the  hardy  pioneer  made  his  inroads  upon  the 
forests,  and  increased  his  flocks  and  herds, 
until  he  had  a  surplus  beyond  his  immediate 
wants  and  those  of  his  family.  By  dint  of 
hard  labor,  and  the  denying  of  himself  many 
of  the  actual  necessaries  of  life,  he  at  length 
became  well  to  do  and  independent. 

The  pioneer  improvements  of  this  section 
of  the  county  were  few  and  rude.  They 
comprised  chiefly  mills  and  distilleries. 
The  first  mills  were  run  by  horse-power,  and 
were  poor  things  at  best,  but  they  answered 
the  purpose  at  that  early  day.  To  grind  a  little 
corn  and  Avheat  was  the  extent  of  their  useful- 
ness and  ability.  One  of  the  tii'st  water  mills 
we  have  heard  of  in  the  precinct,  was  built 
and  opeiated  by  Christian  Flaugh,  an  early 
settler  who  lived  about  a  mile  and  a  half  below 
Jonesboro.  It  was  in  operation  as  early  as 
1817,  and  was  an  important  institution,  and 
a  great  improvement  upon  the  old  horse- 
mills.  Other  mills  were  erected,  as  circum- 
stances demanded,  and  the  community  bas 
never  lacked  for  these  useful  industries  since 
the  building  of  Plough's  mill,  nearly  seventy 
years  ago. 

The  attention  of  the  people  was  early 
directed  to  roads  and  highways.  As  early  as 
1819,  a  road  was  laid  out  from  Jonesboro  to 
Vienna,  and  one  from  Elvira  to  Jackson,  of 
which  William  Pyle  was  made  Overseer.  A 
road  was  laid  out  fi-om  Penrod's  ferry  to  El- 
vira, and  David  Arnold  was  appointed  Over- 
seer.     Another  road  was  laid  ovit  from  JouoS- 


HISTORY    OF   UNION   COUNTY. 


355 


boro  to  Elvira,  and  of  it  William  Pyle  was 
made  Overseer.  Thus  roads  were  opened  and 
laid  out  wherever  business  required  them. 
Streams  were  bridged,  and  the  means  of 
travel  from  one  place  to  another  promoted, 
and  made  more  safe  and  easy  than  it  had 
been  through  the  thick  forests  and  over  the 
turbulent  streams.  At  an  early  term  of  the 
Commissioners'  Court,  it  was  ordered  that  "  a 
good  substantial  bridge  "  be  built  over  Clear 
Creek,  on  Penrod's  road,  and  another  over 
Bradshaw's  Creek,  on  the  Elvira  road.  For 
the  Bradshaw  bridge,  $50  was  appropriated, 
and  $150  for  the  Clear  Creek  bridge.  As 
there  were  no  railroads  then,  all  travel  was 
over  these  roads,  and  mostly  on  horseback. 
This  caused  the  opening  of  many  taverns 
along  the  public  roads,  with  accommodations 
for  "  man  aad  beast."  All  such  had  to  take 
out  a  tavern  license  for  the  privilege  of  en- 
tertaining the  wayfaring  man.  Among  the 
pioneer  tavern-keepers,  William  Shelton  was 
licensed  to*keep  a  tavern  at  his  hoiise,  on  the 
road  between  Jonesboro  and  Elvira.  An- 
other was  Robert  H.  Lay,  on  Green's  road, 
in  which  he  was  required  to  give  a  bond  of 
$100  and  pay  a  special  tax  of  $2.  Many 
other  such  were  granted  by  the  Commission- 
er's Courts,  until  one  would  almost  be  led  to 
believe  that  nearly  every  householder  in  the 
county  kept  a  tavern. 

Early  educational  facilities  were  meager, 
and  the  children  of  the  pioneers  had  few 
advantacres  in  that  direction.  A  few  months 
in  the  log-cabin  schoolhouse,  with  its  punch- 
eon floor  and  big  lire-place,  were  the  ex- 
tent of  the  ■ '  lai-nin' '"'  they  received,  and  the 
advantages  the  precinct  then  afforded.  For 
forty  years  or  more  after  the  first  settlement, 
education  was  at  a  low  ebb.  Like  the  stag- 
nant water  in  the  river  bottom  swamps,  it 
was  difficult  to  tell  whether  the  current  flowed 
backward   or   forward.       The    schoolhouses, 


school  books,  school  teachers,  and  the  man- 
ner of  instruction  were  of  the  most  primitive 
character.  An  old  man  named  Fullenwider 
was  one  of  the  first  teachers  not  only  in  this 
precinct,  but  in  the  county.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  a  very  fair  teacher  for  that  day. 
The  science  has  changed,  and  the  mode  of 
teaching  has  changed  and  improved,  with 
everything  else.  The  precinct  has,  at  pres- 
ent, some  half  dozen  schoolhouses  outside  of 
Jonesboro,  and  hence  is  well  supplied  v,-ith 
good  schools. 

The  first  preacher  in  "  these  parts"  was 
old  Father  Wolf,  the  Dunkard  preacher 
already  alluded  to.  He  preached  to  the  pi- 
oneers for  many  years,  not  only  in  this  pre- 
cinct, but  throughout  the  county.  The  early 
religious  history  centers  principally  in  Jones- 
boro and  Anna,  and  is  given  in  those  chap- 
ters. 

An  important  era,  in  both  civil  and  social 
life  here,  as  well  as  in  all  Southern.  Illinois, 
was  the  building  of  the  Central  Railroad. 
Although  it  did  not  pass  through  this  pre- 
cinct, or  through  Jonesboro,  yet  both  were 
more  or  less  affected  by  it.  There  were  those 
in  that  day,  even  as  there  are  still,  who  were 
opposed  to  railroads  in  every  sense  of  the 
word.  They  believed  they  would  ruin  the 
country,  and  would  be  of  no  benefit  to  any- 
body. Their  ignorance  and  prejudice  pre- 
vented them  from  discovering  any  advantage 
to  the  people  or  country  from  railroads.  The 
majority  of  the  people,  however,  were  far 
more  liberal-minded,  and  took  an  active  in- 
terest in  this  species  of  internal  improve- 
ment. Arid  the  completion  of  the  Illinois 
Central  was  hailed  by  them  with  as  much 
delight  almost,  as  if  it  had  passed  thi'ough 
their  own  town.  The  project  of  the  St. 
Louis  &  Cairo  Railroad,  twenty  years  after, 
received  their  hearty  support  and  approval. 
It  brought  "  the  war  into  Africa;"  that  is,  it 


35fi 


HISTORY   OF   UNION   COUNTY. 


gave  them  a  railroad  through  their  own  town 
and  Precinct,  and, in  a  word,  it  was  their  own 
raih-oad.     Then,  too,  opinions  and  views  re- 
garding raih'oads  and  their  beneficial  results 
had  undergone  a  great  change.     The  old  fos- 
sils and  fogies  had  discovered  that  the  country 
had  not  gone  to  the  dogs,  as  they  had  sagely 
predicted,  but  had  increased  in  wealth  with 
the  increase  of  railroad  facilities,  and  hence, 
they  were  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  rail- 
roads, after  all,  were  a  good  thing   in  their 
way.     Thus  the  narrow-gauge  railroad  did 
not  lack  for  friends  in  this  community.     Its 
completion   has   wonderfully  impro\red   this 
side  of  the  county.     It  has  developed  the  re- 
soiu-ces,  and  brought  the  best  markets  of  the 
country  into  close  proximity  with  the  people. 
Said  an  old  farmer:     "What  do  I  want  with 
railroads  ?     Will  they  make  my  plants   bear 
more   strawberries,  or  my  orchards  more  ap- 
ples   and    peaches?"     Yes,  old  friend,  they 
will,  in  that    they    bring    active   markets  to 
your  very  door. 

With  the  building  of  railroads,  gi'eat 
changes  came  to  the  country.  In  nothing 
were  these  changes  more  apparent  than  in 
the  system  and  mode  of  agricultm-e.  The 
first  settlers  here  knew  nothing  of  railroads; 
they  had  never  heard  of  a  locomotive,  nor 
dreamed   of    the    improvements   of    to-day. 


Steam  threshers,  sulky  plows,  mowers  and 
reapers  were  alike  unknown  to  them.  The 
old  wooden  plows,  di'awQ  by  a  yoke  of  oxen, 
the  scythe  and  cradle  and  the  reap- hook  were 
implements  with  which  they  were  better 
acquainted.  To  chronicle  the  changes,  and 
note  the  improvements  and  the  progress  of 
our  common  country,  since  the  era  of  rail- 
roads, is  not  the  least  interesting  part  of  the 
historian's  work.  In  the  traditions  handed 
down,  he  sees  "  the  wilderness  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  the  rose; "  the  log  cabin  changed 
into  comfortable  homes,  and  the  land  teem- 
ing with  peace  and  plenty. 

Jonesboro  Precinct  is  largely  Democratic 
in  politics.  The  old  citizens  were  Jackson 
Democrats,  and  some  of  them  would  perhaps 
vote  for  him  still,  but  for  the  fact  that  they 
believe  Ihe  old  hero  is — dead.  Upon  all 
important  occasions,  the  precinct  rolls  up 
large  majorities  for  the  Democratic  standard- 
bearers.  In  the  late  war,  it  was  loyal  to  the 
core,  and  sent  a  majority  of  its  able-bodied 
men  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Union. 

This  comprises  a  brief  sketch  of  Jonesboro 
Precinct,  from  its  settlement  to  the  present 
time.  With  this  imperfect  record  of  it,  we 
will  conclude  the  chapter,  and  in  a  new  one 
take  up  the  history  of  the  town — the  seat  of 
justice  of  the  county. 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUNTY. 


357 


CHAPTER  XII, 


CITY  OF  JONESBORO-SELECTED  AND  SURVEYED  AS  THE  COUNTY  SEAT-ITS  HEALTHY  LOCATION 

—EARLY  CITIZENS— SOME  WHO  REMAINED  AND  SOME  WHO  WENT  AWAY— FIRST   SALE 

OF  LOTS— GROWTH  OF  THE  TOWN  —  MERCHANTS  AND  BUSINESS  MEN  — TOWN 

INCORPORATED— SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCHES— SECRET  SOCIETIES,  ETC. 


JONESBORO  is  located  near  the  center  of 
Union  County,  and  on  the  dividing  ridges 
separating  the  waters  flowing  into  Cache; 
thence  into  the  Ohio  River,  near  Mound  City, 
and  the  waters  flowing  in  and  fonning  Clear 
Creek,  which  enters  the  Mississippi  five 
miles  above  Cape  Girardeau.  The  town 
was  located  in  and  amongst  innumerable 
hills,  more  on  account  of  the  many  bold  run- 
ning springs,  than  for  any  great  advantage 
to  be  derived  from  beautiful  location. 
It  is  situated  amongst  the  hills,  on  the 
hills,  under  the  hills  and  by  the  hills. 
In  fact^  we  do  not  know  but  it  has  all  the 
advantages  of  ancient  Rome  in  the  number 
of  its  hills.  Its  many  pm*e  springs  and  fine 
under-drainage,  perhaps,  caused  those  that 
had  the  matter  in  hand  to  select  the  spot 
they  did,  and  now,  after  more  than  sixty 
years  have  passed,  experience  has  shown  the 
wisdom  of  its  founders.  We  are  fully  war- 
ranted in  saying,  that  few  spots  on  earth  are 
more  healthy  than  the  town  of  Jonesboro, 
and,  in  proof  of  the  statement,  we  now  have 
half  a  dozen  persons  living  in  the  town  who 
have  resided  here  over  sixty  years.  They  ai'e 
in  excellent  health,  aod  have  long  since 
passed  the  allotted  time  of  man. 

The  town,  though  an  old  one,  compara- 
tively, does  not  contain  a  large  population, 
perhaps  not  more  than  one  thousand  persons. 
Good   schools,    good    health,   and    plenty  of 

*By  John  Grear. 


chui-ch  facilities  are  some  of  the  strongest 
recommendations  to  the  town.  But  that  in- 
domitable spirit  of  pioneerism,  inherited 
from  ancestors  who  first  settled  the  countxy, 
caused  many  of  the  young  men  to  follow  the 
advice  of  the  sagacious  editor  of  the  New 
York  Tribune  and  wend  their  way  westward. 
Some  went  to  Missouri,  some  to  Arkansas, 
some  to  Texas  and  some  were  even  led  to 
pitch  their  tents  beyond  the  Sierras.  Among 
those  whose  names  we  can  now  call  to  mind 
are  Abram  Hargrave,  Joseph  P.  Hargrave, 
Carroll  Ury,  George  Wolf,  Daniel  Craver, 
James  E.  Mitchell,  Joshua  L.  Meisenheimer, 
Robei-t  Henly  and  William  K.  Lee,  together 
with  hundi-eds  of  others,  who,  with  their 
families,  have  found  homes  in  the  far  Western 
States  and  Territories.  These  were  not  dis- 
satisfied spirits,  but  were  the  cream  of  the  pop- 
ulation, were  good  citizens  here  and  are  good 
citizens  in  the  land  of  their  adoption.  They 
went  West  to  better  their  condition,  and  their 
exodus  has  served  the  purpose  to  keep  the 
population  of  Jonesboro,  and  in  fact  all  the 
old  towns  in  Southern  Illinois,  at  about  the 
same  level  as  to  numbers. 

The  site  where  Jonesboro  now  stands  was 
selected  in  the  spring  of  1816,  and  so  named 
for  a  Dr.  Jones,  a  kind  of  representative  man 
who  lived  in  the  neighborhood.  Another  site 
for  a  county  seat  was  selected  upon  the  farm 
of  Thomas  Sams  about  two  miles  southeast 
from  Jonesboro,  and  quite  a  contest  sprung 


358 


HISTORY  OF  UNION   COUNTY. 


up  between  the  friends  of  John  Grammer 
and  Thomas  Sams,  owners  of  the  respective 
farms  named.  Eut  the  Commissioners  ap- 
pointed in  the  legislative  act  for  the  for- 
matiron  of  the  county  selected  the  site  upon 
the  Grammer  farm,  and  in  1818  Jacob  Ren- 
dleman,  Thomas  Sams  and  Joseph  Palmer 
were  appointed  trustees  to  lay  out  into  lots 
the  ten  acres  of  land  donated  to  the  county 
of  Union  and  now  known  in  the  description 
of  town  lots  as  "  Grammer' s  donation."  The 
first  sale  of  lots  was  at  public  auction  July 
6,  A.  D.  1818.  The  first  lot  was  purchased 
by  Robert  Grafton  for  $108.  It  was  Lot  No. 
25,  and  is  the  one  upon  which  now  stands 
the  Willard  Block. 

The  Lots  No.  33  and  34  were  sold  to  Alfred 
Penrod  for  $299,  and  are  the  lots  upon  which 
the  Dishon  Block  stands.  Many  of  the  out- 
lying lots  were  given  away  to  blacksmiths, 
carpenters  and  other  mechanics,  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  they  w«re  to  be  improved 
with  buildings  and  occupied  by  them  at  once. 
Among  the  most  prominent  of  these  pionear 
tradesmen  was  Peter  Jaccard,  an  enterprising 
German,  who  occupied  Lot  No.  60.  He  was  a 
tanner  by  trade,  and  erected  a  tannery  that 
did  an  excellent  business  for  many  years, 
and  was  a  great  convenience  to  the  surround- 
ing coimtry.  Louis  Jaccard,  the  founder  of 
the  great  jewelry  house  of  Eugene  Jaccard  & 
Co. ,  of  St.  Louis,  was  a  citizen  of  the  new 
town,  and  had  a  shop  near  where  the  town 
spring  is,  for  a  short  time  previous  to  his  set- 
tling in  St.  Louis.  Henry  Cruse  and  Peter 
Cruse,  from  the  old  State  of  North  Carolina, 
were  the  sturdy  blacksmiths,  and  made  the 
plows  and  wagons  needed  by  the  farmers  in  all 
the  country  for  miles  around.  George  Grear, 
the  father  of  the  writer,  was  the  millwright  and 
carpenter,  and  plied  his  trade  industriously 
from  1819  until  1840.  James  Hodges  and 
Daniel  Hileman  were  the  hatters.     Dr.  B.  W. 


Brooks,  Dr.  Jones  and  Dr.  Priestley  were  the 
physicians.  A.  P.  Fields,  Abner  Fields  and 
John  Dougherty  were  the  resident  lawyers 
and  politicians.  They  became  famous  through- 
out the  State,  and  held  many  offices  of  im- 
portance, as  noticed  in  another  chapter  of 
this  worJ£.  James  Edwards  and  Jeremiah 
Brown  were  the  first  Baptist  ministers.  Mr. 
Edwai'ds  also  taught  the  first  school.  David 
McMichael,  James  Shelby  and  William  R. 
Hazzard  were  among  the  early  school  teachers. 
They  were  all  men  of  excellent  education, 
and  graduates  of  the  best  American  colleges, 
except  David  McMichael,  who  graduated  in 
"  auld "  Ireland.  He  not  only  left  an  im- 
precision of  his  substantial  accomplishments 
upon  the  rising  generation,  but  he  also  left 
many  impressions  upon  the  boys — for  like 
the  most  of  the  early  teachers,  he  handled  the 
birch  with  as  much  dexterity  as  he  solved  a 
problem  in  arithmetic.  Many  of  our  old  citi- 
zens remember  McMichael  and  his  bii-ch  rod. 
Nimrod  Ferguson,  Elijah  Willard,  Win- 
sted  Davie  and  Charles  Rixlaben  were  among 
the  first  merchants  of  Jonesboro.  Nearly  all 
of  these,  with  many  othex's,  acquired  great 
wealth,  chiefly  by  selling  goods  and  buying 
the  products  of  the  farmers,  and  "flat-boat- 
ing "  them  to  New  Orleans.  The  latter,  to 
say  the  least,  was  hazardous  in  the  extreme. 
But  when  attended  with  ordinary  good  luck, 
produced  large  and  lucrative  retm-ns.  The 
proceeds  of  the  cargoes  were  then  invested  in 
sugar  and  coffee,  and  a  few  other  necessaries, 
and  brought  back  upon  some  of  the  few  steam- 
boats that  were  then  navigating  the  Western 
rivers.  Dry  goods  were  usually  bought  in  Phil- 
adelphia on  twelve  months'  time,  and  trans- 
ported overland  on  wagons  to  Pittsburgh, 
Penn. ,  thence  by  river  to  Hamburg  Landing.  * 
on  the  Mississippi  River,  and  hauled  to  town 


*  This  was  about  five  miles  below   Willard's  Landing  and  our 
nearest  point  to  the  Mississippi  River. 


HISTORY  OF  TNION   COUNTY. 


359 


upon  large  wagons,  usually  drawn  by  four  to  six 
strong  horses,  or  as  many  yoke  of  oxen.  A  large 
portion  of  tlie  goods  procured  in  this  way 
was  again  sold  to  other  merchants  and  hauled 
away  to  the  interior  of  S(mthern  Illinois,  to 
be  sold  to  consumers. 

Nearly  all  of  the  salt  used  by  the  people 
was  procured  at  the  Saline  Salt  Works,  in 
what  is  now  Saline  County,  111.  For  this 
was  exchanged  corn  meal  and  other  farm 
products — the  mode  being  to  load  a  wagon 
with  such  things  as  were  consumed  by  the 
people  ac  the  salt  works,  strike  out  through 
what  was  then  called  the  "wilderness,"  and 
proceed  to  the  works.  A  trip  generally  oc- 
cupied about  ten  days,  and  sufficient  salt  to 
last  a  year  was  brought  back  to  the  settle- 
ment. 

Mills. — In  the  matter  of  breadstuif,  the  peo- 
ple were  nearly  as  badly  off  as  in  that  of  salt. 
Mills  were  exceedingly  scarce  and  of  the 
most  primitive  kind.  Hand  mills,  located  in 
the  chimney  corners,  were  not  uncommon, 
and  are  well  remembered  by  many  people 
yet  living.  The  horse  mill  was  the  next  best 
thing,  and  many  traces  of  them  are  yet  to  be 
seen  Water  mills  came  next,  but  on  ac- 
count of  the  streams  drying  up  in  summer 
and  great  floods  in  winter  washing  away 
dams,  they  were  rendered  more  vexatious 
than  profitable.  But  about  the  year  1838, 
Willard  &  Co.  erected  the  first  steam  flouring 
mill  in  Jonesboro,  in  fact  in  the  county,  after 
which  meal  and  flour  were  more  easily  pro- 
cured. In  fact,  it  was  not  long  after  the  date 
above-named  until  flour  began  to  be  exported, 
which  has  continued  until  the  present  time, 
and  which  now  forms  one  of  the  chief  indus- 
tries of  the  town  and  county.  Col.  Bain- 
bridge  erected  the  next  steam  flouring-mill 
in  1847.  The  next  one  was  erected  by  Sam- 
uel Hargrave  in  1858,  which  is  yet  standing 
and  in  operation.     The  two  first  named  were 


long  since  burned  away.  Melzer  &  Bruch- 
hauser,  two  enterprising  Germans,  erected 
the  fourth  mill  in  1880.  It  was  burned  the 
same  year  it  was  biiilt.  The  same  firm, 
however,  erected  another  mill  upon  the  same 
site  the  following  year.  It  was  a  much 
finer  and  better  mill  than  the  one  burned, 
and  is  now  doing  an  excellent  business.  E. 
A.  Willard  erected  a  large  grain  elevator  in 
1880,  which  is  now  owned  and  operated  by 
Breedlove  Smith,  of  St.  Louis.  The  elevator 
is  112  feet  high  and  50x80  feet  upon  the 
ground,  with  fifteen  bins.  Altogether,  it  is 
of  about  90,000  bushels  capacity,  and  has  all 
the  improved  machinery  for  handling  grain 
of  all  kiods,  loading  or  unloading  grain 
from  or  into  cars.  It  stands  immediatdy  on 
the  line  of    the  Cairo  &  St.  Louis    liailroad. 

Railroads. — The  first  locomotive  engine  ever 
seen  in  Jonesboro  "poked  its  nose"  around  the 
bend,  just  north  of  the  public  square,  on  Sun- 
day, February  14,  1875,  amidst  a  large  crowd 
of  spectators  from  Jonesboro  and  Anna.  The 
first  passenger  train  went  over  the  road 
March  2,  1875,  and  was  the  first  train  that 
ever  passed  over  the  entire  length  of  the 
road  from  St.  Louis  to  Cairo.  It  left  St. 
Louis  Mai-ch  1,  but  on  account  of  delays  at 
the  tunnel  did  not  arrive  at  Cairo  until  the 
morning  of  the  3d. 

The  first  court  house  erected  in  Jonesboro 
was  built  by  Thomas  Cox,  contractor.  It 
was  of  round  logs,  floor  loosely  laid  down, 
one  door  and  one  window,  with  clapboard 
roof,  was  twenty  feet  square  and  contained  a 
"Judge's  bench,"  the  total  cost  of  which  was 
$40.  Another  room  was  added  soon  after,  fif- 
teen feet  square,  for  a  jury  room,  and  coat  $15. 
"  Men  in  those  days  were  giants,"  and  evil- 
doers could  get  a  "send-off"  to  the  peni- 
tentiary or  the  "  rope' s  end  "  from  a  house 
like  this  just  as  easy  and  with  just  as  much 
dignity  as   now-a-days  from    a   court   house 


360 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


which  costs  half  a  million.  The  next  court 
house  was  a  frame  building,  erected  in  the 
center  of  the  public  square  in  1820,  and  cost 
$600.  This  was  superseded  by  one  built  of 
brick  in  1838  on  the  same  grounds,  and 
which  cost  $5,000.  It  was  really  a  tine 
house  for  that  day,  and  ought  to  have  lasted 
fifty  years.  But  it  was  allowed  to  go  to 
destruction  from  utter  neglect  of  those  hav- 
ino-  it  in  charge.  The  present  court  house 
was  built  in  1858,  and  cost  about  $12,000, 
and  is  a  substantial  brick  building.  The 
courts  held  in  all  of  these  buildings  have 
been  presided  over  with  dignity  by  learned 
Judges,  and  many  have  been  the  forensic 
"set-tos"  within  these  walls  by  the  Fields, 
the  Douglasses,  the  Semples,  the  Logans, 
the  Aliens,  the  Doughertys,  and  other  legal 
lights  of  equal  ability. 

Jonesboro  was  first  incorporated  February 
14,  1821,  along  with  America,  Covington, 
-  Vienna  and  the  village  of  Prairie  du  Rocher. 
The  charter  was  amended  in  1823,  but  no 
organization  took  place.  The  charter  was 
again  amended  in  1857,  and  Willis  Willard, 
Caleb  Frick,  John  E.  Naill,  John  Grear  and 
William  Green  wei'e  appointed  first  Board  of 
Trustees.  They  held  their  first  meeting  early 
in  March,  laid  out  the  city  into  wards,  and 
advertised  an  election  to  take  place  as  speci- 
fied in  the  charter,  that  is,  on  the  first  Mon- 
day in  April,  1857,  and  which  resulted  in  the 
election  of  Dr.  H.  C.  Hacker,  Mayor;  Paul 
Frick,  Thomas  J.  Fiuley  and  O.  P.  Jones, 
Aldermen.  They  held  their  fii'st  meeting 
May  9,  1857,  under  this  new  organization. 
The  city  government  has  gone  on  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  with  very  little  change  or  interrup- 
tion. The  following  are  the  present  city 
officers:  John  Grear,  Mayor;  B.  M.  Fullin- 
wider,  O.  P.  Storm,  B.  H.  Anderson,  Ed 
Jones,  W.  D.  Frick  and  Martin  Carter,  Alder- 
men. 


Jonesboro  contains  about  one  thousand  in- 
habitants, four  churches,  one  large  school- 
house,  school  six  months  in  the  year,  with 
daily  attendance  of  about  300  papils,  two 
mills  and  the  usual  number  of  shops  and 
stores,  one  box  factory,  and  six  miles  of  good 
gravel  roads  and  streets.  The  city  is  con- 
sidered a  very  healthy  place.  It  has  seen  its 
period  of  prosperity,  and  its  period  of  de- 
pression, but  at  no  time  has  it  met  with  any 
serious  disaster,  either  by  fire  or  epidemics. 
It  has  had  small-pox  in  its  limits  but  once, 
in  1852,  which  was  its  nearest  approach  to 
an  epidemic.  The  town  has  produced  many 
wealthy  men,  or  at  least  men  who  became 
wealthy.  Among  them  were  Elijah  Willard, 
William  Willard,  Willis  Willard,  Charles 
Rixlaben,  John  E.  Naill,  James  Evans,  Caleb 
Frick,  Alexander  Frick,  John  Dougherty, 
James  L.  Hodges  and  others,  all  of  whom  are 
now  dead.  But  there  is  an  equal  number 
that  are  living,  some  of  whom  have  retired 
from  business  on  a  competency,  and  others  in 
the  full  tide  of  prosperity,  and  who  might 
date  the  beginning  of  their  prosperity  to 
Jonesboro. 

Our  early  citizens  were  not  forgetful  of 
the  moral  training  necessary  to  the  welfare 
of  a  new  country,  and  to  this  end  churches 
were  built  and  religious  societies  organized 
in  an  early  day  in  the  town. 

The  Clear  Creek  Baptist  Church  was  or- 
ganized in  1821,  by  Rev.  James  P.  Edwards, 
Jeremiah  Brown,  John  Mcintosh  and  others- 
Worship  was  held  at  first  in  the  dwelling 
houses  of  its  members,  but  soon  a  house  of 
hewn  logs  was  erected  upon  lands  given  to 
the  church  by  John  Mcintosh,  where  the 
Jonesboro  Cemetery  now  is.  It  was  a  com- 
fortable, large  building,  and  worship  was  regu- 
larly held  here  for  many  years,  with  varied  suc- 
cess. There  would  be  prosperous  times,  when 
the  church  would  receive  large  accessions  of 


HISTORY   OF   UNION  COUNTY 


361 


members,  and  at  other  times  there  would  be 
trouble,  and  the  church  would  be  nearly  de- 
pleted in  numbers.  But  the  good  faith  of 
those  remaining  would  continue  to  hold  meet- 
ings regularly  .once  a  month.  During  the 
sixty-two  years  of  its  existence,  many  excel- 
lent Christian  men  have  figured  in  its  history, 
notably  among  them  were  James  P.  Edwards, 
Jeremiah  Brown,  Francis  Brown,  D.  L.  Phil- 
ips, C.  G.  F laugh,  David  Gulp,  D.  S.  News- 
baum  and  many  others  that  cannot  now  be 
remembered.  Dr.  Sanders  now  presides  over 
the  church  as  pastor.  The  church  is  a  large 
frame  building  near  the  public  square, 
erected  and  dedicated  in  1848.  In  its  belfry 
was  sounded,  soon  after  its  erection,  perhaps 
the  tirst  church  bell  ever  heard  in  Southern 
Illinois,  outside  of  Kaskaskia  or  Shawnee- 
town.  It  was  donated  or  given  to  the  church 
by  one  of  its  enterprising  members,  Caleb 
Frick.  After  being  placed  in  position  on 
Saturday,  it  pealed  forth  its  solemn  notes  on 
the  following  Sunday  morning,  calling  the 
children  to  Sunday  school,  to  the  delight  of 
all  the  people  of  the  little  town,  and  has  con- 
tinued to  do  so  from  that  time  to  the  present. 

The  church  contains  about  200  members, 
who  hold  their  regular  business  meetings 
once  a  month,  but  have  worship  every  Sab- 
bath. 

The  Methodists  were  numerous  in  this 
county  from  its  earliest  settlement,  but  at 
first  had  no  regular  or  settled  place  of  wor- 
ship. They  preached  from  house  to  house 
diaring  the  year,  but  about  once  a  year  held 
what  was  known  as  "camp-meetings."  At 
these  times  great  revivals  would  take  place. 
Many  able  preachers  from  this  and  adjoining 
States  would  attend,  and  under  their  com- 
bined efforts  great  good  would  be  accom- 
plished. Their  first  church  house  was  erect- 
ed in  Jonesboro  in  1842,  south  of  the  public 
square,    chiefly  under   the    direction    of    the 


Rev.  Charles  Adkins,  circuit  preacher,  who 
was  also  a  carpenter,  and  worked  constantly 
at  the  building  until  it  was  completed.  This 
building  was  taken  down  and  another  erect- 
ed near  the  court  house  in  1859,  and  is  the 
one  now  occupied  by  the  church.  It  is  now 
presided  over  by  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Waggoner, 
a  very  able  and  devout  Christian. 

There  is  also  a  German  church,  where 
regular  worship  is  held,  and  also  a  Sabbath 
school,  all  in  the  German  language. 

There  is  also  a  church  known  as  the 
Christian  Church,  where  regular  worship  is 
held,  making  four  churches  in  Jonesboro, 
which,  with  the  six  at  Anna,  ov  ten  in  all, 
within  one  mile  of  each  other.  This  speaks 
well  for  the  moral  and  religious  training  of 
the  community. 

The  oldest  lodge  in  Jonesboro  is  that  of 
the  Masons.  It  was  tirst  organized  on  the 
22d  day  of  June,  A.  D.  1822.  Richard  J. 
Hamilton  was  its  first  Master.  Among  the 
original  members  were  James  S.  Smith, 
William  M.  Alexander,  George  Wolf,  James 
Finney,  Benjamin  W.  Brooks,  Abner  Field, 
Jeptha  Sweet,  Richard  M.  Young,  Jacob 
Hunsaker,  H.  B.  Jones,  George  Hunsaker, 
John  C.  Callins,  Samuel  Hunsaker  and 
James  F.  Bond.  It  was  known  as  •  Union 
Lodge,  No.  10,  and  continued  to  do  business 
until  about  1848-49,  when  its  charter  was 
surrendered  and  its  membership  merged  into 
and  became  part  of  Lodge  No.  Ill,  organized 
early  in  1851,  since  which  time  it  has  con- 
tinued to  meet  in  a  building  of  its  own  on 
the  north  side  of  the  public  square. 

The  Odd  Fellows  Lodge  is  known  as 
Southern  Lodge,  No.  241,  and  was  instituted 
October  13,  A.  D  1857.  O.  P.  Jones  was 
its  first  presiding  officer;  John  M.  Moyer,  A. 
H.  Marschalk,  Leonard  G.  Faxan  and  John 
Q.  Harmon  were  among  the  charter  members. 
The  lodge  has  continued  to  prosper  and  has 


363 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


now  a  large  membei'ship.  It  has  its  lodge 
room  neatly  furnished  and  about  $1,300  in 
its  treasiuy. 

The  Knights  of  Honor  have  a  lodge,  No. 
1,891,  which  was  organized  November  14,  A. 
D.  1879,  by  L.  G.  Roberts,  Grand  Dictator.  A. 
Polk  Jones  was  its  first  presiding  officer. 
Among  its  permanent  members  are  Judge  M. 
C.  Crawford,  W.  S.  Day,  O.  P.  Baggot,  G. 
W.  Fink,  Alford  Lence,  James  K.  Walton 
and  Harry  Grear,  with  many  others  not  now 
remembered.  The  lodge  contains  a  member- 
ship of  73,  and  it  is  benevolent  in  its  nature. 
It  also  pays  $1,000  to  the  widows  or  orphans 
upon  the  death  of  a  member.  It  is  in  a  pros- 
perous condition  and  has  $500  in  its  treasury. 
This  hall  is  well  furnished  in  which  weekly 
meetings  are  held. 

Flora  Lodge,  No.  596,  Knights  and  Ladies 
of  Honor,  was  organized  November  28,  1882, 
with  thirty-one  members.  The  institution  is 
in  good  condition,  out  of  debt  and  has  money 
in  the  treasury.  It  is  also  benevolent  in  its 
chaiacter  and  pays  from  $1,000  to  $2,000 
upon  the  death  of  a  member.  It  has  a  good 
hall  well  furnished  and  meets  weekly. 

Last,  but  not  least,  is  the  Union  County 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Society,  a  sketch 
of  which  appears  in  a  preceding  chapter.  A 
few  words,  however,  in  concluding  the 
history  of  Jonesboro,  is  not  out  of  place. 
The  first  meetinsf  was  held  in  1855,  and  the 


society  has  continued  to  grow  in  interest  and 
importance  ever  since.  And  now,  after 
nearly  thirty  years,  it  has  become  one  of  the 
institutions  of  the  county.  It  is  annually 
attended  by  hundreds  of  people  from  the  ad- 
joining States  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  as 
well  as  nearly  all  the  counties  of  Southern 
Illinois.  The  meetings  continue  the  entire 
week,  with  an  attendance  from  8,000  to  12,000 
persons  daily,  and  the  show  of  stock,  grain 
and  other  farm  products  is  simply  immense. 

The  fair  is  conducted  vigorously  by  the 
young  people,  while  their  elders  sit  around 
and  talk  over  old  times.  An  old  lady  recently 
remarked  to  the  writer  that  when  she  first 
attended  these  fairs,  "the  young  children 
were  asking  parents  and  friends  for  money  to 
buy  candy.  A  few  years  more  found  the 
girls  with  beaux,  and  still  a  few  years  more 
found  them  rolling  baby  wagons  about  the 
grounds  well  loaded  with  bouncing  babies, 
while  their  young  husbands  were  found  in 
the  arena  contesting  manfully  for  premiums." 

Although  Jonesboro  is  an  old  town,  yet  it 
has  not  the  dilapidated  appearance  of  many 
old  towns  in  Southern  Illinois,  and  it  is  kept 
in  a  clean  and  healthy  condition.  Nearly  all 
of  its  inhabitants  own  the  property  upon 
which  they  live,  and  many  of  them  own  good 
farms  in  the  vicinity.  They  pay  more  or  less 
attention  to  farming,  and  are  well  to  do  and 
prosperous. 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUNTY. 


363 


CHAPTER   XIII/ 


ANNA  PRECINCT  — GENERAL  DISCRIPTION  AND  TOPOGRArHY —  EARLY  SETTLEMENT  — THE  COLD 

YEAR— ORGANIZATION  OF  PRECINCT  — INCIDENT  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH —SCHOOLS  AND 

CHURCHES— BEE-KEEPING,  DAIRYING,  ETC.— CROP  STATISTICS— A  HAIL-STORM,  ETC. 


"  The  Past  and  Present  here  unite 
Beneath  Time's  flowing  tide, 
Like  footprints  hidden  by  a  brook, 
But  seen  on  either  side." 

IN  this  utilitarian  age,  in  the  rush  of  inven- 
tion and  discovery,  men  give  but  little 
time  or  care  to  the  preservation  of  facts  and 
incidents  that  render  history  valuable  and 
instructive.  As  the  period  of  mortality 
shortens,  activity  increases,  and  selfishness 
becomes  a  predominating  motive.  The  dead 
and  the  past  are  too  quickly  forgotten  in  the 
hurry  of  the  present  and  the  anxiety  for  the 
future.  But  the  reflecting  mind  always  de- 
rives satisfaction  in  reviewing  the  events  of 
preceding  years  and  forming  a  mental  con- 
trast between  the  then  and  the  now.  Could 
we  but  go  back  again  to  our  boyhood  daj^s 
and  handle  the  old  wooden  plow,  the  sickle 
and  cradle,  and  once  more  listen  to  the  hum 
of  the  spinning-wheel  in  the  old  log-cabin, 
after  so  long  enjoying  the  benefits  of  modern 
implements  and  machinery,  it  would  seem  to 
us  impossible  that  the  people  of  the  olden 
time  could  live  as  contentedly  and  happy  as 
we  know  they  did.  But  the  old  settlers 
have,  many  of  them,  passed  away.  The  slow 
ox  team  has  given  place  to  the  more  rapid 
Norman  span.  The  reaping  hook  of  our 
fathers  has  become  a  curiosity  to  our  chil- 
dren. And  so,  in  their  turn,  perchance  our 
grandchildren  may  laugh  and  wonder  at  the 
implements    and   machinery  which    we    now 

*By  Dr.  J.  H.  Sanborn. 


use  and  consider  so  perfect.  The  methods 
of  harvesting  and  machinery  in  use  by  the 
coming  generation  may  put  our  boasted  self- 
binders  and  steam  threshers  to  shame.  These 
changes  are  inseparably  blended  with  the 
changes  in  population  and  with  the  progress 
in  civilization  and  social  life.  It  is  the  duty 
and  task  of  the  historian  to  make  note  of  all 
these  transitions,  and  the  history  of  Anna 
Precinct  would  be  impei'fect  without  this 
reference  to  the  old-time  ways  and  customs 
which  are  yet  dear  in  the  memory  of  many 
still  living. 

Anna  Precinct,  so  named  from  the  city  of 
Anna,  which  it  includes,  comprises  all  of 
Township  12  south,  and  Range  one  west,  of 
the  Third  Principal  Meridian,  except  Sections 
1,  2,  3,  11,  30  and  31,  the  north  half  of  12, 
the  west  half  of  19,  and  the  southwest  quar- 
ter of  18,  and  includes  also  a  portion  of  Sec- 
tions 2  and  3  in  Township  13  south,  and 
Range  1  west.  This  precinct  is  quite  cen- 
trally situated  as  regards  the  county  bounda- 
ries, and  embraces  within  its  limits  some  of 
the  best  of  the  hill  lands  of  the  county. 
These  hills  are  not  broken,  precipitous  lands, 
but  are  generally  broad  and  gently  rolling, 
forming  fine  farming  and  grazing  lands. 
The  surface  is  elevated,  from  50  feet  to  200 
feet  higher  than  the  level  of  Chicago,  and 
varies  from  800  feet  to  900  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  This  elevation  is  consid- 
ered of  more  value  by  the  inhabitants  than 
is  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  as  by  it  the  fruit 


3  6-t 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUNTY. 


crops  are  rendered  more  certain,  and  the 
salubrity  of  the  climate  is  greatly  enhanced. 
For  the  purposes  of  fruit  growing,  garden- 
ing and  dairying,  the  lands  in  this  precinct 
are  not  surpassed  by  any  in  Southern 
Illinois. 

Originally,  this  was  a  densely  wooded 
country,  but  much  of  the  forest  has  been 
cleared  away,  and  broad,  open  fields  of  wav- 
ing grass  and  grain,  <)r  prolific  orchards  of 
choice  improved  fruits  occupy  its  place.  The 
original  growth  of  timber  comprised  princi- 
pally oak,  walnut,  hickory,  elm,  soft  and 
hard  maple,  poplar,  etc.  Though  there  is 
still  considerable  wooded  land  within  the 
pi-ecinct,  it  is  rapidly  decreasing  in  amount 
under  the  great  demand  .from  the  box  facto- 
ries, saw  mills  and  manufacturing  establish- 
ments within  the  county,  and  from  the  city 
and  town  wants.  This  precinct  lies  on  the 
divide  between  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  and 
those  of  the  Mississippi,  and  is  well  drained 
by  the  streamlets  which  form  the  head- waters 
of  Cache,  Cypress,  Big  and  other  creeks. 
Cool  springs  of  clear,  flowing  water  are 
numerous,  and  are  made  to  serve  most  prac- 
tical uses  on  the  dairy  and  stock  farms 
which  abound  in  this  precinct.  A  large 
spring  issuing  from  a  cave  on  land  belong- 
ing to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany, about  one  and  a  half  miles  north  from 
Anna,  forms  the  source  of  supply  for  the 
water  tank  at  Anna.  A  stranger  standing 
on  the  high  hill  west  of  Anna,  and  over- 
looking both  Anna  and  Jonesboro,  is  strong- 
ly reminded  of  the  scenery  in  the  Atlantic 
and  Eastern  States.  The  mingling  of  hill 
and  dale,  forest  and  field,  the  autumn  tints 
of  the  foliage  and  the  soft  rays  of  the  setting 
suu  enchant  the  eye. 

The  first  settlement  within  the  bounds  of 
the  precinct  is  involved  in  doubt,  but  among 
the  earliest  were  those  formed  in  1818-19  bv 


the  following  families :  George  Hartline  came 
in  1818.  He  had  five  sons  and  six  daughters- 
Charles  is  the  only  son  now  living,  and  Mrs. 
Joseph  Hess  the  only  daughter.  Frank, 
John  and  Isaac  Hartline  are  grandsons.  Peter 
Casper  came  in  1818.  He  bad  four  sons  and 
five  daughters.  Henry  is  the  only  son  now 
living.  Mrs.  David  Miller  and  Mrs.  Levi 
Davis  are  the  only  daughters  living.  Peter 
Dillow  came  in  1818.  He  had  seven  sous 
and  two  daughters.  Three  sons,  David. 
Michael  and  Simon,  are  still  living.  David, 
the  eldest,  being  now  eighty  years  old.  John 
Hess,  who  also  came  in  1818,  had  one  son 
and  five  daughters,  of  whom  the  son  Joseph, 
aged  about  eighty-fom'  years,  and  tsvo  daugh- 
ters. Mrs.  Joseph  Eddleman  and  Mrs.  Henry 
Rendleman.  are  still  living.  Peter  Siftord, 
who  came  in  1819.  had  three  sons  and  eifj-ht 
daughters.  All  the  sous,  Silas,  Jackson  and 
Daniel,  are  living;  also  fovir  daughters,  Mrs. 
Jacob  Hileman^  Mrs.  A.  L.  Sitter,  Mrs.  Mas- 
ton  Treese  and  Mrs.  Columbus  Abernathy. 
John  Treese  came  in  1819,  and  had  five  sons 
and  three  daughters;  Moses  and  Isaac  still 
live.  Conrad  Sitter  also  came  in  1819.  He 
had  ten  sons  and  seven  daughters.  Five 
sons,  Solomon,  Isaac,  Abraham,  Benja- 
min and  Conrad,  and  two  daughters,  Mrs. 
Catherine  Henly  and  Mrs.  Susan  Vancil,  are 
now  living.  Christian  Hileman  came  to- this 
county  in  1819,  married  Xancy  Davis,  and 
settled  near  the  site  of  the  Insane  Asylum. 
He  had  four  sons.  Jacob,  George  W.,  Levi 
and  Christian  M.,  and  four  daughters,  Mrs. 
Silas  Hess,  Mrs.  Charles  Barringer,  Mrs. 
John  Barringer  and  Mrs.  Josiah  Bean,  all. 
now  living.  Peter  Miller,  grandfather  of 
John  B.  Miller,  farmer,  came  from  North 
Carolina  about  1816.  and  about  1821  settled 
in  this  precinct.  He  had  one  son,  Abrahau-, 
and  three  daughters,  one  of  whom,  Mrs. 
Sarah  Hileman,  is  living.     Henry  Barringer 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


3«5 


came  here  about  the  year  1820,  and  had  five 
sons  and  two  daughters,  none  of  whom  are 
living.     John  Menees  came  about  1816.     He 
had  five  sons  and  two  daughters.     Two  of  the 
sons,  William  and  Marion,  are  living  in  this 
county.  William  Holmes,  from  Kentucky,  and 
Abraham   F.   Hunsaker  lived  on  the  Horace 
Eastman  farm  about  the  years  1818  to  1820. 
Isaac  Bizzel,  Sr.,  was  an  early  settler.     Wes- 
ley G.  Nimmo,  father  of  Col.  A.   J.  Nimmo, 
was  also  one  of  the  early  settlers.      A  ma- 
jority of  these  early  settlers  came  from  North 
Carolina.      Rev.  Daniel  Spence  fought  in  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans;  came  here  from  North 
Carolina  in  1819;  had  sixteen  children,  and 
lived  to  see  fifty-one  grand  and  seventy-one 
orreat-ofrandchildren.       He    died    in     1875. 
There  are  six  daughters  living,  of  whom  Mrs. 
Nancy  Davis,  seventy  years  old,  is  the  eldest. 
The  year  1816  was  the  coldest  ever  known 
in  the   United  States.      Tn  the  North  there 
was  no  summer.     In  Central  Illinois,  north 
of  Vandalia  and  as  far  south  as  Kaskaskia, 
every  green   crop  was  killed  repeatedly,    ns 
often  as  planted.     Ice  formed  an  inch  thick 
in  May,  and  frost  and  ice  were  common  in 
June.     On  the   17th  of  June,  ten  inches  of 
snow  fell  in  Vermont,  and  three   inches   in 
Massachusetts.      Ice  and  frost  were  frequent 
in   July.     On  the  5th  of  July,  ice,  thick  as 
window  glass,  formed  all  through  Northern 
Illinois,   and   in  August   was    half  an    inch 
thick.     The  latter  part  of  September  found 
ice  an  inch  thick  in  Ohio.     Southern  Illinois 
was  fortunate  ?n  its  mildness  of  temperature, 
and  harvested  an  abundant  crop,  the  fame  of 
which  spread  to  all  parts  of  the  country  and 
drew  to    this    county   a  large    immigration 
during  the  following  years,    from    both  the 
North   and   South.     Some  of  those  families 
from  Kentucky  and  North  Carolina  are  men- 
tioned above.      Long  streams  of  teams  from 
Central  Illinois  came  here  for  cor  .  and  pro- 


visions. This  was  one  era  in  the  settlement 
of  Union  County.  The  completion  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  produced  another 
era  of  settlement,  and  the  breaking-out  of 
the  civil  war  produced  a  third  era,  or  flow  of 
immigration.  Thus,  Anna  Precinct  was  set- 
tled, receiving  its  share  of  population  daring 
each  of  these  periods. 

The  organization  of  Anna  Precinct  was 
effected  in  1866.  Until  this  year,  the  voters 
of  Anna  and  Anna  Precinct  had  cast  their 
ballots  in  Jonesboro  at  all  county  and  State 
elections.  For  years,  in  the  history  of  the 
early  settlements,  the  roads  were  mere  wagon 
trails  blazed  through  the  timber,  but  with 
the  organization  of  the  county  into  precincts, 
the  roads  received  more  attention  and  were 
soon  in  a  greatly  improved  condition.  Popu- 
lation increased,  churches  were  erected,  and 
schoolhouses  multiplied.  There  are  now 
eight  public  schoolhouses  in  the  precinct, 
several-  of  them  highly  creditable  to  their 
districts,  and  well  supplied  with  modern  fur- 
niture, etc.  Fjducation  is  now  an  object  of 
great  care  with  the  people  throughout  the 
precinct,  and  the  rising  generation  will  re- 
ceive a  liberal  amount  of  instruction  under 
well  qualified  teachers.  Of  the  country 
*  churches,  the  Baptists  have  a  flourishing 
society  in  a  little  church  near  Big  Creek,  four 
miles  south  of  Anna,  in  Township  18  south, 
and  Range  1  west.  This  church  was  organ- 
ized as  "Big  Creek"  Church  in  1852.  The 
first  pastor  was  F.  M.  Brown;  the  second 
pastor  was  H.  H.  Richardson;  the  third  was 
S.  L.  Wisner;  the  fom*th  was  David  Culp; 
the  fifth  and  present  pastor  is  W.  A.  Ridge. 
Each  pastor  served  acceptably  for  several 
years.  Two  miles  north  of  Anna  is  tho 
Union  or  Casper  Church,  originally  a  log 
house,  built  in  1830.  In  1847,  the  jirosent 
frame  building  was  erected  for  the  joint  use 
of  the  German  Reformed  and  Lutheran  con- 


366 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


gregations.  D.  H.  ReBdleman,  Peter  Siftord, 
David  Miller,  Jr.,  and  Samuel  Dillow  com- 
posed the  Building  Committee,  and  the  con- 
tract was  let  to  Joshua  Roberts.  Near  this 
church  is  the  burial  place  of  many  of  those 
who  figured  prominently  in  the  early  history 
of  this  precinct  and  county. 

The  intelligence  of  the  mass  of  the  people 
was  always  adequate  to  the  demand  of  the 
times,  but  the  march  of  invention  and  im- 
provement was  too  rapid  for  the  comprehen- 
sion of  a  few,  as  is  the  case  in  almost  every 
community.  An  instance  of  this  slowness  to 
grasp  the  marvels  of  modei-n  science  occm*red 
in  1854,  soon  after  the  completion  of  the 
railroad.  A  terrible  drought  had  prevailed 
during  the  summer  of  that  year  and  ruined 
the  hopes  of  many  of  the  hard-working  farm- 
ers. It  was  while  the  fierce  rays  of  the  mid- 
summer sun  were  still  scorching  the  growing 
crops,  and  withering  and  blasting  the  results 
of  months  of  severe  toil,  that  a  large  crowd 
of  countrymen  was  gathered  near  the  railroad 
some  distance  south  of  ihe  station,  awaiting 
with  eager  curiosity  the  oncoming  of  the,  to 
them,  wonderful  locomotive  and  its  accom- 
panying train,  whose  advance  had  already 
been  heralded  by  the  more  wonderful  and 
mysterious  electric  wire.  As  the  train  sped 
by,  faithful  to  its  appointed  time,  the  idea 
suddenly  seized  possession  of  some  of  the 
more  superstitious,  that  the  telegraph  wire 
had  conducted  away  to  some  remote  region 
all  the  ehfctricity  belonging  to  this  county, 
and  consequently  there  could  be  no  thunder 
storms  and  rain.  This  belief  became  con- 
tagious and  quickly  spread  among  the  throng. 
The  cry  "  Down  with  the  poles !  Down  with 
the  wire!"  was  speedily  followed  by  heavy 
axes  borne  to  the  front  by  strong  arms,  and 
it  was  only  by  extraordinary  exertions  that 
the  wiser  ones  were  able  to  save  the  telegraph 
line  from  destruction.     The  iron  rails  of  the 


railroad  track  were  also  partly  blamed  for  being 
concerned  in  causing  this  drought.  The  wrath 
of  the  farmers  was  not  yet  appeased,  and 
another  time  was  set  for  a  general  demolition 
of  telegraph  and  i-ailroad  track.  PreparatioDs 
for  an  awful  destruction  and  wrecking  of 
these  iron  enemies  of  agriculture  were  made, 
but  before  the  time  arrived  copious  showers 
fell  and  watered  the  thirsting  crops,  and  thus 
dispelled  the  disagreeable  delusion. 

The  principal  crops  raised  before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  railroad,  in  1854,  were  such 
grains  as  could  JDe  profitably  fed  to  live  stock 
or  hauled  to  the  river  landing.  Live  stock, 
both  then  and  since,  has  been  an  important 
factor  in  swelling  the  income  from  the  Union 
County  farms.  After  the  railroad  opened 
the  Northern  and  Southern  markets  to  our 
people,  the  fruits  came  largely  into  cultiva- 
tion. Gardening  and  the  growing  of  early 
vegetables  for  shipment  were  also  found 
profitable.  In  1882,  the  shipments  of  early 
and  mixed  vegetables  from  this  precinct  sta- 
tion amounted  to  1,587,790  pounds;  those  of 
sweet  potatoes^  to  2,860  barrels,  in  addition, 
equal  to  514,800  pounds;  those  of  spinach  to 
2,260  cases,  equal  to  33,900  pounds.  In  this 
same  year  there  were  shipped  6,000  barrels 
^  of  flour  and  116  car  loads  of  bulk  wheat, 
equal  to  a  total  of  19,733  barrels  of  flour. 
The  amount  of  melons  shipped  that  year  was 
121,670  pounds;  in  1879,  there  were  shipped 
from  this  precinct  1,210  crates  of  melons, 
besides  30  car  loads  of  melons  and  cucumbers. 
In  1881,  the  strawberries  shi])ged  amounted 
to  450, 190  pounds.  In  1880,  the  eggs  shipped 
were  53,960  pounds,  and  of  peaches  that 
year  there  were  shipped  32,040  pounds.  In 
1879,  the  shipments  from  this  precinct  in- 
cluded 32,660  pounds  of  rhubard  and  35,700 
pounds  of  raspberries.  Of  apples,  there  were 
shipped  in  1877,  by  freight  alone,  7,650  bar- 
rels and  4,615  boxes,  besides  1,680  boxes  by 


#!f 


I^P 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


369 


express,  a  total  of  1,502,900  pounds  of  apples. 
The  same  year  there  were  shipped  372,700 
pounds  of  onions.  Of  live  stuck,  shipped  in 
1880,  there  were  23  cars  of  hogs  and  24  cars 
of  cattle.  All  the  above  were  shipped  from 
Anna  station  during  the  respective  years 
named,  in  connection,  and  do  not,  of  course, 
represent  the  large  amounts  used  at  home  and 
unsold.  A  full  account  of  the  rise  and  prog- 
ress of  fruit  culture  and  general  horticulture 
in  this  county,  will  be  found  written  in 
another  chapter  of  this  history. 

Other  crops  were  also  the  subject  of  more 
or  less  experiment,  among  which  was  cotton. 
The  production  of  this  tibre  in  1S68  reached 
the  amount  of  1,300,000  pounds  in  Southern 
Illinois,  of  which  Anna  Precinct  raised  a 
proportionate  part.  Tobacco  was  consider- 
ably cultivated  between  the  years  1860  and 
1870,  but  now  hardly  plays  any  part  in  the 
list  of  crops  annually  grown.  Oats  and  lye 
are  still  favorite  crops,  to  which  some  farm- 
ers add  millet  and  sorghum  for  fodder  pur- 
poses. Barley,  flax  and  hemp  have  never 
been  leading  or  popular  crops  in  this  pre- 
cinct. Of  the  minerals,  lime  abounds  in 
large  quantities,  and  is  extensively  quarried. 
In  1882,  John  Barringer  discovered  a  three- 
feet  seam  of  bituminous  coal  on  his  fai'm, 
about  fifty  feet  below  the  siu-face.  Indica- 
tions of  coal  in  other  places  in  this  precinct 
have  been  noticed,  but  no  coal  in  quantity 
has  yet  been  mined  here.  The  wool  clip  is 
not  large,  nor  likely  to  increase  so  long  as 
the  people  prefer  dogs  to  sheep,  the  last  cen- 
sus showing  410  dogs  in  this  precinct,  while 
a  much  larger  number  is  not  reported.  The 
demand  upon  the  forests  for  fuel  has  been 
large,  and,  in  addition,  there  has  been  a  big 
sacrifice  of  the  best  timber  for  ties  and  pil- 
ing, large  quantities  of  both  having  been 
taken  away.  Nevertheless,  the  shipments  of 
lumber  have  been  constantly  gaining  in  quan- 


tity, amounting  last  year,  1882,  to  sixty-two 
car  loads. 

The  dairy  business  has  become  quite  an 
important  industry.  The  first  dairy  in  this 
precinct  was  started  in  1864,  by  C.  L.  Brooks, 
principally  to  supply  the  local  trade  and  de- 
mand. This  dairy  terminated  with  the  death 
of  the  proprietor,  about  eight  years  after. 
Edward  G.  Robinson  was  the  next  to  venture 
into  this  new  business.  His  dairy  was  start- 
ed in  1873,  and  supplied  milk  and  butter  to 
the  local  mark<^t  and  families.  Mr.  Robin- 
son's business  increasing,  he  added  to  his 
dairy  stock  some  choice  Jersey  cows,  and  be- 
gan shipping  milk  and  butter  to  Cairo.  His 
were  the  first  shipments  of  these  articles  to 
that  market  from  Anna,  or  from  Union 
County,  by  a  dairyman.  In  1877,  he  kept 
twenty-four  milk  cows,  averaged  $90  monthly 
milk  sales,  and  marketed  in  Cairo  $55  worth 
of  butter  in  April,  and  $84  worth  of  butter 
in  May.  In  June  and  July,  his  butter  sales 
in  Cairo  for  the  two  months  were  $152. 
Bran  at  that  time  was  worth  $7  per  ton  at 
the  mill.  He  used  the  rectangular  churn, 
and  set  the  milk  in  deep  six-gallon  stone  jars 
in  a  spring  house  tank.  This  was  really  the 
beginning  of  the  dairy  business.  Mr.  Rob- 
inson's dairy  is  still  in  operation,  with  grat- 
ifvino"  success.  Horace  T.  Eastman  was  the 
next  man  wise  enough  to  embai'k  in  this 
profitable  business.  He  started  a  butter  dairj 
in  1877,  and  shipped  the  whole  of  his  butter 
to  Cairo.  In  1879,  he  ceased  the  manufact- 
ure of  butter  and  shipped  only  milk  to 
Cairo,  for  hotel  use.  This  milk  shipment  he 
still  continues  from  a  dairy  of  over  thirty 
cows,  and  including  home  sales,  averages 
about  $200  as  monthly  sales.  The  next  party 
to  enter  the  dairy  field  was  Miss  Sarah  E. 
Davis.  She  began  in  1880  with  one  cow, 
and  sold  the  milk  to  Mr.  Eastman,  inci'eas- 
ing  the  number  of  cows  as  fast   as  possible 

•  21 


370 


HISTORY  OF  UXION  COUNTY 


until  she  had  nine  cows.  She  then  com- 
menced to  fui-nish  the  steamboat  trade  in 
Cairo  with  milk,  and  took  into  partnership 
her  brother,  S.  E.  Davis.  They  still  carry 
on  the  business  together,  with  enlarged  facil- 
ities and  capital.  In  1880,  William  Kratz- 
inger  started  a  butter  dairy,  which  he  still 
keeps  in  operation,  and  ships  a  choice  article 
of  Jersey  butter  to  Cairo,  supplying  hotels 
and  private  families.  This  is  the  only  sta- 
tion now  shipping  Union  County  milk  to 
Cairo,  the  aggregate  of  which  is  about  17,- 
000  gallons  annually.  The  total  milk 
shipped  in  1881  was  only  11,200  gallons 
from  this  station. 

Bee-keeping  is  another  industry  or  busi- 
ness that  has  arisen  and  grown  in  this  coun- 
ty within  a  comparatively  few  years.  Prior 
to  1866,  there  were  a  few  "gums"  of  bees 
owned  and  kept  by  some  of  the  bee-loving 
farmers,  who  depended  more  upon  charms 
and  whims  for  luck  than  upon  skill  or  sys- 
tem. They  believed  it  a  cause  of  bad  luck 
to  sell  a  swarm.  The  price  was  marked  on 
the  "gum,"  and  whoever  bought  the  bees 
must  deposit  the  money  on  the  stand  and 
take  the  bees  unseen  by  any  of  the  owner's 
family.  If  discovered  removing  them,  the 
chai-m  was  broken,  and  good  luck  departed 
with  the  bees.  If  any  member  of  the  own- 
er's family  died,  the  bees  must  be  told  of 
the  death,  and  a  piece  of  crape  attached  to 
the  hive,  or  the  swarm  would  desert  the 
place  and  fly  away  for  a  new  home.  "When 
the  bees  swarmed  they  must  be  serenaded 
with  tin  pans,  bells,  tin  horns,  and  anything 
that  will  make  a  noise,  under  the  impression 
that  the  horrible  din  will  cause  the  bees  to 
settle.  In  1859,  D.  S.  Davie,  of  Anna,  ex- 
perimented with  a  "palace  hive,"  or  a  hive 
large  enough  to  hold  a  ton  of  honey,  but  the 
experiment  was  a  failure.  In  1866,  the  not- 
ed  California    apiarist,    John   S.    Harbison, 


came  to  Anna  and  started  an  apiary,  for  the 
purpose  of  rearing  and  selling  Italian  bees, 
queens,  and  his  patented  hives  with  mova- 
ble frames.  Among  the  lirst  to  get  and  use 
the  new  hives  were  D.  S.  Davie,  H.  T.  East- 
man and  Jacob  Hileman,  of  Anna  Precinct. 
Others  in  the  county  also  adopted  the  same 
hive  and  the  Harbison  system  of  manage- 
ment. D.  S.  Davie  soon  sold  his  bees  to  J. 
"\V.  Fuller,  who  still  keeps  quite  an  apiary. 
In  the  same  neighborhood  are  H.  T.  East- 
man and  John  B.  Miller,  extensive  bee-keep- 
ers, the  three  having  an  aggregate  of  over 
one  hundred  swarms.  The  profits  of  bee- 
keeping are  large,  very  large,  in  proportion 
to  the  outlay  and  expense  of  maintenance. 
Almost  every  farmer  in  that  portion  of  the 
precinct  has  a  few  swarms  of  bees.  The 
shipments  and  sales  of  honey  in  this  precinct 
during  1881  amounted  to  6,110  pounds.  It 
is  found  that  the  dairy  industry  and  bee- 
keeping go  well  together.  As  the  pastures 
are  increased,  the  bees  can  also  be  increased 
in  the  same  locality.  At  the  present  time, 
there  are  no  apiarists  in  this  section  of  coun- 
try who  make  a  specialty  of  bee-keeping,  but 
they  conduct  the  business  in  connection  with 
their  farming  operations  or  other  pursuits. 
There  are  localities  in  the  county  where  it 
could  undoubtedly  be  made  a  success  if  a 
man  should  give  it  his  whole  attention.  Mr. 
H.  T.  Eastman,  who  supplies  much  of  the 
above  information,  has  been  instrumental  in 
causing  many  to  go  into  this  business  by  his 
own  extraordinary  success  with  it. 

The  area  of  this  precinct,  since  the  crea- 
tion of  Saratoga  Precinct,  is  about  17,280 
acres,  with  a  population  of  about  1,600.  The 
value  of  improved  farming  land  varies  from 
$20  to  $30  per  acre.  The  wages  of  fai'm 
hands  range  from  $15  to  $25  per  month, 
with  board.  The  agricultural  progress  of 
the  precinct  has  thus  been   briefly  sketched. 


HISTORY  OF  UNI0:N   COUXTY. 


371 


Outside  of  the  city  limits  there  has  been  lit- 
tle manufacturing  done.  In  years  gone  by, 
there  were  a  few  horse  mills,  which  supplied 
the  needs  of  home  consumption.  Now,  the 
large  steam-mills  of  the  city  convert  large 
quantities  of  grain  into  flour  for  export. 

One  of  the  most  memorable  events  in  the 
history  of  this  precinct  was  the  remarkable 
shower  of  ice  which  fell  on  May  6,  1869. 
The  term  "  hail  storm"  fails  to  express  the 
real  nature  and  consequence  of  the  storm. 


Blocks  of  ice  nearly  the  size  of  a  man's  list 
fell  in  places  in  such  quantities  as  to  batter 
the  bark  from  the  trees,  destroying  the  fruit 
crop,  and  pitting  the  earth  with  large  holes, 
visible  for  months  afterward.  The  steady 
progress  being  made  in  agriculture  and  hor- 
ticulture throiighout  the  precinct,  and  the 
noticeable  improvement  in  farms  and  build- 
ings, are  evidence  that  the  capabilities  of  the 
soil  and  people  are  in  rapid  development, 
and  are  indicative  of  a  brilliant  future. 


CHAPTER    XIV.* 


CITY  OF  ANNA  —  THE  LAYING  OUT  OK  A  TOWN— ITS  NAMP]  — EARLY  GROWTH  AND  I'HOGIiESS 
INCORPOKATED—FIRE.>— NOTABLE  EVENTS— SOCIETIES.  SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCHES— MANU- 
FACTURES—OKGANIZLD  AS  A  CITY— HOSPITAL  FOR  THE  INSANE— CITV  FINANCES. 


"Towered  cities  please  us  then, 
And  the  busy  hum  of  men. 
With  store  of  ladies,  whose  bright  e3'es 
Rain  influence."  —Milton. 

C CITIES  are  generally  founded  with  regard 
-^  to  some  great  commercial  advantage, 
either  as  seaports  possessing  deep  harbors 
adapted  for  trade  with  foreign  countries;  as 
manufacturing  depots  convenient  to  labor  and 
fuel  or  water-power;  or  lastly,  as  agricultural 
centers  in  the  heart  of  fertile  regions  where 
the  products  of  the  soil  must  be  exchanged 
for  those  other  commodities  necessary  for 
human  comfort,  enjoyment  and  health.  It 
was  rather  the  last  of  these  influences,  if 
either,  that  prompted  the  founding  of  the 
city  of  Anna.  Though  the  town  possesses  a 
feminine  appellation,  there  was  nothing  of 
romance  connected  with  its  origin  or  naming. 
In  the  year  1850,  the  United  States  Gen- 
eral Government  ceded  a  portion  of  the  pub- 
lic lands  lying  within   the  State  of  Illinois 

*  By  Dr.  J  H.  Sanborn. 


and  extending  fifteen  miles  on  o^ch  side  of 
the  proposed  line  of  railroad  between  Cairo 
and  Dubuque  and  Chicago,  to  the  State  of 
Illinois  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  said 
railroad.  'These  lands  were  conditionally  re- 
conveyed  to  the  railroad  company,  and  in 
1852  the  engineers  were  permanently  locat- 
ing the  line  of  the  railroad.  In  1853,  they 
passed  through  Union  County  establishing 
and  grading  the  line  of  the  road-bed  as  now 
located,  the  intention  being  to  make  the 
shortest  practicable  route  between  the  above- 
named  cities. 

During  the  year  1853,  Winstead  Davie, 
who  then  owned  the  most  of  the  land  which 
is  now  the  site  of  the  city  of  Anna,  and  Col. 
Lewis  W.  Ashley,  Division  Engineer,  who  had 
come  into  possession  of  a  portion  of  the 
same  tract,  determined  to  lay  out  a  town  at 
this  point.  The  proper  surveys  were  made  by 
Francis  H.  Brown,  the  County  Surveyor,  and 
lots  were  laid  ou^t  on  both  sides  of  Main 
street  and  the  railroad.     Mr.  Davie  decided 


373 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


to  name  the  town  in  honor  of  his  beloved 
wife  Anna,  and  under  this  name  the  plat  was 
entered  upon  the  county  records  on  March 
3,  1854.  The  railroad  company  had  mean- 
while determined  to  establish  a  station  here 
for  the  convenience  of  the  laborers,  and  thus 
the  nucleus  of  the  present  city  was  formed; 
but  for  many  years  (till  1873)  the  company 
persisted  in  calling  this  "  Jonesboro  Station," 
much  to  the  chagrin  and  displeasure  of  the 
citizens.  During  the  construction  of  the 
railroad  in  1853,  the  trading  by  the  laborers 
was  done  in  Jonesboro.  In  the  spring  of 
1853,  there  were  only  four  biiildings  on  the 
site  of  the  town  of  Anna  as  first  incorporated 
(including  a  mile  square,  the  east  half  of 
Section  19  and  the  west  half  of  Section  20), 
viz.,  the  old,  original,  log  farmhouse,  occu- 
pied by  Basil  Craig  and  belonging  to  the 
farm  on  which  the  city  is  located  (this  house 
is  still  standing,  July,  1883,  on  the  hill 
directly  north  of  the  Anna  City  Mills);  a 
log  house  on  the  John  Halpin  place  on  Main 
street,  still  standing,  owned  and  occupied  in 
1853  by  Levi  Craver,  and  a  log  store  back  of 
Lot  132,  kept  by  Charles  Pardee,  to  which  he 
added  another  building  daring  the  fall,  and 
took  boarders.  Mr.  Pardee  ran  the  first  hack 
line  between  here  and  Jonesboro,  which  has 
now  developed  into  quite  a  business.  In  the 
fall  and  winter  of  1853,  Bennett  &  Scott 
started  a  store  on  Lot  81,  now  owned  by 
Oliver  Alden.  The  fourth  building,  perhaps 
the  oldest  of  all,  was  a  log  house  on  Lot  143, 
now  owned  by  J.  E.  Terpinitz. 

During  1854,  building  was  active.  W.  W. 
Bennet  built  a  house  on  the  Mackey,  now 
Lufkin  place;  S.  E.  Scott  built  the  house 
now  on  Lot  5;  C.  C.  Leonard  built  the  Corgan 
house  on  Lot  14;  Isaac  L.  Spence  built  the 
Louse  on  Lot  72,  now  owned  by  Mrs.  Parks; 
Dr.  McVean  built  Walter  Willard's  house  on 
Lot  56,  and    Dr.    Love  built  tlie  house  and 


store  on  Lot  124;  D.  L.  Phillips  built  the 
European  Hotel  on  Lot  105,  and  Winstead 
Davie  erected  the  famous  ''Column  Store" 
a  large,  two-story  frame  building,  on  Lot  82, 
at  me  corner  of  Main  and  West  Railroad 
streets.  In  all,  about  nineteen  buildings 
were  erected  that  yeai',  including  the  school - 
house  on  Lot  45,  at  the  corner  of  Fi-anklin 
and  Monroe  streets,  afterward  consumed  by 
fire.  In  the  fall  of  that  year,  the  first  pas- 
senger train  on  the  Southern  Division  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  passed  through 
town,  but  the  first  through  train  over  the 
main  line  of  the  railroad  did  not  come 
through  till  the  fall  of  the  succeeding  year, 
1855,  on  the  7th  of  August.  During  1854, 
the  first  year  in  the  history  of  the  city  of 
Anna,  there  occurred  the  following  marriages 
of  parties  who  have  been  more  or  less  iden- 
tified with  the  origin,  growth  and  prosperity 
of  the  city.  On  March  18,  Shalem  E.  Scott 
and  Lucy  Ann  Bennett,  by  D.  L.  Phillips, 
Esq.  This  was  probably  the  first  marriage 
that  ever  took  place  within  the  present  cor- 
porate city  limits.  On  March  26,  Isaac  L. 
Spence  and  Elizabeth  T.  Williams,  by  W.  G. 
Nimmo,  J.  P. ;  also  James  K.  Walton  and 
Mrs.  Serena  Walker,  by  James  P.  Edwards, 
Baptist  minister.  On  April  11,  Moses  Good- 
man and  Amanda  C.  Peeler,  by  Valentine  G. 
Kimber,  J.  P.  On  May  19,  Benjamin  F. 
Mangold  and  Piety  E.  Cox,  by  P.  H.  Kroh. 
minister  of  the  German  Reformed  Church. 

In  1855,  the  city  progressed  rapidly  in 
population  and  buildings,  the  principal 
structures  erected  consisting  of  several  com- 
fortable dwellings,  storehouses,  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  town  were  full  of  enterprise,  and  very 
sanguine  and  hopeful  of  the  success  of  their 
city.  As  yet  they  had  been  living  without 
any  organized  government,  but  on  July  19 
there  was  an  election  held  in  pursuance  of 


HISTORY  OF   UNION   COUNTY. 


373 


public  notice,  at  which  the  following  parties 
each  cast  one  vote  for  incorporating  the  town 
of  Anna,  C.  C.  Leonard  acting  as  Judge, 
and  J.  L.  Spence  as  Clerk  of  the  Election: 
for  Incorporation.  John  Cochi'an,  W.  W. 
Bennett,  J.  J.  Mangold,  E.  C.  Green,  S.  E. 
Scott,  B.  F.  Mangold,  J.  Halpin,  J.  Hunter, 
J.  F.  Ashley,  W.  Leonard,  J.  M.  Ingrahani, 
T.  A.  Brown,  J.  B.  Jones,  James  I.  Toler, 
A.  W.  Barnum,  W.  B.  Stuart,  T.  J.  Green, 
D.  Love,  G.  B.  Harrison,  W.  N.  Hamby,  J. 
T.  Atkins,  A.  W.  Robinson,  G.  W.  Feeright, 
J.  Keer,  C.  C.  Leonard  and  J.  L.  Spence. 
Against  Incorporation,  none.  Total  vote 
cast,  twenty-six;  unanimously  for  the  incor-. 
poration  of  the  town. 

At  au  election  held  in  the  town  of  Anna,  county 
of  Union,  State  of  Illinois,  on  Saturday,  July  28, 
18o5,  agreeabl}'  to  public  notice  given,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  electing  live  Trustees  for  said  town,  the  fol- 
lowing persons  having  received  amajorit}'^  of  all  the 
votes  cast,  are  declared  duly  elected  Trustees  for 
one  year  next  ensuing  from  the  date  of  their  elec- 
tion, or  until  their  successors  are  elected. 

David  L.  Phillips, 
C.  C.  Leonard, 
W.  W.  Bennett, 
W.  N.  Hamby, 
John  Cochran. 
Attest:    J.  L.  Spence,  Clerk. 

C.  C.  Leonard,  Judge. 

early  ordinances,  etc. 

The  above  constitute  the  first  official  docu- 
ments connected  with  the  inception  and  es- 
tablishment of  the  city  of  Anna.  At  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Trustees.  W.  W.  Bennett 
was  elected  President,  and  John  Halpin 
Clerk.  The  first  steps  taken  by  the  first 
Trustees  of  this  city,  at  their  first  business 
meeting,  were  the  passage  of  three  memor- 
able ordinances,  the  first  of  which  is  a  last- 
ing monument  of  their  wisdom,  and  re- 
strained the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  in  the  following  stringent  terms: 

Ordinance  No.  1,  passed  August  10,  1855:    "Be  it 


ordained  by  the  President  and  Trustees  of  the  town 
of  Anna,  th*t,  from  and  after  the  1st  day  of  Sep- 
tember next,  no  person  shall  sell,  barter,  exchange 
or  give  away  any  spirituous  or  malt  liquors  or  wine 
in  an}-  quantity  less  than  one  barrel,  unless  for 
medical  purpose,  and  in  no  such  case  for  medicine 
unless  ordered  by  a  regular  physician  ;  and  anj'  per- 
son who  shall  violate  this  ordinance  shall  forfeit 
and  pay  for  the  first  offense  the  sum  of  $50,  and 
for  eveiy  other  offense  not  exceeding  |90,  which 
fines  shall  be  sued  for  and  recovered  by  any  Justice 
of  the  Peace  in  and  for  Union  County. 

John  Halpin,   Clerk. 

W.  W.  Bennett,  President."' 

Thus  was  the  city  of  Anna  born  a  tem- 
perance town  of  the  "strictest  type.  This  or- 
dinance continued  in  force  three  yeai's,  till 
its  repeal  August  21,  1858.  From  the  date 
of  the  city's  birth  up  to  the  present  time,  its 
best  citizens  have  been  strong  advocates  of 
temperance,  and  foremost  in  every  movement 
to  restrain  and  prevent  the  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors.  Other  ordinances  to  accomplish 
the  same  purpose  have  been  passed  and  re- 
pealed, from  time  to  time,  after  short  trials 
of  their  efficacy,  and  as  the  preponderance 
of  the  votes  cast  favored  or  disfavored  the 
cause  of  temperance.  In  1877,  the  blue  rib- 
bon and  the  red  ribbon  temperance  organiza- 
tions and  clubs  swept  the  saloons  out  of 
Anna,  and  the  city  has  been  free  of  them 
from  that  time  to  this. 

The  second  ordinance  established  the 
limits  of  the  town  as  extending  "  one  half 
mile  from  the  northeast  corner  of  Lot  No.  14 
each  way."  On  September  6,  1858,  the 
boundary  lines  were  established  by  ordi- 
nance as  containing  the  east  half  of  Section 
19  and  the  west  half  of  Section  20,  in  Town- 
ship 12  south,  of  Range  1  west,  of  the  Third 
Principal  Meridian.  On  the  8th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1869,  an  ordinance  was  passed  ex- 
tending the  city  limits  so  as  to  include  the 
south  half  of  Section  17,  the  east  half  of  Sec- 
20,  the  north  half  of  Section   29,  and  all  of 


374 


HISTORY  OF  rXIOlS^  COUXTY. 


the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  19  not  in- 
cluded in  the  legally  established  boundaries 
of  the  city  of  Jonesboro.  all  in  the  township 
above  mentioned. 

A  third  ordinance  called  for  the  taking  of 
a  census,  and  D.  L.  Phillips,  B.  L.  Wiley 
and  J.  M.  Ingraham  were  appointed  census- 
takers.  This  census,  taken  during  August, 
]855,  the  first  official  enumeration  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  city  of  Anna,  showed  the 
following  heads  of  families,  with  thenum- 
ber  of  individuals  belonging  to  each:  M. 
C.  Massey,  4;  John  Halpin,  4;  M.  Thorp,  5; 
W.  W.  Bennett,  10;  IMi-s.  Bay,  4;  S.  E. 
Scott,  3;  William  Melton,  12;  J.  E.  Ingra- 
ham. 4r  R.  Stubblelield,  4;  B.  F.  Mangold,  3; 
C.  Hendersou,  2;  Mi's.  Blaekstone,  4;  J. 
Humpter,  4;  E.  C.  Green,  5;  Zadoc  Elms,  3; 
C.  C.  Leonard,  7;  M.  Freeman,  5;  G.  B. 
Harrison,  8;  T.  Brown,  4;  Mrs.  Davis,  4;  J. 
C.  Hacker,  5;  W.  N.  Hamby,  8:  D.  Love,  6; 
James  Musgrave,  12;  A.  S.  Jones,  2;  I.  L. 
Spence,  5;  A.  S.  Barnum,  4;  Thomas  Green, 
7;  J.  Tripp,  6;  James  I.  Toler,  7;  John  Coch- 
ran, 9;  James  Faulkner,  9;  J.  B.  Jones,  8; 
John  Keer,  4;  G.  Brown,  6;  G.  Elms,  3;  G. 
Barnwell,  6;  D.  L.  Phillips  (hotel),  25;  A. 
Bartlett,  7;  Mrs.  Henderson,  6.  Total  popu- 
lation of  the  town,  251. 

This  organization  continued  in  force  until 
a  special  charter  was  passed  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  which  was 
approved  February'  16,  A.  D.  1865,  and  on 
June  5,  A.  D.  1865,  the  President  and  Trust- 
ees put  said  charter  into  full  force  and  efifect. 
This  organization  was  continued  until 
amended  by  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly, 
approved  March  8,  1867. 

The  President  and  Trustees  ordered  that 
an  election  be  held  on  the  18th  day  of  July, 
1872,  when  the  qualified  electors  cast  seventy 
votes  for  dividing  the  town  into  wards,  and 
for  the  election  of    a  Mayor    and  Alderman; 


and  eight  votes  were  cast  against  said  propo- 
sition, and  upon  the  result  of  said  election, 
the  President  and  Trustees  did,  by  ordinance, 
divide  the  town  into  fom:  wards  and  ordered 
an  election  for  a  Mayor,  and  one  Alderman 
from  each  ward.  The  said  election  was  held 
on  the  12th  day  of  August,  1872,  when  C. 
Kirkpatrick  was  elected  Mayor,  and  William 
M.  Brown,  Alderman  of  First  Ward;  C. 
Mordling,  Alderman  of  Second  Ward;  A.  D. 
Finch,  Alderman  of  Third  Ward;  F.  S. 
Dodds,  Alderman  of  Fourth  Ward. 

An  election  was  held  at  the  Council  Cham- 
ber in  Anna,  on  the  2  2d  day  of  October,  A. 
T>.  1872,  and  at  said  election  there  were  cast 
sixty-seven  votes  for  city  organization  under 
the  general  law,  and  none  against  city  organi- 
zation under  the  general  law.  On  the  4th 
day  of  November,  A.  D.  1872,  the  town  Coun- 
cil of  Anna  declared  that  by  virtue  of  the 
aforesaid  election,  the  town  of  Anna  became 
organized  as  a  city  under  the  general  law  of 
the  State  of  Illinois,  as  provided  by  an  act 
entitled  "An  act  for  the  incorporation  of 
cities  and  villages,  passed  and  approved 
April  10,  A.  D.  1872." 

By  ordinance  passed  and  approved  Mai'ch 
3,  1873,  the  city  of  Anna  was  divided  into 
three  wards,  limited  as  follows: 

Ward  No.  1  shall  contain  all  the  territory 

lying  within  the  city  limits  north  and  north- 

i  east  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.      Ward 

1  No.  2  shall  contain  all  that  portion  of  terri- 

!  tory  lying  west  of    the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 

!  road  and  south  of  Main  street.     Ward  No.  3 

1  shall  contain  all    the   remaining  territory'  of 

said  city  lying  west  of  the   Illinois    Central 

Railroad  and  north  of  Main  street. 

As  provided  in  Section  48  of  the  city  and 
village  act,  approved  April  10,  1872,  an 
election  was  held  on  Tuesday,  April  15, 
1873,  at  which  election  C.  Kirkpatrick  was 
elected  Mayor;    William    M.  Brown  and   J. 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


370 


G.  Sublett,  Aldermen  of  First  Ward;  T.  M. 
Perrine  and  J.  L.  Inscore,  Aldermen  of  Sec- 
ond Ward;  P.  P.  Barlow  and  P.  H.  Kroh, 
Aldei-men  of  Third  Ward.  And  as  provided 
in  said  act,  the  annual  election  for  city  offi- 
cers has  been  regularly  held  on  the  third 
Tuesday  in  April  of  each  and  every  year,  up 
to  and  including  the  year  A.  D.  1883. 

Groivth  of  the  City. — C.  Kirkpatrick  con- 
tinued to  act  as  Mayor  till  April  17,  1877, 
being  re-elected  in  1875.  He  was  succeeded 
in  1877  by  William  M.  Brown,  who  was 
Mayor  till  1879.  At  his  election,  the  friends 
of  temperance  gained  a  lasting  victory,  cast- 
ing 156  votes  against  licensing  saloons  to  81 
votes  in  favor  of  saloons.  This  memorable 
victory  has  since  been  lepeated  in  the  other 
towns  of  the  county,  until  the  whole  county 
has  become  a  unit  in  sentiment  in  opposition 
to  saloons.  On  April  19,  1879,  John  Spire 
was  elected  Mayor,  and  was  re-elected  to  the 
same  office  in  1881.  On  April  17,  1883,  C. 
Kirkpatrick  was  again  elected  Mayor  without 
opposition. 

The  progress  of  tlie  city  was  steady, 
and  the  improvements  of  a  natui'e  solid 
and  lasting.  In  June,  1865,  just  ten  years 
from  the  date  of  the  organization  of  the 
town,  and  on  the  year  of  its  special  char- 
ter by  act  of  the  State  Legislature,  the  total 
valuation  of  real  and  personal  property,  as 
assessed  in  the  town  of  Anna,  was  §168,704. 
This  valuation,  however,  was  immediately 
following  the  war,  when  prices  of  real  estate 
had  risen  to  figures  unwarranted  by  the  bus- 
ines's  transacted — figures  that  soon  declined 
to  a  proper  level  with  those  of  the  previous 
years  The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany had  become  an  immense  corporation, 
doing  a  tremendous  amount  of  business,  for 
many  years  the  greatest  in  the  whole  West. 
Anna  was  a  constant  gainer  through  this 
channel,  and  through  its  means  and  by  the 


enterprise  of  its  citizens,  has  grown  in  thirty 
years  to  become  the  most  populous  and 
thrifty  town  in  the  county,  while  its  original 
four  log  buildings  have  meantime  multi- 
plied into  over  300  dwellings,  besides  store- 
houses and  manufacturing  establishments 
not  counted. 

Judge  John  Cochran  was  the  first  railroad 
agent  at  this  station  during  the  transition 
period  from  wilderness  to  settled  town.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  active  in  promoting 
every  measm-e  that  looked  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  settlement,  and  was  succeeded  in  of- 
fice by  Nathan  Dresser,  afterward  Post- 
master. The  next  manager  of  the  railroad 
interests  in  this  town  was  W.  Walker,  who 
was  succeeded  by  J.  H.  Samson,  a  most 
efficient  officer,  who  is  still  in  the  "railroad 
land  "  and  real  estate  business  in  Jonesboro. 
C.  B.  Crittenden  succeeded  Mi".  Samson, 
and  was  himself  followed  by  J.  H.  Hine, 
after  whom  Mr.  Crittenden  was  re- instated 
in  his  old  office,  and  attended  to  railroad 
matters  as  before.  T.  C.  Turley  was  the 
next  railroad  agent  at  this  station,  and  left 
here  to  take  a  position  in  the  land  depart- 
ment at  Centralia.  Mr.  Tui'ley  was  succeed- 
ed by  N.  Meisenheimer,  the  present  very  capa- 
ble agent,  who  has  most  faithfully  managed 
the  afifairs  of  the  company  at  this  station  for 
the  past  nine  years,  the  business  often  de- 
manding one  or  two  assistants  in  the  fi'iait 
season. 

The  mercantile  business  has  kept  pace  with 
the  growth  of  the  town,  a^id  at  times  exceed- 
ed the  needs  of  the  population.  The  one 
store  of  Bennett  &  Scott,  in  1853,  was  fol- 
lowed in  1854  by  the  hardware  store  of  B. 
L.  Wiley,  the  dry  goods  store  of  D.  D.  Cover 
&  Moses  Goodman,  the  general  merchandise 
store  of  Daniel  Davie,  and  by  other  stores  in 
rapid  succession.  Dui'ing  the  erection  of 
the  Illinois  Southern  Hospital  for  the  Insane 


376 


HISTORY  OF  ITN^ION  COUNTY. 


at  this  place,  the  mercantile  business  so  in- 
creased that  the  establishment  of  some  kind 
of  a  banking  house  and  money  exchange  be- 
came an  absolute  necessity.  At  this  juncture, 
C.  M.  Willard,  in  January,  1873,  opened  the 
Union  County  Bank  in  his  store  on  Lot  129, 
at  the  corner  of  West  Railroad  and  Main 
streets.  C.  Nordling  was  the  lirst  depositor 
in  this  bank.  It  was  destroyed  in  the  fire  of 
April  22,  1879,  but  was  rebuilt  during  the 
fall  of  that  year,  and  is  still  doing  a  large 
business.  The  hotels  have  been  prosperous 
from  the  first,  and  while  fire  destroyed  other 
portions  of  the  town  no  hotel  has  as  yet 
been  a  sufferer.  The  European,  already 
mentioned,  was  followed  by  the  erection  of 
the  Verble  House  and  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel. 
In  1870,  W.  Davie  built  the  Winstead  House, 
now  Otrich  House,  a  large  three  story  brick 
structure  costing  $10,000,  which,  with  tie 
European,  will  rank  as  first-class  hotels. 

The  first  pretentious  mansion  erected  was 
that  of  Col.  L.  W.  Ashley,  which  yet  stands, 
though  In  the  possession  of  J.  C.  Peeler.  It 
is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  aesthetic  tastes  of 
the  builder,  wainscoted  and  paneled  in  the 
Elizabethian  style,  with  decorated  ceilings 
and  ornamentations  at  once  unique  and 
pleasing.  Among  the  other  and  more  re- 
cently erected  residences  which  lend  a  charm 
to  the  city  by  their  beauty  of  design  or  el- 
egance of  lawns  and  shrubbery,  may  be  men- 
tioned those  of  E.  H.  Finch,  A.  D.  Finch, 

C.  M.  Willard,  Walter  Willard  and  L.  P. 
Wilcox.     That  of  Mr.  Wilcox  was  built  by 

D.  L.  Phillips  in  1856-57.  The  wellrkept 
lawns  around  these  residences  are  models  of 
elegance.  The  first  brick  building  erected 
in  Anna  was  the  small  square  dwelling  on 
Lot  34  on  South  street,  adjoining  the  Luther- 
an Church,  and  built  by  John  Stiner  in  1856. 

As  is  evidenced  by  the  numerous  springs 
of  clear  water  that  burst  forth  in  many  por- 


tions of  the  city,  the  surface  overlies  streams 
of  living  water  in  the  greatest  abundance. 
Nevertheless,  the  people  largely  prefer  cis- 
terns to  wells.  In  1854  and  1855,  much 
trouble  was  experienced  in  procuring  water, 
which  was  carried  in  buckets  long  distances. 

In  1856,  the  town  authorities  ordered  the 
digging  of  the  public  well  on  Washington 
street.  A  living  stream,  inexhaustible  in 
quantity,  was  reached.  In  1860,  the  public 
well  at  the  pottery  of  C.  &  W.  Kirkpatrick 
added  a  new  supply,  which  was  still  further 
increased  in  1880  by  the  public  well  on 
Franklin  street.  In  the  latter,  the  water 
was  found  at  a  depth  of  about  twelve  feet. 
Several  private  wells,  and  some  on  the 
grounds  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Fair  Asso- 
ciation, furnish  water  without  limit  at  a 
depth  of  only  tea  or  twelve  feet  below  the 
surface. 

In  1870,  fifteen  years  from  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  town,  there  were  but  thx'ee  brick 
business  houses  within  the  corporate  limits, 
viz.,  that  of  C.  M.  Willard,  on  the  corner  of 
Main  street;  the  Corgan  store,  on  Lot  133,  and 
that  of  Jesse  Lentz,  on  Lot  126,  built  in 
1868.  The  only  other  brick  buildings  in 
town  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1870, 
were  the  residences  of  Jesse  Lentz,  James 
M.  Smith,  Cyrus  Shiek,  Daniel  Davie.  C. 
Nordling,  Charles  M.  Willard  and  J.  Stiner, 
as  before  mentioned.  During  1870,  the 
erection  of  the  Winstead  House  added  two 
more  brick  stores,  on  the  first  floor.  From 
1870  to  1876,  several  brick  buildings  wei-e 
erected  fronting  the  railroad,  including  the 
post  office  building,  by  J.  B.  Miller,  C.  K. 
Park's  drug  store,  the  Alden  Evaporating 
House,  and  other  buildings. 

On  February  28,  in  1876,  occurred  the 
first  of  the  great  fires  which  devastated  the 
business  portion  of  the  town  of  Anna.  In 
this  fire  were  consumed  the  stores  and  ware- 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


house  of  T.  M.  Perrine,  on  the  corner  of 
Main  street,  and  the  grocery  store  and  ware- 
house belonging  to  J.  E.  Lufkin,  besides 
several  other  smaller  buildings.  In  1872, 
August  4,  there  was  a  smaller  fire  on  Main 
street,  which  burned  the  stores  of  J.  E.  Ter- 
pinitz  and  J.  T.  Carroll,  and  the  dwelling 
of  Mrs.  Seay.  The  tire  of  1876  was  fol- 
lowed in  1877  by  the  erection  of  a  block  of 
two-slory  brick  business  houses,  on  the  old 
site  by  J.  E.  Lufkin  and  L.  P.  Wilcox. 
The  same  year,  1877,  the  Brockman  wagon 
shops,  facing  the  depot,  were  converted  by 
M.  V.  Ussery  into  an  opera  house,  with  two 
business  rooms  on  the  first  floor,  and  a  large 
concrete  warehouse  in  the  rear.  The  Alden 
Evaporator  was  also  changed  into  a  business 
block,  with  two  stores  below,  offices  on  the 
second  floor,  and  the  Armory  Hall  on  the 
third  floor.  J.  C.  Peeler  that  year  erected 
his  brick  store  on  Lot  130,  with  a  hall  on  the 
second  floor  for  the  secret  societies. 

On  April  22,  1879,  occurred  the  second 
memorable  lire,  the  worst  that  has  yet  vis- 
ited the  city.  Ten  buildings  were  destroyed, 
including  C.  M.  Willard's  fine  brick  block 
on  the  corner  of  Main  street,  the  thi-ee-story 
building  belonging  to  C.  H.  Williford,  the 
stores  of  Miss  S.  E.  McKinney,  C.  M.  Wil- 
lard,  C.  L.  Otrich,  J.  L.  Inscore,  Kirkham  & 
Brown,  Herts  &  Craver,  J.  D.  Walters  and 
A.  D.  Bohannon;  the  offices  of  Dr.  A.  D. 
Finch,  Dr.  J.  I.  Hale,  Dr.  F.  S.  Dodds  and 
T.  H.  Phillips;  Mrs.  D.  Cover's  residence, 
and  other  property.  A  general  rebuilding 
followed.  Messrs.  J.  R.  and  J.  M.  Cover 
and  W.  M.  Brown  erected  a  two-story  block 
on  the  old  site,  and  C.  M.  Willard  built  a 
two-story  banking  house.  Messrs,  R.  John- 
son, J.  E.  Lentz,  E.  Babcock  and  C.  Nord- 
ling  built  the  Union  Block  on  Lots  130  and 
J  31,  uniting  with  J.  C.  Peeler's  building 
alreadv  mentioned.      Oliver  Alden  erected  a 


two-story  brick  building,  occupied  since  as 
TM  Farmer  and  Fruit  Grower  printing 
and  publishing  house,  where  is  weekly  issued 
the  only  agricultural  and  horticultural  jour- 
nal published  in  Southern  Illinois;  estab- 
lished in  1877  by  H.  C.  Bouton,  the  present 
editor  and  proprietor. 

Among  the  other  notable  events  of  the  year 
1879  was  the  construction  of  the  sidewalk 
uniting  Anna  with  Jonesboro.  On  May  11 
of  this  year,  there  was  a  re-union  of  the  Hile- 
man  family,  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the 
county,  at  the  residence  of  Jacob  Hileman. 
Seveuty-two  members  of  the  family  were 
present,  the  oldest  member  being  Mrs. 
Christian  Hileman.  She  was  born  in  North 
Carolina,  and  came  here  in  1817,  when 
twelve  years  old,  with  her  parents.  At  that 
time  all  produce  was  hauled  to  the  river, 
where  the  trading  was  done.  Clothing  was 
all  made  at  home,  and  it  was  not  till  she  was 
twenty-six  years  old  that  her  first  calico  drees 
was  bought  at  a  cost  of  36  cents  a  yard,  the 
second  calico  dress  costing  50  cents  a  yard. 
Mrs.  Hileman  weighed  184  pounds,  and 
with  eight  of  her  descendants  weighed 
1,732  pounds,  an  average  of  193  pounds. 
Fifteen  of  the  family  were  absent.  The  no- 
table events  of  1880  were  the  annual  fair  of 
the  Southern  Illinois  Fair  Association,  on  its 
grounds  in  Anna,  from  August  31  to  Septem- 
ber 3;  and  the  death  in  December  of  Mrs. 
Anna  Davie,  after  whom  the  city  took  its 
name. 

At  the  incorporation  of  the  town  in  1855, 
D.  L.  Phillips  secured  the  establishment  of 
a  post  office  here,  and  was  appointed  the  first 
Postmaster.  He  was  succeeded  by  John  B. 
Jones,  who  was  removed  after  a  few  months, 
owing  to  certain  tamperings  with  the  mail  by 
his  son.  Rev.  John  McConnell  was  the  next 
appointee.  He  was  succeeded  by  Nathan 
Dresser,  at  whose  death  his  wife  Nancy  E. 


378 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


Dresser,  was  appointed  Postmistress.  Thoraas 
H.  Phillips  was  the  next  Postmaster,  and  held 
the  office  till  October  23,  1873,  when  John  B. 
Miller,  the  present  officer,  was  appointed. 
For  ten  years  Mr.  Miller  has  served  the  citi- 
zens as  Postmaster,  most  efficiently  and  satis- 
factorily, having  the  good  will,  approval  and 
esteem  of  the  entire  community. 

Societies. — The  secret  societies  which  hold 
their  meetings  in  Anna  are   well  established, 
and  include  in  memberships  large  proportion 
of    the    intelligent     population.      Egyptian 
Chapter,  No.  45,  of   Royal  Arch  Masons  was 
instituted    October    5,   1858.     The    charter 
members    were  M.  M.  Inman,  J.  H.  Samson, 
L.    W.  Ashley,    H.  O.  Gray,  A.  F.  W.  Bur- 
master,  T.  J.  Chapman,  H.  (1  Hacker,  L.  W. 
Hogg,  T.  Q.  Searle,  J.  F   Smith,  H.  A.  Sykes, 
W.  C.  Gleason.  W.  H.  Willard,  J.  V.  Brooks, 
Adam  Harvie,  W.  M.  Hamilton,  Samuel  Hess, 
Silas  C.  Toler.     Anna  Lodge   of   A.,    F.    & 
A.  Masons,  No.  520,  was    instituted  October 
1,  1867,  with  the  following  ctiarter  members: 
N.  Dresser,  M.  V.  B.  Harwood,  F.  S.  Dodds, 
J.  D.  Smith,    J.  A.    McKinney.   C.  Kirkpat- 
rick.  J.  I.  Toler,  P.  H.  Kroh,   Jesse  Roberts, 
A.  W.  Robinson,  W.  H.  Willard,  E.  A.  Free- 
man,   John  Harwood,  C.  M.  Willard,  Jr.,  C. 
Shick,  E.  H.  Finch,   J.  P.  Bohannon,   M.  M. 
Inman  and  F.  E.  Scarsdale.      The  first  officers 
were  N.  Dresser,    W.  M. ;  C.  Kirkpatrick,  S. 
W.;  W.  H.  Willard,  J.  W.     The  officers  of 
the  Grand  Lodge  conferring  the  charter  were 
W.  Jerome,  G.  M.;  N.  W.  Huntley,    Deputy 
G.  M. ;  Charles    A.  Fisher,    S.   G.    W. ,   and 
John  W.  Clyde,  J.  G.  W.,  pro  tern. 

Hiawatha  Lodge,  No.  291,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was 
established  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois, 
on  October  li,  1800.  B.  J.  F.  Hanna,  G.  M., 
Samuel  Willard,  G.  Secretary.  The  original 
members  were  C.  Kirkpatrick,  Jacob  M.  Bris- 
bin,  George  W.  Mumaugh,  T.  M.  Perrine, 
and    J.   E.    Terpinitz.     Anna    Encampment, 


No.  69,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was  established  October 
10,  1876.  Jacob  Krohn,  G.  Patriarch,  J.  C. 
Smith,  G.  Scribe.  The  original  members 
were  C.  Kirkpatrick,  E  A.  Finch,  J.  E.  Ter- 
pinitz, T.  M.  Perrine,  W.  Kirkpatrick,  A.  J. 
Smith  and  B.  F.  Mangold. 

The  "  Supreme  Lodge  of  Protection,"    of 
the  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor,  granted  a 
charter  to  lonett  Lodge,  No.  315,  at  Anna, 
on  October    1,  1881.     H.  A.  Gage.  Supreme 
Protf^ctor,  Freeman  Wright,   Supreme  Secre- 
tary.     The  lodge  was  instituted  May  20,  1880, 
with  the  following    charter  members:  H.  C. 
Bouton,  Mrs.  A.  D.  Bouton,    F.    L,    Harris, 
Mrs.  I.  Harris,   C.  F.  McNamee,  Mrs.   L.  E. 
McNamee,  E.  A.  Finch,    Mrs.    A.  D.   Finch, 
J.  M.  Shipley,   G.   H.  Galvin,  S.    J.    Owen, 
Mrs.  M.  Ottmar,  J.  W.  Dandi-idge,  Mrs.  E.  F. 
Dandridge,  A.  W.  Sims,  W.  S.   Meisenheimer, 
Mrs.    M.  S.  Meisenheimer,  C.  W.   Hunsaker, 
Mrs.  E.  S.  Hunsaker,  H.  M.  Dietrich.    Anna 
Lodge,  No.  1892,  of    the  Knights    of  Honor 
was  instituted  Nov.  20,  1879,  and   a  charter 
was  granted  by  the  Supreme  Lodge  on  August 
25,  1880.     W.  B.  Hoke,    S.  D.,   J.  C.  Plum- 
mer,  S.  R. ,  to  the  following  charter  members : 
J.  E,  Lufkin,  J.  D.  Lynch,    E.  T.  Lewis,  N. 
Meisenheimer,  B.  W.  Manees,  W.  S.  Meisen- 
heimer, David  McNamee,  Daniel  Northern,  T. 
H.  Phillips,  W.  H.  Smart,  J.  M.  Shipley,  C. 
H.  Shafer,  A.  W.  Sims,  H.  P.  Tuthill,  C.  M. 
Willard,  Jr.,  P.  C.  Willoughby,   H.  F.  War- 
ren,   A.  G.  Britton,    George   Kranz,    J.    W. 
Lowery,    W.    Kratzinger,  J.  I.   Hale,   C.  H. 
Hughes,  G.  W.  Hunsaker,  W.   M.   Green,  A. 
D.  Finch,  E.  A.  Finch,  H.   M.    Dietrich,   F. 
S.  Dodds,  J.  W.  Dandridge,  W.  H.  Clark,  E. 
W.    Cover,   A.  Beecher,  A.  D.  Bush,    D.  W. 
Bi-own,  F.  P.  Anderson. 

Of  the  non-secret  societies,  the  "  People's 
Library  Society"  was  organized  in  1879,  and 
has  at  the  present  time  160  volumes  in  its 
library.      Rev.  C.  W.  Sifferd  is  President  and 


HISTORY  or  UNION  COUNTY 


379 


Walter  Grear,  Secretary.  A  series  of  meet- 
ings in  tbe  interest  of  temperance  was 
opened  in  this  city  on  Tuesday,  November 
20.  1877,  by  Dr.  Henry  A.  Reynolds,  of 
Maine.  On  the  22d,  an  organization  of  a 
"Reform  Club"  was  effected,  which  soon 
numbered  150  members.  Upon  the  eradica- 
tion of  saloons  from  the  city,  the  work  of  the 
Reform  Club  was  gradually  thrown  upon  the 
"  Women's  Christian  Tempei-ance  Union," 
and  the  club  ceased  existence.  The  Wom- 
en's Christian  Temperance  Union,  which  was 
organised  in  1878,  has  been  active  in  its 
labors,  and  it  is  almost  entirely  through  the 
untiring  exertions  and  watchfulness  of  the 
ladies  composing  this  society  that  this  city 
maintains  its  standing  as  a  temperance  com- 
munity. Its  present  officers  are  Mrs.  J.  R. 
Thompson,  President;  Mrs.  S.  A.  Fletcher, 
Secretary;  Mrs.  A.  Davie,  Con-espondi ng 
Secretary;  Mrs.  A.  W.  Sims,  Treasurer.  The 
society  now  numbers  over  fifty  members. 

The  Anna  Literary  Society  and  Lyceum 
has  held  meetings  and  debates  weekly  dur- 
ing cool  weather  every  year  since  1860, 
changing  its  officers  semi  annually.  The 
"  Nineteenth  Century  Club  "  was  organized 
in  the  fall  of  1882,  and  holds  meetings  every 
Sunday  afternoon  for  conversation  on  relig- 
ious topics  and  the  free  interchange  of  opin- 
ion. Oliver  Alden  is  President.  The  "Anna 
Driving  Club "  was  organized  in  188],  and 
holds  annual  races  on  the  4th  of  July.  Its 
officers  are  E.  H.  Finch,  President;  J.  E. 
Lentz,  Treasurer;  M.  V.  Eaves,  Secretary; 
G.  W.  Norris,  Master  of  Arena.  This  club 
is  auxiliary  to  the  Southern  Illinois  Fair  As- 
sociation. 

On  the  completion  of  the  brick  schoolhouse 
in  1869,  classes  in  music  were  formed  and 
instruction  in  reading  by  note  and  solfeggio 
practice  given.  A  glee  club  was  organized, 
concerts  were  given  by  the  pupils,  and  an 


organ  purchased  with  the  proceeds  and 
placed  in  the  high  school  room.  A  taste 
for  music  rapidly  developed.  Musical  in- 
struments multiplied  in  all  parts  of  the  city. 
The  church  choirs  were  well  filled  with  young 
singers  having  musical  voices.  From  that 
time  on,  the  young  people  gave  much  atten- 
tion to  music.  Under  the  leadership  of  J. 
E.  Terpinitz,  a  fine  brass  band  was  formed, 
which  for  years  furnished  music  at  all  cele- 
brations and  on  public  occasions.  .Mr.  Ter- 
pinitz was  devoted  to  music,  and  infused 
into  others  his  enthusiasm  for  the  art. 

From  the  year  1870  to  tbe  present  time, 
the  young  people  of  Anna  have  been  noted, 
at  home  and  abroad,  as  possessing  a  remark- 
able degree  of  di*amatic  and  musical  talent. 
The  Anna  Dramatic  Society,  formed  in  1870, 
brought  upon  the  stage  many  difficult 
dramas,  which  were  performed  in  a  manner  ex- 
ceedingly creditable  to  the  youth  of  this  city. 
The  di'ama  gradually  gave  place  to  the  con- 
cert, the  cantata,  the  operetta  and  the  opera. 
In  1882,  the  Anna  Choral  Society  was 
started,  with  the  following  charter  members: 
Charles  H.  Ward,  Daniel  \V.  Perrine,  Charles 
L.  Otrich,  Winifred  Sanborn,  and  Winsted 
D.  Walton.  The  society  has  produced 
the  operas  Patience  and  lolanthe,  besides 
concerts,  etc.,  in  a  highly  artistic  and  credit- 
able manner.  The  first  reed  instrument 
used  in  town  was  the  melodeon,  belonging  to 
Lewis  W.  Ashley,  in  1855.  The  first  piano 
was  used  by  Mrs.  Daniel  Davie,  in  1859.  In 
1860,  C.  M.  Willard  brought  the  second 
piano  to  town.  On  January  1,  1870,  there 
were  four  pianos  and  three  organs  in  the 
city. 

The  latest  musical  organization  is  the 
Union  County  Philharmonic  Society,  formed 
in  Anna  in  Api'il,  1883.  This  society  com- 
prises the  best  musical  talent  in  the  county, 
and   was   organized   for   self-calture  rather 


380 


HISTORY   OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


than  money  profit.  Its  present  officers  are 
F.  P.  Grear,  President;  Will  C.  ITssery,  Sec- 
retary; George  Spire,  Treasurer,  and  J.  E. 
Terpinitz,  Musical  Conductor.  The  enthusi- 
asm for  music  among  the  people  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  in  1880  there  were 
five  brass  bands  in  the  county,  namely:  One 
in  Jonesboro,  Anna,  Cobden,  Dongola,  and 
at  the  hospital  for  the  insane. 

Public  Schools. — The  city  of  Anna  has 
ever  been  justly  proud  of  her  public  schools. 
The  first  schoolhouse,  built  in  1854,  on  the 
corner  of  Franklin  and  Monroe  streets,  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  The  city  then  built  the 
frame  schoolhouse  on  Lot  28,  donated  by  W. 
Davie,  and  adjoining  the  fair  grouads,  about 
1860.  In  this  building,  the  youth  of  the  city 
were  educated,  from  1860  to  1870,  under 
Mr.  Young,  Mr.  Congor,  William  Cochran, 
E.  Babcock,  J.  M.  Brisbin,  John  Green,  C. 
L.  Brooks,  H.  Andrews,  A.  Inman,  W.  H. 
Hubbell  and  J.  H.  Sanborn.  In  1869,  the 
city  felt  the  need  of  a  new  building  and 
larger  accommodations.  The  district  direct- 
ors, Messrs.  C.  M.  Willard,  Cyrus  Shick  and 
L,  P.  Wilcox,  issued  bonds  as  needed,  and 
erected  under  contract  the  present  large  and 
elegant  three-story  brick  edifice  on  Lot  23,  in 
the  northwestern  part  of  the  town,  at  a  total 
cost,  including  furnitm-e,  of  about  $22,500. 
The  bonds,  which  originally  bore  ten  per 
cent  interest,  have  been  reduced  in  amount 
to  $10,000,  bearing  six  per  cent  interest. 

On  W^ednesday,  January  5,  1870,  the  chil- 
dren were  moved  from  the  small  frame  build- 
ing before  mentioned,  where  the  total  enroll- 
ment was  126  pupils,  to  the  new  house, 
where  the  number  was  increased  to  237 
pupils,  with  J.  H.  Sanborn  as  Principal  in 
chai'ge.  The  school  was  thoroughly  graded, 
and  remained  in  a  highly  prosperous  con- 
dition for  three  years  under  the  charge  of  the 
same   Principal.      Since  then,  the  following 


gentlemen  have  acted  as  Principals,  assum- 
ing control  in  the  fall  of  the  year  named  in 
connection  with  each  name:  In  1872,  W. 
H.  Hubbell;  in  1873,  W.  C.  Smith;  in  1875, 
A.  B.  Strowger;  in  1876,  F.  S.  Wood,  who 
resigned  in  January,  1877,  the  i-emainder  of 
the  term  being  completed  with  H.  C.  Forbes 
as  Principal;  in  1877,  James  England;  in 
1879,  J.  H.  Sanborn.  On  January  5,  1880, 
just  ten  years  from  the  opening  of  the  new 
building,  andwiih  the  same  Principal  again 
in  charge  of  the  school,  the  total  enrollment 
had  increased  to  353  pupils,  requiring  six 
teachers.  In  the  fall  of  1880,  S.  P.  Myers 
took  charge  of  the  school,  which  position  he 
resigned  after  about  two  months,  and  was 
succeeded  by  W.  C.  Rich,  Jr.  In  1881,  J. 
R.  Deans  was  Principal,  and  was  succeeded 
in  1883  by  James  England. 

At  the  present  time,  there  is  ui'gent  need  of 
additicjnal  school  facilities,  the  lower  grades 
being  exceedingly  cramped  for  room.  This 
pressure  is  about  to  be  relieved  by  the  open- 
ing of  an  academical  school  in  the  frame 
schoolhouse,  under  the  charge  of  W.  W. 
Faris  and  C.  W.  Sififerd.  Quite  a  number 
of  the  Catholic  children  receive  instriiction 
from  the  priest,  and  some  of  the  older  youth 
attend  schools  elsewhere.  The  census  ot 
1880  showed  this  school  district  to  number 
341  males  and  381  females  under  twenty- 
one  years  of  age;  total,  722,  of  whom  there 
were  218  males  and  249  females  between  the 
ages  of  six  and  twenty-one,  or  467  schoolable 
children. 

Churches. — The  people  of  Union  County 
have  always  been  largely  influenced  by  re- 
ligious sentiment,  and  the  church  has  been 
an  object  of  solicitude  and  care  from  the 
earliest  settlement  to  the  present  time.  The 
earlier  settlers  were  from  North  Carolina 
mostly,  and  were  mostly  Lutherans.  In  the 
year  1817,  a  company  of  immigrants  composed 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOiS^  COUXTY 


381 


of  John  Yost,  John  Miller,  Jacob  Rendle- 
man  and  a  few  others  from  Rowan  County, 
N.  C. .  arrived  and  settled  in  Union  County. 
The  county  had  already  been  settled  to  a 
limited  extent,  but  the  great  earthquake  in 
1811  dispersed  the  peoj^le,  some  retux'ning  to 
their  old  homes  and  others  penetrating  fur- 
ther into  the  great  wild  "West.  Thus  these 
pioneer  homes  were  vacant  from  1811  till 
1817,  on  the  arrival  of  the  first  immigrants 
from  North  Carolina.  In  the  following  year, 
others  aiTived,  among  whom  was  Adam  Cruse, 
and  in  ]819  another  party  came,  of  which 
Jacob  Hileman  was  one.  The  fourth  arrival 
was  in  1820,  and  included  John  Fink  and 
others.  These  families  chiefl}"  settled  south 
of  what  is  now  the  town  of  Jonesboro.  but  a 
few  settled  north  of  and  around  that  point. 
These  immigrants  were  brethren  from  the 
North  Carolina  Synod  of  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church.  During  the  first  two 
years  after  their  arrival,  there  was  no  church 
organization,  but  in  1819  a  congregation 
known  as  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church 
of  St.  John  was  organized,  and  in  the  year 
1822  a  log  church  was  built  by  the  Reformed 
and  Lutherans,  neai*  the  line  which  divides 
the  old  cemetery  from  the  new  addition  made 
by  Wiley  Bai-nbert.  During  these  years, 
there  was  no  regular  pastor.  Religious  serv- 
ices were  held  usually  in  the  house  of  John 
Miller,  grandfather  of  Adam  M.  Miller,  who 
now  occupies  the  old  homestead.  Rev.  J.  H. 
C.  Shoenberg,  of  the  North  Carolina  Synod, 
was  the  first  pastor,  though  Rev.  Murrets 
preached  and  taught  school  during  1823-24. 
Mr.  Shoenberg  was  the  first  Lutheran  mis- 
sionary sent  to  the  State  of  Illinois.  His 
health  failing,  he  resigned  in  1829.  Daniel 
Scherer,  of  the  North  Carolina  Synod,  ar- 
rived in  Illinois  in  1831.  He  lived  in  Hills- 
boro  and  visited  this  congregation  and  Cas- 
per Church  once  every  three  months  during 


the  three  years  of  his  ministration.  Rev. 
Pasthour,  his  successor,  remained  only  a 
short  time.  Edward  Armstead  came  in  1837, 
and  remained  as  pastor  seven  or  eight  years. 
The  charge,  composed  of  St.  John  and  Union, 
or  Casper  Churches,  then  remained  vacant 
until  the  arrival  of  John  Krack  of  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  who  served  as  pastor  until  1854. 
Meanwhile,  the  Mount  Pisgah  Church  was 
erected  in  1853,  and  the  parsonasje  in  Jones- 
boro in  1850,  on  the  lot  donated  by  Willis 
Willard. 

October  1,  1854,  Daniel  Jenkins  became 
the  pastor.  Under  the  labors  of  this  able  and 
zealous  man,  the  church  prospered  greatly. 
The  log  house  was  sold,  and  in  1855  a  new 
church  building  was  erected  on  the  same 
ground  by  Jacob  Barnbert,  contractor.  In 
November,  1856,  S.  W.  Harkey,  D.  D.,  and 
other  clergymen,  organized  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Synod  of  the  Southwest,  the  ofiicers 
at  that  time  being  Daniel  Jenkins,  Pastor: 
Jacob  Dillow  and  Jacob  Barnbert,  Elders; 
Jacob  Miller  and  Samuel  Hileman,  Deacons. 
Rev.  D.  Jenkins  died  on  June  21,  1861;  H. 
M.  Brewer,  of  Pennsylvania,  succeeded  him 
as  pastor,  and  remained  until  March,  1863. 
Isaac  Albright  was  his  successor  during  1864 
and  1865,  Rev.  I.  Short,  meantime,  serving 
the  Mount  Pisgah  congregation. 

In  1865,  D.  Sprecher,  of  Iowa,  was  called 
to  serve  Union,  St.  John's,  Mount  Pisgah, 
Jonesboi'o,  Meisenheimer  Schoolhouse,  and 
one  or  two  other  places.  In  1 866,  the  charge 
was  divided  into  the  Dongola  and  Jonesboro 
pastorates.  In  1866,  Rev.  H.  M.  Brewer  or- 
ganized a  congregation  in  Dongola,  and  soon 
aftei'ward  began  the  erection  of  a  church,  the 
parsonage  being  comjjleted  in  1867.  In 
March,  1868,  J.  R.  Shoffner,  of  Tennessee, 
was  called  to  the  charge,  which  had  by  this 
time  become  entirely  English,  and  on  June 
10,   1869,  an    English   constitution   for  St. 


383 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUNTY. 


John's  Chiu-ch  was  adopted.  Rev.  Shoffner 
remained  three  years  and  two  months,  during 
which  time  lift}  members  were  added  to  the 
charge,  and  the  Anna  Church  was  organized. 
L.  C.  Groseclose,  of  North  Carolina,  became 
pastor  April  1,  1873,  and  resigned  the  charge 
on  July  1,  1874,    from  which  time  to  May, 

1875,  the  charge  was  again  without  a  pas- 
tor. 

April  1,  1885,  at  a  council  meeting  of  the 
charge,  J,  Treese,  A.  N.  Eddleman  and  M. 
N.  Heilig  only  were  present  out  of  sixteen 
members.  These  three  determined  to  c-all  a 
pastor  at  their  own  expense,  if  need  be,  and 
addressed  C.  "W.  Siiferd,  then  a  student  at 
the  Theological  Seminary  in  Philadelphia. 
H(3  accepted  the  call,  arrived  in  Anna  on  May 
7,  and  preached  at  St.  John's  on  Sunday, 
May  9.  After  tive  months'  service,  he  was 
elected  pastor  by  the  three  congregations  of 
Anna,  "Union  and  St.  John's  without  a  dis- 
senting vote.  On  January  30,  1876,  the 
council  bought  the  Lots  29  and  30,  in  W. 
Davie's  Third  Addition  to  the  town  of  Anna, 
and  the  house  thereon,  at  a  cost  of  8600,  for 
the  use    of  the  pastor,  and  on  February  1, 

1876,  the  pastor  and  family  took  possession. 
In  January,  1878,  the  Anna  congregation 
purchased  Lot  33,  and  on  May  1  the  corner- 
stone of  the  new  church  was  laid,  an  appro- 
priate addi'ess  being  made  by  Rev.  A.  L. 
Yount.  On  August  11,  the  building  was 
dedicated,  free  of  debt,  and  soon  afterward 
the  organ  and  bell  were  purchased. 

About  the  year  1850,  some  German  Luther- 
ans from  Austria  settled  two  miles  south  of 
Jonesboro,  on  Dutch  Creek.  In  1854,  they 
began  the  erection  oE  the  St.  Paul's  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church.  Among  the  prom- 
inent men  connected  with  the  church  were 
Joseph  Myer,  Sr. ,  and  Joseph  Kollenner. 
The  Lutheran  Church  in  the  county,  German 
and  Entrlish,  numbers  about  600   commvini- 


cants,  and  for  convenience  has  been  written  to- 
gether in  this  chapter.  The  German  con- 
gregation belongs  to  the  Iowa  Synod;  the 
English  congregations  belong  to  the  Synod 
of  Southern  Illinois. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  early 
represented  in  the  city  by  zealous  workers, 
four  of  whom,  viz..  L.  W.  Ashley,  John  Hal- 
pin,  Michael  Brady  and  Jeremiah  O'Connor 
were  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  about 
the  erection  of  the  present  church  edifice, 
which  was  built  in  1855.  Service  was  held 
at  irregular  times  imtil  the  arrival  of  Rev. 
Father  Theodore  Elshoff  in  1860.  Then  in 
succession  came  Fathers  L.  E.  Lambert, 
Edward  Fokel,  Henry  Helhake.  John  Herlitz 
and  Peter  Sylvester,  the  latter  of  whom  is 
the  present  officiating  priest.  In  1866,  a 
comfortable  dwelling,  since  enlarged,  was 
erected  adjoining  the  church.  The  total 
value  of  the  buildings  is  in  the  neighborhood 
of  $2,d00.  a  Sunday  school  is  regularly 
held  with  an  attendance  of  about  fifty,  old 
and  young.  A  day  school  is  also  maintained 
during  the  most  of  the  year. 

On  January  15,  18~)9,  Elder  J.  H.  Settie- 
moir  formed  the  Anna  Presbytery  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church,  with  twenty- seven  members,  of 
whom  only  oae  member,  J.  M.  Hunsaker,now 
remains  connected  with  the  church  then 
formed.  H.  H.  Richardson  was  the  first  pas- 
tor. F.  W.  Carothers  became  pastor  in 
1865;  S.  L  Wisner  in  1866;  H.  H.  Richard- 
son again  in  1868;  J.  M.  Hunsaker  in  1872: 
J.  A.  Rodman  in  1874;  J.  M.  Bennett  in 
1878;  and  D.  R.  Sanders  in  1879.  Dr. 
Sanders  is  still  the  pastor  in  charge.  The 
membership  now  numbers  120.  Until  1865, 
services  were  held  in  the  public  schoolhouse. 
In  1865,  the  present  frame  chiu'ch  was 
rected,  but  was  found  to  be  too  small,  and  in 
1876  was  considerably  enlarged.  Services 
are  now  held  every  two  weeks  in  Anna.    The 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


383 


Sunday  school  has,  at  times,  been  quite  large 
and  prosperous. 

There  was  a  Reformed  congregation  organ- 
ized in  Anna  in  the  year  1859,  by  Rev.  John 
McConnell.  Among  the  original  members 
were  Henry  Miller  and  Jacob  Hileman.  Fi'om 
1859  to  1863,  Rev.  P.  H.  Kroh  was  pastor 
in  charge.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Thorn- 
ton Butler.  Thia  newly  organized  congrega- 
tion not  having  a  suitable  house  of  worship, 
could  not  have  regular  services,  and  there- 
fore, instead  of  increasing  in  numbers,  suf- 
fered a  falling  off  in  membership  until  the 
year  1872,  when  J.  A.  Smith  became  pastor, 
and  the  congregation  was  re-organized.  In 
the  following  year,  the  brick  building,  since 
occupied  as  a  place  for  worship,  was  erected. 
After  four  years'  labur,  Mr  Smith  resigned 
his  charge,  and  during  the  following  year 
the  church  had  no  settled  pastor.  S.  P. 
Myers  then  became  pastor,  and  for  five  and  a 
half  years  served  very  acceptably. 

After  Mr.  Myers'  resignation,  the  congre- 
gation was  again  for  awhile  without  a  pas- 
tor. In  June,  1881,  J.  H.  Lippard  was  called 
to  the  pastorate  of  this  church,  and  has  since 
remained  in  charge.  The  membership  was 
never  large,  and  has  at  no  time  increased  very 
rapidly,  numbering  about  forty  at  this  date, 
June,  1883.  The  church  edifice  is  an  orna- 
ment to  the  city,  and  is  well  located  on  one 
of  the  most  eligible  sites  obtainable.  The 
total  cost  aggregated  about  $3,500. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Anna 
was  organized  in  the  fall  of  1856,  by  Rev. 
Willoughby,  and  held  services  in  the  public 
schoolhouse  till  1857,  when  the  present  frame 
church  was  built.  Daniel  Spence  and  wife, 
Mr.  Hannah  and  family,  Nancy  and  Ellen 
Manees  and  Martha  A.  Wood  were  among 
the  first  members.  G.  W.  Jenks,  L.  C.  Eng- 
lish, J.  W.  Phillips,  M.  N.  Powers,  M 
House,  F.  L.  Thompson,  D.  B.  Van  Winkle. 


J.  C.  Green,  A.  Campbell,  N.  H.   Nichols,  C. 
J.  Houts,  J.  W.  Van  Cleve,  E.  Lathrop,  M. 
House    and    G.  W.    Waggoner   have,  in  the 
foregoing  order,  served  as  pastors  of  the  con- 
gregation in  this    charge,  G.   AV.  Waggoner 
being  now  near  the  close  of  the  third  year  in 
his  pastorship.      In  the  early  existence  of  the 
church    in    this   city,  it  formed  a  part  of  a 
large  four  weeks'  circuit,  and  the  records  of 
that  time  have  come  down  very  imperfect,  so 
that  a  full  history  is  impossible.    The  church 
building  has  been  enlarged  to  accommodate 
the  increasing  membership,  which  now  num- 
bers  ]  10.       A  floui'ishing   Sunday  school  is 
connected  with  this  church. 

The  first  Presbyterian  Church  of  Anna  was 
organized  by  A.  T.  Norton,  D.  D.,  of  Alton, 
on  April  29,  1866.  with  seventeen  members, 
viz. :  Mrs.  Ellen  D.  Willard,  Dr.  F.  S.  Dodds 
and  wife,  S.  B.  Mai-ks  and  wife.  Dr.  J.  G.  Un- 
derwood and  wife,  Mrs.  Jennie  S.  Shick,  Mrs. 
R.  J.  Phillips,  Mrs.  M.  Reardon,  C.  W.  Col- 
lins, Virgil  Beale,  Mrs.  Kate  Beale,  Mrs.  H 
L.   Foster,    Mrs.  Mary     Slater,   Mrs.    S.    A. 
Finch,  Mrs,  M.  J.  Short  and  Mrs.  A.  David- 
son.     The    organization    took    place  ia    the 
Methodist  Church   in    Anna,  with  Elders  V. 
Beale  and  C.   W.    Collins.,     Since  then   the 
following  persons  have    been  chosen  Elders: 
John    D.  Newbegin,   James  I.    Hale.   L.   E. 
Stocking,  J.  Ryder,  H.  P,  Tuthill  and  E.  R. 
Jinnette.      David    Dimond,  D.   D.,  was  pas- 
tor from    1867   to  1870;  E.    L,    Davies   was 
pastor  fi-om  January  7,  1872,  to  June,  1874, 
W,  B.  Minton  from  Januarv,  1875,  to  Novem- 
ber, 1877;  E.  L.  Davies  again  from  Decem- 
ber, 1877,  to  May,    1879;  J.  W,  Knott  fi-om 
January,  1880,  to   July,    1882;  J.    31.  Paris 
from    October,  1882,  to   May,   1883,  and  W, 
W,    Paris   from  May,  1883,    to  the   present 
time.      The  church  now  nu/ubers  sixty  mem- 
bers.    The  congregation  at  first  held  services 
in  the  Methodist   Chui'ch,    then    in    a    store 


384 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


room  fitted  up  as  a  chapel,  and  lastly  in  the 
present  edifice,  on  Lot  11  of  W.  Davie's  Sec- 
ond Addition  to  the  town  of  Anna.  This 
edifice  was  dedicated  June  28,  1868,  and  cost 
$3,560.  It  is  a  substantial,  convenient  house, 
40x60  feet,  and  occupies  an  excellent  site. 
A  very  neat  and  comfortable  parsonage  be- 
longing to  the  church  is  situated  on  the  block 
adjoining. 

On  the  3d  day  of  March,  1867,  a  Sunday 
school  was  organized  by  the  pastor,  David 
Dimond,  in  the  Presbyterian  chapel  on  Main 
street,  with  twenty-five  scholars,  among 
whom  were  Hanson,  Samuel  and  James  Marks, 
Frank  and  Ford  Dodds,  Calvin  and  Frank 
Miller,  Annie,  Josie  and  Jessie  Phillis.  Mel- 
lie  Dodds,  Helen  and  Avis  Underwood.  The 
teachers  were  the  pastor,  D.  Dimond,  Col. 
Marks,  J .  D.  Newbegin  and  Mrs.  Underwood. 
There  have  been  five  Superintendents  since 
then,  E.  R.  Jinnette  holding  the  ofiice  at 
present.  There  have  been  enrolled  847  schol- 
ars, 57  of  whom  are  known  to  have  become 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  and  other 
churches.  Fifty  eight  persons  have  labored 
as  teachers.  The  whole  number  of  officers, 
teachers  and  scholars  now  enrolled  numbers 
143,  with  an  average  attendance  of  70.  The 
library  has  contained  1,146  volumes,  of 
which  at  present  over  320  volumes  remain  in 
use.  For  many  years,  Cyrus  Shickwas  chor- 
ister in  this  church,  and  the  excellence  of  the 
singing  did  much  toward  maintaining  the 
interest  in  the  church  service,  and  sustaining 
the  membership  in  church  and  Sunday 
school. 

Episcopal  services  were  held  in  the  Re- 
formed Church  during  1880,  and  in  the 
Lutheran  Church  during  1882.  In  the  spring 
of  1883,  arrangements  were  made  with  Rev. 
J.  B.  Harrison,  of  Carbondale,  to  hold  regu- 
lar services  semi-monthly  in  the  Temperance 
Hall,  so  called,  on  Main  street.      The  inter- 


est in  this  form  of  worship  is  increasing,  and 
there  is  now  a  likelihood  of  a  permanent 
organization. 

Universalists  are  numerous  in  this  city,  and 
occasional  services  have  been  held  by  them  in 
past  years,  but  no  society  or  church  of  this 
denomination  has  yet  been  organized. 

In  1869,  the  Campbellites  or  Christians 
were  quite  numerous,  and  held  regular  serv- 
ices. During  the  past  tttn  years,  these  serv- 
ices have  been  discontinued,  no  permanent 
organization  having  been  effected. 

Manufacturers. — Anna  is  not,  strictly 
speaking,  a  manufacturing  city,  not  possess- 
ing any  special  great  advantages  for  this  pur- 
pose Milling  was  the  earliest  manufactur- 
ing done  on  any  considerable  scale.  As  late 
as  the  year  1860,  horse  mills  were  in  use  by 
some  distant  neighborhoods,  and  hand  mills 
were  not  entirely  discarded.  In  1856,  the 
Flora  Temple  brick  mills  were  built  and  put 
in  operation  by  Daniel  Davie  and  Daniel 
Goodman.  They  were  then  the  largest  and 
most  extensive  mills  in  this  part  of  the  State, 
and  were  located  a  little  south  of  the  depot 
in  Anna.  D  Goodman  sold  out  his  interest 
to  W.  Davie,  who,  with  D.  Davie,  put  the 
mill  in  fine  order  and  made  their  flour  cele- 
brated for  its  excellence.  W.  Davie  then  be- 
came sole  proprietor,  and  transferz-ed  his  title 
to  D.  W.  Brown.  Th(i  mill  now  had  six  run 
of  stone,  was  four  stories  high,  with  elevators 
and  the  best  machinery  of  the  times,  and  a 
capacity  for  tiu'ning  out  100  barrels  of  flour 
per  day,  besides  grinding  200  bushels  of 
corn.  In  1869,  while  owned  by  D.  W.  Brown, 
the  mill  was  consumed  by  fire,  but  was  re- 
built in  1871  by  Daniel  Davie  and  Caleb 
Miller.  Mr.  Miller  then  became  sole  owner, 
and  transferred  his  title  to  A.  J.  Davis  and 
W.  S.  MeisenJaeimer.  On  the  death  of  Mr. 
Davis,  Mr.  Meisenheimer  continued  operating 
and  improving  the  mill  until  April   1,  1883, 


""!?»;,  ss;. 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


38- 


■when,  after  a  thorough  refitting  with  the 
most  modern  machinery,  it  was  again  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  the  loss  amounting  to  about 
$17,000  with  $9,000  insured. 

In  the  spring  of  1867,  Joseph  Treese  built 
the  frame  mills  on  the  west  side  of  the  rail- 
road, on  Lot  122.  The  mill  was  afterward 
sold  to  E.  H.  Finch,  and  subsequently  re- 
turned to  the  ownership  of  the  original  pro- 
prietor, who  made  extensive  improvements. 
On  Jaijuary  1,  1883,  the  mill  was  purchased 
by  D.  il.  Lewis  and  Henry  Lence,  and  under 
the  name  of  the  People's  Mill  is  doing  a 
prosperous  business.  It  employs  five  men, 
and  with  four  runs  of  stone  makes  thirty-five 
barrels  of  superior  flour  daily. 

In  1874,  Jesse  Lentz  and  James  De  Witt 
built  their  extensive  wagon,  plow  and  repair 
shop  on  Lot  123,  which  is  now  doing  a 
thriving  business,  employing  eight  men.  Thp 
firm  name  is  now  De  Witt  &  Stokes,  W.  W. 
Stokes  having  succeeded  Mr.  Lentz  in  the 
business.  The  firm  manufacture  very  supe 
rior  styles  of  spring  wagons  especially 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  fruit-growers. 
From  1865  to  1870,  H.  J.  Brockman  was  also 
a  large  Avagon- builder,  his  shops  being  con- 
verted into  an  opera  house  at  a  later  date. 
Dr.  Hugh  McVean  was  the  first  •citizen  of. 
Anna  to  indulge  in  the  luxuiy  of  a  buggy, 
which  he  did  in  1859.  The  first  family  car- 
riage in  the  county  is  said  to  have  been 
owned  by  Willis  Willard,  of  Jonesboro. 

From  1862  to  1870,  the  manufacture  of 
tobacco  was  can'ied  on  by  A.  W.  Robinson 
and  J.  T.  Bohannon.  In  1879,  J.  W.  Dan- 
dridge  started  a  saddle  and  harness  factory 
here,  which  has  steadily  grown  in  importance, 
the  sales  of  1882  showing  ninety  sets  of  har- 
ness and  seventy-two  saddles  as  the  business 
of  that  year.  A  large  stock  is  carried,  and 
a  specialty  made  of  the  manufacture  of  fine 
harness.     From  1860  to   1880,   D.  Cover  & 


Son  manufactured  large  quantities  of  lumber 
at  their  saw  mill  near  the  present  Southern 
Illinois  Fair  Ground.  Poplar,  oak  and  wal- 
nut logs  furnished  the  supply.  B.  F.  Man- 
gold is  now  the  proprietor. 

The  fruit  and  vegetable  shipments  require 
a  vast  amount  of  cooperage  to  be  done.  R. 
B.  Stinson  &  Co.  for  several  years  carried  on 
an  extensive  barrel  factory  near  the'  railroad, 
employing  thirty  or  more  men  and  manufact- 
uring 50,000  bari'els  annually,  in  the  busy 
season  turning  out  about  500  barrels  in  a 
day.  This  establishment  burned  down,  and 
when  rebuilt  was  controlled  by  Finch  & 
Shick,  lime  manufacturers,  and  has  been  run 
since  in  connection  with  their  business. 

Thp  firm  of  E.  H.  Finch,  C.  Shick  and  T. 
M.  Shick,  known  as  Finch  &  Shick,  is  lax-gely 
engaged  in  the  manufactm'e  of  lime  for  com- 
mercial purposes.  In  the  busiest  part  of  the 
year  it  employs  about  forty  men  at  Anna  and 
makes  300  barrels  of  lime  per  day.  About 
1,500  cords  of  wood  are  annually  consumed 
in  the  business,  and  about  25,000  barrels  are 
required  for  shipping  their  barreled  lime.  In 
1873,  the  immense  amount  of  121,756  bushels 
of  lime  were  manufactured,  of  which  71,150 
bushels  were  shipped  in  barrels,  requiring 
28,460  barrels;  the  remaining  50,600  bushels 
were  shipped  in  bulk.  About  1,800  cords  of 
wood  were  used  that  year  in  making  the 
above  quantity  of  lime,  and  $88,893.50  were 
paid  out  for  labor.  The  Messrs.  Finch  & 
Shick  have  been  long  in  the  business  and 
their  trade  extends  throughout  this  section  of 
the  State.  The  manufacture  of  brick  has 
been  an  important  business,  in  some  years 
amounting  in  number  to  over  a  million  not 
counting  those  made  at  the  asylum.  'In  1879, 
Hunsaker  &  Richardson,  and  Edwai-ds  & 
Carmack  had  700,000  in  the  kiln  at  one  time, 
and  J.  E.  Lufkin  200,000  in  another  kiln. 
The  public  schoolhouse,  the  insane  asylum 

22 


388 


HISTORY   OF   UNI0:N   COUNTY. 


and  some  other  buildings  were  built  oE  bricks 
manufactured  on  the  site  of  the  buildings. 
In  1859,  the  Kirkpatrick  Bros.  (  C.  &  W.) 
commenced  the  manufacture  of  all  kinds  of 
stone-\vare,  tiles,  vases  and  pottery,  bringing 
their  clay  by  railroad  from  Cairo,  to  which  point 
it  came  by  the  Ohio  Kiver  from  Grand  Chain. 
In  1860,  some  inexhaustible  beds  of  the  finest 
kinds  of  clay  were  found  in  this  vicinity  and 
pm-chased  by  them.  In  1868,  a  bed  of  very 
superior  white  clay  was  discovered,  more  than 
twenty  feet  in  thickness,  which  has  been 
quarried  and  shipped  in  car  lots  to  Cincin- 
nati, St.  Louis  and  Chicago.  The  pottery 
now  manufactures  about  2,500  or  3,000  gal- 
lons of  ware  per  week.  Unique  and  fanciful 
specimens  of  handiwork,  such  as  castles, 
parks,  statuettes,  animals,  groups  and  orna- 
mented ware  are  largely  manufactured.  Pipe 
bowls,  by  the  million,  are  made  for  the  South- 
ern trade,  one  firm  in  St.  Louis  having  taken 
2,000,000  yearly  for  the  last  three  years. 
The  Messrs.  Kirkpatrick  also  own  beds  of  ex- 
cellent fii-e-clay,  from  which  they  manufact- 
ure fire-brick  of  the  best  quality.  Drain 
tile  is  also  made  in  large  quantity. 

M.  M.  Henderson  &  Son,  in  1866,  had  a 
cotton-gin  in  operation,  which  in  1868  was 
laid  aside,  and  a  planing  aad  dressing  ma- 
chine started,  which  was  kept  busy  till  1877, 
when  the  firm  began  the  manufacture  of  fruit 
box  material  and  boxes.  In  1880,  the  ma- 
chinery was  increased  by  the  addition  of  a 
saw  mill,  which  saws  7,000  feet  of  lumber  per 
day.  The  planing  machine  will  dress  12,000 
feet  daily,  or  di'ess  and  match  8,000  feet  of 
lumber  per  day.  A  large  dry-house,  capable 
of  drying  8,000  feet  at  a  time,  the  process 
requiring  about  a  wf^ek,  has  been  a:dded  to 
the  establishment.  In  1881,  the  firm  changed 
their  engine  for  the  present  thirty- horse-power 
engine,  which  is  abundantly  capable  of  doing 
all  their  work.     For  the  past  ten  years  a  wool 


carding  machine  has  been  a  part  of  the  equip- 
ment of  the  establishment.  This  will  be  re- 
moved this  year,  as  there  is  but  little  employ- 
ment for  it. 

In  1865  to  1875,  F.  A.  Childs  &  Bro.  had 
a  drain  tile  factoiy  in  operation,  with  a  large 
kiln  and  di-ying  sheds.  The  local  demand 
was  insufiicient  to  continue  the  business,  and 
itwas  consequently  abandoned.  Good  build- 
ing stone  is  found  in  the  vicinity,  but  has 
not  been  quarried  except  in  answer  to  local 
demand.  The  progress  of  any  town  is  much 
accelerated  by  increasing  its  means  of  com- 
munication with  the  rest  of  the  world.  In 
1880,  Anna  was  united  with  Jonesboro  and 
the  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Railroad  by  means  of 
a  dime  hack  line,  started  by  Joseph  Treese. 
This  cheap  hack  line  virtually  gave  Anna  the 
benefit  of  another  raih'oad  noi-th  and  south, 
and  formed  an  additional  bond  of  Union  be- 
tween the  new  town  and  the  older  county  seat. 
In  1883,  there  were  three  lines  of  hacks  run- 
ning, and  all  doing  a  good  business,  carrying 
passengers  between  the  two  depots  every  hour, 
and  to  the  asylum  as  required. 

One  of  the  most  important  industries  in 
any  community  is  the  provisioning  the  inhab- 
itants. The  meat  supplies  of  Anna  are 
■  drawn  from  the  surrounding  country,  and  are 
of  no  inconsiderable  magnitude.  During  the 
year  ending  July,  1882,  the  last  year  of 
which  it  is  possible  to  gather  statistics,  M. 
Y.  Ussery  supplied  the  asylum  with  meats, 
and  also,  as  usual,  kept  up  an  extensive 
market  and  provision  store,  manufacturing 
sausage  and  ciu'ing  pork  in  large  quantities. 
Within  that  year,  he  slaughtered  for  his  own 
use  and  that  of  the  asylum,  542  beeves,  156 
sheep  and  90  hogs,  and  purchased  150  hogs 
dressed.  To  the  above  live  stock,  while  on 
hand,  he  fed  3,500  bushels  of  corn  and  80,- 
000  pounds  of  hay.  From  them,  he  obtained 
32,000  pounds  of  bides,  and   manufactured 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


sm 


and  sold  14,500  pounds  of  sausage.  For 
the  cattle,  be  paid  an  average  price  of  $39 
per  head,  and  for  the  sheep  an  average  of 
$2.35  per  head.  The  cost  of  the  hay  was 
$14  per  ton.  and  of  the  corn  60  cents  per 
bushel  (owing  to  the  drought  of  1S81).  The 
average  cost  of  dressed  pork  during  that 
year  was  8  cents  per  pound;  of  live  cattle,  3 
to  4  cents  per  pound,  and  of  green  beef 
hides  6  cents,  on  yearly  contract.  These 
prices  may  prove  more  interesting  in  future 
years,  when  our  supplies  are  procured  from 
the  far  "Western  plains. 

Southern  Hospital  for  the  Insane. — It 
having  been  determined  by  the  State  Legis- 
lature of  1809  to  build  a  hospital  for  the  in^ 
sane  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  a 
Board  of  Commissioners  consisting  of  Lieut. 
Gov.  John  Dougherty,  of  -Jonesboro,  Union 
County;  Col.  Benjamin  L.  Wiley,  of  Jackson 
County;  Dr.  G.  L.  Owens,  of  Marion,  "Will- 
iamson County;  Col.  H.  "W.  Hall,  of  Mc- 
Leansboro,  Hamilton  County,  and  D.  II. 
Kingsbm-y,  of  Centralia,  Marion  County, 
were  appointed  to  receive  propositions  from 
towns  desiring  the  institution,  select  a  loca- 
tion for  its  erection,  and  construct  the  build- 
ing. The  Commissioners  finally  decided 
upon  the  present  site  of  the  building  as  the 
most  suitable,  and  altogether  the  best  lo- 
cation that  had  been  offered  for  their  inspec- 
tion. The  Legislature  had  appropriated  the 
sum  of  $125,000  toward  the  purchase  of  the 
necessary  land,  and  the  erection  of  the  build- 
ing, and  the  city  of  Anna  had  voted  the  ex- 
penditure of  $6,885  toward  securing  the 
land  selected  by  the  Commissioners  for  the 
site  of  the  building.  The  plans  and  specifi- 
cations necessary  were  adopted,  and  in  1870 
wort  began  upon  the  north  wing,  R.  Shin- 
nick  being  the  contractor.  In  1871,  the 
Legislature  appropriated  $65,000  to  complete 


the  north  wing,  and   $143,000  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  central  building. 

The  first  board  of  trustees,  consisting  of 
Amos  Clark,  of  Centralia,  C.  Kirkpatrick.  of 
Anna,  "W.  N.  Mitchell,  of  Marion.  J.  C. 
Boyle,  of  Sparta,  and  W.  R.  Brown,  of 
Metropolis,  on  August  22,  1873,  elected  Dr. 
R.  S.  Dewey,  of  the  Elgin  Asylum,  Super- 
intendent. At  the  September  meeting  of  the 
trustees.  Dr.  Dewey  having  resigned.  Dr.  A.  T. 
Barnes  was  elected  Superintendent  and  Dr.  F. 
W.  Mercer,  assistant.  On  December  15, 
1873,  the  north  wing  was  formally  opened 
for  patients,  by  proclamation  of  Gov.  John 
L.  Beveridge.  the  halls  being  soon  afterward 
filled  with  about  150  patients.  The  follow- 
ing year  work  was  begun  upon  the  central 
building,  the  Legislature  having  appropri- 
ated $99,000  for  that  portion  of  the  asylum, 
Richai'd  Shinnick  being  the  contractor.  The 
first  Board  of  Commissioners  was  meantime 
succeeded  by  a  new  board  composed  of  R. 
H.  Sturgess,  H.  "V\^alker  and  F.  M.  Malone. 
On  July  1,  1875,  the  board  elected  R.  H. 
Sturgess  Superintendent  of  Construction  of 
the  south  wing,  for  the  erection  of  which 
the  Legislature  had,  April  10,  appropriated 
the  sum  of  $140,000.  On  October  23,  1875, 
the  central  building  was  completed  and 
tiu'ned  over  to  the  trustees.  On  August  18, 
1875,  the  contract  for  the  ex'ection  of  the 
south  wing  was  awarded  to  T.  L.  Kempster, 
to  be  completed  accijrding  to  the  plans  and 
speciticatious  of  E.  Jungenfeld,  the  Architect. 
In  September.  1877,  this  wing  was  completed 
and  occupied.  The  necessary  barns,  stables, 
shops  and  other  outbuildings  were  added  to 
the  institution  as  occasion  required,  from 
special  appropriations. 

In  May,  1876,  a  gale  from  the  southwest 
did  considerable  damage  to  tUe  roof  and 
threw  down  eight  of  the  chimneys,  one  of 
which  crushed  through  the  roof  of  the  center 


390 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


building  and  the  ceiling  of  the  upper  story, 
doing,  together  with  the  rain,  no  little  injury. 
On  the  morning  of  April  19,  1881,  the  attic 
of  the  north  wing  was  discovered  to  be  on 
tire.  The  Mansard  roof  rendered  it  impos 
sible  to  control  the  fire  until  it  reached  the 
center  building.  The  whole  north  wing  and 
eastern  extension  were  consumed  with  the 
loss  of  but  one  life.  The  Legislatm-e  ap- 
pi-opriated  S12,000  for  the  erection  and  fur- 
nishing of  temporary  barracks  for  the  250 
patients  which  the  fire  had  discommoded,  and 
$93,000  for  the  re-building  and  furnishing 
of  the  north  wing.  The  ban-acks  were  quickly 
erected,  and  the  north  wing  was  restored  in 
a  miich  improved  condition  by  the  fall  of 
1882,  and  at  once  re-occupied.  By  an  ap- 
propriation of  $6,000  made  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  1883,  these  barracks  will  be  changed 
into  a  permanent  cottage  and  furni'^hed  for 
the  accommodation  of  additional  patients. 

Th<^  principal  objection  made  against  lo- 
cating the  institution  here,  a  possible  lack  of 
water,  has  been  entirely  sm'mounted,  and  the 
needed  supply,  40,000  gallons  daily,  is 
amply  provided  for.  The  appropriation  of 
$10,000  just  made  for  the  construction  of  a 
settling  basin  and  filter  will  insure  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  supply  and  its  purity.  The 
water  of  the  large  artificial  pond,  holding  12,- 
000. (too  gallons,  will  thus  be  rendered  fit  for 
any  desired  pm-pose.  The  drinking  water  is 
obtained  from  ten  cisterns,  and  by  the  means 
of  a  steam  force  pump,  from  the  big  spring 
one-fourth  mile  fi'om  the  institution.  This 
spring,  of  itself,  can  furnish  all  the  water 
needed  for  all  purposes,  the  supply  being 
only  limited  by  the  capacity  of  the  pump. 

The  grounds  and  farm  belonging  to  the 
hospital  comprise  about  300  acres,  which  will 
be  increased  this  year  by  a  piu'chase  of  160 
acres  additional,  making  the  whole  amount 
460  r.cres.     The  farm  has  been  well  managed 


by  D.  K.    Lewis,  who  has  had  charge  of  it 
thus  far. 

The  total  number  of  patients  received  into 
the  institution  since  its  opening  up  to  Oc- 
tober 1,  1882,  is  1,140,  and  the  number 
meantime  discharged  as  recovered  is  875,  or 
twenty- six  per  cent  of  the  whole.  The  num- 
ber of  inmates  remaining  in  the  hospital  Oc- 
tober 1,  1882,  was  500.  "When  the  barracks 
are  fitted  for  the  reception  of  patients,  they 
will  accommodate  100  more,  increasing  the 
capacity  of  the  institution  to  600  patients, 
and  placing  it  next  to  that  at  Jacksonville  in 
rank  as  to  accommodations. 

Dr.  Dewey,  the  first  Superintendent,  was 
succeeded,  as  previously  noted,  by  Dr.  Barnes, 
who  resigned  his  position  in  1878,  and  was 
succeeded  on  August  6,  of  that  year,  by  Dr. 
Horace  Wardner,  of  Cairo,  the  present  in- 
cumbent. Dr.  "Wardner  has  proved  a  most 
capable  officer,  and  his  administration  of  af- 
fairs has  been  and  is  most  satisfactory  to  all 
parties  concerned.  Dr.  Mercer,  the  first  as- 
sistant, and  a  most  accomplished  physician 
and  gentleman,  resigned  his  position  in 
August,  1879,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  W. 
W.  Hester,  who  still  fills  the  post  most  ac- 
ceptably. Dr.  E.  D.  Converse  was  the  second 
assistant  physician  dm'ing  1877-78,  until 
November  1,  when  he  resigned  his  place 
Dr.  L.  E.  Stocking  was  selected  as  his  suc- 
cessor, and  continues  to  honor  the  position. 

The  first  Clerk.'  Charles  M.  Olmstead. 
served  in  that  capacity  till  the  close  of  1878, 
when  he  resigned.  E.  A.  Finch  was  appoint- 
ed his  successor,  and  continues  to  faithfully 
discharge  the  duties  belonging  to  that  office, 
being  most  ably  assisted  by  Harry  M.  Det- 
rich.  Capt.  James  B.  Fulton  was  the  hos- 
pital engineer  until  he  accidentally  met  his 
death  on  January  21,  1882.  He  was  the  first 
person  appointed  to  duty  in  the  institution, 
and  was  OTeatlv  esteemed   bv  all  who  knew 


HISTORY   OF   UNION  COUNTY. 


o91 


him.  James  Norris,  who  now  so  efficiently 
fills  the  post,  was  an  assistant  with  Capt. 
Fulton  when  engineer.  Mrs.  S.  Douglas, 
Mis.  L.  R.  Wardner  and  Mrs.  Phoebe  Hills 
have  acted  as  Matrons, the  latter  still  holding 
the  position.  T.  A.  Whitten,  H.  F.  AVarren, 
A,  G.  Miller  and  W.  H.  Smart  have  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  Supervisor,  W.  B. 
Mead  now  filling  that  office.  Mrs.  F.  V.  Cole 
served  most  acceptably  as  Supervisor  from 
1875  to  October,  1882,  when  she  resigned  and 
Miss  E.  M.  Holmes  was  appointed  to  the 
position. 

Among  the  great  improvements  proposed 
for  immediate  accomplishment,  besides  the 
changing  of  the  barracks  into  a  permanent 
cottage  for  j^atients,  and  the  construction  of 
a  settling  basin  and  filter,  is  the  erection  of 
an  addition  to  the  north  wing.f  or  the  accomo- 
dation of  the  more  violent  and  noisy  patients. 
The  present  rebuilt  north  wing  is  calculated 
for  265  patients,  males,  and  the  south  wing 
for  235  female  pal.ients.  Both  wings  are 
four  stories  high.  The  proposed  north  addi- 
tion will  be  of  the  same  height  and  with  all 
the  improvements  which  experience  can  sug- 
gest. About  $30,000  will  be  expended  in  its 
erection,  the  plans  and  specifications  for 
which  are  already  approved.  L.  D.  Cleave- 
land,  of  Chicago,  is  the  architect. 

The  following  calendar  of  operations  and 
officers  covers  the  whole  period  of  time  com- 
prised in  the  foregoing  account: 

1870. — Erection  of  north  wing.  Building 
Commissioners,  John  Dougherty,  G.  L.  Owen, 
B.  L.  Wiley,  H.  W.  Hall,  D.  R.  Kingsbury. 
Contractor,  R.  Shinnick. 

1871. — Commissioners,  R.  H.  Stm-gess, 
■John  Wood,  E.  J.  Palmer.  Architects,  Walsh 
&  Jungenfeld,  of  Sb.  Louis. 

1872. — Erection  of  rear  buildings.  Com- 
missioners, R.  H.  Sturgess,  John  Wood,  E. 
J.  Palmer.     Contractor,  N.  L.  Wickwire. 


1873  and  1874. — Commissioners.  R.  H. 
Sturgess,  H.  Walker,  J.  K.  Bishop.  Con- 
tractors for  steam  heating,  Mandsley  & 
Mepham.  Erection  of  center  building.  Con- 
tractor, Richard  Shinnick.  Trvistees,  A. 
Clark,  C.  Kirkpatrick,  W.  N.  Mitchell,  J.  C. 
Boyle,  W.  R.  Brown.  Treasurer,  "W.  N. 
Mitchell.     Architect,  E.  Jungenfeld. 

1875  and  1876. — Erection  of  south  wing. 
Commissioners,  R.  H.  Sturgess,  H.  Walker, 
F.  M.  Malone.  Contractor,  T.  L.  Kempster. 
Trustees,  Amos  Clark,  C.  Kirkpatrick,  J.  C. 
Boyle. 

1877,  1878,  1879  and  1880.— Trustees, 
John  E.  Detrich,  E.  H.  Finch,  W.  P.  Bruner. 
Treasurer,  R.  B.  Stinson.  Superintendent, 
H.  Wardner. 

,_.188l  and  1882.-- Rebuilding  of  north 
wing.  Trustees,  E.  H.  Finch,  J.  A.  Yiall, 
J.  Bottom.      Architect,  L.  D.  Cleaveland. 

1883  and  1884:. — Addition  to  north  wing. 
Trustees,  E.  H.  Finch,  James  Bottom,  John 
C.  Baker. 

The  principal  features  in  the  history  of  the 
rise  and  progress  of  this  city  have  been  thus 
briefly  sketched.  It  remains  to  speak  of  its 
present  condition  and  prospects.  The  peo- 
ple, from  the  first,  have  been  averse  to  load- 
ing themselves  with  any  considerable  debt, 
or  entailing  a  debt  of  magnitude  upon  com- 
ing generations.  As  a  consequence,  the 
city's  outstanding  obligations  are  small  in 
amount,  and  yearly  growing  smaller.  The 
debt  assumed  in  locating  the  State  hospital 
here  was  met  by  issuing  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $6,885,  drawing  10  per  cent  interest. 
This  indebtedness  is  now  reduced  to  $1,- 
300  in  amount,  drawing  7  per  cent.  The 
expense  incui-red  in  erecting  and  fui'- 
nishing  the  schoolhouse  has  been  reduced 
fi'om  over  $20,000,  at  ten  per  cent,  to  $10,  - 
000,  at  6  per  cent  interest.  In  1882,  the 
city  voted  to  appropriate   $3,000  toward  en- 


392 


HISTORY  OF  UN^rOX  COUXTY 


larging  the  cemetery.  Bonds  were  issued 
for  this  amount,  bearing  6  per  cent  interest. 
Thus  the  total  indebtedness  of  the  city  now 
stands  at  only  $14,300,  an  insignificant  sum 
for  a  town  of  its  known  enterprise  and  wealth. 
The  population  of  the  city  has  increased 
from  231  in  1855,  to  over  1,500,  and  is 
steadily  growing.  The  valuation  of  city  lots  is 
advancing  with  the  growth  of  the  city.  The 
valuation  of  personal  property  in  the  city, 
as  returned  by  the  Assessor  on  June  30, 
1883,  is  $112,726.  The  present  city  officers 
are:  Mayor,  C.  Kirkpatrick;  Aldermen  of 
First  Ward,  J.  W.  Williford,  Sr.,  and  D.  W. 


Brown;  Aldermen  of  Second  Ward,  James 
DeWitt  and  R.  B.  Stinson;  Aldermen  of 
Third  Ward,  James  I.  Hale  and  John  He=s; 
Police  Magistrate.  P.  H.  Kroh;  City  Clerk. 
W.  C.  Tssery:  Attorney,  T.  H.  Phillips; 
Treasurer,  H.  P.  Tuthill;  Marshal,  H.  W. 
Henley.  With  a  continuation  of  the  pru- 
dence and  careful  management  which  have 
hfiretofore  marked  the  administration  of  the 
city's  affairs,  there  is  abundant  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  Anna  will,  at  no  very  distant  day. 
be  among  the  most  prominent  cities  of 
Southern  Illinois  in  population,  wealth  and 
enterprise. 


CHAPTER  XV.* 


SOUTH  PASS,  OR  COBDEN    PRECiNCr— IT."^   ToPOGRAPHKWI.  AND   PHYSICAL  FEATURES —EAl,  LV 

SETTLEMENT  OF  WHITE  PEi>PLE— WHERK    THEY  CAME   FROM  AND  A  RECORD  OF  THEIR 

WORK  — GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  PRECINCT  — KICHARD  COBDEN— 

THE    VILLAGE  :    WHAT    IT    WAS.    WHAT    IT    IS,    AND  WHAT    IT    WILL    BE 

—SCHOOLS,  CHURCHES,  ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"Historians,  only  things  of  weight. 
Results  of  persons,  or  affairs  of  State, 
Briefly,  with  truth  and  clearness  should  relate." 

— Heath. 

SOrTH  PASS  or  Cobden  Precinct  lies  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  county,  and  is  mostly 
of  a  broken  and  hilly  surface.  There  is  but  lit- 
tle level  land  in  the  precinct,  and  there  is  some 
too  rough  for  cultivation,  unless  it  be  for 
grapes.  It  is  chiefly  devoted  to  fruit  culture, 
and  when  the  fruit  craze  first  sti-uck  this 
county,  the  land  readily  commanded  $100  per 
acre.  But  as  the  novelty  wore  off  prices  de- 
clined, and  land  may  now  be  bought  reason- 
ably low.  Drewery  Creek  is  the  principal 
water -course.  It  flows  through  the  northwest 
pai't  of  the  precinct  and  passes    out  through 


«  Bv  W.  H.  Perrin. 


Section  4.  Numerous  small  tri butaries  empty 
into  it,  but  amount  to  little  except  as  drain- 
age. Oak,  hickory,  poplar,  dogwood,  a  little 
sugar  tree  and  walnut,  together  with  a  few 
other  common  species,  comprise  "the  timber 
growth.  The  precinct  is  bounded  north  by 
Jackson  County,  east  by  Rich  and  Saratoga 
Precincts,  south  by  Saratoga  and  Anna  and 
west  by  Alto  Pass  Precinct.  Including  the 
village  of  Cobden,  it  had.  by  the  last  census, 
3,070  inhabitants.  The  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road passes  in  an  almost  south  direction 
through  the  west  part  of  the  precinct,  and  has 
been  of  great  advantage  to  the  people,  and 
the  community  generally. 

The  original  name  of  the  precinct  was 
South  Pass,  and  in  1857  a  village  was  laid  out. 
to  which  the  same  name  was  given,  and  which, 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  C0U:N^TY. 


393 


upon  the  completion  of  the  raih'oad,  was 
made  a  station.  As  noted  in  another  chap- 
ter, most  of  the  stock  of  the  road  was  owned 
in  England.  In  the  summer  of  1860,  the 
Hon.  Richard  Cobden,  an  eminent  English 
statesman,  a  member  of  Parliament  and  Di- 
rector of  the  road,  came  over  to  investigate 
the  condition  of  the  entei-prise,  and  on  his 
way  down  the  road  stopped  off  at  South  Pass 
to  enjoy  its  invigorating  air  and  beautiful 
scenery.  Several  days  were  spent  in  hunting 
and  picnicking  in  the  vicinity  before  he  re- 
sumed his  joui-ney.  Eventually,  the  railroad 
company  changed  the  name  of  the  struggling 
village  to  Cobden  in  his  honor.  The  name 
is  now  generally  given  to  the  precinct,  though 
it  still  stands  upon  the  records  as  South  Pass. 
A  sketch  of  Mr.  Cobden  is  not  inappropriate  in 
this  connection,  and  we  subjoin  the  following: 
Richard  Cobden  was  born  in  1804,  and  died 
April  2,  1865.  He  visited  Egypt,  Turkey 
and  Greece  in  1834,  and  the  United  States 
in  1835,  and  afterward  became  a  partner  in  a 
cotton  printing  establishment  near  Manches- 
ter, England.  In  1885,  he  published  two 
pamphlets — "  England,  Ireland  and  America, 
by  a  Manufacturer,"  and  "  Russia."  In  1837, 
Mr.  Cobden  visited  France,  Belgium  and 
Switzerland,  and  in  1838  traveled  through 
Germany. .  He  declared  in  favor  of  free  trade, 
and  in  1839  aided  in  establishing  the  anti- 
corn-law  league.  From  1841  until  his  death, 
with  slight  intervals,  he  was  a  member  of 
Parliament.  TL ere  and  throughout  the  coun - 
try,  he  kept  a  constant  agitation  for  the  re- 
peal of  the  corn  laws,  which  was  finally  effect- 
ed in  1846.  He  opposed  the  war  with  Russia, 
and  in  1857  was  one  of  the  majority  which 
passed  a  vote  of  censure  on  Lord  Palmerston 
for  entering  into  the  war  with  China.  In 
1860,  he  negotiated  a  treaty  of  commerce 
with  France,  for  which  he  was  offered  a  Bar- 
onetcy and  a  seat  in  the  Privy  Council,  both 


of  which  he  declined.  Mr.  Cobden  was  inti- 
mately associated  with  John  Bright  afs  a  lead- 
er of  the  Manchester  school  or  party,  and  be- 
sides the  measui'es  alluded  to,  favored  elector- 
al reform  and  the  vote  by  ballot.  His  polit- 
ical writings  and  speeches  have  been  collected 
in  two  volumes  and  his  views  largely  adopted 
by  many  of  our  own  statesmen.  His  life  has 
been  written  by  J.  McGilchrist  (1865),  and  in 
German  by  Von  Holzendorff  (1866),  and  De 
Roth  (1867).  He  was,  as  we  have  said,  con- 
nected with  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and 
a  Director  in  the  company. 

A  sketch  written  by  Lord  Hobart,  entitled 
the  "Mission  of  Richard  Cobden,"  has  the 
following:  It  is  long  since  there  left  the 
world  any  one  who  deserved  so  well  of  it  as 
Richard  Cobden.  To  say  this  is,  indeed,  in 
one  sense,  to  say  bat  little.  For  the  acts  of 
those  who  have  had  it  within  power  to  in- 
fluence the  destinies  of  mankind,  mankind 
has,  in  general  small  reason,  to  be  grateful. 
In  account  with  humanity,  the  public  charac- 
ters have  been  few  indeed,  who  could  point 
with  satisfaction  to  the  credit  side.  But  of 
Cobden's  career,  there  are  results  which  none 
can  gainsay  Vast,  signal  and  comprehen- 
sive, they  disarm  alike  both  competition  and 
criticism.  The  two  great  triumphs  of  his 
life  were  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  and 
the  Commercial  Treaty  with  France.  Of 
these,  the  first  gave  food  to  starving  mil  lions, 
redressed  a  gigantic  and  intolerable  abuse  of 
political  power,  saved  an  empire  from  revo- 
lutionary convulsion,  and  imparted  new  and 
irresistible  impulse  to  material  progress 
throughout  the  world;  the  second  carried  sti  11 
further  the  work  which  the  first  had  begun, 
insured,  sooner  or  later,  its  full  consumma- 
tion, and  fixed,  amidst  the  waves  of  conflict- 
ing passions  and  jarring  interests,  deep  in  the 
tenacious  gi'ound  of  commercial  sympathy,  a 
rock  for  the  foot  of  peace. 


394 


HISTOKY  OF  UNION   COUNTY. 


Many  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  precinct 
were  from  the  Southern  States,  although  at 
the  present  time  there  are  probably  more 
Eastern  peojile  here  than  in  the  entire  county 
besides.  One  of  the  prominent  pioneers  was 
Andrew  Guthrie,  from  Tennessee.  He  was 
a  man  of  the  old  fossil  type,  a  bitter  enemy 
to  all  species  of  internal  improvement,  and 
fought  the  project  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  He  be- 
lieved it  would  ruiL  the  country,  and  to  that 
end  opposed  the  right  of  way  through  his 
land  like  grim  death.  When  he  came,  he  had 
considerable  money,  a  fact  which,  as  is  often 
the  case,  rendered  him  arrogant  and  over 
bearino-.  He  entered  the  improvements  of 
many  people  over  their  heads,  thus  incurring 
their  displeasure  and  making  scores  of 
enemies.  At  one  time  he  owned  a  great  deal 
of  land,  but  he  sold  off  most  of  it  before  his 
death.  James  R.  Guthrie,  a  son,  still  lives 
on  the  homestead. 

^Thomas  Ferrill  was  also  from  Tennessee, 
and  settled  early  in  the  precinct.  He  was  a 
man  of  consequence  and  took  quite  an  active 
part  in  the  affairs  of  the  county,  and  their 
management.  He  served  several  times  as 
County  Commissioner,  held  other  prominent 
positions,  and  was  well  thought  of  in  the 
community.  He  is  dead,  but  his  name  is 
perpetuated  by  several  sons  still  living  in  the 
countyX 

From  North  Carolina  came  the  following 
settlers  of  this  precinct:  Jacob  and  Philip 
Clutts,  Joseph  Miller  and  several  other  fam- 
ilies. The  Cluttses  are  what  is  termed  North 
Carolina  Dutch,  and  the  old  pioneers — Jacob 
and  Philip — were  good,  honest  citizens.  They 
are  both  dead,  but  numerous  descendants  still 
are  residing  in  the  county.  John  Clutts  is 
a  son  of  Jacob,  and  George  and  Peter  are 
sons  of  old  Philip,  and  are  worthy  citizens. 
Joseph  Miller,   and  his  son  Samuel   Miller, 


came  here  in  1825.  The  elder  Miller  entered 
land  just  north  of  the  present  village  of 
Cobden,  but  left  it  soon  after,  and  returned 
to  North  Carolina.  Samuel  was  a  soldier  of 
the  war  of  1812.  He  went  to  Tennessee  in 
1839,  and  died  in  Stewart  County  in  iS45. 
A  son,  John  B.  Miller,  is  now  Postmaster  of 
Anna,  and  among  the  most  worthy  citizens  of 
that  city. 

The  Vancils  are  still  a  numerous  family, 
of  which  Benjamin,  Jonas  and  young  John 
were  the  leading  representatives.  Jonas 
settled  in  Alto  Pass  Precinct,  and  there  re- 
ceives further  no4ce.  Benjamin  was  long  a 
prominent  citizen, .and  has  died  since  this 
work  has  been  in  com-se  of  preparation.'^  The 
Farmer  and  Fruit  Grower  thus  alludes  to 
him:  "Benjamin  Vancil,  aged  seventy- 
eight  years,  departed  this  life  Monday  morn- 
ing March  11,  1883,  and  was  laid  away  to 
rest  in  the  family  cemetery,  neai-  which  has 
been  his  home  for  thirty  years.  Father  John 
D.  Lamer,  a  life -long  friend  of  the  deceased, 
olficiating.  Uncle  Benny  Vancil  moved  to 
this  county,  from  Grayson  County,  Va. ,  about 
the  year  1822,  being  at  that  time  only  eight- 
een years  old.  He  was  born  near  Dayton, 
Ohio,  January  25,  1804.  The  country  not 
exactly  suiting  them,  they  traveled  ~\\'est, 
through  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  but  finally 
came  back  here,  where  his  father  settled 
upon  and  opened  up  a  farm  in  the  northern 
part  of  Union  County,  in  the  Landrith  settle- 
ment, where  he  lived  until  1853,  when  he 
opened  up  what  has  long  been  known  as  the 
Vancil  homestead.  Mr.  Vancil  was  quite  a 
horticulturist  in  the  early  days  of  Cobden, 
and  formerly  Uncle  Benny's  fine  fruit  was 
always  in  demand,  and  quite  a  display  to  be 
seen  at  the  Union  County  Fair,  as  well  as 
the  State  fairs.  He  had  at  least  $100  worth 
of  silverware,  received  as  prizes  for  exhibits. 
He  shipped  fruit  trees   from  his  nurser}'  all 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUNTY 


895 


over  the  Western  States  a  score  of  years  ago, 
and  it  is  a  fact  worthy  of  meution  that  his 
father  brought  the  Buckingham  apple  here 
from  the  county  of  that  name  in  the  Old 
Dominion,  He  was  also  quite  a  florist,  and 
enjoyed  his  fruits  and  flowei's,  but  has  been 
on  the  decline  for  the  past  ten  years.  He 
was  a  perfectly  upright  man,  and  a  gentle- 
man of  the  old  school,  a  class  that  is  fast 
fading  out.  He  was  honest  to  a  fault,  and 
charitable  to  all.  He  has  raised  a  large  fam- 
ily, and  has  outlived  all  his  sons  except  one. 
Peace  to  his  ashes.  Young  John  Yancil  is 
a  native  of  this  county,  and  was  born  in 
1817,  and,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  is  the 
oldest  native-born  citizen  of  the  county.  He 
is  one  of  the  best  farmers  in  the  precinct, 
both  in  grain  and  fruits,  and  an  enterprising 
citizen. 

Additional  to  the  early  settlers  already 
mentioned,  are  Davis  M.  Biggs,  John 
O'Daniel,  William  C.  Eich,  Henry  Casper, 
John  D.  Fly.  John  J.  Demming,  John 
Lockard,  Larkin  Brooks,  Harmon  F.  Whit- 
taker,  the  Lingles,  John  P.  Holland,  John 
M.  Eich,  Peter  Sifford,  etc.,  etc.  Biggs 
settled  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  precinct. 
O'Daniel  is  still  living,  and  is  a  plain  old 
farmer,  nearly  ninety  years  old.  William 
C.  Rich  was  formerly  Sheriff  of  the  county, 
served  in  the  Legislature  one  term,  and  is 
still  an  honored  citizen  of  the  county.  Cas- 
per. Fly,  Demming  and  Lockard  are  all  living. 
Larkin  Brooks  is  dead,  but  has  several  sons 
still  living.  Whittaker  lives  now  in  Marion 
County.  The  Lingles  came  originally  from 
Ohio,  and  have  a  number  of  descendants, 
in  the  county.  Wilson  Lingle  served  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war.  Of  the  record  of  other 
pioneers  of  this  community,  we  have  failed 
to  learn  particulars.  Doubtless  many  names 
have  been  inadvertently  omitted  that  should 
have  been  mentioned. 


Although  Cobden  Precinct  was  settled 
originally  mostly  from  Tennessee  and  North 
Carolina,  yet,  as  we  have  stated,  there  are 
now  a  geat  many  Eastern  people  in  the  pre- 
cinct and  the  village.  These,  however,  are 
later  importations,  and  have  come  in,  in  a 
great  measure,  since  the  first  settlement  of  the 
country  has  shown  to  the  hunters  of  homes, 
its  fine  climate  and  wonderful  resoui'ces. 
They  escaped  many  of  the  toils,  dangers  and 
hai'dships  of  their  predecessors — the  old 
North  Carolinians  and  Tennesseans — who 
had  to  cope  with  wild  beasts,  savages,  earth- 
quakes, and  many  other  dangers  unknown  to 
us  at  the  present  day. 

Cobden  is  the  great  fruit  center  of  Union 
County,  and  many  fine  fruit  farms  are  lo- 
cated in  this  precinct,  which  are  more  particu- 
larly mentioned  in  the  chapter  on  horticult- 
ure. The  strawberiy  farm  of  Mr.  Earle  is 
the  largest  in  the  county,  and  is  well  worth 
visitino-.  But  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
places  is  that  of  Mr.  James  Bell,  east  of  the 
village.  It  was  first  owned  by  Michael  Dil- 
low,  and  afterward  pui'chased  by  Col.  Allen 
Bainbridge,  who  sold  it  to  Thomas  and  Finns 
Evans.  From  these  Mr.  Bell  pui-chased  it, 
and  has  so  tastefully  improved  it  that  it  is 
now  one  of  the  most  beautiful  homesteads  in 
Southern  Illinois.  He  has  a  large  fruit 
orchard,  mostly  of  cherries,  and  a  green- 
house surpassing  anything  of  the  kind  in 
this  section  of  the  country.  His  handsome 
grounds  and  greenhouse  are  in  charge  of  Mr. 
John  Ehle,  a  son  of  the  "Faderland,"  who 
is  the  very  embodiment  of  civility  and  genuine 
old  fashioned  courtesy,  a  practical  gardener 
and  florist,  and  who  literally  lives  among  his 
flowers  and  trees.  The  view  from  the  top  of 
Mr.  Bell's  mansion  is  fine,  and  overlooks  the 
entire  sui-rounding  country.  The  lofty  peaks 
of  the  Kentucky  and  Missouri  hills  are  plain 
ly  discernible,  and  the  ciirling  smoke  of  pass- 


396 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


ing   steamers  on  ^he   Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers  can  be  distinctly  seen. 

There  are  more  fruit  and  vegetables  shipped 
from  Cobden  than  from  any  other  point 
on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  As  an  il- 
lustration of  this  fact,  we  are  informed  that 
there  were  twenty-two  car-loads  of  tomatoes 
alone  shipped  from  this  place  in  one  day 
during  the  fall  of  1882.  This  was,  perhaps, 
the  largest  shipment  of  tomatoes  ever  made 
in  one  day,  but  it  merely  'shows  the  quanti- 
ties of  fruits  and  vegetables  grown  contiguous 
to  this  station. 

George  E.  Walker,  now  deceased,  did  as 
much,  perhaps,  to  develop  the  fruit  interests 
of  this  region  as  any  one  man.  His  father 
was  ^the  first  permanent  settler  of  Ottawa. 
111.,  and  George  was  the  lirst  Sheriff  of  La 
Salle  County.  After  accumulating  a  large 
fortune  in  the  mercantile  business,  he  retired, 
on  account  of  poor  health,  and  came  to  this 
county.  Here  he  opened  up  a  number  of  the 
best  fruit  farms  in  the  vicinity  of  Cobden, 
and  assisted  others  in  the  same  business. 
After  the  Chicago  fire,  in  which  he  lost 
heavily,  he  went  to  that  city  and  erected  the 
Oriental  building,  on  La  Salle  street,  and 
died  there  soon  after.  His  son,  A.  E.  Walk- 
er, who  lives  in  Chicago,  owns  considerable 
land  in  this  precinct. 

Cobden  Precinct  is  well  supplied  with 
school  facilities,  having  some  four  or  five 
comfortable  school  buildings  outside  of  the 
village.  Good  schools — which,  however,  are 
scarcely  up  to  the  standard  of  the  schools 
in  the  central  and  northern  part  of  the  State 
— are  taught  for  the  usual  terms  each  year 
by  competent  teachers. 

There  are  several  churches  in  the  precinct, 
outside  of  the  village.  The  Christian  Church, 
on  Section  13,  is  a  frame  building,  and  has 
a  good  congregation.  A  cemetery  is  attached, 
in  which  repose  the  mortal  remains  of  many 


of  the  deceased  citizens  of  the  neighborhood. 

The  Christian  Church  on  Section  18,  is 
also  a  frame  building.  It  was  erected  some 
twelve  or  fifteen  years  ago,  but  is  now  almost 
extinct  as  a  society. 

The  Limestone  Baptist  Church  is  on  Sec- 
tion 6;  there  is  quite  an  extensive  cemetery 
adjacent  to  it,  in  which  are  many  stones  and 
marble  slabs,  marking  the  resting  places  of 
deceased  members  and  citizens. 

Cobden  Village. — This  village  was  laid  out 
originally  by  Benjamin  li.  Wiley,  on  Sec- 
tion 30,  of  Township  11,  Range  1  west,  on 
the  west  side  of  the  railroad,  and  the  plat 
recorded  May  28,  1857.  Mr.  Wiley  afterward 
made  an  addition  on  the  east  side  of  the 
railroad.  Several  other  additions  have  been 
made,  viz..  Buck's  Addition,  west  of  original 
plat;  Hartline's  Addition,  south  of  the  latter; 
Frick's  Addition,  east  of  Hartline's  and  on 
the  east  side  of  the  railroad,  and  Clemens' 
Addition,  east  of  the  Wileys',  etc.,  etc.,  and 
perhaps  some  others. 

The  object  which  brought  the  village  of 
Cobden  into  existence  was  the  building  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  Isaac  N. 
Philips  located  here  February  1,  1858,  as 
agent  of  L.  W.  Ashley,  Benjamin  L.  Wiley 
and  J.  L.  Philips,  who  had  a  kind  of  land 
and  real  estate  office  at  Anna,  and  were  the 
owners  of  the  land  around  Cobden.  He  first 
occupied  a  log  cabin,  which  is  still  standing, 
just  back  of  the  Philips  House.  He  was 
soon  joined  by  Amos  Bulin  and  Moses  Land, 
who  removed  to  the  place  about  three  months 
later.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  summer.  Col. 
Bainbridge  came,  and  bought  the  present 
Bell  farm,  as  already  stated.  Jared  Baker 
built  a  housfi  on  the  site  of  the  school  build- 
ing. Dr.  Ross  says  when  he  came  to  Cobden 
Henry  Ede  lived  in  a  house  which  stood 
where  Adam  Buck  now  lives;  that  Jerry  In- 
graham,  foreman  of  the  repair  shops  of    the 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


397 


railroad,  lived  in  a  little  house  which  has 
b^en  moved,  and  now  stands  next  to  his  office, 
and  a  honse  was  standing  which  belonged  to 
the  Bell  heirs,  and  which  was  occupied  by 
Col.  Bainbridge.  The  front  part  of  what  is 
now  the  Roth  Hotel  was  the  first  building 
erected  after  he  came  to  the  place;  it  was 
built  by  Thomas  Baker,  and  occupied  by 
Isaac  Philips. 

The  first  store  was  kept  by  William  Henry 
HaiTison  Brown,  and  was  opened  in  the 
early  part  of  1859.  He  sold  out  to  Adam 
Buck,  as  he  had  been  indicted  by  the  grand 
jury  for  selling  a  pack  of  playing-cards. 
The  next  store  was  opened  by  John  Davis, 
and  the  next  by  Frick  &  Lamer.  Mathias 
Clemens  came  here  while  the  railroad  was 
building,  and  opened  a  kind  of  boarding- 
house,  which  was  the  lirst  place  of  public 
entertainment  in  the  town.  Few  small  vil- 
lages are  better  supplied  with  hotels  than 
Cobden  is  at  present,  in  the  Philips  House 
and  the  Roth  Hotel. ^, 

LaBar  &  Davie  feuilt  a  mill  here  about 
1860-61,  which  was  bm-ned  some  two  years 
ago.  The  next  mill  was  built  in  1878,  by 
Virgil  Beale  &  Bro. ,  and  is  still  in  opera- 
tion; it  is  owned  by  Virgil  Beale,  and  is  a 
three-stoiy  frame  building.  Duncan  &  Halli- 
day  built  a  mill  in  1882.  It  is  a  substantial 
frame,  and  they  still  own  and  operate  it. 
The  town  has  some  nine  or  ten  stores,  in- 
cluding dry  goods,  groceries,  hardware,  etc., 
with  the  usual  nvimber  of  shops  of  all  kinds. 
The  first  schoolhouse  built  within  the  corpo- 
rate limits  of  Cobden  was  in  1867,  and  is 
still  in  use.  It  is  a  brick  edifice,  and  cost 
about  ;S10,000;  is  spacious  and  comfortable, 
and  will  accommodate  at  least  200  pupils. 
The  general  attendance  is  from  150  to  200. 
The  school  is  graded,  and  five  teachers  are 
generally  employed — a  Principal,  Assistant 
Principal  and  three  teachers.     Previously  to 


the  building  of  this  house,  schools  were  out- 
side of  the  village.  This  town  district  was 
formed  in  1865,  and  a  building  rented  until 
the  school  building  was  completed. 

A  schoolhouse  for  the  colored  people  was 
built  in  1875,  at  a  cost  of  about  $550;  one 
teacher  is  employed,  and  the  general  attend- 
ance is  some  forty  children.  Most  of  the 
colored  people  in  the  county  live  in  and 
around  the  village  of  Cobden. 

The  Cobden  Library  is  quite  an  institu- 
tion, and  is  a  credit  to  the  intelligence,  and 
refinement  of  the  peeple  of  the  village.  It 
grew  out  of  a  temperance  organization  which 
had  existed  here  for  some  time.'  About  the 
28th  of  April,  1877,  the  temperance  society 
established  a  public  reading  room  and  library 
on  a  small  scale.  To  this  has  been  added, 
from  time  to  time,  as  means  would  justify, 
books,  papers  and  periodicals  until,  mainly 
through  the  influence  and  energy  of  Col. 
Peebles,  it  has  become  one  of  the  largest 
libraries  in  the  State,  to  be  found  in  a  town 
of  this  size.  Some  1,400  volumes,  many  of 
them  valuable  works,  fill  its  shelves.  The 
present  officers  are  L.  T.  Linnell,  President; 
Mrs.  James  Bell,  Vice  President;  F.  E. 
Peebles,  Secretary,  Treasurer  and  Librarian. 
Miss  Gertrude  S.  Peebles,  Assistant  Librarian 
and  Mrs.  M.  J.  Linn,  Miss  Carrie  Goodrich 
and  L.  H.  Ting,  Directors. 

Cobden  was  incorporated  as  a  village  April 
1 5,  1869.  The  first  Board  of  Trustees  were 
I.  N.  Philips,  John  Buck,  Henry  Frick, 
David  Green,  M.  Clemens,  B.  F.  Ross  and 
John  Pierce.  It  was  reorganized  under  the 
general  law  in  1875.  The  present  Board  of 
Trustees  are  L  T.  Linnell,  Adam  Buck,  Sam- 
uel Spring,  Silas  R.  Green,  W.  P.  Mesler 
and  A.  J.  Miller.  L.  T.  Linnell  is  Pres- 
ident and  Eli  Mull,  Clerk. 

Rev.  Samuel  C.  Baldi-idge,  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Cobden,  furnishes  us 


398 


HISTOKY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


the  following  history  of  his  church,  and  the 
facts  which  led  to  its  organization: 

"  In  May,  1858,  a  New  Englander,  who 
had  followed  the  Yankee  drift  of  emigration 
to  the  north  part  of  the  State,  came  south  to 
find  a  healthy  location  for  his  family.  On 
landing  in  the  embryo  village,  he  started  out 
on  a  wagon  track  up  the  hills  to  the  east. 
As  he  was  trudging  along  through  the  woods, 
he  heard  a  cock  crow,  off  to  his  right,  and, 
supposing  that  there  was  a  habitation  in 
that  direction,  he  turned  off,  and  soon  came 
to  a  cabin  occupied  by  George  Yancil.  Here 
he  received  boarding  until  he  could  see  the 
country.  Being  a  religious  man,  he  began 
to  inquire  about  the  religious  privileges.  He 
found  there  was  no  place  of  worship  within 
less  than  four  miles.  He  proposed  to  open 
a  Sabbath  school  in  the  district  schoolhouse. 

They  objected,  on  the  grounds  that  there 
had  been  one  started  at  a  church  four  miles 
south  of  them,  but  that  it  soon  failed.  But 
he  persuaded  them  to  try  one  within  their 
own  neighborhood.  The  appointment  was 
made  for  the  next  Sabbath.  When  the  morn- 
ing came,  however,  his  landlord  was  so  shy 
of  the  enterprise  that  he  loaded  his  family 
into  a  wagon,  and,  after  the  manner  of  the 
country,  went  off  visiting,  leaving  the  guest 
alone.  In  the  afternoon,  some  little  boys 
came  up  the  road  and  inquired  about  the 
Sabbath  school.  This  decided  the  matter, 
and  the  lone  man  went  down  the  hill  to  the 
schoolhouse  and  began  his  work  in  this  wide 
and  needy  field. 

"  Ebenezer  Warner  Towne  was  the  name 
of  this  servant  of  God;  the  first  Sabbath  of 
Jiily,  1858,  was  the  time;  '  Lentz  -School- 
house  '  was  the  place  where  a  work  for  God 
and  truth  was  started,  that  by  His  grace  will 
never  cease  to  bless  this  community.  The 
schoolhouse  was  a  hewed-log  building,  twenty 
feet   square.       That   day    there   were    seven 


pupils;  but  in  a  few  weeks  the  house  filled 
up  with  parents  and  children,  and  money 
was  raised  for  a  $10  library  of  the  "American 
Sanday  School  Union."  The  school  went  on 
dui'ing  the  year.  When  Mr.  Towne' s  family 
came  on,  he  had  faithful  help  in  them.  But 
in  1859,  the  house  being  entirely  too  small 
for  the  growing  numbers,  the  school  was  re- 
moved to  the  village,  and  housed  in  a  build- 
ing that  was  only  inclosed  and  had  the  iloor 
laid.  There  were  now  eighty  pupils  and  a 
slender  corps  of  teachers.  The  school  was 
shifted  several  times,  until  the  "  Horticult- 
ural Hall "  was  put  up  by  the  '  Fruit 
Growers'  Association  '  in  1863,  when  it  was 
removed  to  it  as  a  permanent  home.  Im- 
mediately around  the  village  a  class  of  in- 
teresting and  enterprising  families  had 
settled.  They  were  chiefly  from  New  Eng- 
land, and  represented  almost  every  conceiv- 
able opinion  respecting  religious  truth.  From 
the  time  that  Father  Towne  removed  the 
Sabbath  school  to  '  the  station,'  there  was 
grafted  onto  it  some  foriii  of  public  worship. 
After  the  exercises  closed,  if  a  minister  of 
any  order  were  present  he  was  invited  to 
preach.  If  not,  some  gentleman  was  invited 
to  read  a  sermon  or  lecture,  on  any  subject 
and  by  any  author  whom  he  might  select.  It 
was  a  heterogenous  service.  One  Sabbath  it 
would  be  a  coi'dial  discussion  and  applica- 
tion of  some  Gospel  truth;  the  next,  per- 
haps, 

"  '  When  Paul  has  served  us  for  a  text, 
Has  Epictetus,  Plato,  Tully  preached,' 

"  There  was  an  incongruous  element  mixed 
with  the  efforts  of  these  serious  people. 
Sometimes  the  service  would  close  with  the 
announcement  of  a  'ball,'  in  the  house  on 
some  evening  during  the  week.  So  the  parties 
tried  to  walk  together  for  years.  Meantime, 
a  group  of  most  excellent  families  had 
gathered  in  Mr.  Towne's  neighborhood,  two 


HISTORY    OF   UNION  COUNTY, 


399 


milps  or  so   northeast  of   Cobden.     It  com-  j 
prised  Kev.  William  Arms,  M.  D.,  a  Congre- 
gational minister,  and  Rev.  William  Holmes, 
a  Presbyterian,  and  their  families  (these  gen- 
tlemen were  each  aged),   the  Fitches.  Clays, 
Miss    Rogers,    etc.      Several   of    these    were 
working  in  the   school  at  the  '  station,'  but 
tht^re    was   such  need  of    Christian   work  in 
their  own    neighborhood,    so    many  families 
unreached,    that   they   organized  a   Sabbath 
school.      This  was  about  1864.      That   sum- 
mer it  was    held  in  a  waste   house   on    Silas 
Sifford's  farm,  at  the   '  Union  Spring.'     But 
it  was  no    rival  to   Father  Towne's.     In  the 
morning,  many  of  these  workers  went  over  to 
assist  him.  and  theirs  was  held  in  the   after- 
noon.    So  thej  wrought,  with  a  holy,  loving 
zeal   and    persistency,   winter  and  summer. 
"  By  this  time    (1866),  there  were  quite  a 
number  of  religious   families,  but  there  was 
no    man   yet  with    the    faculty    to   organize 
among  so  many  who  had  the  faculty  for  lov- 
ing persistent  work.     The  man  who  seems  to 
have  been  honored  of   God  to  begin  this  or- 
cauizing    tendency  was  Mr.    Isaac  G.    Good- 
rich.    He  had   been    a   church  member   for 
thirty-five   years.       He   had    been    schooled 
in  eighteen  years  of  business,  and  Christian 
service  in   Milwaukee,  and  two  in    Chicago, 
and  so  was  rich  in  expei-ience,    courage  and 
deep  convictions.     He   found  here  many  to 
sympathize  with  him.     Father  Towne  had  re- 
moved North  in  1865,  and  Revs.   Mr.  Arms 
and  Mr.  Holmes  were  preparing  to  go.      But 
Col.  Forbes  and  Capt.  William  A.  Kirby  and 
Dr.  —  Foster  were  here,  and   Mrs.  Fitch,  C. 
C.  Wright,    T.  E.  A.   Holcomb,  John  Brig- 
ham.   Virgil  Beal,    Edward  Beal,  Homer  L. 
Finley,  Theodore  Goodrich  and  others,  who 
had  been  more  or   less  identilied  with  Chris- 
tian work  in  other  places.    No  sooner  was  he 
settled  than  he   began  to  agitate  the  duty  of 
a  week- evening  prayer  meeting.      It  was  not 


long  before  one  was  organized  at  his  house, 
which  went  on  all  the  winter  of  1866-67.   In 
the    spring  of    1867,  the    organization   of   a 
Congi'egational   Church  was  canvassed.     At 
last,  all  persons  favorable  to  it  were   invited 
to  meet  at  Mr.  Goodrich's.     As  the  result  of 
this,  another    meeting  was   appointed  to  be 
held  at  the   '  Horticultural  Hall'      At  this 
meeting,  the  matter  was  rather  taken  out  of 
Mr.  Goodrich's  hands,  and  an  effort  made  to 
combine     all     elements     in     the     proposed 
church.      The   Committee  appointed  to  draft 
'  articles    of     faith,'    on    which    they    could 
unite,  brought  in  the  Song  of  the  Angels  at 
the  birth  of   '  Christ  the  Lord.'     A  minority 
of  the  Committee,   including  Mr.  Goodrich, 
who  could  only   be  satisfied  with  a   distinct 
statement,  in  such  a  paper,  of  the  truths  that 
they  considered   essential  to  saving  faith  in 
Christ,    declined  to  accept  this   as   a  basis. 
They    deemed    it   wholly   inadequate  to  the 
pm'pose,  in  the  face  of   the  conflicting  and 
subversive   opinions  that  prevailed.     An  or- 
o-anization,   however,  was  effected,   of   those 
who  thought   this  sufficiently  definite  and  of 
those  who  hoped  that  things   would  shape 
themselves   into  some  useful  church  life  any 
way,  and  so  the  services,  such  as  above-men- 
tioned, went  on.      It  was  the  wish  that  every 
shade    of  belief    and   unbelief    in '  religious 
thoughts    should    find    expression    in   these 
services.     By  the  fall  of  1867,  Mr.  Goodrich 
wa'J   ready  to   organize  his  prayer   meeting 
ao-ain,    at  his  residence.     In  the  spring   of 
1868,  the  Rev.  J.  E.   Roy.    D.  D.,   Superin- 
tendent of  Missions   for  the  Congregational 
Church   in   Illinois,    visited    the   field,    and 
found  things    ripe  for  a  distinctively  Evan- 
gelical Church.     In  Mr.  Goodrich's  '  sitting- 
room,'  or.  Saturday  evening,  the  'Articles  of 
Faith'  were  pi'oposed  and    considered,    and 
informally    adopted.        The    next   day^    the 
'  Plymouth  Congregational'Church  of  South 


400 


IIISTORr  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


Pass,'  was  formally  constituted,  with  fifteen 
members,  and  they  sat  down  and  sealed 
their  vows  at  the  communion  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Rev.  Charles  Whpeler  soon  visited 
them,  and  was  employed  as  their' first  minis- 
ter. He  remained  in  charge  until  July, 
1871. 

"  In  September,  the  Rev.  Evan  L.  Davies, 
supplying  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Anna, 
was  invited  to  visit  them,  and  was  employed 
to  supply  them  for  one  year.      This  relation 
was  continued  the  next  year.      Mr.    Davies 
became    very    acceptable  as  a    preacher   and 
pastor.      He  was  a  fine  scholar,  a  close  stu- 
dent, and  well  versed  in  natural  science.     He 
was   quite    familiar   with    the     theories    of 
'  modern  science.'     He  delighted  in  the  dis- 
cussion of   the  evidences  of  Christianity,  and 
by  his  logical    tastes,  and  wide    information 
and  established  convictions,  he  was   abund 
antly  qualified.      But  he  was  a  fervent  lover 
of  Christ,  and  rejoiced   in  the  Gospel  of  His 
grace,  and  gave   '  no  uncertain  sound '  in  his 
preaching.     He  was   a   '  manly  man, '  but  a 
man   of    peace,  save    only  when    the    sacred 
Scriptures  were  openly  assailed,  and  then  he 
was  '  a  man  of  war.'     He  was  the  very  man 
for  the  field,  and  in   1872    he  removed  his 
family    to    Cobden.      This    still    farther    in- 
creased his   influence  and  usefulness   in  this 
part  of  his  field.     Mrs.  Davies  was    '  a  help 
meet  for  him.'     Her  sprightliness,  tact  and 
good  judgment  supplemented  her  husband's 
irravity  of    temperament   and  manner.     She 
was  refined  and    agreeable,  '  socially,  but   in 
times  of  sickness  or  bereavement  she  was  '  an 
angel  of  sweet  ministries.'      She  was  a  great 
worker  in  the    church,   the  Sabbath  school. 
the  prayer  meeting,  and  seemed  to  have  the 
health    and    tireless  love  that  was    needed. 
But  as  the  congregation  went  on   ti-ying  to 
do  the  Lord's  work,  more  and  more  two  diffi- 
culties pressed  them.     First,  as  a  Congrega- 


tional Church,    they  were  so   isolated;  there 
were  none  of  the  same  order  with  whom  they 
could  counsel,  or  unite  in  the  support  of   a 
minister   to    supply  their   pulpit.       Second, 
they    needed  aid,  to  make  up  their   share  of 
the  support  of  a  minister  in  the  field       '  The 
American    Home   Missionary   Society '  hesi- 
tated to  aid   them  in  sustaining  a  Presbyter- 
ian  minister  as    their  'supply,'    and    whi'e 
grouped  with  a  Presbyterian  Church.      Thus 
the  work  seemed  stopped  with  them  as  Cou- 
gregationalists.      They  were  discouraged  by 
the  course  of    the   '  society,'   and  by  and  by 
chafed,  and  then  began  to  consider  favorably 
the   advantages  of  a  change  of  their   church 
relations     imder    their     circumstances,    and 
then  a  large  pi'oportion  of  the  religious  com- 
munity,   who   were  identified   with    them   in 
church   membership    or    in    Christian    work 
were    Presbyterians;    so    at    last,    July    12, 
1874,* in  a  Congregational  meeting,  called  to 
consider  their  duty,  they  adopted  the  Presby- 
terian   form    of    church   government    by    an 
almost   unanimous    vote,    and   fixed    on    the 
name,    '  The    First   Presbyterian    Church   of 
Cobden,   Illinois.'     They  adopted,   also,   the 
'  Articles  of  Faith '  of  the   'Plymouth  Con- 
gregational   Church,'    so  that   nothing  was 
changed  but  the  polity  and  the  ecclesiastical 
relations  of  the  church.      That  day  the  con- 
gregation  elected  E.  W.  Towne,  the  veteran 
Sunday  school  worker;  "William  F.  Longley, 
Lewis  T.    Linnel  and   J.   E.  Blinn,    Ruling 
Elders  in   the  chm-ch,   and  John   Clay  and 
Townsend   Foster,    Deacons.     On  the   19th, 
the  Revs.  A.    T.    Norton,    D.  D.,    synodieal 
missionary,    and    E.  W.  Fish,    of    Duquoin, 
being  present,  the   above-mentioned  officers- 
elect  were    ordained  and   installed,    and  the 
organization  was  completed.      September  12, 
the  church  was   received  under  the  care  of 
the   Presbytery  of    Cairo,  and  its    name  en- 
rolled.     So,  the    Sabbath   school  of    Father 


HISTORY  OF  UNION   COUNTY. 


401 


Towne  and  the  cottage  prayer  meeting  of 
Brother  Goodrich  had  borne  good  fruit. 
The  church  consisted  of  thirty- seven  mem- 
bers. The  work  of  the  church  went  on  har- 
moniously, with  growing  evidences  of  the 
Divine  favor.  But  during  the  'Week  of 
Prayer,'  January.  1876,  'showers  of  bless- 
ings' began  to  fall.  The  meetings  were  con- 
tinued seven  weeks.  Rev.  B.  Y.  George,  of 
Cairo,  and  Rev.  W.  B.  Minton,  of  Anna,  as 
sisted  Mr.  Davies,  each  preaching  about  three 
weeks.  The  Holy  Spirit  was  poured  upon 
the  congregations  that  gathered  daily,  in 
great  power.  Forty-seven  were  added  to  the 
church  by  profession  of  their  faith  in  Christ. 
The  next  year  was,  likewise,  one  of  marked 
blessing;  twenty-seven  were  added  by  pro- 
fession. So  that  in  April,  1878,  ten  years 
after  the  church  was  organized,  the  session 
reported  to  the  General  Assembly  101  resi- 
dent members. 

"  Rev.  E.  L.  Davies  removed  from  tlie  field 
in  1877,  after  a  remarkably  successful  min- 
istiy.  November,  1878,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Pelton,  of  Columbus  Presbytery,  Synod  of 
Ohio,  took  charge  of  the  church,  and  con- 
tinued to  supply  it  until  April  1,  1881. 
During  his  useful  incumbency,  fifteen  were 
added  to  the  membership.  The  '  Horticult- 
ural Hall'  was pui'chased  and  repaii-ed.  The 
beautiful  grounds,  building  and  all,  cost 
about  $1,000.  The  church  erection  fur- 
nished $400  of  this  amount.  Another  notable 
achievement,  during  the  years  covered  by 
his  charge,  was  the  closing  of  the  liquor 
saloons.  In  this  imperative  and  humane  re- 
form IVIr.  Pelton,  with  his  characteristic  en- 
tbiTsiasm,  was  in  the  thick  of  the  strife,  and 
came  through  with  a  fair  share  of  the  honor, 
the  ill-will  and  the  personal  danger  of  such 
a  conflict. 

"  November  6, 1881,  the  Rev.  James  Laifer- 
ty  took  charge,  but  removed  from  the  congre- 


gation after  an  earnest  and  useful   ministry 
of  but  six  months. 

"  By  invitation  of  the  session,  the  Rev. 
Samuel  C  Baldridge,  pastor  of  the  Friends- 
ville  Presbyterian  Church,  visited  the  con- 
gregation, and  preached  one  Sabbath,  May 
28,  1882.  At  a  congregational  meeting  held 
June  5,  a  '  call  to  the  pasuoral  charge  of  the 
church'  was  made  out  for  him  by  a  unani- 
mous vote  of  the  congi-egation.  which  was 
accepted.  July  30,  he  began  his  work  in 
this  field,  and  was  duly  installed  pastor  of 
the  chiu'ch  by  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Cairo,  December  17,  1882. 

"  The  number  of  communicants  in  the 
church,  as  reported  to  the  General  Assembly 
by  the  Session,  April  1,  1883,  is  98;  mem- 
bership of  the  Sabbath  school,  110;  contri- 
butions to  church  work  and  beuevolence  for 
the  year,  $853.  Session — Pastor,  Rev.  S.  C. 
Baldridge,  A.  M.  Ruling  Elders,  E.  W. 
Towne,  "William  F.  Longley,  Joseph  E. 
Blinn,  Lewis  T.  Linnell,  Fred  Angell,  A. 
McCowbrey.  Superintendent  of  Sabbath 
School,  Lewis  T.  Linnell,  Esq.  Deacons, 
Peter  Herrin,  Fred  Angell  and  Hosea  Cran- 
dall,  elect. 

"  The  property  of  the  congregation  con- 
sists of  the  church  building,  parsonage  and 
grounds,  valued  at  $2,000. 

"  'The  Ladies'  Aid  Society,'  an  organiza- 
tion of  the  ladies  of  the  congregation,  should 
be  honorably  mentioned.  By  their  cheerful, 
persistent  work,  they  have  first,  contributed 
largely  to  the  impi'ovements  on  the  church 
building;  second,  promoted  social  acquaint- 
ance and  good  will." 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
erected  about  1865-66,  and  is  a  frame  edifice. 
Numerically,  it  is  not  very  strong;  it  is  at- 
tended by  the  Methodist  minister  from  Ma- 
kanda.  A  good  Sunday  school  is  maintained. 
We  have  been  unable   to  obtain  any  further 


402 


HISTOEY   OF   UNION   COUNTY 


facts  of  this  church,  although  earnest  efforts 
were  made  to  that  end. 

A  Catholic  Church  was  built  a  few  years 
ago,  and  is  a  small  but  tasty  frame  building. 
The  membership  is  small,  and  the  church  is 
without  a  resident  pastor. 

Cobden  Lodge,  No.  466,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  was 
chartered  October  3,  1866,  with  the  following 
members:  Adam Buct,William  Ames,  Thomas 
A.  E.  Holcomb,  John  Limbert,  Henry  Ede, 
James  W.  Fenton,  Philip  Mead,  John  L. 
Lower,  John  P.  Keese,  Claude  Y.  Pierce,  T. 
W.  Stuttard,  Thomas  H.  Philips,  J.  C. 
Jacques,  E.  Leming,  H.  Frick,  A.  B.  Mat- 
thews, John  Buck,  Peter  Herrin,  H.  Blu'n- 
enthal,  Isaac  N.  Philips,  B.  F.Ross,  William 
F.  Lamer,  Edward  Sill  and  John  Pierce. 
The  first  officers  were  T.  A.  E.  Holcomb, 
Master;  Henry  Ede,  Senior  Warden,  and  H. 


Blumenthal,  Junior  Warden.  The  lodge  has 
forty-eight  members,  is  out  of  debt,  and  has 
about  $300  on  hand.  The  present  officers 
are  as  follows:  E.  D.  Lawrence,  Master;  J. 
F.  F.  Wallace,  Senior  Warden;  C.  C.  Reeves, 
Junior  Warden  and  G.  H.  Clark,  Secretary. 
Relief  Lodge,  No.  452,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was 
instituted  October  10,  1871,  with  the  follow- 
ing charter  members:  P.  Nutto,  J.  J.  Dan- 
away,  B.  F.  Mangold,  A.  N.  Brockman  and 
John  Frey,  of  whom  the  officers  were:  J.  J. 
Danaway,"  N.  G.;  P.  Nutto,  V.  O. ;  B  F. 
Mangold,  Secretary,  and  John  Frey,  Treas 
urer.  There  are  seventeen  members  on  the 
roll,  and  the  following  are  the  present 
officers:  Fred  Fried,  N.  G. ;  C  A  Bell,  V. 
G. ;  C.  Jeude.  Secretary;  and  Jacob  Snyder, 
Treasurer. 


CHAPTER    XVL* 


DONGOLA  PRECINCT  — SURFACE,  TIMBER,  WATER-COURSES,  PRODUCTS,  ETC.— SETTLEMENT— PIO- 
NEER TRIALS  AND  INDUSTRIES— SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCHES —MILLS  —  DDNGOLA  VILLAGE  : 
ITSGROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT- LEAVEN WOlll  H— Wll AT  HE  DID  FOR  THE  TOWN,  ETC. 


"  The  farmer  sees 
His  pastures  and  his  fields  of  grain. 
As  they  bend  their  io\i^."— Long felloic. 

THE  subject  of  this  chapter,  Dongola 
Precinct,  forms  the  southeast  portion  of 
Union  County,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north 
by  Anna  and  Stokes  Precincts,  on  the  east 
by  Johnson  County,  on  the  south  by  Pulaski 
County,  on  the  west  by  Mill  Creek  and 
Jonesboro  Precincts,  and  by  the  last  census 
is  credited  with  a  population  of  2,556  souls, 
including  Dongola  Village.  Like  the  county 
at  large,  it  is  of  an  uneven  sui-face,  and  in 
places    rough  and    hilly;  some    portions  too 

*  By  W.  H.  Pen-in. 


broken  for  cultivation,  though  most  of  its 
area  may  be  utilized  either  in  grain  or  fruit. 
It  is  watered  and  drained  by  Cypress,  Rig 
and  Crooked  Creeks,  with  their  small  tribu- 
taries. It  is  the  largest  precinct  in  the  coun- 
ty, comprising  all  of  Township  13,  Range  1 
east,  and  half  or  more  of  Township  13, 
Range  1  west.  The  timber  growth  is  oak, 
walnut,  hickory,  sugar  tree,  sycamore,  gum, 
etc, ,  with  considerable  undergrowth  in  places. 
Corn  and  wheat  are  the  principal  produc- 
tions; some  attention  is  also  paid  to  stock- 
raising.  The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  passes 
through  the  western  part  of  the  precinct,  tap- 
ping the  village  of  Dongola,  and  forming  a 


HISTORY  OF    UNION   COUNTY. 


405 


valuable  source  of  transpoi'tation  for  its  sur- 
plus products. 

The  settlement  of  Dongola  Precinct  dates 
back  to  an  early  period  of  the  county's  his- 
tory. The  privations  of  its  early  pioneers 
were  such  as  none  but  stout  hearts  would 
dare  to  encounter.  Nothing  but  the  hopeful 
inspiration  of  ^manifest  destiny  urged  them 
to  persevere  in  bringing  under  the  dominion 
of  civilized  man  what  was  before  them — a 
howling  wilderness.  These  sturdy  sons  of 
toil  were  mostly  from  North  Carolina.  One 
of  the  early  families  was  that  of  Meisenhei- 
mer.  The  old  pioneer  of  the  family  was 
Moses  Meisenheimer.  who  came  from  North 
Carolina  in  1816,  and  settled  four  miles 
northeast  of  the  village  of  Dongola,  on  the 
place  where  John  Smoot  now  lives.  Upon 
this  place  he  died  in  1857.  He  was  a  prom- 
inent man  in  his  day,  long  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace.  County  Commissioner  for  several 
terms,  and  an  active  man  generally.  He  has 
five  children  still  living;  Abraham  resides 
in  Dongola  Village,  and  Henry  five  miles  east 
of  it;  the  other  three  children  are  daughters. 
A  brother  of  Mr.  Meisenheimer  came  here 
some  twenty  years  later.  John  Fisher  came 
about  the  same  time  that  Meisenheimer  did. 
He  has  been  dead  several  years.  Moses  and 
Caleb  were  sons,  and  are  also  dead. 

A  very  early  settler  was  Edmund  Davis. 
He  was  also  from  North  Carolina,  and  died 
a  good  many  years  ago.  Cyrus  and  Edmund 
were  his  sons,  and  the  latter  was  long  a 
prominent  business  man  in  Dongola  Village. 
Daniel  Karraker  and  Daniel  Liiigle  were 
also  from  North  Carolina,  and  came  very 
soon  after  Meisenheimer.  Karraker  settled 
on  the  place  where  Wilford  Karraker  now 
lives.  He  has  three  sono  still  living  in  the 
precinct,  all  of  whom  are  honest  and  upright 
citizens.  Lmgle  settled  on  an  adjoining 
farm  to    Meisenheimer,  where,    after  a  long 


life,  he  died.  He  has  two  sons,  and  one  or 
two  daughters,  still  living.  Caleb  Lingle 
owns  the  old  homestead. 

Joseph  Eddleman,  Adam  Eddleman, 
George  and  Samuel  Hunsaker  and  Peter 
Hilf^maa  came  from  North  Carolina.  The 
Eddlemans  settled  near  the  old  village  of 
Peru.  Joseph  died  in  the  precinct  in  1856. 
Eli  Eddleman  is  a  son,  and  is  a  prosperous 
farmer  and  a  large  land-owner.  He  was  long 
engaged  in  milling  and  merchandising. 
Adam  was  his  brother,  and  is  also  dead. 
The  HuQsakers  settled  in  that  part  of  the 
precinct  recently  cut  off  and  added  to  Jones- 
boro.  George  was  the  first  President  of  the 
Agricultural  Board  of  the  county.  Peter 
Hileman  settled  early.  He  is  dead,  but  has 
a  son  (John)  now  living  in  Meisenheimer 
Precinct. 

Martin  Hoftner,  the  Beggs  family,  the 
Kellers.  Youst  Coke  and  Levi  Patterson  were 
also  North  Carolinians,  and  settled  early. 
Hoffner  came  in  about  the  time  of  Moses 
Meisenheimer,  and  settled  some  three  and  a 
half  miles  north  of  the  village  of  Dongola. 
He  has  a  son — John  Hoffner-  living  near 
where  his  father  settled.  The  old  man  is 
dead,  and  Boston  Hoffner  owns  the  home- 
stead. Of  the  Beggs  family,  the  old  mem- 
bers are  all  dead,  and  no  immediate  descend- 
ants are  now  living  here.  There  were  two 
l)rothers  among  the  first  settlers  of  Beggses, 
but  their  first  names  are  not  remembered. 
Joseph,  Abraham  and  Absalom  Keller  came 
in  early,  and  are  all  dead.  Abraham  has  a 
son  living  in  the  precinct;  Absalom  has  two 
sons  living,  but  Joseph's  children  are  all 
dead  or  moved  away.  They  settled  east  of 
the  village,  and  were  plain  old  farmers. 
Coke  settled  on  the  place  now  owned  by  Na 
than  Karraker.  He  and  his  sons  are  dead 
and  gone.  Patterson  is  gone,  and  has  no 
descendants     living    in    the    precinct    now. 


406 


HISTORY   OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


Many  other  families  might  rank  as  early 
settlers,  but  their  names  have  been  forgotten 
or  overlooked.  To  attempt  to  wi-ite,  in  this 
chapter,  the  history  of  every  family,  in  the 
order  in  which  they  came  into  the  precinct, 
would  be  a  task  beyond  the  reach  of  human 
power.  The  hard  life  of  these  early  settlers 
is  a  theme  often  discussed.  It  was  a  hard 
life,  but  in  many  cases  it  was  as  the  people 
themselves  made  it.  There  was  then,  as  now, 
great  difference  in  the  forethought  and  thrift 
of  the  inhabitants.  Some  families  always 
had  plenty,  such  as  it  was,  while  others  were 
ever  hard  run  to  make  both  ends  meet,  and 
not  unfrequently,  try  as  they  might,  the  ends 
did  not  get  quite  together.  So  it  was,  just 
as  it  is  to-day,  by  good  managemert  some 
glided  along  smoothly,  while  others  eked  out 
a  bare  subsistence. 

The  first  mill  in  the  precinct  was  a  horse 
mill  built  by  Youst  Coke.  A  water  mill  was 
built  early  by  David  Pem-od,  on  Cypress 
Creek,  but  it  has  long  ago  passed  away.  The 
first  steam  mill  was  built  in  the  village  about 
]  852-54,  by  Col.  Bainbridge,  and  now  owned 
by  Edmund  Cuhl.  It  was  erected  while  the 
railroad  was  in  the  course  of  construction, 
and  has  since  changed  hands  frequently. 
Cuhl  operated  it_  awhile,  and  afterward  built 
a  mill  on  Big  Creek.  He  took  oat  some  of 
the  machinery  from  the  Dongola  Mill,  and 
put  it  in  the  new  one.  The  old  mill  in  the 
village  he  has  recently  sold  to  Samuel  B. 
Poor. 

The  first  schools  taught  in  the  precinct 
were  "  common  schools,"  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  term.  They  were  on  the  subscription 
plan,  and  were  taught  in  any  vacant  cabin 
convenient  to  the  greatest  number  of  pupils. 
The  early  teachers  were  as  ignorant  as  the 
cabins  were  rude.  Mr.  Meisenheimer  says 
the  first  school  he  attended  was  taught  by 
one  Joseph  McComnon,  in  a  small  log  cabin 


that  stood  upon  the  present  site  of  the  Kar- 
raker  Schoolhouse.  It  was  a  rude  cabin,  and 
had  been  built  expressly  for  school  purposes. 
It  had  the  large  fire-place,  small  windows, 
slab  seats  and  cracks  daubed  with  mud.  The 
precinct  has  a  number  of  comfortable  school - 
houses  at  present,  and  supports  schools  dur- 
ing the  ixsual  terms. 

Religious  services  were  first  held  in  peo- 
ple's houses,  or  in  summer  in  some  fine 
grove  beneath  the  trees.  When  school- 
houses  made  their  appearance,  these  were 
used  on  Sunday  for  religious  worship.  They 
served  both  gchool  and  church  piu-poses  for 
a  good  many  years. 

A  Methodist  Church,  the  first,  probably,  in 
the  precinct,  was  built  on  the  Hoffner  place 
some  time  before  the  war.  It  was  a  common 
log  building,  and  served  its  day  and  genera- 
tion, and  has  disappeared  with  other  relics 
of  the  early  times. 

Friendship  Baptist  Church  was  built  dur- 
ing the  war.  It  stands  northeast  of  Dongola 
Yillage  and  is  a  good  frame  building.  A 
large  and  flourishing  congregation  attend  it^ 
and  is  ministei'ed  to  by  Elder  Ridge  at  pres- 
ent. 

There  are  several  other  churches  in  the 
precinct,  but  we  have  but  little  information 
concerning  them.  A  Lutheran  and  Reform 
Church  is  located  on  Section  17,  of  Town- 
ship 13,  Range  1  west,  and  a  Christian 
Church  on  Section  17,  of  Township  13, 
Range  1  east;  a  German  Methodist  Church 
on  Section  7,  Township  13,  Rango  1  west, 
and  a  Baptist  Church  on  Section  25,  Town- 
ship 13,  Range  1  east.  These,  with  the  churches 
in  the  village,  afford  the  people  ample  means 
of  grace,  and  if  they  do  not  make  good  use 
of  them,  there  will  be  no  one  to  blame  for  it 
but  themselves. 

The   first  voting  place  in  the  precinct  was 
at    Philip   Hinkle's,    northeast  of    Dongola 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


401 


Village — a  place  now  owned  by  one  of  the 
Karrakers.  It  was  also  the  meeting  place  of 
the  old  time  militia,  where  they  di'illed  at 
regular  intervals.  The  old  Patterson  place 
was  used  for  the  same  pui'pose  sometimes. 
The  voting  now  is  at  Dongola,  and  Demo- 
cratic majorities  are  piled  up  mountain-high 
for  favorite  candidates.  It  has  become  a 
saying  that  "  as  goes  Dongola  Precinct,  so 
goes  the  county,"  and  hence  rival  candidates 
strive  hard  for  its  vote. 

Dongola. — The  village  of  Dongola  was 
laid  out  by  Ebeni  Leavenworth,  and  the  plat 
recorded  May  23,  1857.  It  occupies  the 
north  part  of  Section  25,  and  the  south  part 
of  Section  24,  of  Township  13,  Range  1 
west,  and  is  situated  about  nine  miles  south 
of  Anna,  on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad. 
It  has  a  population  of  some  600  inhabitants, 
and  covers  ground  enough  for  as  many  thou- 
sand, if  it  were  closely  built  up. 

Mr.  Leavenworth,  the  original  proprietor 
of  the  town,  was  an  enterprising  and  stirring 
business  man.  He  was  an  engineer,  engaged 
on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  during  its 
construction,  and  owned  the  land  on  the 
east  side  of  the  road's  right  of  way.  Busi- 
ness prospered  in  his  hands,  and  he  soon  ac- 
cumulated a  fortune,  some  of  which  was 
afterward  lost  by  broken  trusts  and  ill-judged 
investments.  Though  a  good  business  man, 
he  was  very  far  from  allowing  himself  to  be 
engrossed  by  mere  money-making.  Indeed, 
he  seems  to  have  cared  but  little  for  money, 
except  as  a  means  of  doing  good,  and  his 
strict  habits  of  business  appear  to  have  been 
more  the  result  of  a  fixed  rule  of  life  than  a 
desire  for  pecuniary  profit.  As  a  proof  of 
this,  both  his  heart  and  his  hand  were  always 
opened  freely  to  whoever  appeared  to  him  to 
need  and  to  deserve  assistance,  and  neither 
any  individual  nor  any  enterprise  worthy  of 
help  ever  appealed  to  his  generosity  in  vain. 


More  than  one  business  man  can  trace  to 
him  the  starting  point  on  his  road  to  success 
and  the  foundation  of  his  own  fortune. 
The  influence  of  such  a  man  cannot  be  es- 
timated. Death  came  upon  him  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly,  when  scarcely  beyond  the 
prime  and  vigor  of  life,  but  his  influence, 
so  far  from  being  destroyed  by  his  death,  was 
then  more  fully  felt  and  recognized. 

The  first  residence  erected  upon  the  siie  of 
Dongola  was  by  Mr.  Leavenworth.  Several 
shanties  had  been  put  up  previou'^ly.  and  oc- 
cupied by  workmen  on  the  road.  He  put  up 
a  number  of  buildings,  among  them  a  store- 
house, which  is  still  in  use  as  a  place  of  busi- 
ness. The  fiirst  store  in  the  town  was  ke[)t 
by  Edmund  Davis,  and  occupied  the  site  of 
the  present  Lone  Star  Drug  j^Store.  A  man 
had  kept  a  few  notions — principally  whisky 
—for  the  benefit  of  the  work  hands,  before 
Davis  opened  his  store,  but  it  scarcely  de- 
served the  name  of  store.  Davis  built  the 
storehouse  he  occupied,  and  remained  in  it 
until  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  He  was  a 
man  at  one  time  very  wealthy,  but  has  met 
numerous  reverses,  and  at  present  lives  in 
the  county  in  rather  straitened  circum- 
stances. 

Abraham  Meisenheimer  opened  the  next 
store  after  Davis,  and  about  the  same  time 
Leavenworth  built  a  storehouse,  in  which  he 
did  an  extensive  mercantile  business.  Mei- 
senheimer long  carried  on  a  store,  and  is  yet 
living  and  a  respected  citizen  of  the  town. 
Other  stgres  and  shops  were  opened,  and 
Dongola  became  quite  a  business  place.  It 
was  some  time  before  the  railroad  could  be 
induced  to  give  the  people  even  a  switch, 
and  the  station  was  made  here  only  through 
the  persistent  efforts  of  Mr.  Leavenworth, 
who  continued  his  perseverance  until  the  rail  ■ 
road  ofiicials  granted  his  reqiiest,  to  get  rid, 
perhaps,    of    his    importunities.      But    they 


40S 


HISTORY  or  UNION  COUNTY. 


have  discovered  long  ere  this,  doubtless,  that 
in  making  Dongola  Station  they  committed 
a  wise  act,  as  it  has  become  a  considerable 
shipping  point. 

The  Novelty  Works  was  the  most  extensive 
business  establishment,  in  its  day,  the  town 
has  ever  known.  It  was  originated  by  Leaven- 
worth, like  many  other  enterprises  of  his, 
in  a  great  measure  to  give  employment  to 
needy  people.  It  grew  out  of  a  saw  mill 
which  stood  on  the  spot,  and,  by  a  number 
of  additions  made  to  its  machinery,  became, 
as  we  have  said,  an  extensive  establishment. 
Almost  anything  and  everything  to  be  made 
out  of  wood  was  turned  out  of  this  factory, 
which,  as  its  name  designated,  was  "  Novelty 
Worlcs."  It  had  about  thirty  different  kinds 
of  machinery,  mostly  for  woodwork.  Wagon 
hubs  and  spokes  were  made;  also  furniture, 
feed  boxes,  wooden  bowls,  plows,  wagons, 
and  many  other  articles  which  we  are  unable 
to  enumerate.  The  works  employed,  some 
times,  forty  and  fifty  hands.  But  when  Mr. 
Leavenworth  died,  the  works,  like  "  Grand- 
father's Clock,  '* 

•  Stopped  short,  never  to  go  again." 

Most  of  the  machinery  has  been  removed,  and 
the  establishment  is  standing  idle.  At  the 
time  of  his  death,  Mi'.  Leavenworth  was  in- 
terested in  a  number  of  mills  in  different 
sections.  He  was  fond  of  machinery,  and 
devoted  most  of  his  time,  for  many  years,  to 
milling  and  other  manufacturing  interests. 
The  first  mill  built  in  the  town  was  the  old 
Cuhl  mill,  standing  idle  by  the  railroad, 
which  has  already  been  noticed  in  this  chap- 
ter. The  Neibauer  mill  was  built  in  1875. 
The  first  mill  built  upon  that  site  was  by 
Louis  Meisenheimer.  It  was  sold  at  his  sale, 
and  bought  by  Neibauer  &  Nagle.  It  was 
afterward  burned,  when  the  present  one  was 
built  bv  Neibauer.    It  is  a  substantial  frame 


edifice,  and  doing  a  large  and  profitable  busi' 
ness.  The  Red  Mill,  as  it  is  called,  was 
built  by  Davis  &  Poor,  originally  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  town.  Five  or  six 
years  later  it  was  removed  to  town,  and  is  also 
doing  a  good  business. 

F.  M.  McCallin  operated  the  Novelty 
Works,  or  rather  the  saw  mill  part  of  them, 
during  the  past  season,  in  sawing  walnut 
lumber;  but  after  using  up  the  walnut  tim- 
ber convenient  to  town,  he  closed  the  busi- 
ness. These  mills,  with  a  few  small  shops, 
comprise  the  Dongola  manufactories. 

Th«  village  was  incorporated  under  a 
special  act  of  the  Legislature,  in  1871.  The 
first  Board  of  Trustees  were  as  follows:  L. 
T.  Bonacina,  J.  R.  Peeler,  Henry  Harmes, 
W.  R.  Milam  and  John  Holshouser.  Of 
this  Board  J.  R.  Peeler  was  President,  Solo- 
mon Lombard.  Clerk,  and  John  Holshouser, 
Treasurer.  The  village  was  re- organized 
under  the  general  State  law  a  few  years  later. 
The  present  board  are  Frank  Neibauer,  A. 
G.  Williams,  Henry  Eddleman,  J.  D.  Benton 
and  George  Cokenower;  of  which  Frank 
Neibauer  is  President,  A.  G.  Williams,  Clerk, 
and  Henry  Eddleman,  Treasurer. 

The  present  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1873. 
It  is  a  substantial  frame  building,  and  will 
accommodate  from  150  to  200  pupils.  The 
school  is  graded,  and  usually  employs  three 
teachers.  The  first  schoolhouse  in  the  vil- 
lage stood  near  the  Novelty  Works,  and 
Leavenworth  donated  the  land  and  built  the 
present  house  for  the  old  one,  in  order  to  get 
the  children  further  from  his  machinery,  lest 
they  might  some  time  meet  with  an  accident, 
as  they  would  play  about  the  mill  and  lum- 
ber piles. 

The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  was  or- 
ganized in  Dongola  in  1865,  by  Rev.  H.  M. 
Brewer.  In  the  fall  of  1866,  Rev.  D.  S. 
Sprecher  took  charge  of  it.     A  churfh  edifice 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX   COUNTY. 


409 


was  built  by  the  Methodists,  Cumberland 
Presbyterians  and  Lutherans  combined,  and 
all  these  denominations  still  occupy  it.  At 
the  time  of  building  ^the  chiu'ch,  Rev.  Mr. 
Kimber  was  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  Rev.  J.  B.  McCallin  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  In  the 
fall  of  1869,  Rev.  D.  Schwartz  was  called  to 
the  pastorate  of  the  Lutheran  Church;  Rev. 
Turner  Earnhart  was  the  fom-th  pastor;  Rev. 
C.  S.  Sprecher  was  the  fifth;  Rev.  William 
Prewett  was  the  sixth,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Diffen- 
baugh  was  the  seventh,  and  now  tills  that 
podition.  A  Union  Sunday  school  is  carried 
on,  attended  by  about  sixty  of  the  Method- 
ist, Cumberland  Presbyterian  and  Lutheran 
children,  under  the  superintendence  of 
Charles  Leavenworth. 

The  Baptists  also  have  a  chm-ch  building, 
and  an  organized  chiu'ch  society.  The  build- 
ing is  a  handsome  frame,  and  the  congrega- 
tion is  flourishing. 

Dongola  Lodge,  No.  581,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M., 
was  chartered  October  6,  1868,  and  the  fol- 
lowing were  its  first  ofiicers,  viz. :  J.  H. 
Dodson,  Master;  W.  J.  Williams,  Senior 
Warden;  James  Murray,  Junior  Warden;  J. 
R.  Peeler.  Treasurer;  George  Little,  Secre- 
tary; A.  Clutts,  Senior  Deacon;  A.  C.  Bow- 
ser, Junior  Deacon;  Thomas  N.  Henley, 
Tiler.  The  lodge  has  at  present  twenty-five 
members,  and  the  following  officers:  H.  W. 
Dyer,  Master;  -J.  A.  Dillow.  Senior  Warden; 


Joseph  Gattinger,  Junior  Warden;  F.  Nei- 
bauer,  Treasurer;  D.  J.  Dillow,  Secretary; 
J.  F.  Richardson,  Senior  Deacon;  Jones  Sivia, 
Junior  Deacon;  and  Thomas  N.  Henley, 
Tiler. 

Dongola  Lodge,  No.  343,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  in- 
stituted at  Dongola  January  31,  1867.  The 
following  were  the  first  officers:  E.  Leaven- 
worth, N.  G. ;  George  Little,  V.  G. ;  Henry 
Harmes,  Treasurer,  and  John  M.  Davis, 
Secretary.  The  present  officers  are  Joseph 
Kingler,  N.  G. ;  Joseph  S.  Rhymer,  Y.  G. ; 
Frank  Neibauer,  Treasurer,  and  John  W. 
Eddleman,  Secretary. 

Peru  (,was  once  laid  out  as  a  town  by  Au- 
gustus Post,  but  no  lots,  we  believe,  were 
ever  sold,  and  no  great ^effi)rts  made  to  build 
it  up.  It  was  located  about  two  miles  south- 
west of  Dongola  Village,  where  the  Vienna 
&  Cape  Girardeau  road  crossed  the  Jonesboro 
&  Caledonia  road,  and  was  generally  called 
the  "  Cross  Roads. "  We  don't  know  whether 
it  compared  with  Nasby's  "  Coniedrit  X 
Roads,  wich  is  in  the  State  of  Kentucky'," 
or  not;  but  it  never  amounted  tcf  much  as  a 
town.  Moses  Goodman  opened  a  ipire  there 
in  1852,  and  continued  in  business  until 
about  1868,  when  he  closed  out  and  retired. 
This,  with  a  shop  or  two,  comprised  all  the 
town  tliere  was  at  the  place. 

Moscow  Post  Office,  in  the  northeast  part 
of  the  precinct,  consists  of  a  post  office  and  a 
store.     No  town  has  ever  been  laid  out  there. 


410 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


CHAPTER   XVII.* 


IllbGE    (  R  ALTO   PASS   PKECINCT— SURFACE   FEATURKS,    BOUNDARIES,    AND   TIMBER    GRQWN- 

orCUPATION  OF  THK  WHITES— PIONEER  TRIALS— INDUSTRIES,   IMPROVEMENTS,  ETC. 

—THE    KNOB— CHURCHES  AND  SCHOOLS— VILLAGES,   ETC.,  ETC. 


'"T^HIS   division  of  the  covmty,    known  as 
J-    Alto  Pass  or  Ridge  Precinct,  is  in  the 
north   tier  of  townships,  and  lies  south  of 
Jackson  County,  with  South  Pass  or  Cobden 
Precincts  on  the  east,  Jonesboro  and  Union 
Precincts  on  the  sou.th  and  Preston  Precinct 
on  the  west.     The  surface  is  hilly  and  un- 
even, with  considerable  blufls  along  the  water- 
courses, but  in  the  north  part  there  is  a  very 
line  table  land,  upon  which  are  some  excellent 
fai-ms.     Probably  one-fourth  of  the  precinct 
is  too  rocky  and  broken  to  admit  of  cultiva- 
tion.     The    principal    products    are    corn, 
wheat    and  fruit;   the  southeastern    part    of 
the  precinct  might  be  termed  the  very  heart 
of  the  €^'uiU  section   of    the   county.      The 
land  is    \wiifered    and  di*ained   by  Hutchins, 
Cedar  and  Clear  Creeks  and  their  numerous 
small  tributaries.    Hiitchins  Creek  Hows  south 
through  the  western  part,  and  empties  into 
Clear  in  the   northwest   part  of    Jonesboro 
Precinct;   Clear  Creek   runs    southwest    and 
passes  out  through  Section   31,    and  Cedar 
Creek   Hows  through   the   northeast   corner. 
The  timber  growth  is  that  common  in   the 
county.      The    Cairo    &    St.    Louis    Narrow 
G-auge    Railroad   runs   through  the   eastern 
part   of    the  precinct,    with  Alto  Pass  and 
Kaolin  as  shipping  stations.     The  census  of 
1880  gave  Ridge  a  population  of  2.287  souls. 
The  settlement  of  this  precinct  dates  back 
half  a  century  or  more.     Among  the  pioneers 
were  the  following  from  North  Carolina:    The 


Bv  W.  H.  Perrin. 


Smiths,  Christopher  Houser,    John  Gregory. 
Jonathan  Landrith,  Henry  Rendleman,  Elias 
Quilman,    and    many   others    perhaps*.     The 
Smiths  settled  in  the  southwest  part  of  the 
precinct.      One  of  the  pioneers  of  this  nu- 
merous family  was  John,  a  very  uncommon 
name,  particularly  in  the  Smith  family.   As  an 
illustration:    A  man  once  entered  a  crowded 
church,  and  called  out  :     ' '  Mr.  Smith,  your 
house  is  on  tire ! ' '  when   one   hundred    and 
twenty-five  Smith's    jumped    up.      The  man 
continued:  "It  is  Mr.  John  Smith's  house."' 
and    thirteen    of  them    sat   down.      John  is 
still  living  (not  one  of  those  John's  that  was 
in  the  church)  and  has  two  sons.  Wiley  and 
John,  also  living,  and  who  are  good  citizens. 
George  first  settled  below  Jonesboro,  but  re- 
moved to  this  precinct  about  the  year  1835, 
and  settled  on  Hutchins  Creek,  where  Charles 
Smith  now  lives.      He  has   been  dead  some 
years,  but   his  widow   is    living,    and   about 
eighty   years    of  age.     He  has  several  sons 
still  in  precinct,  in  good  circumstances,  but 
a  little  behind  in  the  energy  and  enterprise 
of    the    day.     Davault    Smith   was    another 
brother.     He  is  dead,  but  has  a  son  living  in 
Jackson  County.      Most  of  the  old  members 
of  the  family  were  uneducated  and  illiterate, 
but  possessed  much   practical  common  sense, 
and  accumulated  considerable  property. 

Christopher  Houser  settled  on  Clear  Creek. 
He  was  quite  an  old  man  when  he  came  here, 
and  has  long  been  dead,  but  has  a  son  Chris- 
topher— now  an  old  man  himself — still  living 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


411 


in  the  couuty.  The  elder  Houser  was  very 
poorly  educated,  but  quite  prominent  in  the 
community  and  served  long  as  a  Justice  of 
the  Peace.  John  Gregory  also  settled  on 
Clear  Creek.  He  was  a  plain  old  farmer  who 
attended  to  his  own  business.  His  name  is 
perpetuated  by  two  sons — John  C.  and  Alfred 
Gregory.  Jonathan  Landrith  and  1ms  son, 
McKinley  Landrith,  both  came  early  and  are 
botli  dead.  Jonathan,  a  son  of  McKinley, 
lives  in  the  precinct.  The  Rendlemans  are 
quite  a  numerous  family  in  the  county,  and 
of  this  precinct.  Henry  Rendleman,  the 
pioneer  of  the  family  in  Alto  Pass,  came  in 
early.  John  S.,  Caleb  and  Martin  were 
brothers,  and  came  soon  after.  Henry  and 
Caleb  are  dead;  the  latter  has  three  sons 
living.  John  and  Martin  are  living;  John 
raised  a  large  family  of  children,  who  de- 
veloped into  intelligent  and  worthy  citizens. 
The  Rendleman  family  is  among  the  most 
respectable  in  the  county,  and  command  the 
esteem  of  all  who  know  them. 

iTo  the  settlement  of  the  precinct,  Ken- 
tucky contributed  the  following  pioneers: 
Henry  Lamer,  Samuel  and  William  Butcher, 
Joseph  Waller.  John  Hudgins,  Thomas  Craft, 
Montgomery  Hunsaker,  the  Keiths,  and 
probably  others.  (Henry  Lamer  came  to  the 
county  in  1815.  He  was  a  native  of  York 
County,  Penn. ,  and  removed  to  Kentucky, 
where  he  remained  but  a  short  time,  when 
he  decided  to  "go  West,  and  grow  up  with 
the  country."  He  died  a  few  yeai's  after  his 
settlement  here,  leaving  a  numerous  family, 
among  whom  is  Rev.  J.  D.  Lamer,  who  was 
born  in  1815,  a  few  months  ai'ter  his  father 
came  to  the  precinct,  and  is  pi-obably  the  first 
white  child  born  in  it,  and  the  oldest  native- 
born  citizen  in  the  county.  Soon  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  Lamer,  his  widow  moved  to 
Southern  Indiana,  but  a  few  years  later  re- 
turned to  this  section,  where  she   afterward 


died.  The  farm  where  Lamer  originally  set- 
tled is  now  owned  by  John  J.  Keith.  Rev. 
Mr.  Lamer  settled  on  his  present  place  in 
1839,  and  at  the  time  his  nearest  neighbor 
was  nearly  a  mile  distant,  and  the  present 
site  of  Cobden  was  a  dense  thicket.  He  is  a 
minister  of  the  Baptist  Church,  but  of  late 
years  has  quit  preaching  from  physical  dis- 
ability. The  Butchers  were  early  settlers, 
but  are  dead.  The  Hunsakers  are  supposed 
to  have  been  the  first  white  people  in  the 
county,  and  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Jones- 
boro.  Montgomery  Hunsaker  settled  in  this 
precinct  very  early  on  Hutchins  Creek.  Will- 
iam Finch  was  an  early  settler  in  the  same 
neighborhood.  The  pioneer  of  the  Keith 
family  was  named  Samson.  He  is  dead,  but 
his  name  is  perpetuated  by  John,  a  son,  and 
quite  a  prominent  man,  and  a  member  of  the 
present  County  Board) 

(Tennessee  (contributed  the  following  set- 
tlers to  the  precinct:  Cornelius  Anderson, 
Franklin  Ferrill,  Giles  Parmley,  N.  B.  Col- 
lins. Lewis  Collins.  Andrew  Irvin,  Henry 
Rowe,  the  Lales,  John  Crips,  Abraham 
Cokenower,  etc.,  etc.  Andei'son  is  still  liv- 
ing, and  two  or  three  sons  also  living  in  the 
precinct.  Ferrill  is  living.  Parmley  was  a 
Revolutionary  soldier,  and  has  long  been 
dead;  Squire  N.  B.  Collins  married  his 
daughter.  Lewis  Collins,  the  father  of 
Squire  Collins,  was  a  very  early  settler.' 

Among  other  early  settlers,  whose  native 
place  we  do  not  know,  may  be  mentioned 
George  W.  Harris,  the  Tweedys,  David 
Sumner,  William  Simpson,  John  Daly,  and 
several  other  families.  Harris  first  settled 
in  Jonesboro,  but  afterward  moved  into  this 
precinct.  James  and  Singleton  Tweedy, 
brothers,  are  both  living.  Sumner  settled 
early,  and  is  now  dead.  Patrick  Corgan 
came  from  Ireland.  He  was  the  pioneer 
school-teacher   of   the    precinct. 


412 


HISTORY  OF  UKION  COUNTY. 


The  Vancils  were  early  settlers,  and  a 
numerous  family  in  Union  County  in  early 
days.  Jonas  Yancil,  one  of  the  old  members 
of  the  family,  settled  in  this  precinct.  He 
had  a  son  named  Isaae,  who,  from  his  able 
faculty  of  warping  and  twisting  the  truth  on 
convenient  occasions,  eventually  won  for  him 
the  sobriquet  of  "  Lying  Ike"  Yancil.  He 
talked  recklessly  and  extravagantly,  and  was 
considered,  as  we  are  told,  the  biggest  liar  in 
the  county.  His  father  was  a  Dunkard, 
wore  long  hair  aad  whiskers,  and  had  a 
thick  growth  of  hair  over  his  entire  face.  Ike 
and  his  father  made  a  trip  to  North  Caro- 
lina— their  native  State— and  during  the 
journey,  which  in  those  primitive  days  was 
necessarily  slow,  they  run  out  of  money,  and 
in  order  to  "raise  the  wind,"  Ike  exhibited 
his  father,  whom  he  represented  as  a  wild 
man  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  a  fact  which 
his  long  hair  and  whiskers  seemed  to  war- 
rant. The  "  show"  was  quite  successful, 
and  with  the  funds  thus  raised  they  com- 
pleted their  journey. 

Ike  was  full  of  fun,  mischievous  as  the 
day  was  long,  and,  as  an  old  gentleman  said, 
had  the  "  devil  in  him  as  big  as  a  ground- 
hog "  He  took  it  into  his  head  once  to  scat- 
ter a  camp-meeting  (being  held  in  a  grove 
near  by)  for  some  fancied  wrong.  Having 
caught  a  full-grown  turkey-buzzard,  he  made 
a  "  tui'pentine  ball, "  and  one  night  when  the 
meeting  had  reached  its  most  exciting  and 
interesting  point,  Ike  fastened  the  ball  to 
the  buzzard's  leg,  set  it  on  fire,  and  turned 
the  frightened  bird  loose  in  the  midst  of  the 
congregation.  A  few  tallow  candles  very 
insuflficiently  lighted  the  scene,  and  when 
the  buzzard  commenced  Hopping  around 
among  the  people,  with  the  blazing  turpen- 
tine ball,  they  thought  the  devil  had  burst 
upon  them,  and  were  worse  frightened  than 
the  poor  bird'  itself    was.      Such  screaming, 


praying    and  miscellaneous    hollering  never 
before,  perhaps,  had  awakened  the  echoes  of 
the  hills  around  that  camp-meeting  ground. 
There  was  a  cave  in  the  north  part  of  the 
precinct,  near  the  county  line,  and  Ike  finally 
succeeded   in  convincing  the  people  that  it 
was  haunted  by  evil  spirits,  or  occupied  by 
thieves  and  robbers.     He  rigged  a  kind  of  an 
arrangement  in  the  cave,  by  which,  by  some 
hocus  pocus,  he  could  at  will  produce  a  most 
unearthly  and  horrible  sound.     The  people 
one  day  gathered   en    masse,  armed  to    the 
teeth,  for  the  pui'pose  of  recklessly  invading 
the  cavern  and  capturing  a  legion  of  devils, 
thieves,  robbers,  bandits,  or,  Booth  Bell-like, 
taking  in  a  gang  of   "mooners. "     But  it  is 
needless  to  say  they  were  themselves  "  taken 
in."  when  they  found  how  beautifully  they 
had  been  sold.      It  is  not  known  whether  this 
man  of  practical  jokes  is  still  alive  or  not. 
The  last  heard  of  him  he  was  in  the  vicinity 
of  Carbondale.     He  was  naturally  intelligent, 
witty,  a  good  talker,  but  almost  wholly  un- 
educated.     Had  his  intellect  been  turned  to 
matters  of  moment  instead  of  things  frivol- 
ous, he  might  have  made  for  himself  a  name 
long  to  be  remembered  among  his  fellowmen. 
The  name  bestowed  upon  this  division  by 
the  County  Board  was  Ridge,  from  the  high 
ridge  extending  diagonally  through  it.     But 
when  the  railroad  was  built,  and  the  station 
of  Alto  Pass  was  made,  the  latter  name  was 
given  to  the  precinct,  and  it  is  now  termed 
Alto  Pass-  or  Ridge  Precinct.     The  produc- 
tions of   the  precinct   are    mostly   corn    and 
wheat   in   the    level    portions    and   bottoms, 
while  in  the  bluff  region,  the  attention  of  the 
farmers   is  devoted    almost  entirely  to  fruit 
and  berries.     The  original  voting  places  were 
at  the  houses  of    Samson  Keith  and  C!hris- 
topher   Houser.      The    precinct   is   strongly 
Democratic,    and   has    always    been   of    that 
color  of  political  faith. 


HISTORY  or  UNIOI^  COUXTY 


413 


This  section  has  never  had  many  mills — 
the  pioneer's  first  public  industry.  A  horse 
mill  was  built  by  John  Vancil  pretty  early. 
He  also  built  a  water  mill  on  Clear  Creek, 
near  where  Kaolin  Station  now  is.  He  sold 
out  here,  and  went  up  on  the  bluff  and  built 
another  mill,  which  was  run  by  horse-power. 
These,  with  a  number  of  saw  mills,  are  all 
of  this  industry  the  precinct  has  known. 
There  are  several  box  factories,  which  are 
kept  busy  during  the  fruit  and  berry  season. 

The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  on  Clear 
Creek  in  the  southern  part  of  the  precinct 
Squire  Collins  says  the  first  school  he  remem- 
bers was  taught  by  Patrick  Corgan,  a  native 
of  Ireland,  and  it  was  something  like  the 
one  described  by  the  poet  in  the  following 
lines  : 

"Old  Teddy  O'Rourke  kept  a  bit  of  a  school, 
At  a  place  called  Clanira,  and  made  it  a  rule, 
If  learnint,^  wouldn't  mark  the  mind,  faith,  he'd 

soon  mark  the  back. 
As   coming   down    on    the    boys    with   a  devilish 

whack." 

The  precinct  now  has  several  schoolhouses 
of  the  ordinary  kind  to  be  found  all  over  the 
county,  together  with  an  excellent  brick  in 
the  village  of  Alto  Pass. 

There  are  several  church  buildings  and 
organized  congregations  in  this  section. 
Beech  Grove  Cliristian  Church,  located  on 
Section  31,  was  organized  in  IVFarch,  1876, 
by  Elder  J.  H.  Ferrell,  who  was  its  pastor 
until  1882,  when  he  was  succeeded  in  that 
capacity  by  Elder  J.  H.  Haf  ris.  The  church 
has  about  forty- four  members,  and  a  frame 
church  building  erected  in  1878,  which  is 
24x36  feet  in  dimensions.  Most  of  its  mate- 
rial and  work  was  coniributed  by  the  mem- 
bers. A  Slmday  school  was  organized  the 
third  Sunday  in  April,  with  about  thirty -five 
members,  imder  the  superintendence  of  J.  C. 
Gregory. 


Union  Point  Christian  Church  was  organ- 
ized in  1881,  with  quite  a  large  membership. 
The  Toledo  Christian  Church  stood  in  Cob- 
den  Precinct.  Many  of  the  members  moved 
away,  some  died,  others  lived  far  from  the 
church;  and  thus  it  was  finally  abandoned, 
and  from  its  congregation  were  organized 
Beech  Grove,  Cobden  and  Union  Point 
Chiu'ches.  The  latter  bas  at  present  some 
sixty  members.  Elder  J.  H.  Harris  is  pastor 
in  charge.  They  have  no  church  building, 
but  use  the  schoolhouses.  A  Sunday  school 
in  connection  with  the  church  has  about  sixty 
children  in  legular  attendance  ;  D.  L.  An- 
derson is  Superintendent. 

Additional  to  the  churches  mentioned 
above,  there  is  a  Baptist  Church  on  Section 
26,  about  half  a  mile  from  where  Mountain 
Glen  Village  was  laid  out,  but  never  built  ; 
another  Baptist  Church  in  the  northeast  part 
of  Section  9,  and  a  Methodist  Church  on 
Section  21,  in  the  central  part  of  the  precinct. 
Of  these  churches,  however,  we  have  been 
unable  to  obtain  history. 

Village.—  Mto  Pass  Village  was  laid  out 
January  20,  1875,  by  James  C.  Brickender- 
fer,  and  is  situated  in  the  southwest  part  of 
Section  10,  on  the  St.  Louis  &  Cairo.  Nan-ow 
Guage  Railroad,  about  ten  miles  north  of 
Jonesboro.  The  place  was  originally  called 
Quetil  after  an  old  Frenchman  of  that  name, 
who  lived  on  the  hill  near  where  the  Alto 
House  stands.  The  railroad  called  the  station 
Alto  on  account  of  the  lofty  altitude  of  the 
spot  on  which  it  stands,  but  when  the  post 
office  was  established  so  much  of  the  mail  for 
this  place  went  to  Alton  that  the  word  Pass 
was  finally  added.  A  man  named  John  Cor- 
gan sold  goods  here  thirty -five  or  forty  years 
ago.  His  storehouse  and  residence  stood 
about  100  yards  west  of  Herrell's  brick 
store,  on  what  was  then  known  as  the  Jones- 
boro and  Brownsville  road — the   latter  place 


414 


HISTORY  OF  UNIOX  COUXTY. 


being  at  that  time  the  county  seat  of  Jackson 
County.  A  portion  of  the  Alto  House  was  a 
farmhouse.  These  three  houses  stood  upon 
the  site  of  Alto  Pass  when  it  was  laid  out  as 
a  village. 

The  first  business  house  built  after  the 
the  town  was  laid  out  was  put  up  by  A.  K. 
Ives,  a  son  of  Dr.  Ives,  of  Anna,  and  is  the 
house  in  which  the  post  office  is  now  kept. 
Ives  kept  a  small,  general  store.  Spann  & 
Rendleman  kept  the  first  store  of  "  huge  pro- 
portions." The  post  office  was  established 
about  1877-78,  and  H.  C.  Freeman  was  ap- 
pointed Postmaster.  He  was  succeeded  by 
George  H.  Staton,  and  he  by  E.  Lameson, 
the  present  incumbent. 

The  present  brick  schoolhouse  was  built  in 
1880,  at  a  cost  of  about  $2,700.  The  usual 
attendance  is  some  seventy  pupils;  two  teach- 
ers are  employed.  The  Baptist  Chm-ch  was 
commenced  in  1879,  and  is  a  frame  building. 
Elder  Alonzo  Durham  is  the  pastor.  A  Sun- 
day school  is  maintained  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  J.  J.  Anderson. 


Alto  Lodge,  No.  676,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was  in- 
stituted in  1880,  with  the  following  charter 
members:  Rev.  A.  Durham,  J.  J.  Keith, W. 
S.  Hanners,  F.  C.  Gay  and  A.  J.  Rendleman. 
The  first  officers  were  F.  C.  Gay,  N.  G. ;  A. 
J.  Rendleman,  V.  G. ;  T.  W.  Hawkins,  Sec- 
retary; and  J.  J.  Keith,  Treasm'er.  The 
membership  is  twenty-five,  officered  as  fol- 
lows: C.  C.  Rendleman,  N.  G. :  G.  W. 
James,  V.  G. ;  W.  S.  Watson,  R.  S. ;  and  A. 
J.  Rendleman,  Treasurer. 

Alto  Pass  was  incorporated  under  the  gen- 
eral law  of  the  State  in  1881.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  present  Board  of  Trustees:  F.  C. 
Gay,  President;  Willis  Rendlemaa,  Clerk: 
S.  H.  Spann,  Police  Magistrate;  and  Dr.  P. 
Mcllvain,  C.  C.  Rendleman,  C.  Jesseu,Hiram 
Norton  and  C.  B.  Holcomb.  The  business 
outlook  is  five  general  stores,  one  drug  store, 
one  millinery  store,  one  blacksmith  shop,  two 
cooper  shops,  one  lumber  yard,  two  hotels, 
etc.,  with  a  population  of  about  400  inhabit- 
ants. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 


RICH   PRECINCT— DESCRIPTION,    BOUNDARIES    AND   SURFACE    FEATURES-SETTLEMENT    OF   THE 

WHITES— WHERE   THEY   CAME    FROM  AND  WHERE  THEY  LOCATED  — LICK    CREEK    POST 

OFFICE— SCHOOLS    AND    CHURCHES— CAVES,    SULPHUR    SPRINGS,    ETC.,    ET(  . 


"  The  rocks  and  hills  and  brooks  and  vales, 
With  milk  and  honey  flow." 

— Old  Hymn. 

EICH  PRECINCT  lies  in  the  northeast 
part  of  Union  County,  and  is  a  fractional 
part  of  Township  11  south,  Range  1  east,  in 
the  Government  survey — some  seven  sections 
having  been,  in  1881,  stricken  off  in  the  for- 
mation of  Saratoga  Precinct.  Some  of  the 
finest  farming  and  fruit-growing  lands  in  the 


*By  W.  H.  Perriu. 


county  are  found  in  this  precinct.  There  is 
a  range  of  bluffs  bordering  Lick  Creek,  but 
beyond  these  hills  to  the  north  and  northeast 
is  a  fine  table-land,  unsurpassed  in  Southern 
Illinois  for  its  agricultural  excellence,  and  is 
occupied  by  a  set  of  thrifty  and  enterprising 
farmers.  Corn  and  wheat  are  chiefly  pro- 
duced, but  considerable  attention  is  also  paid 
to  fruit  culture — particularly  to  apples  and 
peaches.  Many  farmers,  too,  devote  some 
attention  to  stock-raising,  a  business   that  is 


HISTORY  OF  UXION  COUNTY. 


41 0 


becoming  of  more  interest  every  year.  Horses 
and  mules  are   bred  now  quite  extensively, 
and    large    numbers    find    their  way  to    the  | 
Southern  markets  annually.      The  principal  [ 
water-course  is  Lick  Creek,  which  flows  from  j 
northwest    to  southeast,  nearly  through  the 
center   of    the    precinct,  aflbrding    excellent 
drainage   to    the   section   through    which  it 
passes.      It  has  but  few  tributaries,  and  they 
are  small  and  nameless  on  the  maps.      There 
are  a  number  of    springs  which    furnish  an 
abundance  of  water  both   for  family  use  and 
for  stock.       The  original  timber  was  chiefly 
black  and   white  oak,  hickory,  poplar,  gum, 
■dogwood,  sassafras,  etc.,  etc.       The  precinct 
is    without   railroads;  the    Illinois    Central, 
however,  passing  within  a  few  miles  of  its 
borders.       It  is  bounded  on   the    north  and 
east  by  Williamson   and  Johnson  Counties; 
on  the    south  by  Stokes   and  Saratoga  Pre- 
cincts; on  the  west  by  Saratoga   and  South 
Pass  Precincts,  and  had  a  population  in  1880 
of  1,387  souls.    When  the  county  was  formed 
into  precincts,  the  name    "  Rich "    was   be- 
stowed on  this  in  honor  of  George  Rich,  one 
of  the  early  settlers,  whose  house  used  to  be 
the  polling  place,  where  the  people  exercised 
their  rights  of  franchise  and  cast  their  "  un- 
terrified "  votes  for  the  men  of  their  choice. 
The  settlement  of  Rich  Precinct  dates  back 
many  years.     The  first  entry  of  land  made  in 
what  is   now  Union  County  was    in    Section 
33  of    this  precinct,  and   was    made    by  one 
Thomas    D.  Patterson   in  1814.      We  cannot 
«ay    what    became  of  Patterson,   indeed,  we 
know  but  little  of  him  anyway,  but  can    say 
that  the  land  was  eventually   sold   for  taxes. 
Among  the  first  settlers  of  whom  we  have  any 
definite  information  were  Zebadee  Anderson, 
James  Lilly  and  a  man   named  Owen.      An- 
derson was  from  North  Carolina,  and  was  a 
genuine  pioneer — as  good  a  citizen  as  a  man 
ignorant  and  illiterate  could  be.     When  the 


railroad  was  built,  believing  that  his  occupa- 
tion (of  hunting)  like  Othello's,  was  gone, 
he  sold  out  and  moved  to  Texas,  because,  as 
he  said,  the  road  would  ruin  the  country — 
would  drive  all  the  game  away  if  nothing 
more  disastrous  followed.  He  went  to  Texas 
where  there  was  then  but  little  probability  of 
a  railroad  for  the  nest  100  years,  but  if  liv- 
ing still,  doubtless  the  iron-horse  has  again 
disturbed  his  tranquillity  and  driven  him  fur- 
ther on  toward  the  setting  sun.  It-  is  not 
known  what  year  Anderson  settled  here,  but 
probably  it  was  as  early  as  1830,  or  there- 
aboats.  Owen  was  a  man  similar  in  many 
respects  to  Anderson.  He  was  related  to 
him,  and  settled  in  that  portion  of  the  pre- 
cinct now  included  in  Saratoga.  He  died 
before  the  railroad  had  a  chance  to  give  him 
a  scare,  but  his  sons  sold  out  their  possessions 
here  and  followed  Anderson  to  Texas  in  pur- 
suit of  game  and  wilderness  life.  Lilly  set 
tied  on  Section  21,  and  was  from  either  Ten- 
nessee or  North  Carolina,  from  whence  came 
most  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  county.  He 
is  still  living,  a  prosperous  and  eQterprising 
farmer. 

George  Rich,  for  whom  the  precinct  was 
named,  settled  here  in  1 835.  He  was  a  rather 
prominent  man  in  the  early  history  of  this 
portion  of  the  county.  His  house  was  an 
early  voting  place,  and  the  scene  of  many  a 
"rough  and  tumble  scrimmage,"  political 
and  otherwise.  Edward  Wiggs  was  also  an 
early  settler  on  Section  34,  and  is  still  living, 
a  well-to-do  farmer  and  worthy  citizen. 

The  next  settlements  were  made  from  1846 
on  down  to  the  period  when  the  last  of  the 
Government  land  was  entered.  Of  settlers 
who  came  in  about  this  time,  we  may  mention 
the  Brookses,  Elmores,  A.  W.  Coleman,  John 
Cochran,  William  Roberts,  Thomas  Gallegly, 
the Hineses,Hopki uses,  Thomas  Goiu-ley,  etc., 
etc.      Tilford  Brooks  settled   on    Section  15, 


416 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


and  is  still  living  there.     Elijah  Brooks  was 
his  brother  and  settled  on  the   same  section. 
He  is  dead,  but  has  two  sons  still    living  in 
the  vicinity.      William    Elmore  settled   pre- 
viously   to     1850   on    Section     17;    he    died 
recently,  but  a  son,  William  B.  Elmore,  lives 
upon  the  same  section.     The  place  on  which 
the  elder   Elmore  settled  is    now  owned  by 
Mr.  J.  W.  Damron.     Mr.  Roberts  came  about 
the  same  time    that  the   Brookses  did.     H« 
settled  on  Section  27,  and  is    still  living,   a 
prosperous,  but  somewhat  eccentric  man.   He 
is  said  to   be  morally  opposed  to  voting — be- 
lieving it  to  be  radically  wa'ong.     Indeed,  he 
is  a  very  paragon  of  sincerity    and  punctil- 
iousness, and  entertains  conscientious  scruples 
against  serving    as    a   witness    in    court,  or 
taking  an  oath  for  any  purpose.      John  Coch- 
ran  came  before   the   railroad   whistle    dis- 
turbed the  cattle  grazing  upon  the  surround- 
ing hills.     He  settled    on    Section  28,  but  at 
present  lives  in  the    vicinity  of  Carbondale. 
He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intelli- 
gence, but   was    wholly  uneducated — a  dia- 
mond in  the  rough.      He  represented  Union 
County  in  the  Legislature,  in   the  session  of 
1852-54,  and  took  an  active    interest    in  the 
politics  of  the  day.      He  was  the  tirst  station 
ao-ent  of    the   Illinois    Central    Railroad    at 
Anna,  but  his  services  were  tinally  dispensed 
with,  owing  to  his    incapacity  for   the  busi- 
ness.    He  was  a  popular  man,  and  could  have 
been  elected  President  of  the  United    States 
if  such  an  honor  could  have  been    conferred 
by  Union   County.     Gallegly    settled    about 
the  time  Brooks  died,  and  entered   a   part  of 
Section  34.     He  is  still   living,  and  is  a  man 
highly  respected,  a  thrifty  farmer,  and  a  good 
citizen,  and  Township  Treasurer  for  several 
years.      The  Hineses  and  the  Hopkinses  are  a 
numerous  family,  and  settled  here  about  the 
time  the  Brookses  came.      Gourley  bought  out 
Anderson,  and  is  one  of  the    wealthiest  men 


in  the  precinct.  He  came  in  about  the  time 
of  building  the  railroad,  and  is  still  living,  a 
respected  and  thoroughly  enterprising  man. 
The  foregoing  comprises  a  brief  sketch  of 
the  settlement  of  Rich  Precinct,  but  doubt- 
less many  names  have  been  overlooked  which 
are  entitled  to  honorable  mention.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  fault  of  the  historian,  as 
the  most  diligent  inquiries  have  been  made 
to  collect  the  names  of  all  of  the  early  set- 
tlers, together  with  pioneer  incidents  and 
facts  of  interest  pertaining  to  the  early  set- 
tlement of  this  immediate  locality.  The 
carving  of  a  home  in  the  forests  of  Rich 
Precinct  was  a  herculean  task,  and  one  from 
which  most  of  us  would  shrink  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  Wolves  and  panthers  were  plenty 
here  when  the  whites  first  came,  and  roamed 
in  undisputed  mastery.  Provisions,  except 
game,  were  scarce,  and  were  procm:ed  with 
difficulty.  None  of  the  luxuries,  and  few  of 
the  comforts  of  life  could  be  obtained  during 
the  first  years,  and  miserable  cabins  were  the 
only  shelter  of  the  people  who  settled  the 
precinct.  Truly,  their  lives  in  those  days 
were  not  pleasant,  or  in  the  least  enviable. 

The  nearest  approach  to  a  village  in  Rich 
Precinct  is  Lick  Creek  Post  Office.  It  com- 
prises a  store,  post  office,  a  mill,  and,  per- 
haps, half  a  dozen  dwellings.  The  first 
store  here  was  kept  by  Mangum  &  Gourley. 
They  have  been  succeeded  by  Gourley  &  Son, 
who  have  a  large  store,  and  do  quite  an  ex- 
tensive business.  A  post  office  was  estab- 
lished here  many  years  ago,  and  Gourley 
was  the  tirst  Postmaster.  Charles  Gourley 
is  the  present  incumbent.  This,  with  the 
mill  and  a  shop  or  two,  comprises  the  busi- 
ness. 

Union  Lodge,  No.  627,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  was 
organized  in  1806,  with  the  following  char- 
ter members:  John  Gardner,  Master;  Edwin 
Wiggins,    Senior    Warden;     Jesse   Roberts, 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


41' 


Junior  Warden;  and  James  Brooks.  A.  L 
Penninger,  William  A.  Roberts,  Henry  C. 
Anderson  and  Thomas  Hines.  In  1872,  in 
connection  with  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  on  Section  34.  a  large  two-story 
frame  building  was  erected,  the  lower  por- 
tion for  chiu'ch  purposes,  and  the  upper 
story  for  a  hall.  The  cost  to  the  lodge  was 
$700  in  building,  and  $100  in  fiu*nishing  it. 
They  have  about  thirty  members,  and  Edwin 
Wiggins  is  the  present  Master. 

Evergreen  Lodge,  No.  581,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was 
instituted  in  1876,  with  the  following  charter 
members:  A.  L.  Penninger,  Isaac  M.  New- 
ton, J.  C.  Cook,  Evans  Stokes,  John  T.  New- 
ton and  F.  E.  Scarsdale.  The  first  officers 
were:  A.  L.  Penninger;  N.  G. ;  Isaac  M. 
Newton,  V.  G. ;  J.  C.  Cook,  Secretary,  and 
F.  E.  Scarsdale,  Treasurer.  The  lodge  met 
at  Masonic  Hall,  four  miles  northeast  of 
Saratoga,  until  1882,  when  it  took  possession 
of  a  new  hall  at  Lick  Creek  Post  Office,  where 
it  still  flourishes,  with  a  membership  of 
about  thirty.  The  present  officers  are  as  fol- 
lows: Matthew  Brooks,  N.  G;  W.  M.  Murphy, 
V.  G.;  W.  Gibson,  Secretary,  and  Joseph 
Kirby,  Treasurer. 

The  subject  of  education  received  the  early 
attention  of  the  settlers  of  the  precinct,  but 
it  is  not  certain  now  who  taught  the  first 
school,  nor  the  date.  It  is  believed  that  the 
first  schoolhouse  built  was  the  one  near  A.  J. 
Mangum's,  on  Section  34,  but  which  has  now 
disa])peared.  There  are  some  four  or  five 
schoolhovises  in  the  precinct,  and  while  they 
are  moi-e  comfortable,  perhaps,  than  those  in 
which  the  pioneers  went  to  school,  yet  they 
are  scarcely  up  to  the  standard  of  school - 
houses  of  the  present  day,  nor  does  it  seem 
that  education  receives  that  meed  of  atten- 
tion which  its  importance  demands.  Schools 
«re    taught  in  each    district    yearly,  but  the 


terms  are  usually  shorter  than  in  most  other 
sections  of  the  State. 

Rich  Precinct  is  well  supplied  with  church 
facilities.  Fellowship  Christian  Church  is 
one  of  the  oldest  in  the  precinct,  and  was 
organized  before  the  war,  by  Elders  Treese 
and  Elmore.  It  became  almost  extinct  at 
one  time,  and  about  1869-70  it  was  revived 
under  the  preaching  of  Elders  Fly  and  Reed. 
The  regular  preachers  have  been  Elders 
Treese,  Elmore,  Fly,  Reed  and  Walker. 
Elder  Reed  is  the  present  pastor.  They  first 
worshiped  in  the  schoolhouse,  but  about 
eight  years  ago  they  built  a  log  church  where 
they  now  hold  services.  A  Sunday  school  is 
usually  kept  up  during  the  summer   months. 

Liberty  Christian  Church,  on  Section  6, 
was  organized  in  1861-62,  with  about  a 
dozen  members,  who  lived  in  this  settlement, 
but  belonged  to  the  old  Union  Christian 
Church,  and  on  account  partly  of  their  re- 
moteness from  it.  and  partly  on  account  of 
political  differences,  this  church  was  organ- 
ized, and  has  since  continued  to  gain  steadily 
in  strength  until  now  it  has  seventy-five 
members.  Most  of  the  original  ones  ai'e 
dead.  The  Church  was  first  organized  in  the 
Culp  Schoolhouse,  and  among  the  early  pas- 
tors were  old  Father  Hiller,  the  first  expo- 
nent of  the  Christian.  Church's  doctrine  in 
this  part  of  the  State.  When  the  school 
district  was  divided,  the  church  was  re-organ- 
ized at  the  present  place  by  Father  Hiller 
and  Elder  Reed,  the  former  being  the  first 
pastor  of  the  new  organization.  The  church 
and  school  together  erected  the  house,  which 
is  used  by  both.  Elders  Winchester,  Phelps, 
Walker  and  Smalley  have  all  preached  to 
the  congregation.  Elder  Reed  is  the  present 
pastor;  a  Sunday  school  is  maintained  dur- 
ing the  Slimmer. 

Mount  Hebi'on  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  on  Section  13,  was  organized  in  1870 


418 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


At  that  time  there  was  but  a  few  members  of 
that  faith  in  the  community.  Kev.  Jordan, 
then  of  Anna,  came  out,  and  the  people  erected 
a  brush  arbor,  and  he  preached  to  them,  and 
organized  a  church  with  some  eighteen  mem- 
bers. He  preached  until  1880,  and  since 
then  Rev.  John  H.  Morphus,  now  of  Anna, 
has  administered  to  them.  The  present 
membership  is  24.  In  1879,  the  members 
built  a  neat  hewed-log  house  24x36  feet.  A 
Sunday  school  was  organized  in  1880,  with 
aboxit  sixty  members,  aud  with  Joseph  H. 
Montgomery  as  Superintendent. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
which  now  worships  in  the  neat  temple  on 
Section  34,  was  originally  organized  in  the 
Barringer  Schoolhouse,  about  eighteen  years 
ago.  by  Rev.  Mr.  Davis.  There  was  but  a 
small  membership,  among  which  were  Larkin 
Brooks  and  wife,  Benjamin  Keller  and  wife, 
Thomas  Gallegly,  Elizabeth  Roberts,  D. 
Lattimer  and  wife,  L.  Lattimer  and  wife, 
James  Proctor,  Marshall  Coleman,  etc.  They 
held  services  in  the  schoolhouse  for  some 
years,  when  it  was  bui'ned,  then  during  the 
following  summer  they  worshiped  in  a 
grove  where  the  schoolhouse  had  stood.  A  log 
church  was  built  soon  after,  just  across  the 
road,  where  the  Union  Hall  now  stands,  which 
served  them  until,  in  connection  with  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  they  biiilt  the  Union 
Hall,  some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago.  The 
church  meets  in  the  lower  room  of  this  build- 
ing, and  the  Masons  in  the  upper  story,  and 
thus,  they  "dwell  together  in  unity."  ' 

Liberty  United  Brethren  Church  was  or 
ganized  in  1873,  with  about  thirty  members, 
by  Rev.  W.  Quickley,  who  was  its  pastor  for 
about  two  years.  Rev.  S.  G.  Brock  was  the 
next  pastor,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Joseph  Simpson,  and  he  by  Rev.  D.  Gray. 
Rev.  R.  Powell  came  next  and  was  succeeded 
by  Rev.  J.  L.  Miller,  the  present  pastor,  who 


has  been  with  the  church  for  three  years. 
The  present  membership  is  50;  a  good  sub- 
stantial  frame  church,  30x40  feet,  was  erected 
about  seven  years  ago.  A  Sunday  school 
was  organized  soon  after  the  chm'ch,  and  has 
now  about  eighty  in  attendance.  It  is  usually 
discontinued  dui'ing  the  winter. 

Union  German  Baptist  Church  was  organ- 
ized in  the  spring  of  1882,  by  Elders  John 
Wise  and  John  Metzger.  Tbey  have  no 
church  building,  but  hold  their  meetings 
mostly  in  private  residences,  and  in  the  El- 
more Schoolhouse.  Elder  George  Landis  is 
the  present  minister  in  charge.  The  original 
members  were  about  a  dozen,  and  the  church 
is  flourishing  for  a  new  organization. 

Among  the  natural  curiosities  of  this 
neighborhood,  is  a  caveon  the  old  Lilly  farm, 
now  owned  by  George  Hines.  It  is  in  the 
sandstone  rock,  the  entrance  to  which  is  at 
the  l^ase  of  a  high  bluff,  rising  from  Lick 
Creek,  and  is  covered  by  bushes  so  dense  that 
the  chance,  passer-by  would  not  be  likely  to 
discover  it.  The  opening  to  the  cave  is  so 
small  it  can  only  be  entered  with  difficulty. 
When  once  inside,  the  explorer  tinds  himself 
in  a  cavern  some  30x50  feet,  with  ceiling 
six  or  seven  feet  high,  and  a  floor  of  very 
hard  clay.  Leading  from  this  cavern  is  a 
small"  passage-way,  which,  like  a  certain  one 
in  the  great  Mammoth  Cave,  might  be  termed 
the  "fat  man's  misery,"  for  it  can  only  be 
traversed  by  "snaking"  it,  that  is,  laying 
down  and  crawling  some  twenty  feet,  when 
another  cavern  is  reached,  about  half  as  large 
as  the  first.  From  this,  many  others  branch 
off  in  different  directions,  and  these  again 
divide  into  many  others,  fairly  honey-comb- 
ing the  earth  for  a  large  space.  Many  of 
these  rooms  or  apartments  are  rather  beauti- 
ful, and  innumerable  stalactites  are  pendant 
from  the  ceiling,  clear  and  transparent  as 
icicles.      Through  the  second  cavern  flows  a 


HISTORl'  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


419 


stream  of  poi-e,  clear  water,  and  beside  it  the 
temperature  remains  the  same  the  year 
around.  Bear  tracks  in  the  hard  clay  of  the 
floor  are  plenty,  and  as  plain  as  if  freshly 
made,  instead  of  being  made  years  ago. 

There  are  many  springs  in  this  portion  of 
the  county,  which  are  believed  to  possess 
medicinal  properties.  Besides  the  one  at 
Saratoga  village,  described  in  another  chap- 
ter, there  is  another  in  this  precinct,  about 
half  a  mile  from  Lick  Creek  Post  Office,  in  a 
low,  flat  piece  of  ground  near  a  branch  of 
Lick  Creek,  and  the  water  is  very  similar  to 
the  Saratoga  spring.  Dr.  Penoyer  bought 
the  land  on  which  it  is,  about  the  time  his 
hopes  were  highest  in  regard  to  making  a 
fortune  at  Saratoga.  He  never  did  anything 
toward  improving  this  spring;  the  land  was 
mortgaged  and  afterward  sold.  It  now  be- 
longs to  the  H.  Miller  heirs,  and  the  spring 
remains  as  nature  left  it. 

But  few  mills  have  ever  been  built  in  this 
precinct.  In  the  early  days  of  improving 
this  section,  the  people  had  mostly  to  go  to 
other  neighborhoods  for  their  breadstufi"s. 
A  horse  mill  was  erected  a  good  manv  vears 


ago  on  the  Cochran  place,  which  is  said  to 
be  the  only  mill  ever  in  the  precinct,  until 
the  ei-ection  of  the  steam  mill  at  Lick  Creek 
Post  Office.  The  latter  is  both  a  grist  and 
saw  mill,  and  does  a  large  business. 

The  precinct  is  as  well  supplied  with  roads 
as  any  portion  of  the  county,  but  this  is  not 
saying  much,  when  we  come  to  compare  the 
roads  and  highways  with  more  level  sections 
of  the  State.  With  as  much  stone  as  there 
is  in  Union  County,  there  might  be,  with 
comparatively  trifling  expense,  excellent 
turnpike  roads,  at  least,  between  all  im- 
portant points.  Nothing  adds  so  much  to 
the  prosperity  and  importance  of  a  country 
as  good  roads  and  highways  of  travel,  with 
substantial  bridges  spanning  the  streams. 
As  Rich  Precinct  has  no  railroad,  it  should 
devote  a,ll  the  more  time,  attention  and 
money  to  its  wagon  roads.  A  good  turnpike 
road  to  some  eligible  point  on  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  would  soon  pay  the  people 
for  building  it,  in  saving  the  wear  and  tear 
of  wagons  and  teams,  as  well  as  in  many 
other  wavH. 


CHAPTER   XIX 


STOKES    PRECINCT  — TOPOGRAI'HV    AND    BOUNDARIES  — COMING    OF    THE    Pin^EERS —  THEIR 
TRIALS    AND    TRIRULATIONS-MILLS  AND  OTHER   IMPROVEMKNTS— M<  >UNT  PLEAS- 
ANT   LAID    OUT    AS    A  VILLAGE— CHURCH  KS,  SCHOOLS,  ETC.,   ETC. 


"  God  made  the  countrj^  and  man  made  the  town." 

— COWPER. 

STOKES  PRECINCT  is  a  fractional  part 
of  Township  12  south,  Range  1  east.  Sec- 
tions 4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9  and  17  and  18  having 
been  stricken  off  in  the  formation  of  Sara- 
toga Precinct  a  few  years  ago.   It  is  boiinded 

*By  W.  H.  Perrin. 


north  by  Saratoga  and  Rich  Precincts,  east 
by  Johnson  County,  south  by  Dongola  Pre- 
cinct, west  by  Anna  Precinct,  and  by  the 
census  of  1880  it  reported  a  population  of 
1,220  inhabitants.  The  surface  is  rolling 
and  uneven,  and  along  the  water- coiu'ses 
quite  broken  and  hilly.  The  j^rincipal 
streams    are  Cache,   Cypress    and  Bradshaw 


420 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


Creeks,  and  a  few  other  small  brooks  of  no 
significance,  except  as  a  means  of  drainage. 
Cache  Creek,  the  most  important  stream, 
flows  nearly  east  and  west  through  the  cen- 
ter of  the  precinct,  receiving  as  a  tributary 
Bradshaw  Creek,  which  empties  into  it  in 
Section  16.  Cypress  Creek  passes  through 
the  southwest  corner  into  Dongola  Precinct. 
The  timber  growth  was  originally  poplar, 
oak,  walnut,  hickory,  gum,  dogwood,  etc. 
Stokes  is  entirely  without  railroad  communi- 
cation, and  must  haul  its  produce  to  the 
Illinois  Central.  It  is  a  good  farming 
region,  and  can  boast  of  some  of  the  best 
farms  and  most  enterprising  farmers  in  the 
county.  Corn  and  wheat  are  the  principal 
crops:  considerable  stock  is  also  raised, 
mostly  horses  and  mules.  Sheep  would  do 
well  here,  but  so  far,  little  attention  has 
been  paid  to  raising  them  as  a  source  of 
profit. 

The  Stokes  family  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  first  white  people  in  what  is  now 
Stokes  Precinct,  and  for  them  the  precinct 
was  named.  The  progenitor  of  this  numer- 
ous family  was  John  Stokes,  who  came  from 
Kentucky,  and  who  was  not  only  an  early 
settler  here,  but  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
the  county.  He  is  believed  to  have  come  to 
this  region  about  1810-11,  settling  in  Sec- 
tion 24,  a  neighborhood  which  has  always 
been  known  as  the  Stokes'  settlement.  The 
name  is  not  yet  extinct  in  the  community, 
by  any  means.  Matthew  Stokes,  a  son  of 
John  Stokes,  represented  the  county  in  the 
Lower  House  of  the  Legislature  ia  the  ses- 
sions of  lcS46-48.  He  was  a  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  intelligence,  a  good  farmer, 
and  an  honorable  citizen.  He  died  about 
two  years  ago,  sincerely  regretted  by  a  large 
circle  of  friends.  Other  members  of  the 
Stokes  family  were  Jones,  Evan,  John  Allen 
and   Thomas   Stokes.      The    Standai-ds    and 


Thomas  Gore  came  about  the  same  time  the 
Stokeses  did,  and  were  from  North  Carolina. 
The  Craigs,  the  Bridges,  Swinton  Gui-ley 
and  D.  W.  Gore  came  a  few  years  later. 

John  McGinnis,  an  Irishman,  born  in  Ten- 
nessee, came  to  the  county  soon  after  Stokes, 
and  settled  near  him  on  Section  27,  where 
he  opened  up  a  farm.  He  died  several  years 
ago,  bat  has  numerous  descendants  still  liv- 
ing in  the  county.  He  was  the  first  black- 
smith in  the  precinct.  John  Bradshaw  came 
very  early,  and  was  from  Tennessee  or  North 
Carolina.  He  took  up  a  tract  of  land  in  Sec- 
tion 9,  which  is  incladed  in  the  present  pre- 
cinct of  Saratoga.  He  was  a  prominent 
farmer,  and  his  house  was  the  voting  place 
for  that  section  of  the  country  ;  also  the 
"  muster  place  "  for  the  annual  drilling  of 
the  "Cornstalk"  militia,  and  the  scene  of 
many  of  the  primitive  sports,  including  fist- 
fights,  knock  downs,  whisky-di'inking,  etc. 
His  children  are  mostly  dead,  oi*  have  moved 
away,  but  Bradshaw  Creek  pei-petuates  the 
name  of  the  family.  John  Pickrill  came 
here  about  1835,  and  was  from  Tennessee.  A 
man  named  Sivia,  from  Tennessee  or  Ken- 
tucky, was  among  the  early  settlers.  A  son, 
John  F.,  now  lives  in  the  neighborhood  and 
is  a  thrifty  farmer.  Philip  Corbett  settled 
on  Cache  Creek  in  an  early  day,  and  has  two 
sons  still  living  there  who  are  prosperous  and 
growing  wealthy. 

Among  the  very  early  settlers  was  Caleb 
Musgrave,  who  came  from  North  Carolina, 
probably  as  early  as  1820.  He  kept  an  inn 
near  Mount  Pleasant,  which  was  the  general 
stopping  place  between  Jonesboro  and 
Vienna.  For  many  years,  he  was  Postmaster 
and  a  • '  star  route  "  contractor.  He  is  dead, 
and  most  of  his  descendants  are  dead  or 
moved  away.  Thomas  Boswell  settled  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  precinct  between  1835 
and    1840    and    is    still    living.     Dr.    F.    E. 


z_^ 


.^t^^  .  ^A'-M.^, 


HISTORY  OF  UXIOX  COUNTY 


423 


Scarsdale,  from  Ohio,  came  rather  early,  and 
is  still  an  enterprising  citizen  of  the  county. 
O.  W.  Penninger  settled  in  Section  30.  He 
was  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  in  the  late 
•"discussion"  between  the  States  ;  has  been 
a  County  Commissioner  and  a  prominent  man 
generally.  A  brother,  William  Penninger, 
is  also  an  influential  citizen.  J.  M.  Toler, 
and  several  others  of  the  Tolers — all  from 
North  Carolina — settled  iu  Section  29.  The 
family  has  not  decreased  in  numbers,  and  now 
comprises  one  of  the  most  numerous  in  the 
county.  Peter  Verble  was  an  early  settler  in 
the  southwest  part  of  the  precinct.  The 
Verbles  are  also  a  numerous  family  in  this 
section. 

The  only  regular  negro  settlement  in  the 
county  is  in  this  precinct.  Arthur  Allen,  a 
wandering  son  of  "  Afric's  golden  strand," 
was  among  the  early  settlers  here.  He  has 
gathered  around  him  a  number  of  his  people, 
thus  forming  quite  a  colony  of  the  '  'bone 
of  contention  "  between  the  North  and  the 
South. 

But  the  settlement  of  the  precinct  grew 
and  increased,  until  all  the  unoccupied  lands 
were  taken  up.  Families  came  in  so  fast 
that  further  record  of  their  settlement  can- 
not be  made  with  certainty.  It  was  hard 
living  for  years  after  the  white  people  took 
possession  of  the  country.  Wild  game  fur- 
nished them  meat,  but  other  "  eatables " 
were  not  so  easily  obtained.  Mills  were  of 
the  rudest  kind,  and  to  go  ten  and  twenty 
miles  to  a  hoz'semill  was  not  uncommon. 

The  first  road  through  the  precinct  was 
from  Jonesboro  to  Vienna  and  was  probably 
laid  out  about  1815.  The  old  Elvira  road 
touches  this  precinct.  The  Mount  Pleasant 
and  Golconda  road  was  laid  out  before  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  was  built,  and  was 
once  quite  an  important  thoroughfare. 

A  number  of  saw  and  grist  mills  have  been 


erected  in  the  precinct  since  its  first  settle- 
ment. John  Stokes  built  a  saw  and  grist 
mill  on  Cache  Creek  more  than  fifty  years 
ago,  and  has  long  since  passed  away.  Calvin 
Beard  and  J.  Throckmorton  put  up  a  saw 
mill  very  early,  on  land  now  owned  by  the 
Yost  heirs.  A  grist  mill  run  by  horse-power 
was  built  by  Durley  on  the  land  owned  now 
by  John  McLane,  a  mill  much  patronized  by 
the  early  settlers.  Peter  and  Tobias  Verble 
each  put  up  hoi'se  mills,  and  afterward  added 
machinery  for  making  flour.  Peter  Verble, 
Sr..  put  up  a  water  mill  on  Big  Creek,  which 
ground  both  wheat  and  corn. 

Mount  Pleasant  Village  was  laid  out  in  the 
year  1858  by  Caleb  Musgrave  and  Abner  Cox, 
but  never  amounted  to  much  as  a  town,  and 
but  few  lots  were  sold.  It  is  located  on  the 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  23  and  the  north- 
west quarter  of  Section  26,  and  the  plat  was 
filed  for  record  April  9,  1858.  It  consists  of 
a  store,  post  office,  saw  mill,  a  church  and  a 
few  residences.  The  land  upon  which  the 
town  was  laid  out  was  entered  originally  by 
the  father  of  Abner  Cox,  who  came  from 
North  Carolina  with  Caleb  Musgrave.  The 
first  store  was  kept  by  Thomas  Boswell  on  his 
farm  before  the  town  was  laid  out.  A  man 
named  Black  opened  a  store  in  Mount  Pleas- 
ant, probably  the  first,  and  was  subsequently 
succeeded  by  Leavenworth  &  Little.  Mr. 
Stokes  took  charge  of  it  in  1869,  and  oper- 
ated it  for  eight  years,  and  then  sold  it  to 
John  Brown,  and  some  time  after  it  was 
burned.  Mr.  Stokes  then  erected  f^  two-story 
brick  storehouse,  and  together  with  J.  W. 
Ramsey  carries  on  a  large,  general  store;  the 
upper  story  is  used  as  a  public  hall. 

Calvin  M.  Beach  was  a  pioneer  school 
teacher  of  the  precinct.  J.  H.  Samsou  was 
also  an  early  teacher.  The  precinct  is  sup- 
plied with  comfortable  schoolhouses  in  each 
neighborhood,  where  competent  teachers  are 


424 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


employed  to  iustruct  the  rising   generation. 

The  precinct  is  well  supplied  with 
churches,  and  if  the  people  are  not  religious 
it  is  their  own  fault.  In  the  early  days,  the 
pioneers  erected  a  number  of  board  tents  on 
Section  19,  and  there  held  camp  meetings 
until  about  the  year  1850,  when  the  Presby- 
terians put  up  a  log  cabin  on  the  same  site, 
and  which  is  still  known  as  the  "camp- 
ground." The  first  members  of  this  organi- 
zation were  George  Hileman  and  wife,  John 
Hileman  and  wife,  James  Lingle  and  wife, 
William  Standard  and  wife, Daniel  Standard 
and  wife,  Woods  Hamilton  and  wife,  James 
Alexander  and  a  Mr.  McAllen  and  wife.  In 
1878,  a  frame  church  was  erected,  33x46  feet, 
at  a  cost  of  $1,500.  A  hall  was  added  as  a 
second  story,  in  which  public  meetings  are 
sometimes  held.  It  was  at  one  time  occupied 
by  a  Grand  Lodge.  The  church  organization 
now  numbers  about  100  members,  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  Rev.  John  Morphes.  An 
active  Sunday  school  is  kept  up,  of  which 
Mr.  L.  T.  Lingle  is  Superintendent. 

A  cemetery  was  laid  off  adjacent  in  1854, 
on  the  land  of  George  Hileman.  The  fii'st 
persons  buried  there  were  a  son  and  daugh- 
ter of  his  in  1836,  nearly  twenty  years  before 
it  was  laid  out  as  a  cemetery. 

The  Musgraves.  Coxes,  Boswells  and 
Beards  organized  a  Universalist  Church,  prob- 
ably the  first  church  formed  in  the  precinct. 
The  log  cabin  used  as  their  place  of  worship 


now  stands  on  Morgan  Stokes'  farm.  Revs. 
Calvin  Beard  and  Harris,  a  native  of  Mis- 
souri, used  to  preach  he'-e. 

A  Baptist  Church  was  organized  south  of 
Mount  Pleasant  very  early,  and  was  desig- 
nated Cypress  Church.  Among  the  early  mem- 
bers were  Swinton  Gurley,  Jesse  Toler,  John 
Kotrux,  John  McGinnis  and  Rev.  John 
Walker. 

Rev,  William  Standard  organized  a  Presby- 
terian Church  on  what  is  now  the  farm  of 
F.  M.  Henard.  In  this  building,  a  famous 
pioneer  temperance  lecturer  named  John  Lit- 
tlejohn  organized  quite  a  flourishing  society. 
Thomas  Boswell  was  then  operating  a  distil- 
lery in  the  vicinity,  and  although,  in  that 
day,  whisky-making  was  not  looked  upon  as 
such  a  disreputable  business  as  it  is  at 
the  pi'esent  day,  yet  Mr.  Boswell  was  con- 
vinced of  the  "  error  of  his  ways,"  shut 
down  his  distillery,  and  became  an  enthusi- 
astic temperance  worker.  Many  of  the  in- 
habitants were  exceedingly  hostile  to  the 
society,  and  being  inceosed  at  Boswell  for 
closing  his  gin-factory,  it  was  feared  that 
Mr.  Littlejohn  would  be  foully  dealt  with  in 
going  to  Jonesboro  after  giving  his  first  lect- 
ure here,  and  to  prevent  violence  many  of 
the  new  temperance  converts  accompanied 
him  on  his  way  as  a  body-guard.  No  indig- 
nity, however,  to  the  honor  of  the  people  be 
it  said,  was  offered  him,  and  he  reached  his 
destination  in  safety. 


HISTORY   OF   UNION   (  OUNTY. 


425 


CHAPTER   XX. 


SAMATOGA    PHECINCT— ITS  FOKMATIOX   ANU   DESCRIPTION— TOPOGRAPHY.  PHYSICAL  Fr.ATUHi:S, 

ETC.— EARLY  SETTLEMENT— THE   WILD    MAN    OF   THE  WOODS— MILLS— SARATOGA 

VILLAGE  — SULPHUR     SPRINGS  — AN     INCIDENT  —  ROADS    AND 

BRIDGES— SCHOOLS,    CHURCHES.    ETC.,    ETC. 


TO  define  the  shape  of  Saratoga  Precinct, 
and  give  to  it  a  technical  name  would 
puzzle  an  expert.  Its  boundaries  might  very 
aptly  be  described  as  "lying  around  loose."  It 
was  formed  in  September,  1881,  as  a  matter 
of  convenience  to  the  "sturdy  yeomanry"  who 
preferred  casting  their  votes  elsewhere  than 
going  to  the  distant  polling  places  as  had 
been  their  wont.  It  contains  twenty  seven 
Sections  or  square  miles,  and  was  takpn, 
respectively,  from  the  precincts  of  Eich, 
Stokes,  Anna  and  Cobden,  and  is  bounded, 
geographically,  by  these  divisions  of  the 
county.  The  surface  is  generally  hilly  and 
uneven,  but  well  adapted,  notwithstanding, 
to  agricultural  purposes.  The  land  is  drained 
by  Cache  and  Bradshaw  Creeks,  and  their 
small  tributaries.  The  former  flows  in  a 
southeast  direction,  a  little  to  the  south  of 
Saratoga  Village,  while  the  latter  passes 
northeast  of  the  same  place,  and  after  pass- 
ing through  Section  82  turns  to  the  soath- 
wax'd,  and  empties  into  Cache  Creek  in  Sec- 
tion 16  of  Stokes  Precinct.  The  timber  con- 
sists, principally,  of  black,  white  and  scrub 
oak,  gum,  hickory,  sassafras,  dog-wood  and 
a  few  other  common  growths.  It  is  a  part 
of  Township  11  south,  Ranges  1  east  and  1 
west,  and  Township  12  south,  and  Ranges  1 
east  and  1  west,  being,  as  already  stated,  a 
part  of  four  diffeient  townships. 

Mr.  D.  Dillow,  if  not  the  first,  is  certainly 

*  By  W.  H.  I'errin. 


the  oldest  settler  now  living  in  Sarato'^a 
Precinct.  He  is  eighty-six  years  of  age,  and 
came  to  the  county  with  his  father  when  but 
sixteen.  Not  only  has  he  passed  his  four- 
score years,  but  he  has  lived  in  the  county 
threescore  and  ten,  the  Scriptural  span  of 
human  life.  His  grandfather  came  from 
Germany,  and  his  father,  Peter  Dillow,  came 
to  this  county  about  the  year  1813,  and  set- 
tled near  where  the  insane  asylum  now  stands. 
He  and  his  sons  assisted  in  clearing  the  site  of 
Jonesboro  and  in  laying  out  the  town.  When 
Mr.  Dillow  grew  to  manhood,  he  married  and 
located  near  the  present  village  of  Cobden, 
and  helped  to  cut  the  first  timber  for  the  first 
house  erected  there.  Shortly  afterward,  he 
removed  to  where  he  now  lives.  He  opened 
a  farm,  but  was  also  a  great  hunter,  and  is 
said  to  have  killed  more  than  five  hundred 
deer,  besides  numerous  other  aad  smaller 
game  "  too  tedious  to  mention. "  When  he 
settled  in  this  neighborhood  there  were  but 
few  families  living  here,  among  them  the 
Vances,  and  George  and  Jake  Wolf.  These 
families  founded  the  first  church,  it  is  said, 
in  the  county.  It  was  of  the  Dunkard  faith, 
and  the  old  church  house  stood  on  the  road 
between  Anna  and  Saratoga. 

An  incident  is  related  of  Mr.  Dillow  which 
is  somewhat  as  follows  :  It  is  told  of  him, 
that  years  ago  he  was  looked  upon  with  awe 
and  superstitious  wonder  by  many  of  the  old 
settlers  of  the   county.     Some  believed  him 


42fi 


HISTOKY  OF  UNION   COUNTY 


allied  with  witches  and  in  communication  with 
th(^  powers  of  darkness.  He  was  an  expert 
marksman,  and  could  knock  out  the  center 
at  as  great  a  distance  as  any  man  in  thecom- 
uiimity,  but  he  was  never  allowed  to  *'  shoot 
fr.r  the  beef  "  or  the  "  turkeys,"  or  to  handle 
tho  o-nn  of  any  of  the  participants,  lest  he 
in\<r\\t  bewitch  them.  He  wore  his  hair  long 
ah  I  it  hung  upon  his  shoulders,  straight, 
ami  black  as  an  Indian's.  He  went  upon 
himtino-  excui-sions  barefooted  and  bare- 
hi^aded — his  only  companion  his  trusty  rifle. 
It  was  upon  one  of  his  hunts  some  thirty  or 
forty  years  ago  that  he  played  the  part  of 
the  "  Wild  man  of  the  Woods,"  to  the  excited 
imagination  of  a  young  man — a  recently  im- 
pr.rted  physician  named  Hacker,  who  had  lo- 
cated at  Saratoga.  He  (Hacker)  was  just  out 
oC  college,  and  came  to  the  West  with  head 
tilled  with  romances  of  the  wildfirness.  In 
company  with  a  young  friend,  he  set  out  from 
his  father's  home  in  Jonesboro  to  visit  an  ac- 
(juiintance  at  Saratoga,  a  short  time  previous 
to  locating  at  that  place.  As  they  pursued 
th  'ir  way,  he  entertained  his  companion  with 
stories  of  wild  men  and  wild  women,  who 
wt  re  supposed  to  live  in  the  forests  of  the 
great  West.  Suddenly  looking  toward  a 
hii;h  bluff,  he  espied  the  old  man  Pillow 
standing  upon  its  summit  leaning  upon  his 
long  rifle,  and  in  his  picturesque  hunting 
garb,  the  breeze  flowing  his  long  black  hair 
around  his  shoulders.  Believing  him  to  be 
one  of  his  wild  men  of  the  woods,  bedashed 
off  in  a  galop,  and  rode  up  to  him  and  began 
to  ])our  forth  his  wonder  in  strains  more  vol- 
ublo  than  intelligent.  The  old  man  gazed  at 
him  with  a  "bland  and  childlike  simplicity  " 
and  amazement,  and  then  suddenly  exclaimed; 
"  What  yer  take  me  fer,a  damn  fool"?  "  turned 
and  stalked  away,  leaving  the  young  man 
feeling  considerably  like  a  fool  himself.  It 
wa'-  some  time  before  he  could  be  made  to  re- 


alize that  Dillow  was  not  a  veritable  wild  man 
of  the  woods,  but  an  honest  old  pioneer  of 
the  county. 

Mr.  Dillow,  though  past  his  fourseore 
years,  is  in  indigent  circumstances  and  com- 
pelled to  labor  toward  his  own  support.  He 
owns  a  small  farm  just  north  of  the  village 
of  Saratoga,  and  upon  this  he  lives  and  man- 
ages to  work  out  a  support  He  sent  three 
sons  into  the  late  civil  war,  but  neither  of 
them  came  back  to  cheer  the  father's  heart. 
He  is  old  and  worn  out,  and  the  sands  of  life 
are  almost  exhausted.  But  a  little  longer 
and  he  must  immigrate  to  a  new  country — a 
country  from  which  none  ever  come  back  to 
tell  what  it  is  like. 

John  and  William  Murphy  were  very  early 
settlers  in  the  present  precinct  of  Saratoga. 
They  came  from  Tennessee,  and  John  settled 
on  Section  8,  taking  up  100  acres  of  land, 
and  afterward  purchasing  some  200  acres 
more.  He  died  about  four  year  ago,  and 
the  place  is  now  owned  by  Isaac  Sitter.  He 
was  a  plain  farmer,  uneducated,  could  not 
write  his  own  name,  but  was  public  spirited 
and  an  ardent  friend  of  public  schools.  His 
brother,  William  Murphy,  came  about  the 
same  time  and  settled  on  Section  9,  locating 
a  tract  of  land  on  Bradshaw  Creek.  He  is 
still  living  upon  the  place  of  his  settlement 
and  is  a  prosperous  farmer.  He  possesses 
many  of  the  characteristics  of  his  brother, 
and  like  him  is  uneducated,  but  is  energetic 
and  enterprising,  and  gave  his  children  good 
educations.  Henry  Gulp,  from  Logan  County, 
Ohio,  was  an  early  settler  near  the  village. 
He  was  of  the  Dunkard  faith,  like  many  of 
the  early  settlers.  He  has  a  son  still  living 
in  the  county. 

From  North  Carolina  came  Moses  Miller 
and  Solomon  H.  Sitter,  and  settled  here 
early.  Miller  accumulated  considerable 
landed    property,     which    has    been    divided 


HISTORY    OF   UNION   COUNTY. 


427 


among  his  children,  most  of  whom  are  mar- 
ried and  living  around  the  home  place.  He 
is  still  living  and  is  well-to-do.  Mr.  Sitter 
settled  on  Section  6,  and  is  also  living.  He 
was  in  that  part  of  the  precinct  taken  from 
Stokes,  and  is  a  large  land  owner,  one  of  the 
wealthiest  men  in  this  portion  of  the  county. 
His  father  lived  near  Anna  at  the  time  the 
lirst  settlements  were  made  in  that  sec- 
tion. A  man  named  Owen  was  an  early  settler 
here,  but  is  more  particularly  mentioned  in 
the  history  of  Rich  Precinct. 

^Ireland,  the  "  Gem  o'  the  Say,"  contributed 
to  the  settlement  Mr.  James  L.  Wallace;  he 
located  just  north  of  Cobden.  but  about  the 
year  1848-50,  settled  on  the  place  v.  here  he 
now  lives.  At  one  time,  he  owned  a  large 
fai'm,  but  has  sold  off  the  most  of  i;  Mr. 
Cover  is  one  of  the  prominent  and  H>ading 
business  men  in  the  precinct.  He  is  Post- 
master of  Western  Saratoga,  keeps  a  store, 
farms,  and — well,  we  don't  know  how  many 
more  irons  he  has  in  the  lire.  We  shall  again 
speak  of  him  in  this  chapter] 

This  precinct  was  not  settled  as  early  as 
some  other  portions  of  the  county.  At  the 
time  of  building  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, there  were  but  few  people  living  in  this 
immediate  vicinity.  It  was  the  building  of 
that  oreat  thoroughfare  that  contributed 
largely  to  the  settlement  of  the  scope  of  coun- 
try now  embraced  in  Saratoga  Precinct.  For 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  perhaps,  after  the  first ' 
settlements  were  made  in  the  county,  the 
forest  remained  unbroken,  except  by  wild 
game  and  hunters. 

The  first  mill  in  the  present  precinct  was  a 
horse-power  mill,  built  about  1845,  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  Mr.  C.  Carraker,  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  northwest  of  West  Saratoga. 
Men  would  flock  to  this  place  and  stay  all 
day  to  get  a  bushel  of  corn  ground.  It  was 
owned  and  operated   by  old   man,    Carraker 


the  father  of  the  present  owner  of  the  plac.'. 
and  a  very  old  settler  of  this  section.  The 
next  mill  was  a  water-power  mill,  built  on 
Cache  Greek,  by  Samuel  H.  and  T.  W.  Ste 
venson,  some  time  between  1845  and  185' '. 
It  was  both  saw  and  grist  mill,  and  after  some 
fifteen  years'  operation  the  dam  was  carried 
away  in  a  freshet,  since  when  the  mill  has 
gone  (o  decay  and  has  rotted  down.  •  '  A  horse 
mill  was  built  in  West  Saratoga  in  1860,  and 
was  operated  by  Mr.  Bamnger.  It  was  a 
grist  mill,  and  was  superseded  by  a  steam 
mill,  which  was  built  by  A.  Cover  &  Co. ,  and 
was  a  saw  and  grist  mill  combined.  About 
the  year  1875,  it  was  moved  to  Johnson 
County.  About  the  same  year,  a  saw  antl 
grist  mill  was  built  on  the  farm  of  William 
Murphy,  but  has  since  been  moved  to  the 
south  part  of  the  county.  The  first  steam 
mill  probably  in  the  county  was  built  on  the 
farm  of  Mr.  J.  Roberts,  in  Section  33,  about 
1850.  and  some  two  years  later  it  was  burned, 
but  was  at  once  rebuilt.  It  did  good  service 
for  many  years,  but  has  now  passed  away. 

Saratoga  Village. — The  village  of  Saratoga, 
which  never  amounted  to  much  except  oi. 
paper,  was  laid  out  by  Dr.  Penoyer  Novem 
ber  6,  1841,  and  is  located  on  the  northeast 
quarter  of  Section  1,  of  Township  12  south. 
Range  1  west.  A  mineral  spring  was  the 
prime  cause  of  the  location  of  a  town  at  this 
place.  Dr.  Penoyer  believed  the  place  could 
be  made  a  fashionable  resort,  and  hence  gave 
it  a  name  known  as  such  all  over  the  world.  He 
laid  out  a  town,  but  like  mankind  generally 
when  they  think  they  have  a  good  thing,  with 
"  millions  in  it,"  want  to  pocket  all,  and  he 
put  the  lots  at  such  fabulous  prices  that  none 
but  a  Vanderbilt  could  purchase.  This  was 
a  drawback  to  the  place;  indeed,  has  always 
kept  it  from  prospering  or  even  improving. 
A  boarding  house  was  built  near  the  springs, 
and  for  several  years  during  the  summer  sea- 


428 


HISTORY   OF   UNION   COUNTY. 


son  ifc  was  kept  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity. 
Dr.  Penoyer  built  a  bath-house,  which  also 
was  well  patronized  for  a  time,  and,  had  a 
more  liberal  policy  been  pursued,  there  is 
little  doubt  but  a  flom-ishing  town  would  to- 
day surround  the  springs.  As  it  is.  it  shows 
to  better  advantage  on  paper  than  otherwise. 
It  is  hot  inaptly  described  by  the  poet: 

I  "A  place  for  idle  eyes  and  ears, 

A  cob  webbed  nook  of  dreams: 
Left  by  the  stream  whose  waves  are  years 
The  stranded  village  seems." 

A  portion  of  the  original  plat  is  now  a  frnit 
orchard,  and  the  spring  is  unkept,  though 
still  somewhat  resorted  to  in  summer  by  the 
neighboring  people,  but  there  are  no  accomo- 
dations for  strangers. 

The  place  made  some  pretensions  to  busi- 
ness in  its  earlier  days.  Elijah  Beardsley 
purchased  a  number  of  lots,  and  built  a  saw 
and  grist  mill  just  below  the  town  limits. 
Caleb  Cooper  erected  a  hotel  or  boarding 
house,  and  the  hrst  store  was  established  by 
A.  W.  Simons.  William  Reed,  vvhose  father 
was  an  early  settler  of  Jonesboro,  also  opened 
a  store  at  Saratoga  in  its  days  of  glory.  But 
the  illiberal  policy  pursued  by  Dr.  Penoyer 
oventually  discouraged  the  business  men  and 
Lhey  turned  their  attention  to  other  points. 
The  principal  business  is  now  done  by  Mr.  A. 
Cover,  who  has  a  store  about  a  mile  west  of 
the  spring,  and  also  keeps  the  post  office  of 
West  Saratoga.  He  is  an  old  citizen  of  the 
county,  and  a  stirring  and  enterprising  busi- 
ness man. 

The  following  incident  is  related,  which 
may  be  given  in  connection  with  the  springs: 
These  springs  were  a  great  resort  of  deer, 
which  came  to  slake  their  thirst  and  imbibe 
the  health  giving  waters.  A  man  who,  like 
Esau,  was  a  great  hunter,,  built  a  scatibld, 
which  afforded  him  a  secure  place  to  watch 
for  and  fire  upon   the  unsuspecting  animals 


when  they  came  to  drink.  One  day  (or 
night)  a  man  named  Russell  took  possession 
of  the  scaffold,  and  when  the  true  owner  put 
in  an  appearance  and  invited  him  down,  de- 
clined the  invitation,  whereupon  the  owner 
leveled  his  gun  and  shot  the  intruder  dead- 
This  occarrea  years  ago,  when  men's  right  of 
claims  was  generally  respected  by  the  mass 
of  the  people,  and  nothing  was  done  in  this 
case  with  the  homicide. 

A  schoolhouse  and  church  combined  was 
built  soon  after  the  town  was  laid  out,  and 
was  used  as  a  Methodist  Church  as  well  as  a 
schoolhouse  until  about  the  year  1870.  when 
a  schoolhouse  was  built  just  outside  of  the 
town  limits  to  the  westward.  Good  schools 
are  maintained  in  it  for  the  usual  term  each 
year. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  West 
Saratoga  was  originally  organized  in  1848- 
49,  and  services  were  held  for  awhile  in 
people's  houses.  Among  the  early  member's 
were  Samuel  Stevenson,  Lavina  Stevenson, 
J.  W.  Stevenson  and  Catherine  his  wife, 
Mrs.  Owens,  Mrs.  Rich,  James  Reed,  etc, 
The  first  house  of  worship  was  of  logs,  and 
was  erected  in  the  southern  part  of  the  vil- 
lage. It  was  built  by  the  people  generally, 
and  used  for  both  church  and  school  pur- 
poses. This  building  was  replaced  in  1881 
by  the  present  church,  which  cost  about 
$1,000.  Among  the  ministers  who  have 
officiated  as  pastors  may  be  mentioned  Revs. 
Watson,  Baxter,  Mcintosh  and  Linkenfelter. 
Rev.  Mr.  Gifford  has  been  its  pastor  since 
February  last.  The  church  has  passed 
through  many  vicissitudes;  old  members  have 
died,  and  others  moved  away,  often  deplet- 
ing its  ranks,  until  at  present  there  are  but 
some  thirty  names  upon  its  records.  A 
flourishing  Sunday  school  is  maintained, 
which  meets  every  Sunday  with  T.  J.  Rich 
as  Superintendent. \ 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


429 


Roads  and  Bridges. — The  first  road  laid 
out  through   the    present  precinct  was  from 
Jonesboro  to  Elvira,  and  thence  to  Golconda, 
and  was  known  as    the  "Elvira   road,"  after 
the  town  of   that  name,  then  the  county  seat 
of  Johnson  County,  which  embraced  Union. 
Massac,    Pulasti     and    Alexander    Counties, 
under  the  old  Territorial  government.     The 
old  town  of    Elvira   is   now   in    the    edge  of 
Johnson  County,  but  is  not  the  county  seat. 
A  road  leading  from  Jonesboro  to  the  village  of 
Saratoga  was  probably  the  nest  one  laid  out. 
A  few  other  roads  center  in  the  village,  made 
in  consequence  of  the  probability  of  the  town 
becoming  a  watering  place.      Bridges   span 
the  streams  where  the   most   important  roads 
cross  them.     The   first,    perhaps,    was    built 
over  Bradshaw   Creek,    near  AA'illiam    Mur- 
phy's  and  was  an    entei'prise  of   the  people 
for   their  own    accommodation    and  conven- 
ience.      Another    bridge   was    built    at    the 
crossing  of  the  Union  road,  and  another  over 
Cache  Creek  about  1850.     Some  years  later, 
one  was  built   over   the   same    stream   near 
Saratoga,  where  the  road  to  Anna  cro'^ses  it. 
The  precinct  is  about  as  well  supplied  with 
schools  as  any  portion  of  the  county.       It  is 
not    knowu.  however,  where    and    when    the 
first    one   was   taught,  or    the    name  of  the 
teacher.      The  first  schoolhouse  on  Section  8 
(now  No.    2)  was  of  logs,  and  was  built  on 
the  farm  of  Mr.  Miller,  who  donated  the  land 
for  the  purpose.    Some  ten  years  later,  it  was 
moved    to  where  it  now    stands,  as    being  a 
more  eligible   location.       Five   or  six  years 
ago,  the  attendance  had  so  increased  that  the 
house  was  "  weather-boarded,"  a  story  added 
on  to  it,  the  school  was  graded  and  two  teach- 
ers employed,  with   an   attendance  of  about 
100  pupils.      The  district,  however,  has  been 
divided  up  and  cut    down,  until  the   attend-   j 
ance  has  been  reduced  within  the  capacity  of 
one  teacher.       The    Pleasant    Eidgp  School - 


house  was  one  of  the  early  temples  of  learn- 
ing. It  stands  near  the  church  of  the  same 
name.  The  present  frame  schoolhouse  was 
built  in  1870,  and  cost  about  $800.  The 
first  school  in  the  present  District  No.  7  was 
taught,  as  we  have  said,  in  tho  old  log  church 
of  Saratoga  Tillage.  The  present  school- 
house  was  built  on  Section  2,  on  land  donat- 
ed by  G.  W.  Williams,  and  cost  about  $400. 
Albert  Cover  was  the  first  teaf'her  to  occupy 
this  building.  There  are  some  four  or  five 
schoolhouses  in  the  precinct,  and  room  for 
two  or  three  more,  with  plenty  of  children  to 
stock  them,  if  compelled  to  attend  school. 

Churches. — The  first  preaching,  probably, 
in  this  part  of  the  county,  certainly  the  first 
Methodist  preaching,  was  by  two  itinerants 
— Chatman  and  Reed.  These  pioneer  preach- 
ers traveled  over  this  and  adjoining  counties, 
preaching  at  the  people's  houses  and  in  the 
groves  when  they  could  get  a  few  persons 
together.  They  have  long  since  passed  to 
their  rewards. 

Pleasant  Ridge  .Missionary  Baptist  Church 
was  among  the  early  churches  established  in 
this  precinct.  It  was  organized  in  the  Pleas- 
ant Ridge  Schoolhouse  in  1856.  They  con- 
tinued to  worship  in  the  schoolhouse  until 
1876,  wben  a  chm'ch  edifice  was  erected  at  a 
cost  of  about  $800.  It  is  located  in  the 
southwest  part  of  Section  29.  Among  the 
pastors  were  Elders  F.  W.  Carothers,  D.  R. 
Saunders.  David  Culp.  David  Matlack,  etc. 
Rev.  Culp  officiated  as  pastor  most  of  the 
time.  The  society  numbers  about  eighty-five 
members,  and  at  present  is  without  a  pastor. 
Union  Chapel  is  located  in  Section  8,  and 
was  built  about  seven  or  eight  years  ago. 
Mr.  J.  Penninger  was  chiefly  instrumental  in 
building  it.  He  donated  the  land  upon 
which  it  stands,  and  also  contributed  a  good 
deal  of  material  toward  its  construction. 
Although  known  as  a  Union  Church,  it  was 


430 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


used  wholly  by  the  Adventists,  whose  chief 
preacher  was  a  man  named  McCay.  But 
after  a  few  years,  some  of  the  principal  mem- 
bers having  died,  the  preacher  went  away 
and  the  church  was  closed.  Since  then,  the 
windows  and  doors  have  been  carried  away, 
and  the  house  generally  dismantled. 

In  1873,  I.  T.  Sitter  opened  a  store  in  the 
old  Miller  building,  about  one  and  a  half  miles 
from  Saratoga  Village.  He  continued  there 
until  1881,  when  he  moved  his  store  to  the 
Murphy  building  at  the  Cross  Roads,  about 
two  miles  from  Saratoga,  and  where  the  store 
Htill  remains  in  successful  operation. 

The  Bradshaw  Post  Office  was  established 
in  1875,  about  three  and  a  half  miles  froni 
Saratoga,  and  Dr.  V.  E.  Scarsdale  was  com- 
missioned Postmaster.  The  office  was  car- 
ried on  until  in  1881,  wheu  it  was  discon- 
tinued, and  the  mail  is  now  sent  to  Lick 
Creek  Post  Office,  in  the/  southeast  part  of 
Rich  Precinct. 

Saratoga  Precinct  abounds  more  or  less  in 
mineral  productions.  Coal  and  lead  have 
both  been  found,  though  in  rather  limited 
quantities.  On  the  farm-  of  Taylor  Dodd, 
coal  crops  out  in  a  vein  perhaps  a  foot  and 
a  half  thick.  An  attempt  was  made  years 
ago,  by  a  blacksmith  named  Jarley,  of  Sara- 
toga, to  utilize  it,  but  the  effort  was  aban- 
doned after  a  short  time.  Coal  was  also  dis- 
covered on  the  farm  now  occupied  by  Charles 
Keller,  but  not  in  quantities  to  pay  for  min- 
ing, while  it  is  so  much  more  plentiful  in 
regions  near  by.  The  time  may  come  when 
it  will  prove  more  valuable,  when  richer  de- 
posits are  exhausted. 

Specimens  of  lead  ore  have  been  found  in 
different,  places,  and  many  believe  that  lead 
exists    in    large   quantities    in    the    hills  of 


Cache  and  Bradshaw  Creeks.  The  distance 
from  railroad  communication  has  always  pre  ■ 
vented  a  thorough  investigation  of  these 
underground  riches. 

Indian  Legend. — A  Joe  Mulhattan  story  is 
current  here,  which  is  something  as  follows: 
When  the  Indians  had  retired  before  the  ad- 
vancing tide  of  pale  faces,  roving  bands 
occasionally  wandered  back  to  weep  over  the 
graves  of  their  fathers,  plant  cedar  trees  and 
rose  bushes  around  their  silent  resting  places, 
and  drink  sulphur  water  for  the  ague,  bilious 
fever,  etc.  Traditions  were  numerous  among 
the  white  settlers  that  more  precious  metals 
than  lead  existed  in  plentiful  profusion 
among  the  hills  and  rocks.  Upon  one  of 
the  periodical  visits  of  a  squad  of  Indians, 
a  white  man,  with  courage  only  exceeded  by 
his  avarice,  prevailed  upon  the  savages,  to 
cake  him  (blindfolded)  to  the  El  Dorado,  be- 
lieved to  be  in  the  vicinity.  They  took  him, 
as  he  afterward  told  it,  about  a  mile  from 
the  Saratoga  sulphur  springs,  then  crossed  a 
creek  and  walked  up  a  high  steep  hill,  when 
they  entered  a  cavern.  Then  the  bandage 
was  removed  from  his  eyes,  and  he  beheld 
nuggets  of  lead  and  silver  ore  lying  around 
on  the  floor  of  the  cavern  in  quantities  equal 
in  quantity  to  the  jewels  in  Sinbad's  valley 
of  diamonds.  The  Indians  "  gathered  their 
pockets  full  "  and  tben  returned,  blindfold- 
ing the  white  man  as  before.  He  was  never 
able  to  find  the  place  afterward,  as  near  by 
as  he  believed  it  to  be,  and  so  the  treasui-e 
still  lies  hidden  in  the  cavern,  awaiting  to  be 
unearthed  by  some  adventmrous  individual. 
Our  readers  can  swallow  as  much  of  this 
story  as  they  like;  we  merely  give  it  as  we 
heard  it,  and  withoiat  comment. 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


431 


CHAPTER    XXL* 


MILL    CREEK     PRECINCT  — ITS    NATURAL    CHARACTERISTICS    AND     RESOURCES  — ONE    OF    THE 
EARLIEST    SETTLEMENTS    IN    THE    COUNTY— PIONEER   IMPROVEMENTS- 
SCHOOLS   AND   CHURCHES— VILLAGES,  ETC. 


"On  shadowy  forests  fiUed  with  game, 
And  the  blue  river  winding  slow 
Through  meadows,  where  the  hedges  grow 
That  gives  this  little  place  a  name." 

MILL  CREEK  PRECINCT,  though  the 
smallest  division  of  Union  County,  is 
rich  in  historical  lore.  It  dates  back  more  than 
three-quarters  of  a  century,  and  much  per- 
taining to  its  early  history  will  be  found  in 
chapters  on  the  county  at  large.  It  embraces 
but  about  eleven  sections  of  land,  and  is  of 
comparatively  recent  formation.  It  is  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  ragged  edge  of  Jones- 
boro  Precinct,  on  the  east  by  Dongola  Pre- 
cinct, on  the  south  by  Alexander  County, 
and  on  the  west  by  Meisenheimer  Precinct. 
The  last  census  gave  it  but  400  inhabitants. 
The  surface  is  hilly  and  broken,  and  origi- 
nally was  encumbered  with  heavy  timber 
filled  with  wild  game.  It  is  drained  by  Mill 
Creek,  a  considerable  stream,  and  from  which 
the  precinct  derives  its  name,  and  Cooper 
Creek,  together  with  a  number  of  other  small 
streams.  The  narrow-gauge  railroad  passes 
through,  and  has  two  stations  in  the  precinct. 
The  productions  are  chiefly  corn,  wheat  and 
potatoes,  with  some  fruit.  More  or  less  at- 
tention is  paid  to  stock-raising,  though  it  is 
carried  to  do  great  extent. 

The  settlement  of  this  little  spot,  known 
as  Mill  Creek  Precinct  runs  back  to  1808. 
In  that  year,  Joseph  and  Benjamin  Lawrence 
and  Benjamin  Eccles  came  here  on  a  hunt- 

*  By  W.  H.  Perrin. 


ing  excursion,  and  being  pleased  with  the 
country,  determined  to  make  it  their  future 
home.  They  were  originally  from  North 
Carolina,  but  had  lived  for  some  time  in 
Tennessee.  The  Lawrences  were  brothers, 
and  one  of  them  remained  here,  preparing  a 
place  to  live,  while  the  other  and  Eccles 
went  back  to  Tennessee  for  their  families,  re- 
turning in  the  spring  of  1809,  and  bringing 
with  them  Adam  Clapp  and  his  family.  The 
Lawrences  settled  a  little  southeast  of  the 
present  village  of  Mill  Creek;  Eccles  settled 
near  where  St.  John's  Church  now  stands, 
while  Clapp  settled  on  Sandy  Creek  in  what 
is  now  Alexander  County.  These  old  pio- 
neers are  long  since  dead.  Their  settlement 
here ''is  considered  one  of  the  very  first  made 
in  the  county.  Some  believe  it  to  have  been 
the  first  actual  settlement  within  the  present 
limits  of  the  county,  while  others  contend 
that  there  was  a  settlement  in  the  vicinity  of 
Jonesboro  two  or  three  years  earlier. 

From  North  Carolina  came  these  additional 
settlers:  Jacob  Rinehart,  Adam  Hilemaxi, 
Moses  A.  Goodman,  Jacob  Miller,  Solomon 
Miller,  Moses  and  Hemy  Kruse,  the  Mowry 
family,  John  Kelly,  John  Fink  and  George 
Brown.  Rinehart  has  a  son,  William*  Rine- 
hart, living  on  the  old  place.  The  old  man 
is  long  since  dead.  Hileman  is  also  dead. 
He  was  a  stirring  man  and  a  good  citizen. 
Peter,  a  brother,  lives  in  Meisenheimer  Pre- 
cinct. Goodman  is  likewise  dead,  but  his 
widow  and  son,  John  L.  Goodman,  still  live 


432 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


in  the  precinct.  Jacob  Miller  died  a  few 
years  ago:  has  two  sons  still  living.  Solo- 
mon, a  brother  to  Jacob,  is  still  living.  Of 
the  Mowry  family,  most  of  the  old  ones  are 
dead,  but  there  are  a  large  number  of  de- 
scendants. Henry  and  Moses  Kruse  were 
brothers,  and  are  both  dead.  Peter  and  John 
are  sons  of  Henry,  and  are  still  living  here; 
and  Peter  and  George  are  sons  of  Moses. 
KellfV  died  several  years  ago.  He  has  two 
sons  living,  one  on  the  old  place,  and  the 
other  in  Dongola.  Fink  was  a  prominent 
man.  a  tanner  by  trade,  and  accumulated 
considerable  property  during  his  life.  He 
died  some  years  ago,  and  three  sons,  George 
W..  Levi  and  Jacob  sfill  perpetuate  the 
name  here.  Brown  was  for  a  number  of 
years  County  School  Commissioner,  but  has 
been  dead  some  time. 

This  is  a  brief  synopsis  of  the  early  set- 
tlement of  the  pvecindt,  a  settlement  that, 
according  to  tradition,  commenced  seventy - 
live  years  ago.  by  a  few  hunters  who  came 
here  in  pursuit  of  the  game  that  then  in- 
fested the  great  forests  of  this  section  of 
the  State.  Amid  toil  and  hardships,,  and 
dangers,  they  squatted  upon  the  public  lands 
and  began  the  work  of  carving  out  a  home. 
Their  efforts  were  successful,  and  a  large 
population  may  now  be  found  where  then  a 
wilderness  was  unbroken  by  human  habita- 
tion. 

There  is  not  much  in  Mill  Creek  Precinct 
to  write,  except  its  settlement  and  the  two 
villages  which  have  been  laid  out  since  the 
building  of  the  railroad.  It  is  one  of  the 
earliest  settled  portions  of  the  county. 
Schools  were  established  early,  but  of  the 
first  we  were  unable  to  learn  anything  beyond 
the  fact  that  they  were  of  the  usual  pioneer 
kind,  taught  by  the  usual  pioneer  teacher. 
There  are  two  or  three  good  coiufortable 
«ichoolhouses  now  in  the  precinct. 


There  are  no  church  buildings  in  the  pre- 
cinct, but  the  schoolhouses  are  used  for 
church  purposes. 

The  village  of  Mill  Creek  was  laid  out  April 
5,  1876,  by  the  Cover  heirs,  and  is  a  place  of 
some  200  or  more  inhabitants.  It  consists 
of  a  general  store,  drug  store,  mill,  a  few 
shops,  etc.  The  first  store  was  kept  by  John 
Brown.  The  store  is  kept  now  by  John  A. 
Morris;  the  drug  store  by  —  Brown;  black- 
smith shop  by  Tom  Douglass.  The  grist 
mill  was  built  by  Ed  Mowry  about  1876. 
It  is  a  substantial  frame  building,  and  does 
quite  a  flourishing  business.  John  Brown 
is  station  agent,  and  also  deals  in  timber. 
He  buys  and  ships  timber  to  wagon  factories 
in  different  portions  of  the  country. 

The  village  is  not  incorporated,  as  it  does 
not  contain  the  requisite  number  of  inhabit- 
ants. An  effort  to  that  end  was  made  re- 
cently, when  it  was  found  that  they  were  a 
little  short  in  noses,  which  was  well,  as  the 
object  of  the  incorporation  was  to  establish 
saloons  in  the  town,  which  could  not  be  done 
until  incorporated,  except  by  a  majority  vote 
of  the  people  of  the  precinct. 

Springville  was  laid  out  by  Michael  N. 
Heilig  May  22,  1875,  and  is  located  on  Sec- 
tion 19  of  the  precinct.  It  is  a  place  of 
probably  100  inhabitants.  It  contains  a 
store  kept  by  Mr.  Jones;  a  saw  mill  kept  by 
Heileg,  a  post  office  and  a  few  shops.  The 
schoolhouse  of  the  district  is  a  mile  or  so 
from  the  village,  and  there  is  no  church 
building. 

The  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Narrow  Gauge 
Railroad  was  built  through  Mill  Creek  Pre- 
cinct in  1875,  aad  has  been  the  means  of 
vast  improvement  and  development  of  the 
country  through  which  it  passes.  It  has 
bi'ought  the  best  markets  to  the  doors  of  the 
farmers,  and  in  many  ways  has  proved  of 
great  advantage  to  them. 


HISTOEY  OF  TJXION  COUNTY. 


433 


CHAPTER   XXII. 


MBI5ENHEIMER    PHECINCT-ITS    SURFACE    FEATURES.    TIMBER,    STREAMS    AND    BOUNDARIE.> 
SETTLEMENT   OF   THE  WHITES— EARLY  STRUGGLES    OF   THE    PIONEERS— SCHOOLS 
AND    SCHOOLHOUSES— RELIGIOUS— MILLS,   ROADS.   ETC..   ETC. 


MEISENHEIMER  PRECINCT  is  com- 
posed of  a  part  of  Township 
13  south.  Range  2  west,  and  is  bounded 
north  by  Jonesboro  Precinct,  east  by  Jones- 
boro  and  Mill  Creek,  south  by  Alexander 
County,  west  by  Clear  Creek,  and  has  a  pop- 
ulation by  the  last  census  of  774  souls.  The 
surface  is  rough  and  broken  in  places,  and  in 
the  western  part,  next  to  Clear  Creek,  is  in- 
clined to  be  somewhat  wet  and  swampy.  The 
timber  is  mostly  oak,  hickory,  elm,  gum,  syca- 
more, and  other  species  common  in  this  section. 
The  productions  are  wheat,  corn,  and  some 
fi-uit.  Clear  Creek  and  Cooper's  Creek,  with 
a  few  other  small  streams, constitute  its  drain- 
age system.  The  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Rail- 
road just  touches  the  northeast  corner  of  the 
precinct,  and  has  a  station.  Kornthal,  on  Sec- 
tion 2,  which  affords  railroad  facilities  to  this 
immediate  section.  The  name  "  Meisen- 
heimer"  is  derived  from  one  of  the  old  fam- 
ilies of  pioneers,  who  still  have  many  repre- 
sentatives in  the  county,  and  was  bestowed 
on  the  precinct  in  honor  of  them. 

One  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  part  of  the 
.county  was  Jacob  Meisenheimer.  He  came 
from  North  Carolina,  and  settled  on  the  place 
where  his  son,  John  N.  Meisenheimer.  now 
lives.  He  was  a  plain  and  honest  farmer, 
and  also  a  stone  mason.  He  built  many  of 
the  o.ld-fashioned  stouft  chimneys  to  the  old- 
fashioned  log  houses  in  this  section.  He  is 
dead,  but   his  two  sons,  John    N.  and    Paul, 

*  Bv  W.  H.  Perrin. 


perpetuate  his  name;  the  latter  lives  in  Jones- 
boro. David,  a  brother  to  Jacob,  was  also  an 
early  settler.  He.  too.  is  dead,  but  has  a  son, 
named  Alfred,  living  in  the  precinct,  and  who 
is  quite  a  prominent  man,  and  for  many  years 
a  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Peter  Lence  and  Peter  Dillow,  from  NorH: 
Carolina,  settled  here  about  1818.  Lence 
had  several  sons,  viz.,  Jacob,  Henry,  John 
and  George.  They  are  all.  dead,  as  well  as 
their  father.  Dillow  is  also  dead,  but  his 
widow  is  still  living.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Peter  Lence.  Their  sons  were  Jacob,  Wiley, 
Henry,  Peter  and  Paul,  and  all  are  still  liv- 
ing in  this  precinct  except  Jacob. 

North  Carolina  furnished  the  following 
additional  early  settlers  to  this  precinct: 
John  Weaver,  John  Knup.  John  Poole,  John 
Hileman,  the  Brown  family,  and  perhaps 
others.  Weaver  came  about  the  same  time 
that  the  Meisenheimers  did,  and  settled  in 
the  same  neighborhood.  He  is  dead,  but  is 
still  represented  in  the  place  by  a  son  named 
George.  Knup  came  about  the  same  time, 
from  the  same  place,  and  also  settled  in  the 
same  neighborhood.  He  has  been  dead  some 
time,  but  has  two  or  three  sons  still  living. 
Poole  came  in  early,  but  has  been  dead  many 
years.  A  number  of  descendants  still  per- 
petuate the  name.  Hileman  settled  early. 
His  father,  Peter  Hileman  settled  in  Dongola 
Precinct,  and  is  long  since  dead.  Of  the 
Brown  family,  several  sons  are  yet  living  in 
the  precinct,  but  the  old  man— the  patriarch 


434 


HISTOEY  OF  UNION  COUNTY. 


of  the  tribe — whose  name  we  failed  to  learn, 
is  long  since  dead. 

A  large  German  settlement  was  made  early 
in  the  northeast  part  of  the  precinct,  among 
whom  we  may  mention  M.  Hehenbarger, 
Joseph  Kollehner,  Peter  and  Jacob  Barnhart, 
Mathias  Duschel,  Jacob  Fitzer,  Paul  Peisl, 
the  Weber  famil  ,  the  Fulenwiders,  Shaffers, 
etc. ,  etc.  These  came  from  the  old  country, 
and  formed  a  kind  of  colony — a  settlement 
among  themselves.  They  are  a  thrifty  set  of 
enteiprising  farmers. 

The  piu'suits  of  the  early  settlers,  aside 
from  hunting,  were  chiefly  agricultural.  They 
were  quick  and  ingenious  to  supply  by  inven- 
tion, and  with  their  own  hands,  the  lack  of 
mechanics  and  ai'tificers.  Each  settler,  as  a 
rule,  built  his  own  house,  made  his  own 
plows  and  other  implements  of  husbandry. 
The  cultivation  of  the  soil  was  conducted 
after  the  most  primitive  fashion.  The  plows, 
with  wooden  mold-board,  turned  the  sod;  the 
harrows,  with  wooden  teeth,  prepared  it  for 
planting.  The  harness  was  often  made  of 
ropes,  sometimes  of  the  bark  of  trees.  Corn 
aiad  a  few  vegetables  were  the  only  crops 
grown  for  a  number  of  years.  Wheat  was 
not  at  first  attempted,  for  there  were  no 
mills  to  grind  it.  Thus  the  early  years  were 
passed  in  penuiy  b}  the  pioneers,  not  unac- 
companied by  danger  and  privation.  But 
they  were  a  hardy  set,  and  not  afraid  of 
work,  and  by  dint  of  perseverance  accom- 
plished their  aim — a  home  for  themselves 
and  families. 

Meisenheimer  Precinct  is  strongly  Demo- 
cratic, and  has  always  adhered  to  that  polit- 
ical faith.     Indeed,  there  is  not,  it  is  said,  a 


half  dozen  Republican  voters  in  the  entire 
precinct.  The  people  used  to  vote  at  John 
N.  Meisenheimer's,  but  of  late  years  have 
cast  their  votes  at  the  Meisenheimer  School- 
house. 

Of  the  early  schools  of  the  precinct,  we 
know  but  little  beyond  the  fact  that  they 
were  of  the  usual  pioneer  character,  with  the 
log  cabin  schoolhouse,  and  the  old-fashioned 
and  illiterate  teacher.  There  are  now  some 
four  or  five  good,  comfortable  schoolhouses, 
among  which  are  the  Fulenwider  Schoolhouse, 
the  Meisenheimer,  the  Hileman  and  the 
Holmes  Schoolhouses.  There  is  but  one 
chui'ch  building  in  the  precinct — the  German 
Lutheran  Church,  at  the  railroad  station  of 
Kornthal;  but  of  it  we  were  uaable  to  learn 
any  particulars  concerning  its  history.  In 
addition  to  this  chiu-ch,  religious  services  are 
held  in  the  schoolhouses,  as  well  as  Sunday 
school. 

The  roads  of  this  section  are  on  a  par  with 
other  portions  of  the  county,  nothing  to  brag 
of,  and  with  so  much  material  "lying  around 
loose, "  might  be  made  much  better  at  a  light 
expense.  The  only  mills  in  the  precinct  are 
a  couple  of  saw  mills.  They  are  operated 
by  steam,  and  one  is  owned  by  John  M.  Hile- 
man, and  the  other  by  Bell  &  Messier.  The 
latter  cuts  mostly  box  material. 

Kornthal  is  the  nearest  approach  to  a  vil- 
lage, and  consists  of  a  station  on  the  narrow- 
gauge  railroad,  in  the  extreme  northeastern 
part  of  the  precinct.  It  has  never  been  laid 
out  as  a  town,  and  has  a  store,  a  church,  a- 
shop  or  two,  and  a  few  residences — "only 
I  this,  and  nothing  more." 


HISTORY  OF  UNION  COUNTY 


435 


CHAPTER    XXIII* 


PRESTON   AND    UMON   PRECINCTS— THEIR    GEOGRAPHICAL    AND    TOPOGRAI'HICAI,    FEATURES- 
EARLY    PIONEERS— WHERE    THEY    CAME    FROM    AND     HOW   THEY  LIVED- THE 
ALDRIDGES  AND  OTHER  -FIRST  FAMILIES  •— SWAMPS,  BULLFROGS 
AND    MOSQUITOES  — SCHOOLS,    CHURCHES,    ETC 


THE  divisions  of  Union  and  Preston  Pre- 
cincts, to  which  this  chapter  is  devoted, 
lie  along  the  Mississippi  River,  which  forms 
their  western  boundary,  while  Big  Muddy 
River  and  Johnson  County  form  the  north 
boundary;  Alto  Pass,  Jonesboro  and  Meisen- 
heimer  Precincts  lie  on  the  east,  and  Alexan- 
der County  on  the  south.  The  land  is  gen- 
erally level,  and  much  of  it  swampy  and  sub- 
ject to  overflow  during  high  water.  The 
swamps  are  prolific  of  bull- frogs,  mosquitoes 
and  other  pleasant  (!)  attractions  to  the  human 
race.  The  bottoms  are  very  rich,  and  pro- 
duce abundant  ci'ops  of  corn  and  wheat,  when 
high  water  does  not  interfere.  Most  of  the 
land  is  owned  by  a  few  individuals,  who, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions,  live  back  in  the 
hills,  or  in  Jonesboro  and  Anna;  hence,  the 
inhabitants  are  nearly  all  renters,  and  of  a 
kind  of  migratory  character,  flowing  back 
and  forthwith  the  tide,  as  it  were;  retreating 
back  into  the  hills  during  the  overflow  of  the 
bottoms,  and  returning  when  the  waters 
abate.  Could  the  river  and  other  streams  be 
so  leveed  as  to  prevent  overflow,  and  the 
swamps  subjected  to  a  perfect  system  of 
drainage,  these  bottoms  would  soon  become 
the  most  valuable  lands  in  Union  County. 
The  timber  comprises  oak,  hickory,  sweet 
gum.  sycamore,  elm,  cottonwood,  maple, 
honey,  locust,  etc.,  etc.  The  population  of 
Preston  in   1880   was  288,  and   Union  827, 

*nv  W.  H.  Perrin. 


and  a  large  proportion  of  these  are  tran- 
sient. The  precincts  are  without  railroad 
communication,  and  are  dependent  on  water 
transportation  to  get  rid  of  their  sui'plus 
products. 

Among  the  early  settlers  of  Preston  Pre- 
cinct were  Davis  Holder,  Thomas  Harris, 
James  Abernathie,  the  Bruce  family,  Henry 
Rowe,  Parish  Green,  Manuel  and  Andrew 
Penrod,  from  Kentucky.  Manuel  Penrod  set- 
tled on  Running  Lake,  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  precinct,  and  Andrew  settled  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  old  village  of  Preston.  Green 
afterward  settled  down  at  the  Willard  Land- 
ing, and  long  kept  a  ferry  there.  The  others 
settled  mostly  in  the  river  bottoms,  and  are 
now  gone.  From  Tennessee  came  the  Rush- 
ing family,  the  Erwins  and  Hamptons;  and 
from  North  Carolina,  the  Aldridges,  Joseph 
Fink,  James  Betts  and  Nathaniel  Smith. 
Most  of  these  are  dead  or  have  moved  aw^ay, 
exf'ept  the  Aldridges,  who  are  represented 
by  Mrs.  William  Aldridge  and  James 
Aldridge.  John  Hurst,  an  Englishman 
John  Freeman,  from  Massachusetts,  and 
George  and  Adam  James,  from  Virginia, 
were  all  early  settlers. 

In  Union  Precinct,  the  following  were 
sorae  of  the  early  settlers:  Parish  Green 
settled  at  what  is  now  called  AVillard'a  Land- 
ing, and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  flrst 
settlement.  It  was  long  known  as  Green's 
Ferry,  and  is  still  often  so  called  at  the  pres- 


436 


HISTORY  OF  UNION   COUNTY. 


ent  day.  Other  early  settlers  in  Union  were 
Jacob  Elotcher,  David  Treese,  Jacob  Reed, 
R.  B.  Goodman,  John  Talley,  Allen  Kimball, 
David  and  William  Green,  and  perhaps  some 
others.  Blotcher  is  still  living,  and  came 
here  from  Indiana.  He  settled  about  two 
miles  above  Willard's  Landing,  and  was 
among  the  first  settlers  in  the  precinct. 
Treese  settled  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the 
landing,  out  on  the  road  to  Jonesboro,  and 
has  been  dead  several  years.  Reed  lived 
about  a  mile  from  the  Anderson  Schoolhouse, 
and  has  been  dead  six  years.  Goodman  is 
still  living;  Talley  lives  on  the  "Wi Hard  farm, 
half  a  mile  north  of  the  big  barn;  Kimball 
has  been  dead  eight  or  ten  years.  The 
Greens  are  both  dead.  Silas  Green,  of  Cob- 
den,  is  a  son  of  David  Green,  and  T.  "W. 
Green,  living  on  the  road  to  Jonesboro,  is  a 
son  of  William  Green. 

John  Grammar  and  David  Penrod  opened 
a  farm  near  where  the  gravel  road  ci'osses 
Running  Lake.  This  farm  was  subsequently 
purchased  by  a  man  named  Fenton,  who  put 
up  a  cotton-gin.  He  afterward  changed  it  in- 
to a  mill  for  grinding  corn.  It  was  finally 
burned,  as  was  supposed,  by  incendiarism. 
Hutchinson  Bennett,  Jo  Palmer,  John  Baker 
and  John  Price  wei'e  also  early  settlers,  and 
are  all  dead.  Thomas  Cox  settled  early,  and 
James  Morgan  was  perhaps  the  lirst  black- 
smith in  the  precinct. 

In  the  year  1844,  there  was  a  great  over- 
flow, and  the  bottoms  were  entirely  flooded, 
the  water  being  eight  feet  deep  in  places  not 
usually  submerged  at  all.  Again  in  1851. 
the  bottoms  were  covered  for  miles,  and  still 
again  in  1858.  This  so  discouraged  the  peo- 
ple that  many  of  them  left  in  disgust  and 
have  never  returned.  Taking  all  the  disad- 
vantages into  consideration  to  which  these 
divisions  of  the  county  are  subjected,  there 
is    verv  little  of  interest  to  write  about   in 


either  of  the  precincts.  Some  points  of  their 
history,  such  as  the  great  overflows  of  tlie 
Mississippi,  geological  formations,  etc.,  etc., 
are  treated  in  other  chapters  of  this  volume. 

There  are  no  mills — except  saw  mills — in 
these  precincts,  or  other  manufacturing  in- 
dustries, but  it  is  a  region  devoted  wholly  to 
farming  and — hunting  and  lishing.  Neither 
are  there  any  church  baildings  in  these  pre- 
cincts. It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  the 
people  are  heathens  or  disciples  of  Bob  In 
gersoll.  Regular  Church  services  are  held  in 
the  schoolhouses  every  month.  Rev.  Mr. 
Sutters  often  officiating  at  these  meetings. 
Before  the  flood  of  1844,  there  was  a  Baptist 
Church,  of  which  Revs.  William  Gentry  and 
Jeremiah  Brown  were  bright  and  shining- 
lights,  but  after  the  flood  it  was  abandoned. 

There  are  nine  schoolhouses  in  the  two  pre- 
cincts, most  of  them  good  frame  buildings, 
a  fact  which  speaks  well  for  the  intelligence 
of  the  people  and  the  improvement  of  the 
rising  generation.  These  schoolhouses  are 
known  as  the  Parmley,  Frogge,  Hamburg,  ' 
Reynolds,  Brumitts,  Abeinathie,  Sublet, 
Grading  and  the  Big  Barn  Schoolhouses. 

The  old  village  of  Preston  was  once  quite  a 
thriving  place  on  the  river.  It  was  laid  out 
as  a  town,  October  27,  1842,  by  John  Garner, 
and  for  a  time  was  a  great  shipping  point. 
But  the  Mississip2:)i  kept  encroaching  upon 
its  limits,  until  at  the  present  time,  the  ex- 
act spot  on  which  it  stood,  is  swept  by  the 
main  current,  and  nothing  of  the  town  rt - 
mains.  Union  Point  Post  Office  is  kept  by 
George  Barringer  on  the  river,  but  there  is  no 
town.  It  is  merely  a  steamboat  landing,  a 
post  office  and  a  small  store. 

The  Government  Light  is  on  the  bank  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  and  is  maintained  at  the 
expense  of  the  Government  for  the  benefit  of 
passing  boats.  It  is  kept  by  Matt  Hughes, 
and  is  of  infinite  value  to  river  men. 


HISTORY  OF  UNION   COUNTY. 


43T 


AVillard's  Landing,  in  Union  Precinct,  is 
merely  a  store,  post  office  and  steamboat  land- 
ing. Before  the  era  of  railroads,  it  was  the 
most  important  landing  in  Union  County. 
Most  of  the  surplus  products  were  hauled 
here  for  shipnient,  while  the  goods  for  Jones- 
boro  merchants  were  landed  here  and  hauled 
out  in  wagons.  This  caused  the  building  of 
what  is  known  as  the  gravel  road,  running 
from  Jonesboro  to  the  landing,  and  is  the 
best  road  in  the  county.  There  is  a  toll-gate 
on  it  a  few  miles  east  of  the  landing,  and  the 
road  is  now  kept  up  by  the  tax  thus  imposed 
upon  those  who  use  it.  During  the  late  war, 
and  for  a  few  years  after  its  close,  there  was 
considerable  cotton  raised  here.  This  was 
all  hauled  to  the  landing  and  shipped  by  way 
of  the  river. 

The  store  at    the    landing  is  kept  by  Mr. 


A.  Lence,  who  opened  out  here  about  fifteen 
years  ago.  One  of  the  Vancils  had  kept  a 
few  goods  here  on  a  boat,  but  did  not  remain 
long  The  original  name  of  the  post  office 
was  Big  Barn,  and  it  was  established  at  that 
place,  but  moved  to  the  landing  after  Lenco 
opened  a  store  here.  The  name  was  then 
changed  to  Willard's  Landing  Post  Office.  Mr. 
Lence  is  Postmaster,  and  the  mail  comes  on 
horseback  from  Jonesboro. 

To  conclude  that  part  of  oiu*  volume  de- 
voted to  Union  County,  we  may  safely  pre- 
dict that  if  the  day  ever  comes  when  those 
lands,  now  denominated  river  bottoms  and 
swamps,  can  be  secured  against  inundation, 
they  will  prove  by  far  the  most  valuable  por- 
tion of  the  county.  All  that  is  needed  to 
make  them  such  are  good  levees  and  an  ample- 
system  of  drainage. 


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PART  III. 


HISTORY  OF  a: 


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NTY. 


PART    III. 


History  of  Alexander  County, 


BY    H.    C.    BRADSBY. 


CHAPTER    I 


FIRST   SETTLEMENT    OF    THE    COUNTY— THE    WAY    THE     PEOPLE     LIVED— GROWTH    AND 
PROGRESS— GEOLOGY  AND  SOILS— THE    MOUND  BUILDERS— TRINITY— AMERICA- 
COL.    RECTOR,    WEBB    AND    OTHERS  — WILKINSON VILLE  — CALEDONIA — 
UNITY— MANY  INTERESTING  EVENTS- ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"Those  matted  woods,  where  birds  forget  to  sing; 
Those  poisonous  swamps  with  rank  luxuriance 
crowned." 

IN  our  history  of  Union  County,  in  this 
work,  will  be  found  an  account  of  the 
history  of  the  territory  that  is  now  Alexander 
County,  to  the  time  of  its  separation  from 
the  parent  county,  March  4,  1819.  We  have 
noted  the  fact  that  the  first  comers  date  back 
to  1795,  but  they  merely  campqd  a  time  and 
hunted  the  game  in  the  grand  old  giant  for- 
ests that  covered  in  unbroken  grandeur  the 
entire  territory  of  Alexander  County,  and 
perhaps  after  a  season  of  hunters'  sport 
moved  on  to  other  places  or  returned  to  the 
old  homes  in  the  States.  In  1805,  were  the 
first  attempts  at  permanent  settlement  by 
families  composed  of  men  and  their  wives  and 
children,  who  built  their  log  cabins  and 
cleared  a  little  spot  of  ground  adjacent,  and 
deadened  the  large  trees,  and  cut  away  the 
undergrowth  and  commenced  to  raise  corn  for 
bread.  Thrifty  families  would  probably  by 
the    second     year  realize   the    necessity    of 


something  for  clothing  the  family,  and  they 
commenced  the  experiment  of  raising  cotton 
and  flax.  At  first,  these  branches  of  agricult- 
ui'e  were  the  suggestion  of  the  thrifty  women, 
and  as  these  articles  gi-ew  well,  in  the  course 
of  the  settlement  at  Southern  Illinois,  cotton 
eventually  became  the  leading  product,  and 
this  continued  to  be  the  case,  at  least  there 
were  large  quantities  of  cotton  produced  in 
all  this  portion  of  the  State,  until  some  time 
after  1850,  when  the  people  found  they  could 
produce  other  things  to  a  better  profit. 

When  Alexander  County  was  formed,  it 
was  a  great  waste,  with  only  here  and  there 
meager  settlements  of  hardy  pioneers,  but 
few  of  whom  are  now  living  to  tell  over  the 
strange  story  of  their  early  lives  in  the  wil- 
derness. They  have  passed  away  in  their  day 
and  generation,  and  the  very  few  who  have 
come  down  to  us  from  a  former  generation 
have  forgotten  and  forgiven  the  eai-ly  hard- 
ships that  encompassed  them,  and  remember 
only  the  wild  freedom  and  joys  of  their  eager 
childhood.      They  came  here  they  know  not 


444 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


why,  and  at  once  they  seemed  to  realize  that 
to  look  backward  with  regret  was  useless,  and 
hence  they  contemplate  it  with  gratitude,  and 
that  they  were  then  filled  with  a  holy  pur- 
pose to  do  for  us — those  who  were  to  come 
after  them — a  sacred  duty.  That  impulse, 
be  it  instinctive  or  acquired,  which  forces 
each  generation  to  do  something,  however 
small,  to  make  the  world  wiser,  better  and 
happier  than  they  found  it,  which  is  after 
all,  the  vital  principle  of  human  develop- 
ment; and  the  struggles  and  sorrows  through 
which  each  generation  passes  in  the  accom 
plifihment  of  the  self-imposed  yet  imperative 
task,  are  the  sublimest  tragedies  of  history. 
Carlyle  has  discoursed  on  this  theme  with 
characteristic  power  and  grace: 

Generation  after  generation  takes  to  itself  the 
form  of  a  body,  and  issuing  forth  from  Cimmerian 
night,  appears  on  heaven's  mission.  What  force 
and  fire  is  in  each  he  expends.  One  grinding  in  the 
mill  of  industry;  one,  hunter-like,  climbing  the  Al- 
pine heights  of  science;  one  madly  dashed  to 
pieces  on  the  rocks  of  strife,  warring  with  his  fel- 
low—  and  then  the  heaven-sent  is  recalled;  his 
earthly  vesture  falls  away,  and  soon,  even  to  sense, 
becomes  a  shadow.  Thus,  like  a  God-created,  fire- 
breathing  Spirit,  we  emerge  from  the  Inane;  we 
haste  stormfully  across  the  astonished  earth;  then 
we  plunge  again  into  the  Inane.  Earth's  mountains 
are  leveled,  her  seas  ar«  filled  up  in  our  passage. 
Can  the  earth,  which  is  but  dead,  and  a  vision, 
resist  spirits,  which  are  reality,  and  are  alive?  On 
the  hardest  adamant  some  footprint  of  us  is  stamped 
in.  The  last  rear  of  the  host  will  read  traces  of  the 
earliest  van.  But  whence?  O  heaven,  whither? 
Sense  knows  not;  faith  knows  not;  only  that  it  is 
through  mystery  into  mystery,  from  God  to  God. 

When  we  remember  how  uncertain  is  life 
at  best,  and  that  its  average  duration  is  not 
more  than  forty  years,  nearly  half  of  which 
is  spent  in  preparing  to  live,  the  wonder  is 
that  man  is  not  content  to  stay  where  he 
finds  himself,  "to  let  well  enough  alone," 
and  do  as  little  for  posterity  as  possible. 
But  spurred  up  and  on  by  the  divine  impulse 
he  can  neither  explain  nor  resist,  he  labors  as 


if  life  were  to  last  a  thousand  years;  as  if  his 
eyes  were  to  see  the  harvest  from  the  seed  he 
plants,  his  soul  rejoice  at  the  onward  and 
upward  march  he  aids. 

The  rifle,  the  fish-hook,  the  "gig,"  used  in 
spearing  fish,  antedated  the  grater  and  stump 
mills  among  1he  very  earliest  settlers  in  sup- 
plying food.  The  first  famines  that  occurred 
among  the  people  were  caused  by  the  absence 
of  salt,  as  they  could  malce  bread  and  meat  of 
their  meat  by  using  the  lean  for  bread  and 
the  fat  for  meat,  when  di-iven  to  it.  The 
question  of  bread,  after  the  first  coming  of 
a  family,  until  they  could  clear  a  little  truck 
patch  to  raise  their  family  supply,  was  often 
a  serious  one  indeed.  Then,  too,  even  after 
the  first  corn  was  raised,  there  were  no  mills 
accessible  to  grind  it.  Corn  was  the  staple 
production.  Wheat  was  not  raised  at  all  for 
some  time  after  the  first  settlers  were  here. 
The  ground  was  light  and  fresh,  and  when 
the  dense  undergrowth  of  the  forests  was 
removed  and  the  lai'ge  trees  deadened,  to  raise 
corn  required  but  little  labor.  The  hoe  often 
was  the  only  farming  implement  a  family 
possessed.  It  was  a  clumsy  instrument,  and 
such  rows  as  are  now  made  by  the  check- 
rower  were  not  then  dreamed  of  nor  were 
they  needed.  The  earliest  and  best  farms 
in  the  State  extended  along  the  line  of  the 
river,  from  Alton  to  Cairo.  When  the  people 
of  Union  County  first  came  here,  there  were 
no  water  mills  in  the  State,  except  a  few  in 
St.  Clair  and  Randolph  Counties,  and  when 
the  floods  came,  even  these  would  have  to 
suspend  operations,  and  often  vexatious  and 
protracted  delays  were  occasioned  by  neces- 
sary repairs  after  the  waters  had  abated. 

Horse  mills  soon  came  after  wheat  was 
raised;  these  were  most  generally  turned  by 
hand  or  rope  of  raw-hide,  and  a  "  scaark  " 
was  used  to  separate  the  bran  from  the  flour, 
worked  bv  hand.      This  machine  was  made  of 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER   COUXTY. 


445 


a  deerskin,  with  the  hair  shaved  off,  drawn 
over  a  rim  or  hoop,  and  holes  burnt  through 
it  with  a  wire.  Illinois  farmers  at  one  time 
thus  manufactured  flour  in  this  way  for  the 
city  of  St.  Louis.  Then  came  the  mill  with 
a  large  wheel  with  cogs,  drawn  by  horses, 
running  in  a  trundle  head,  that  carried  the 
stones,  all  in  a  horizontal  position.  Next 
came  the  ox  mill,  or  the  inclined  plane,  which 
only  came  long  after  the  admission  of  the 
State  into  the  Union;  then  the  improved 
water  mill;  then  finally  the  steam  mill. 
"What  a  gradual  but  wonderful  development 
is  there  in  the  slow  growth  to  the  present 
splendid  perfected  roller  patent- process  mills, 
from  the  first  hand  mill  and  mortar  that 
originally  cracked  the  corn  for  the  "hoe-cakes" 
and  "  dodgers. " 

An  equally  wonderful  development  do  we 
see  in  the  harvesting  of  the  wheat,  from  the 
old  way  that  so  long  prevailed  of  doing  the 
work  with  a  hand  sickle.  In  the  course  of 
time,  men  began  to  come  here  who  had  seen 
the  use  of  cradles,  and  some  of  them  made 
such  machines — very  rude  and  clumsy  gener- 
ally— for  their  own  use,  and  thus  the  sickle 
gradually  passed  away  and  improvements, 
once  started,  have  never  stopped,  not  even 
with  the  splendid  self-binders  we  now  behold 
singing  their  glad  songs  in  the  golden  fields. 
For  many  years,  the  wheat  was  sown  in  the 
corn  in  September  or  October,  and  plowed  in 
lightly,  and  good  authority  asserts  the  fact 
that  sometimes,  owing  to  careless  tending 
the  corn,  that  the  weeds  would  be  so  rank 
that  some  were  compelled  to  ride  on  horse- 
back to  sow  their  wheat.  In  the  early  spring, 
the  stalks  would  be  cut  with  a  hoe.  and  yet 
with  such  farming,  ten  and  fifteen  bushels  of 
wheat  were  expected  and  generally  raised. 

In  1821,  1822,  1823,  the  wheat  crop  in 
this  part  of  Illinois  was  very  short.  It  was 
blasted  and  injured  witla  smut,  and  had  to  be 


washed  before  it  was  fit  for  grinding.  Many 
people  were  discouraged  by  these  failures,  and 
they  supposed  that  it  was  the  fault  of  the  soil 
and  climate  that  were^not  adapted  to  wheat. 
It  was,  h«>wever,  soon  proven  that  it  was  the 
indfferent  cultivation  alone  that  caused  all . 
the  trouble.  In  the  years  1827,  1828  and 
1829,  the  black  weevil  injured  and  destroyed 
the  wheat  in  the  stalk  and  in  the  granary,  but 
the  two  successive  severe  winters  of  1830, 
1831,  destroyed  this  insect,  as  it  wholly  dis- 
appeared. 

The  "  diamond  plow,"  an  Illinois  inven- 
tion, was  introduced  to  the  Illinois  farmers  / 
in  1841  or  18-42,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  ) 
this  then  was  the  must  valuable  and  impor- 
tant invention  yet  given  [to  the  farmers  of 
the  State.  In  all  Southern  Illinois  it  created 
a  revolution  in  farming,  and  was  largely  the 
basis  on  which  rested  the  wonderful  and 
rapid  development  and  enriching  of  the 
State  that  marks  its  coming  as  a  great  era.  It 
was  the  first  plow  ever  known  to  our  people 
that  completely  turned  the  ground,  cutting  a 
deep  and  wide  furrow,  and  leaving  it  smooth 
and  level,  and  it  would  plow  clean  in  the 
thickest  and  tallest  weeds  or  rank  stubble 
without  clogging,  and  worked  with  less  mo- 
tive power  than  any  plow  ever  before  known. 

Alexander  County  forms  the  southern  ex-^  s^ 
tremity  of  the  State,  and  is  bounded  by  the     / 
Mississippi  on  the   west   and   south,  by  the     i 
Ohio   and  Cache  ?Rivers  on  the  east,   and  by 
Union  County  on  the  north.     It  includes  an 
area  of  about  220  square  miles,  more  than 
one-half  of   which  is    alluvial   bottom  land, 
occupying  the  borders  of  "the  streams  above- 
named,  and  in  the  southern  portion  of   the 
county  these  bottoms  extend  entirely  across 
it,  from  the  Cache  Eiver  to  the  Mississippi. 
The  bottom  lands  are  'generally  flat,  and  are 
intej'spersed  with  cypress  ponds  and  marshes, 
and  a  portion  of   them  are  too  wet  for  culti- 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


vation.  They  are  heavily  timbered  with 
white  oak,  swamp  white  oak,  live  oak, 
Spanish  oak,  yellow  poplar,  shellbark  and 
pignut  hickory,  ash,  beech  and  vehite  and 
sugar  maples,  all  of  which  are  found  on  the 
highest  bottoms,  and  indicate  a  soil  sufficient- 
ly diy  for  cultivation.  The  swampy  lands 
are  indicated  by  the  growth  of  the  cypress, 
sweet  gum,  pecan,  tupelo  gum,  Cottonwood, 
willow,  etc.  In  the  northern  part  of  the 
county  the  surface  is  roughly  broken,  and  the 
arable  lands  are  mostly  confined  to  the  creek 
bottoms,  and  the  more  gentle  slopes  adjacent 
to  the  streams.  The  river  blu£fs  above  Santa 
F6  are  generally  steep  and  rocky,  often  pre- 
senting towering  clififs  or  rugged  chert  hills, 
destitute  of  timber,  and  but  partially  covered 
with  scrubby  trees  and  shrubs  that  find  a 
scanty  foothold  in  the  rocky  siu-face.  The 
southern  boundary  of  these  old  formations  of 
the  Silurian  and  Devonian  ages  is  also  de- 
fined by  a  line  of  bluffs,  similar  in  their  ap- 
pearance to  those  on  the  Mississippi.  These 
extend  about  half  way  across  the  county,  in 
the  lower  part  of  Township  1 5  south,  and 
then  trend  off  northeastwardly,  leaving  a 
bottom  from  three  to  five  miles  in  width  be 
tween  them  and  the  Cache  River.  These 
bluffs  appear  to  have  been  washed  by  a 
powerful  stream  at  some  former  period,  and 
no  doubt  owe  their  origin  to  the  same  cause 
that  excavated  the  valley  of  the  Ohio. 

The  alluvial  deposits  of  this  county  cover 
the  lower  portion  of  the  county,  ^from  the 
south  line  of  Township  15  south  to  the  Ohio 
River ;  they  also  strike  the  western  bank  of 
Cache  River,  nearly  to  the  north  line  of  the 
county,  and  occupy  a  portion  of  Township  14 
south,  Range  3  west,  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  the  county,  forming  a  wide  bottom  be- 
tween the  limestone  bluffs  and  the  Missis- 
sippi. They  consist  of  irregularly  stratified 
beds  of  sand  and  loamy  clay,  alternating  with 


vegetable  humus,  similar  to  those  seen  almost 
anywhere  along  the  banks  of  oar  large 
ri  vers. 

Geology  gives  the  following  as  the  sections 
underlying  Alexander  County:  Alluvium, 
20  to  30  feet;  Tertiary,  50  to  60  feet;  sili- 
cious  shales  of  Lower  Carboniferous  lime- 
stone, 7  feet;  shales,  flint  rock,  40  to  50 
feet;  Clear  Creek  limestone,  300  feet  (the 
last  two  Devonian).  Then,  passing  a  band 
of  brown,  silicious  shales,  the  Upper  Silurian 
is  entered,  with  250  feet  of  Helderberg 
limestone,  and  then  the  Lower  Silurian 
limestone,  225  feet.  Just  above  Santa  F6 
is  an  outcrop  of  the  Tertiary  formation,  form- 
ing a  narrow  belt  extending  across  to  the  bot- 
toms. Specimens  of  silicious  wood  are  com- 
mon in  this  vicinity,  and  may  be  picked  up 
in  the  ravines,  but  no  other  fossils  are  found 
in  this  group.  The  deposits  known  as 
"  Chalk  Banks  "  are  formed  of  chert  rock,  and 
cherty  silicious  shales,  by  decomposition  from 
a  plastic  clay.  Its  greatest  thickness,  in  this 
portion  of  the  State,  is  250  feet.  ^The  region 
usually  underlaid  by  this  formation  is  gener- 
ally ^broken  and  hilly.  Of  this  county,  the  State 
Geologist  says:  "  From  the  topographical 
features,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  amount  of 
arable  land  in  the  county  is  limited,  and  re- 
stricted to  the  higher  portions  of  the  river 
bottoms  and  the  narrow  valleys  of  the  small 
streams.  But  wherever  these  bottom  lands 
are  dry  enough  to  admit  of  cultivation,  they 
are  very  productive,  having  a  light,  warmi, 
sandy  soil,  that  yields  large  crops  of  corn, 
cotton,  tobacco,  Irish  and  sweet  potatoes,  and 
most  other  products  suited  to  the  climate. 
Small  fruits  and  peaches  will  also  do  well  in 
the  driest  bottom  lauds,  and  grapes,  apples 
and  pears,  etc.,  maybe  successfully  cultivated 
on  such  of  the  highlands  as  are  not  too  steep 
for  cultivation.  The  advantages  of  climate 
in    this    extreme   southern   portion   of    the 


^ 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


447 


State,  which  enables  the  fruit-grower  to  put 
his  fruit  in  "market  in  advance  of  that  raised 
in  any  other  section  north  of  the  Ohio,  will 
always  make  this  a  desirable  region  for  the 
•  cultivation  of  such  fruits  as  are  most  desir- 
able for  the  early  markets. 

"  These  rich  bottom  lands  are  equally  de- 
sirable for  the  market  gardener,  and  Cairo, 
Chicago    and   St.  Louis    could  be    supplied 
I      with   early   vegetables  from  this  portion  of 
i     the    State  several , weeks   earlier   than   from 
'-^Central  Illinois." 

What  this  intelligent  geologist  foresaw  has 
been,  to  some  extent,  realized  by  the  fai*mers 
and  gardeners  of  the  county  in  the  past  few 
years,  and  this  industry,  with  its  enormous 
profits,  is  rapidly  developing  to-day. 

Moimd-Builders. — As  noticed  elsewhere, 
there  are,  throughout  a  large  portion  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  the  remains  of  a  former 
race  of  inhabitants  found,  of  whose  origin 
and  history  we  have  no  record,  and  who  are 
only  known  to  us  by  the  relics  that  are  found 
in  the  tumuli  which  they  have  left.  The 
Mound-Builders  were  a  numerous  people,  en- 
tirely distinct  from  tne  North  American  In- 
dians, and  they  lived  so  long  before  the  latter 
that  they  are  not  known  to  them,  even  by 
tradition.  They  were  industrious  and  do- 
mestic in  their  habits,  and  the  finding  of 
large  sea  shells,  which  must  have  been 
brought  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  if  not 
from  more  distant  shores,  proves  ,that  they 
had  communication  and  trade  with  other 
tribes.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  fact 
connected  with  this  ancient  people  is  that 
they  had  a  written  language.  This  is  proved 
by  some  inscribed  tablets  that  have  been  dis- 
covered in  the  mounds,  the  most  important 
of  which  belong  to  the  Davenport  Academy 
of  Sciences.  These  tablets  have  attracted 
great  attention  from  archseologists,  and  it  is 
thought  they  will  some  time  prove  of   great 


value  as  records  of  the  people  who  wrote 
them.  It  is  still  uncertain  whether  the  lan- 
guage was  generally  understood  by  the 
Mound-Builders,  or  whether  it  was  confined 
to  a  few  persons  of  high  rank.  In  the  mound 
where  two  of  these  tablets  were  discovered, 
the  bones  of  a  child  were  found,  partially 
preserved  by  contact  with  a  large  number  of 
copper  beads,  and  as  copper  was  a  rare  and 
precious  metal  with  them,  it  would  seem  that 
the  mound  in  question  was  used  for  burial 
of  persons  of  high  rank.  The  inscriptions 
have  not  been  deciphered,  for  no  key  to  them 
has  yet  been  found;  we  are  totally  ignorant 
of  the  derivation  of  the  language,  of  its 
affinities  with  other  written  languages.  The 
Mound-Builders  lived  while  the  mammoth 
and  mastodon  were  upon  the  earth,  as  is  clear- 
ly proved  by  the  carvings  upon  some  of  their 
elaborate  stone  pipes.  From  the  size  and 
other  peculiarities  of  the  pipes,  it  is  inferred 
that  smoking  was  not  habitual  with  them,  but 
that  it  was  reserved  as  a  sort  of  ceremonial 
observance.  Our  knowledge  of  the  habits 
and  customs  of  the  Mound- Builders  is  very 
incomplete,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  show  that  at 
least  a  part  of  this  country  was  once  in- 
habited by  a  people  who  have  passed  away 
without  leaving  so  much  as  a  tradition  of 
their  existence,  and  who  are  only  known  to 
us  through  the  silent  relics  which  have  been 
interred  for  centui'ies.  A  people  utterly  for- 
gotten, a  civilization  totally  lost — was  it 
through  a  great  catastrophe  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  or  was  the  ceaseless  struggle  for 
existence  so  severe  that  they  finally  suc- 
cumbed and  pased  away? 

The  territory  covered  by  the  original  Alex- 
ander County  possessed  attractions  to  these 
unknown  races  of  people  ages  and  ages  ago. 
We  class  them  under  the  general  name  of 
Mound-Builders.  Of  these  people,  Eev.  E. 
B.      Olmstead,     of    Pulaski     Count/,    says: 


448 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY, 


"  They  are  supposed  to  have  been  a  branch  of 
the  Aztecs,  whose  wealth  tempted  the  cupid- 
ity of  the  Spaniards.  Perhaps  annoyed  by 
the  fiercer  incursions  of  the  red  man,  they 
returned  to  New  Mexico,  and  are  now  known 
as  the  Pueblos,  a  people  who  live  in  stone 
houses,  are  agriculturists,  shepherds,  and 
know  a  few  rude  manufactures. 

Only  the  earthen  mounds  and  the  exten- 
sive circumvalation  at  Old  Caledonia  re- 
main to  give  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a 
once  powerful  race  of  people,  as  little  known 
to  us  as  the  Druids  of  England,  or  the  in- 
habitants of  the  land  of  Nod.  At  Lake 
Milliken,  near  the  Mississippi  River,  are  two 
mounds,  one  covering  about  an  acre  of 
ground,  the  other  about  half  as  large,  which, 
when  built,  must  have  been  seventy  or  eighty 
feet  high.  The  lake  itself  is  supposed  to 
have  been  formed  by  excavations  made  to  ob- 
tain the  earth  for  the  mounds.  There  are 
also  a  number  of  mounds  at  and  near 
Mound  City  and  Caledonia.  At  the  latter 
place  is  a  fortification,  circular  in  form  and 
270  feet  in  diameter,  with  gateways  at  the 
north  and  south.  In  1820.  these  works  were 
sixteen  feet]high,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  Col.  H.  L.  Webb,  and  were  covered  with 
immense  trees.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some 
that  the  French  or  Spanish  erected  the  fort, 
but  the  facts  do  not  favor  the  idea.  It  would 
be  strange,  indeed,  that  while  the  circum- 
stances which  required  the  erection  of  all 
other  similar  works  by  Europeans  in  this 
country,  were  all  well  known  as  matters  of 
history,  the  silence  of  the  grave  should  rest 
on  this  one  spot.  If  the  workmen  were  not 
Mound-Builders,  then  they  belonged  to  a 
race  still  more  remote;  for  we  know  that  if 
the  noble  red  man  never  plants  a  tree,  so  he 
never  cuts  one  down. 

But  few  people  had  come  here  in  1819,  at 
the  time    of    the  formation  of   the  county. 


In  1820,  considerably  more  than  one  year 
after  its  organization,  there  were,  according 
to  the  United  States  census,  but  625  souls, 
and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  'that  in  that 
enumeration  was  included  nearly  all  of  what 
is  now  Pulaski  County,  and  in  the  last-named 
territory  were  the  only  towns  of  any  impor- 
tance in  the  county — America  and  Caledonia. 

Then  there  was  the  town  of  Trinity,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Cache  River,  where  there  is 
not  left  one  stone  upon  another  to  indicate 
the  spot.  Outside  the  towns  named,  and  the 
settlements  in  what  is  naw  Pulaski  County, 
there  were,  probably,  not  one  hunderd  peo- 
ple in  the  territory  now  composing  Alexander. 
County.  In  fact,  but  very  few,  except  those 
we  have  named  in  a  previous  chapter,  in 
which  we  refer  to  the  early  settlers  who  came 
here  when  this  was  Johnson  County  and 
afterward  Union  County,  and  then  Alexander 
County. 

Trinity. — In  1816,  James  Riddle,  Nicholas 
Berthend,  Eliaa  Rector  and  Henry  Bechtle 
entered  lands,  extending  from  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Cache  to  the  Third  Principal 
Meridian,  and  by  a  general  subdivision  estab- 
lished Trinity.  No  town  lots  were  s':^Jd,  but 
James  Berry,  and  afterward  Col.  H.  L. 
Webb,  about  1817,  carried  on  a  hotel  and 
trading  business.  Goods  were  re-shipped 
here  for  St.  Louis,  and  rafts  of  lumber  drawn. 
For  some  time  this  was  the  most  pretentious 
and  important  town  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio  River.  In  the  days  of  flat  and  keel 
boats,  this  point  rapidly  grew  in  importance. 
The  few  steamboats  then  upon  the  river  were 
wont  to  make  Trinity  an  important  landing 
point,  both  in  their  down  and  up  trips.  But 
at  an  early  day,  the  sand  bar  in  front  of  the 
place  had  soon  grown  until  it  kept  steam- 
boats from  landing  at  the  wharf,  and  soon 
evenflatboats  and  the  keel  boats,  except  in  good 
stages  of  water,  could  not  reach  the  landing. 


HISTORY   OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


449 


The  rapid  formation  of  the  bar  set  the  signet 
of  destiny  upon  Trinity.  Apparently  the 
chief  notoriety  now  'attaching  to  the  spot 
where  Trinity  once  stood  is,  from  the  number 
of  times  it  was  pointed  out  to  us,  that  it 
is  the  spot  where  Wat  Webb  was  born. 
But  it  is  more  apt  to  go  info  history  as  the 
"  deserted  village"  of  which  Elias  Rector  was 
once  one  of  the  proprietors.  Rector  was  one  of 
the  soldiers  of  the  war  of  1812.  He  was  one 
of  the  two  Illinois  Colonels  in  that  war.  In 
his  little  regiment,  less  than  two  hundred 
volunteers,  Willis  Hargrave  commanded  a 
company  of  men  made  up,  it  is  supposed, 
from  what  was  then  known  as  the  Ohio 
Salina.  Col.  Rector  and  Capt.  Hargrave  were 
in  the  celebrated  expedition  up  the  Illinois 
River  against  the  fierce  and  murderous  Kick- 
apo<)s  and  Pottawatomies  on  the  Illinois 
River.  They  were  acting  in  concert,  or, 
rather,  that  was  the  plan  of  the  expedition, 
for  the  Kentucky  forces,  2,000  strong,  under 
Gen.  Hopkins,  had  crossed  the  Wabash  and 
were  on  their  way  to  the  country  of  the 
hostiles.  But  Hopkins'  forces  mutinied  and 
returned,  and  he  could  not  control  them. 
The  brave  Illinoisians,  however,  pushed 
ahead,  and  burned  villages,  captured  many 
Indians  and  killed  a  number  more.  In  1814, 
Illinois  and  Missouri  sent  two  expeditions 
into  the  Illinois  River  country,  and  Capt. 
Craig  burned  the  large  Indian  village  of 
Peoria.  In  this  expedition,  our  forces  en- 
gaged in  repeated  skirmishes  and  some  severe 
battles,  and  Col.  Rector  was  in  all  this  war  a 
most  conspicuous  and  meritorious  officer. 

America — This  town,  laid  out  with  much 
pomp  and  parade  as  the  future  great  metrop- 
olis in  1818,  by  James  Riddle,  Henry 
Bechtle  and  Thomas  Sl(3o,  of  Cincinnati,  and 
Stephen  and  Henry  'Rector,  of  St.  Louis. 
The  agent  of  the  proprietors  was  William  M. 
Alexander,    who   resided    at  America.      The 


acrent  of  Mr.  Riddle  was  John  Dougherty, 
father  of  \\'illiam  Dougherty,  of  Mound 
City,  who  resided  in  Trinity,  and  when  that 
place  started  down  the  hill  he  removed  to 
America.  Alexander  was  a  physician  of 
great  eminence.  He  was  the  representative 
of  the  district  in  the  Legislature,  in  1S20, 
from  Pope  County. 

From  a  diary  of  Gen.  H.  L.  Webb,  we  ex- 
tract the  following  very  interesting  account 
of  the  early  settlement  and  the  people  of  the 
town  of  America,  and  what  is  now  Alexander 
and  Union  Counties: 

"  A  land  company  had  purchased  all  the 
lands  that  did  not  overflow  near  the  junction 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  and  all 
above  Cache  River,  up  to  the  old  blockhouse 
known  as  Caledonia.  Indeed,  the  company 
owned  all  or  nearly  all  the  lands  from  four 
miles  above  the  junction  of  the  rivers  to 
fifteen  miles  above,  along  on  the  river.  In 
the  year  1817,  Dr.  W.  M.  Alexander  pur- 
chased  from  James  Riddle  the  one- half  of  his 
interest  in  Sections  9  and  10,  two  miles  be- 
low Caledonia,  and  six  miles  above  the  mouth 
of  Cache  River;  it  being  the  nearest  lands  to 
the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers  that  was  not  subject  to  annual  inun- 
dation from  the  rise  of  the  rivers.  This  land 
company,  together  with  Dr.  Alexander,  in 
1818,  laid  off  the  town  on  a  magnificent 
scale,  on  Sections  9  and  10,  and  called  it 
America.  It  was  then  in  Union  County. 
Illinois  had  just  been  received  into  the  Un- 
ion, and  the  Legislature  set  off  Alexander 
County,  and  made  America,  conditionally, 
the  county  seat.  The  town  at  once  came  into 
notice,  from  its  locality,  being  the  first  high 
ground  above  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers. 
People  in  our  own  country,  and,  indeed,  all 
over  the  civilized  world,  looking  at  a  map  of 
the  United  States,  were  at  once  impressed 
with  the   almost  certainty  that  a  large  com 


450 


HISTORY   OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


mercial  city  must  grow  up  here,  at  the  junc- 
iiion  of  the  rivers  and  the  three  States  of 
Illinois,  Kentucky  and  Missouri.  At  the 
time  America  was  laid  out,  freighting  busi- 
ness was  yet  mostly  done  in  flat  and  keel 
boats  and  barges.  All,  or  nearly  all,  the 
produce  from  the  States  adjoining  was  floated 
down  in  flat  boats.  The  groceries,  sugar, 
coffee,  molasses  and  other  merchandise  was 
brought  up  in  barges  and  keel  boats.  Only 
a  few  steamboats  had  been  built,  and  com- 
menced to  navigate.  Indeed,  it  was  yet  an 
unsettled  question  with  the  mass  of  our 
citizens,  whether  the  Mississippi  could  be 
successfully  navigated  by  steam;  so  skeptical 
were  the  people  that  when  Capt.  Shreve,  in 
his  boat,  the  Washington,  made  the  trip  from 
New  Orleans  in  twenty-four  days,  the  city  of 
Louisville  gave  him  a  public  dinner.  [See 
history  of  Cairo  for  full  account— Ed.]  Peo- 
ple believed  steamboats  could  only  run  when 
the  river  was  full,  and  therefore  could  only 
make  one  or  two  trips  a  season.  Therefore, 
when  the  town  of  America  was  laid  out,  no 
one,  for  a  moment,  thought  of  the  necessity 
-of  a  good,  deep  landing-place  for  steamboats, 
as  a  necessity  for  a  town,  the  proprietors 
only  being  acquainted  and  accustomed  to  flat 
and  keel  boats  and  barges. 

"  The  town  of  America  was  laid  off  and 
settled  by  a  number  of  people — several  hun- 
dred— during  high  water.  In  front  of  the 
town,  for  two  miles,  was  a  sand  bar,  making 
it  impossible  for  steamboats  to  land. 

"  The  settlers  came  in  rapidly  in  1819, 
1820  and  1821.  A  brick  jail  and  court  house 
were  built,  and  many  frame  houses  and 
twenty-four  double  cabins,  to  accommodate 
the  settlers,  were  built  by  the  proprietors  of 
the  town.  The  new  comers  being  generally 
poor  people  from  the  States  of  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  some  from  North 
Carolina,    Ohio     and     Pennsylvania.       The 


country  back  of  the  town  had  been  settled  up 
in  1817,  by  a  company  or  family  from  Ken- 
tucky. Of  these  were  Aaron  Atherton,  an 
old  man  of  eighty  years,  and  his  sons  Aaron, 
John  C. ,  Samuel,  and  their  sons  Aaron, 
Nathaniel,  Talbot,  and  their  sors-in-law 
Thomas  Haward,  William  and  Aaron  Biger- 
staflf,  Langhame,  Conyers,  Warfords,  Martin 
Atherton,  Henry  Johnson,  D.  Hollinghead, 
Giles  Whitaker  and  'many  others,  young 
men,  in  all  probability  one  hundred.  Eleven 
miles  back  of  the  settlement  was  a  small 
settlement  on  Cache  River,  known  as  Russell's 
settlement,  as  he  was  the  leader  of  it.  This 
Russell  settlement  had  been  in  the  country 
some  years.  These  were  all  good,  honest 
people,  and  first-rate  citizens.  About  six 
miles  from  the  Russell  settlement  lived  Levi 
Hughes, Esq.,  a  wealthy  man  and  a  good  farm- 
er, who  had  settled  in  the  county  in  1812. 
When  a  young  man,  he  had  carried  the  mail 
from  Cape  to  the  county  seat  of  Johnson 
County — Elvira — twice  a  month,  on  horse- 
back; no  roads  but  Indian  traces.  He  reared 
a  large  family,  and  was  much  respected.  I 
name  these  people  whom  I  found  settled  when 
I  first  came  to  it. 

/  "  The  persons  who  first  settled  in  America 
were  Dr.  W.  M.  Alexander,  Algernon  Sidney 
Grant  (a  lawyer),  R.  S.  Jones,  Horace  Jones, 
Phillip  Wakefield,  Alonson  Powell,  David 
H.  Moore,  John  Bowman,  James  Berry,  John 
Cowley,  Samuel  H.  Alward,  Nesbit  Allen, 
Edmund  Sutton,  William  King,  William 
Price,  George  Cloud,  Capt.  L.  Adams,  David 
Hailman,  John  Bowman,  Mr.  Kenedy,  Will- 
iam Holley,  Mr.  Abbey,  John  Barnet,  Mr. 
Edwards,  Mr.  Marmon,  H.  Hoopaw,  Riley 
Hoopaw,  Mr.  Heady,  Nance  and  Tunstall. 
I  name  those  as  among  the  first  settlers. 
Hundreds  of  others  I 'cannot  recollect.  In 
1819-20,  the  town  was  progressing  well,  un- 
der the   circumstances.     There  was  a    large 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


451 


immigration;  the  country  back  of  the  town 
unsettled;  the  few  there  were  poor,  and  the 
best  and  most  industrious  among  them  mak- 
ing barely  enough  to  support  their  families. 
The  Ohio  River,  on  which  we  depended  to  get 
our  supply  of  breadstuff,  got  extremely  low, 
60  that  loaded  produce  flatboats  could  not 
descend.  Our  bread  gave  out;  we  had  plenty 
of  wild  game  meat,  bear,  deer  and  turkey. 
Our  people  nearly  all  got  sick  with  bilious 
fever,  fever  and  ague,  aod  many  died.  In 
the  fall  of  1819,  I  rode  on  horseback  from  the 
town  nearly  to  Philadelphia,  when  I  took 
stage  for  New  York,  to  meet  my  family  and 
take  them  out  to  ray  new  home  in  Illinois. 
My  family  consisted  of  wife,  two  little 
daughters — one  three  years  old,  the  other 
one  year  old — and  one  servant,  a  black 
woman,  to  be  set  free  in  Illinois,  after  five 
}'ear8'  service.  New  York  was  then  a  slave 
State.  I  hired  a  coach  from  New  York  to 
Philadelphia.  We  crossed  the  mountains  to 
Pittsburgh  in  a  stage,  and  it  took  us  four 
days  and  nights  from  Philadelphia  to  Pitts- 
burgh. A  young  man,  a  passenger  in  the 
stage,  rode  my  horse,  a  favorite  one  that  I 
took  to  Illinois.  At  Pittsburgh  I  pm-chased 
a  flatboat,  made  it  comfortable,  loaded  it  with 
iron,  nails,  merchandise,  and  hired  two  men 
to  work  it.  It  was  the  1st  of  November,  and 
the  Ohio  very  low.  We  were  thirty  days 
getting  to  Cincinnati,  and  the  day  after  we 
got  there  the  river  closed  with  ice.  I  had 
expended,  in  getting  from  New  York  to  Cin- 
cinnati, $500.  My  family  remained  all  win- 
ter at  Cincinnati.  In  the  spring,  I  pur- 
chased and  loaded  a  lai'ge  flatboat,  hired 
hands  and  ran  it  down  myself,  and  sent  my 
family  on  a  new  steamer  just  built  and  on 
her  first  trip  to  New  Orleans — the  Comet, 
Capt.  Charles  Byrnes.  My  family  were  to 
stop  at  Shawneetown,  and  remain  with  my 
friend  Thomas  Sloo,  until  I  got  there.     (Mr. 


Sloo  was  Register  of  United  States  Land 
Office.)  I  took  my  family,  on  a  small  boat 
attached  to  my  barge,  to  America,  where  we 
landed  February  29,  1820.  In  the  autumn 
of  that  year  the  town  became  very  sickly,  but 
few  people  in  the  town  or  country  escaping, 
and  during  the  time  of  this  universal  sick- 
ness a  steamboat  from  New  Orleans  came  up 
as  far  as  Cache  Island,  and  was  moored  in- 
side the  Cache  Island  bar,  at  the  mouth  of 
Hess'  bayou,  about  three  miles  below  the 
town  of  America.  Ou  the  trip  up  the  boat 
lost  many  passengers  and  some  of  her  crew 
by  yellow  fever.  The  fever  was  raging  vio- 
lently at  New  Orleans  when  the  boat  started 
on  her  voyage.  Her  engineer,  a  man  named 
Lough,  and  some  of  the  crew  were  still 
suffering  with  the  disease  on  board  the  boat. 
The  sick  engineer  was  brought  to  the  town 
to  be  cared  for;  he  died  in  a  few  days,  and 
the  fever  was  communicated  to  many  of  our 
sick  people,  and  in  most  cases  provftd  fatal; 
indeed,  so  general  was  the  sickness,  that  on 
the  day  Lough  died  and  was  to  be  buried, 
there  were  two  other  persons  dead,  and  in 
our  whole  population  there  were  but  three 
men,  besides  myself,  well  enough  to  dig  the 
gi-aves  and  bury  them. 

"  On  my  arrival  at  A.merica,  I  was  induced 
to  form  a  partnership  with  Dr.  Alexander, 
and  with  the  money  furnished  by  the  pro- 
prietors and  our  own  we  purchased  a  general 
assortment  of  merchandise  and  provisions  to 
supply  our  people;  as  nearly  the  entire  male 
population  were  in  our  employ  in  cleaning 
and  clearing  up  the  principal  streets  and  lots, 
and  to  build  houses  to  let  to  people  immigrat- 
ing to  our  town.  The  County  Commission- 
ers had  contracted  with  Alexander  to  build  a 
brick  court  house  and  jail,  the  jail  to  be  built 
first.  We  burned  the  brick,  put  up  the  jail 
and  finished  it.  A  number  of  houses  had 
been  built,  and  the  town  was  floui-ishing  and 


452 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


settling  np  rapidly,  until  the  sickness  came, 
and  the  low  water  and  this  stopped  its  prog- 
ress. The  sickness  drove  many  from  the 
town  to  hunt  healthier  places,  and  the  low 
water  prevented  flatboats  and  other  vessels 
from  descending  the  river,  and  cut  off  our 
only  soiu'ce  for  getting  breadstuff;  and  this 
low  water,  for  the  first  time,  showed  us  we 
had  built  our  town  where  there  was  no  place 
for  steamboats  to  land;  the  sand  bars  in  the 
entire  front  of  the  town  presenting  insuper- 
able barriers,  and  the  citizens  at  once  became 
discouraged,  and  by  1821  our  town  came  to 
a  standstill.  We  could  not  hold  out  induce- 
ments of  its  becoming  a  great  commercial 
city,  as  we  were  led  to  ^believe  was  the  case 
when  it  was  laid  out.     * 

"  It  remained  the  county  seat  until  the 
year ,  when  it  (the  county  seat)  was  re- 
moved to  near  the  center  of  the  county,  to  a 
place  called  Unity,  where  it  remained  until 
the  county  was  divided,  and  Pulaski  County 
formed,  and  Caledonia  made  the  new  county's 
seat  of  justice.  The  new  covinty  seat  of 
Alexander  county  was  Thebes. 

"In  the  year  1821,  Mr.  Nicholas  Berth- 
end,  of  Shippingsport,  Ky.,  and  the  house  of 
Gordon,  Tunstall  &  Co.,  of  New  Orleans,  and 
an  Englishman  named  Charles  Briggs,  pur- 
chased a  one-fourth  interest  in  the  lands  ly- 
ing about  the  mouth  'of  Cache  River,  from 
Eiddle,  Bechtle,  Sloo  &  Co.,  with  an  agree- 
ment that  they  should  put  up  stores  and 
warehouses  at  the  mouth  of  (^ache  River,  for 
the  accommodation  of  steamboats,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  shipping  from  there  the  mer- 
chandise brought  up  by  the  steamboats  to  all 
towns  and  places  of  business  above  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio.  When  this  company  purchased 
the  property,  they  had  an  agreement  with  the 
firm  of  Riddle,  Briggs,  Sloo  &  Co. ,  that  they 
would  not  sell  or  lease  any  of  their  lands  or 
pi'operty  to  any  other  person,  but  in  consider 


ation  of  their  erecting  the  necessary  stores, 
warehouses,  taverns  and  dwelling  houses  and 
make  all  necessary  improvements  to  accom- 
modate the  commerce  and  freighting  business 
above  and  below,  they  guaranteed  to  them  a 
complete  monopoly,  and  put  all  their  lauds 
under  the  care  and  conti'ol  of  the  new  com- 
pany. The  company  at  once  built  a  large 
and  elegant  warehouse  and  tavern,  a  large 
and  elegant  storehouse  and  dwelling  house, 
and  all  other  necessary  buildings  for  their 
laborers  and  employees.  This  was  in  the 
year  1822.  This  extensive  business  was  con- 
ducted by  Charles  Briggs,  an  English  gentle- 
man of  fine  business  capacity.  The  place 
and  business  were  a  great  success,  under  Mr. 
Briggs'  management,  but  it  did  not,  by  any 
means,  meet  the  expectations  of  the  company. 
In  1824,  Mr.  Briggs  withdrew  and  went  to 
New  Orleans,  and  put  the  control  of  the  town 
in  the  hands  of  a  clerk, named  John  M.  Lear,  a 
good  man,  but  unfitted  for  the  management. 
The  business  at  once  declined.  In  1826,  Lear 
died  at  Trinity.  I  was  then  a  member  of  the 
State  Legislature,  and  had  just  returned 
from  the  capital,  when  I  found  a  letter  from 
Nicholas  Bethend,  offering  me  the  sole  con- 
trol of  affairs  at  Trinity;  he  to  furnish  as 
much  additional  capital  as  I  might  think 
was  needed.  I  was  to  have,  for  my  services, 
one- third  the  profits.  I  took  charge  of  the 
place  and  its  bitsiness,  but  the  town  then 
had  a  bad  name.  It  was  the  stopping  ]ilace 
of  persons  of  all  descri]:)tions,  good  and  bad, 
and  previous  to  my  taking  charge  it  had  be- 
come known  as  a  resort  for  gamblers,  thieves 
and  all  kinds  of  rascals.  It  often  occurred 
that  large  numbers  of  flat  and  keel  boat  men 
congregated  there — they  really  did  as  they 
pleased,  and  honest  citizens,  in  visiting  the 
place,  feared  for  their  lives  and  property. 
In  low  water  and  winter  time,  the  steamboats 
that  could  not  continue  their  trips  landed  at 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


•453 


Trinity,  and  put  off  their  freight  and  pas- 
sengers, and  from  thence  they  were  re-shipped 
in  keel  boats  and  barges,  and  the  passen- 
gers were  compelled  to  travel  by  land  to  their 
destination. 

■'  In  the  year  1829,  I  purchased,  in  com- 
pany with  James  Berr}',  the  entire  interest 
of  Gordon,  Tunstall  &  Co.  and  Nicholas 
Berthend,  including  all  the  real  estate  on 
which  the  town  was  built.  The  business  was 
flourishing,  and  we  made  money.  Mr.  Beriy 
kept  the  principal  hotel.  A  man  named 
Carlisle  also  kept  a  public  house.  Many 
steamboats  laid  up  with  us  diu'ing  the  winter 
and  during  seasons  of  low  water.  Our  busi- 
ness continued  large  and  profitable  until 
1S31,  which  year  I  purchased  Berry's  inter- 
est, when  he  removed  to  the  town  of  America 
(still  the  county  seat).  In  the  month  of 
December,  1831,  I  went  to  Louisville,  to  pur- 
chase goods  and  to  get  a  tavern-keeper  to 
supply  Berry's  place,  and  while  in  Louisville 
the  river  closed  with  ice,  and  I  was  com- 
pelled to  return  by  land — by  stage  to  Smith- 
land,  Ky.,  and  horseback  from  there.  When 
I  was  within  twenty  miles  of  home,  I  met  a 
number  of  gentlemen  on  horseback,  who  had 
landed  at  where  Trinity  had  been.  The  en- 
tire town,  stores,  warehouses,  taverns,  and, 
indeed,  all  the  buildings,  had  been  des- 
troyed by  fire.  The  fire  occurred  on  the 
night  of  the  31st  December,  1831.  It  had 
been  set  on  fire  by  a  trading  flatboat  man, 
who  had  the  day  before  landed  at  Trinity 
and  sold  liquor  to  my  servants  and  negroes, 
and  my  agent  had  had  him  an'ested  and 
fined.  He  thi*eaten6d  vengeance,  and  that 
night  crossed  his  boat  over  to  Kentucky,  and 
it  was  supposed  he  came  over  in  the  night 
and  fired  the  buildings.  There  were  a  few 
inches  of  snow  on  the  ground,  and  the 
weather  was  cold.  Nothing  was  saved. 
Books,    papers,    money,    goods,   and  all  the 


household  furniture  were  bm-ned.  Fortun- 
ately, the  wind  blew  a  gale  from  the  south. 
I  had  built  a  large  billiard  room,  to  accom- 
modate passengers,  and  this  was  to  tlie  south 
of  my  other  property,  and  in  it  wei-e  stored 
many  buffalo  robes  that  had  been  sent  me  by 
Choteau,  to  sell  on  commission.  My  family 
had  saved  some  bedding,  and  they  quartered 
in  the  billiard  room.  I  estimated  my  loss  at 
$50,000.  A  boat  lying  at  the  landing  had 
furnished  my  family  provisions  to  live  upon. 
The  nearest  place  to  take  them  was  America, 
six  miles  above.  I  removed  to  my  farm,  and 
attended  my  store  in  Caledonia.  In  the 
spring,  the  Black  Hawk  war  broke  out.  and 
as  I  was  in  command  of  the  militia,  and  as  I 
was  ordered,  I  raised  a  couipaoy  of  rifle 
rangers  and  marched  to  the  frontier,  on  the 
Illinois  River." 

For  the  valuable  memoranda  of  Col.  Webb, 
we  are  indebted  to  Mrs.  M.  M.  Goodman,  of 
Jonesboro,  a  grand-daughter  of  Col.  Webb. 

Wilkinsonville,  or  Fort  Wilkinson,  as  the 
present  traditions  concerning  the  place  des- 
ignate its  name,  was  brought  into  existence 
about  the  time  of  the  close  of  the  war  of 
1812.  Gen.  Wilkinson  a.scended  the  river 
with  a  large  body  of  troops,  and  landed  at 
the  head  of  Grand  Chain.  He  erected  ex- 
tensive barracks,  with  large  brick  chimneys, 
the  remains  of  which  can  yet  be  found. 
Quite  a  settlement  gathered  about  the  place, 
and  a  number  of  improvements  were  put  up 
by  citizens  within  the  camp  gi'ounds,  and  i  t  took 
the  name,  finally,  of  Wilkinsonville.  When 
the  army  was  moved  away,  it  fell  into  decay, 
and  now  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  the  spot, 
save  the  three  or  four  hundred  graves  of 
soldiers  and  citizens  who  were  buried  there, 
and  the  other  little  mounds  spoken  of  above 
as  the  remains  of  chimneys  or  buildings. 
The  last  solitary  inhabitant  of  the  place  was 
Mr.  Cooper,  who  named   his  sou  Bonaparte. 


454 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


Caledonia. — "When  the  town  of  America 
was  abandoned,  one  of  its  proprietors,  Capt. 
Kiddle,  and  a  man  named  John  Skiles,  laid 
out  the  town  of  Caledonia  in  1826.  This  was 
another  mushroom  town,  of  great  expecta- 
tions, and  the  lots  were  at  first  rapidly  sold, 
and  at  good  prices.  The  proprietors,  how- 
ever, both  died,  and  soon  the  prosperity  of 
th«  place  was  arrested,  and  on  the  13th  of 
February,  1861,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature, 
Caledonia  and  America  were  vacated. 

Unity,  the  second  county  seat  of  Alexander 
County,  was  laid  out  in  1833.  A  court 
house  was  erected  and  a  jail  and  a  few  log 
houses  for  officers  of  the  county  and  residents 
were  put  up.  It  had  a  slow-going  kind  of 
existence,  which  moved  along  until  1842, 
when  the  court  house  and  many  of  the  county 
records  were  btirned.  Its  location  was  near 
the  geographical  center  of  the  county,  and 
about  equidistant  from  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi Rivers.     When  the   county   seat   was 


moved  from  Unity  to  Thebes,  its  growth  and 
prosperity  were  stunted,  but,  unlike  its  pre- 
decessors, it  was  not  wholly  given  up  to  the 
cutting  plowshare  of  the  husbandman,  the 
wheeling  bats  and  the  hooting  owls. 

The  reader  must  not  imagine  that  we  have 
exhausted  the  list  of  towns  once  in  Alexan- 
der County,  that  sprang  into  active  life  and 
as  rapidly  had  their  decline  and  fall,  but  in 
the  order  of  events,  that  is,  towns  antedating 
the  creation  of  Alexander  County,  are  the 
principal  ones  and  in  the  order  we  have  given 
above.  The  early  town  builders  on  the 
Lower  Ohio  and  Mississippi  were  unfortun- 
ate indeed,  as  a  rule,  in  selecting  town  sites 
as  ambitious  commercial  cities.  It  was  at 
the  time  of  the  transition  era,  from  flat  and 
keel  boats  to  steamboats,  and  it  was  but  nat- 
ural they  should  make  such  mistakes  iu  the 
matter  of  boat  harbors  and  landings  as  Col. 
Webb  tells  above  was  made  at  America. 


CHAPTER  11. 


THE  ACT  CREATING  THE  COUNTY -HOW  IT  WAS  NAMED -SOME    INTERESTING  EXTRACTS  FROM 
DR    ALEXANDER'S   LETTERS-THE   PROMINENT  PEOPLE  -  COL.  JOHN  S.  HACKER-OFFI- 
CIAL DOINGS  OF  THE  COURTS- COUNTV  OFFICERS   IN    SUCCESSION -DIFFEUENT 
REMOVALS   OF    THE    COUNTV    SEAT-PREACHER    WOFFORD  -  ETC.,    EIC. 

base  line  to  the  boundaries  of  this  State  on 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  (rivers)  shall  con- 
stitute a  county  to  be  called  Alexander. 

§2.  Names  of  the  Commissioners  to  fix 
the  permanent  seat  of  justice,  viz. :  Levi 
Hughs,  Aaron  Atherton,  Samuel  Phillips, 
Allen  McKinsay  and  Nesbit  Allen.  In 
making  the  select' on  they  were  directed 
"faithfully  to  take  into  consideration  the 
settlements  with  an  eye  to  the  future  popula- 
tion,  the  convenience  of  the  people  and  the 


THE  legislative  act  under  which  Alexan- 
der County  was  created  was  entitled  "An 
act  forming  the  detached  part  of  Union  Coun- 
ty into  a  separate  county,"  and  was  approved 
March  4,  1819.  The  material  part  of  the 
act  was  as  follows: 

^  1.  All  that  tract  of  country  within  the  fol- 
lowing boundaries,  to  wit:  West  of  the  line 
between  Ranges  1  and  2  east  of  the  Third 
Principal  Meridian,  and  sout'a  of  the  line  be  - 
tween  Townships    13    and    14,  south  of    the 


HISTORY   OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


455 


eligibility  of  the  place,"  and  to  meet  at  the 
house  of  Aaron  Atherton  the  first  Monday 
in  April,  1819,  "and  to  proceed  to  determine 
on  the  permanent  seat  of  justice  for  said 
county  and  designate  the  same."  But  the 
proprietors  of  the  land  were  required  to  do- 
nate to  the  county  not  less  than  20  acres, 
"  to  be  laid  out  in  lots  and  sold  to  defray  the 
expense  of  public  buildings,"  or  they  should 
pay  cash,  "  in  four  equal  semi-annual  "  pay- 
ments, first  payable  1st  of  Julj,  1819, 
$4,000,  for  the  same  purpose  ^and  "  public 
square  of  suitable  dimensions  whereon  to 
erect  the  same."  If  neither  of  these  schemes 
were  accepted  by  land  proprietors,  then  the 
Commissioners  should  "  fix  on  some  other 
place,"  "  as  convenient  as  may  be  to  the  in- 
habitants of  said  county."  The  place  being 
fixed,  the  Commissioners  should  certify  the 
same  under  their  hands  and  seals,  and  return 
same  to  next  Commissioners'  Court  in  afore- 
said county,  to  be  recorded  on  the  court's 
book  of  records. 

§3.  Until  the  erection  of  the  public 
buildings,  the  elections,  courts,  etc.,  should 
be  held  in  the  house  of  William  M.  Alexan- 
der in  that  county. 

§4.  But  the  citizens  of  the  new  county 
were  to  vote  for  Senator  and  Representatives, 
"  with  the  county  of  Union,"  as  though  the 
act  had  not  been  passed. 

§  5.  The  new  county  was  made  a  part  of 
the  Third  Judicial  District,  the  Circuit 
Court  to  be  held  as  directed  by  the  act 
regulating  and  defining  duties  of  Justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court. 

There  exists  the  record  of  an  act  that  pur- 
ports to  bear  date  January  18,  1833,  repeal- 
ing all  acts  locating  the  county  seat  at 
America.  But  there  was,  in  fact,  no  such 
legislative  acts.  This  was  doubtless  an  act 
intended  to  annul  the  previous  action  of  the 
Commissioners  appointed  under  the  act   of 


1819,  and  was  intended  as  an  enabling  act, 
for  the  purpose  of  removing  the  county  seat 
from  America  to  Unity.  The  act  does  ex- 
pressJy  provide  that  the  courts  shall  sit  at 
America  till  the  new  location  should  be 
made. 

Alexander  County,  as  originally  formed, 
embraced  a  greater  portion  of  what  is  now 
Pulaski  County. 

It  was  called  Alexander  County  in  honor 
of  Dr.  William  M.  Alexander,  one  of  the 
early  settlers  and  a  man  who  figured  in  all 
important  concerns  of  this  section  of  coun- 
try. He  was  in  Kaskaskia,  it  seems,  when 
the  formation  of  the  county  was  before 
the  Assembly,  and  had  much  to  do  in 
directing  matters  concerning  it,  and  from 
other  things,  we  infer  that  he  was  given  the 
authority  to  name  the  new  county  and  called 
it  after  himself.  We  ai'e  indebted  to  the 
Rev.  E.  B.  Olmstead,  of  Pulaski  C-mnty,  for 
some  facts  in  his  history  that  throw  the  best 
light  on  his  character  that  we  can  get.  In 
a  sketch  of  Pulaski  County  published  by  Mr. 
Olmstead,  in  the  Mound  City  Journal,  of 
July  5,  1876,  we  extract  the  following:  "Mr. 
Alexander  was  a  physician  of  great  eminence; 
was  the  first  Representative  of  the  district  in 
the  Legislature,  and  when  the  State  was  or- 
ganized in  1818,  and  the  county  of  Alexan- 
der formed,  he  was  elected  Speaker  of  the 
House,*  and  bis  name  was'  given  to  the  coun- 
ty. In  a  letter  dated  "  Town  of  America, 
April  4, 1818,"  he  tells  his  principal  all  about 
the  prospects  of  the  ambitious  young  town, 
and  his  vast  and  long-headed  schemes  to 
make  it  one  of  the  greatest  towns  in  the 
world.     These  extracts  are  given  in  full  in  a 

*  This  is  an  error.  He  was  not  in  the  Legislature  when 
either  the  State  was  admitted  in  1S18,  or  when  Alexander  County 
was  formed  in  1819.  The  records  show  he  was  first  in  the  House 
in  the  .'-Second  General  Assembly  of  1S20-1822,  which  convened 
at  Vandalia,  December  4,  1820,  and  then  he  is  on  the  roll  as 
"  William  M.  Alexander,  of  Pope  County."  In  the  Third  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  1822-1824,  he  was  the  member  from  Alexander 
County,  and  was  elected  .'^peaker.  This,  it  seems,  constituted 
his  entire  service  in  the  Legislature. 


456 


HISTOKY   OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


chapter  of  Union  County,  and  the  reader  is 
referred  to  them  as  throwing  much  light 
upon  the  character  of  the  early  leaders  in 
this  part  of  the  State.  He  tells  his  inten- 
tions to  be  a  candidate  for  certain  offices,  and 
theu  what  he  will  do  in  "  bending  the  whole 
county  to  his  t>)wn. projects."  In  following 
up  the  county  records,  we  find  the  Doctor  was 
true  to  his  promise  and  was  elected  one  of 
the  County  Commissioners  at  the  first  elec- 
tion, and  especially  true  to  "  bending  the 
whole  county "  to  the  interests  of  America 
and  Alexander,  Riddle  &  Co. 

"We  do  not  republish  these  extracts  from 
the  Doctor's  private  correspondence  with  a 
view  of  casting  a  shadow  upon  the  memories 
of  the  founders  of  the  town  of  America,  but 
we  regard  it  as  a  most  valuable  behind- the - 
curtain  view  of  the  public  life  and  times  of 
those  men  who  laid  the  foundations  for  the 
communities  and  municipalities  that  we  now 
have. 

Here  was  then  organized  the  young  coun- 
ty of  Alexander,  with  its  large  and  broad 
territory,  which  included  what  is  now  Pulaski 
County,  with  a  population  of  not  exceeding 
500  people,  and  these  were  scattei'ed  along 
the  shore  of  the  Ohio  River  from  Grand 
Chain  to  Cairo,  with  a  very  small  settlement 
back  of  'the  town  of  America,  a  few  miles, 
and  then  passing  around  the  Mississippi  to 
Dogtooth,  where  were  the  Hacker  and  Able 
and  Hodge  settlements,  and  in  the  interior  of 
what  is  now  Alexander  County,  the  A.therton 
settlement. 

Of  the  first  colonists  to  locate  in  what  is 
now  Alexander,  the  largest  was  known  as 
"  Atherton's. "  And  it  was  an  appropriate 
act  in  the  law  forming  the  county,  directing 
the  Commissioners  to  meet  at  the  house  of 
Aaron  Atherton.* 

*  In  the  records  at  Springfield,  the  name  of  Atherton  is 
spelled  with  two  ns,  to  wit,  "Atherntou,"  in  every  instance,  and 
so  particular  was  the  Clerk  in  transcribing  the  "records  that  in 


Col.  John  S.  Hacker  was  born  in  1797, 
in  Davis  County,  Ky. ,  and  with  his  father's 
family  came  to  what  is  now  Alexander 
County  in  1812.  As  a  tall,  gangling,  awk- 
ward backwoods  lad,  he  attended  the  first 
school  in  this  county,  of  which  we  gave  an 
account  in  a  preceding  chapter.  A  few 
months  was  enough  for  him  to  master  the 
alphabet,  and,  in  fact,  he  could  soon  read 
and  write  a  little.  In  his  after  life,  he  be- 
came a  fair  scholar  in  the  branches  of  read- 
ing, writing  and  ciphering.  He  grew  to  be 
a  tall,  finely -proportioned  and  dignified  man 
of  rather  a  commanding  presence,  superior 
talent  soon  made  him  a  prominent  figure, 
and  as  Jonesboro  was  then  the  promising 
meti'opolis  of  Southern  Illinois,  he  removed 
to  that  place  and  soon  developed  into  an  am- 
bitious political  rival  of  John  Grammer,  and 
for  many  years  they  would  set  their  lances  in 
the  political  lists  and  their  friendly  rencon- 
tres furnished  the  great  excitement  of  the 
times.  They  traveled  through  all  the  coun- 
try, made  flaming  stump  speeches  at  all  the 
cross-roads  and  plied  the  voters  with  tobacco 
"  and  sich,"  and,  great  heavens!  how  they  did 
fondle  and  kiss  the  frowzled-headed,  dirty 
babies!  But  the  older  Grammer  had  ac- 
quired his  firm  foothold  before  Hacker  came 
and,  as  a  rule,  he  carried  off  the  prize  in  all 
their  contests,  until  1836  and  1837,  when 
Grammer  as  usual  voted  "  No  "  on  the  ques- 
tion of  State  Internal  Improvements.  His 
rule  of  political  life  was  to  vote  "  no  "  on  all 
doubtful  questions,  and  a  most  excellent  rule 
it  was,  too.  But  in  1836  the  people  had  be- 
come crazed  on  the  subject  of  State  improve- 
ment"., and  Grammer  had  committed  himself 
against  it,  befoi*e.he  had  caught  the  drift  of 


every  instance  where,  in  the  hurry  of  writing,  the  n  was  omitted 
in  the  middle  of  the  name,  it  would  be  carefully  marked  in  by 
the  proof-reader.  Upon  inquiry  among  those  now  living  in  the 
county,  and  the  family  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  influential 
in  the  county,  we  are  informed  they  spell  the  name  with  only 
one  n. 


HISTORY   OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY 


459 


public  sentiment,  and  Hacker  seized  the  op- 
portunity and  his  triumph  was  complete. 

Col.  Hacker  had  commenced  as  the  first 
tavern  and  boarding-house  keeper  in  Jones- 
boro,  and  after  filling  several  minor  county 
offices,  was ;  elected  Representative  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  1824  to  1826.  He  then 
made  several  attempts  to  supplant  Grammer 
in  the  State  Senate,  but  failed,  until  the 
session  of  1834  to  1836,  when  he  succeeded 
Grammer  in  the  State  Senate,  in  which  po- 
sition he  stayed  tmtil  1842,  when  he  retired, 
and  John  Dougherty  was  hi^  successor. 
Hacker  was  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war  and 
commanded  a  company  from  Union  County, 
and  was  an  officer  noted  for  conspicuous 
gallantry,  and  he  and  his  company  were  es- 
pecially complimented  by  the  commanding 
General,  especially  in  his  farewell  to  them 
when  they  wore  mustered  out  of  the  service 
and  were  preparing  to  retui-n  to  their  homes. 
The  details  of  this  company,  however,  are 
given  in  a  previous  chapter  concerning  Un- 
ion County,  and  her  part  in  the  Mexican 
war.    • 

Col.  Hacker,  long  before  Abe  Lincoln 
thought  of  such  a  thing,  was  a  flat- boatman 
on  the  Mississippi  River.  He  possessed  the 
elements  that  made  a  strong  character,  and 
he  may  properly  go  into  history  as  one  of  the 
valuable  pioneers  of  Illinois. 

In  November,  1817,  he  was  married  to 
Elizabeth  Milliken,  daughter  of  Alexander 
Milliken.  Col.  Hacker  had  his  tii'st  expe- 
rience in  war  in  1812,  serving  when  only  six- 
teen years  old  in  the  Missouri  Militia  as  a 
private  in  that  war.  He  received  his  title 
of  Colonel  by  virtue  of  an  appointment  to 
that  position  from  Gov.  Duncan  in  the  State 
Militia. 

In  1849,  he  went  overland  to  Califor- 
nia, and  spent  over  two  years  in  digging  for 
gold,    but  his  health  becoming  impaired  he 


returned  in '1852,  by  way  of  Central  America, 
the  Caribbean  Sea,  etc.  He  located  in  Cairo, 
and  was  appointed  Surveyor  of  the  port  by 
President  Pierce.  He  held  the  office  until 
retired  by  Buchanan,  because  he  had  voted  for 
Douglas  in  the  convention  that  nominated 
Buchanan  for  President.  He  had  filled  the 
office  of  Postmaster  at  Jonesboro  under 
President  Van  Buren  in  1836.  He  was 
Clerk  for  several  years  in  Douglas,  Commit- 
tee on  Territories  in  Washington,  and  was 
afterward  Assistant  Doorkeeper  of  the  United 
States  House  of  Representatives.  Afterward, 
under  Polk's  administration,  he  filled  the  po- 
sition of  Examiner  of  Cadets  at  West  Point. 

Col.  Hacker's  wife  died  in  1853,  and  he 
remained  a  widower  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  His  children  were  Henry  C.  and 
"William  A.,  and  the  daughters  were  Mary 
A.,  Jane  and  Minerva.  Henry  C.  was  in  life 
a  prominent  physician  of  Jonesboro,  and 
W^illiam  A.  became  a  leading  attorney  and 
politician  in  Alexander  County.  Mary  A.  is 
the  wife  cf  A.  W.  Simonds,  of  Charleston, 
Mo.,  and  Jane  became  the  wife  of  H.  Wat- 
son W^ebb,  and  is  living  in  Cairo.  Minerva 
died  when  a  young  lady. 

Col.  Hacker  practically  retired  from  active 
life  in  1857,  and  lived  in  Cairo  and  Jones- 
boro.     He  died  in  the  latter  place  in  1877. 

The  following  official  acts  and  doings  of 
the  new  court  of  Alexander  will  give  the 
reader  the  names  of  nearly  every  voter  in 
the  county  at  the  time  of  its  organization, 
also  of  the  prominent  men,  the  list  is  quitQ 
complete. 

The  first  County  Commissioners'  Court  for 
Alexander  County  met  at  the  town  of  Amer- 
ica, on  the  7th  day  of  June,  1819.  The 
court  was  composed  of  Nesbet  Allen,  Samuel 
M.  Phillip  and  William. M.  Alexander. 

A.  Sidney  Grant  was  chosen  Clerk  of  said 
court.      Mr.  Grant  was  afterward   the  attor- 


460 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


ney  for  the  town  of  America,  and  was  prob- 
ably the  first  practicing  attorney  residing  in 
what  is  now  Alexander  and  Pulaski  Coun- 
ties. 

The  Coumruissioners'  Court  received  the 
report  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  by  the 
Legislature  to  fix  the  permanent  seat  of  jus- 
tice, as  follows: 

This  is  to  certify  that  agreeable  to  the  act  passed 
in  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1819,  declaring  the  attached  part  of 
Union  County  to  be  a  separate  county,  called  and 
known  by  the  name  of  Alexander  County,  and  we 
the  Commissioners  as  being  appointed  by  the  Legis- 
lature, have  this  day  met  at  the  house  of  Aaron 
Atherton,  first  being  duly  sworn,  hath  proceeded  to 
fix  on  the  permanent  seat  of  justice  in  and  for  said 
county,  to  be  permanently  fixed  on  the  public  square 
in  the  town  of  America,  in  Township  16,  Section  9, 
Range  1  east  of  the  principal  meridian  line.  Given 
under  our  hands  and  seals  this  5th  April,  1819. 
(Signed),  Levi  Hug-hes, 

Aakon  Atherton, 
Nesbit  Allen. 

The  Justices  of  the  Peace  of  the  county 
met  at  the  house  of  William  M.  Alexander 
(in  America)  as  follows:  Aaron  Atherton, 
John  Hylei',  Alexander  Baggs,  John  F. 
Smyth,  Nesbet  Allen,  James  H.  Martin  and 
Merrit  Harvill,  for  the  purpose  of  laying 
off  said  county  into  election  townships.  Dr. 
Alexander  was  elected  Clerk  of  this  meeting, 
and  townships  and  boundaries  were  laid  off 
as  follows:  "First,  the  Ohio  Townshij), 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  boundary  of 
the  county,  east  and  southeast  by  Johnson 
County  and  the  Ohio  River,  west  and  sotith- 
west  by  Mill  Creek  and  Cache  River.  Sec- 
ond. Mississippi  Township  is  bounded  on 
the  west  by  the  Mississippi  River,  east  by 
Mill  Crfiek  and  Cache  River,  south  by  the 
line  between  Townships  15  and  16,  and  on 
the  north  by  Union  County.  Third.  Cache 
Township,  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  line 
between  Townships  15  and   16  south  of  the 


base  line;  east  by  Cache  River  and  the 
Ohio;  west  and  southwest  by  the  Mississippi. 
James  H.  Martin,  Aaron  Atherton  and  Will- 
iam M.  Alexander  were  appointed  Judges  of 
Election  in  Ohio  Township;  Merritt  Harvill, 
John  H.  Hyler  and  /Alexander  Baggs, 
Judges  in  Mississippi  Township;  Alexander 
Millikin,  George  Hacker  and  Fitz  E.  Hutch - 
ins,  in  Cache  Township." 

George  Hacker,  Absalom  Hacker  and 
James  Johnson  were  appointed  to  view  and 
lay  out  a  road  from  the  town  of  America  to 
the  house  of  George  Hacker,  upon  the  Miss- 
issippi. 

William  Walker,  Merritt  Harvil  and  Ar- 
thur McConnell  were  to  lay  out  a  road  from 
Wofford's  ferry,  on  Cache  River,  to  intersect 
the  road  leading  from  Whitaker's  Mills  to 
Cape  Girardeau. 

Wofford  was  a  hard-shell  Baptist  preacher. 
He  claimed  that  he  held  his  commission 
from  God,  and  that  he  needed  no  earthly 
license.  He  was  innocent  ol  much  style  in 
dress  and  was  as  illiterate  as  a  horse,  and  in 
the  language  of  the  boys  could  tell  the  big- 
gest "  whopper "  of  any  man  in  the  State. 
One  day,  at  a  meeting  in  the  woods,  he  rose 
and  astonished  the  audience  by' telling  them 
he  was  going  to  preach.  He  said  that  he 
had  been  plowing  in  the  fields,  and  all  at 
once  he  heard  a  voice  saying,  "Wofford! 
Wofford.  where  art  thou  ?"  And  he  plowed 
along,  and  again  the  voice  of  low  thunder 
called,  "Wofford!  Wofford,  where  art  thou?" 
And  at  last  he  answered,  "  Here's  Old 
Worf.  Now  what  d'ye  want?"  And  then 
he  ran  to  the  woods  and  hid  behind 
stumps  and  trees  and  in  the  briish,  and 
the  voice  followed  him,  and  then  it  said, 
"  Wofford,  you  must  go  and  preach  my  gos- 
pel." He  obeyed  the  command  of  heaven 
and  preached,  and  told  ,:the  most  astounding 
"  yarns  "  ever  heard  in  this  part  of  the  State. 


HISTORY   OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


4(51 


He  lived  to  be  a  verj  old  man,  and  died  only 
a  few  years  ago  in  Pulaski  County. 

The  Commissioners  granted  license  to 
John  F.  Smith  to  establish  a  ferry  on  the 
Mississippi,  and  also  the  same  to  George 
Hacker  at  Township  17.  Range  2  west;  also 
to  Mrs.  Russell  to  keep  a  ferry  on  Cache 
River  at  a  place  known  as  Russell's  Ferry. 
Dr.  Alexander  was  allowed  to  open  a  ferry 
at  America. 

Edmund  Sutton  was  appointed  Constable 
for  Ohio  Township;  James  Johnson  for 
Cache;  and  Samuel  Fowler  for  Mississippi 
Township. 

John  C.  Atherton  and  James  McClure  were 
I'ecommeuded  to  the  Governor  as  suitable 
persons  for  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

David  M.  Sanford,  Lina  T.  Helm  and 
Philip  Wakefield  were  appointed  Trustees  of 
the  school  lands  in  "  Section  16,  in  Township 
south  of  Range  1  east. "  And  Aaron  Atherton, 
Thomas  Howard  and  John  Conyers  "  in 
Township  1  west,"  and  Levi  Hughes,  Eras- 
mus Nally  and  Benjamin  Dexter  "  in  Town 
14,  1  west:"  Samuel  M.  Philips,  James 
Kyler  and  James  Philips  for  Town  14  south, 
Range  3  east;  and  John  F.  Smyth,  Allen 
McKenzie  and  Samuel  Fowler  for  School 
Section  in  Town  15  south,  Range  3  west. 

David  Sanford  &  Co. ,  W.  M.  Alexander  Sc 
Co.,  Allen  and  Samuel  H.  Alward,  Stephen 
Crocker  and  Richard  L.  Jones  were  sever- 
ally licensed  to  sell  liquor. 

The  court  then  regulated  the  price  of  eat- 
ing and  drinking  as  follows:  Whisky,  one- 
half  pint.  12|  cents;  rum,  ditto,  25  cents; 
French  brandy,  one-half  pint,  50  cents;  ap- 
ple and  peach  brandy,  one -half  pint,  12|^ 
cents;  gin,  one-half  pint.  25  cents;  porter, 
per  quart,  25  cents;  cider,  per  quart,  25 
cents;  ale,  per  quart,  25  cents;  wine,  per 
quart,  $2.50;  whisky  toddy,  per  quart,  25 
cents;  breakfast,  25  cents;  dinner,  37^ cents; 


supper,  25  cents;  lodging,  12|^  cents;  horse 
to  hay  all  night,  $1;  corn  per  gallon.  12i 
cents;  oats  per  gallon,  50  cents. 

Bids  for  a  brick  jail,  two  stories  high, 
36x24  feet,  square,  the  base  to  be  thirteen 
and  one-half  inches  thick,  first  story  nine 
feet  high,  second,  ditto;  to  contain  three 
rooms  and  a  passage  on  the  first  floor  and 
two  rooms  on  the  second.  The  Town  Com- 
pany of  America  bid  for  the  building  and 
put  it  up. 

Charles  G.  Ellis  was  authorized  to  k^ep  a 
ferry  "across  the  Mississippi  at  his  old  fer- 
rying place. " 

At  a  County  Commissioners'  Court  held 
June  5,  1820,  Henry  L.  AVebb  was  appointed 
Clerk,  pro  tern. 

John  F.  Smith  was  appointed  to  take  the 
census  of  the  county.  The  number  of  inhab- 
itants, etc.,  is  given  in  a  preceding   chapter. 

In  1820,  the  County  Commissioners'  Court 
was  composed  of  Aaron  Atherton,  Nesbet  Al- 
len and  Samuel  H.  Alward. 

Thet first  petit  jury  in  the  county  was 
composed  of  James  H.  Rowland,  Thomas 
Ryan,  Joseph  Hunsakei-,  James  Tash,  James 
Nfilson,  Orrin  Jones,  John  Russell,  Edmund 
Russell,  James  Mui-phy,  John  Bickestaflf. 
James  McLean,  Silas  Tidden,  Leroy  Smith, 
David  W.  Reedei-,  William  Collins,  William 
Price,  JamHS  Bei-ry,  John  Ramrael,  Philip 
W^akefield,  Henry  L.  Webb,  TJiomas  Fitz- 
hugh,  Richard  L.  Jones,  James  W.  AYilliams 
and  Joseph  E,  Wilson. 

The  first  will  presented  for  probate  was 
that  of  Louis  Tash;  the  second  was  that  of 
Francis  Hollingshead. 

In  1823,  George' Hacker,  Leroy  Smith  and 
Philip  W^akefield  were  the  County  Commis- 
sionei's. 

Wilson  Able  and  Charles  Bradley  were 
recommended  for  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

David  11.  Moore   was  then  the  Sherifl'  of 


462 


HISTORY   OF   ALEXANDER  COUXTY. 


the  county,  and  he  was  credited  with  $157.15, 
the  amount  of  the  county  tax  for  the  year 
1823. 

September.  1824,  Jesse  Echols,  John  Mas- 
sey  and  Thomas  Howard  were  the  County 
Commissioners'  Court.  In  1825,  G.  Cloud 
was  Clerk  of  the  Commissioners'  Court.  In 
the  year  1827,  Jesse  Echols,  Joseph  Hun- 
saker  and  Thomas  Howard  were  the  County 
Commissioners.  On  the  20th  of  November, 
Merrit  Harvil  was  elected  a  County  Com- 
missioner. In  1830,  George  Cloud  was  ap- 
pointed County  Treasurer.  This  year,  James 
H.  Rowland,  Thomas  Howard  and  Jesse 
Echols  were  the  Commissioners.  At  the 
December  term  of  the  County  Court,  1830, 
appears  the  following  record  entry:  "  John 
Haws  and  Stephen  Crocker  laid  a  petition 
before  the  court,  signed  by  a  number  of  in- 
habitants, to  get  a  tine  of  $25  each  remitted 
that  had  been  imposed  on  them  at  the  last 
court,  for  playing  at  cards  for  one  water 
melon  and  12^  cents. " 

James  S.  Smith  had  been  SherifMn  the 
year  1828. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  County  Com- 
missioners' Court,  held  at  the  court  house  in 
the  town  of  America,  April  6,  1833,  present, 
Benjamin  McRaven,  Nesbet  Allen  and  James 
W.  Townsend.  Commissioners,  the  follow- 
ing is  entered  in  the  records: 

The  trustees  appointed  by  the  last  Legislature 
of  said  State  to  locate  pernianentb*  the  seat  of  jus- 
tice for  the  county  of  Alexander,  made  their  report 
in  the  following  words,  and  figures,  to  wit:  We  the 
Commissioners  appointed  by  act  of  the  Legislature, 
entitled  an  act  to  permanently  locate  the  seat  of 
justice  for  the  county  of  Alexander,  do  report  that 
after  having  met  according  to  the^provisions  of  said 
act  and  duly  taken  into  consideration  the  best  in- 
terests of  said  county,  the  convenience  of  present 
and  future  settlements,  having  a  proper  regard  to 
its  central  position  and  prospect  of  improvement, 
do  now  by  virtue  of  said  act  declare  the  permanent 
seat  of  justice  for  the  count}-  of  Alexander  to  be, 
and  the  same  is  hereby  located  on  the  southeast  half 


of  the  southeast  quarter  and  the  north  end  of  Sec- 
tion 36,  Town  15  (south?)  Range  2  west,  and  on  the 
southwest  half  the  southwest  quarter  and  the  south 
end  of  Section  31,  Town  15,  Range  1  west,  and  do 
by  virtue  of  said  act,  name  and  call  the  said  seat  of 
justice,  UnitJ^ 

Sixth  day,  March,  1833. 

(Signed),  James  W  Townsend, 

Joseph  THOirpsoN, 
Walter  Xally. 

In  1833,  Franklin  G.  Hughes  was  Sheriff. 
Wilson  Able  was  Commissioner  of  the 
school  lands  of  the  county.  He  reported 
sales  of  the  lands  at  from  $1.50  per  acre  to 
$4  per  acre. 

This  year,  Richard  Summers  having  been 
elected  County  Commissioner,  qualified  and 
took  his  seat.  The  court  appointed  Frank- 
lin G.  Hughes  County  Treasurer.  David 
Hailman  was  authorized  to  establish  a  ferry 
at  Trinity. 

George  Cloud  continued  to  be  County 
Clerk.  In  1834,  he  again  entered  into  this 
office  and  gave  as  sureties  Wilson  Able, 
James  W.    Townsend   and   Solomon  Parker. 

In  1835,  Martin  Atherton,  Robert  Winham 
and  James  W.  Townsend  were  the  County 
Comm  i  ssioners. 

At  the  December  term,  1835,  the  court 
adopted  the  plans  and  specifications  for  the 
new  court  house  in  Unity. 

"  The  corners  to  be  sawed  down,  the  house 
to  be  well  strapped  on  the  west  side  with 
straps  of  sufficient  thickness  and  width  and 
well  nailed  onto  each  log,  with  at  least  ten 
penny  nails,  then  to  be  weather  boarded 
with  good  yellow  poplar  plank,  to  show  six 
inches  to  the  weather,  well  dressed  and  two 
inches  lap;  four  windows  at  the  direction  of 
the  Commissioners  of  the  following  size,  fif- 
teen lights,  10x12  glass,  to  be  well  checked 
and  fastened  with  pins  to  each  log,  to  be  well 
cased  and  finished  with  sash;  one  flight  of 
stairs  to  form  an  elbow  in  ascending;  four 
'  raisers  '  of  sufficient  width   and  two  inches 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


463 


thick;  the  steps  to  be  of  good  yellow  poplar, 
one  and  one-half  inches  thick;  one  set  of 
joists,  thirty  inches  from  center  to  center, 
dressed  and  headed,  with  a  floor  of  yellow 
poplar,  one  inch  in  thickness,  dressed  on  the 
under  side  and  matched  together;  two  par- 
titions of  yellow  poplar  plank,  one  and  one- 
half  inches  thick  and  matched  and  dressed 
on  both  sides;  two  batten  doors,  to  be  well 
cased  and  hung  with  three  four- inch  butts 
to  each  door,  the  whole  to  be  done  in  a  work- 
manlike manner  by  the  Ist  day  of  Novem- 
ber, 1837,  the  pay  to  be  in  good  notes  aris- 
ing from  the  sale  of  town  lots  and  orders 
from  the  treasury  and  in  cash  in  three  equal 
payments. " 

This  court  did  not  pay  $3,000  to  their  ar- 
chitect for  the  plans  and  specifications  as 
have  some  counties  since  done  in  this  State. 

Can  modern  workmen  tell  exactly  what  is 
meant  by  the  term  "  raisers,"  as  they  use  it 
in  speaking  of  the  stairway  ? 

David  Hailman  was  a  member  of  the 
court  in  1836,  and  Solomon  Pai'ker  Sheriff". 
He  paid  over  the  tax  money  and  orders  for 
the  year's  taxes,  $63. 

In  1837,  William  Hamby,  Lemuel  B.  Lis- 
enbee  and  John  Hodges  contracted  to  build 
the  court  house  for  the  sum  of  $270. 

Thomas  Howard,  on  December  5,  1836, 
makes  a  report  as  County  Treasurer  as  fol- 
lows: The  Treasurer  of  Alexander  County 
has  the  honor  of  submitting  to  the  honora- 
ble Commissioners'  Court  the  inclosed  state- 
ment, containing  a  concise  account  of  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures  of  the  treasui'y  dui'ing 
the  preceding  year,  pending  the  last  of  No- 
vember, 1836.  Received  on  bonds  and  from 
Atherton,  $10.62^;  for  sundry  license,  $32; 
from  fines,  etc.,  $24.50;  total,  $67.62i. 

The  county,  in  1836,  received  $500  as  its 
part  of  Gallatin  saline  lands. 

In  1837,   Peter  Casper  was  a  member  of 


the  County  Court,  and  Levi  Lighter  was 
elected  and  qualified  this  year.  Joshua 
McRaven  was  elected  Sheriff;  George  Cloud 
again  elected  Clerk.  Thomas  Howard  was 
County  Treasurer  and  L.  B.  Lisenbee  and 
John  Hodge  were  his  sureties.  The  officer 
then  gave  bond  for  $1,000.  This  year  D. 
Arter's  peculiar  signature  appears  as  one  of 
the  County  Commissioners.  Wilson  Able 
was  again  elected  a  School  Commissioner, 
and  gave  bond  with  D.  Hailman,  John 
Hodges,  Daniel  Brown  and  L.  B.  Lisenbee, 
sureties. 

In  1838,  the  Commissioners'  Court  was 
D.  Arter,  Martin  A.  Morton  and  James  Mas- 
sey. 

In  1839,  Henry  L.  Webb  was  elected 
County  Clerk  and  George  Cloud  finally  retired. 
John  Hodges  was  in  1840  School  Commis- 
sioner, and  George  Cloud,  the  old-time 
County  Clerk,  was  elected  Treasurer,  and 
Samuel  Nally  was  County  Collector. 

Henry  L.  Webb,  County  Clerk,  rendered 
his  bill  in  1841  something  as  follows:  Two 
yeax's'  service  to  June  4,  1841,  $40;  eighteen 
months'  service  Clerk  of  Circuit  Coui't,  $35; 
making  tax  lists,  $6. 

In  1842,  the  Commissioners'  Coui-t  was 
John  C.  Atherton,  William  Dickey  and 
Franklin  G.  Hughes. 

In  August,  1843,  Jonathan  Freeman  was 
elected  Clerk  of  the  county.  The  County 
Court  met  at  Unity  December  3,  1844,  and 
among  other  things  it  was 

Ordered,  That  the  donations  granted  by  George 
W.  Sparhawk  et  nl.,  and  the  deed  of  conveyance  by 
them  made  to  the  County  Commissioners  of  Alex- 
ander County  is  hereby  accepted  by  this  court  [this 
was  in  Thebes. — Ed.]  as  a  site  for  the  permanent  seat 
of  justice  of  the  county  of  Alexander,  and  further, 
that  Jonathan  Freeman,  the  County  Commissioner 
under  the  law,  entitled  an  act  to  permanently  locate 
the  county  seat  of  Alexander  County,  is  appointed 
general  agent  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  said 
act,  and  to  execute  deeds  of  conveyance  to  purchas- 


464 


HISTORY    OF   ALEXANDER   COUNTY. 


ers  of  lots  at  the  said  county  seat,  upon  his  receiv 
ing  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  terras  of  sale  hav- 
ing been  complied  with;  and  that  the  said  general 
agent  shall  have  power  to  contract  for  the  removal 
of  the  public  property  of  the  officers  of  the  county 
from  the  town  of  Unity  to  the  new  county  seat 
aforesaid,  at  any  time  after  having  given  ten  days 
notice  of  the  intended  removal. 

I  do  solemnly  protest  against  the  above  order. 
(Signed),  Martin  Atherton. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  County  Court, 
April,  1845,  Henry  W.  Billings  was  ap- 
pointed a  referee  on  the  part  of  Alexander 
County  to  meet  Thomas  Forker,  a  referee  for 
Pulaski  County,  "  to  settle  and  adjust  the 
claims  Alexander  County  holds  against  Pu- 
laski County,"  and  ordering  the  referee  to 
report  to  the  Commissioners  of  Alexander 
County  on  the  28th  of  April,  1845,  Billings 
was  also  retained  by  the  county  as  attorney 
to  conduct  the  suit  of  Alexander  County 
against  Pulaski  County. 

In  1845,  Alexander  W.  Anderson  was 
Sheriff,  and  L.  L.  Lightner,  Martin  Atherton 
and  Moses  Miller  were  the  County  Commis- 
sioners. In  1846,  L.  L.  Lightner  appointed 
to  contract  for  the  new  court  house  at  Thebes, 
contracted  with  Earnst  Barkhausen  to  erect 
the  same. 

In  1839,  the  Constables  in  the  county  were 
William  Hunsaker,  David  Kendall,  George 
Peeler,  Thomas  B.  White,  Isaac  Little,  John 
Hagden.  Charles  M.  Lee.  The  Justices  were 
Edmund  Hodges,  W.  H.  Smith,  George 
Cloud,  Thomas  Howard,  Ki  chard  Burton, 
Daniel  L.  Smith,  John  O.  Marsh,  John  Pi- 
zor,  Jonathan  Lyerle,  Stephen  Jones,  Will- 
iam C.  McMullan,  Thomas  W,  Porterfield, 
Thomas  Forker,  William  Wilson,  Joseph  B. 
Saunders,  William  Wofford  and  Thomas 
L.  Mackay. 

J.  J.  McLenden  was  Sheriff  in  ISS'J.  In 
1829,  David  H.  Moore;  in  1829,  James  S. 
Smith;  1830,  Wilson  Able;  1832,  Franklin 
Huo-hes;      1834,     Solomon    Parker,      1836, 


Joshua  McRaven;  1837,  Jesse  J.  McLenden. 

Septembei',  1846,  the  Commissioners' 
Coui't  was  composed  of  L.  L.  Lightner, 
Moses  Miller  and  Silas  Dexter;  Lemviel  B. 
Lisenbee  was  County  Clerk:  Alexander  W. 
Anderson,  Sheriff;  L.  L.  Lightner,  School 
Commissioner.  In  1848,  Green  Massey  was 
Sheriff.  In  1850,  the  Commissioners'  Court 
was  composed  of  L.  L.  Lightner,  Patrick 
Corcoran  and  Silas    Dexter. 

In  185  ] ,  the  court  was  re-organized  ami  a 
Judge  and  two  Associates  were  elected.  Levi 
L.  Lig:htner  was  Judge,  and  Silas  Dexter 
and  P.  Corcoran  were  Associates.  This  ynar 
Coventry  Cully  was  Sheriff;  A.  W.  Ander- 
son, Treasurer.  In  1852,  Robert  E.  Y'ost 
was  County  Clerk  and  William  C  Massey 
Sheriff.  In  1853,  James  L.  Brown  was 
Treasurer.  This  year,  L.  L.  Lightner  was 
re-elected  Judge  and  Alexander  C.  Hodges 
and  James  E.  McCrite  Associates.  In  1854, 
William  C.  Miller  was  Treasurer;  James  L. 
Brown,  Sheriff.  In  1857,  William  C.  Yost 
was  County  Clerk.  1857,  C  C.  Cole,  Sher- 
iff.    In  1858,  N.  Hunsaker  was  Sheriff. 

In  1860,  the  County  Court  consisted  of  A. 
C.  Hodges,  Judge,  and  B.  Shannessy  and 
James  E.  McCrite,  Associates;  John  Hodges, 
Sheriff. 

In  1863,  N.  Hunsaker  was  Treasurer; 
1862.  O.  Greenlee,  Sheriff. 

1864,  J.  E.  McCrite,  School  Commissioner; 
J.  F.  Hay  ward,  County  Surveyor;  John  Q. 
Harman,  Circuit  Clerk;  and  Charles  D. 
Arter,   Sheriff. 

1865,  Alexander  C.  Hodges,  Judge;  John 
Howley  atid  J.  E.  McCrite,  Associates; 
Jacob  G.  Lynch,  County  Clerk;  N.  Hun- 
saker, County  Treasurer;  S.  Delaney,  Sur- 
veyor; Superintendent  of  Schools,  Joel  G. 
Morgan. 

1867,  John  H.  Mulkey,  Judge  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas;  F.  E.  Albright,  Prosecut- 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


465 


ing  Attorney ;  W.  A.  Redmond,  County  Treas- 
urer. 

1869,  Fredoline  Bross,  Judge;  J.  E. 
McCrite  and  Severe  Marchildon,  Associates; 
Jacob  Y.  Lynch,  County  Clerk;  William 
Martin,  County  Treasurer;  Lewis  P.  Butler, 
Superintendent  of  Schools;  John  P.  Haley, 
County  Surveyor. 

1871,  William  Martin,  County  Treasui-er; 
John  P.  Haley,  Sui'veyor. 

1872,  Reuben  S.  Yockum,  Circuit  Clerk; 
A.  H.  Irvin,  Sheriff;  John  H.  Gozman,  Cor- 
oner. 

1873,  F.  Bross,  Judge;  J.  G.  Lynch, 
County  Clerk;  William  Martin,  Treasurer; 
George  Fishei",  J.  L.  Saunders  and  Thomas 
Wilson,  County  Commissioners;  Phebe  Tay- 
lor, School  Superintendent. 

1874,  A.  H.  Irvin,  Sheriff;  J.  H.  Gozman, 
Coroner;  Thomas  Wilson,  County  Commis- 
sioner. 

1876,  John  Able,  Coroner;  Martin  Brown, 
County  Commissioner;  John  A.  Reeves,  Cir- 
cuit Clerk;  Peter  Saup,  Sheriff;  W.  C.  Mul- 
key.  States  Attorney. 

1877,  Reuben  S.  Yocum,  County  Judge; 
Samuel  J.  Humm,  County  Clerk;  A.  J.  Al- 
den,  County  Treasurer;  Mrs.  P.  A.  Taylor, 
School  Superintendent;  Thomas  W.  Halli- 
day.  County  Commissionei*. 

1878,  Sheriff,  John  Hodges;  Richard 
Fitzgerald,  Coroner;  Samuel  Briley,  County 
Commissioner. 

1879,  Miles  W.  Parker,  County  Treasurer; 
J.  A.  N.  Gibbs,  County  Commissioner;  Sur- 
veyor, Charles  Thrupp. 

1880,  John  Hodges,  Sheriff;    A.  H.  Irvin, 
Circuit  Clerk;  James   M.    Damron,   County 
A  ttorney.     He  fled  the  county  in  the  early 
part  of  1883.     Richard  Fitzgerald,   Thomas 
W.  Halliday,  County  Commissioners. 

1881,  Peter  Saup,  County  Commissioner. 

1882,  John  H.  Robinson,  County    Judge; 


John  Hodges,  Sheriff;  M.  W.  Parker,  Coun- 
ty Treasurer;  Samuel  J.  Humm,  County 
Clerk;  Lou  C.  Gibbs,  Superintendent  of 
Schools;  Richard  Fitzgerald,  Coroner;  James 
H.  Mulcahey,  County  Commissioner. 

The  county  seat,  although  in  every  act 
pertaining  thereto,  it  has  been  called  an  act 
to  locate  the  permanent  seat  of  justice,"  has 
been  anything  else  but  "permanent,"  it 
would  seem  from  its  travels,  until  it  was 
tinally  fixed  in  Cairo  in  1860.  It  commenced 
life  at  that  great  future  city,  America,  and  in 
1843  it  folded  its  tent  and  moved  to  Unity, 
where  the  Commissioners  "  went  one  eye," 
as  they  were  directed  to  do  by  the  Legisla- 
ture, toward  the  public  good  and  fixed  its 
"permanent"  abode  once  more.  In  1843,  it 
once  more  wended  its  way  from  Unity  to 
Thebes,  and  here  it  made  "permanent"  prep- 
arations to  stay.  It  took  off  its  "  things " 
and  had  its  "knitting"  along,  and  the  be- 
wildered people  settled  down  in  the  easy  be 
lief  that  this  town  of  such  an  old  name 
would  perpetually  be  the  place  where  they 
could  always  in  the  future  go  to  do  their 
courting.  But  Cairo  came  to  covet  the  hon- 
ors that  Thebes  had  worn  since  1845,  and  in 
1860,  the  county  seat  was  again  removed, 
and  is  now,  it  is  supposed,  once  more  per- 
manently located  in  Cairo. 

An  act  of  the  Legislature  of  1863  author- 
ized the  county  of  Alexander  to  issue  coun- 
ty bonds  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
structing the  present  large  and  commodious 
but  horridly  kept  court  house  and  jail  in  the 
city  of  Cairo.  This  building  was  completed 
and  the  courts  and  county  officers  were  put 
in  j)Ossession  of  the  completed  building  in 
1865.  It  would  not  be  a  discredit  to  the 
county  to  fill  up  the  lot,  build  a  new  iron 
fence  and  repffir  and  paint  and  fix  up  gener- 
ally its  public  buildings. 

The  traveling  "permanent  seat  of  justice" 


466 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


of  Alexander  County  marked  all  its  jonrney- 
ings  by  the  rapid  decay  of  the  ambitious  lit- 
tle cities  that  had  been  thus  cruelly  deserted. 
The  "capital  mover"  had  in  each  case  per- 
formed his  work  well.  If  he  left  the  old 
town  desolate  and  deserted,  he  proclaimed 
great  promises  to  the  new,  and  in  each  case, 
as  the  new  would  start  into  such  vigorous 
life,  the  old  would  be  seized  by  a  corre- 
sponding rapid  decay,  and  generally  before 
the  new  town  could  get  its  public  buildings 
ready  for  occupancy,  the  old  town  would  be 
"the  deserted  village,"  whose  casements  were 
beaten  only  by  the  wheeling  bats  and  hoot 
ing  owls.  It  has  been  remarked  by  an  in- 
telligent observer  that  the  territory  of  the 
two  most  southern  counties  in  Illinois — 
Pulaski  and  Alexander — possess  more  de- 
serted and  decayed  and  now  nearly  forgotten 
towns,  cities  and  villages,  and  particularly 
county  seats,  than  any  other  territory  of  equal 
extent  in  the  United  States.  And,  after  go- 
ing over  a  somewhat  patient  examination  of 


these  places,    we  are  not  at  all  prepared  to 
deny  the  claim. 

Caledonia,  America  and  Trinity — the  first 
two  at  one  time  in  their  brief  lives  county 
seats — are  places  where  the  signet  of  eter- 
nal silence  has  taken  the  place  of  once  busy, 
thriving  towns,  and  are  all  within  a  distance 
of  a  few  miles  along  the  bank  of  the  Ohio 
River.  These  places  were  all  more  or  less 
of  a  mushroom  character,  and  partook  much 
of  that  visionary  greatness  that  shot  up  like 
a  rocket  and  came  down  like  a  stick.  They 
wore  in  sight,  nearly,  of  Mound  City  and 
Cairo,  two  places  that  at  different  times  cut 
most  fantastic  tricks — but  of  this  the  reader 
is  referred  to  the  respective  histories  of  those 
places,  especially  the  most  admirable  and 
interesting  chapters  of  Dr.  N.  R.  Casey's  on 
"Mound  City" — a  remarkable  instance  of 
truth  surpassing  fiction,  and  presenting  a 
story  that,  under  the  able  and  facile  pen  of  the 
Doctor,  may  be  read,  admired  and  marveled 
at  by  the  present  and  the  generations  to  come. 


CHAPTER     III. 


CENSUS     OF     ALEX.'^NDER     COUNTY    CONSIDERED— THE    KIND    OF    PEOPLE    THEV    WERE— HOW 
THEY   IMPROVED   THE   COUNTRY— WHO    BUILT   THE    MILLS— DOGS  VERSUS   SHEEP- 
PERIODS   OF   COMPARATIVE    IMMIGRATION— ACTS   OF   THE   LEGIS- 
LATURE  EFFECTING   THE   COUNTY,   ETC.,   ETC. 


"He  bent  his  way  where  twilight  reigns  sublime, 
O'er  forests  silent  since  the  birth  of  time." 

THE  accessions  to  the  'population  of  the 
county,  from  the  time  of  its  formation 
to  the  year  1840,  were  gradual.  The  census 
of  1820  shows  a  population  of  626;  in  1830, 
it  was  1,390,  an  addition  in  ten  years  of  764 
people;  in  1840,  the  population  was  3,318; 
in  1850,  it  was  reduced,  by  striking  off  Pu- 
laski County,  to  2,484;  in  1860,  it  was  4, 707; 


I  in  1870,  10,564;  1880,  14,809.  Since  1850, 
there  has  been  an  increase  of  12,325.  Two- 
thirds  of  this  was  the  growth  of  the  city  of 
Cairo,  and  was  mostly  the  result  of  the  build- 
ing of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad, 

The  earliest  comers  were  principally 
Southern  men,  and  of  these  people  there 
were  a  large  number  who  were  of  the  middle 
classes  of  society,  so  to  speak.  Some  of  them 
brought   their    .slaves,    with   the    intention, 


HISTOEY  or   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


467 


usually,  of  liberating  them  after  a  short  term 
of  service  here,  and  these  men  were  often 
large  minded,  and,  for  that  day,  possessed  of 
liberal  education,  and  furnished,  even  in 
that  early  time,  material  for  the  study  of  orig- 
inal and  marked  character  sketches.  It  was 
this  class  of  men  who  impressed  themselves 
upon  the  early  history  )of  Southern  Illinois, 
and  for  many  years  their  works  were  every- 
where visible.  It  was  of  this  class  that  came 
the  grand  and  wonderful  schemes  in  regard 
to  building  the  great  cities  and  railroads  and 
canals  in  the  wilderness.  Their  wild  dreams 
were  generally  abortive,  but  to  them,  when 
they  were  working  them  out,  they  were 
most  real;  and  the  writer  has  often  talked 
with  men,  now  old,  who  were  young  men 
then,  and  who  haa  been  swept  into  the  circle 
of  the  influence  of  some  of  those  day-dreamers 
and  air-castle  builders,  and  in  describing  the 
wonderful  talking  and  persuasive  influence 
of  them,  they  will  grow  eloquent,  and  tell 
yoQ  they  remember  these  men  as  the  most 
seductive  talkers  they  ever  met.  Of  fine 
personal  appearance,  of  high-born  and  gentle 
blood,  polished  as  courtiers,  chivalric  and 
lofty  in  bearing,  they  talked  up  their  favor- 
ite hobbies  with  the  inspiration  of  genius, 
and  they  blew  their  bubbles  of  wondrous 
beauty.  Their  temperaments  were  generally 
poetic — nervous,  sanguine;  and  a  study  of 
the  wrecks  that  are  left  us  of  their  castles  in 
the  air,  furnish  conclusive  evidence  that  they 
always  argued  themselves  into  an  implicit 
belief  in  even  their  wildest  dreams,  as  in 
every  instance  they  went  down  with  their 
schemes,  standing  bravely  at  the  wheel,  al- 
though all  they  possessed  in  the  world  were 
stowed  away  in  the  wrecked  ship.  They 
never,  "  like  rats,  deserted  the  sinking  ship." 
They  never  imagined  it  was  sinking,  until 
the  dark  waters  had  whelmed  it,  and  in  it 
everything  they  possessed.     They  were  men 


of  broad  and  generous  ideas,  as  a  rule,  and 
their  enthusiasm  led  them  into  many  mis- 
takes; but  they  were  mistakes  of  the  head, 
and  not  of   the  heart. 

For  thousands  of  miles  there  came  men  to 
settle  in  Illinois,  and  when  St.  Louis  and 
Kaskaskia  were  rival  towns,  they  would, 
after  a  careful  examination  of  the  two  places, 
select  Kaskaskia,  in  the  implicit  faith  that  it 
was  to  be  the  great  city  of  the  West.  The 
same  mistake  was  many  times  made  in  refer- 
ence to  Chicago,  and  people  would  pass  it  by 
and  locate  in  some  noisy  little  place  where 
now  not  one  stone  rests  upon  another. 

"With  this  class  of  rather  better  men,  of 
course,  came  the  coon-skin  tribe,  with  their 
pack  of  cur  dogs  and  troops  of  frowsy  chil- 
dren. This  latter  class  greatly  outnumbered 
the  former,  as  has  their  posterity  outnum- 
bered that  of  the  former,  and  to  some  extent 
given  its  tone  and  coloring  to  the  people  of 
the  present  time.  The  broad-minded  and 
enterprising  men  generally  died  poor,  and 
the  other  kind  but  seldom  grew  to  any  great 
wealth.  In  the  year  1850,  as  stated  above, 
there  were  but  2,484  j^eople  in  Alexander 
County.  Prior  to  this  time,  the  immigrants 
were  nearly  all  from  the  South.  In  this 
year,  Wilson  Able  was  the  Sheriff  of  the 
county,  and  lived  at  Abie's  Landing,  eight 
or  nine  miles  above  Cairo,  on  the  Mississippi 
River.  His  coming  had  called  about  him  a 
good-sized  settlement.  He  was  a  man  of  com- 
manding influence,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  when  the  first  legislation  was  had 
in  i-eference  to  the  Central  Railroad.  He  kept 
a  store  and  owned  a  large  tract  of  land,  and  at 
one  time  did  the  largest  general  business  of  any 
man  in  the  county.  His  two  boys,  Bart  and 
Dan,  were  born  and  reared  here.  They  are 
now  prominent  and  influential  citizens  of  St. 
Louis.  John  McCrite,  John  P.  Walker, 
James  Massey,  Samuel  M.    Phillips,  Charles 


468 


HISTORY  OF    ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


Hunsaker,  Joseph  Harvil,  Henry  Sowers  and 
Nesbit  Allen  were  living  above  Abie's,  but  they 
did  their  trading  and  shipping  mostly  at  his 
landing.  Judge  L.  L.  Lightner,  who  served 
the  county  so  long  as  County  Judge,  came 
from  Missouri  in  the  early  thirties.  He  for 
years  filled  many  diiferent  ofl&ees,  and  his 
counsels  and  official  acts  rendered  his  life 
here  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  in  the 
county.  Edward  Hodges,  grandfather  of  the 
present  Sheriff,  John  Hodges,  came  about 
the  year  1838.  He  married  a  Hunsaker,  and 
opened  a  farm  near  the  old  town  of  Unity. 
"Until  1840,  there  were  very  few  attempts  to 
open  and  cultivate  farms  in  the  Mississippi 
bottoms.  The  Hodges  and  Hunsakers  were 
among  the  oldest  and  most  prominent  of  the 
•early  settlers.  They  were  an  active  and  vig- 
orous people,  characterized  by  good  intellects, 
great  energy,  and  they  to  this  day  hold  their 
position  as  among  the  first  people  of  the 
county.  The  Hunsakers  are  a  numerous 
family,  and  are  to  be  found  in  Union,  Alex- 
ander and  Pulaski  Counties,  and  the  old  pa- 
triarch, Abram  Hunsaker,  came  to  Illinois  as 
early  as  1803.  Among  the  first  merchants  at 
Unity  was  John  S.  Hacker,  of  whom  an  ex- 
tended account  may  be  found  in  the  preced- 
ing chapter.  Samuel  B.  Lisenbee  came  in 
an  early  day  from  Jonesboro.  William  "Wil- 
son came  into  this  county  in  an  early  day. 
He  had  chanced  his  fortunes  as  early  1817, 
in  the  town  of  America,  and  upon  its  decline 
and  fall  he  came  here.  Hodges  &  Overbay 
had  a  store  in  Thebes,  when  the  place  was 
first  laid  out,  and  the  next  store  was  opened 
by  Alexander  Anderson.  As  late  as  1830, 
there  was  not  a  church  edifice  in  the  county, 
yet  the  people  would  assemble  at  some  neigh- 
bor's house,  and  listen  to  preaching  at  fre- 
quent intervals,  especially  when  such  favor- 
able opportunities  presented  themselves  as 
the  passing  through  the  country  of  preachers 


of  different  denominations.  When  the  hard- 
shell preacher  chanced  by,  Methodists, 
Presbyterians  and  all  other  denominations 
would  go,  and  respectfully  listen  to  the  Word 
of  God,  and,  vice  versa,  when  other  preachers 
would  come  pretty  much  all  would  turn  out  to 
hear  them.  A  Baptist  Church  was  eventually 
built  on  the  bottom,  not  far  from  Cape  Girar- 
deau. Another  was  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
north  of  Thebes,  and  was  a  noted  resort  for 
the  people  for  miles  around.  As  late  as  1846, 
there  was  a  church  built  at  Goose  Island 
Landing,  and  one  on  the  road  leading  from 
Thebes  to  Cairo.  The  first  school  was  on 
Sexton's  Creek,  and  among  the  first  school 
teachers  David  McMichael,  Topley  White 
and  Moses  Phillips.  The  second  school  was 
near  the  north  county  line,  in  the  Cauble 
settlement,  near  David  McAlister's  house. 
Toj)ley  White  also  taught  school  here  for 
some  time.  Then  John  McCrite  taught  a 
school  about  one  and  one-half  miles  east  of 
Thebes.  John  Lawi'ence  built  a  horse  mill 
on  Sandy  Creek,  about  nine  miles  northeast 
of  Unity.  Levi  Graham  had  started  another 
horse  mill  near  the  Union  County  line.  Then 
Peter  Miller  put  up  another,  two  miles  east 
of  Thebes,  and  then  Jack  Allen  had  one 
about  nine  miles  north  of  Cairo.  The  first 
saw  mill  in  the  county  was  built  by  Woolfork 
&  Newman,  at  Santa  F^.  It  was  afterward 
owned  and  run  by  James  C.  &  William  Mc- 
Pheters.  Lightner  &  Bemis  built  one  at  the 
mouth  of  Clear  Creek.  John  Shaver, 
moved  down  from  Union  County  into  the 
upper  part  of  Alexander  about  1830.  The 
most  of  the  families  had  hand  mills,  in 
which  they  cracked  the  corn  for  their  bread. 
They  were  cheap,  rude  mills  indeed,  and  it 
was  very  laborious  to  grind  on  them,  but  for 
many  years  they  were  the  universal  resort 
for  bread.  A  man  named  John  Lewis  event- 
ually got  to  making  these  mills   for  the  peo- 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COVNTY 


469 


pie  out  of  the  rocks  he  found  in  the  hills  and 
cliffs,  and  at  one  time  his  factory  was  quite 
an  institxition.  These  "  grind -stones  "  were 
mostly  procured  near  Elco,  and  they  meas- 
ured from  fourteen  to  sixteen  inches  across 
the  face.  David  Hailman  made  an  ambitious 
attempt  to  build  a  water  mill  at  Unity  about 
1882.  He  had  the  frame  up  and  much  of 
the  work  completed,  when  he  failed  and  the 
work  was  never  completed.  The  tirst  regular 
public  cemetery  was  upon  what  is  now  the 
Widow  Clutt's  farm,  about  two  and  a  half 
miles  north  of  Thebes. 

Prior  to  1835,  the  people  were  not  farmers, 
but  hunters.  They  would  "squat"  on  a  piece 
of  land,  put  up  a  rough  cabin  and  some  of 
them  had  cleared  a  few  acres  for  a  truck 
patch.  About  the  time  named  above,  the 
real  farmers  first  began  to  come,  and  then 
hunters  began  to  get  ready  to  move  on — go 
West,  where  the  crowding  civilization  and 
settlements  would  nc»t  trouble  them,  or  dis- 
turb the  game  they  were  wont  to  chase.  Of 
this  class  were  those  new  comers  whose 
necessity,  in  the  chase  and  in  pi'otecting 
their  pigs  and  chickens  from  the  hungry 
wolves  and  other  wild  beasts,  required  the 
services  of  the  dog,  and  hence  always  a  good- 
ly portion  of  many  families  were  made  up  of 
"  mongrel,  puppy,  whelp  and  hound,  and 
cur  of  low  degree."  But,  most  unfortunate- 
ly, with  the  disappearance  of  the  simple 
trappers  and  hunters,  the  dogs  did  not  go, 
but  remained  in  unlimited  numbers  for  these 
many  years,  after  their  day  of  usefulness 
had  passed.  And  now  we  have  no  hesitation 
in  saying  that  one  of  the  greatest  misfortunes 
to  Southern  Illinois  has  been  its  large  num 
bers  of  worthless,  sheep-killing  curs.  These 
perpetual  pests  have  cost  the  three  counties 
of  "Union,  Alexander  and  Pulaski  many,  many 
thousands,  if  not  millions  of  dollars.  If 
there  never  had  been  a  dog  here,  there  would 


have  been  raised  annually  thousands  of  sheep 
where  none  are  raised  now,  and  we  make  no 
question  but  the  life  of  one  sheep  is  at  any 
time  worth  more  than  every  dog  in  the  dis- 
tinct.    It  is  not  a  good  sign  to  see  a  people 
run  too  much  to  dog.    As  a  rule,  these  brutes 
are   not   good  to  eat,  nor  do  they  "  toil  and 
spin,"  but  they  do  occasionally  make  them- 
selves manifest  by  going  mad,  and  thus  men- 
acing with  a  most  horrible  death  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  community.     The 
dog  propensity  in  man  is  simply  the  remnant 
of  transmitted  savagery.     A  savage  loves  his 
dog   better  than   his  wife   and  children.      A 
silly  city  girl's  pet  poodle,  and  a  backwoods- 
man's love  of  his  mangy  cur,  are  one  and  the 
same   hideous    disease  that  has  been    trans- 
mitted from  savage  ancestors.      We  can  well 
understand  that  a  good  dog — a  dog  of    sense 
and  breeding — is  not  going  to  prowl  all  over 
the  neighborhood  and  kill  people's  stock;  nor 
will  he  bite  and  tear  your  child  in  pieces,  as 
it  passes  along  the  road  or  as  it  approaches 
your  house;  but  if   we   can   only  have  good 
dogs    at   the    expense  of    these    vicious    and 
worthless  ones,  then,  in  heaven's  name,  we 
say,  Let  them  all  go.   Start  the  busy  dog-killer, 
and   let   him  not  eat  or    sleep    while  a  four 
footed    dog    lives.     We  are  told  of   a  distin- 
guished citizen  who  pays  taxes  on  nine  dogs 
— $9,  and   all  his   other  tax  is  $1.25.     This 
enterprising  man  will  tell  you  the  country  is 
of    little  or  no  account;  that  farmers  cannot 
make  a  living,  and  that  it  is  foolish  to  try  to 
raise  stock  here;  that,  in  short,  everything  is 
going  to  the  "demnition  bow-wows. "    In  the 
language  of  the  woman  who  was  driving  the 
ox  team  hauling  rails,  while  her  "  old  man" 
was    at   the    village,     industriously   getting 
di-unk,     "  It    seems    like    a   good     country, 
though,    for    men    and    dogs,    but   powerful 
tryin'  on  women  and  oxen."     Has  the  reader 
any  idea   how  many  men  have  attempted  to 


470 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


raise  blooded  sheep  in  these  three  counties, 
and  quit  the  business  when  the  dogs  had 
destroyed  their  flocks?  Can  any  estimate 
ever  be  made  that  would  tell  this  people  of 
how  many  men  had  come  here  with  a  view  of 
going  into  the  stock  business,  and  when  they 
were  confronted  with  the  great  dog  problem 
have  turned  away,  and  found  other  places  to 
go  into  business  ?  Does  any  man  live  who  is 
so  stupid  as  not  to  know  that  if  you  could 
only  get  rid  of  the  dogs  there  would  be  an- 
nually raised,  in  each  of  these  three  counties, 
50,000  sheep?  Sheep  are  not  raised  here 
solely  because  dogs  are.  This  is  a  self-evi- 
dent proposition.  To  produce  200,000  sheep 
annually  would  be  worth,  each  year,  more 
than  half  a  million  dollars,  and  yet  the  dog 
raisers  will  tell  you  they  are  poor — that  they 
cannot  pay  their  debts,  and  they  often  are 
not  able  to  clothe  their  children,  mach  less 
educate  them.  Such  ignorance  and  trifling- 
ness  is  an  unmixed  evil  to  the  country.  Such 
people  will  half  feed  and  clothe  their  chil- 
dren, and  in  their  turn  they  will  grow  up 
dog-breeders,  and,  so  to  speak,  a  kind  of 
doggy  people.  Such  men  will  sneer  at  peo- 
ple who  care  for  their  children,  feed  them 
on  rich  and  generous  food,  clothe  them  in 
the  best,  educate  them,  send  them  to  travel 
and  learn  the  world,  and  mix,  in  social  in- 
tercourse, with  people  of  that  type  who  im- 
part gentility  and  information,  as  "stuck-ups." 
From  the  defects  of  their  own  training,  they 
want  none  of  this  "  hifalutin "  style,  but 
tium,  content,  to  their  association  and  com- 
panionship with  their  dogs.  And  now  that  we 
have  had  our  say  about  dogs,  in  plain,  Anglo- 
Saxon  terms,  we  are  content  to  dismiss  the 
subject  with  an  apology  to  the  dog-raiser, 
or  to  the  dog  himself,  and  for  our  life  we 
cannot  decide  to  which  of  these  two  we 
should   make  om*    apology,  and    so  we  will 


leave  it  for  the  reader  to  put  it  where  he 
pleases. 

As  already  intimated,  there  were  only  slow 
accessions  to  the  population  from  the  time  of 
the  first  settlement  of  the  county  until  1840. 
There  was  no  marked  rush  at  that  time,  but 
a  visible  increase  in  numbers,  if  not  in 
quality,  of  the  settlers  who  thenrb^gau  to 
come.  It  was  composed  of  real  farmers, 
speculators,  preachers,  millers,  school  teach- 
ers, doctors,  lawyers,  merchants  and  busi- 
ness men.  They  were  a  people  desiring  to 
own  the  land  they  lived  upon,  and  the  most 
of  them,  in  the  rural  districts,  were  intent 
upon  making  the  little  truck  patches  that 
were  so  sparsely  dotted  about  the  country, 
into  real  farms,  where  would  be  raised  the 
farm  products  to  ship  to  the  world's  markets. 
We  confess  we  have  been  at  some  loss  to  tell 
why  this  marked  increase  between  1835  and 
1840  occurred ;  and  why  it  should  be  propor- 
tionately greater  at  that  period  than  between 
1850  and  1860 — in  which  census  decade  the 
great  Illinios  Central  Railroad  was  built.  It 
is  true  the  building  of  this  railroad  did  ma- 
terially affect  the  growth  of  the  towns  and 
cities  of  much  of  Southern  Illinois,  but  it 
seems  to  have  made  little  or  no  impression  in 
the  agricultural  districts.  The  railroad 
affected  the  price  of  land,  and  caused  about 
all  of  it  to  be  at  once  taken  up,  and  created 
a  market  price  for  fai-ms  as  well  as  unim- 
proved lands,  but  there  was  no  correspond- 
ing increase  in  the  rural  population  until 
after  the  war,  when  the  general  accession 
was  again  commenced,  which  has  continued 
to  +his  day.  For  an  account  of  the  railroads 
entering  the  county,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  the  history  of  Cairo  in  this  volume. 

As  early  as  1819,  Dr.  Alexander  procured 
an  act  of  the  Legislature,  to  dam  the  Cache 
River.  As  Lincoln  said  about  our  gunboats 
navigating  streams   "  where  it  was   a  little 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER   COUNTY. 


471 


damp."  the  early  law-makers  had  an  idea  of 
damming  every  little  gully  in  the  State, 
and  making  it  a  great  national  highway  for 
navigation,  and  Dr.  Alexander,  instead  of 
dredging,  commenced  damming,  and  to  this 
day,  when  it  gets  either  too  dry  or  too  full, 
this  profane  work  is  still  carried  on  by  some 
people,  p  d  some  good  men,  in  their  hearts, 
have  even  extended  this  to  the  cypress 
swamps  which  cover  much  good  land,  and 
occasionally  overflow  to  the  low  lands  adjoin- 
ing them.  A.t  one  time,  a  ditch  was  dug,  to 
drain  a  large  swamp,  but  when  the  Cache 
Eiver  was  very  full,  thS  ditch,  instead  of 
leading  the  water  from  the  swamp  to  the 
river,  led  the  water  from  the  river  to  the 
swamp,  and  these  short-sighted  engineers 
turned  aboiit  to  dam  the  ditch. 

The  Unity  Maufacturing  Company  was 
chartered  in  1837.  The  company  laid  the 
foundations,  but  it  never  grew  much  above 
its  foundations,  for  an  extensive  manufactory, 
including  nearly  everything  made  of  hard 
wood.  It  was  discovered  that  the  shipping 
facilities  were  inadequate,  and  the  gi'eat  pro- 
ject was  abandoned. 

The  court  house  and  other  public  property 
in  America  were,  by  act  of  the  Legislature, 
sold  in  1835.  When  the  seat  of  justice  was 
removed  from  Unity  to  Thebes,  there  was 
very  little,  if  anything,  left  at  the  abandoned 
town  from  the  flames,  except  the  jail,  and 
this,  except  for  its  timbers,  was  of  little  or 
no  value. 

By  special  act  of  1845,  John  Hodges  and 
William  Clapp  were  authorized  to  collect  the 
taxes  for  1839.    And  the  taxes  of  the  county, 


1844,  were,  on  account  of  the  high  water  of 
that  year,  remitted. 

Alexander  County  is  credited  with  more 
criminals  and  penitentiary  convicts  than  any 
other  county  in  the  State,  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  inhabitants.  This  is  not  from 
the  inhabitants  proper,  but  is  the  river 
roughs,  the  negro  roustabouts  and  the  colored 
population  that  has  rushed  into  Cairo,  and 
that  depend  upon  theft,  robbery  and  begging 
for  a  living.  To  this  extent  had  the  county 
been  taxed  by  these  criminals,  that  in  the 
year  1869  the  Legislature  felt  jusitied  in 
remitting  the  State  tax  of  the  county,  and 
giving  this  as  their  reason  for  so  doing. 

A  complete  list  of  the  many  once-flourish- 
ing but  now  deserted  towns  in  the  territory 
of  the  counties  of  Alexander  and  Pulaski, 
from  their  great  number  and  high  sounding 
names,  would  furnish  some  curious  reading 
for  our  people.  We  have  already  told  of 
America,  Trinity,  Upper  and  Lower  Cale- 
donia, Unity,  etc.,  and  now  we  may  add  to 
the  lists  New  Philadelphia,  Hazlewood, 
Sowersville,  Poletown,  Peru,  Saratoga,  Old 
Grand  Chain,  Grand  Chain  and  still  others 
we  cannot  now  recall,  whose  memory  is  not  ma- 
terial to  this  account  of  the  people.  Almost 
every  cross-roads,  that  had  a  cabin  and  a  man 
who  could  read  and  write  enough  to  become 
Postmaster  for  the  monthly  pony  mail,  was 
at  once  a  New  London,  Pekin,  Liverpool  or 
Shakerag.  as  the  exuberant  fancy  of  the  sol- 
itary inhabitant  chanced  to  suggest.  The 
most  of  them  evidently  believed  there  was 
something  in  a  name,  and  the  boundless  uni- 
verse was  before  them  to  select  from. 


473 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUXTY. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


WAR    RE.OKD—18r2-15— BLACK   HAWK    WAR— SOME   ACCOUNT    OF    IT   AND   CAPT.  WEBBS  COM- 
PANY—ROSTER OF  THE   COMPANY— WAR    AVPfH    MEXICO— OUR    LATE   CIVIL    WAR- 
POLITICS— REl'RESENTATIVES  AND  OTHER  OFFICIALS— JOHM  Q.  HARMON- 
—STATE     SENATORS,    ETC.— SOME     SLANDERS     UPON     THE 
PEOPLE     REPELLED.     ETC.,     ET(\ 


"  The  best  men  come  not  of  war  or  poHtics." — 
Anonymous. 

ALEXANDER  COUNTY  was  sufficient- 
ly wai'liJie  for  all  practicable  purposes? 
for  a  peaceful,  free  country.  A  number  of 
the  old  pioneers  were  Eevolutiouary  soldiers, 
and  a  large  proi^ortion  of  the  others  were  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  those  conspicuous  in 
the  great  war  fur  independence. 

War  of  1812.  — There  were  very  few  people 
in  what  are  now  Alexander  and  Pulaski 
Counties  at  the  time  of  this  war.  In  1811, 
was  the  massacre  of  Cache,  and  here  seven 
of  the  settlers  were  murdered  by  the  Indians, 
and  Phillip  Shaver,  who  died  in  Alexander 
County  a  few  years  ago,  was  the  only  survivor 
of  the  bloody  episode,  which  was  one  of  the 
first  movements  that  finally  resulted  in  war. 
Some  of  the  few  people  then  in  the  counly, 
in  consequence  of  this  cruel  act,  fled  in  ter- 
ror to  the  settlements  north  of  this,  and  the 
wilderness  was  left  almost  wholly  to  the  In- 
dians and  wild  beasts.  It  is  said  David  Sowers, 
Robert  Hight  and  Nathan  M.  Thompson 
were  in  the  war  of  1812-15.  There  may 
have  been  others,  but  if  so  they  were  prob- 
ably men  who  had  gone  into  the  army  from 
other  pjaces,  and  after  coming  out  of  the 
service  came  to  the  county. 

Black  Haivk  War.  —Alexander  County 
furnished  Capt.  Henry  L.  "Webb's  company 
of  Mounted  Volunteers,  which  was  called 
into    the   service  of    the   United    States    by 


order  of  the  Governor  of  the  State  May  15, 
1832,  to  serve  until  August  3,  1832,  when 
they  were  mustered  out  by  order  of  Maj. 
Gen.  Scott,  commaMing  Northwestern  army. 
This  company  numbered,  officers  and  privates, 
fifty- two  men.  The  following  is  a  complete 
roster  of  the  company: 

Captain,  Henry  L.  Webb;  First  Lieuten- 
ant, Richard  H.  Price  (lost  his  rifle  swim- 
ming Rock  River  after  Indians ") ;  Second 
Lieutenants,  David  H.  Moore  (promoted  to 
Quartermaster  of  the  Spy  Brigade.  June  16), 
and  James  D.  Morris  (was  promoted  from 
Corporal  June  16,  where  he  commanded  a 
corps  from  19th  of  May  until  promoted). 
Sergeants — Owen  Willis,  First;  Quinton 
Ellis,  Second;  Aaron  Atherton,  Jr.,  Third; 
Samuel  Atherton  Neal,  Fourth.  Corporals — 
Merrit  Howell,  Aaron  Anglin,  William 
Dickey,  Giles  Whitaker.  Privates — William 
Anglin,  James  Anglin,  Cnder  Bunch,  Harden 
Burks,  Berry  Brown,  Benjamin  Brooks,  John 
Caines,  Tillman  Camron,  Jeremiah  Dexter, 
Solomon  Daniels,  Benjamin  Eckols,  Henry 
H.  Harrison,  Loudy  Harvill,  Resin  Hargis, 
Franklin  Hughs,  Turner  Hurgis,  John  E. 
Jefi"ers,  Henry  K.  Johnson,  Thomas  Keneda, 
Alexander  Keneda,  Alfred  Lackey,  Cyrus  L. 
Lynch  (lost  his  rifle  in  swimming  Rock 
River  after  Indians),  George  McCool,  Benja- 
min McCool,  William  Meshaw,  Roderick  Mc- 
Cload,  John  Murphy.  George  C.  Neale,  Mar- 
cus Post,    James    Phillips,    Samuel  F.  Rice, 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COU:NtTY 


471 


William  E.  Powell,  Alanson  Powell  (pro- 
moted Quartermaster  Sergeant  Spy  Battal- 
ion, Third  Brigade,  June  IG),  Robert  Rus- 
sell, Enoch  Smith,  James  M.  Taylor,  Nathan 
M.  Thompson,  James  W.  Townsend,  John 
Townsend  and  Samuel  White. 

In  Capt.  AV ebb's  diary  we  tind  the  follow- 
ing reference  to  his  company:  "  The  Black 
Hawk  war  broke  oiit  on  Rock  River.  I 
being  in  command  of  the  militia,  was  ordered 
and  did  raise  a  company  of  Mounted  Rifle 
Rangers,  and  marched  them  to  the  frontier 
where  we  joined  the  army  under  Gen.  Atkin- 
son, on  the  Illinois  River.  From  there,  my 
company  escorted  the  General  from  this  place 
to  Bock  River.  Gen.  Atkinson  selected  my 
company  from  the  whole  volunteer  force,  as 
being  the  best  mounted,  armed,  equipped  and 
disciplined." 

We  cannot  tind  any  records  of  whei'e  this 
company  was  ever  attached,  or  made  a  part 
of  the  four  Illinois  regiments  in  that  war. 
It  most  probably  served  out  its  time,  as  one 
of  the  independent  or  spy  companies. 

An  account,  in  brief,  of  the  Black  Hawk 
war  will  be  found  in  the  war  chapter  of 
Union  County,  in  this  volume. 

A  curious  scrap  of  history,  concerning 
this  war,  is  furnished  by  a  memorandum 
keptbyMaj.  William  Carpenter,  Paymaster 
of  the  Fom'th  Regiment,  on  this  expedition. 
It  is  an  account  of  the  distances  and  camps 
in  the  march  of  his  coiamand,  as  follows: 

To  Beardstown,  fifty  miles;  first  camp,  over 
Illinois  River,  nine  miles;  second  camp, 
Rushville,  three  miles;  third  camp.  Crooked 
Creek,  twenty-five  miles;  fourth  camp, 
Crooked  Creek,  twenty  miles;  fifth  camp. 
Yellow  Banks,  eighteen;  sixth  camp,  Camp 
Creek,  thirty;  seventh  camp,  Rock  River, 
twenty;  eighth  camp,  cut  bee  tree,  twenty- 
six;  ninth  camp,  timber  scarce,  man  shot 
himself,  thirty;  tenth   camp,  Dixon,  twenty- 


live;  eleventh  camp,  ,  battle  ground  (Still- 
man's  defeat),  twenty-five;  twelfth  camp,  re- 
turn to  Dixon's,  twenty-five;  thirteenth  camp, 
express  came  to  us  about  the  mm'der,  twelve; 
fourteenth  camp.  Rock  River,  Capt.  Gooden 
arrested,  four;  fifteenth  camp,  one  mile  to 
good  spring  traveled,  sixteen;  sixteenth 
camp,  Tishwakee,  ten;  seventeenth  camp. 
Sycamore,  here  the  scalps  were  trimmed, 
twelve;  eighteenth  camp.  Fox  River  timber, 
twenty;  nineteenth  camp,  six'  miles  from 
Paw-paw,  twenty;  twentieth  camp,  two  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  the  river,  twenty. 

There  is  quite  a  fascination  in  this  extra- 
ordinary record,  and  the  brief,  descriptive 
remax'ks  on  events  as  they  happened  are  bare 
facts,  in  the  fewest  words,  that  were  written 
down  by  the  camp  fire,  with  no  thought  of 
their  ever  being  again  read;  and  the  entry 
"  timber  scarce,  here  a  man  shot  himself." 
or  at  another  camp,  where  he  says,  "  battle 
ground  (Stillman's  defeat),"  or  another,  "ex- 
press came  to  us  about  the  murder,"  is  evejy 
word  he  says  about  the  battle  of  Stillman's 
Run;  or  "one  mile  to  a  good  spring 
traveled;"  or  this,  "  Sycamore,  here  the 
scalps  were  trimmed."  These  were  the 
Major's  daily  memoranda  of  the  successive 
camps,  in  which  he  carefully  noted  each  day's 
travel  in  miles;  and  where  he  makes  the  entry 
"  express  came  to  us  about  the  murder, "  no 
doubt  tells  his  entire  comment  on  the  stirring 
news  of  the  battle  of  Stillman's  run.  But 
when  he  says  *'  Sycamore,  here  the  scalps 
were  trimmed,"  we  are  left  at  a  loss  what  to 
think. 

As  some  of  the  men  concerned  in  the  first 
victory  of  the  Black  Hawk  war  were  well 
known  in  Alexander  and  Pulaski  Counties, 
we  give  an  account  of  this  interesting  event. 
On  the  17th  day  of  June,  Col.  Dement,  with 
his  spy  battalion  of  150  men,  was  ordered  to 
report    himself    to    Col.     Taylor    (President 


474 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY 


Taylor),  at  Dixon,  white  the  main  army  was 
to  follow.  On  his  ari'ival  at  Dixon,  he  was 
ordered  to  take  position  in  Kellogg's  Grove, 
were,  on  the  25th  day  of  June,  he  was  visited 
by  Mr.  Funk,  of  McLean  County,  who,  while 
on  his  way  from  the  lead  mines  the  night  be- 
fore, reported  that  a  trail  of  about  three 
hundred  Indians,  leading  northward,  had 
been  seen  that  day.  A  council  of  war,  held 
that  night,  determined  that  Col.  Dement  and 
fifty  picked  men  should  i-econnoiter  the  sur- 
rounding country  the  next  day.  At  daylight 
the  party  sallied  forth,  and  when  within  300 
yards  of  the  fort,  discovered  several  Indian 
spies.  Regardless  of  the  cries  of  Col.  De- 
ment and  Lieut.  Gov.  Casey,  who  accom- 
panied him,  acd  without  waiting  for  direc- 
tions, these  undrilled  and  undisciplined  men 
immediately  charged  on  the  foes,  and  reckless- 
ly followed  them  despite  all  efforts  of  Col.  De- 
ment to  check  them.  They  were  led  into  am- 
biTsh,  and  suddenly  were  confronted  by  300 
howling,  naked  savages,  under  the  command 
of  Black  Hawk  in  person.  The  sudden  appear- 
ance of  the  savages  created  a  panic  among 
the  whites,  and  each  man  struck  out  for  him- 
self in  the  direction  of  the  fort,  with  a  speed 
which  equaled,  if  it  did  not  excel,  the  alac- 
rity with  which  they  left  it  in  the  morning. 
In  the  confused  retreat  which  followed, 
five  of  ihe  whites,  who  were  without  horses, 
were  killed,  while  the  remainder  reached  the 
fort,  and,  dismounting,  entered  it,  closely 
pursued  by  the  enemy.  The  fort  was  vigor- 
ously assailed  for  over  an  hour  by  the 
savages,  who  were  repulsed  and  forced  to  re- 
tire, leaving  nine  of  their  number  behind 
them  dead  on  the  field,  besides  several  others 
carried  away  wounded.  No  one  in  the  fort 
was  killed,  but  several  wounded.  Col. 
Dement  received  three  shots  through  his 
clothing,  but  fortunately  escaped  unhurt. 
At  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  messengers  were 


sent  fifty  miles,  to  Gen.  Posey,  for  assist- 
ance, and  toward  sundown,  that  General  and 
his  brigade  made  their  appearance,  and  no 
further  attack  was  made  on  the  fort  by  the 
savages.  Gen.  Posey  started  out  in  search 
of  the  enemy  the  next  day,  but  the  trail 
showed  they  had  pursued  their  favorite 
tactics  of  scattering  their  forces,  and  the 
pursuit  was  abandoned.  The  army  continued 
its  march  up  Rock  River,  near  the  source  of 
which  they  expected  to  find  the  enemy.  As 
provisions  were  scarce,  and  difficult  to  convey 
for  any  distance,  the  command  of  Gen.  Alex- 
ander, with  a  detachment  under  Gen.  Henry 
and  Maj.  Dodge,  was  sent  to  Fort  Winnebago, 
between  Fox  and  Wisconsin  Rivers,  to  ob- 
tain supplies.  Learning  that  Black  Hawk 
was  encamped  on  the  Whitewater,  Gen. 
Heni-y  and  Maj.  Dodge  started  in  j)ursuit, 
leaving  Gen.  Alexander  with  his  command 
in  charge  of  the  provisions  to  return  to  Gen. 
Atkinson.  After  several  days'  hard  marches, 
and  much  suffering  from  exposure  and  lack 
of  food,  on  the  21st  day  of  July  the  enemy 
were  overtaken  on  the  bluffs  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin, and  a  decisive  battle  fought,  in  which 
Gen.  Henry  commanded  the  American  forces, 
which  consisted  of  Maj.  Dodge's  battalion  on 
the  ricrht,  Col.  Jones'  regriment  in  the  center 
and  Col.  Collins'  on  the  left,  with  Maj.  Ew- 
ings'  battalion  in  the  front  and  Col.  Fry's 
regiment  in  the  rear,  as  a  reserve  force.  In 
this  order,  they  charged  the  enemy,  and  drove 
him  from  position  after  position,  with  great 
loss,  till  the  sun  went  down,  leaving  them 
victors  in  the  first  important  advantage 
gained  over  Black  Hawk  during  the  war. 

During  the  night,  the  'Indians  fled  in  the 
direction  of  the  Mississippi  River,  leaving 
16S  dead  on  the  field,  and  of  their  wounded, 
taken  with  them,  twenty-five  were  found  dead 
the  next  day  on  their  trail;  while  Gen.  Henry 
lost  only  one  man  killed  and  eight  wounded. 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


477 


The  few  survivors  of  the  Black  Hawk  war 
will  recognize  this  battle,  and  read  the  details 
of  it,  as  we  have  given  them  above,  with 
much  interest. 

The  Mexican  War. — So  far  as  the  military 
records  at  Springfield  show,  there  was  no 
complete  and  organized  company  from  either 
Alexander  or  Pulaski  Counties  in  this  war. 
There  were,  doubtless,  men  from  each  of  these 
counties  in  that  service,  but  they  must  have 
entered  the  service  as  individuals,  or  in 
small  squads,  and  volunteering  at  some 
point  outside  their  county,  were  credited  to 
the  place  of  enlistment. 

The  Civil  War. — About  all  that  we  care  to 
say  of  Alexander  County  in  this  war,  is  given 
in  the  history  of  the  city  of  Cairo,  in  this 
volume,  to  which  the  reader  is  referred. 

January  16.  1865,  Gen.  Isham  N.  Haynie 
was  made  Adjutant  General  of  the  State.  He 
died  during  his  term  of  office. 

Politics. — Among  the  early  settlers,  a  large 
proportion  were  at  first  Jefferscmian  Demo- 
crats, and  when  Jackson  took  his  prominent 
position  in  the  political  history  of  the  coun- 
try, they  were  Jackson  Democrats,  and  the 
descendants  of  these  people  mostly  have  been 
true  to  the  political  faith  of  their  fathers. 
The  county  was  constantly  Democratic  at  all 
national  elections,  until  the  large  negro  ele- 
ment, which  had  lodged  in  Cairo,  was  per- 
mitted to  vote,  when  th e  Republicans  succeeded 
in,  we  believe, electing  a  majority  of  the  county 
officers  on  their  ticket,  but  the  Democrats 
soon  regained  the  local  offices  again,  al- 
though, on  the  national  or  Congressional 
tickets,  the  county  has  steadily  voted  the  Re- 
publican ticket.  In  1880,  the  vote  cast  was 
for  Garfield  1, 597 ;  Hancock,  1,353;  Weaver, 
46.  In  1876,  the  vote  was  Hayes  (Repub- 
lican), 1,219;  Tilden  (Democrat),  1,280.  In 
1882,  the  vote  cast  for  State  Treasurer, 
Smith  (Republican),  1,182;  Orendorf  (Demo- 


crat), 1,149.  The  Greenbackers,  Grangers, 
Prohibitionists  and  other  side  issues  in  the 
politics  of  the  country  have  not  received 
much  consideration  in  Alexander  County. 

In  the  Constitutional  Convention  which 
convened  at  Springfield,  June  7,  1847.  Alex- 
ander and  Pulaski  formed  a  district,  and 
Martin  Atherton  as  the  delegate  in  the  con- 
vention. 

In  the  Constitutional  Convention  which 
assembled  at  Springfield  January  7,  1862, 
Alexander,  Pulaski  and  Union  formed  one 
district,  and  W.  A.  Hacker  was  elected  dele- 
gate. He  was  President  of  the  convention. 
The  constitution  framed  and  submitted  to  the 
people  by  this  convention  was  rejected  by 
the  voters  at  the  election  on  June  17,  1862. 

The  last  State  Convention,  which  framed 
the  present  constitution,  convened  at  Spring- 
field December  13,  1869,  and  adjourned  May 
13,  1870.  It  was  composed  of  eighty-five 
delegates,  and  Alexander,  Pulaski  and  Union 
again  composed  the  district.  William  J. 
Allen  was  elected  delegate.  The  constitu- 
tion was  ratified  by  the  people  July  2,  1870, 
and  was  in  force  August  8,  1870. 

John  Q.  Harmon,  of  Alexander,  was  the 
Secretary  of  this  body.  He  had  long  been  a 
county  officer — Master  in  Chancery,  Circuit 
and  County  Clerk,  and  Clerk  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  in  Cairo.  He  was  elected  Clerii 
of  the  Appelate  Court,  and  during  his  term  of 
office,  in  the  year  1882,  died  of  Bright's  disease, 
at  Eureka  Springs,  where  he  had  gone  in 
the  vain  hope  of  regaining  his  health. 

He  was  one  of  the  best  known  and  most 
popular  men  that  ever  lived  in  the  county. 
Of  an  impulsive,  warm  and  generous  heart, 
his  whole  nature  was  as  genial  as  sunshine. 
Of  blood  pure  and  gentle,  his  companionship 
was  an  unmixed  pleasure  to  all  his  large  ac- 
quaintance, which  extended  throughout  the  en- 
tire   State.     His    warm   heart   went  out  in 


478 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


sympathy  to  the  afflicted,  and  his  purse - 
string  was  never  tied  when  the  appeal  of 
charity  came.  His  integrity  stood  every  test 
of  life,  and  was  never  questioned.  Brave, 
chivalrie  and  impulsive,  he  would  resent  in- 
stantaneously any  real  or  fancied  reflection 
upon  his  own  or  his  friends'  integrity,  but 
his  pvire  soul  never  harbored  malice,  hate  or 
revenge  a  moment,  and  he  was  as  ready  to 
forgive  and  forget  as  he  had  been  to  feel  and 
resent  the  wrong.  His  ideal  of  moral  integ- 
rity was  placed  in  the  highest  niche,  and  yet 
his  whole  life  was  marked  by  no  deviation 
from  the  high  standard  he  had  placed  before 
him  when  a  boy.  His  life  was  pui-e  and 
cleanly — both  morally  and  socially.  He  was 
a  loving  and  affectionate  husband  and  father, 
and  when  the  cruel  and  irreparable  loss  came 
to  his  loved  household,  with  its  great  and  incur- 
able affliction,  the  sympathy  and  condolence — 
sincere  and  heartfelt — of  all  his  wide  circle 
of  friends  went  out  to  them  in  their  hour  of 
severe  trial.  At  the  head  of  his  grave,  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  posterity  may  stand 
and  truly  say  the  world  is  brighter  and  better 
that  he  lived.  His  memory  will  be  cherished, 
and  his  good  deeds  not  forgotten. 

By  the  constitution  of  1848,  this  Senatorial 
District  consisted  of  the  counties  of  Alex- 
ander, Union,  Pulaski,  Johnson,  Massac, 
Pope  and  Hardin;  and  the  Representative 
District  of  Alexander,  Pulaski  and  Union. 
By  the  apportionment  of  1854,  the  Senatorial 
District  was  Alexander,  Union,  Johnson, 
Pulaski,  Massac,  Pope,  Hardin  and  Gallatin; 
the  Representative  District  was  not  changed. 
By  the  apportionment  act  of  1861,  the  Sena- 
torial District  was  constituted  of  Alexander, 
Pulaski,  Massac,  Union,  Johnson,  Pope, 
Hardin,   Gallatin  and  Saline;  and  again  the 


Representative  District  was  not  changed. 
Under  the  apportionment  act  of  1870,  the 
Senatorial  District  remained  the  same,  and 
Alexander  was  made  a  Representative  Dis- 
trict, entitled  to  one  member. 

By  the  act  of  March  1,  1872,  the  State  was 
divided  into  Senatorial  Districts,  as  pro- 
vided by  the  constitution,  each  district  being 
entitled  to  one  Senator  and  three  Represen- 
tatives, and  Alexander,  Jackson  and  Union 
were  made  the  Fiftieth  Senatorial  and  Re- 
presentative District. 

The  first  member  of  the  Legislature  ever 
sent  from  Alexander  County  was  William  M. 
Alexander,  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1822- 
1824.  He  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  house. 
Henry  L.  Webb  represented  the  county  in 
the  next  session  of  1824-26.  Wilson  Able 
was  a  member  of  the  session  of  1832-34,  and 
he  was  re-elected  in  1834-36,  and  again 
1836-38,  and  again  in  1838-40,  and  again 
J  840-42.  In  the  Assembly  of  1842-44,  John 
Cochran  was  in  the  House.  In  the  Assembly 
of  1846-48,  John  Hodges,  Sr.,  was  a  member 
from  Alexander  m  the  House.  In  1854-56, 
F.  M.  Rawlings  was  a  member  of  the  House 
from  Alexander.  In  the  General  Assembly 
of  1860-62,  David  T.  Linegar,  of  Cairo, 
Third  Assistant  Clerk.  In  the  Assembly 
1864-66,  William  H.  Green,  of  Cairo,  was  a 
Senator,  and  H.  W.  Webb  was  a  member  of 
the  House.  Webb  was  again  elected  in  1870. 
John  H.  Oberly  was  his  successor  in  1872. 
In  1874,  Claiborne  Winston  was  elected. 
In  1876,  A.  H.  Irvin.  He  resigned  Febru- 
ary 12,  1878.  Thomas  W.  Halliday  was  a 
member  of  the  House  in  the  Assembly  of 
1878-80.  The  present  member  of  the  House 
from  Alexander  County  is  D.   T.    Linegar. 


HISTOKY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY, 


479 


CHAPTER    V. 


BENCH  AND  BAR  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY— STATE  JUDICIARY  AND  EARLY  LAWS  CONCERNING  IT 

—JUDICIAL  COURTS,  HOW  FORMED— FIRST  JUSTICES  OF  THE  SUPREME  COURT— WHO 

CAME  AND  PRACTICED  LAW— JUDGES  MULKEY,  BAKER,  I.  N.  HAYNIE,  ALLEN, 

GREEN,  WALL,  YOCUM,  LINEGAR,  AND  LANSDEN— LOCAL  LAWYERS,  ETC. 


"  The  ethics  of  the  Bar  CO  mprehends  the  duties  of  each  of 
its  members  to  himself." 

THE  first  constitution  of  the  State  de- 
clared that  the  judicial  power  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  should  be  vested  in  one 
Supreme  Court  and  such  inferior  courts  as 
the  General  Assembly  should,  from  time  to 
time,  ordain  and  establish. 

The  Supreme  Court  was  vested  with  ap- 
pellate jm-isdiction,  and,  except  in  cases  re- 
lating to  the  revenue,  in  cases  of  manda- 
mus, and  such  cases  of  impeachment  as 
might  be  required  to  be  tried  before  it.  It 
consisted  of  a  Chief  Justice  and  three  Asso- 
ciates, though  the  number  of  Justices  might 
be  increased  by  the  General  Assembly  after 
the  year  1824. 

The  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  and 
the  Judges  of  the  inferior  courts  were  ap- 
pointed by  joint  ballot  of  both  branches  of 
the  General  Assembly,  and  commissioned  by 
the  Governor  and  held  their  offices  during 
good  behavior  until  the  end  of  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  General  Assembly,  which  was 
begun  and  held  after  the  1st  day  of  January 
in  the  year  1824,  at  which  time  their  com- 
missions expired,  and  until  that  time  the  Jus- 
tices of  the  Supreme  Court  were  required  to 
hold  the  Circuit  Courts  in  the  several  coun- 
ties in  such  manner  and  at  such  times,  and 
were  to  have  and  exercise  such  jurisdiction 
as  the  General  Assembly  should  by  law  pre- 
scribe. 


But  after  the  period  mentioned,  the  Jus- 
tices of  the  Supreme  Coui't  and  the  Judges 
of  the  inferior  courts  held  their  offices  dur- 
ing good  behavior;  and  the  Justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  were  no  longer  compelled  to 
hold  the  Circuit  Courts  unless  required  by 
law.  The  State  was  accordingly  divided 
into  four  judicial  circuits,  within  which  the 
Chief  Justice  and  Associate  Justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  were  assigned  to  perform 
circuit  duties,  which  they  continued  to  do 
until  the  year  1824. 

On  the  29th  of  December,  1824,  an  act  was 
passed  declai'ing  that,  in  addition  to  the 
Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  there  should 
be  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  five 
Circuit  Judges,  who  should  continue  in 
office  during  good  behavior,  and  by  the  same 
act  the  State  was  'divided  into  five  judicial 
circuits.  Thus,  for  the  first  time,  the  Jus- 
tices of  the  Supreme  Court  were  relieved 
from  the  performance  of  circuit  duties,  which 
now  devolved  upon  the  five  Circuit  Judges. 

The  Circuit  Judges,  however,  were  per- 
mitted to  remain  in  office  only  about  two 
years  as,  by  the  act  of  the  12th  of  January, 
1827,  those  sections  of  the  act  of  1824  which 
provided  for  the"  appointment  of  five  Cir- 
cuit Judges,  and  dividing  the  State  into  five 
judicial  circuits,  were  repealed,  and  the  State 
was  again  divided  into  four  judicial  circuits, 
in  which  the  Chief  Justice  and  three  A.s80- 


480 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY 


ciate   Justices   were    again   required  to  per- 
form circuit  duties. 

The  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  then 
continued  to  hold  all  the  Cricuit  Courts  until 
a  Circviit  Judge  was  elected  by  the  General 
Assembly,  in  pursuance  of  the  act  of  Janu- 
ary, 1829,  which  declared  that  there  should 
be  elected  by  joint  ballot  of  both  branches 
of  the  General  Assembly  at  that  session,  one 
Circuit  Judge  who  should  preside  at  the 
circuit  to  which  he  might  be  appointed,  north 
of  the  Illinois  River.  A  Circuit  Judge  was 
elected  in  pursuance  of  that  act,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  Fifth  Judicial  Circuit  was 
created  in  which  the  Circuit  Judge  was  re- 
quired to  preside,  the  Justices  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  continuing  to  perform  their  du- 
ties in  the  other  four  circuits.  This  remained 
the  law  until  January  7,  1835,  when  the  act 
wtis  repealed,  and  it  was  provided  that  there 
should  be  elected  by  the  General  Assembly 
five  Judges  in  addition  to  the  one  provided 
for  by  law.  The  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  were  thus  again  relieved  from  the  per- 
formance of  circuit  duties. 

The  judiciary  remained  unchanged  until 
184:1,  when  the  number  of  judicial  circuits 
and  of  Circuit  Judges  were  increased  from 
time  to  time,  as  the  business  of  the  courts 
required. 

The  judiciary  oE  the  State  was  re-organized 
by  the  act  of  February,  1841,  which  repealed 
all  former  laws  authorizing  the  election  of 
Circuit  Judges  or  establishing  the  Circuit 
Courts,  thus  again  legislating  out  of  ofl&ce 
all  the  Circuit  Judges  in  the  State.  The  act 
then  provided  there  should  be  elected  by 
joint  ballot  of  both  branches  of  the  General 
Assembly,  five  Associate  Judges  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  who,  in  connection  with  the 
Chief  Justice  and  the  three  Associates,  then 
in  office,  should  constitute  the  Supreme 
Coiu't   of    the    State.     At  the  same  time   the 


State  was  divided  into  nine  judicial  circuits 
and  the  Chief  Justice  and  eight  Associates 
were  required  to  perform  circuit  duties  in 
those  circuits.  As  thus  organized,  the  judi- 
ciary remained  until  it  was  re- organized  by 
the  constitution  of  1848. 

Under  the  constitution  of  1818,  the  Su- 
preme Court  was  the  only  one  created  by 
that  instrument,  and  the  Circuit  Court  had 
no  existence  except  by  legislative  enact- 
ment. But  upon  organizing  the  judiciary  as 
it  existed  under  the  constitution  of  1848,  the 
Circuit  Courts  constituted  a  part  of  the  ju- 
dicial system  as  created  by  the  new  constitu- 
tion— it  being  declared  in  that  instrument 
that  the  judicial  power  of  the  State  shall  be 
vested  in  one  Supreme  Court,  in  Circuit 
Courts,  in  County  Courts  and  in  Justices  of 
the  Peace,  and  the  General  Assembly  is  au- 
thorized to  establish  local  inferior  courts  of 
civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  in  the  cities 
of  the  State. 

The  Supreme  Court  consisted  of  three 
Judges.  The  State  was  divided  into  three 
grand  divisions,  the  people  in  each  division 
electing  one  Judge.  The  State  was  divided 
into  nine  judicial  circuits,  which  were  in- 
creased as  necessity  required  from  time  to 
time.  In  each  oE  these  circuits  the  people 
ehicted  one  Judge.  All  vacancies  were  to  be 
filled  by  re-election.  It  required  that  there 
should  be  two  or  more  terms  of  the  Circuit 
Coui't  held  annually  in  each  county.  The 
Circuit  Courts  to  have  jurisdiction  in  all 
cases  at  law  and  equity,  and  in  all  cases  of 
appeal  from  inferior  courts. 

The  constitution  of  1870  vested  the  judi- 
cial powers  in  one  Supreme  Court,  Circuit 
Coui-ts,  County  Coui'ts,  Justices  of  the  Peace, 
Police  Magistrates,  and  such  courts  as  may 
be  created  by  law  in  and  for  cities  and  in- 
corporated towns. 

The  Supreme  Couj't  consists  of  seven  Judges, 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER   COUNTY. 


481 


and  has  original  jurisdiction,  similar  to  that 
given  by  the  constitution  of  1848.  There  is 
one  Chief  Justice  selected  by  the  court:  four 
Judges  constitute  a  quorum,  and  the  concur- 
rence of  four  Judges  is  necessary  to  a  decis- 
ion. The  State  is  divided  int'">  seven  dis- 
tricts, one  Judge  being  elected  in  each. 
The  election  occurs  on  the  first  Monday  in 
June.     The  term  of  office  is  nine  years. 

The  Legislature  of  1877  created  four  Ap- 
pellate Coiu'ts  and  provided  the  following 
districts:  The  first  to  consist  of  the  county 
of  Cook,  the  second  to  include  all  of  the 
Northern  Grand  Division  of  the  Supreme 
Court  except  the  county  of  Cook;  the  third 
to  consist  of  the  Central  Grand  Division,  and 
the  fourth  the  Southern  Grand  Division  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  Each  court  to  be  held 
by  three  of  the  Judges  of  the  Circuit  Court 
to  be  assigned  by  the  Supreme  Court,  three 
to  each  district,  for  the  term  of  three  years 
at  each  assignment.  The  Appellate  Court 
holds  two  terms  annually  in  each  district. 

The  Legislature  in  1873  divided  the 
State,  exclusive  of  Cook  County,  into  twen- 
ty-six judicial  circuits.  In  1877,  an  act  was 
passed,  in  order  to  provide  for  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  Appellate  Court,  to  increase  the 
number  of  Circuit  Judges,  and  it  divided 
the  State  into  tbineen  districts  and  provided 
for  the  election  of  one  additional  Judge  in 
each  district,  in  August,  1877.  for  two  years, 
making  three  Judges  in  each  district,  and 
thirty-nine  in  the  State. 

In  June,  1879,  three  Judges  were  elected  in 
each  of  the  thirteen  judicial  circuits,  as  pro- 
vided by  the  act  of  1877. 

The  first  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  at 
the  organization  of  the  State  were  Joseph 
Philips,  C.  J.,  Thomas  C.  Browne,  William 
P.  Foster  and  John  Keynolds,  all  ap- 
pointed October  9,  1818.  Foster  resigned 
July,  1819,   and  Philips  July,   1822.     John 


Reynolds,  C.  J.,  in  1822,  and  William 
Wilson  added  to  the  court  in  July,  1819. 
In  1825,  Wilson,  Chief  Justice,  and  Asso- 
ciates, same  date,  Samuel  D.  Lockwood, 
Theophilus  W.  Smith  and  Thomas  C.  Browne. 
Theophilus  W".  Smith  resigned  December  26, 
1842.  He  had  been  impeached,  and  his  trial 
and  acquittal  were  among  the  exciting  events 
of  the  early  days  in  the  State. 

In  February,  1841,  the  Supreme  Court  was 
composed  of  Thomas  Ford,  Sidney  Breese, 
Walter  B.  Scates,  Samuel  H.  Treat,  and 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  The  last  named  re- 
signed in  1843.  Ford  and  Breeso  resigned 
in  1842  and  Scates  in  1847.  In  1842,  John 
D.  Caton  was  elected,  vice  Ford.  In  1843, 
James  Simple,  vice  Breese.  Richard  M.  Young 
was  elected  in  1843,  and  resigned  in  1847. 
John  M.  Robinson  was  elected  March,  1843, 
died  April  27,  same  year.  John  D.  Caton  was 
elected,  vice  Robinson;  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  vice 
Douglas;  Sample  resigned  and  James  Shields 
appointed  August,  184f5.  Shields  resigned  and 
Gustavus  Keorner  was  elected.  W.  A.  Denn- 
ing appointed,  vice  Scates:  Jesse  B.  Thomas 
appointed,  J 847.  Samuel  H.  Treat,  Chief 
Justice  in  1848;  John  D.  Caton.  same  year; 
Lyman  Tnmibull  appointed  December  4, 
1848,  resigned  July,  1853 ;  Walter  B.  Scates, 
Chief  Justice,  1854,  resigned  May,  1857; 
O.  C.  Skinner,  appointed  June,  1855,  re- 
signed April.  1858,  whereupon  Sidney 
Breese  was  made  Chief  Justice  and  held  the 
office  until  June,  1878;  Pinkney  H.  Walker 
appointed,  vice  Skinner,  and  was  Chief  Jus- 
tice until  1867;  Breese  was  again  elected, 
1861,  and  was  re-elected  1870. 

Corj^don  Beokwith  was  elected,  vice  Caton, 
January,  1864, term  expired  June  of  same  year; 
Charles  B.  Lawrence  succeeded  Beckwith, 
June,  1864,  and  held  office  to  June,  1873; 
Pinkney  Walker,  elected  Jane,  1867,  re- 
elected in  1876;  Sidney  Breese,   again  elect- 


48-J 


HISTORY   OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


ed.  1870,  died  June  28,  1878;  Anthony 
Thornton,  elected  1870,  resigned  1873. 
John  M.  Scott,  Benjamin  R.  Sheldon,  W.  K. 
McAllister  were  elected  June,  1870.  The 
latter  resigned  November,  1875;  John  Scho- 
field  elected,  vice  Thornton,  June,  1873, 
and  re-elected  June,  1879;  Alfred  M.Craig, 
elected  1873,  to  succeed  Lawrence;  T.  Lyle 
Dickey,  1875,  to  succeed  McAllister;  Pink- 
ney  H.  Walker,  re-elected  June,  1876;  David 
J.  Baker,  appointed,  vice  Breese,  July,  1878, 
retired  June,  1879;  John  M.  Scott,  Benja- 
min R.  Sheldon,  John  Scholfield  and  T.  Lyle 
Dickey,  re-elected  June,  1879;  John  H. 
Mulkey,  elected  to  succeed  Baker  June,  1879. 

Under  the  act  of  1826,  making  five  judi- 
cial circuits,  the  Judges  appointed  were  John 
Y.  Sawyer,  First  District;  Samuel  Mc- 
Robei-ts,  Second  District;  Richard  M.  Yoimg, 
Third  District;  James  Hall,  Foiu-th  Dis- 
trict; and  James  O.  Wattles,  Fifth  District. 
In  1829,  Richard  M.  Yoimg  was  appointed 
Judge  of  the  single  district  that  then  com- 
prised the  entire  State. 

Under  the  constitution  of  1848,  Alexander, 
Pulaski  and  Union  Counties  were  a  part  of 
the  Third  Circuit.  The  first  Judge  was  Will- 
iam A.  Denning,  commissioned  December,  4, 
1848.  He  was  succeeded  by  W.  K.  Perrish, 
who  was  commissioned  January  4,  1854;  re- 
commissioned  June  25,  1855,  resigned  June 
15,  1859;  Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  commis- 
sioned August  27,1859,  vice  Parrish,  resigned ; 
re-commissioned  July  1,  1861,  died  February 
13,  1864.  John  R  Mulkey,  commissioned 
April  2,  1864,  vice  A.  M.  Jenkins,  de- 
ceased; resigned  and  was  succeeded  by  W. 
H.  Green  December  28,  1865.  Monroe  C. 
Crawford,  elected  and  commissioned  June 
27,  1867. 

The  act  of  March,  1873,  dividing  the 
State  into  twenty  six  circuits,  one  Judge  to 
be  elected  to  each  circuit.     David   J.    Baker 


was  elected  Circuit  Judge  for  this  Twenty - 
sixth  Circuit. 

Under  the  act  of  1877,  making  thirteen  ju- 
dicial circuits,  the  following  have  been  elect- 
ed in  the  First  Circuit:  Baker,  Browning 
and  Harker.  D.  J.  Baker  was  assigned  to 
the  Appellate  Com-t  in  June.  1879,  and  again 
in  1882. 

William  W^ilson  at  the  time  of   his  eleva- 
tion to  the  high  and  honorable   position  of 
Chief    Justice  of    Illinois    was    but    twenty- 
nine  years  old,    and   had   been  already    five 
years  on  the   Supreme    Bench    as    Associate 
Justice.     He  was  born  in   Loudoun  County, 
Va.,     in    1795.     When    quite    young,     his 
father  died,  leaving  his  widow  with  two  sons 
and  an  embarrassed  estate.     At  an  early  age, 
his  mother  obtained  for  him  a  situation  in  a 
store;  but  the  young  man  displayed  no  apti- 
tude for  the  business  of  merchandising,  and, 
young  as  he  was,  developed  an  unusual  greed 
for  books,  reading  every  one  attainable,  to  the 
almost  total  neglect  of  his  duties  in  the  store. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  was  placed  in  a  law 
office   under   the   tuition   of  the  Hon.    John 
Cook,  who  ranked    high   as  a   lawyer  at  the 
bar   of   Virginia,    and   who    also   served  his 
country  with  honor  and  distinction  abroad  as 
Minister  to  the  Court  of   France.      In  1817, 
young  Wilson  came  to  Illinois   to  look  for  a 
home,  and  such  was  his  personal  bearing  and 
prepossessing  appearance  that  one  year  later, 
at  the  inauguration  of  the  State  government, 
'  his  name  was  brought  before  the  Legislature 
for  Associate  Supreme  Judge,   and  he  came 
i  within  six  votes   of    an  election.      Within  a 
I  year,  as  will  be  seen  above,    he  was   chosen 
!  in   the   place   of  Foster.     For  five  years,  he 
served  the  people  so  acceptably  on  the  bench 
;  as  to  be  at  this  time  chosen  to  the  first  posi- 
tion  by    a    large   majority  over   the    former 
Chief  Justice,  Reynolds.    This  was  the  more 
'  a  mark  of  approbation   because   Judge   W'il- 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER   COUNTY. 


483 


son  was  totally  devoid  of,  and  never  in  his 
life  could  wield  any  of  the  arts  of  the  politi- 
cian or  party  schemer.  As  regards  political 
intrigue,  he  was  as  innocent  as  a  'child.  He 
was  singularly  pure  in  all  his  conceptions 
of  duty,  and  in  his  long  public  career  of 
nearly  thirty  years,  as  a  Supreme  Judge  of 
Illinois,  he  commanded  the  full  respect,  con- 
fidence and  esteem  of  the  people  for  the 
probity  of  his  official  acts  and  his  upright 
conduct  as  a  citizen  and  a  man.  His  edu- 
cation was  such  as  he  had  acquired  by  dili- 
gent reading  and  self-culture.  As  a  writer, 
his  diction  was  pure,  clear  and  elegant,  as 
may  be  seen  by  reference  to  his  published 
opinions  in  the  Supreme  Court  reports.  With 
a  mind  of  rare  analytic  power,  his  judg- 
ment as  a  lawyer  was  discriminating  and 
sound,  and  upon  the  bench  his  learning  and 
impartiality  commanded  respect,  while  his 
own  dignitied  deportment  inspired  decorum 
in  others.  By  the  members  of  the  bar  he 
was  greatly  esteemed;  no  new  beginner  was 
ever  without  the  protection  of  almost  a  fa- 
therly hand  in  his  court  against  the  arts  and 
powers  of  an  older  opponent.  In  politics, 
upon  the  f  onnation  of  the  Whig  and  Democra- 
tic parties,  he  associated  himself  with  the  for 
mer.  He  was  an  amiable  and  accomplished 
gentleman  in  private  life,  with  manners  most 
engaging  and  friendship  strong.  His  hos- 
pitality was  of  the  Old  Virginia  style.  Sel- 
dom did  a  summer  season  pass  at  his  pleas- 
ant country  seat  about  two  miles  from  Cai'mi, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Little  Wabash,  that 
troops  of  friends,  relatives  and  distinguished 
official  visitors  did  not  sojourn  with  him. 
His  official  career  was  terminated  with  the 
going  into  effect  of  the  new  constitution, 
December  4,  1848,  when  he  retired  to  private 
life.  He  died  at  his  home  in  the  ripeness  of 
age  and  the  consciousness  of  a  life  well 
spent,  April  29,  1857,  in  his  sixty-third  year. 


The  Common  Pleas  Court  of  Cairo  was  or- 
ganized by  law  in  1857,  and  Isham  N. 
Haynie  was  appointed  Judge  and  John  Q. 
Harmon,  Clerk.  In  1860,  J.  H.  Mulkey 
was  Judge  and  A.  H.  Irvin  Clerk.  The  office 
of  Register  of  Deeds  was  created  and  the 
Clerk  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court  was  ex 
officio  Register.  Judge  Mulkey  continued  to 
preside,  and  Mr.  Irvin  was  Clerk  until  the 
court  was  abolished  in  1869. 

The  destructive  fire  that  consumed  Spring- 
field block  in  1858,  where  were  the  court 
rooms,  destroyed  the  records,  inflicting  there- 
by a  great  loss  and  inconvenience  to  prop- 
erty owners.  Record  Books  A  and  B  and  F 
and  H  were  consumed,  as  were  also  tran- 
scribed Book  I,  which  contained  transcripts 
of  all  deeds  pertaining  to  the  city.  The 
deeds  in  these  records  were  recorded  when 
they  could  be  obtained,  but  many  could  not 
be  found,  and  there  is,  therefore,  a  missing 
link  in  the  chain  of  many  of  the  record  ti- 
tles. 

Judge  Mulkey. — The  bar  of  Cairo  may  be 
dated  as  really  commencing  an  active  and 
prominent  existence  in  18-'J9-60.  But  few 
local  lawyers  of  any  especial  prominence  lo- 
cated in  the  county  prior  to  that  time.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  in  the  history  of 
the  city  of  Cairo  we  had  occasion  to  mention 
the  first  lawyer  ever  to  swing  out  his  shingle 
in  the  county  was  one  "Gass,  attorney  at 
law."  The  local  wits  of  that  time  said  the 
name  was  very  appropriate  to  his  profession, 
and  when  they  read  "  Ten  Thousand  a  Year  " 
and  became  acquainted  with  Lawyer  "  Gam- 
mon," they  insisted  that  Gammon  and  Gass 
should  form  a  partnership.  This  reminds 
the  writer  of  the  first  time  he  was  in  Robin- 
son, Crawford  County,  as  he  drove  down 
street,  one  of  the  most  attractive  signs  he 
saw  was  "Robb  &  Sceele,  Attorneys  at  Law. " 
These   worthy   gentlemen  and  able  lawyers 


484 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


are  still  in  Eobinson,  but  some  years  ago 
dissolved  partnership,  and  tht)  sign  was  taken 
down. 

The  conspicuous  figure  that  has  been 
evolved  from  that  large  bar  of  Alexander 
County  is  Judge  John  H.  Mulkey,  at  pres- 
ent a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court.  We 
regret  we  cannot  give  a  complete  biography  of 
the  man,  and  have  to  be  content  to  give  rather 
a  sketch  of  his  mental  and  personal  character- 
istics. This  necessity  comes  from  the  Judge's 
excessive  timidity  about  appearing  in  print 
at  all,  and  hence,  when  our  interviewer 
seized  upon  him  he  found  him  as  mute  about 
himself  as  the  grave.  We  only  know  from 
others  that  he  was  born  in  Kentucky  about 
1823,  and  with  his  father's  family  came  to 
Illinois  and  settled  in  Franklin  County.  The 
family  were  farmers,  and  the  Judge,  being 
always  inclined  to  physical  delicacy,  soon 
discovered  that  he  was  not  specially  adapted 
to  farm  life.  His  opportunities  for  educa- 
tion had  been  fair,  and  from  early  childhood 
he  was  noted  as  a  persistent  reader  of  books — 
literally  devouring  the  contents  of  nearly 
eveiything  that  came  in  his  way.  When  about 
twenty-five  years  old,  he  essayed  to  become 
a  merchant,  and  opened  a  little  cross-roads 
store  somewhere  near  the  county  line.  He 
volunteered  as  a  private  in  Company  K,  Sec- 
ond Regiment,  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  was 
promoted  to  a  Sergeant  and  afterward  was 
elected  Second  Lieutenant  of  his  company. 
When  he  retui-ned  from  the  war,  he  resumed 
the  ferule  in  the  country  schoolhouse,  and 
here,  as  David  Linegar  tells  us,  he  "  read  law 
in  the  brush,"  and^was  his  own  preceptor. 
Afterward,  he  read  law  for  some  time  in 
Benton,  Franklin  County. 

He  tried  farming  for  some  time,  but  his 
success  was  indifferent.  After  his  return 
from  the  Mexican  war,  he  kept  a  small  store 
in  Blairsville.  Williamson  County,  and  going 


unfortunately  into  a  hoop  pole  speculation 
(loaded  a  flat-boat  that  sunk  on  the  way),  was 
bankrupted.  He  then  attempted  with  his 
ax  to  clear  a  farm,  and  he  worked  and 
struggled  hard,  but  with  very  poor  success. 
He  removed  to  Perry  County,  and  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar  in  1857.  His  father  is  a 
minister  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  is  now 
a  very  old  man,  residing  in  Ashley,  Wash- 
ington County.  This  gentleman,  during  the 
early  years  of  his  son,  John  H.,  determined 
to  prepare  him  for  a  minister  of  that  church. 
The  son  made,  no  doubt,  a  faithful  effort  to 
fulfill  his  father's  wishes  in  this  respect,  but 
while  he  was  noted  for  his  piety,  his  perfect 
accomplishment  of  purposes  here  was  not 
much  better  than  his  farming  or  merchan- 
dising. 

When  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  commenced 
the  practice,  and  traveled  over  pretty  much 
all  the  counties  of  Southern  Illinois.  He 
made  friends  wherever  he  went,  and  his  love 
of  frolic  and  innocent  fun  wei-e  strong  char- 
acteristics. His  early  backwoods  life,  per- 
haps, made  him  seem  at  times  somewhat 
awkward  in  his  movements  in  the  company 
of  young  people,  but  his  old  friends  in  Un- 
ion County  insist  that  when  visiting  them 
he  never  missed  an  opportunity  to  attend  a 
good,  old-fashioned  country  dance.  Ho  was 
plain,  unassuming  and  fun-loving  in  his 
young  manhood,  and  yet  he  must  have  been 
a  close,  hard-workiog  student  in  order  t<» 
carve  out  the  bright  and  honorable  career 
that  lay  before  him. 

In  1860,  he  located  in  Cairo  and  formed  a 
partnership  with  Judge  D.  J.  Baker,  Jr., 
and  from  this  time  we  may  date  his  rapid 
rise  to  the  head  of  the  bar  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois and  thence  to  his  present  great  emi- 
nence as  the  master  spirit  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois.  His  intellectual  gifts  are 
of  the  highest  order;  his  social  qualities  have 


HISTORY   OF   ALEXANDER   COUNTY. 


485 


called  about  him  troops  of  sincere  and  ad- 
miring friends.  In  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, he  strove  not  to  rely  upon  the  arts 
of  the  orator,  but  rather  to  know  the  law, 
and  his  wonderful  analytic  powers  of  mind 
crowned  him  master,  either  as  an  attorney 
before  the  courts,  or  as  a  Judge  upon  the 
bench.  Of  the  many  lawyers  that  have 
adorned  by  their  pure  lives  and  great  genius 
the  bench  and  bar  of  Illinois,  Judge  Mulkey 
will  go  into  history  as  the  conspicuous,  pre- 
eminent figure,  leaving  here  an  impress  that 
will  never  fade. 

He  owes  nothing  to  fortuitous  circum- 
stances, fortunate  surroundings  or  the  ad- 
vantages of  powerful  friends  at  court,  to  ad- 
vance him  along  the  highway  where  youth, 
inexperience  and  poverty  are  so  much  in  need 
of  those  adventitious  aids.  But  alone,  and 
by  the  inherent  strength  of  mental  power, 
he  has  achieved,  apparently  without  effort, 
the  prize  for  which  so  many  ambitious  men 
have  toiled  and  struggled  so  long  and  so 
hard,  and  then  failed  to  reach. 

Judge  D.  J.  Baker  was  born  in  Kaskas- 
kia  on  the  20th  of  November,  1834,  the  third 
son  of  the  late  Judge  D.  J.  Baker,  of  Alton, 
111.  He  graduated  at  Shurtleff  College  in 
1854,  carrying  off  the  prize  of  the  Latin 
oration.  He  read  law  in  his  father's  oflSce 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1856.  He 
opened  an  office  in  Cairo  the  same  year,  and 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
He  voted  for  Fremont,  his  first  vote,  in  1856, 
and  there  has  been  no  perceptible  change 
in  his  politics  since,  although  his  real 
friends  and  supporters,  from  the  first  day 
especially  of  his  public  life,  to  the  present, 
have  been  the  strongest  kind  of  Democrats. 

He  was  elected  Mayor  of  Cairo  in  1864 
and  served  one  year.  In  March,  1869,  was 
elected  Judge  of  the  Nineteenth  Judicial 
Circuit.    A  full  account  of  his  official  career 


to  date  is  given  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

The  writer  first  made  Judge  Baker's  ac- 
quaintance in  the  early  part  of  1863.  He 
was  then  in  partnership  with  Judge  Mulkey, 
and  they  were  the  leading  firm  in  Cairo 
— Baker,  the  office  lawyei',  and  Mulkey,  the 
court  lawyer,  and  this  was  a  combination 
that  best  adjvisted  each  to  his  place  and  thus 
formed  a  strong  combination.  Baker  was  at 
that  time  a  very  affable  young  man,  dressed 
better  then  than  he  does  now,  and  was  noted 
for  having  by  far  the  finest  law  office  in  the 
city.  His  whole  nature  was  genial  and 
pleasant,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  the  most 
rabid  Democrat  would  always  forget  he  was 
a  Republican  when  he  wanted  an  office. 
While  the  girls  were  free  to  confess  he  was 
a  little  odd  as  a  beau,  yet  he  married  the 
belle  of  the  town.  Miss  Sarah  Elizabeth 
White,  daughter  of  John  C.  White,  July, 
1864. 

The  turning  point  in  Judge  Baker's  life 
was  when  he  was  elected  Judge  in  1869. 
His  Democratic  friends  in  Cairo  who  knew 
him  the  best  brought  this  about  in  the  faith 
that  as  Judge  his  success  in  life  would  be 
assured.  They  were  not  mistaken.  His 
competitor  in  that  election  was  Judge  Wes- 
ley Sloan,  one  of  the  ablest  Judges  of  his 
day  in  the  State,  who  had  long  been  upon 
the  bench  and  whose  chair  it  was  no  easy 
matter  to  till  successfully.  Yet  so  well  did 
Judge  Baker  fulfill  the  expectations  of  his 
Cairo  friends  in  this  respect  that  he  has 
held  the  place  for  all  these  years,  and  por- 
tions of  the  time  has  been  elected  without 
opposition. 

We  can  pay  no  higher  compliment  to  his 
kindness  of  heart,  purity  of  purpose,  exalted 
integi-ity,  tenacity  of  friendship  and  pro- 
found abilities  as  a  just  and  upright  Judge 
than  to  tell  the  short  story  of  his  life  as  we 
have  given  it  above. 


486 


IIlSTOllY    OF   ALEXANDEK  COUNTY. 


HiH  fnthor  tho  Into  D.  J.  Bnkor.  of  Alton, 
wiiHoiieof  ihooiirly  (Muiiuiul  jurisiH  of  Soixih- 
orn  Illiiioin.  Ho  whh  iiinong  iho  lirst  visit- 
ini^  lavvyin-H  to  AloxundiM-  County,  and  in  im 
oarly  day  was  tho  l'ros(^c,iitin^'  Attorney  oT 
til  is  district.  Ho  was  for  many  yours  one  of 
tho  most  proniiniMit  hiwyors  of  tho  Stato. 

,liidjr<^  Ishaiii  N.  I  lay II io  was  of  tho  mod- 
ern bar  of  Cairo  and  of  tlio  oarliost  comers. 
Ho  camo  to  this  county  from  Salom,  Marion 
County.  For  somo  timo  ho  was  Jud<jfo  of 
the  Common  Pleas  Court  of  Cairo,  and  ro- 
Hi^nod  that  ofiico  to  ontor  tlio  army  in  1S(U. 
Kiili(»rin»r  sa  a  ('oioncil,  ho  was  promotinl  to 
Brigadier  General  soon  aftor  tho  Fort  Don- 
olson  battlo.  Ho  was  Adjutjuit  (loiuu-al  of 
tho  Stato  in  lS(\h,  and  diod  iti  S[)rin<^li(^ld  in 
J  800.  He  was  known  as  an  able  and  careful 
lawyer,  and  notinl  for  his  suavity  of  man- 
ners. 

Judgo  W  .  11.  (JrtHMi  was  born  in  Danville 
Boyle  Co. ,  Ky.,  Dtn'ombor  S,  1880,  and  >vaH  the 
son  of  Dr.  DuiT.Ciroon  and  jLucy  (Kenton) 
(irroen.  His  fathor  was  an  eminent  and  sci 
ontilic  physician,  and  his  fj^randfathor, 
Willis  (Jroon,  ono  of  tho  earliest  settlors  of 
Kentucky  and  was  the  tirst  delegate  from  the 
District  of  Kentucky  to  the  Virf]^inia  Lejj^is- 
laturo,  aiul  was  Uoi^ister  of  tho  Kentucky 
land  office  while  it  was  a  Territory,  and  Clerk 
of  the  first  District  Com-t  orjijanized  in  the 
Territory.  His  ancestors  wore  amonjij  tho 
early  settloi's  of  Virginia,  and  were  extensive 
land  ownoi-s  in  ihe  Shenandoah  Valley. 
They  came  originally  from  tho  province  of 
Leinster,  in  Ireland,  about  the  year  1880. 
His  mother  was  a  nioce  of  Simon  Kenton, 
celebrated  in  tho  (>arly  days  as  an  Indian 
tighter,  and  of  Scotch  parents. 

Judge  Green  was  educated  at  Center  Col- 
lege, Danville,  Ky.,  and  without  graduating, 
became  a  fail  classical  scholar,  and  has  all 
his  life  been  an  oxtonsivo  reader   of  history, 


belle  lettroH,  and  kept  pace  with  the  modern 
investigations  of  scientific  investigators.  His 
range  of  thought  and  study  has  been  exten- 
sive and  profound,  and,  whether  as  a  lawyer, 
judge,  politician,  writer  for  the  press,  either 
j)olitical  or  literary,  or  in  social  life,  his  ac- 
comjilishmonts  were  varied  and  his  abilities 
of  a  commanding  order.  He  was  twice  in 
the  House  of  the  Stato  General  Assembly 
and  on(^  term  as  Stato  Senator;  a  delegate  to 
four  National  Democratic  .Conventions, 
namely,  Charleston,  Chicago,  New  York  and 
Cincinnati.  Has  for  years  been  a  member  of 
tho  State  Central  Committee,  and  for  twelve 
years  has  been  Chairman  of  tho  District  Cen- 
tral Conmaittee;  for  the  })ast  twenty-two 
years  has  been  a  member  of  the  State  Board 
of  Education — ^the  oidy  Democrat  in  that 
body. 

In  18  U),  tho  family  removed  to  Illinois 
and  settled  in  Mount  Vernon,  Jefferson  Coun- 
ty, where  his  father  practiced  his  profession 
till  his  death  in  1857. 

Judge  Green  taught  school  in  Benton  and 
in  St.  Louis  County  Mo.,  and  in  Mount 
Vernon,  111.,  and  was  during  the  time  read- 
ing law  under  the  direction  of  Judge  Walter 
13.  Scjites,  and  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1852,  and  opened  at  once  an  oilice  in  Mount 
Vernon.  He  continued  the  practice  here  for 
one  year,  and  removed  to  Metropolis,  111., 
whert>  for  ten  yem's  he  was  a  successful  prac- 
titioner of  his  profession.  In  1808,  he  re- 
moved to  Cairo,  whore  he  has  continued  to 
reside.  He  is  the  senior  attorney  in  the  law 
firm  of  Green  &  Gilbert  (the  brothers  Will- 
iam and  Frederick),  and  in  all  the  courts  of 
the  Stato  this  firm  does  a  leading  business 
and  commands  a  wide  respect.  In  1805,  he 
was  elected  Judge  of  the  Third  Judicial 
Circuit  and  served  as  Circuit  Judge  for  three 
years.  In  1801,  he  was  appointed  attorney 
for  the  Illinois    Central    Railroad  Company, 


HI8TOKY   OF   ALKXANDEK  COLNTY. 


487 


wbich  f>osition  he  has  h^-M  *fver  Hince  except 
duriDg  the  interval  of  hift  Judj^eship.  When 
in  the  jwpnlar  branch  of  the  Legislature,  he 
wji>-  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  0^mmitt<>e, 
and  receiverl  that  apfxjintment  from  the 
Sy^eaker.  Hon.  W.  R.  ilorrison,  V>ecatj»e  of 
hifc  learl'^rship  in  that  Vxxly,  a  jx/BJtion  he 
*:hf-\\y  h=;ld,  al'^A  when  he  ocrmpiefl  a  pla^;e 
in  the  State  Senate 

Jnthffi  Green  is  now  jn  the  prime  of  his  in- 
t*'l]e^nnal  life,  and  alreafly  has  he  fille^l  the 
uiea«mre  of  a  just  ambition,  not  f>f>  much  by 
the  «Tninenc<^  of  the  fx^litical  or  judicial  jxj- 
fritionfi  he  has  filled.  a«  by  the  urialloyefi  re- 
spect and  confidence  he  has  inspired  in  all 
m^-n — f>olitical  fri'^nd  or  f^>e — in  the  many 
j>nblic  and  private  jK/hitionb  of  truist  and 
bonor  be  has  filled  during  the  years  since 
hj»^  maj^jrity.  Ar  a  practicing  attorney  in 
the  various  courts,  it  is  the  ven^'  highest 
compliment  to  his  ability  and  integrity  in 
the  statement  above  of  his  long  c^mnection 
with  the  legal  aflfairfi  in  Southerri  Illinois,  of 
th*-  Central  Railroad-  a  vast  c<^^rpo ration, 
who^e  interests  are  counted  by  the  millions 
of  dollars — and  which  cannot  afford  to  j**op- 
ardize  its  welfare  by  the  mistake  of  the  em- 
ployment as  its  ff^esentative  of  any  h)ut  the 
V>efet  talents. 

We  have  attemj/ted  tfj  illustrate  his  varie^l 
talents  mrjre  Vjy  a  hirief  reference  to  what  he 
ha*  done  than  Vjy  mere  descriptive  words  of 
hfrfieriion.  And,  as  we  intimated  above,  his 
l>en  was  wielded  by  the  hand  of  a  strong  and 
able  writer  in  fxjlitics,  histor}'  or  lit^arature. 
The  writer  hereof  at  one  time  (Ihiij  was  *?*6 
v-o^a  then)  was  associated  with  Judge  <'xre*;n 
in  the  general  editorial  of  a  daily  Democrat- 
ic paper,  by  which  it  was  arrange^l  he  was  to 
do  the  lea<ding  political  articles,  and  the 
writa*  of  these  lines  was  to  do  the  light 
fekirmishing,  the  flying  artillery,  as  it  were, 
'aSjd  it  is  not  an    over^lrawn    assertion  to  say 


that  here,  in  the  mifist  of  his  other  multi- 
plicity of  labors,  he  did  Li^^  work  with  facil- 
ity and  great  ability. 

It  is  given  to  but  few  men  U)  p^srieHS  such 
varied  talents  and  U)  W)  excel  in  all.  It  is  the 
interacting  story  of  an  intellectual  life,  of 
great  mental  activity,  of  the  highest  onhjr  of 
int«;grity  and  a  dear,  ripe  judgment. 

Judge  G  W.    Wall   was  bom    in    Chilli- 
c^Ahe,    Ohio,    April    22,    \KV.i,   the   son    of 
George  T.  and    JSLaria  H.  (A.lams;  Wall,  of 
RU>ie  Island.       The  family  came  U)  Illinois 
in     18'^9,    and  U^cate*!    in     Ferry     County. 
Ge^.»rge    Wiliard     Wall    was    a   student  in 
McKendree  College,  Illinois,  btit   graxluated 
at  Michigan  University  in   W>K       He  then 
went  trj  Cairo  and  read  law  in  the  office  of  C, 
I.  Simons,  and  aftf,'rward   att<jnd«>d  the  Cin- 
cinnati Law  School,  grafluating  in  1859,  and 
was  at  once  admitt<:?fi  to  the  bar,  and  hx^at^d 
in  Duquoin.     In  ISOO,  he  was  in  the  firm  of 
Mulkey,    Wall    &    Wheeler— f^ffice  Cairo— 
which  continued   f«^;r   six   years.     For  many 
years,  and  until  he  was  elect<*d  Circuit  Jufige, 
he  was  the  attorney   of   the   Illinois  Central 
Railroa/L     He  lalx.jrerl  all  his  life  umler  the 
disadvantage  of  V>eing  of  slight   stature,  and 
i  had  the  sm'X>th,  l>eardl<?SB,  Ujyish  face  that 
made  him  look  too  young  an/1  inexperienced 
i  to    inspire   confidence,    yet    his  great    talent 
forced   the   way    trj   early    recognition-     In 
1  SOI,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State 
!  Constitutional  Convention,  and   took  an  ac- 
tive and  prominent  part  in  its  flelil>erations, 
although  the  youngest  member  of  that  body. 
In  l'i04,  he  was  elected  State's  Attorney  for 
the  Third  Judicial  District,    where  he  servefl 
four  years.     In  ISf^S,  he  was   a  delegate  to 
j  the   National    Deriifxratic    Convention.       In 
'  1869,  he  was  again  elected  to  the  State  Con- 
stitutional   Convention,  and  by  the   side  of 
I  Judge   Scholfield,  was  one  of  the  best  mem- 
'  bers  of  that  strong  Ixxly.      He  is  now  Judge 


488 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


of  the  Circuit  Court  and  of  the  Appellate 
Court,  and  in  this  position  is  esteemed  by 
the  bar  of  the  State  as  one  of  our  ablest 
Judges. 

Reuben  Sloan  Yocum.  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  is  descended  on  the  mother's  side 
from  English-Irish  stock,  his  grandfather, 
Col.  John  A.  Sloan,  Clarion  County,  Penn. , 
having  been  of  Irish  extraction,  and  his 
great-grandmother  a  Cromwell.  On  the 
father's  side,  the  descent  is  Swedish-Eng- 
lish. The  Swedish  ancestors  came  to  this 
country  in  the  seventeenth  century  and 
united  later  with  their  English  neighbors, 
one  of  the  families  being  the  Balls,  of  Vir- 
ginina.  His  grandparents  were  married  by 
the  accomplished  scholar.  Rev.  N.  Collin, 
D.  D.,  of  Upsal,  Sweden,  who  presided  over 
the  Wicaco  Church,  called  Gloria  Dei  (Phil- 
adelphia from  1786  till  1831),  and  was  the 
last  pastor  appointed  by  the  crown,  the  col- 
onists having  then  become  too  thoroughly 
Anglicized  to  appreciate  the  mother  tongue. 

Shortly  before  the  late  civil  war,  and  while 
Judge  Yocum  was  a  schoolboy,  his  pareuts 
moved  from  Kentucky  to  Cairo,  111.  There 
he  entered  the  law  office  of  Messrs.  Mulkey 
&  Baker,  but  no  sooner  had  the  lad  been 
fairly  introduced  to  the  ponderous  para- 
graphs of  Blackstone  than  the  tocsin  of  war 
Bounded  and  he  awoke  one  bright  April 
morning  to  find  the  streets  patroled  and  the 
commons  alive  with  warriors  of  nondescript  ap- 
pearance. The  confusion  in  politics  affected 
both  social  and  business  relations,  and  the 
youthful  disciple  of  law  was  compelled  to 
lay  aside  his  ambitious  projects  and  enter 
into  active  life.  Living  almost  in  the  the- 
ater of  war,  he  very  naturally  became  con- 
nected with  military  operations.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  he  was  engaged  in  the  com- 
mission and  forwarding  business.  Afterward 
he  accepted   a  position   in  the  City  National 


Bank  of  Cairo,  which  he  relinquished  in 
1872  to  enter  the  race  for  the  office  of  Circuit 
Clerk  of  Alexander  County.  He  was  elected, 
and  during  the  term  resumed  his  study  of 
the  law  under  his  old  preceptor,  Judge  Miil- 
key.  Admitted  to  the  bar  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  at  Mount  Vernon,  June,  1877, 
elected  County  Judge  November,  1877. 
Since  the  term  closed  in  1882,  he  has  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. 

Judge  Yocum  is  yet  a  young  man,  but  lit- 
tle more  than  upon  the  threshold  of  life,  and 
has  builded  wisely  and  well.  Possessing 
abilities  of  a  high  order,  a  reputation  for 
integrity  unsiu'passed,  of  the  finest  social 
qualities,  his  future  is  most  bright  and 
cheering,  and  will  warrant  his  freinds  in  in- 
dulging, in  the  highest  anticipations  of  his 
future  life,  which  all  hope  may  be  long  and 
pleasant. 

Judge  H.  K.  S.  Omelveny,  a  native  of 
Monroe  County,  111.,  was  born  about  1821. 
His  father  was  one  of  the  early  pioneers 
in  Illinois,  and  was  a  prominent  politician  and 
a  man  noted  for  strong  rugged  sense  and 
manly,  sterling  qualities. 

Judge  Omelveny  was  commissioned  Judge 
of  the  Second  Judicial  Circuit,  vice  Breese, 
resigned,  March  1,  1858,  and  served  out  the 
term  and  retired  from  the  bench,  command- 
ing the  entire  respect  of  all  and  the  conti- 
dence  of  the  entire  bar.  He  was  a  man  of 
elegant  manners,  pleasing  address  and  kind- 
ness of  heart.  A  thorough  lawyer  and  of 
high  integrity,  his  loss  was  greatly  felt  in 
Marion  County  when  he  removed  his  resi- 
dence to  Cairo,  immediately  after  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  of  office,  in  the  early  part  of 
1863.  When  he  came  to  Cairo,  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  Louis  Honk,  and  the  new 
firm  at  once  entered  upon  a  large  and  lucra- 
tive  practice.     In    1867,    Judge   Omelveny 


HISTORY   OF   ALEXANDER   COUNTY. 


489 


went  to  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  and  there  in- 
vested largely  in  real  estate,  and  made  for 
himself  an  elegant  home,  where  he  now  re- 
sides. 

Louis  Honck  left  Cairo  about  the  same 
time  and  located  in  Cape  Girardeau,  where 
he  is  now  the  possessor  of  large  wealth. 

Hon,  D.  T.  Linegar  was  born  in  Milford, 
Clermont  Co.,  Ohio,  February  12,  1830. 
While  an  infant,  his  father's  family  removed 
to  Hamilton  County,  and  from  thence,  in 
1840,  to  Spencer,  Ind.  David  T.  here  grew 
t-o  be  a  young  man,  and  profiting  by  the  com- 
mon schools  of  the  county  was  qualified  at 
an  early  age  and  commenced  life  as  a  school 
teacher.  He  was  too  lazy  to  whip  the  children 
to  death,  and  the  consequence  was  he  made 
a  successful  and  popular  teacher.  While 
piirsuing  this  occupation,  ho  borrowed  Black- 
stone  and  commenced  reading  law,  and  in 
1856  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Rockport, 
Ind.  He  then  engaged  in  publishing  a 
paper  for  one  year  in  Princeton — the  Courier 
— when  he  sold  his  printing  ofiice  and  en- 
tered upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
that  town.  In  1856,  he  came  to  Wayne 
County.  111.,  landing  in  the  old  town  of 
Fairfield  the  day  of  the  Presidential  election. 
He  probably  now  rejoices  that  he  was  de- 
prived of  the  folly  of  worse  than  throwing 
away  his  first  vote  for  President  on  Fremont 
in  that  election.  In  1861,  he  suffered  the 
martyrdom  of  being  imported  into  Cairo,  as 
the  Republican  Postmaster,  and  after  filling 
this  position  for  a  term,  opened  an  office  and 
resumed  the  practice  of  law.  He  was  elected, 
as  a  Democrat,  to  the  Legislature  in  1880, 
and  was  re-elected  in  1882,  and  is  at  present 
a  member  of  the  House,  where,  from  his 
first  entry,  he  has  been  a  leading  member. 
Linegar  is  not  up  in  the  books.  In  fact, 
what  is  called  book  education  has  had  no 
attraction  for  him.     It  is  said  that  for  every 


page  of  manuscript  he  ever  wrote  there  were 
nearly  as  many  mistakes  as  words,  and  yet 
his  abilities  as  a  lawyer,  politician  and  ora- 
tor are  'of  the  highest  type.  He  finds  no 
equals  in  Southern  Illinois  as  a  speaker, 
either  before  a  court,  jury  or  upon  the  hust- 
ings, and  his  friends  say  of  him  that  upon  a 
moment's  notice,  and  upon  any  subject,  he 
can  make  a  great  speech  and  talk  either  an 
hour  or  a  day  just  as  his  friends  advise  him 
they  desire.  Among  the  boys  he  is  "Dave," 
genial,  jolly,  rotund  and  as  plain  and  com- 
mon as  an  old  shoe,  and  yet  "scare  him  up," 
as  Dr.  Dunning  says,  when  a  speech  is 
wanted  at  a  town  riot,  a  church  festival,  a 
political  meeting  or  in  an  important  law 
case  in  court,  and  he  has  but  to  pull  up  his 
coat  collar,  run  his  fingers  through  his  hair 
a  time  or  two  and  rub  his  eyes  and  he  is 
ready  to  fill  the  emergency,  no  matter  what 
it  may  be. 

Among  the  ten  thousand  rare  and  inter- 
esting events  in  Linegar's  life,  was  his  race 
as  a  Republican  for  Congress  against  John 
A.  Logan.  Of  course,  Linegar  had  no  hopes 
of  an  election,  and  yet  it  was  a  labor  of  love  to 
follow  Johnny  all  over  the  district  and  literally 
knife  him  upon  every  stump.  Circumstances 
were  all  in  favor  of  John,  but  he  learned 
that  with  all  these  in  his  favor  he  was  no 
match  for  Linegar,  and  he  soon  came  to  fear 
and  shun  him.  Had  the  surroundings  been 
changed,  as  is  now  the  political  faith  of 
these  two  men,  he  would  have  run  Logan 
into  the  river  at  the  first  encounter. 

A  carefully  collected  biography  of  the 
many  interesting  and  amusing  incidents  of 
his  life  would  be  as  interesting  as  the  best 
romance,  and  we  much  regret  that  our  space 
is  too  limited 'to  give  them  in  full. 

Judge  W.  J.  Allen  was  born  in  Wilson 
County,  Tenn.,  June  9,  1828.  His  father, 
Willis    Allen,    also    a  native  of    Tennessee, 


490 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


removed  to  Williamson,  111.,  in  1829,  where 
he  farmed  until  1834,  when  he  was  elect- 
ed Sheriff  of  I'ranklin  County.  He  was 
in  the  Lesjislature  of  1838,  and  iu  1841  was 
elected  State's  Attorney  in  the  circuit  com- 
prising thirteen  of  the  counties  of  Southern 
Illinois.  This  occurred  before  he  had  read 
law  or  been  even  admitted  to  the  bar.  He 
was  soon  after  licensed  as  an  attorney,  and 
became  a  prominent  and  able  lawyer.  He 
was  four  years  in  Congress,  and  was  Judge 
of  the  Circuit  Court  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  on  the  17th  of  April,  1859, 
in  the  fifty- third  year  of  his  age. 

William  Joshua  Allen  was  one  of  four 
brothers,  two  of  whom  were  lawyers.  John 
S.  and  Josiah  J.,  and  the  other,  Robert  M. , 
a  merchant.  The  two  former  died;  one, 
John  S.,  in  early  life,  and  Josiah  from  in- 
juries received  in  the  late  war  He  was  a 
Captain  in  an  Illinois  regiment. 

William  J.  passed  successfully,  fought  out 
the  difficulties  of  the  log  schoolhouse,  and 
was  then  transferred  to  the  celebrated  board- 
ing school  of  B.  G.  Roots,  at  Tamaroa,  111., 
and  afterward  was  deputy  in  the  Circuit 
Clerk's  office.  In  1847  and  1848,  he  at- 
tended the  law  school  at  Louisville,  Ky,, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  June  of  the 
latter  year,  after  which  he  located  in  Metrop- 
olis, where  he  soon  grew  to  be  a  prominent 
lawyer.  In  1854,  he  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature  from  thp  counties  of  Johnson  and 
Williamson,  having  removed  to  Williamson 
County  and  formed  a  partnership  with  his 
father.  He  served  four  years  in  the  Legis- 
lature. He  afterward  formed  a  law  partner- 
ship with  John  A.  Logan.  In  1859,  he  was 
elected  Judge  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Judicial 
Circuit,  succeeding  his  father  to  that  office. 
In  November,  1861,  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Constitutional  Convention.  In 
1862,  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  vice  John 


A.  Logan,  resigned  to  go  into  the  army. 
Judge  Allen  was  re-elected  to  Congress  and 
served  out  his  term. 

Judge  Allen  in  all  his  positions  in  life  — 
eminent  as  they  wer'^ — has  shown  com- 
manding abilities.  He  is  a  ripe  scholar,  a 
great  orator  and  a  just  Judge. 

He  now  resides  in  Carbondale,  having  re- 
moved to  that  place  from  Cairo  in  1874,  ar- 
duously engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law, 
and  whether  at  home  or  before  the  highest 
courts  of  the  nation,  he  finds  but  few  equals 
and  no  superiors. 

John  M.  Lansden's  complete  biography  will 
be  found  in  another  part  of  this  volume.  Of 
all  the  lawyers  that  have  in  the  past  or  that 
now  make  Cairo  their  home  we  know  of 
none  so  thoroughly  a  lawyer  who  has  made 
the  fullest  use  of  his  books.  He  is  a  schol- 
arly man  in  the  highest  meaning  of  the 
term;  a  man  who  thinks  out  the  great  prin* 
ciples  of  the  law  and  applies  them  with 
great  force  and  clearness  to  a  court.  An  ar- 
gument on  a  point  of  law  always  comes  from 
his  hands  as  complete  and  perfect  as  the 
finest  classic.  He  is  an  ornament  to  the 
profession,  an  honor  to  the  legal  professiQa 
of  the  State. 

Of  the  many  lawyers  who  came  to  Cairo 
and  engaged  for  a  period  in  the  practice  of 
the  law  we  can  now  recall  Fountain  E.  Al- 
bright, now  residing  in  Murphy sboro;  George 
S.  Pidgeon,  of  Los  Angeles,  Cal. :  Lewis 
P  Butler,  Patrick  H.  Pope,  John  Linegar, 
J.  P.  Boyd,  who  came  from  Decatur,  and 
after  residing  here  a  short  time,  went 
South  and  died;  the  Munns;  M.  J.  Inscore, 
now  of  Anna;  James  H.  Smith  came  from 
Anna  and  is  now  a  resident  of  Chicago. 

The  present  bar  of  Cairo  consists  of  the 
firm  of  Green  &  Gilbert  (W.  B.  and  M.  F. 
Gilbert),  John  M.  Lansden,  S.  P.  Wheeler, 
George  Fisher.  Mulkey  &  Leak,    George  W. 


HISTORY    OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


491 


and  William  E.  Hendricks,  D.  T.  Linegar, 
Walter  Warden,  at  present  County  Attorney, 
vice  Daniron,  Judge  .Reuben  S.  Yocum  and 
Albert  Smith. 

In   1865,    there  was  an  e£fort  to  establish 


in  Cairo  a  regular   branch   of   the   Supreme 
Court.     The  act  passed  the  Legislature  con 
ditionally,    and    the   conditions    were  never 
complied  with,  and  the  project  fell  through. 


CHAPTER   VI, 


THE   PRECINCTS  OF  ALEXANDER   COUNTY— TOPOGRAPHY  AND  BOUNDARIES  — THEIR   EARLY 
SETTLEMENT— DANGERS  AND  HARDSHIPS  OF  THE   PIONEERS -VILLAGES- 
SCHOOLS  AND  CHURCHES— MODERN  IMPROVEMENTS,   ETC. 


"For  them  light  labor  spread  her  wholesome  store, 
Just  gave  what  life  required,  but  gave  no  more." 

—  Goldsmith. 

rr^HE  first  years  of  settlement  in  Southern 
J-  Illinois  were  years  of  extreme  privation 
to  the  hardy  pioneers,  who  had  pitched  their 
tents  and  built  ^their  squatters'  cabins  in 
this  then  great  wilderness.  The  land  was 
productive,  but  their  modes  of  cultivating  it 
are  primitive,  nud  their  implements  of  hus- 
bandry rude  in  the  extreme.  So,  manage  as 
they  might — toil  and  labor,  day  in  and  day 
out — Mother  Earth  only  "  gave  what  life  re- 
quired, but  gave  on  more."  The  life  they 
lived  was  not  enviable,  but  they  bore  it  un- 
complainingly, and  the  indomitable  energy 
of  the  large  majority  of  them  eventually 
won  for  them  comfortable  homes. 

After  what  has  been  written  in  the  preced- 
ing chapters  on  Alexander  County,  there  re- 
mains but  little  to  be  said  of  the  different 
precincts,  without  needless  repetition.  The 
geology,  the  general  topogi'aphical  features, 
.agriculture,  Indian  and  pre-historic,  together 
with  other  topics  of  interest  pertaining  to  the 
county,  have  been  already  given.  And  now, 
a  few  words  of  each  election  precinct  will 
conclude  the  history  of  Alexander  County. 

Elco    Precinct. — This     division     of     the 


county  was  formerly  called  Hazlewood,  in 
honor  of  a  family  of  that  name,  who  were 
among  the  most  prominent  of  the  eai'ly 
settlers.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  land 
is  high  and  rolling.  It  is  watered  by  Cana, 
Mill  and  Sandy  Creeks,  and  which  afford 
ample  drainage.  The  timber  is  mostly  oak, 
poplar,  ash,  hickory,  etc.,  and  originally  was 
pretty  heavy  in  certain  sections.  The  precinct 
is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Union  County, 
on  the  east  by  the  Cache  River,  on  the  south 
by  Unity  Precinct  and  on  the  west  by  Clear 
Creek  Precinct.  The  St.  Louis  &  Cairo 
Narrow  Gauge  Railroad  runs  through  the 
precinct,  and  has  added  materially  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  people. 

Settlements  were  made  early  in  what  now 
forms  Elco  Precinct.  Among  its  pioneers  we 
may  mention  Squire  Thomas  Whittaker, 
Reason  Heater,  M.  Hartline,  the  Hazlewoods, 
William  Thompson  and  others.  This  is  but 
an  imperfect  list  of  the  early  settlers,  but 
many  of  them  are  mentioned  in  the  preced- 
ing chapters,  and  in  the  biographical  depart- 
ment. Hence,  a  record  here  would  be  but 
a  repetition  of  what  has  already  been  said 
of  them. 

Elco  is  well  supplied  with  schools  and 
churches.     Where    and   by   whom    the    first 


492 


HISTORY  OF   ALEXANDER   COUNTY 


school  was  taught  we  are  unable  to  say.  At 
present,  we  find  some  half-dozen  school- 
houses  in  the  precinct,  most  of  them  good, 
commodious  houses.  Cauble  Schoolhouse  is 
in  the  northwestern  part;  the  Palmer  School - 
house  is  five  miles  west  of  Elco  Station,  on 
Kichard  Palmer's  farm,  and  was  built  in 
1882:  Hazlewood  Schoolhouse  is  near  J.  F. 
Short's,  and  was  built  in  1881;  the  Huffman 
Schoolhouse  was  built  in  1880.  There  is  a 
schoolhouse  for  colored  people  four  miles 
south  of  Elco.  and  another  of  the  same  kind 
near  "White  Pond  farm. 

An  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  South  is  maintained  in  the  Palm 
er  Schoolhouse.  On  Sandy  Creek,  about 
seven  miles  from  Elco  Station,  is  both  a 
Methodist  and  Baptist  Church.  Tnion  Grove 
Chm-ch  has  a  membership  of  about  fifty  fam- 
ilies. There  is  a  Southern  Methodist  Church 
in  Elco  Tillage.  Also,  a  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  flourishes  here.  The  chm-ch  building 
was  erected  in  1879,  and  cost  about  $800 
Rev.  John  Harris  is  the  present  pastor. 

Elco  Tillage  was  laid  out  on  land  owned 
by  Felix  Hazlewood,  and  originally  was  three 
blocks,  each  containing  eight  lots.  It  was 
called  Hazlewood,  after  the  post  office  which 
had  previously  been  established,  and  named 
for  the  Hazlewood  family.  It  was  afterward 
changed  to  Toledo,  and  finally  to  Elco.  It 
received  the  latter  name  from  the  following 
circumstance:  E.  Leavenworth  and  Duncan 
had  a  store  here  under  the  firm  name  of  E. 
Leavenworth  &  Co.  One  day  a  number  of 
men  were  sitting  out  in  front  of  the  store, 
on  goods  boxes,  when  the  subject  of  chang- 
incy  the  name  came  up.  Some  one  called  at- 
tention to  one  of  Leavenworth's  empty  dry 
goods  boxes,  which  had  been  marked  E.  L. 
&  Co..  and  suggested  the  name  Elco.  The 
suggestion  was  adopted,  and  the  place  has 
borne  the  name  ever  since. 


The  first  residence  in  Elco  is  said  to  have 
been  erected  by  A.  P.  Grear.  Samuel  Brier- 
ly  built  the  first  storehouse.  Leavenworth 
&  Duncan  built  a  saw  mill  in  1872,  which  is 
still  standing.  Duncan  now  lives  at  Pulaski, 
and  Leavenworth  died  a  few  years  ago  at 
Dongola.  The  first  schoolhouse  used  was  a 
log  cabin  standing  about  a  mile  north  of  the 
village.  Some  five  years  ago,  a  new  one  was 
built  in  town.  It  is  a  frame,  24x36  feet, 
and  one  story  high.  The  village  is  quite  a 
flourishing  place,  and  does  considerable  busi- 
ness. 

Clear  Creek  Precinct. — This  precinct  lies 
west  of  Elco,  and  originally  embraced  the 
county  to  the  Mississippi  Eiver.  But  recent- 
ly the  western  portion  has  been  cut  off,  and 
a  new  precinct  created,  called  Cape  Girar- 
deau. Clear  Creek  Precinct  contains  much 
good  land,  and  its  surface  features  are  very 
similar  to  Elco  Precinct.  A  part  of  it  over- 
flows, but  in  the  lower  part  the  land  rises  to 
an  elevation  above  high  water  mark,  and  so 
continues  until  below  Santa  F6,  where  bot- 
toms again  appear.  It  is  a  fine  agi-icultural 
region,  outside  of  the  bottom^  subject  to 
overflow,  and  many  excellent  farms  are  ob- 
servable. The  precinct  is  without  railroads, 
but  has  a  steamboat  landing  at  Clear  Creek 
Post  Office,  in  the  northern  part. 

The  settlement  of  Clear  Creek  dates  back 
to  an  early  period.  William  Walker,  it  is 
claimed,  came  to  the  county  previous  to  that 
great  chronological  period,  the  earthquake  of 
1811.  He  settled  on  the  river,  near  the 
mouth  of  Clear  Creek,  but  afterward  moved 
up  under  the  blufl',  near  Rifle  Creek.  He 
camped  there  for  awhile,  and  then  opened  a 
farm  some  four  miles  east  of  the  river,  whex*e 
he  died.  During  the  Black  Hawk  war,  he 
belonged  to  a  company  of  rangers  that  went 
from  this  county.  Samuel  Philips  lived  on 
Sexton    Creek:    Moses    Philips   lived  in  the 


'V  "i  w 


tz^^w^^-^^^ 


%:ff 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


495 


bottom;  William  Brocker  was  an  early 
settler,  etc.,  etc.  There  were  a  number  of 
other  settlers  who  came  in  early,  but  their 
names  are  forgotten.  Moses  Philips  was  an 
early  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Among  the  churches  was  a  Baptist  Church 
at  the  Minton  farm.  There  was  an  early 
Methodist  organization,  which  met,  mostly, 
at  the  people's  houses.  There  are  several 
schoolhouses  in  the  precinct.  One  of  the 
pioneer  schools  was  taught  near  where  Jesse 
Minton  now  lives.  There  are  no  villages  in 
Clear  Creek,  nor  manufacturing  establish- 
ments; it  is  wholly  an  agricultural  region. 

Caije  Girardeau  Precinct. — This  is  a 
newly-created  division  of  the  county,  and  was 
cut  off  from  Clear  Creek  Precinct  about 
1880.  It  lies  on  the  river,  below  the  mouth 
of  Clear  Creek,  and  comprises  some  twelve  or 
fifteen  sections.  It  is  diversified  between 
bottom  and  high,  rolling  lands,  and  was 
originally  a  timbered  region.  It  boasts  of 
some  good  farms. 

Among  the  early  settlers  were  Joseph 
Giles,  Tapley  White,  Thomas  J.  McClure, 
Jesse  W.  Minton,  Smith  Minton,  Stephen 
and  Lewis  James,  John  Kendall,  Lewis  Will- 
iams and  others.  Joseph  Giles  settled  near 
the  ferry  at  Cape  Girai'deau;  Tapley  White 
was  a  very  early  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  the 
Mintons  settled  early  in  the  county.  The 
Jameses  lived  on  the  road  out  toward  Clear 
Creek;  John  Walker  lived  about  half  a  mile 
fi'om  Clear  Creek,  and  Thomas  Peterson,  one 
of  the  very  oldest  settlers,  lived  at  the  mouth 
of  Clear  Creek.  George  D.  Gordon  kept  the 
first  store,  at  Clear  Creek  Landing.  Kichard 
Edmonson  had  a  store  and  saloon  very  early, 
and  Lewis  Williams  had  the  first  blacksmith 
shop,  at  the  mouth  of  Clear  Creek. 

There  are  no  towns  or  villages  in  the  pre- 
cinct to  amount  to  anything.  Clear  Creek 
Landing  has  for  years  been  quite  a  business 


point,  but  by  no  means  a  town.  A  store  and 
a  post  office  and  a  steamboat  landing  has 
been  the  height  of  its  ambition.  Jasper 
Cully  &  Co.  have  a  store  here  at  present.  P. 
H.  McRaven  also  has  a  store  here.  East 
Cape  Girardeau  is  equally  as  [small  a  place 
as  Clear  Creek  Landing.  A  blacksmith  shop 
and  two  saloons,  with  a  few  other  houses, 
form  the  town.  The  precinct  has  no  rail- 
roads, but  has  the  advantage  of  the  river. 
The  name  is  received  from  Cape  Girardeau, 
Mo. ,  which  is  situated  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river. 

Thebes  Precinct. — This  precinct  lies  on 
the  river  south  of  Clear  Creek  and  Cape 
Girai'deau  Precincts.  It  is  small,  having 
but  fifteen  sections  in  it.  It  is  mostly  high 
land,  and  in  places  hilly,  with  but  little  bot- 
tom subject  to  inundation  from  the  river. 
For  boundaries,  it  has  Clear  Creek  Precinct 
on  the  north.  Unity  Precinct  on  the  east, 
Santa  F6  on  the  south  and  the  Mississippi 
River  on  the  west.  A  number  of  small 
streams  flow  through  it  into  the  Mississippi. 
Thebes  Precinct  has  been  the  scene  of  much 
of  the  history  of  Alexander  County,  having 
for  years  contained  the  county  seat.  Some 
early  settlements  were  also  made  in  the  pre- 
cinct. Among  the  early  settlers,  though, 
perhaps,  they  were  not  the  first,  were  David 
Brown,  Moses  Miller,  Ransom  Thompson, 
John  Clutts,  William  Bracken,  Judge  Light- 
ner  and  others.  Some  of  these  were  early 
settlers  in  other  portions  of  the  county,  and 
are  so  mentioned,  but  they  afterward  located 
hei'e  and  were  here  prior  to  1830.  Judge 
Lightner  was  a  very  prominent  man  and 
came  to  this  county  very  early.  He  was  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  came  here — or 
rather  to  Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.— on  the  first 
steamboat,  it  is  said,  that  ever  plowed  the 
great  Father  of  Waters.  He  i-esided  at 
Cape  Girardeau  until  1835,  when  he  came  to 

28 


496 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


this  county,  and  first  settled  in  Clear  Creek 
Precinct,  where,  for  some  time,  he  carried 
on  a  saw  mill,  and  when  Thebes  became  the 
county  seat  he  came  here.  He  has  been  dead 
several  years.  He  was  County  Judge,  and 
held  other  offices,  and  was  a  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  intelligence  and  prominence. 

Thebes  was  laid  out  as  a  town  in  1844, 
and  occupies  a  fine  site  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  ^first  court  held  here  was 
in  1845,  under  the  shade  of  a  big  elm  tree. 
The  coui-t  house  was  commenced  the  follow- 
ing year,  and  was  built  under  the  supervis- 
ion of  H.  A.  Barhauser,  architect.  Court 
was  held  here  until  the  county  seat  was 
moved  to  Cairo.  The  court  house  was  then 
used  as  a  public  hall  until  1879,  when  it  was 
sold  to  Baptists,  and  has  since  been  used  as 
a  temple  of  worship.  Thus  it  passed  fi-om 
one  extreme  to  the  other — from  the  law  to 
religion. 

The  first  store  in  Thebes  was  opened  by 
J.  H.  Oberley,  who  had  for  a  partner  after- 
ward John  Hodges,  the  father  of  the  present 
Sheriff  of  the  county.  In  1854,  Thomas  J. 
McClure  came  to  the  village  and  engaged  in 
business.  A  store  was  opened  in  1859  by 
Mr.  Marchildon.  A  son  of  his,  C.  A.  March- 
ildon,  has  a  store  here  at  present.  B.  F. 
Brown  started  a  store  in  1869,  which  is  still 
in  operation.  J.  G.  Rolwing  has  carried  on 
a  store  here  since  1863.  He  came  here  as  a 
clerk  of  McClui-e  &  Overby,  and  afterward 
bought  them  out.  He  has  a  fine  new  build- 
ing. Thomas  A.  Brown  has  a  drug  store  in 
the  place. 

A  steam  flouring  mill  was  erected  about 
the  year  1875,  by  Martin  and  William 
Brown.  It  has  a  capacity  of  about  forty  bar- 
rels per  day.  Martin  Brow^n  and  his  son, 
Alfred,  have  a  large  steam  saw  mill,  some 
four  miles  from  Thebes,  on  the  Jonesboro 
road,  which  was  built  in  1880.     A  saw  mill 


run  by  water  power  is  located  about  a  mile 
from  the  village,  and  is  operated  by  William 
Slosson.  The  usual  number  of  shops  com- 
plete the  business  of  the  place.  The  Method- 
ist Cturch  has  an  uncompleted  church 
building,  which  was  commenced  in  1881. 
They  also  carry  on  a  flourishing  Sunday 
school. 

The  first  addition  to  the  population  of 
Thebes  was  a  baby  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bar- 
hauser— Adaline  Barhauser,  now  the  wife  of 
Henry  A.  Planer.  "There  shall  be  marrying 
and  giving  in  marriage,"  and  the  first  mar- 
riage celebrated  in  the  village  was  Judge 
Lightner  and  Mrs.  Susan  E.  Wilkerson.  He 
was  the  first  County  Judge  after  the  court 
house  was  removed  to  Thebes.  In  1845, 
Thebes  contained  but  few  inhabitants: 
Judge  Lightner;  Henry  Weiman,  Jr.,  who 
was  a  workman  on  the  court  house;  Alexan- 
der Anderson,  who  was  the  first  Sheriff  after 
the  county  was  divided;  James 'j  Brown, 
Thompson  Brown,  Mr.  Clutts  and  perhaps  a 
few  others.  Judge  Lightner  described  Cairo, 
when  he  came  by  it  on  his  way  to  Cape 
Girardeau,  as  a  place  of  one  log  house  filled 
with  500  negroes.  ^ 

Thus  Thebes  was  once  a  town  of  consider- 
able pretensions,  and  a  business  place  of 
great  expectations.  For  some  fifteen  years 
or  more  it  was  the  seat  of  justice,  and'  its 
friends  entertained  the  most  extravagant 
predictions  of  its  one  day  becoming  a  great 
city.  Had  it  remained  the  county  seat,  there 
is  no  telling  to  what  ^extent  its  glory  might 
have  expanded,  but  the  removal  of  the  court 
house  was  the  "  fi'ost  which  nipped  the 
shoot,"  and  with  it 

"  Its  hopes  departed  forever." 

Goldsmith's  Deserted  Village  tells  the  tale 
of  its  fading  glory,  and  time  has  written  the 
name  of  Ichabod  upon  its  decaying  build- 


HISTORY   OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


497 


ings.  It  is  no  longer  a  flourishing  young 
city,  but  a  rather  dead  old  town  a  third  of  a 
century  old.  It  was  named,  perhaps,  in  honor 
of  Thebes,  the  ancient  capital  of  Upper 
Egypt,  but  differs  from  its  ancient  namesake 
in  that  the  latter  stood  upon  both  sides  of 
the  river  Nile,  while  our  Thebes  sometimes 
has  a  river  on  both  sides  of  it.  Ancient 
Thebes  began  to  decline  800  years  B.  C. ; 
our  Thebes  when  the  county's  capital  was 
removed  to  Cairo.  The  ruins  of  ancient 
Thebes  are  among  the  most  magnificent  in 
the  world;  these  of  our  Thebes  are  only 
equaled  by  a  half -score  of  other  towns  in 
Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski  Counties. 
Troja  fuit ! 

The  Poor  Farm  of  Alexander  County  is 
located  in  this  precinct,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  village.  Moses  A.  Brown  is 
the  Superintendent  and  Keeper.  A  small 
farm  is  attached,  which  contributes  to  the 
support  of  the  institution. 

On  the  farm  of  William  Bracken,  Esq.,  in 
this  precinct,  is  a  partly-developed  mine  of 
iron  ore.  It  is  found  in  the  center  of  bowl- 
ders, or  pudding  stones,  bedded  between 
clay  and  feldspar.  Some  ten  years  ago,  a 
company  came  down  from  Chicago,  sunk  a 
shaft  to  a  considerable  depth,  and  found  a 
good  deal  of  ore.  But  the  panic  came  on, 
and  the  men  interested  suffered  in  conse- 
quence, and  the  works  were  abandoned.  It 
is  the  belief  of  those  who  have  at  all  investi- 
gated the  matter,  that  the  mine  is  rich  in 
ore,  and  only  needs  capital  to  develop  it,  and 
bring  out  its  hidden  treasiu'es. 

Unity  Precinct. — This  division  of  the 
county  lies  east  of  Thebes  Precinct,  and, 
like  the  latter,  it  once  carried  Caesar  and  his 
fortunes — that  is,  it  contained  the  capital  of 
the  county.  Unity,  as  originally  formed,  has 
been  cut  up  and  divided  until  it  bears  little 
resemblance,    geographically,   to    its    former 


self.  In  1870  it  was  divided,  and  Sandusky 
Precinct  was  created.  It  was  divided  again 
in  1878,  and  Beech  Ridge  was  formed.  The 
Beech  Ridge  part  of  the  precinct  is  mainly 
settled  by  colored  people.  There  is  a  station 
on  the  railroad,  called  Beech  Ridge,  but  has 
only  one  store,  a  grocery  or  saloon,  and  a 
post  office. 

Unity  Precinct  proper,  the  central  part  of 
the  original  Unity,  contains  the  floiu-ishing 
little  village  of  Hodges'  Park,  which  is  also 
on  the  narrow  gauge  railroad.  It  was  laid 
out  by  Alexander  Hodges,  who,  together  with 
his  brother,  John  Hodges,  owned  most  of  the 
land.  The  town  now  contains  some  half-a- 
dozen  stores,  saloons,  a  blacksmith  shop  and  a 
saw  mill.  The  latter  is  owned  by  A.  C.  Ather- 
ton.  In  the  extreme  corner  of  the  precinct 
is  a  store  owned  by  William  Wilburn,  and  a 
post  office  near  by  called  Olive  Branch. 

Unity  was  laid  out  in  1833,  and  estab- 
lished as  the  county  seat  of  Alexander  County 
when  Pulaski  was  a  part  of  it.  A  court  house 
and  jail  were  built  of  logs,  and  most  of  the 
houses  in  town  were  also  of  logs.  In  1842, 
the  court  house  was  burned,  and  with  it 
many  of  the  books  and  records  of  the  county. 
The  town  was  located  on  the  Cache  River, 
and  a  ferry  was  established  here  across  the 
river  by  Green  P.  Garner.  A  bridge  was 
built  over  Cache,  where  the  Jonesboro  road 
crossed,  and  $600  was  appropriated  by  the 
Legislature  to  improve  the  road  through  the 
Cache  bottom.  These  improvements  brought 
quite  a  number  of  inhabitants  to  the  place, 
and  the  population  gradually  increased,  and 
the  town  flourished  accoi'dingly.  The  county 
seat  was  moved  to  Thebes  in  1845,  and  Unity 
was  soon  almost  deserted. 

On  the  farm  of  Mx.  John  Hodges,  in 
Unity  Precinct,  there  are  two  fine  mineral 
springs,  about  a  mile  north  of  Hodges'  Park. 
The  water  is  strongly  impregnated  with  ii'on 


498 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


and  other  health-giving  substances,  and  a 
chemical  analysis  reveals  the  fact  that  it 
contains  fine  medical  properties.  A  little 
capital  spent  in  improvements  here  would 
make  these  springs  a  fashionable  resort. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  population  of 
Hodges'  Park  are  negroes.  They  have  one 
school  building  and  two  church  organiza- 
tions— Methodist  and  Baptist,  The  latter 
holds  its  meetings  in  the  schoolhouse,  while 
the  Methodist  Church  has  a  building  of  its 
own.  The  whites  also  have  a  schoolhouse, 
which  is  used  both  for  school  and  church 
purposes.  Elder  Richardson  is  the  preacher, 
and  is  said  to  have  preached  thi-oughout  the 
southern  portion  of  Alexander  and  Pulaski 
Counties  for  the  past  forty  years. 

Sandusky  Precinct  comprises  the  southern 
portion  of  what  was  originally  Unity  Pre- 
cinct. Along  the  narrow  gauge  railroad  the 
lumber  interests  predominate.  There  are 
three  saw  mills;  one  owned  by  George 
Freeze,  of  Elco  Precinct,  one  is  operated  by 
St.  Louis  parties,  and  the  third  by  a  gentle- 
man of  Pulaski  County.  There  is  a  large 
settlement  of  colored  people  in  the  precinct 
— the  male  portion  are  employed  in  the  mills 
and  in  logging.  Most  of  the  land  is  still 
covered  with  fine  timber.  The  portion  of  the 
land  farmed  is  subject,  more  or  less,  to  over- 
flow. At  the  village  of  Sandusky  there  is,  at 
present,  one  store  and  one  saloon.  In  the 
western  part  of  the  precinct  there  are  some 
good  farms  among  the  line  of  hills  that  ex- 
tend from  Elco  Precinct  into  Thebes. 

When  the  precinct  was  first  formed,  the 
voting  place  was  changed  nearly  every  year 
until  the  railroad  was  built,  and  the  lumber 
business  centered  about  the  village  of  San- 
dusky, when  it  became  the  voting  place — per- 
manently, perhaps.  Churches  are  needed  in 
and  around  Sandusky,  the  colored  people 
having  the  only  church  organization,  and  it 


meets  in  a  schoolhouse.  In  the  western  part 
of  the  precinct  there  is  one  church  building, 
which  is  a  kind  of  a  union  institution,  and 
used  by  all  denominations.  In  Township 
15,  Range  2  west,  which  includes  Sandusky 
and  Hodges'  Park,  there  are  four  school - 
houses — three  good  frame  buildings,  well 
finished  and  furnished  with  modern  appli- 
ances, while  the  fourth  is  only  a  temporary 
structure,  the  schoolhouse  proper  having  re- 
cently been  destroyed  by  tire. 

The  eastern  part  of  the  [precinct  >has  all 
been  settled  in  the  past  ten  years,  but  in  the 
western  parts  settlements  were  made  much 
earlier.  Among  the  settlers  of  the  latter  were 
Henry  Nelson,  who  came  to  the  neighborhood 
in  1830  and  lived  here  until  his  death  in 
1850;  William  Powles,  moved  in  from  Mill 
Creek;  Jeremiah  Dunning,  William  Henlen, 
John  H.  Parker  and  others  settled  early  in 
this  section.  Henlen  kept  a  store  and  post 
office  for  a  number  of  years.  Dennis  Hargis 
and  his  son  came  here  in  1849,  and  carried 
on  a  large  farm  for  many  years.  William 
Clapp  was  also  among  the  pioneers  of  this 
part  of  the  county. 

Smita  Fe  Pr'ecinct. — This  precinct  is  but 
a  small  division  of  the  county.  It  lies  on 
the  river,  south  of  Thebes,  and  west  of  San- 
dusky Precinct,  with  Goose  Island  south  of 
it.  It  is  mostly  high  land  and  above  high 
water  mark,  and  contains  some  good  farms. 
A  small  part  of  the  precinct,  however,  is  what 
is  termed  "  second  bottom,"  and  suffers  more 
or  less  from  overflow.  One  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  this  part  of  the  county  was  William 
Ireland.  I.  C.  McPheeters  was  another  early 
settler;  also  Ransom  Thompson,  mentioned 
elsewere,  settled  here  in  an  early  day. 

The  town  of  Santa  F6  is  one  of  the  oldest 
in  the  county,  and  once  was  quite  a  flourish- 
ing place,  but  of  late  years  it  has  retrograded 
very  much.     Now  it  has  but  one  store,  owned 


HISTORY  OF  ALEXANDER  COUNTY. 


499 


by  Alexander  H.  Ireland.  A  late  improve- 
ment, which  may  revive  the  decaying  pros- 
pects of  the  town,  is  the  recent  establishment 
of  a  steam  ferry  between  here  and  Com- 
merce, Mo.,  and  which  brings  in  many  of 
the  ^farmers  to  these  points  who  were  in  the 
habit,  formerly,  of  going  to  Cape  Girardeau 
and  Cairo. 

There  is  one  church  in  the  precinct,  called 
the  Sexton  Creek  Baptist  Church.  There 
are  also  two  schoolhouses,  which  are  used 
both  for  school  and  church  purposes. 

Goose  Island. — This  precinct  is  mostly  low 
bottom  lands,  which  suffer  greatly  from  in- 
undation, and  hence  are  of  little  value  for 
farming  purposes.  Some  excellent  f aims  are 
found  here,  however,  but  they  are  few  in 
number.  The  precinct  occupies  a  large  area, 
and,  could  it  be  protected  from  overflow, 
would  soon  become  a  fine  farming  region. 
Santa  F6  and  Sandusky  Precincts  lie  north 
of  Goose  Island,  Cache  River  forms  the  east 
and  the  Mississippi  the  west,  boundaries,  and 
Dog  Tooth  and  the  Mississippi  River  the 
south  boundary. 

Among  the  early  settlers  of  this  precinct 
were  the  Russells  and  Holmeses — John 
Holmes  and  his  brother,  Squire  Holmes. 
The  danger  from  high  water  has  always  kept 
this  portion  of  the  county  from  settling  like 
other  portions,  which  are  free  from  this 
drawback. 

Dog  Tooth  and  North  Cairo  partake  much 
of  the  same  nature  of  Goose  Island,  and 
much  of  their  area  is  overflowed  in  time  of 
high  water.  Dog  Tooth  Bend,  as  it  is  called, 
is  a  place  of  historic  interest.  It  is  claimed 
as  the  scene  of  the  first  settlement  made  in 
Alexander  County  by  Ohio  people.     "  Four 


families,"  says  Mr.  Olmstead,  "  settled  there 
in  1809,  and  were  named  Harris,  Wade, 
Crane  and  Powers."  This  was  an  important 
place  in  those  early  days;  but  so  much  is 
said  concerning  it  in  preceding  chapters  that 
it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  it  here.  Milli- 
gan,  from  whom  Milligan's  Bend  took  its 
name,  was  also  an  early  settler  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  county.  Commercial  Point  is  a 
place  of  some  business  importance. 

North  Cairo  is  but  little  settled,  the  nature 
of  the  bottoms  rendering  them  wholly  unfit 
for  farming  purposes.  Wilson  Able,  who  is 
extensively  mentioned  in  a  preceding  chapter, 
lived  on  the  river,  about  twelve  miles  above 
Cairo,  and  carried  on  a  large  store  and  wood 
yard,  from  which  he  furnished  wood  to 
steamboats.  He  did  a  large  business,  and 
was  a  man  of  considerable  prominence. 

This  concludes  the  portion  of  our  work 
devoted  exclusively  to  the  history  of  Alexan- 
der County.  The  sketches  of  the  precincts  are 
necessarily  brief,  owing  to  the  fact,  as  we 
have  already  stated,  that  eveiy  subject  of 
especial  interest  has  been  exhaustively 
treated  in  the  preceding  chapters.  The 
years,  comprising  the  greater  portion  of  a 
century,  since  the  first  white  people  came 
here,  have  produced  wonderful  changes  and 
improvements  in  the  face  of  the  country;  and 
judging  of  the  future  by  the  past,  we  indulge 
in  no  great  latitude  of  expression  when  we 
predict  that  a  few  mere  generations  will  find 
the  rivers  confined  by  levees,  the  bottoms 
drained  and  converted  into  the  finest  farm- 
ing region  in  Southern  Illinois.  Money, 
energy,  labor  and  enterprise  will  accomplish 
it — nothing  else  is  required. 


^^^H 


PART  lY. 


HISTORY  OF  PU 


iJ 


J 


UNTY. 


PART    IV. 


History  of  Pulaski  County. 


BY    H.    C.    BRADSBY. 


CHAPTER    I, 


GEOLOGY,  METEOROLOGY,  TOPOGRAPHY,  TIMBER,  WATER,  SOIL,  ETC.— GREAT  FERTILITY  OF  THE 

LAND  — ITS     AGRICULTURAL    AND    HORTICULTURAL     ADVANTAGES  — AVHAT 

FARMERS  ARE  LEARNING— ADDRESS  OF  PARKER  EARLE,  ETC. 

and  barbarism.  The  tropics  and  the  arctics 
— the  one  oppressed  with  the  profusion  of 
nature's  bounties  that  appall  mankind  and 
produce  enervation,  is  the  antipodes  and 
yoke- fellow  of  the  bleak  north  and  its  long 
winter  nights  and  storms  and  desolation. 
The  richest  country  in  the  world  in  soil, 
perhaps,  is  Brazil,  both  in  vegetable  and 
animal  life.  So  profusely  are  nature's 
bounties  here  spread,  so  immense  the  forests, 
so  dense  the  undergrowth,  all  decked  with 
the  most  exquisite  flowers  of  rarest  perfume, 
they  so  teem  with  animal  life,  from  the 
swarming  parasite  up  to  the  striped  tiger,  the 
yellow  lion  and  snakes  spotted  with  deadly 
beauty,  and  the  woods  vocal  with  the  songs 
of  countless  species  of  birds,  with  the  bird 
of  paradise  perched  like  a  crowning  jewel 
upon  the  very  tops  of  the  majestic  trees, 
and  yet  this  wonderful  country,  capable  of 
supporting,  if  only  it  could  be  subjugated 
to  the  domination  of  man,  ten  times  all 
people  that  now  inhabit  the  globe,  is  an  un- 
explored waste,  defying  the  puny  arm  of  man 


IN  this  day  and  age,  any  reasonably  well 
educated  man  can  readily  tell  by  a  slight 
examination  of  the  geology  of  a  country,  no 
matter  how  new  and  wild  it  may  be,  what 
kind  of  a  people  it  will  some  day  contain,  and 
almost  exactly  what  degree  of  enlightenment 
and  civilization  it  will  eventually  possess. 
When  he  knows  its  geological  formation,  he 
can  forecast  the  future  of  its  people  with  nearly 
as  much  accuracy  as  can  the  patient  and  labori- 
ous historian  who  plods  along  in  the  tracks  of 
the  generations  that  have  passed  away.  A 
warm  climate  and  bread  growing  upon  the 
trees,  or  abundant  and  nutritious  food  spring- 
ing spontaneously  from  the  earth  has  always 
in  the  world's  history  held  back  civilization 
and  produced  a  listless,  prolific  and  inferior 
people.  A  continuously  mild  climate  through- 
out the  year  and  an  abundance  of  food  readily 
produced  by  nature  has  much  the  effect  upon  a 
people  as  the  barren  arctic  regions,  where 
the  scarcity  of  food  and  the  severity  of  cli- 
mate stunts  and  dwarfs  the  people  and  holds 
them  securely  locked  in  primeval    ignorance 


504 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


to  subjugate  or  ever  penetrate  to  the  heart  of 
its  forbidden  secrets.  For  hundreds  of  years 
civilized  man  has  sailed  in  his  ships  along 
its  shores,  and  in  rapture  beheld  its  natural 
wealth  and  profuse  beauties,  and  colonies, 
and  nations  and  peoples  have  determined  to 
reap  its  treasures  and  unlock  its  inexhausti- 
ble stores.  How  futile  are  these  efforts  of 
man,  how  feeble  the  few  scattering  habita- 
tions has  he  been  enabled  to  hold  upon  the 
very  outer  confines  of  all  this  great  country! 
Brazil  will,  in  all  probabiltiy,  remain  as  it  is 
forever,  and  it  is  well  that  it  is  so.  For 
could  you  by  some  powerful  wand  conquer 
all  that  country  and  place  there  50,000,000 
of  the  same  kind  of  people  that  now  consti- 
tute this  nation,  with  all  our  present  advan- 
tages of  civilization,  it  is  highly  probable 
that  in  less  than  200  years  they  would  lapse 
into  the  meanest  type  of  ignorant  barbar- 
ians, and  degenerate  to  that  extent  that  in 
time  they  would  become  extinct.  Thus  an 
over -abundance  of  nature's  bounties,  both  in 
food,  dress  and  climate,  brings  its  calamities 
upon  man  more  swiftly  than  do  the  rigid 
severities  of  the  arctics  of  northern  Green- 
land or  Siberia. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  two  sub- 
jects of  supreme  importance  in  all  countries 
are  those  of  soil  and  climate.  Any  ordinar- 
ily bright  child  between  the  years  of  twelve 
and  twenty  could  be  taught  these  invaluable 
lessons  of  practical  wisdom  in  a  few  weeks 
rambling  over  the  country  and  examining 
the  banks  of  streams  and  the  exposures  of 
the  earth's  surface  along  the  highways.  How 
much  more  valuable  a  few  weeks  of  such  an 
education  would  be  than  is  much  of  the 
years  now  worse  than  wasted  in  the  getting 
an  education  from  the  wretched  text  books 
and  the  ding-dong  repetitions  of  the  school- 
room! How  easy  to  show  them  what  the 
soil  is,  its  varieties,  and  why  and  from  whence 


they  come,  namely,  the  rocks;  and  how 
eagerly  the  young  mind  seizes  upon  such 
real  education!  How  easy  it  is  to  show  them 
(and  such  education  they  will  never  forget) 
that  where  the  soil  and  subjacent  rocks  are 
profuse  in  the  bestowal  of  wealth,  and  the 
air  is  deprived  of  that  invigorating  tonic 
that  comes  of  the  winters  of  the  temperate 
climate,  that  there  man  is  indolent  and  effem- 
inate. Where  effort  is  required  to  live,  he 
becomes  enlightened  and  virtuous;  and 
where  on  the  sands  of  the  desert,  or  the  jun- 
gles of  Africa,  or  Brazil  or  Greenland's  icy 
mountains,  where  he  is  unable  to  procure  the 
necessities  or  comforts  of  life,  he  lives  a  sav- 
age. The  civilization,  then,  of  states  or  na- 
tions is  but  the  reflection  of  physical  condi- 
tions, and  hence  the  importance  of  an  under- 
standing of  these  subjects  by  all  people,  but 
more  especially  the  rising  generation. 
Hence,  too,  the  importance  of  understanding 
the  geological  history  of  the  county. 

Our  concern  in  regard  to  this  subject  and 
our  desire  to  impress  its  value  upon  the  ris- 
ing generation  at  least,  must  be  our  excuse 
for  these  extensive  references  to  it  in  differ- 
ent chapters  of  this  work.  A  painful  reali  - 
zation  of  the  defects  in  the  education  of  our 
young  farmers  and  of  their  great  kisses, 
disappointments  and  even  disasters  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  occupation  of  tilling  the 
eai'th,  that  come  of  this  neglect  in  their 
early  education  and  training  prompts  this 
seeming  persistence  that  so  many  readers 
will  at  first  flush  consider  a  dry  or  uninterest- 
ing  subject.  The  most  important  subject  to 
all  mankind  at  this  time  is  how  to  get  for 
the  young  people  the  best  education;  how 
to  fit  oui'  youths  for  the  life  struggle  that  is 
before  them.  For  2,000  years,  the  schools 
have  believed  that  Latin  and  Greek  were  the 
highest  type  of  information  and  knowledge, 
and  next  to  these  dead  languages,  were  met- 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


50o 


aphysical  mathematics  and  the  theories  of 
so-called  philosophy.  It  is  time  these  long- 
di-awn-oiit  mistakes  were  rectified,  and  the 
ti'iaths  that  are  revealed  in  the  investigation 
— the  experimental  facts  of  the  natural  laws 
that  govern  us — be  made  known  and  taught 
to  those  who  soon  will  bear  along  the  world's 
highway  its  splendid  civilization.  Here  and 
there  are  to  be  found  an  intelligent  machin- 
ist, or  a  farmer,  who  understand  the  simple 
scientific  principles  that  govern  their  work 
or  occupation.  Their  knowledge  is  power. 
In  every  turn  of  life  they  stand  upon  the 
vantage-ground,  and  their  lives  are  success- 
ful in  the  broad  sense  of  the  term.  They 
understand  the  soil  they  till,  or  the  imple- 
ment or  industry  they  are  called  upon  to 
make  or  use.  They  know  where  ignorance 
guesses,  doubts  and  fears,  and  by  not  know- 
ing so  often  fails  and  falls  by  the  wayside. 
It  is  told  that  at  one  time  Agassiz  was  ap- 
I»ealed  to  by  some  horse-breeders  of  New  Eng- 
land in  reference  to  developing  a  certain 
strain  of  horses.  He  told  them  it  was  not  a 
question  of  equestrianism,  bitt  one  of  rocks. 
To  the  most  of  men  this  reply  would  have 
been  almost  meaningless,  yet  it  was  full  of 
wisdom.  It  signified  that  certain  rock  for- 
mations that  underlay  the  soil  would  insure  a 
certain  gi'owth  of  grasses  and  water,  and  the 
secret  of  the  perfect  horse  lay  here. 

In  order  that  the  youths  who  read  this 
may  gather  here  the  first  lessons  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  rocks  that  are  spread  over 
the  earth,  we  give,  in  their  order,  the  differ- 
ent ones  and  in  the  simplest  form  we  can 
present  them  as  gathered  from  the  geologists. 
These  explanations  will,  too,  the  better  enable 
the  reader  to  comprehend  what  is  said  in 
other  chapters  itpon  this  subject.  We  only 
deem  it  necessary  to  explain  that  all  rocks 
are  either  igneous  (melted  by  fire)  or  strati- 
fied  (sediment  deposited   in   water).     Their 


order,  commencing  with  the  lowest  stratified 
rocks,  and  ascending,   are  as    follows: 

The  Laurentian  system  is  the  lowest  and 
oldest  of  the  stratified  rocks.  From  the 
great  heat  to  whi*ch  the  lower  portion  of 
them  were  exposed,  has  resulted  the  beauti- 
ful crystals  that  are  often  found  in  the  rock. 
The  Laurentian  system  was  formerly  sap- 
posed  to  be  destitute  of  organic  remains,  but 
recent  investigations  have  led  to  the  discov- 
ery of  animals  so  low  in  the  scale  of  organ- 
ization as  to  be  regarded  as  the  first  appear- 
ance upon  the  earth  of  sentient  existence. 
Tbis  important  discovery  extends  the  origin 
of  life  backward  through  30,000  feet  of 
strata.  This  is  an  American  discovery  in 
geology,  and  for  the  first  time  renders  the 
descending  scale  of  life  complete,  and  verifies 
the  conjectures  of  physicists  that  in  its  ear- 
liest dawn  it  should  and  did  commence  with 
the  most  simple  organisms. 

The  Huron i an  is  the  next  system  above  the 
Laurentian.  Here,  too,  are  found  the  beau- 
tiful natural  crystals.  Then  the  Silurian,  or 
the  age  of  fire  and  water,  earthquakes  and 
volcanoes  came  to  the  world.  Daring  this 
age,  nearly  all  North  America  was  subma- 
rine except,  perhaps,  the  elevation  of  the 
Alleghanies,  which  were  subject  to  frequent 
elevations  and  depressions.  During  this  age 
was  added  to  the  first  dry  land  on  our  conti- 
nent, New  York,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Wiscon- 
sin and  Minnesota.  The  St.  Peter's  sand- 
stone, a  rock  found  in  Union,  Alexander  and 
Pulaski  Counties,  was  formed.  It  is  often 
almost  a  pure  silica  and  nearly  free  from 
coloring  matter,  and  is  the  very  best  mate- 
rial for  the  manufacture  of  glass. 

The  Devonian  system  next  follows,  and  is 
distingaished  for  the  introduction  of  verte- 
brates and  the  beginning  of  terrestrial  vegeta- 
tion. The  vertebrates  consisted  of  fishes,  the 
forerunners  of  the  reptiles  so  numerous  and 


506 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


some  of  them  of  such  gigantic  size  that  it  has 
sometimes  been  styled  the  age  of  fishes. 

The  Carboniferous  age  opens  next  with 
the  deposition  of  widely  extended  marine 
formations.  In  this  age,  the  whole  earth  was 
warm;  the  temperature  near  the  poles  was 
66°.  The  prominent  feature  of  this  age  was 
the  formation  of  coal.  The  process  of  form- 
ing coal  is  exactly  the  same  as  practiced  in 
the  formation  of  charcoal  by  burning  wood 
under  a  covering  of  earth.  In  addition  to 
this  age  forming  coal,  it  also  formed  the 
Burlington,  Keokuk  and  St.  Louis  limestones, 
which,  to  this  part  of  the  country,  are  most 
important  formations. 

Then  came  the  Reptillian  age,  the  Mam- 
malian age,  and  finally  the  age  of  man. 
These  are  the  order  of  the  eai-th's  for- 
mation, in  the  fewest  and  simplest  words,  to 
the  time  of  the  coming  of  man.  Though  the 
absolute  time  of  his  coming  cannot  be  deter- 
mined, he  was  doubtless  an  inhabitant  of  the 
earth  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years 
before  he  was  sufficiently  intelligent  to  pre- 
serve the  records  of  his  own  history. 

The  present  age  still  retains,  in  a  dimin- 
ished degree  of  activity,  the  geological  action 
briefly  sketched  above.  The  oscillations  of 
the  earth's  crust  are  still  going  on,  perhaps 
as  rapidly  as  the}'  ever  have.  As  an  evidence 
of  this  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  coast 
of  Greenland,  on  the  western  side  for  a  dis- 
tance of  600  miles,  has  been  slowly  sinking 
during  the  past  400  years.  Thus  constantly 
have  the  bottoms  of  the  oceans  been  lifted 
above  the  waters  and  the  moutains  sunk  and 
became  the  beds  of  the  sea.  In  the  science 
of  geology  this  "  solid,  too,  too  solid  earth " 
and  its  fixed  and  eternal  mountains  are  as 
unstable  as  the  'fleeting  waves  of  the  waters. 
They  come  and  go  like  a  breath,  or 

"  Like  the  snow  falls  in  the  river, 
A  moment  white,  then  melt  forever." 


Pulaski  County  is  bounded  on  the  south 
by  the  Ohio  River,  on  the  west  by  Alexander 
County,  on  the  north  by  Union  and  Johnson 
Counties  and  on  the  east  by  Massac  County. 
It  embraces  an  area  of  192  square  miles,  of 
which  nearly  115  are  more  or  less  elevated 
upland  and  the  remainder  low  alluvial  bot- 
tom and  swamp  land,  mostly  situated  along 
Cache  River.  All  the  county  is  timbered, 
and  the  bottom  lands  very  heavily. 

The  surface  configuration  and  growth  of 
timber  are  by  no  means  uniform  over  the 
whole  county,  but  they  vary  considerably 
with  the  geological  formations  and  with  the 
proximity  of  the  main  water-courses,  the 
Ohio  and  Cache  Rivers.  A.  feature  in  this 
county  not  found  elsewhere  is  represented 
in  the  yellow  loam  region  of  the  oak  barrens 
in  the  central  part  of  the  county.  These 
lands  are  underlaid  with  Tertiary  strata. 
This  peculiar  soil  is  very  deep,'  and  is  just 
now  beginning  to  be  known  for  its  rich  de- 
posits in  plant  food.  It  is  a  porous  loam, 
and  is  but  little  affected  bydrougthor  exces- 
sive rains,  and  in  many  of  the  fruits  and 
garden  vegetables  is  not  equaled  in  the 
State.  But  we  have  spoken  at  length  of  the 
surface  geology  of  this  county  in  Part  II  of 
this  work,  when  all  the  region  formed  a 
part  of  Union  County. 

The  people  of  Southern  Illinois,  and  par- 
ticularly those  of  Pulaski  County,  have  not 
fully  comprehended  the  natural  advantages 
of  their  soil  and  its  agricultural  and  horti- 
cultural advantages.  Hence  they  have 
worked  at  cross  pm'poses  here  for  many 
years,  and  the  development  of  the  country 
has  fallen  behind  what  was  its  just  due. 
Well  may  the  farmers  say  "  the  fault,  dear 
Brutus,  is  with  ourselves  and  not  our  sires, 
that  were  underlings."  The  farmer  will  take 
his  place  among  the  earth's  noblest  and  best 
only  when  he  forces  his  way  there  by  the  su  - 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUXTY. 


507 


perior   intelligence,     culture    and    elegance 
with  which  his  mode  of  life  is  capable  of  sur- 
rounding itself.     Understand  your  soil,  your 
climate,  and  master  the  art  of  care  and  cul- 
tivation of  those  things  for  which  it  is  best 
adapted,  and  at  once  your  business  will  de- 
servedly take  rank  with  the  most  exalted  of 
the  professions.     The  trades  called  the  pro- 
fessions in   some  degree  cultivate  the  mind 
and  train  it  to  think  and  grow,  and  as  here- 
tofore the  pursuits  of  agriculture  were  sup- 
posed to  be  the  dull  routine  of  physical  ex- 
ertion— the  mere  hewer  of  wood  and  drawer 
of  water — only  for  slaves  and  menials ;  where- 
as the  truth  is  that  an  intelligent  farmer — 
one  who  investigates,   studies   and  comes  to 
know  the  beautiful  laws  of  nature,   that   are 
for  his  advantage  and  glory  when  understood 
— has    before   him    in   his    daily    labors  the 
great  book  of  knowledge  to  contemplate  and 
study,  and  which,   when  studied,    will,  be- 
yond any  other  profession  or  pursuit  in  life, 
ennoble,    exalt   and   expand   the  mind  and 
soul,   and  ultimately  produce  that  line  type 
of    culture    and   polite    society   that    is   the 
charm   and  glory  of  civilization.     The  plow 
handle  and  pruning  hook,   the  golden  fields 
of  grain,  the  sweet  apple  blossoms  and  the 
beds  of  fragrant  flowers,  the  trees,  the  rocks, 
the   babbling   brooks,    singing   the   song  of 
spring   time,    and   the  unchangeable  laws  of 
God   that   produce,    govern    and  create    all 
these  things  for  the  good  and  joy  and  great- 
ness of  man,   are   God's  school,    college  and 
university,  that  excel  man's  poor  devices  for 
the  education  of  men   as   the   sunlight   does 
the  starlight. 

Farmers  and  horticulturists  who  will  com- 
prehend these  vital  truths  will  soon  come  to 
your  county,  and  their  coming  will  produce 
a  revolution  that  will  bo  an  incalculable 
blessing.  As  an  evidence  that  such  men  are 
here  now,    and   that  these  things  are  begin- 


ning to  be  talked  about,  we  extract  the  fol- 
lowing from  an  address  of  Mr.  Parker  Earle, 
before  the   Mississippi  Valley  Horticultural 
Society,  in  New  Orleans,  February  21,  1883: 
"  The  system  of  trade  in  orchard  and  gar- 
den   products,    which    is   rapidly    growing, 
with  the  expansion  of  our  railway  interests, 
has    already     assumed     great    proportions. 
Every  day  in  the  year  the  tides  of    hortcult- 
ural  commerce    are  ebbing   or  flowing    over 
the  great  area  of  our  country.    Car  loads  and 
train  loads  of  our  various  products  begin  to 
move  northward  every  year  with  the  opening 
spring,    over   our    leading    lines  of  railway, 
and  this  continues  with    the   advancing  sea- 
sons until  the  time  arrives  for  the  great  cur- 
rent  to   set   the   other   way.     Hundreds    of 
thousands    of  our   people   are   directly    en- 
gaged in  producing  or  in  the  distribution  of 
the  great  harvests  of  horticulture.     And  yet 
no  man   concerned    in    this    vast  production 
and  traffic  is  guided  in  his  operations  by  any 
such   carefully   compiled   knowledge  of  the 
changing    facts   he    is   dealing   with,  as  the 
merchant  in  cotton  or  the  manufacturer  of 
iron  would  consider  of  prime   importance  to 
an  enlightened  management.     We    have   no 
system  of  collecting  the  statistics  of  our  bus- 
iness,   such     as    other    industries    employ. 
Are  they  not  equally  important?   We  should 
know  the  amount  of  annual  planting  of  ber- 
ries and  vegetables,  and  the  acreage  of   or- 
chard and  vineyard,  and  the  condition   and 
promise  of  all  these  crops,    throughout   our 
entire  valley  not  only,    but   throughout  the 
whole  country.    Without  this  knowledge,  we 
constantly    work  in    the  dark.      Every   pro- 
ducer who  has  sought  to  plant  with  some  ref- 
erence to  the  probable  demands  of  his  avail- 
able markets,  and  every  merchant   who    has 
tried  to  follow  intelligently  the  natural  laws 
of   trade   in   this  season's  transactions,   has 
certainly  felt  a  great  want  of  knowledge  of 


508 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


a  wide  circuit  of  facts  upon  which  his  suc- 
cess or  failui'e  must  depend.  In  what  way 
shall  we  meet  this  matter?  We  must  in 
some  way  have  a  bureau  of  horticultural  sta- 
tistics. If  we  have  no  machinery  ready  made 
for  accomplishing  this  result,  then  let  us  in- 
vent some.  I  venture  the  suggestion  that  if 
there  is  no  more  effective  way,  that  this  so- 
ciety can  itself  organize  such  a  bureau  with 
sufficient  completeness  to  give  us  great  relief 
from  our  ignorance.  If  our  Secretary  could 
have  a  salary  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  em- 
ploy one  or  more  assistants,  he  could,  I 
think,  make  a  beginning  at  least  of  this  work, 
which  would  demonstrate  its  great  value. 

"The  question  of  an  annual  exhibition  of 
fruits,  flowers  and  garden  products  by  our  so- 
ciety is  one  that  some  of  you  have  given 
much  thought  to.  You  are  aware  that  we  held 
such  an  exhibition  in  St.  Louis  in  Septem- 
ber, 1880,  at  the  time  of  our  organization, 
which  was  more  attractive  and  complete, 
I  can  say  with  confidence,  than  any  other 
similar  exhibition  ever  made  on  this  conti- 
nent. This  magnificent  collection  was  got- 
ten together  and  managed  by  a  provisional 
committee  to  fitly  inaugurate  the  birth  of  an 
organization  destined  to  wield  a  powerful 
influence,  as  we  then  hoped  and  do  now 
hope  and  feel  assured,  in  molding  the  in- 
dustries and  the  finer  culture  of  human  so- 
ciety in  the  heart  of  this. 

"  Allow  me  in  conclusion  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  two  or  three  considerations  of  a  gen- 
eral nature.  I  desire  to  have  it  impressed 
upon  every  mind  that  horticulture  is  one  of 
the  most  important  agencies  for  the  enhance- 
ment of  human  welfare.  Each  branch  of 
this  profession  is  useful,  dignified  and  en- 
nobling. It  is  altogether  worthy  of  the  de- 
votion of  the  best  men  of  the  world.  It  offers 
a  field  for  the  finest  powers  of  the  best  en- 
dowed of  mankind.     Its  problems  are  suffi- 


cient for  the  best  cultivated  intellect;  its 
arts  will  occupy  the  most  cunning  mind. 
We  should  seek  to  engage  the  noblest  men 
and  women  in  its  interests.  A  great  need 
of  the  , times  is  to  make  rural  life  so  attrac- 
tive and  to  make  pecuniary  profit  in  it  so 
possible,  as  to  hold  our  boys  and  young  men 
on  the  farm  and  the  garden.  Very  mistaken 
ideas  of  gentility,  of  ease  of  life,  of  oppor- 
tunities for  culture  or  for  winning  fame, 
draw  a  large  percentage  of  our  brightest 
boys  into  the  so-called  learned  professions, 
or  into  trade.  With  proper  surroundings  of 
the  home,  with  a  proper  education  at  school ,^ 
with  a  proper  administration  of  the  econo- 
mies of  the  farm,  with  a  sufficient  under- 
standing of  the  opportunities  for  a  high  or- 
der of  intellectual  and  social  accomplish- 
ment in  the  rural  life  of  this  country,  this 
need  not  and  would  not  be  so.  A  bright, 
high-spirited  boy  is  not  afraid  of  labor,  but 
he  despises  drudgery.  He  will  work  hard 
to  accomplish  a  fine  end  when  the  mind  and 
heai't  both  work  together  with  the  muscles; 
but  he  will  escape  from  dull,  plodding  toil. 
Let  our  boys  learn  that  rural  life  is  drudgery 
only  when  the  mind  is  dull;  that  the  spade 
and  plow  and  pruning  knife  are  the  ap- 
paratus with  which  he  manipulates  the  won- 
derful forces  of  the  earth  and  the  sky,  and 
the  boy  will  begin  to  rank  himself  with  the 
professor  in  the  laboratory  or  the  master  at 
the  easel.  There  is,  indeed,  occasions  that 
we  should,  many  of  us,  feel  more  deeply  the 
glory  of  our  art;  that  there  is  no  occupation 
in  life  that  leads  the  educated  man  to  more 
fruitful  fields  of  contemplation  and  inquiry. 
The  scientific  mind  finds  every  day  in  our 
orchards  and  fields  new  material  to  work 
upon,  and  the  cultivated  taste  endless  oppor- 
tunities for  its  exercise. 

"  While  I  desire  to  see  a  taste  for  horticult- 
ure become   universal  in   town  and    hamlet 


HISTORY  OF  PULxiSKI   COUNTY- 


509 


I 


aud  country,  and  believe  that  every  cottage 
and  every  palace  in  the  land  should  have  its 
flower  garden  and  fruit  garden,  in  the  win- 
dow or  out  of  the  window,  and  something  of 
the  shelter  and  ornamentation  of  trees,  yet  I 
would  not  encourage  either  amatem*  or  com- 
mercial horticulturist  to  plant  one  vine, 
flower  or  tree  more  than  he  expects  to  take 
some  intelligent  care  of.  There  has  been  too 
much  planting  in  ignorance  and  reaping  in 
disgust.  Especially  should  the  planter  on 
a  commercial  scale  have  a  better  knowledge 
of  the  environment  of  his  business.  We  all 
need  to  know  more  clearly  the  conditions  of 
great  successes,  and  to  understand  what  diffi- 
culties and  hindrances  are  avoidable  and 
what  unavoidable.  We  want  more  business 
mathod  in  this  business.  We  want  scientific 
knowledge  and  accuracy  instead  of  empiri- 
cism. 

"  But  this  will  come.  American  horticult- 
ure is  only  in  its  youthful  years.  Its  splen- 
did maturity  shall  see  every  home  in  this 
maginficent  country  sweetened  and  beautified 
by  its  blossoming  and  fruitful  presence. 
Let  us  labor  cheerfully,  my  friends,  until 
n  ot  only 

"  '  The  guests  in  prouder  homes  shall  see 
Heaped  with  the  orange  and  the  grape, 
As  fair  as  they  in  tint  and  shape, 
The  fruit  of  the  apple  tree;' 

but  the  table  in  every  cottage  in  the  land 
shall  be  daily  filled  with  an  abundance  of 
refreshing  fruits  and  enriching  flowers.  And 
let  us  not  rest  until  we  have  checked  the  de- 
struction of  the  great  forests  which  God  has 
planted,  and  have  restored  to  the  hills  and 
to  the  plains  some  portion  of  that  natural 
shelter  without  which  no  land  can  long  be 
fruitful  and  no  civilization  be  permanent. 

"  Nothing  is  more  true  than  the  old  saying 
of  the  philosopher  that  our  lives  are  what 
we  make   them.     In   the  city,  the  village  or 


the  farm  is  this  true,  but  it  is' pre-eminently 
true  of  the  farm.  If  farming  is  only  given 
over  to  ignorant  and  unkempt  boors,  it  will  to 
that  extent  be  forbidding  to  the  growing  young 
men.  If  the  rural  population  inform  them- 
selves and  pursue  their  business  in  the  most 
ennobling  way,  their  every  movement  guided 
by  a  type  of  intelligence  that  brings  the  bes  t 
results  of  the  best  adaptation  to  the  natural 
means  surrounding  them,  it  will  become  the 
most  inviting  pursuit  for  the  best  of  our  men 
and  women. 

"There  is  no  foolish  notion  that  more  ur- 
gently needs  to  be  exploded  than  the  preva- 
lent one  which  makes  a  country  life  below 
the  ambition  of  a  young  man  of  education 
and  spirit,  and  which  regards  towns  and 
cities  as  the  only  places  in  which  men  rise 
to  distinction  and  usefulness.  Farming  is 
called  a  tame  and  monotonous  vocation  ;  in- 
deed! but  can  anything  better  be  claimed  for 
the  plodding,  exacting  and  exhaustive  pur- 
suits which  nine-tentbs  of  those  who  live  in 
cities  are  compelled  to  follow  ?  It  is  a  great 
mistake  to  suppose  that  the  population  of  a 
city  is  made  up  of  great  capitalists,  proprie- 
tors, merchants,  manufacturers,  and  eminent 
lawyers  and  surgeons,  and  that  it  is  an  easy 
thing  for  a  young  man  endowed  with  the 
quailty  of  "smartness"  to  achieve  wealth  and 
distinction,  or  even  independence,  in  the 
fierce,  pitiless  whirl  of  city  life.  The  wrecks 
to  be  encountered  in  city  streets  every  day 
disprove  it  Comparatively  few  persons 
amass  fortunes  in  cities,  and  fewer  still  re- 
tain them.  So  true  is  this  that  it  is  safe  to 
predict,  in  five  ca^es  out  of  ten,  of  a  wealthy 
business  man  in  middle  life,  that  he  will  die 
penniless. 

• 'Farming  is  not  subject  to  these  rapid  and 
ruinous  chances.  In  this  pursuit,  industry, 
economy  and  good  management,  aided  by 
the  increase    which  time  itself  brings,  will 


510 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


insure  a  competence  in  fifteen  or  twenty 
years;  and  it  is  a  property  of  substance  ac- 
cumulated in  farming,  that,  unlike  fortunes 
acquired  in  mercantile  pursuits,  it  lasts 
through  life. 

"Few  thrifty,  industrious  farmers  die  poor; 
few  prosperous  merchants  who  continue  in 
business  die  rich.  The  farmer's  profits  come 
in  slow  and  small,  it  is  true;  and  often  he 
does  not  find  himself  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances till  middle  age.  But  it  is  in  middle 
and  old  age  he  most  needs  the  comforts  of 
independence;  and  if  he  is  wise  enough  to 
keep  out  of  debt  the  moderate  competency 
which  he  has  managed  to  accumulate  through 
his  better  years  will  come  unscathed  through 
the  storms  and  convulsions  that  sweep  away 


towering  fortunes  in  the  business  world." 
We  trust  the  reader  will  not  understand 
us  as  saying,  in  the  common  cant  of  the  flat- 
tering demagogue,  when  he  prates  about 
"  the  sturdy  honest  farmer,"  that  it  is  of  it- 
self, intrinsically  and  inherently,  the  only 
one  great  avenue  of  goodness  and  true  no- 
bility. 0n  the  contrary  it  is  not.  Indeed, 
where  ignorance  rules,  it  is  dull,  hopeless 
drudgery,  and  there  is  nothing  more  enno- 
bling about  it  than  there  is  in  the  routine 
life  of  a  galley  slave.  Stupidity  and  igno- 
rance are  punished  here  as  well  as  in  any 
and  every  other  place  in  life.  In  the  strug- 
gle for  existence  it  is  overmatched,  and  its 
superiors  trample  it  most  mercilessly  under 
foot. 


CHAPTER    II, 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  COUNTY— THE  FACTS  THAT  LED  TO  THE  SAME— ACT  OF  THE  LEGISLA- 
TURE—ESTABLISHMENT   OF    THE    COURTS— THE    FIRST    OFFICERS  —  REMOVAL    OF 
THE  SEAT  OF  JUSTICE  — THE   CENSUS— PRECINCT    0RGANIZ.\TI0N — 
LAWYERS— SCHOOLS,    CHURCHES,    ETC.,    ETC.,    ETC. 

State  of  Illinois  represented  in  the  General  Assembly, 
That  all  that  tract  of  country  within  the  following 
boundaries  shall  constitute  the  county  of  Pulaski, 
viz. :  Beginning  at  a  point  on  the  Ohio  River  in 
Range  line  between  2  and  3  east,  of  the  Third  Prin- 
cipal Meridian,  and  running  north  with  and  on  said 
line  to  Cache  River;  thence  down  and  with  said 
river  to  the  Alexander  County  line  ;  thence  north 
on  said  last-mentioned  line  to  the  southeast  corner 
of  Union  County;  thence  west  along  said  line  to 
Mill  Creek;  thence  along  and  down  said  creek  to 
Cache  River;  thence  down  and  along  the  west  bank 
of  said  river  to  the  Ohio  River,  and  thence  up  and 
along  said  river  to  the  place  of  beginning. 

The  remaining  sections  of  the  act,  which 
is  a  rather  long  one,  are  omitted.  These, 
when  divested  of  the  "  said  whereases, "  with 
which  they  are  encumbered,  require  the  peo- 
ple  to  meet  at  the  usual    places   of    voting 


rr^HE  early  history  of  Pulaski  County,  as 
JL  we  have  stated  elsewhere  in  this  vol- 
ume, has  been  written  in  connection  with  that 
of  Union  and  Alexander  up  to  the  date  of 
its  organization  as  an  independent  county  in 
,1843.  As  a  part  of  Alexander  County,  it 
was  separated  from  Union  in  1819,  and  so  re- 
mained for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
In  the  meantime,  the  population  had  in- 
creased to  an  extent  that  required,  or  at  least 
admitted  of,  a  division  of  the  territory  known 
as  Alexander  County.  The  following  act, 
dated  November  3,  1843,  was  passed  by  the 
Legislature : 

AN  ACT  FORMING  PULASKI  COUNTY. 

Section  1.     Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of  the 


:^0 


n. 


„^m^ 


-4 


\ 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY, 


513 


■within  the  snecified  territory,  and  vote  upon 
the  question  as  to  whether  "  the  said  county 
shall  be  so  constituted. "  It  further  stipu- 
lated that  the  election  returns  should  be 
made  to  the  County  Commissioners'  Court 
of  Alexander,  the  Clerk  of  which  should  send 
a  copy  of  the  proceedings,  in  the  event  the 
vote  was  favorable  to  the  formation  of  the 
county,  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  to  the 
proper  officers  of  Massac  County.  It  further 
stipulated  that  the  Clerk  of  Alexander 
County  should  furnish  a  copy  of  the  proceed- 
ings to  Henry  Sowers,  Thomas  Lackey,  Jr., 
and  Thomas  Howard,  who  are  named  in 
the  act  as  Commissioners  to  locate  the  seat 
of  justice  of  the  said  county. 

These  Commissioners  were  required  to 
meet  at  the  house  of  Thomas  Forker,  and 
proceed  to  examine  the  different  eligible 
sites,  and  to  decide  upon  the  one  best 
adapted  for  the  county  seat.  A  donation  of 
Dot  less  than  ten  acres  of  land  was  the  con- 
dition upon  which  the  site  was  to  be  ac- 
cepted as  the  seat  of  justice  of  the  new  coun- 
ty. The  report  of  the  Commissioners  was  to 
be  made  to  Thomas  Forker,  and  the  general 
election  was  to  be  held  at  Caledonia.  Will- 
iam A.  Hughes  was  appointed  for  the  occa- 
sion, and  authorized  to  act  as  County  Clerk, 
and,  as  such  officer,  the  election  returns  were 
to  be  made  to  him.  The  county  was  assigned 
to  the  Third  Judicial  District.  The  public 
debt  of  Alexander  County  was  to  be  divided 
between  it  and  Pulaski,  and  the  school  fund 
distributed  according  to  population.  The 
new  county  was  to  vote  with  Union  and 
Alexander  for  State  Senator,  and  with  the 
latter  for  Representative  in  tlie  Lower  House 
of  the  Legislature. 

The  county  was  named  in  honor  of  Count 
Pulaski,  a  Polish  nobleman,  born  in  1747, 
and  a  soldier  of  renown.  He  took  a  conspicu- 
ous ["part   in   the   war  for   the   liberation  of 


Poland,  and  when  further  resistance  became 
hopeless  he  went  to  Turkey  and  thence  to 
France,  where  he  ofifered  his  services  to  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  our  representative  then  at 
the  court  of  Louis  XVI.  He  arrived  in 
Philadelphia  in  the  summer  of  1777,  and 
entered  the  service  of  the  United  States  as  a 
volunteer,  but  was  afterward  made  a  Brig- 
adier General  by  Congress,  and  appointed  to 
a  command  of  cavalry.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  cavalry  officers  in  the  war  of 
the  Revolution,  and  continued  in  that 
branch  of  the  service  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  October  11,  1779.  No  excuse  is 
deemed  necessary  for  this  digression.  It  is 
always  of  more  or  less  interest  to  the  reader 
to  learn  the  origin  of  the  names  of  places  he 
reads  about,  particularly  those  of  historical 
significance.  The  name  of  Count  Pulaski 
will  ever  be  venerated  by  American  citizens, 
for  the  assistance  rendered  us  in  the  dark 
hours  of  our  struggle  for  independence. 

According  to  the  provisions  of  the  act  for 
the  formation  of  the  county,  the  Commis- 
sioners appointed  to  select  the  seat  of  justice 
met,  and  after  "mature  deliberation,"  decided 
upon  the  town  of  Caledonia.  The  required 
donation  of  land  was  made  by  Col.  Justus 
Post,  and  the  first  deed  recorded  in  Pulaski 
County  is  from  "  Justus  Post  and  Eliza  G. , 
his  wife; "  and  the  consideration  is  "  the 
permanent  establishment  of  the  seat  of  jus- 
tice on  the  premises. "  It  "  bargains  and 
grants,"  in  the  town  of  Caledonia.  Blocks 
No.  2,  3,  25,  26,  35,  36  and  Water  Blocks 
F  and  G,  embracing  one  .79  acres  of 
ground,  which  was  accepted  in  lieu  of  the 
originally  required  ten  acres.  The  deed  for 
the  same  is  acknowledged  before  Thomas 
Forker,  Justice  of  the  Peace.  A  court  house 
was  erected  on  the  land  donated  by  Col.  Post 
Building  coiut  houses  in  those  days  seems  to 
have    been  a    great   undertaking,   as,    in  the 


514 


HISTORY   OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


case  of  this  one,  the  county  was  authorized 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  in  1847  to  bor- 
row $600,  "  to  finish  the  court  house  of  Pu- 
laski County.  It  further  authorized  the 
county  "  to  levy  a  tax  to  build  a  jail."  At 
first  the  county  officers,  we  learn,  did  not 
keep  their  offices  at  the  county  seat;  just 
where  they  did  keep  them  we  did  not  learn. 
Like  the  first  Postmaster  of  Effingham,  they 
kept  them,  perhaps,  in  their  hats.  At  any 
rate,  the  Legislature,  by  an  act  passed  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1845,  legalized  the  official  acts  in 
the  "portable"  offices  of  Pulaski  County. 
In  the  same  year  (1845),  the  records  of  John- 
son and  Alexander  Counties  were  ordered, 
so  far  as  pertaining  to  this  county,  to  be 
transcribed  and  certified. 

The  records  of  Pulaski  County  are  very 
imperfect.  In  November,  lS79,  a  fire  oc- 
curred in  Mound  City,  the  present  county 
seat,  in  which  a  large  portion  of  the  records 
were  destroyed;  in  fact,  nearly  all  of  them, 
up  to  1860,  were  lost  by  this  calamity. 

The  first  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  con- 
vened in  Caledonia  in  May,  1844.  Hon. 
Walter  B.  Scates,  Judge;  J.  M.  Davidge, 
Clerk,  and  B.  B.  Kennedy,  Sheriff.  The 
following  were  the  first  grand  jurors,  as  re- 
turned into  court  by  the  Sheriff:  Isaac 
Dement,  Samuel  F.  Price,  Joseph  Evans, 
John  Steen,  Charles  Stephenson,  William 
Echols,  George  W.  Howell,  N.  M.  Thomp- 
son, Learn  an  T.  Philij)s,  Thomas  Tucker, 
John  C.  Etherton,  Samuel  Parker,  Daniel 
Arter,  D.  Thornton,  J.  B.  Sanders,  George 
Augustine,  A.  F.  Young,  J.  B.  Malin,  Elijah 
Axley,  A.  Youngblood,  Hugh  McGee  and  C. 
R.  Vanderbett.  On  the  traverse  jury  were  H. 
R.  Thomas,  William  Byrd,  S.  F.  Rand,  John 
C.  Meyer,  John  Benton,  J.  M.  Timmons, 
Henry  Castol,  A.  B.  Bankston,  Aaron  Ather- 
ton,  George  Tucker,  M.  K.  Concine,  A.  Hun- 
saker,  James  Dillow,    James  Hughes,   Will- 


iam Murphy,  Eli  Morris,  Moses  Kitchell, 
George  Boyd,  Reuben  Cain,  William  Fork- 
ner  and  Hiram  Boren. 

Willis  Allen  was  Prosecuting  Attorney. 
The  first  Common  Law  case  tried  was  Wiley 
Davidson  vs.  Jones  &  Davis,  in  which  John 
Dougherty  appeared  as  attorney  for  the 
plaintiff.  A  judgment  was  taken  by  default. 
In  the  second  case,  W.  A.  Denning  was  an 
attorney.  Gilbert  Leroy  was  also  an  attor- 
ney at   this   term  of   the  court. Davis 

and  Timothy  Barlow  also  appeared  as  attor- 
neys. The  Judge  appointed  J.  M.  Davidge 
Master  in  Chancery. 

At  the  term  of  court  held  in  September, 
1847,  Hon.  William  A.  Denning,  Associate 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  presided;  S.  S. 
Marshall  was  Prosecuting  Attorney;  James 
M.  Davidge,  Clerk,  and  Henry  M.  Smith, 
Sheriff.  In  1849,  Hugh  Worthington  was 
Sheriff.  In  1852,  W.  K.  Parish  was  Prose- 
cuting Attorney,  and  Henry  M.  Hughes. 
Sheriff. 

The  first  County  Judge  was  Richard  C. 
Hall,  who  served  until  1847,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  James  M.  Davidge.  [n  1857, 
N.  M.  Thompson  was  elected  County  Judge, 
and  M.  R.  Hooppaw  and  Isaac  R.  Baker,  As- 
sociates. Ephraim  B.  Watkins  succeeded 
Davidge  as  County  Judge  in  1861,  with 
George  Minnich  and  Caleb  Hoffner  as  Asso- 
ciates. Washington  Hughes  was  School 
Commissioner.  In  1864,  George  Minnich 
was  elected  '.Sheriff,  and  Hugh  McGee  Dis- 
trict Justice.  In  1865,  A.  W.  Brown  was 
County  Judge,  and  W.  L.  Hambleton,  Asso- 
ciate. George  S.  Pidgeon  came  in  as  County 
Judge  in  1869,  and  Obadiah  Edson  and 
Caleb  Hoffner,  Associates,  and  E.  B.  Wat- 
kins,  County  Clerk.  In  1872,  Henry  M. 
Smith  was  State' s  Attorney ;  Benjamin  Glen, 
Circuit  Clerk,  and  A.  M.  Brown  was  ap- 
pointed County  Judge,  to  fill  vacancy  caused 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


515 


by  the  resignation  of  Judge  Pidgeon.  In 
1873,  G.  L.  Tombelle  was  County  Judge; 
John  Weaver,  County  Treasurer;  Daniel 
Hogan,  County  Clerk,  William  M.  Hathaway, 
County  Superintendent  of  Schools,  and 
Romeo  Friganza,  William  B.  Edson  and  J. 
S.  MoiTis,  County  Commissioners.     In  1875, 

D.  J.  Britt  was  Assessor  and   Treasurer,  and 

E.  B.  Stoddard,  Surveyor.  In  1875,  Robert 
Wilson  was  Sheriff;  James  R.  Drake,  Coro- 
ner; B.  L.  TJlen,  Circuit  Clerk;  Louis  C. 
Smith,  State's  Attorney,  and  Louis  F.  Crane 
Assessor  and  Treasurer.  In  1877,  A.  M. 
Brown  was  County  Judge;  Daniel  Hogan, 
County  Clerk;  A.  S.  Col  well,  County  Super- 
intendent of  Schools;  John  Weaver,  County 
Treasurer;  Albert  Wilson,  Sheriff.  In  1879, 
N.  M.  Smith,  County  Judge;  John  Weaver, 
County  Treasiu'er,  and  Henry  Lentz,  Survey- 
or. In  1880,  Louis  F.  Crane,  Sheriff:  Reu- 
ben Wilkins,  Coroner;  James  Anderson, 
State's  Attorney,  and  B.  L.  Ulen,  Circuit 
Clerk.  In  1881,  Joseph  P.  Roberts,  States 
Attorney,  and  S.  A.  Hight,  County  Superin- 
tendent of  Schools.  In  1882,  the  following 
officers  were  elected,  and  rt*^,  at  the  present 
writing  (1883),  still  in  office:  Louis  F. 
Crain,  Sheriff;  Henry  M.  Smith,  County 
Judge;  John  A.  Waugh,  County  Clerk;  Mrs. 
Hettie  M.  Smith  County  Superintendent  of 
Schools;  John  Weaver,  County  Treasurer, 
and  Samuel  H.  Graves,  Coroner.  We  could 
not  suggest  a  most  appropriate  name  for 
Coi'oner,  for  truly  it  is  a  grave  office. 

The  second  instrument  recorded  in  the 
Clerk's  office  is  one  signed  by  Jesse  Rich- 
ardson. It  is  "  the  last  will  and  testament  " 
of  Mr.  Richardson,  and  is  a  solemn  docu- 
ment, as  all  such  papers  should  be.  It  is 
draped  in  a  funeral  pall,  so  to  speak,  and 
begins  with  the  solemn  invocation: 

"  [n  the  name  of  God,  Amen. 

"  I,  Jesse    Richardson,    of   the  county  of 


McCracken,  State  of  Kentucky,  being  at 
this  time  of  perfect  mind  and  memory,  but 
in  a  low  state  of  health,  and  calling  to  mind 
that,  it  is  '  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to 
die,  and  after  death  to  come  to  judgment,' 
and  having,  therefore,  settled  all  my  worldly 
affairs,"  etc.  He  then  proceeds  to  liberate 
his  slaves,  and  gives  them  liberally  of  his 
worldly  goods,  that  they  "  may  live  free  and 
independent,  and  become  prosperous  and 
happy;"  all  of  which  was  quite  right  and 
proper. 

Deeds,  wills  and  assignments  are,  at  first, 
miscellaneously  recorded  together.  Owing 
to  the  imperfect  -state  of  the  records,  caused 
by  the  fire  already  alluded  to,  we  can  give  but 
few  extracts  that  would  be  of  any  interest  to 
our  readers.  As  a  general  thing,  however,  the 
court  records  are  not  thrillingly  interesting 
reading  matter  to  any  not  immediately  con- 
cerned with  them,  or  to  those  "  learned  in  the 
law."  More  copious  extracts  will  be  given 
in  the  chapter  devoted  to  Mound  City,  from 
the  time  the  seat  of  justice  was  moved  to 
that  city. 

Caledonia  remained  the  county  seat  until 
1861.  On  the  13th  of  February  of  that  year, 
the  Legislature  passed  an  act,  authorizing 
the  removal  of  the  capital  to  Mouod  City, 
and  Caledonia  shared  the  fate  of  Unity, 
America  and  Thebes,  and  became  another 
deserted  metropolis.  Few  moldering  relics 
now  remaii]  of  its  former  grandeur  to  mark 
the  spot  where  erst  it  stood.  The  eddying 
waters  of  the  Ohio,  as  they  roll  by,  sing  its 
requiem,  and  the  murmuring  winds,  sweep- 
ing over  its  deserted  courts,  howl  the  refrain 
of  its  departed  glory.  A  sketch  of  all  the 
dismantled  and  abandoned  towns  of  Union, 
Alexander  »and  Pulaski  Counties,  would 
form  an  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of 
Southern  Illinois. 

Pulaski  County  remains  under  the  original 


516 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY- 


precinct  system  of  county  gevernment,  per- 
sistently eschewing  the  township  system  of 
organization.  The  wisdom  of  their  choice  is 
a  debatable  question,  and  one  we  shall  not 
attempt  to  decide.  There  are  strong  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  both  systems.  While  the 
County  Commissioners'  Court  is  a  smaller- 
and  therefore,  as  a  rule,  a  more  controllable 
body,  by  outsideS  influences,  there  is  little 
doubt  that  a  Board  of  Supervisors  is  not  only 
more  directly  expensive,  but  also  that  a 
thousand  and  one  petty  claims,  of  every  con- 
ceivable character,  having  no  foundation  in 
law  uv  justice,  aggregating  no  insignificant 
sum,  are  constantly  presented,  loosely  inves- 
tigated and  tacitly  allowed.  The  strongest 
argument  in  its  favor  is,  that  no  county,  hav- 
ino-  once  adopted  township  organization,  has 
ever  been  known  to  go  back  to  the  precinct 
system. 

The  county,  as  at  present  laid  off,  em- 
braces the  following  precincts:  Mound  City, 
Burkville,  Villa  Ridge,  Pulaski,  Ohio,  Ullin, 
Wetaug  and  Grand  Chain. 

At  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the 
county,  in  1843,  its  population  was  probably 
about  1,500  souls.  The  census  of  1850,  the 
first  after  it  became  a  county,  shows  its  pop- 
ulation to  be  2,264.  In  1860,  it  had  3,943; 
in  1870,  it  had  increased  to  8,752,  and  in 
18S0  to  9,507.  Its  largest  increase  was  dur- 
ing the  decade  from  1860  to  1870,  its  popu- 
lation more  than  doubling  in  those  ten  years. 
Its  increase  from  1870  to  1880  is  but  755, 
a  great  falling  off,  when  compared  to  that  of 
the  preceding  ten  years. 

The  Clerk  of  [the  Circuit  Court  was  Alger- 
non Sidney  Grant,  who,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, figured  in  the  organization  of  the 
town  of  America.  His  rank  qf  seniority 
among  resident  lawyers  of  what  is  now  Pu- 
laski Coimty  seems  quite  well  determined. 
He  was  here  when  the  territory  was   i.aken 


from  Union  and  became  Alexander  County, 
and  by  reference  to  the  early  history  of  that 
county  it  will  be  seen  he  was  one  of  the  first 
Clerks  of  the  Circuit  and  County  Court. 

Of  the  lawyers,  the  first  were  Alexander 
P.  Field,  Judge  Richard  M,  Young,  Jeptha 
Hardin,  Henry  Eddy,  William  J.  Gatewood, 
John  Dougherty  and  Mr.  Grant  and  a  man 
named  Boswell.  Of  a  later  date  were  Willis 
Allen,   W.  J.  Allen  and  Henry  W.  Billings. 

The  Circuit  Judges,  from  the  creation  of 
the  county,  were  in  the  following  order: 
Thomas  C.  Browne,  Jeptha  Hardin,  Walter 
B.  Scates,  William  A.  Denning,  Alexander 
M.  Jenkins,  Wesley  Sloan,  John  Olney,  J. 
H.  Mulkey,  William  H.  Green  and  David 
J.   Baker. 

In  the  early  Circuit  Court  records  of  every 
county  in  Central  and  Southern  Illinois,  oc- 
curs the  name  of  Judge  Thomas  C.  Browne. 
He  was  one  of  the  Supreme  Judges  who 
were  required  to  do  Circuit  Court  duties,  and, 
judging  from  the  records  of  these  many  coun- 
ties, Judge  Browne  must  have  led  an  active 
and  laborious  life,  as  small  as  his  salary  was 
for  the  immensity  of  the  travel  and  labor  he 
was  required  to  perform. 

Jeptha  Hardin  held  courts  and  practiced 
law  in  nearly  all  the  counties  of  Southern 
Illinois.  A.  P.  Field  and  Richard  M. 
Young  are  noticed  at  some  length  in  the 
chapter  on  the  bench  and  bar  of  Union 
County.  Judge  Walter  B.  Scates  was  a 
resident,  for  many  years,  of  this  portion  of 
Illinois.  He  became  largely  interested  in 
coal  mines,  near  Collinsville,  and  eventually 
was  the  principal  owner  of  the  Western  Tele- 
graph Company.  He  resigned  his  position  as 
one  of  the  Supreme  Judges  of  the  State,  and 
became  a  resident  of  E vanston,  near  Chicago, 
where  he  improved  a  magnificent  estate,  and 
attached  to  it  was  his  noted  deer  and  elk 
park,  that  for  many  years  was  a  place  for  the 


HISTORY    OF  PULASKr   COUNTY. 


517 


interested  visitors  to  Evanston  until  finally, 
we  understand,  the  Judge  came  near  losing 
his  life  from  a  furious  stag. 

Judge  Jenkins  is  noticed  in  the  history  of 
Cairo,  and  an  account  of  his  death  may  be 
found  in  the  Alexander  chapter  on  the  bench 
and  bar. 

Judge  Wesley  Sloan  was  intimately  known 
to  the  people  of  Pulaski  as  a  great  Judge  and 
an  upright  citizen.  When  he  left  the  bench 
he  retired  to  private  life,  taking  with  him  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  all. 

The  early  judiciary  of  Illinois  was  marked 
as  furnishing  a  higher  order  of  talent — 
larger  minded  men — than  are  to  be  found  in 
the  early  political  history  of  the  State. 
Many  of  these  early  jurists  will  take  their 
proper  place  in  history  as  among  the  coun- 
try's best  men.  From  the  now  old  and  deso- 
late town  of  Kaskaskia,  they  radiated  out 
over  the  sparse  settlements  of  the  county, 
like  rays  of  light  and  sunshine.  They  min- 
gled with  the  rude  people,  assisting,  advis- 
ing and  counseling  them  for  their  own  good 
and  benefit.  They  forecast  and  laid  well  the 
foundations  for  the  superstructure  of  the  civil 
polity  of  the  State;  and  in  looking  into  the 
imperfect  records  of  their  lives  that  are  now 
attainable,  the  student  of  history  is  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  here,  indeed,  was 
Illinois  most  favored  ajid  fortunate. 

In  the  history  of  Cairo  and  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  in  this  volume,  we  had 
occasion  to  tell  much  of  the  life  and  acts  of 
Justin  Butterfield,  of  Chicago,  who  was 
Commissioner  of  the  Government  United 
States  Land  Office  in  Washington,  at  the 
time  of  the  building  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad.  It  was  much  upon  an  idea  of  his, 
uttered  in  a  speech  in  Chicago  at  a  raih'oad 
meeting  in  which  lay  the  key  to  the  construc- 
tion of  that  most  important  enterprise.  Some- 
thing of  the  man  may  ^be  gleaned  from  the 


following  anecdote,  as  related  by  Hon.  I.  N. 
Arnold  at  a  meeting  of  the  State  Bar  Asso- 
ciation of  1881. 

In  Decembei",  1842,  Gov.  Ford,  on  the 
application  of  the  Executive  of  Missouri, 
issued  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Joseph 
Smith,  the  Apostle  of  Mormonism  then  re- 
siding at  Nauvoo,  as  a  fugitive  from  justice. 
Smith  was  charged  with  having  instigated 
the  attempt,  by  some  Mormons,  to  assassinate 
Gov.  Bogg,  of  Missouri.  Mr.  Butterfield  had 
sued  out  a  writ  of  habeiis  corpus  from  Judge 
Pope,  and  Smith  was  arraigned  for  a  hear- 
ing. The  Attorney  General  of  Illinois,  Mr. 
Sanborn,  appeared,  to  sustain  the  warrant 
Mr.  Butterfield,  aided  by  B.  S.  Edwards,  ap- 
peared for  Smith,  and  moved  for  his  dis- 
charge. The  Prophet  (so-called)  was  at. 
tended  by  his  twelve  apostles  and  a  large 
number  of  his  followers,  and  the  case  at- 
tracted great  interest.  The  court  room  was 
thronged  with  prominent  members  of  the  bar 
and  public  men.  Judge  Pope  was  a  gallant 
gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  loved 
nothing  better  than  to  be  in  the  midst  of 
youth  and  beauty.  Seats  were  crowded  on 
the  Judge's  platform,  on  both  sides  and  be- 
hind the  Judge,  and  an  array  of  brilliant 
and  beautiful  ladies  almost  encircled  the 
court.  Mr.  Butterfield,  dressed  a  la  Web- 
ster, in  a  blue  dress -coat  and  metal  buttons 
with  buff  vest,  rose  with  dignity,  and  amidst 
the  most  pi'ofound  silence.  Pausing,  and 
running  his  eyes  admiringly  from  the  central 
figure  of  Judge  Pope  along  the  rows  of  love- 
ly women  on  each  side  of  him,  he  said: 

"  May  it  please  the  com-t: 

"  I  appear  before  you  to-day  under  circum- 
stances most  novel  and  peculiar.  I  am  to 
address  the  '  Pope '  [bowing  to  the  Judge], 
surrounded  by  angels  [bowing  still  lower  to 
the  ladies],  in  the  presence  of  the  holy 
apostles,  in  behalf  of  the  Prophet  of  the  Lord." 


518 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


Another  instance  of  Mr.  Butterfield's  in- 
finite and  ready  wit  was  an  instance  occur- 
ring in  one  of  the  Northern  courts,  held  by- 
Judge  Jesse  B.  Thomas.  ISlr.  B.  became 
irritated  by  the  delay  of  the  Judge  in  decid- 
ing a  case,  which  he  had  argued  some  time 
before.  He  came  into  court  one  morning, 
and  said  with  great  gravity:  "I  believe,  if 
yoiu'  honor  please,  this  court  is  called  the 
'Oyer  and  Terminer;'  /  think  it  ought  to  be 
called  the  'Oyer  sans  Terminer;'"  and  sat 
doAvn.  The  next  morning,  when  counsel  were 
called  for  motions,  Mr.  Buttertield  called  up 
a  pending  motion  for  a  new  trial  in  an  im- 
portant case.  "The  motion  is  over-ruled," 
said  Judge  Thomas,  abruptly;  "  yesterday 
you  declared  this  court  ought  to  be  called 
'Oyer  sans  Terminer,'  so,"  continued  the 
Judge,  "  as  I  had  made  up  my  mind  in  this 
case,  I  thought  I  would  decide  it  promptly.'''' 
Mr.  Buttertield  seemed,  for  a  moment,  dis- 
concerted, but  directly  added,  "  May  it  please 
your  honor,  yesterday  this  coui't  was  a  Court 
of  Oyer  sans  Terminer;  to-day  your  honor 
has  reversed  the  order,  it  is  now  Terminer 
SANS  Oyer:  But  I  believe  I  should  prefer 
the  injustice  of  interminable  delay  rather 
than  the  swift  and  inevitable  blunders  your 
honor  is  sure  to  make  by  guessing  without 
hearing  argument." 

This  reminds  us  of  an  apt  retort  made  by 
M.  J.  Inscore  to  Judge  Dougherty.  A  case 
of  considerable  importance  was  pending  be- 
fore Judge  Dougherty,  and  attorneys  from 
abroad — among  others.  Judge  Mulkey,  Hon. 
D.  T.  Linegar  and  Judge  \\ .  J.  Allen — were 
counsel.  Several  days  had  been  consumed 
in  hearing  the  testimony  and  arguments  on 
points  raised,  and  finally  it  came  to  the  argu- 
ment of  counsel.  Judge  Dougherty  an- 
nounced they  could  have  thirty  minutes  on  a 
side  and  no  more.  Inscore  remonstrated 
earnestly,  insisting  there  were  eminent  coun- 


sel from  abroad,  and  the  case  was  long,  te- 
dious and  important,  and  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  counsel  to  do  justice  to  themselves 
or  their  case  in  that  brief  time.  The  Judge 
was  firm  and  Inscore  persistent,  when  finally 
the  Judge  remarked,  with  much  emphasis, 
that  the  best  speeches  of  the  gi'eat  English 
bar  had  been  made  in  thirty  minutes. 
"Yes,"  replied  Inscore,  "I  know;  but  those 
men  are  all  dead." 

The  history  of  the  bench  and  bar  of  Pu- 
laski County,  from  the  removal  of  the  county 
seat  from  Caledonia  to  Mound  City  to  the 
present  time,  will  be  found  in  full  in  Dr. 
Casey's  ver\^  interesting  history  of  Mound 
City  in  this  volume. 

Schools. — The  educational  histoiy  of  the 
county  should  interest  every  reader  of  this 
work,  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  subject 
mentioned.  Nothing  adds  so  much  to  the 
prosperity  of  a  community,  or  to  its  civiliza- 
tion and  refinement,  as  a  perfect  system  of 
common  schools.  The  early  schools  of  this 
county,  like  the  whole  of  Southern  Illinois, 
were  of  the  commonest  kind.  After  the  re- 
peal of  what  is  known  as  the  "  Duncan  law," 
the  cause  of  education,  for  over  a  generation, 
was  in  anything  but  a  flourishing  condition, 
not  only  in  the  county  but  in  the  S<^ate. 
For  nearly  a  half-century,  the  schoolhouses, 
books,  teachers  and  manner  of  instruction 
were  of  the  most  primitive  character,  and 
very  different  from  what  they  are  at  the 
present  day.  Then,  too,  there  was  an  un- 
civilized element  on  the  frontier,  who  be- 
lieved education  was  a  useless  and  unneces- 
sary accomplishment,  and  only  needful  to 
divines  and  lawj'ers;  that  bone  and  muscle, 
and  the  ability  to  labor,  were  the  only  re- 
quirements necessary  to  fit  their  daughters 
and  sons  for  the  practical  duties  of  life.  A 
proverb  thea  current  was  "  The  more  book- 
learning,    the   more    rascals."     To    quote    a 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI   COUNTY. 


519 


localism  of  the  day,  "  Gals  didn't  need  to 
know  nothin'  about  books  and  all  that  boys 
orter  know  was  how  to  grub,  maul  rails  and 
hunt."  That  senseless  prejudice,  born  of  the 
civilization  of  the  time,  has  descended,  in  a 
slight  degree,  to  the  present,  and  yet  tinges 
the  complexion  of  society  in  some  localities. 

The  pioneer  schoolhouses,  as  a  general 
thing,  were  poor,  and  are  described  in  other 
portions  of  this  volume.  A  few  of  these 
humble  temples  of  learning— time-worn 
relics  of  the  early  days— are  yet  to  be  found 
in  many  portions  of  Southern  Illinois — elo- 
quent of  an  age  forever  past.  The  pioneer 
teacher  was  a  marked  and  distinctive  charac- 
ter in  the  early  history  of  the  county,  and,  by 
common  consent,  was  a  personage  of  great 
importance.  He  was  considered  the  intellect- 
ual center  of  the  neighborhood,  around 
which  revolved  all  the  learning  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  and  hence  he  was  consulted  upon 
every  subject,  public  and  private.  But  he, 
too,  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  we  shall 
never  see  his  like  again.  He  is  ever  in  the 
van  of  advancing  civilization,  and  flees,  like 
a  frightened  deer,  before  the  whistle  of  the 
locomotive  and  the  click  of  the  telegraph 
wires. 

The  county  has,  at  the  present  time,  thir- 
teen log  schoolhouses,  and  twenty-seven 
frames,  making  a  total  of  forty.  There  are 
two  graded  schools,  the  remainder  being  un- 
graded. There  are  employed,  in  graded 
schools,  seven  teachers — one  male  and  six 
females;  in  ungraded  schools,  forty-eight 
teachers —  seventeen  males  and  thirty-one 
females ;  whole  number  of  teachers  employed 
is  fifty- five.  The  number  of  pupils* enrolled 
in  the  county  is  3,146;  total  population  in 
the  county,  under  twenty -one  years  of  age, 
2,897  males  and  2,868  females;  and  the 
number  reported  between  the  ages  of  twelve 
and  twenty-one  years,  seventeen  males  and 


fourteen  females  unable  to  read.  The  value  of 
school  property  in  county,  $14,797;  levy  for 
school  taxes,  $13,510.89;  bonded  school  debt, 
$994.90;  average  wages  paid  male  teachers 
per  month,  $36.90;  highest  wages  paid  male 
teachers  per  month,  $80;  highest  wages  paid 
female  teachers,  per  month,  $50;  total  amount 
paid  teachers,  $9,609. 

The  county  has  made  rapid  advancement 
in  the  cause  of  education  in  the  last  decade 
of  years.  New  and  commodious  houses  have 
been  built,  and  older  houses  repaired  and 
refurnished,  and  every  effort  made  to  raise 
the  schools  to  that  high  standard  of  excel- 
lence which  the  progress  of  the  age  demands 
they  should  be.  Better  teachers  are  now 
employed;  better  salaries  are  paid  them,  and 
many  other  needed  improvements  have  been 
added. 

Churches. — In  the  pioneer  days  of  South- 
ern Illinois,  it  was  not  thought  necessary 
that  preachers  should  be  educated  men.  It 
was  sufficient  for  them  to  preach  the  Gospel 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  alone.  They 
made  their  appeals  warm  from  the  heart, 
painting  the  joys  of  heaven  aud  the  miseries 
of  hell  to  the  imagination  of  the  sinner,  and 
terrifying  him  with  the  one,  and  exhorting 
him,  by  a  life  of  righteousness,  to  attain  the 
other.  The  earnestness  of  their  words  and 
manner,  the  vividness  of  the  pictures  they 
drew  of  the  ineffable  bliss  of  the  redeemed, 
and  the  awful  and  eternal  torments  of  the 
unrepentant,  clothed  in  their  rude,  wild  elo- 
quence, were  irresistible,  and  the  rough  sons 
of  the  frontier  trembled  before  them,  as  the 
strong  oaks  of  the  forest  are  shaken  by  the 
sweep  of  the  hurricane's  blast.  Above  all, 
they  inculcated  the  sublime  pi'inciples  of 
justice  and  sound  morality,  and  were  largely 
instrumental  in  promoting  the  growth  of  in- 
tellectual ideas,  in  bettering  the  condition 
and  in  elevating  the  morals  of  the  people. 


520 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


To  these  old-time  evangelists  are  we  in- 
debted for  the  first  establishment  of  Chris- 
tian institutions  throughout  the  country. 
They  have  passed  away,  with  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  period  in  which  they  lived  and 
labored,  but  they  have  left  behind  them  the 
record  of  a  mission  well  and  faithfully  per- 
formed. May  their  sacred  ashes  repose  in 
peace  in  the  quietude  of  their  lonely  gi'aves, 
until  awakened  by  the  archangel's  trump  in 
the  last  day. 

The  first  preacher  in  this  county,  of  whom 
we   have   any     account,    was    a     Methodist 
preacher  named  West. .    He  was  one  of  those 
self-appointed    missionaries  of   the   frontier, 
who  went   from  place   to  place,  intent   only 
on  showing  men  the  way  to  better  things  by 
better  living,  that  finally   they  might   reach 
that  best  of  all — a  home  in  heaven.      Elders 
James   Edwards  and  Thomas  Howard  were 
also  eai-ly  preachers  in  the   county.     Elder 
Howai'd  was  a  man  of   generous  mind,   and 
co-operated  freely  with  ministers  of  other  de- 
nominations.       He  believpd  that  in  "  things 
essential  there  should  be  unity,  in  things  not 
essential  there  should  be  liberty,  and  in  all 
things  charity."  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  Shiloh  Baptist   Church,  in  the  west  part 
of    the   county,  in  what  was    known   as  the 
A+herton   settlement,    one   of    the    oldest,  if 
not  the  oldest,    church   organization  in  the 
county.     Another  Baptist  Church  was  after 
ward  formed  in  the  Sowers  settlement — now 
Pisgah— and  one  at   Caledonia.     About  the 
same  time,  or  shortly  after,  a  church  was  or- 
ganized   and  a   house    built   near    Calvin's, 
called  Mount  Zion.     Kev.   "William  Echols, 
a  zealous  minister   and  worker  in  the  cause 
of  the  Master,  was  the   light  and  life  of  this 
church  as  long  as  he  lived.      Thus,  as  popu- 
lation increased,  churches   sprang  up  in  all 
the  clifi"erent  settlements  of  the  county. 

The    following  extract    is  from  an    article 


written  by  Rev.  E.  B.  Olmstead,  and  is 
pertinent  to  the  subject:  "  Protracted  and 
camp  meetings  were  common;  people  came 
to  them  from  far  and  near.  The  meetings 
gave  occasion  for  social  enjoyment  not  other- 
wise attainable.  Little  matters  of  business 
were  adjusted  on  the  week  days;  what  little 
politics  there  were  was  freely  discussed,  and 
on  Sunday,  when  most  people  were  as- 
sembled, it  was  not  uncommon  for  notices  to 
be  read  of  horses  or  cattle  strayed  from  this 
or  that  settlement,  belonging  to  this  or  that 
person,  and  thus  the  ox  or  ass  was  pulled  out 
of  the  ditch  on  the  Sabbath  Day.  The 
preaching  was  of  the  faithful,  earnest  sort. 
The  hearers  were  men  and  women  who,  what- 
ever may  have  been  their  moral  character, 
believed  in  the  Bible  as  the  Book  of  God, 
and  never  took  refuge  in  atheism  or  infidel- 
ity. The  spirit  and  animus  of  these  meet- 
ings naturally  encouraged  the  development 
of  the  emotional  nature  of  the  hearers,  and 
led  to  some  extravagances;  but  the  doctrinal 
pabulum  was  sufficiently  strong,  in  the  less 
exciting  times,  to  counteract  that  kind  of 
sentiment."  This  is  but  similar  to  all  the 
early  religious  history  of  the  country. 
Christianity  has  kept  pace  with  all  other  im- 
provements of  the  nineteenth  century.  "'  The 
good  old  paths  the  fathers  trod "  are  not 
adapted  to  our  present  refined  tastes,  and  we 
must  needs  broaden  and  smooth  them  for 
our  especial  benefit  and  use. 

The  county  is  well  supplied  with  church 
organizations  and  commodious  temples  of 
worship.  Every  village  and  hamlet,  and 
nearly  everj^  neighborhood,  has  its  church 
and  Sunday  school.  There  is  no  lack  of 
religious  facilities,  and  if  the  people  do  not 
walk  in  the  "straight  and  narrow  path," 
they  have  but  themselves  to  blame  for  any 
short  comings  laid  up  against  them. 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI  COUNTY 


521 


CHAPTER     III 


ABOUT  EARLY  LEADING    CITIZENS— GEORGE  CLOUD.    H.  M.  SMITH,  CAPT.    RIDDLE,  JUSTUS    POST 
—PULASKI  IN  WAR— BLACK    HAWK,  MEXICAN    AND  THE  LATE  CIVIL    WAR- 
HISTORY  OF  THE  MEN  WHO  TOOK  PART— A.  C.  BARTLESON,  PRICE, 
ATHERTON— MR.     CLEMSON'S     FARM,     ETC.,     ETC. 


ONE  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  county 
was  George  Cloud,  the  first  County 
Surveyor.  Another  was  David  Moore.  Among 
the  early  Sheriffs  was  Mr.  Perry,  an  engi- 
neer on  the  river  for  a  long  time. 

In  a  letter  from  John  Dougharty  (no  rela- 
tion of  Gov.  Dougherty)  to  Capt.  Riddle? 
dated  America,  October  12,  1824,  occm-s  the 
following: 

"  This  place  (America)  becomes  more  dull 
every  day;  we  are  about  to  lose  what  few  in- 
habitants there  are  in  this  county,  and  if  we 
should  lose  the  whole  of  them  it  would  be  of 
little  consequence,  as  the  majority  of  them 
are  of  no  advantage  to  any  county.  Many 
families  are  going  out  and  gone  to  the  South 
and  "West,  making  about  one-fourth  of  the 
whole;  and  those  better  informed  on  the 
subject  than  myself  calculate  on  as  many 
more  in  their  room.  May  heaven  send  those 
of  a  better  quality!  I  will  have  to  turn  to 
farming  or  will  have  to  look  somewhere  else 
for  a  living  than  off  this  miserable  popula- 
tion." 

Commenting  on  this  rather  gloomy  letter 
of  Dougherty's,  the  Rev.  Olmstead  says: 
"Heaven,  alas!  did  not  answer  the  prayer  of 
John  Dougherty.  The  emigi-ants  met  no 
immigrants ;  every  sail  set  to  catch  the  breeze 
was  southward  bound. " 

Another  letter  from  John  Cloud  to  James 
Riddle,  of  Cincinnati,  is  dated  A.merica,  De- 
cember, 1827 :     "  I  am  glad  to  have  the  op- 


portunity of  informing  you  that  Mr.  Skiles 
and  Mr.  Whipper  safely  landed  their  boat  at 
thin  town  on  Wednesday  last.  The  same 
evening  Mr.  Skiles  came  to  my  house  and  I 
told  him  the  situation  of  your  lands.  The 
next  morning  he  went  to  Trinity  to  converse 
with  friend  Webb.  He  uill  write  you  the 
substance  of  thfi  conversation.  They  have 
opened  a  store  in  this  place  in  a  house  known 
by  the  name  of  Allord's  House,  which  I 
rented  to  them  as  agent  of  the  Brownsville 
Bank.  They  will  live  with  me.  Believing 
them  to  be  gentlemen,  I  shall  use  the  utmost 
of  ray  endeavors  to  promote  their  interests, 
as  well  as  the  interests  of  this  place.  After 
a  cruel  scene  of  inebriation,  which  commonly 
causes  drowsiness,  this  deserted  place  may 
awaken  to  that  meridian  of  day  that  we  may 
live  to  see  and  rejoice  at." 

But  no  effort  could  arrest  the  decay  and 
dry  rot  that  had  fixed  upon  the  drowsy  young 
metropolis,  and,  as  told  elsewhere,  it  per- 
ished from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  writers  of  these  letters  from  which  we 
have  given  the  above  extracts,  together  with 
David  Moore,  first  Sheriff,  James  Berry  and 
William  Wilson,  merchants,  ai'e  bui'ied  at 
the  town  of  America.  Capt.  Riddle,  Col. 
Justus  Post  and  John  Skiles  are  buried  at 
Caledonia.  The  reduction  of  the  army  at 
the  close  of  the  war  of  1812  had  changed  the 
occupation  of  Col.  George  Cloud,  Col.  Jus- 
tus   Post,    Col.    E.  B.    Clemson   and   H.  L. 


532 


HISTORY  OF  PTJLASKI  COUNTY. 


Webb,  and  was  the  cause  of  each  of  these 
rather  remarkable  men  of  their  day  coming 
to  Southern  Illinois  and  engaging  in  the 
avocations  of  agricultui-e  and  city  building. 

In  the  Cairo  Argus  of  July,  1876, Reverend 
E.  B.  Olmstead,  of  Pulaski  County,  says: 
"  Each  principal  settlement  had  its  school. 
Of  course,  at  that  early  day,  they  were  sub- 
scription schools;  but  in  the  year  1825,  the 
Legislatui'e  approj^riated  money  to  pay  one- 
half  the  salary  of  teachers.  A  man  named 
Mclntyre  taught  in  a  log  schoolhouse  north 
of  the  Clavin  place,  to  which  scholars  went 
from  Caledonia,  and  among  them  the  chil- 
dren of  Capt.  Riddle;  and  from  near  Cache 
River,  among  whom  was  H.  M.  Smith,  om* 
present  State's  Attorney,  the  former  having 
to  walk  three  miles,  the  latter  six  miles. 
There  were  no  patent  seats,  no  blackboards, 
no  series  of  school  books;  under  such  diffi- 
culties were  the  foundations  o  an  educa- 
tion laid  in  former  days.  Another  of  the 
early  teachers  was  William  Hazard,  at  Cal- 
edonia. 

"About  1830,  the  price  of  wheat  was  from 
20  to  60  cents  per  bushel;  corn,  20  to  25 
cents;  bacon  from  3"  to  5  cents  per  pound; 
harvesters,  75  cents  a  day;  binders,  50  cents; 
and  common  laborers,  30  cents  per  day. 

"As  slavery  was  prohibited  in  the  North- 
west Territory,  a  system  of  apprenticeship 
was  adopted.  The  slaves  of  the  original  set- 
tlers might  be  held  ninety  years,  but  their 
children  were  to  be  free  at  eighteeu  and 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  but  many  living  in 
Illinois  on  the  Mississippi  River  held  their 
slaves  absolutely,  as  citizens  of  Missouri,  and 
crossed  them  over  once  a  week  to  preserve  a 
legal  title;  in  this  way  George  Hacker  held 
forty  slaves. 

"  No  young  lady, "  he  says,  in  speaking  of 
the  good  old  times,  "  played  on  the  piano, 
but  she  could  bring  music  out  of  the  spin- 


ning wheel.  Her  pull-back  was  a  pull  at  the 
loom.  The  young  women  planted  their  own 
cotton,  cultivated  it,  picked  and  ginned  it, 
spun  and  colored  and  wove  it,  and  made 
dresses  without  consulting  Madam  Demorest 
or  Harper's  Bazaar,  and  without  a  sewing 
machine,  and  when  the  young  man  came 
around  on  the  gay  young  horse,  with  a  new 
saddle  and  a  broad  breast  girth,  "  to  see  the 
boys,"  he  would  look  approvingly  on  the 
striped  and  cross-barred  supertiuous  and  ex- 
tra dresses,  and  other  feminine  gear  hung 
like  banners  on  the  inner  wall,  the  very 
proofs  and  evidence  of  indjistry  and  skill  and 
genius.  The  girls  of  that  period  were  strong 
and  healthy,  and  no  one  of  them  was  ever 
known  to  faiat  under  any  provocation  what- 
ever. They  could  sing  treble,  and  some  of 
them  could  have,  perhaps,  sung  bass.  They 
knew  nothing  of  falsetto,  but  could  bring  the 
cows  home  in  that  key  if  they  were  half  a 
mile  away.  The  young  men  did  not  aspire 
to  become  teachers  or  drummers,  or  try  to 
make  a  fortune  on  a  capital  of  $4  in  chromos, 
or  to  bang  doors  and  slash  around  generally 
as  brakemen  on  a  railroad  train. 

Settlements  will  never  be  made  again  in 
this  country  under  similar  circumstances. 
Never  again  will  there  be  so  much  danger 
and  inconvenience  and  patient  waiting  for 
coming  improvements.  The  modern  new 
settlement  is  the  goddess  Minerva,  fully 
armed,  leaping  from  the  head  of  Jupiter,  and 
the  Vulcan  whose  glittering  ax  opens  the 
head  is  the  machinist's,  who  builds  that  won- 
derful complication  men  call  a  locomotive. 
There  is  much  difference  in  the  condition  of 
things  between  the  Athertoii  colony  (one  of 
the  earliest  in  Pulaski)  and  the  Greeley  col- 
ony as  there  is  between  history  and  fiction. 

In  speaking  of  the  birds  of  the  early  day, 
Mr.  Olmstead  says:  "  The  mockiug  bird  of 
the  South  made  his  first  visits  [here]  during 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI   COUNTY 


523 


the  war,"  etc.       This  is  a  mistake  evidently. 
The   writer  well  remembers  seeing  them  in 
abundance  as  far  north   as  St.  Clair  County 
as  early  as  1840.     Mr.  Olmstead  is  probably 
misled  by   the  fact  that  many   were  brought 
north  by  returning  soldiers,    and  many    sol- 
diers made  quite  an  industry  of  catching  them 
and  bringing  them  to  Illinois  to  sell.      The 
Carolina  parrots  or  paroquets,    in  the  early 
days,   were  common  and  numerous    all  over 
Illinois,  as  far  north,  at  least,   as  is  now  the 
main    line   of  the   Ohio  &  Mississippi   Rail- 
road.    Two  varieties    of    birds  unknown  to 
the  early  settlers,    the  wax,  or   cherry  bird, 
so  called  from  the  wax-like  tips  on  the  end  of 
the  wings  and    for  their   fondness   for  cher- 
ries, and  tne  bee  bird,  is  another  outcrop  of 
modern  life.       Mr.   Olmstead   says:      "We 
welcome  the  mocking  bird  as  a  full  compen- 
sation for  our  bee  bird  and  cherry  bird.     He 
builds  his  nests  in  the  orchards   and  around 
our   homes.     He    is   many   in  one.     With  a 
voice    as    mellow  as    a  flute    and   as   harsh 
as    the   call    of   a    guinea  fowl,  he    imitates 
all     the   birds   of   the    wood,     and    is    the 
only    songster  that   gives    us    nightly    ser- 
enades.    We  have  all  the   birds   common    to 
the    Northwest,    from   the    unclean    buzzard 
down    to   the  delicate    humming   bird;    and 
truly   the    former   bird,     though    a    scaven- 
ger and  unseemly  when  near  at  hand,  rises 
in  oar   estimation   as   he    ascends    into  the 
heavens.     No  bird  that  spreads    a  wing  can 
lie  as  he  does  upon  the  air  without  beating 
it,  and  we  see  him  sweep   in  such  majestic 
circles  so  high    above    the    earth,  we  could 
wish  he  never  would  return  to   it  again;  we 
would  fain  forget  that  he  is  only  snuffing, 
like  a  corrupt  politician,  for  a  more  tainted  at- 
mosphere.   The  humming  bird,  when  stripped 
of  his  feathers,  is  little  larger  than  a  bum- 
ble bee.      Starting  from  the  orange  groves  of 
Florida,  he  pauses  at  the  open  portal  of  every 


flower,  extracting  honey  or  insects,  as  his 
taste  inclines.  To  each  degree  of  latitude  as 
high  as  the  great  lakes,  and  even  to  Hudson's 
Bay,  he  introduces  summer;  but  in  all  his 
migrations  he  never  fails  to  exhibit  before 
oui'  admiring  eyes  his  ruby  throat  and  golden 
shield," 

Of  the  Black  Hawk  warriors  of  Pulaski 
County,  the  same  authority  says:  "  In  1832, 
the  celebrated  Indian  chief,  Black  Hawk, 
made  war  on  the  settlements  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  State.  Promptly  a  company  was 
raised  in  our  county  by  Col.  Webb,  which 
went  to  the  scene  of  action.  Of  that  com- 
pany none  are  alive  but  the  Captain,  Thomas 
C.  Kenedy,  John  Carnes  and  Alfred  Lackey. 

"  The  war  with  Mexico  occurred  in  1846. 
A  company  was  raised  immediately  by  Col. 
C.  H.  Webb  and  William  A.  Hughes.  The 
former  was  elected  Captain  and  the  latter 
First  Lieutenant.  This  company  consisted 
of  105  men,  the  noblest  and  best  of  our  citi- 
zens. They  were  in  but  one  engagement, 
etc.  *  *  *  By  changes  and  promotions, 
the  company  was  officered  thus  on  the  day 
of  battle  (Buena  Vista):  Captain,  William 
C.  Woodward;  First  Lieutenant,  John  Bar- 
tleson;  Second  Lieutenant,  Aaron  Atherton; 
Third  Lieutenant,  William  Price.  On  that 
eventful  day.  Col.  Bissell,  riding  up  to  where 
the  Pulaski  company  was  posted,  said  to 
Lieut.  Price:  'You  are  too  old  to  go  into 
this  engagement;  you  will  remain  in  camp.' 
The  old  man,  nearly  eighty  years  of  age, 
standing  proudly  erect,  said:  'Col.  Bissell, 
I  came  here  to  tight.  If  my  time  has  come, 
I  just  want  to  die  for  my  country  on  this  bat- 
tle-field.' As  the  company  went  into  action, 
Lieut.  Athex-ton,  observing  that  Capt.  Wood- 
ward had  only  a  Sergeant's  short  sword, 
gave  his  to  the  Captain,  saying,  '  You  can  take 
this;  I  know  better  how  to  use  a  gun!  '  'T'he 
last  that  Metcalf,   afterward  Lieutenant,  saw 


524 


HISTORl'    OF   PULASKI  COUNTY 


of  Atherton,  he  was  defending  his  prostrate 
friend,  Price.  As  he  had  often  swung 
his  cradle,  so  his  heavy  rifle  went  in  circles, 
wielded  by  his  powerful  arm,  and  many  a 
Mexican  went  down  before  him.  The  sword 
of  Atherton,  so  faithfully  used  by  Capt. 
Woodward,  and  gashed  on  Mexican  lances, 
is  in  thpi  possession  of  the  Atherton  family. 
Of  the  105  men  who  went  so  gayly  to  Mex- 
ico, only  forty-two  returned.  Sixteen  were 
killed  in  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  includ- 
ing every  officer,  from  the  Captain  down  to 
the  Second  Sergeant,  and  of  the  forty-two, 
fourteen  only  now  remain  (1876).  Among 
these  are  Joseph  Evans,  E.  A.  Philips, 
Lieut.  "William  Pate,  Capt.  A.  P.  Corder,  A. 
C.  Bartleson,  Edward  Bartleson,  James  H. 
Metcalf,  R.  J.  Johnson,  G.  P.  Garner,  Reu- 
ben Vaughan  and  John  Abbott.  Among 
those  who  fell  on  the  field  were  Capt.  Wood- 
ward, First  Lieut.  John  Bartleson,  Second 
Lieut.  Aaron  Atherton,  Third  Lieut.  William 
P;^-ice,  Orderly  Sergeant  William  J.  Fayssoux, 
private  J.  W.  Kiger,  H.  Dirk,  George 
Crippen  and  Joseph  Emmerson.  On  their 
retm'n  in  1847,  these  men  were  welcomed 
with  demonstrations  of  joy  at  a  public  gath- 
ering, when  speeches  were  made  and  a  poem 
read  by  J.  Y.  Clemson,  of  which  we  extract 
a  couple  of  stanzas,  showing  that  while  we 
had  brave  men,  we  had  poets  to  sing  their 
praises : 

"  We  lost  some  noble  men  that  day — 

Men  that  were  stamped  in  nature's  mould; 
For  fame  and  country  those  they  fell, 
Not  for  the  sordid  love  of  gold. 

"  Conspicuous  on  that  fatal  day 
Was  a  small  band  from  Illinois, 
Foremost  they  were  in  all  the  fray. 
The  gallant,  brave  Pulaski  boj's." 

The  occasion  and  the  home-like  sentiment 
and  truth  the  poet  expresses  are  a  sufficient 
apology  f  01' any  seeming  tripping  there  may 


chance  to  be  in  the  verse,  that  at  that  time 
found  a  hearty  response  in  every  heart. 

In  the  Adjutant  General's  office  at  Spring- 
field, we  find  the  following  very  imperfect 
roster  of  this  company.  Like  nearly  all  the 
rolls  of  the  Mexican  war  soldiers,  it  is  not 
only  wretchedly  imperfect,  but  the  company 
is  credited  as  the  "  place  of  enrollment,  Al- 
ton, 111.,"  because  there  was  where  they  were 
mustered,  and  no  residence  of  the  companies 
are  given.  This  is  an  outrage  by  the  State 
upon  the  memories  of  those  brave  sons  of  Illi- 
nois, and  the  State  should  by  all  means 
remedy  the  records,  at  least  to  that  extent 
that  it  could  be  done  now  by  those  who  yet 
survive.  If  neglected  a  few  years,  the 
wrong  will  be  irreparable,  and  the  very  chil- 
dren of  these  men  will  remain  in  ignoj-ance 
of  their  illustrious  sires.  The  writer  has  had 
occasion  to  write  the  war  record  of  several 
different  companies  that  were  in  the  Mexi- 
can war,  and  invariably  in  talking  with  thes^ 
old  veterans  in  regard  to  their  company,  he 
has  found  the  Adjutant's  books  almost 
wholly  unreliable.  For  the  State  to  longer 
neglect  this  would  be  a  flagrant  injustice  to 
the  whole  people. 

Col.  Foreman,  the  only  siuwiving  Illinois 
Colonel  of  that  war,  is  now  an  old  man,  re 
siding  in  Vandalia,  111.  It  would  be  a  labor 
of  love — and  he  .  is  eminently  fitted  for  the 
work — to  go  into  each  county  that  sent  a 
company  or  companies  to  that  war,  and  per- 
fect the  roster  of  each  company,  give  the 
correct  residence  of  each  man,  and  fill  out  a 
complete  history  of  every  man  that  Illinois 
sent  to  that  war.  The  band  of  surviving 
Mexican  war  soldiers  have  not  been  any  too 
handsomely  remembered  by  their  counfciy. 
No  pension  steals  have  gone  into  their  pock- 
ets, and  we  know  of  no  more  appropriate  act 
the  State  Legislatiu-e  could  do  than  to  com- 
mission Col.  Forman  to  do  this  work. 


HISTORY   OF   PULASKI  COUXTY. 


52.) 


From  the  records  in  the  Adjutant  Gener- 
al's office  we  give  the  following  as  all  that 
appears  of  Company  B,  Second  Regiment 
Illinois  Volunteers: 

Captain,  Anderson  P.  Corder;  First  Lieu- 
tenant, John  AV.  Kigby:  Second  Lieutenant, 
William  W.  Tate  and  James  M.  Gaunt; 
Sergeants,  Watho  F.  Hargus,  Abraham  S. 
Latta,  Calvin  Bro-mi  and  Johu  Delaney;  Cor- 
porals. John  L.  Barber,  Eobert  E.  Hall, 
James  Cuppin,  and  James  H.  Gorrell,  Mu- 
sicians, Andrew  I.  Ring:  Privates,  John 
Abbott,  William  C.  Anglin,  Edwin  Bartle- 
son.  Augustus  Bartleson,  AbnerBaccus,  Wel- 
bourn  Boren,  John  Barnett,  Henry  Burk- 
hart,  William  Crippin,  Robert  Cole,  Jiles 
M.  Cole,  John  Curry,  Marion  M.  Davis, 
Henry  Doebaker,  Joseph  Evans,  iller 
Echols,  Daniel  Emerick,  Charles  Goodall, 
John  Goodwin,  Joseph  B.  Hornback,  W^ill- 
iam  Hughes,  James  M.  Hale,  Reason  I.  John- 
son, W^illiam  Johnson,  Elisha  Ladd,  James 
L.  Loudon,  Thomas  E.  Loudon,  Pleasant 
Lefler,  Patrick  H.  McGee,  James  H.  Metcalf, 
Enos  A.  Phillips,  George  Purdy,  Framuel 
Parker,  John  B.  Russell,  Pinkney  Russell, 
John  Russell,  David  Renfrew,  Jonathan 
Story,  Columbus  C.  Smith,  Calvin  L.  Scott, 
Jackson  Summerville,  Elijah  Shepherd,  Cy- 
rus Stephens,  James  Thorp,  Andrew  J. 
Tinei-,  William  E.  Tiner,  Isham  L.  Tiner, 
Thomas  Thompson,  Reuben  Vaugh,  John 
White,  William  Whitaker,  H.  A.  Young, 
died;  Alfred  BakstoD,  March  21,  at  SaUillo; 
Thomas  James,  March  4,  at  same  place ;  Enoch 
Kelso,  at  Loracco,  time  not  known.  Dis- 
charged, Private  John  Kitchell,  on  Sur- 
geon's certificate,  March  20-  Abraham  S. 
Latta,  on  detached  service,  hospital,  Septem- 
ber 29;  James  H.  Gorrell,  absent,  sick  at 
Laracco,  from  August  11;  William  C.  Ang- 
lin, taken  prisoner  at  Buena  Vista;  also  at 
same  time  and  place  Juhn  Curry  and  Jos- 


eph Evans.  Wounded  in  this  battle,  Charles 
Goodall,  absent,  sick  at  Lor  acco,  from  Au- 
gust 11;  Calvin  L.  Scott,  Elijah  Shepherd, 
and  William  Whitaker.  Taken  prisoner  at 
Buena  Vista,  James  Thorp. 

The  company  was  dischar  ged  from  service 
at  Camargo  June  18,  1847. 

In  the  late  unfortunate  civil  war,  Pulaski 
County,  like  all  the  counties  of  Southern 
Illinois,  was  the  first  to  enlist  and  the  first 
and  foremost  in  the  battles  of  the  country. 

Capt.  William  M.  Boren  raised  Company 
K,  of  the  One  Hundi-ed  and  Ninth  Regiment 
of  which  we  have  given  the  account  in  the 
Union  County  history  in  this  volume.  Capt 
Rigby's  company  was  attached  to  the  Thirty- 
first  Regiment.  This  was  John  A.  Logan's 
regiment,  and  it  was  formed  entirely  of 
Southern  Illinois  men.  There  were  many 
other  enlistments  Id  the  county  in  various 
regiments  and  in  the  naval  service. 

But  of  the  three  counties.  Union,  Alexan- 
der and  Pulaski,  the  first,  in  the  matter  of 
turningf  out  fighters  in  the  late  war,  was  in 
the  lead.  In  fact.  Union  County  is  entitled 
to  be  considered  the  banner  county  of  the 
State,  either  in  war  or  in  voting  for  General 
Jackson  straight  at  every  election. 

In  the  biographical  department  of  this 
work  will  be  found  an  extended  sketch  of 
the  life  of  J.  Y.  Clemson,  whose  fruit  farm, 
near  Caledonia,  deserves  especial  mention. 
This  is  the  finest  fruit  farm  on  the  Ohio  River 
and  it  produces  pears,  strawberries,  peaches 
and  small  berries  of  all  kinds  that  we  much 
question  if  in  either  of  these  it  can  be 
equaled  in  the  world.  The  fame  of  the 
fruits  grown  upon  Mr.  Clemson's  farm  is 
now  all  over  the  West  and  South,  both  for 
the  size  of  the  fruit  and  the  exquisite  delicacy 
of  fiavor.  This  farm  is  protected  fi-om  the 
frosts  by  the  river  and  ^the  hills,  as  is  much 
of  Pulaski  County,   and  a  failure   of  crops 


536 


HISTOEY   OF   PULASKI  COUNTY. 


lias  never  occurred  since  the  settlement  of 
this  part  of  the  county  in  1817.  Mr.  Clem- 
son  has  demonstrated  that  much  of  Pulaski 
Covmty  possesses  great  advantages  over  al- 
most any  other  spot  on  the  globe  for  horti- 
cultural purposes.  That  the  yield  per  acre 
is  extraordinary,  the  quality  and  flavor  per- 
fect, and  there  never  occurs  a  failure  of 
crops.  In  fact,  at  times  when  a  killing  frost 
had  visited  nearly  all   portions  of  the  coun- 


try, this  locality  in  the  county  has  escaped 
untouched.  It  is  only  of  very  late  years 
that  this  has  become  to  be  known  of  those 
heretofore  despised  lands  of  Pulaski  County 
— the  barrens.  They  were  supposed  to  be 
nearly  worthless,  whereas  the  truth  is  they 
are  by  far  the  most  valuable  lands  in  the 
State,  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  competent 
judges  that  in  a  few  years  they  will  develop 
wonders  in  both  agriculture  and  horticulture. 


CHAPTER    IV.^ 


AGRICULTURE-EARLY    .MODE   OF   FARMING   IN    PULASKI    COUNTY-lN(^IDENTS— STOCK-HAISLNG 
—PRESENT   IMPROVEMENTS— HORTICULTURE-FIRST  ATTEMPTS   AT   FRUIT-GROW- 
ING—APPLES— TREE  PEDDLERS— STRAWBERRIES— PEACHES -GRAPES 
AND   WINE— OTHER   FRUITS— VEGETABLES,    ETC.,    ETC. 


rpHE  agricultural  history  of  this  county 
JL  could  be  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a 
repetition  of  the  history  of  almost  every 
other  county  in  Southern  Illinois.  But  per- 
haps a  short  sketch  of  the  subject  may  fill  a 
niche  in  the  mind  of  some  reader  that  will  be 
a  lasting  benefit  to  him.  The  area  of  this 
county  is  about  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  sqiiare  miles  (one  of  the  smallest  coun- 
ties in  the  State),  nine-tenths  of  which  is 
susceptible  of  cultivation,  and  in  a  state  of 
nature  was  one  vast  forest  of  the  finest  tim- 
ber in  America.  No  prairies  were  here  to 
welcome  the  husbandman;  if  any  crops  were 
grown,  the  timber  must  first  be  removed, 
which,  in  itself,  was  a  herculean  task,  and 
the  stumps  and  roots  were  still  to  contend 
•with.  What  wonder  is  it  that  most  of  the 
county  lay  so  long  without  improvement  or 
cultivation  y  For  the  first  forty  years  of 
settlement  in  the  county,  there  could  be  no 

*  By  George  YT.  Endicott. 


incentive  to  gi-ow  crops  which  there  was  no 
market  for.  Each  settler  raised  corn  and 
potatoes  and  garden  "  sass "  enough  for 
his  own  use  and  no  more.  The  implements 
of  agriculture  consisted  of  a  small  bull- 
tongue  plow  and  a  hoe  made  by  the  black- 
smith. 

The  early  mode  of  agriculture  of  this 
county  consisted  in  beginning  about  the  1st 
of  March  to  clear  up  three  or  four  acres  of 
land  for  corn.  This,  with  the  other  small 
crops,  would  be  planted  as  soon  as  the  ground 
could  be  prepared,  and  it  wais  then  cultivated 
until  it  was  ready  to  be  "laid  by,"  when 
there  was  nothing  more  to  do  on  the  farm 
until  time  to  gather  the  corn  and  pumpkins 
in  the  fall.  During  this  interval,  the  more 
industrious  and  enterprising  men  would  go 
to  some  wood  yard  on  the  river  and  chop  cord 
wood,  while  those  not  so  disposed  would 
hunt  in  the  woods  and  loaf  around  among 
the  neighbors.     The    "  womanfolks "    would 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI   COUNTY. 


527 


raise  a  patch  of  cotton  and  spin,  weave,  and 
make  their  own  and  their  family's  clothes. 

The  main  point  in  farming,  in  those  days, 
was  to  have  a  herd  of  wild  hogs  in  the  woods, 
corn  enough  for  bread  and  to  feed  the  pony, 
and  a  few  ears  to  toll  the  hogs  up  to  mark 
them. 

When  spring  came,  the  crop  time  was  a 
rather  hard  life  to  live,  and  about  the  only 
revenue  that  could  be  counted  on  was  hens' 
eggs  to  buy  the  small  luxuries,  such  as 
coffee,  sugar,  salt  or  anything  in  that  line; 
and  if  the  hens  failed  to  come  to  time  on  the 
"lay,"  the  old  man  and  children  would 
strike  out  to  the  woods  to  dig  "  ginseng."  A 
large  sack  of  this  then  staple  could  be  dug 
in  a  few  days,  and,  when  dried,  would  bring 
in  $3  or  $4 — a  sum  that  would  help  out  the 
family  finances  in  a  good  shape.  There  was 
but  little  provision  made  for  the  cattle,  as 
they  could  live  all  winter  on  the  "cane" 
which  grew  in  the  woods.  But  very  little 
wheat  was  grown  here  then,  as  there  were  no 
mills  to  grind  it,  and  no  market  for  the  sur- 
plus. Indeed,  the  first  settlers  were  at  great 
inconvenience  to  get  their  corn  ground;  there 
were  nothing  but  horse  mills,  and  very  few 
of  them.  There  are  many  good  stories  told 
of  these  early  mills.  One  patron  said  he 
always  took  his  corn  to  mill  in  the  ear,  as 
he  could  shell  it  faster  than  the  mill  could 
grind  it,  and  then  he  had  the  cobs  to  throw 
at  the  rats  to  keep  them  from  eating  the  corn 
all  up  as  it  ran  down  from  the  hopper. 
Another  story  is  told  on  the  first  water  mill 
that  was  built  on  Cache  River.  The  owner 
of  the  mill  put  the  grist  in  the  hopper  and 
let  on  the  water,  and  about  the  time  he  had 
the  mill  going  nicely  he  heard  a  turkey 
"  call"  in  the  woods,  so  he  took  his  gun  and 
went  to  look  for  the  turkey.  While  he  was 
gone,  a  blue  jay  alighted  on  the  hoop  around 
the  buhrs,  and   as    fast    as  a   grain  of   corn 


would  shake  down  from  the  hopper  he  would 
eat  it.  When  the  miller  returned,  the  jay 
had  eaten  all  the  corn,  and  the  millstones 
were  worn  out. 

But  all  this  is  changed  now.  Our  mills 
are  fiirst-class  in  every  respect.  A  o-reat 
change  has  come  to  the  county  since  the  ad- 
vent of  the  railroads.  Saw  mills  have  cut 
the  timber  off,  to  a  great  extent,  and  much 
of  our  lands  have  been  cleared  up  and  put 
under  cultivation.  Some  of  oiu-  100-acre 
fields  of  wheat  are  now  cut  with  self-binders, 
and  an  average  of  fifty  harvesting  machines 
are  sold  annually  in  the  county.  Our  hay 
crop  is  of  great  importance,  as  the  river 
offers  cheap  transportation  to  the  South, 
where  the  market  is  always  good.  All  the 
low  lands  are  well  adapted  to  timothv,  and 
the  hill  lands  grow  as  fine  clover  and  or- 
chard grass  as  can  be  produced  in  the  State; 
while  the  Kentucky  blue  grass  takes  to  our 
pastures  without  any  seeding,  and  with 
judicious  management  sheep  could  be  pas- 
tured here  all  winter,  except  when  the 
ground  might  be  covered  with  snow,  which 
is  but  seldom. 

The  county  has,  practically,  no  sheep,  but 
over  three  thousand  worthless  dogs;  and 
where  that  number  of  dogs  reign  supreme 
sheep  do  not  flourish.  The  stock  of  cattle  is 
being  graded  up  with  short- horn  and  Jersey 
blood,  which  will  prove  a  lasting  benefit  to 
the  county.  Our  progressive  farmers  have 
abandoned  the  "  elm  peeler "  or  "hazeJ 
splitter  "  hogs,  for  a  breed  that  is  not  all 
"  snout  "  and  "  bristles, "  and  the  results 
are  every  way  satisfactory. 

To  sum  up  the  whole  matter  of  agriculture 
and  horticulture,  "  after  taking  the  quality 
and  quantity  of  our  products  into  consider- 
ation, the  small  area  of  our  county,  and  that 
only  one^half  improved,  we  feel  like  we  have 
no  reason  to  be  discouragred  at  the  results. 


528 


HISTORY   OF  PULASKI  COUNTY 


Horticulture.  —  A  history  of  Pulaski 
County  that  fails  to  accord  it  the  first  place 
on  the  list  as  a  horticultural  county,  would 
fail  to  do  justice  to  the  capabilities  of  its 
soil  and  climate.  While  some  counties 
grow  more  apples,  some  more  grapes  and 
some  more  tomatoes,  yet  there  is  not  a  county 
in  the  State  where  every  one  of  the  following 
list  of  fruits  and  vegetables  can  be  grown  to 
so  great  perfection:  Apples,  pears,  peaches, 
grapes,  strawberries,  red  raspberries,  black 
raspberries,  blackberries,  tomatoes,  melons, 
sweet  potatoes,  wax  beans,  early  cabbage,  pie 
plant,  asparagus,  and  every  variety  of  garden 
vegetable  that  can  be  grown  in  the  temperate 
zone.  All  of  the  above-named  fruits  and 
vegetables  can  be  grown  on  any  single  acre 
of  good  land  in  the  county  that  is  above  high 
water  mark,  and  good  watermelons  and 
tomatoes  have  been  produced  on  a  pile  of 
earth  taken  from  a  well  sixty  feet  deep,  and 
that  without  any  special  fertilizers  or  care, 
except  to  supply  water  in  a  severe  drought. 
This  would  prove  that  our  soil  is  not  ex- 
hausted as  soon  as  the  top  is  cultivated  a 
few  years. 

The  history  of  horticultm-e  is  in  intimate 
relation  with  the  progress  of  civilization. 
An  acute  observer  has  justly  remarked  that 
the  esteem  in  which  gardening  is  held  among 
nations  is  an  unfailing  index  of  the  advance 
they  have  made  in  other  forms  of  human 
progress.  But  it  is  not  until  society  is  im- 
proved, commerce  extended  and  the  human 
mind  expanded,  that  horticulture  takes  its 
place  among  the  arts,  flourishing  wherever 
there  is  wealth  to  encourage  or  taste  to  ap- 
preciate its  charms  and  excellences.  Hor- 
ticulture has  advanced  with  civilization,  and 
blended  with  all  that  adorns,  refines  and  sus- 
tains the  structure  of  a  solid  as  well  as  an 
elegant  society.  The  cultivation  of  fruit  is  the 
most  perfect  union  of  the  useful  and  beautiful 


that  the  world  has  ever  known.  Trees,  covered 
in  spring  time  with  their  green  and  glossy 
foliage,  blended  with  fragrant  flowers  of 
white  to  crimson  and  gold,  that  are  suc- 
ceeded by  the  ripened  fruit,  melting  and 
grateful  through  all  the  fervid  heat  of  sum- 
mer, is  indeed  a  tempting  prospect  to  every 
land -holder  in  our  favored  region.  It  is 
natural  to  suppose  that  a  people  so  richly 
endowed  by  nature  as  ours  have  given  marked 
attention  to  an  art  that  supplies  so  many  of 
the  amenities  of  life,  and  around  which  clus- 
ter so  many  memories  that  appeal  to  the  finer 
instincts  of  our  nature.  In  a  region  favored 
with  a  climate  bright,  sunny  and  free  from 
extreme  changes,  and  with  a  soil  that,  in 
varying  composition,  in  fertility  and  depth 
becomes  suited  to  all  the  fi'uits  common  to 
the  temperate  zone,  horticulture  is  naturally 
held  in  that  high  esteem  that  becomes  so  im- 
portant a  factor  in  our  welfare. 

The  introduction  of  fruit  into  this  county 
is  almost  coeval  with  its  first  settlement. 
Sprouts  from  the  old  apple  trees  and  seeds 
from  the  favorite  old  peach  trees  of  the  old 
home  in  the  South  or  East  were  a  part  of 
the  pioneer's  outfit,  and  were  cared  for  with 
as  much  patience  as  the  children  or  favorite 
cow.  While  the  varieties  thus  grown  would 
not  be  considered  of  any  great  value  now, 
yet  they  served  a  good  purpose  by  creating 
a  landmark,  as  it  were,  to  which  the  youth 
who  waited  for  the  fruit  to  ripen  can  look 
back  with  pleasure,  and,  while  his  head  may 
be  "  silvered  o'er  with  the  frosts  of  man  y win- 
ters," a  thought,  perhaps,  steals  through  his 
mind  that  the  days  spent  under  the  old  apple 
trees  were  the  happiest  of  his  life. 

Horticulture,  as  an  art,  received  but  little 
attention  in  the  early  settlement  of  this  coun- 
ty. The  fruits  adapted  to  the  soil  and  cli- 
mate had  not  been  introduced;  even  the  na- 
ture  of    the  soil    was    not  well    understood. 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI  COUNTY. 


531 


There  were  no  means  at  hand  for  the  rapid 
diffusion  of  such  knowledge.  There  were 
no  horticultural  societies  and  associations,  to 
gather  individual  experience  and  present  it 
in  available  form  for  the  use  of  the  masses, 
and  at  best  there  was  not  much  time,  in  the 
striTg-gle  for  the  necessaries  of  life  in  a  prim- 
itive country,  for  the  obtaining  of  its  amen- 
ities. 

Horticulture  at  this  time,  even  in  the  older 
settled  States,  was  but  in  its  infancy,  and 
the  first  effort  of  the  pioneer  was  to  repro- 
duce the  fruit  in  cultivation  at  the.  time,  and 
in  the  locality  whence  he  had  emigrated. 
Many  of  the  old  trees  planted  by  the  early 
settlers  show  some  traits  that  have  not  been 
rivalled  by  the  later  and  more  improved 
varieties  planted  long  since.  Their  hardi- 
ness and  good  bearing  qualities  are  plienom- 
inal  and  that,  too,  without  any  of  the  scienti- 
fic pruning  and  care  advocated  by  the  horti- 
culturists of  the  present  day. 

Improved  horticulture  in  this  county — 
that  is,  the  planting  of  fruits  for  commercial 
benefits — dates  back  to  about  the  year  1858- 
59.  Judge  A.  M.  Brown  (now  deceased),  a 
prominent  jurist  and  newspaper  man  of 
Kentucky,  became  infatuated  with  our  hills 
and  valleys,  and  located  at  Villa  Ridge.  He 
was  the  first  man  to  plant  largely  of  budded 
peaches,  pears  and  apples  for  market.  He 
was  joined,  almost  immediately,  by  Dr. 
Brown,  of  Kentucky,  and  Dr.  J.  H.  Grain, 
of  Ohio,  both  very  enthusiastic  pomologists. 
They  planted  largely  of  apples,  their  first 
impulse  being  to  grow  apples  for  the  New 
Orleans  market,  as  the  river  offered  a  good 
outlet  for  that  kind  of  fruit.  But,  like  every 
other  new  enterprise,  conceived  by  strangers 
to  the  soil  and  climate,  they  made  some  mis- 
take? in  the  selection  of  varieties;  and  while 
the  trees  were  growing  many  of  our  old 
citizens  caught  the  fever,  and  new  men  came 


in  from  the  North  and  East,  and  all  became 
more  or  less  affected  with  the  horticultural 
"  itch. " 

About  this  time,  a  new  class  of  men  came 
on  the  scene.  These  were  denominated  "  tree 
peddlers,"  and  to  say  that  they  gathered  in 
a  rich  harvest  would  be  a  mild  expression. 
They  sold  trees  to  all  they  could  induce  to 
buy,  at  high  figures,  mostly  on  time,  and  any 
man  who  had  la»id  enough  cleared  was  fiat- 
tered  and  cajoled  by  the  fine  pictures  and 
preserved  specimens,  to  plant  from  ten  to 
forty  acres,  mostly  in  apples.  Many  of  the 
trees  were  true  to  name,  but  the  varieties 
were  unsuited  to  this  climate.  The  early 
varieties  were  all  right,  but  Spys,  Spitzen- 
bergs,  Baldwins  and  many  excellent  East- 
ern winter  apples  are  a  failure  here,  as  they 
ripen  in  August  and  September;  while  many 
of  the  orders  thus  taken  were  filled  from  the 
same  pile,  and  labeled  to  suit  the  buyer. 
"While  this  fraud  was  being  pushed  exten- 
sively, there  Avas  another  class  of  men,  who 
were  more  conservative,  and  thought  that 
apples  to  suit  our  soil  and  climate  should 
come  from  the  highlands  of  Southern  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina.  Among  this  class, 
and  at  the  head,  ought  to  be  placed  "  old 
Uncle  Tom "  McClelland  (deceased),  who 
spent  time  and  money  to  try  all  the  better 
varieties  of  his  old  North  Carolina  home,  and 
with  a  fair  share  of  success.  Without  any 
records  on  the  subject,  he  is  conceded  to 
have  been  the  fii'st  man  in  this  county  to 
graft  or  bud  the  apple  tree.  Many  of  the 
farms  in  this  county  attest  his  work,  by  their 
"Carolina  Red  June,"  "  Abram,"  "Nickajack," 
"  Limbertwig,"  "  Buckingham  "  and  many 
other  apples  of  that  class,  suited  to  our  soil 
and  climate.  While  our  experience  has 
been  a  bitter  one,  it  has  inculcated  many 
valuable  lessons.  One  is,  we  are  south  of 
the  latitude  in  which  the  apple  attains  its  best 


532 


HISTOKY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


estate.  We  can  never  hope  to  acclimate  any 
of  the  choice  Northern  or  Eastern  apples  to 
this  section,  yet  we  can  and  do  grow  good 
apples.  Our  "Winesaps,"  "Sparks,"  'Tinks," 
"  Rome  Beauty,"  "  Summer  Pearmain  "  and 
many  other  varieties  are  not  excelled  any- 
where. While  we  give  the  apple  the  first 
place  on  our  list  of  fruits  for  domestic  use, 
it  would  have  to  accept  a  third  or  fourth 
place  in  a  commercial  point  of  view.  The 
strawberry,  peach  and  grape  would  outrank 
it  for  money. 

The  strawberry,  while  it  never  assumes 
the  dignity  of  a  tree,  or  the  spreading  im- 
portance of  a  vine,  yet  it  commands  respect 
for  its  intrinsic  merit.  No  other  single  crop 
in  this  county,  at  this  time,  has  the  influ- 
ence on  the  business  relations  of  our  people. 
An  entire  failure  would  almost  bankrupt  our 
merchants,  and  a  good  crop  makes  all  hearts 
rejoice,  from  the  merchant,  with  his  thous- 
ands of  dollars  invested,  down  to  the  little 
negro  with  his  "  two  quart  check."  The 
gathering  and  shipping  of  the  strawberry 
crop  to  mariiet,  develops  a  spirit  of  business 
enterprise  in  our  boys  and  girls  that  they 
would  never  attain  by  the  study  of  text-books. 

The  first  strawberries  ever  grown  in  this 
county  for  market  were  grown  by  Mr. 
Stephen  Blanchard,  near  the  town  of  Amer- 
ica, about  the  yeai*  1857. 

They  were  known  as  the  "  Virginia  Seed- 
ling," or  "scarlet,"  and  were  at  that  time 
considered  a  great  luxury,  but  would  not  be 
tolerated  on  our  farms  to-day.  The  berries 
that  he  took  to  the  home  market  were  han- 
dled in  shallow  trays,  with  the  traditional 
"  paddle  scoop, "  and  what  he  marketed  at 
the  towns  on  the  Central  Railroad  were  put 
up  in  small  quart  boxes,  made  of  thin  lum- 
ber, and  set  on  shallow  trays.  Then  an  old 
Gei-man  would  take  one  of  these  trays  in 
each  hand  and  walk  to  the  railroad,  pay  his 


fare  to  Cairo  ot  any  other  market  he  wished 
to  use,  and  carry  'the  berries  and  sell  them 
and  bring  back  the  boxes  and  money. 

The  first  Wilson  strawberries  introduced 
into  this  county  was  through  the  late  Judge 
A.  M.  Brown;  but  the  first  Wilsons  culti- 
vated for  market  were  by  Martin  Harnish, 
from  Lancaster  County,  Penn.  His  one- 
fourth  of  an  acre  soon  spread.  In  the  vicin- 
ity of  Villa  Ridge,  many  of  his  meighbors 
planted  small  patches,  seldom  over  half  an 
acre,  as  there  were  many  who  thoixght  the 
markets  would  be  glutted  and  the  entire  busi- 
ness overdone.  For  instance,  when,  in  1863, 
nineteen  shippers  sent  off  fifty  cases  in  one 
day,  almost  everyone  thought  the  market 
would  be  "  busted."  But  the  berries  sold  on 
the  Chicago  market  the  next  day,  at  45  cents 
per  quart. 

The  delusion  that  the  market  would  be 
glutted,  and  that  no  one  man  could  success- 
fully handle  more  than  one  acre,  clung  to 
our  people  like  the  fear  of  death;  and  it  is 
only  in  the  last  six  or  seven  years  that  we 
have  learned  that  the  same  vim  and  push 
that  would  handle  one  acre  would  handle 
ten  if  multiplied  by  ten.  To  illustrate  how 
the  fear  of  spreading  out  was  kept  alive,  it 
would  be  well  to  give  a  sketch  of  one  large 
plantation,  and  the  way  it  was  managed 
here.  Some  Cincinnati  men,  learning  that 
we  could  grow  good  berries,  formed  a  com- 
pany, came  here,  and  bought  some  land  in  a 
rich,  sweet  gum  bottom.  They  cleared  up 
twenty  acres  at  a  great  expense,  planted  it 
partially  with  bogus  plants,  cultivated  it  in 
the  most  expensive  manner  and  boarded  at  a 
hotel — in  fact,  moved  things  lively;  build- 
ing extensive  quarters  for  pickers,  and  pay- 
ing 3  to  5  cents  per  quart  for  picking.  There 
was  no  fruit  train  then,  as  now,  and  all  had 
to  go  by  express.  Some  days  they  would 
miss  the  train,  and  the  berries  would  have  to 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI   COUNTY. 


533 


lay  over  to  another  day;  sometimes  the  whole 
lot  would  have  to  be  dumped  out  at  fhe 
station  and  thus  lost.  All  this,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  fact  that  the  berries  were  ten 
days  later  in  the  rich  bottoms  than  on  the 
sunny  hillsides,  and  a  big  mortgage  was 
spread  over  the  whole  thing,  and  the  reader 
will  not  be  surprised  that  a  grand  failure 
was  the  result  of  the  first  big  strawberry  field 
in  this  county.  Everybody  was  ready  to  say 
"  I  told  you  so,"  and  "It  can't  be  done; 
one  acre  is  enough  for  any  man,"  and 
many  more  such  consolatory  remarks.  If 
c>ur  people  had  seen  where  the  failure  came 
in,  and  profited  thereby,  we  would,  to-day, 
have  ranked  first  as  a  strawberry  shipping 
point,  instead  of  being  the  third  on  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad. 

The  varieties  in  cultivation  here  now  are 
many,  but  the  Wilson  still  holds  its  own 
against  all  new  comers  in  the  minds  of  its 
old  friends.  The  cash  brought  into  this 
county  by  strawberries,  twenty-two  years  ago, 
amounted  to  but  a  few  dollars;  the  amount 
brought  in  this  year  (1883)  will  reach  nearly 
§100,000,  and  the  acreage,  which  was  about 
600  acres  this  year,  will,  in  1884,  be  at  least 
50  per  cent  higher. 

Peach  growing  has  attained  some  success 
in  the  county  in  the  last  twenty  years:  but 
many  of  the  first  budded  varieties  were  not 
suited  to  the  soil  and  climate,  and  one-half 
of  all  the  peaches  planted  in  the  county  have 
failed  to  pay  a  fair  interest  on  the  capital 
invested,  for  the  reason  that  the  planters 
had  not  the  experience  and  will  to  give  the 
proper  care  to  growing  the  trees,  cultivating 
the  soil,  and  "  bugging  "  and  thinning  the 
friiit. 

The  late  Judge  Brown,  already  mentioned, 
and  Martin  Harnish  planted  the  first  com- 
mercial peach  orchards  in  this  county.  They 
advocated  starting  the  heads  of  the  trees  boot 


top  high,  so  the  limbs  could  bend  down 
without  splitting  the  trunks  of  the  trees.  A 
few  years,  however,  of  this  style  of  pruning 
cured  them  of  that  idea,  and  Judge  Brown 
became  one  of  the  stanchest  advocates  of 
high -headed  trees,  thorougfh  "  bucrarino-"  and 
thinning  of  the  fruit. 

It  would  be  useless  to  go  through  the  list 
of  peaches,  to  designate  those  that  failed,  or 
those  that  succeeded;  but  most  of  the  peach - 
growers  here  noted  that  the  early  and  late 
varieties  pay  better  than  to  have  an  excessive 
crop  in  midsummer.  With  a  better  knowl- 
edge of  what  varieties  to  plant,  and  how  to 
care  for  them,  coupled  with  that  progressive 
spirit  of  onr  planters,  the  outlook  is  promis- 
ing to  make  this  county  one  of  the  foremost 
peach  growing  counties  of  the  West. 

There  may  have  been  a  few  vines  of  Ca- 
tawba and  Isabella  grapes  planted  here  at  an 
early  date,  but  old  Father  Huhner,  a  German 
from  St.  Louis,  was  the  first  to  plaiit  grapes 
in  this  county  (about  1859-60)  for  commer- 
cial use.  His  object  was  the  manufacture  of 
wine,  and  in  a  few  years  there  was  a  lively 
interest  in  the  grape  and  wine  business  in 
the  county.  A  considerable  amount  of  good 
wine  was  made  and  sold  here;  but  the 
changes  aud  vexations  of  the  internal  rev- 
enue, and  the  fact  that  the  grapes  would  sell 
for  as  much  money  as  the  wine  would  bring, 
caused  a  falling-off  in  the  production  of  wine, 
and  to-day  there  is  none  made  in  the  county. 
But  the  reader  must  not  infer  that  grape 
growing  has  ceased.  Far  from  it.  Each 
year  has  witnessed  an  increase  in  the  acre- 
age, and  more  care  and  thought  used  in 
gathering  and  marketing  the  fruit,  until  it  is 
now  considered  one  of  our  most  permanent 
and  profitable  fruit  crops.  Last  year  (1S82) 
there  were  more  than  seventy  tons  of  grapes 
shipped  from  this  county,  and  it  was  one  of 
the  worst  years  for  the  grape  we  have  had. 


534 


HISTORY  OF  rULASKI  COUNTY. 


The  business  has  grown,  h'om  a  few  hun- 
dred vines  in  1860,  to  near  200,000  in 
1883,  including  the  young  vines  planted  this 
spring;  and  preparations  are  being  made  to 
still  increase  the  number.  The  most  hopeful 
outlook  in  the  grape  business  in  this  county 
is  the  introduction  of  better  varieties  for 
table  use  and  wine. 

The  red  raspberry  has  always  been  a  good 
fruit  for  market  purposes,  and  has  paid  well 
the  last  few  years;  but  our  people  don't  plant 
largely  of  them  on  account  of  the  trouble  of 
getting  them  picked  in  good  condition.  Our 
hot  summers  sometimes  burn  the  canes  of 
the  blackcaps  so  they  die;  and  again,  our 
market  is  so  far  off,  that  they  are  neglected 
as  a  market  crop,  although,  in  a  general  way, 
they  grow  and  bear  heavy  crops,  and  are 
profitable  to  evaporate. 

What  can  we  say  of  blackberries?  The 
woods,  fence-corners  and  ditches  are  full  of 
them;  all  fruiting  annually,  and  making  a 
glut  in  every  market  in  reach.  Some  of  the 
wild  ones  are  good  in  quality,  and  larger  in 
size  than  the  Snyder,  or  many  of  the  culti- 
vated sorts  so  highly  extolled  by  nurserymen. 

(n  a  commercial  way,  the  sweet  potato  is, 
perhaps,  the  leading  vegetable  of  this  county. 
They  have  been  grown  here,  for  home  use, 
for  many  years;  but  it  is  only  in  the  last  ten 
or  twelve  years  that  they  have  assumed  any 
importance  as  a  crop  to  ship  to  Northern 
markets.     The    first  full    car  load    of   sweet 


potatoes  grown  and  shipped  from  Villa  Ridge 
to  Chicago  was  in  1870.  It  was  shipped  by 
the  wi-iter,  and  from  that  date  to  the  present 
time  the  shipments  have  increased,  until 
now  they  are  considered  one  of  our  best  an- 
nual products;  and  there  is  not  a  mouth, 
from  October  to  April,  that  they  are  not 
shipped  North  by  the  car-load. 

The  growing  and  shipping  wax  beans  to 
the  Northern  markets  was  first  successfully 
done  by  Mr.  Israel  Sanderson,  of  Pulaski  (if 
we  are  not  mistaken)  in  1870-71.  The  busi- 
ness has  grown,  from  a  few  one-third  bushel 
boxes  at  the  first,  to  eight  or  nine  car-loads 
a  year  at  present,  and  the  demand  seems  to 
keep  pace  with  the  supply.  Mr.  Sanderson 
is  also  the  first  man  to  cultivate  and  ship  the 
cantelope,  or  nutmeg  melon  to  market  fi'om 
this  county,  and  was  the  most  successful 
ofrower  in  the  county.  But  the  melon -louse 
gave  so  much  trouble  that,  as  a  commercial 
crop,  they  are  now  almost  abandoned. 

The  gi'owing  of  tomatoes  for  market  has 
never  assumed  very  large  proportions  here. 
The  earliest  and  finest  specimens,  however, 
have  been  raised  and  shipped  from  Villa  Ridge, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not 
rival  Cobden  as  a  tomato  station.  There  are 
many  other  fruits  and  vegetables  that  should 
be  mentioned;  .but  the  brief  space  allotted  to 
horticultui'e  in  a  work  of  this  kind,  and  the 
limited  time  at  the  writex-'s  command,  pre- 
cludes a  more  extended  article. 


HISTORY   OF   PULASKI   COUNTY. 


535 


CHAPTER    Y:' 


MOUND    CITY— EARLY    HISTORY   OF   THE   PLACE— THE   INDIAN    MASSACRE— JOSEPH    TIBBS   AND 

SOME  OF  THE  EARLY  CITIZENS  OF  "THE  :\I0UND8' — GEN.  RAWLINGS— FIRST  SALE  OF  LOTS 

—THE  EMPORIUM  COMPANY— HOW  IT  FLOURISHED  AND  THEN  PLAYED  OUT— THE 

MARINE  WAYS— GOVERNMENT  HOSPITAL— THE  NATIONAL  CEMETERY,  ETC. 


rr^HE  earliest  history  of  which  we  have 
-I-  any  acciu'ate  account  of  the  location 
where  Mound  City  now  stands  dates  back  to 
1812,  that  being  the  time  of  the  Indian  mas- 
sacre, and  as  it  tells  of  the  life  and  fate  of 
many  early  pioneers  in  Illinois,  we  give  the 
history  of  the  massacre,  as  told  by  Thomas 
Falker,  and  as  written  by  Kev.  E.  B.  Olm- 
sted, and  published  in  the  newspapers  some 
years  ago. 

Thomas  Falker,  who  died  in  Pulaski  Coun- 
ty in  1859,  gave  the  facts  of  the  massacre 
of  the  whites  where  Mound  City  now  stands. 
The  first  white  settlers  of  the  exti'eme  south- 
ern portion  of  Illinois  were  Tennesseans, 
but  it  is  not  generally  known  that  they  were 
driven  here  by  an  earthquake,  which  gave  its 
first  shake  December  16,  181 1.  The  present 
site  of  Cairo  was  then  known  as  Bird's 
Point.  Two  families,  one  named  Clark  and 
the  other  Phillips,  lived  near  where  is  now 
Mound  City.  A  man  named  Conyer  had  set- 
tled below  the  old  town,  America,  and  a  Mr. 
Lyerle,  a  short  distance  above,  and  a  man 
named  Humphrey  lived  where  Lower  Cale- 
donia now  stands.  These  were  all  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  country,  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio  to  Grand  Chain — twenty  miles,  They 
had  made  but  small  improvement,  and  as 
the  land  had  not  yet  come  into  market,  of 
course  they  did  not  own  the  soil.  The  fam- 
ily of  Clark  consisted  of  only  himself  and 

•Bj-  Dr.  N.  B.Casey. 


wife;  their  children  were  grown  up  and 
lived  elsewhere,  but  paid  them  an  occasional 
visit.  The  other  family  near  Mound  City, 
consisted  of  Mrs.  Phillips  and  a  son  and 
daughter  nearly  grown  and  a  man  named 
Kenaday.  The  family  originally  were  from 
Tennessee,  and  removed  from  that  State  into 

i  what  is  now   Union    County.     Mr.    Phillips 
havingr  occasion  to  return   to  Tennessee,  on 

I  business,  Kenaday  became  acquianted  with 
his  wife  and  persuaded  her  to  abandon 
Phillips  and  live  with  him.  No  disturbance 
followed  this  delinquency,  and  the  easy 
morals  of  the  times  seems  to  have  winked  at  it. 
In  the  fall  of  1812,  these  families  were 
enjoying  their  usual  quiet,  when  some  In- 
dians, ten  in  number,  paid  them  an  unex- 
pected visit.  They  belonged  to  the  Creek 
tribe,  which  inhabited  the  lower  part  uf 
Kentucky,  and  had  been  exiled  and  outlawed 
for  some  supposed  outrages  committed 
on  their  own  nation.  They  were  known  to 
the  inhabitants  of  that  country  as  "  the  out- 
lawed Indians,"  and  on  the  occasion  of  this 
unwelcome  visit  were  returning  from  a  tour 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  territory,  where 
they  had  been  to  see  some  other  tribes.  On 
the  same  day,  Mr.  Phillips  returned  home, 
accompanied  by  a  Mr.  Shaver,  who  lived  in 
Union  County,  and  whose  wife  Mrs.  Phillips 
had  been  attending  in  her  sickness. 

The  cabin  of    Clark  stood  near    the   west 
boundary  line  of  what  is  Mound  City;  that 


530 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY 


of  Mrs.    Phillips   a    short  distance  above,  on 
the  next  elevation.   Shaver  stopped  at  Clark's 
and   fastened  his  horse  near  the  back  door. 
"When  he  saw  the  Indians,  he  expressed  ap- 
prehension to  Clark,  but  he  told  him  he  was 
acquainted  with  them,  had  traded  with  them, 
and  did  not  suppose  they  had  any  bad  inten- 
tions.    Yet  when  Clark  on  one  occasion  went 
out  to  the  smoke  house   Shaver  saw  by  the 
pallor  of  his  face  that  he  was  much  alarmed. 
It  was  his  opinion  that  Clark  had  seen  or 
overheard  through  the  openings  of  the  house 
enough   to  satisfy  him  of  the  hostile  inten- 
tions of  the  savages,  but  feared  to  speak  of 
it  lest   Shaver   should   mount  his   horse  and 
leave   him   to  his  fate.     The  Indians  asked 
for  something  to  eat.     Mrs.  Clark  told  them 
if  they  would  gi-ind  some  corn   on  the  hand 
mill  she  would  prepare  them  a  meal.     They 
did  so   and  partook  of  the  hospitality  of  a 
familf  they  fully  intended  to  butcher  before 
night. 

The  Indians  were  armed  with  guns  and 
tomahawks;  one  of  them  came  to  Shaver  and 
felt  the  muscles  of  his  thighs,  his  knees,  etc., 
as  though  he  wished  to  judge  of  his  ability 
to  run.  "  Do  you  wish  to  run  a  race  ?  "  said 
Shaver.  "  No. "  "  Do  you  wish  to  wrestle  ?  " 
"No."  The  situation  of  the  white  settlers  were 
becoming  more  alarming.  They  hoped,  after 
the  Indians  had  eaten,  they  would  take  their 
departure,  but  they  sauntered  around  as  if 
unwilling  to  do  so.  It  was  Shaver's  inten- 
tion to  carry  home  some  whisky,  but  Clark 
was  afraid  to  draw  it  while  the  Indians  were 
there.  At  length,  five  of  the  Indians  went 
up  to  Mrs.  Phillips';  the  other  five  remained 
at  Clark's.  Two  of  the  latter  took  their  sta- 
tion with  ajjparent  carelessness  in  the  front 
door  (next  the  river),  and  two  more  stood 
near  the  fire-place,  where  sat  Mr.,  and  Mrs. 
Clark  and  Shaver.  The  latter  happening  to 
look  at  the  Indians  in  the   front  door,  saw 


one  of  them  make  a   signal   in  the  direction 
of   Mrs.  Phillips',    which    was    in  sight,    by 
striking   his  hands   together   vertically  sev- 
eral times.     Directly  he   heard  screams  and 
shouts  in  that  direction,  and  the  next  instant 
received  a  stunning  blow  on  his  head,  from 
the   hatchet    of    the    Indian  who  stood  near 
him.     He  fell  forward,  but  being  a  powerful 
man,  he  dashed  between  the  two  Indians  at 
the  buck  door  and  ran  for  his  horse,    which, 
as  said,    was   fastened   near   the  back  door. 
He  soon  saw,  however,  his  retreat  in  that  di- 
rection would  be  cut  off,  so  he  ran  down  the 
river  bank,   with   two   of  the  Indians  in  full 
pursuit.  They  doubtless  supposed,  as  Shaver 
was  already  wounded,  he  would  fall  an  easy 
prey;  but  he  was  fleet  of   foot,    and  then  he 
was  ninning   for    his   life.     Blinded  by   the 
blood  which  poured  down  his  face,  and  which 
he  occasionally  dashed   away  with  his  hand, 
he  made  for  the  bayou  below  the  present  Ma- 
rine Ways.      A  hatchet   just  missed  his  head 
and  fell  many  yards    in   front  of  him.     His 
first  impulse  was  to  pick   it  up  and  dofend 
himself,  but  a  moment's  reflection  conviaced 
him  the  chances  were  too  much  against  him. 
It  was  half  a  mile  or  so  to  the  bayou;  Shaver 
crained  it  in  advance  of  the  Indians.     It  was 
quite    full    and    partially    frozen  over.       He 
plunged  in  and    gained   the    opposite  shore. 
The  Indians  paused  on  the  bank,    afraid  to 
follow.     They  told  him  he  was  a  brave,   and 
endeavoi-ed  to  induce  him  to  return.      Tradi- 
tion says  he  addressed  some  very  strong  lan- 
guage to  the  Indians  and   made  his   way  to 
the  Union  County  settlements.     His   escape, 
considering  the  circumstances,  was  wcmder- 
ful.     The  Indians  murdered  Clark  and  his 
wife.    Mrs.    Phillips,  her  son  and  daughter 
and  Keuaday.     They  ripped  up   the  feather 
beds,  destroyed  the  furniture  and  carried  off 
whatever     struck      their     fancy,    including 
Shaver's  tine  horse.      They  crossed  tlie  river 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI  COUNTY 


537 


into  Kentucky  and  were  followed  by  the  cit- 
izens of  the  settlement  in  Union  County  for 
some  distance,  but  no  trace  of  them  could  be 
found.  A  few  days  after,  Capt.  Phillips, 
who  was  stationed  at  Fort  Massac,  came 
down  with  a  company  of  men  to  bury  the 
dead.  A  shocking  sight  met  their  gaze. 
Clark  and  his  wife  were  found  in  their  house 
dead.  The  body  of  young  William  Phillips 
-was  found  drifted  ashore  about  a  mile  below 
Mound  City.  His  sister  was  not  found;  one 
of  her  slippers  was  found  on  the  bank  of  the 
ri\er.  It  is  supposed  she  and  her  brother 
got  into  a  skiflf  and  were  shot  down  before 
they  could  get  away.  Kenaday  was  found 
aome  distance  from  the  cabin  of  Mrs.  Phil- 
lips. His  shoulder  and  back  much  cut  in 
gashes  by  the  tomahawks  of  the  savages. 
The  body  of  Mrs.  Phillip.-^  was  found,  and 
also  the  body  of  her  unborn  babe,  impaled 
upon  a  stake. 

After  the  Indian  massacre,  the  place  known 
as  the  Mounds  seems  to  have  been  deserted 
for  a  time,  but  its  advantages  as  a  trading 
point  overcame  the  fears,  mixed  with  su- 
perstition, that  possessed  the  people  that 
migrated  to  and  up  and  down  the  Ohio  River, 
and  in  1836  there  were  two  double  log  cab- 
ins, with  two  thirty-foot  rooms,  a  twelve- 
foot  porch,  a  clapboard  roof  over  all,  with 
large  tire-place  in  each  end,  five  other  cabins 
and  one  storehouse.  The  two  double 
cabins  stood  on  the  river  bank,  near  where 
Meyer  &  Xordman's  stave  factory  now 
stands.  Two  of  the  small  cabins  above  where 
the  Mound  City  Hotel  now  stands,  two  more 
near  where  P.  M.  Kelly  now  lives.  The  store- 
house, a  little  southeast  of  what  was  known 
as  the  Big  Mound,  on  the  river  bank;  a 
strip  of  ground  then  lay  between  the  mound 
and  river.  The  store,  which  consisted  of  dry 
goods,  groceries  and  a  general  assortment  of 
such  article?   as   wei'e  absolutely  necessary, 


not  embracing  anything,  however,  that  could 
be  considered  in  those  days  a  luxury.  It 
was  kept  by  Forbes  &  Vancil ;  the  latter  died 
at  the  Mounds,  and  the  former  in  the  county. 
In  connection  with  this  store,  they  had  a 
wood-yard.  They  paid  their  wood- choppers 
in  goods,  and  traded  extensively  with  hunt- 
ers and  ti-appers,  and  in  this  way  did  a 
thriving  business  for  a  number  of  years. 
The  other  cabins  were  occupied  first  by  one 
and  then  by  another,  as  they  happened 
along,  but  the  cabins  could  never  be  found 
empty.  In  1838,  a  regiment  of  soldiers,  re  - 
turning  from  the  Florida  war,  on  their  way 
to  Jefferson  Barracks,  got  ice-bound,  and  re- 
mained in  camp,  just  this  side  of  the  mouth 
of  Cache  River,  all  winter.  Three-quarters 
of  a  mile  south  of  Mound  City,  the  country 
was  then  comparatively  a  wilderness.  What 
few  emigrants  bad  sought  the  location  had 
brought  with  them  various  kinds  of  stock. 
The  wild  grass  and  the  vast  canebrakes  gave 
them  unlimited  pasture,  summer  and  winter, 
and  they  increased  rapidly.  Wild  cattle  and 
hogs,  never  having  been  cared  for  by  human 
hands,  abounded  in  the  woods.  But  they 
tell  that  the  wild  stock  and  the  tame  ones 
were  much  fewer  when  the  soldiers  left  in 
the  sirring,  that  it  was  their  custom  to  kill 
anything  they  saw  that  they  imagined  might 
be  good  to  eat.  On  one  occasion,  a  large 
company  of  them  came  up  to  Forbes  &  Van- 
cil's  store;  they  found  the  log  porch  hung 
with  game,  among  which  was  a  dressed  deer. 
They  flocked  on  and  around  the  porch,  and 
when  they  left,  the  turkeys,  ducks  and  squir- 
rels were  all  gone,  and  nothing  left  of  the 
dressed  deer  but  its  skeleton.  Soldiers  have 
acted  very  much  alike,  it  would  seem,  in  all 
ages. 

There  was  a  road  leading  from  the  Mounds 
to  America,  one  to  Jonesboro  and  one  to  Uni- 
ty, then  the  county  seat,  but  they  were  not 


338 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


broad  gauges,  nor  were  they  air  lines,  and 
to  travel  them  with  a  wagon  involved  much 
uncertainty  as  to  the  outcome.  In  1838,  there 
was  a  storehouse  built,    by    a   man   named 
Coblitz,    of    considerable    pretensions.        It 
was  a  frame  and  two  stories  high,  20x50  feet, 
but   was  burnt  down  in  1839.     It  also  stood 
near  the  mound  on  the  river.   We  find  at  this 
date  and  earlier  the  present  site  of  Mound 
City,    an    important   trading   point    on    the 
Ohio   River   for   many   miles.      When   Mr. 
Coblitz   left,  which  was  after  his  storehouse 
and  its  effects  had  burned,  Mr.  James  Dough- 
erty,  father   of   A.  J.  and  J.  L.  Dougherty, 
moved  to  the  Mounds  in    1839,  and  became 
the  business   man    of   the  place,  cultivated 
the  ten    or    fifteen    acres    of  cleared    land 
and    continued    the  wood    yard    for    three 
years.  After  James  Dougherty,  Joseph  Tibbs 
came,    a   man    of   much  native    shrewdness, 
without  education,  not  being  able  to  read  or 
write    his  name,     but   was   the    recognized 
leader  of    a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of 
this  immediate  settlement.  He  was  fi-equently 
involved  in  law  suits,    and  on  one  occasion 
he  was  asked  why  he  did  not  employ   a  law- 
yer to  defend  him.     His  reply  indicated  "the 
kind  of  a  man   he   was."     He   said    he   had 
found  it  safer   and  even  cheaper  to  employ 
witnesses.       Joseph    Tibbs     cultivated   the 
cleared   land    at   the   Mounds  from  1843  to 
1852.     In   1857,    he  was  living  on  his  farm, 
two   and  a  half  miles  west  of  Mound  City, 
when  the  writer  met  him  for  the  first  time. 
The  first  question  he  asked  after  the   intro- 
duction was,    had  I  brought    a   good   horse 
with  me.      I   intimated  that  his  reputation 
had   extended   to   my   former   home,  conse- 
quently  I    brought    no   horse.     He   died  in 
1859  and   had   considerable    property.       He 
left  but  one  son,    and  he  demented.      While 
many  hard  stories  are  told  of   Joseph  Tibbs, 
he  had  many  good  qualities. 


From   the  time  steamboats  navigated  the 
Ohio  River,   the  deep  water,  the  banks  and 
the  safe  harbor,  now  fronting   Mound  City, 
was  known  by  steamboat  men  and  used  by 
them  as  a   place  of  safety  for  landing   and 
mooring  their  boats  during  low  water.     This 
locality  was  considered  by  them  the  head  of 
navigation  during  low  water,  when  the  upper 
river  was  frozen  over.    Steamers  could  reach 
this  point  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  from  the 
Lower  Mississippi.     The  warm  waters  from 
the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee  Rivers    pre- 
vented the  formation  of  ice  sufficient  to  in- 
terrupt navigation.     As  early   as   1840,    ten 
to  fifteen  steamboats  laid  up  at  the  Mounds 
during  the  entire  winter,  while  low  water  in 
the  Mississippi,  together  with  ice,  prevented 
them  from    reaching    St.  Louis,    and   it   has 
ever    since   that    time   been   considered    by 
steamboat  men  a  desirable  place  for  mooring 
boats  during  low  water,  ice  or  storms.       The 
Ohio  River  at  this  point  measures   one   mile 
from    the    Illinois    to    the  Kentucky    shore. 
The  channel  is   wide   and  deep,  and  washes 
the  Illinois    side.      The   river   widens    from 
this  point  to  its   mouth,   and  in  early  days, 
when  the  commerce  of  the  Ohio  Valley  was 
transported  by   rivers  south,   it  was  no  un- 
common thing  to  see  ten   or   fifteen  steamers 
in  sight,    including   the   celebrated    Eclipse 
and  like  boats,   loaded  to  the  water's   edge. 
It  is  not   strange  that  a  location   that  had 
been  so  long  regarded  so  favorably  as  a  trad- 
ing  point  should  attract  attention,   and  its 
natural  advantages  made   available  in  build- 
ing upon  the  site  a  city.     With  that  purpose 
in  view,  Gen.   Moses  M.  Rawlings,  in  1854, 
owning   the    following    lands  that  had  been 
owned  by  more    than    one    person    and   had 
been  divided  into  allotments   and    described 
as  lots:     Lot   No.    2,    contaiuing  thirty-five 
acres;    Lpt    No.   5,    containing    thirty -eight 
acres;    and  Lot  No.  12,    containing  thirteen 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


539 


acres,  all  in  Section  36,  Town  16,  Range  1 
west,  determined  to  lay  out  a  city.  A  his- 
tory of  Mound  City  without  at  least  a  brief 
history  of  Gen.  Rawlings,  would  ce'-tainly  be 
incomplete. 

Gen.  M.  M.  Kawlings  was  born  in  Virgin- 
ia in  1798,  his  parents  moving  to  Newcastle 
County,  Ky.,  in  1794.  When  a  boy,  he 
left  his  father's  house  and  on  foot  made 
his  way  to  Shawneetown,  111.,  reaching  that 
place  without  a  dollar  in  the  spring  of  1809. 
At  that  early  day,  the  Saline  salt  works  were 
being  operated,  and  directly  and  indirectly 
gave  employment  to  a  number  of  laborers. 
Young  Rawlings  took  hold  of  whatever  came 
in  his  way  to  do.  The  result  was  he  soon  accu- 
mulated more  than  a  bare  jiving.  He  invested 
in  produce,  furs,  or  anything  out  of  which 
he  thought  a  profit  might  be  the  result. 
Gen.  Rawlings  .was  married  three  times.  He 
married  his  first  wife,  Miss  Sarah  J.  Seaton, 
of  Breckinridge  County,  Ky. ,  in  1811, 
long  before  he  had  reached  his  majority,  and 
by  vvhom  he  had  ten  children.  All  died  be- 
fore he  came  to  Mound  City  but  Sarah  J, , 
wife  of  Dr.  Henry  F.  Delaney,  and  now  a 
widow,  living  on  Rose  Hill,  six  miles  north 
of  Mound  City,  and  Francis  M.  Rawlings,  a 
brilliant  young  lawyer,  a  man  of  imposing 
appearance,  thoroughly  educated  and  an  or- 
ator not  equaled  in  the  State.  He  repre- 
sented Union,  Alexander  and  Pulaski  Coun- 
ties in  the  Legislature  in  the  years  1854-55. 

He  died  in  1858,  which  greatly  distressed 
his  father  and  friends.  After  his  marriage 
with  Miss  Seaton,  Gen.  Rawlings  enlarged 
hie  business,  and  in  a  few  years  he  had  the 
largest  wholesale  and  retail  dry  goods  and 
gi'ocery  establishment  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  State.  He  seems  to  have  dealt  in  any  and 
everything.  Parties  came  down  from  Louis 
ville  and  agreed  to  pay  him  a  certain  price 
for  all  the  pecans  he  could  deliver  to  them 


at  Louisville  by  a  mentioned  time.     The  re- 
sult was  the  General  loaded  a  steamboat  with 
pecans,  which  resulted   in  the  financial  ruin 
of  the  company.      A   similar  transaction  oc- 
cuiTed  with  salt.   Gen.  Rawlings  was  a  large 
and    powerful   man,    full    six   feet  tall,  and 
often   weighed  300   pounds.      He  had  great 
force  of  character;  his  energy  and  determi- 
nation never  failed  him,  and  whatever  he  en- 
gaged in  brought  into  action  all  his  intellect 
and  energy.     He  had  received  no  education 
in  his  youth,  no  free  school  to  attend   in  his 
boyhood.      He  was  strictly  a  self  made  man. 
He  had  a  large  amount   of   natural    ability, 
and  while  employed   in  his   active  business 
life,  he  sought  any  moment  he  could  spare 
to  educating  himself;  while  he  did  not  excel 
in  book  learning,  he  did  as  the  judge  of  char  - 
acter  of  his  fellow-man.     He  was  always  ex- 
ceedingly courteous,  dignified  and  polite   to 
ladies.     No  man  living  had  greater  respect 
or  admiration   for   them.       His  kindness  to 
little  children  was  proverbial,   and,  while  he 
was  eccentric  and  irritable,  and  would  often 
give  vent  to  a  whirlwind  of  words,  not  couched 
in  Bible  language  upon  slight  provocation,  yet 
the  storm  was  soon  over  and  he  would  be  as 
calm  as  a  May  morning,  but  under  all  this 
worry  and  excitement,  his  heart  was  tender  and 
yielded   in   sympathy   and  relief    to  distress 
wherever  he  found  it.     But  his  eccentricities 
got    him   into    many    episodes;   while    they 
were  not  injurious  to  any  one  or  himself,  they 
were  at  times  a  source  of   annoyance  to  his 
friends  and  even  to  himself.      The  anecdotes 
told  of  him  and  about  him  would  fill   a  vol- 
ume. He  saflfered  periodically  with  the  gout. 
A     friend     one      day     very      injudiciously 
asked  him  if   gout  was   painful.      After    ex- 
hausting   himself    on    the    absurdity   of  the 
question,  he  wound  up  by  saying,  "  My  God, 
my  friend,  put  your  big  toe  in  a  vise,  have 
an  able-bodied  man    turn  the  crank  until  it 


540 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY 


seems  he  can  turn  it  no  more,  but  have  him 
turn  it  again.     That,   my  God,  my  friend,  is 
gout."     He   married   his    second  wife,  Miss 
Henrietta    B.     Calmes,    daughter    of    Gen. 
Calmes,  who  lived  near  Hopkinsville,  Ky.,  in 
1829.   She  died  in  1833,  leaving  two  children 
— Florida,  who  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  N.  R. 
Casey,  and   died    in   Mound    City,    August, 
1878'  and  Carroll  H.  Rawlings,   who  never 
married,  and  died  in  Texas  in  1877.      Gen. 
Rawlings  was  one  of   the  three  Internal  Im- 
provement Commissioners.       In  1839,    Col. 
Oakley,  Gen.  Rawlings,  two  of  the  Commis- 
sioners, in  company  with   ex-Governor  Rey- 
nolds, one  of  the  Governor's  agents,  went  to 
Europe  to  negotiate  canal  and  improvement 
bonds,  etc.     Judge  R.   M.    Young,    also    an 
agent  of  the  Governor's,  subsequently  joined 
them  in  London,   and  while  the  internal  im- 
provement system  of  that  day,    as  viewed  at 
this  date,  was  not  the  thing  to  do,    for  nego- 
ciating  bonds  and  for  whatever  success    the 
Commissioners  had  financially,  was  admitted 
to  be   due  to  Gen.    Rawlings.     Among   the 
many    enterprises    the    General    engaged  in 
was  that  of  steamboating.     He  owned  at  one 
time  the  side -wheel  steamboat  Tuskina,   that 
ran   between  Louisville    and   New  Orleans. 
He  made  one  or  more  trips  as  her  Captain, 
and  when  she  made  a  landing  and  when  she 
backed    from    a    landing  was  invariably  ac- 
companied with  a  storm  of  commands  which 
kept  the  pilot  busy  ringing  the  bells  and  the 
engineers    working    their    engines    and    the 
passengers    apprehensive  she    was    on   lire. 
Gen.  Rawlings  moved  from  Shawneetown  in 
1840,    purchasing  a  magnificent    residence, 
surrounded  by  200  acres  of  land,  highly  im- 
proved, four  miles  from  Louisville,  Ky.      In 
1832,  he  was  appointed  by   Gov.    Reynolds 
Major  General  of  the  State  militia.   In  1840, 
he  married   Miss  Ann  H.  Simms,  of  "Wash- 
ington  City.     She   died   in    1849,    without 


children.  In  1846,  he  sold  his  country 
place  and  moved  into  Louisville.  Gen. 
Rawlinga  never  attached  himself  to  any 
church,  bat  was  always  ready  and  willing  to 
aid  in  building  churches,  and  for  several 
years  before  hotels  were  built  in  Mound 
City,  the  ministers  who  visited  the  place 
found  a  welcome  at  his  house.  He  read  the 
Bible  much,  and  was  familiar  with  its  teach- 
ings. He  was  baptized  in  the  Catholic 
Church  by  Mother  Angela,  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
a  few  hours  before  his  death,  which  occurred 
January  11,  1863,  aged  seventy.  Having  an 
admiration  for  the  State  that  had  been  his 
home  for  nearly  forty  years,  had  much  to  do 
in  his  location  of  Mound  City  in  1854. 

The  original  plat  of  Mound  City  was  made 
by  William  J.  Spence,  Surveyor  of  Pulaski 
County,  for  Gen.  Moses  M.  Rawlings'  prop- 
erty, April,  1854.  At  that  time,  a  log  cabin 
stood  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  fifteen 
or  twenty  acres  of  land  cleared  was  all  the 
evidence  of  civilization  to  be  seen.  The 
General  utilized  the  cabin  as  hotel,  boarding 
house  and  residence.  During  rain-storms,  it 
sheltered  them,  but  when  the  days  and 
nights  were  pleasant  they  staid  and  slept 
upon  the  Mound,  on  which  had  grown  many 
locust  trees,  making  a  delightful  shade, 
while  the  gentle  south  breeze  from  off  the 
broad  Ohio,  from  here  to  its  mouth,  only 
six  miles  away,  made  it  a  pleasant  place 
of  I'esort  in  the  day  time  and  delightful 
at  night,  and  during  the  days  and  nights 
when  the  mosquitoes  congregated,  which 
they  did  in  the  early  history  of  Mound 
City,  the  mound  was  about  the  only  place  of 
safety,  or  where  you  could  stay  and  with  any 
degree  of  confidence  say  your  life  was  your 
own.  It  was  upon  this  mound  individuals  met 
in  consultation,  and  discussed  and  predicted 
the  bright  prospects  of  the  future  for  the 
embryo  city;    upon  this  mound  conventions 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


541 


were  held;  here  political  meetings  were  ad- 
dressed by  young  and  by  old  politicians; 
here  their  voices  were  heard  proclaiming  the 
faith  that  was  in  them,  and  urging  their  fel- 
low-men to  follow  them  or  the  country  would 
be  ruined.  Upon  this  mound  the  late  Gov- 
ernor, John  Dougherty,  in  his  elegant  style 
and  voice  urged  his  hearers  to  vote  for 
Breckenridge,  and  by  doing  so  save  the  coun- 
try: here  Hon.  W.  Josh  Allen  and  Gen.  John 
A.  Logan,  together  in  silvery  tones,  told  the 
claims  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  occasion- 
ally came  and  talked  upon  the  mound  to  the 
people,  a  travelling  missionary,  as  it  were, 
in  favor  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Upon  this  moimd, 
while  a  few  of  the  faithful  rang  the  bells, 
Tom  Green  and  others  shook  their  locks  and 
shouted  for  Bell  and  Everett;  upon  this 
mound  the  distinguished  editor  and  poet, 
George  D.  Prentice,  lectured  upon  the  pres- 
ent and  the  future  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
Upon  this  mound,  on  Sabbath  Days,  came  the 
ministei's  of  the  Gospel  of  all  denominations 
and  exhorted  the  inhabitants  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come;  and  here  at  dewy  eve  the 
beaus  and  belles  enjoyed  the  soft  zephyrs 
and  whispered  promises  and  pledges  of 
eternal  love.  While  other  mounds  are  scat- 
tered over  the  place,  this  one,  upon  the  river 
bank,  gave  the  name  to  the  location  and  af- 
terward to  the  city.  At  what  particular 
period  of  the  world's  history  these  mounds 
were  made,  tradition  fails  to  tell.  On  dig- 
ging into  them,  the  usual  Indian  relics  are 
unearthed — pot  metal,  tomahawks  made  of 
stone,  and  many  other  things  supposed  to 
have  been  used  in  war  and  in  peace  by  the 
aborigines. 

The  first  sale  of  lots  in  Mound  City  took 
place  in  May,  1854.  Thirty  or  forty  were 
sold.  The  first  lot  sold  brought  $135;  none 
less  than  $50,  and  none  more  than  $200. 
The  lots  were  all  50x200  feet.     Gen.  Eaw- 


lings  built  the  first  house  in  Mound  City.  It 
was  a  frame,  two  stories  high,  25x100  feet. 
It  was  framed  in  Louisville,  Ky. ,  and 
brought  to  Mound  City  on  steamboats;  this 
was  in  1854.  He  filled  the  lower  story  with 
dry  goods,  groceries,  hardware,  etc.,  and  used 
the  second  story  for  a  residence.  The  next 
house  was  built  by  Gilbert  Boren.  It  was 
two  stories  high,  and  a  frame.  In  the  lower 
part  he  kept  a  saloon,  and  lived  in  the  second 
story.  He  met  with  a  tragic  death  a  year 
afterward  while  on  the  little  steamer  Gazelle, 
plying  between  Cairo  and  Paducah,  be- 
coming involved  in  a  diflSculty  with  the 
Steward  of  the  boat,  who  stabbed  him  with  a 
butcher  knife.  He  died  in  a  few  minutes 
afterward.  The  third  house  was  built  by  R. 
H.  "Warner— a  two-story  frame  house.  He 
kept  a  grocery  store  in  the  lower  story  aud 
lived  in  the  upper  one.  The  fourth  house 
was  built  by  William  Dougherty.  He  was 
born  at  America,  four  miles  above  Mound 
City,  on  the  Ohio  River,  in  1828.  He  came 
to  Mound  City  in  a  trading  boat  in  1854. 
At  that  time,  it  was  not  uncommon  to  see 
twenty  or  thirty  trading  boats  tied  up  along  the 
river  bank  at  Mound  City.  After  remaining 
a  few  months  on  his  trading  boat,  he  came 
ashore  and  built  the  fourth  house  in  the  city. 
It  was  also  a  frame  and  two-story  house.  The 
lower  story  was  a  storehouse,  while  he  lived 
in  the  upper  story.  Mr.  Dougherty  was  ap- 
pointed Postmaster  in  1859,  and  resigned  in 
1861;  he  still  resides  in  Mound  City.  The 
first  brick  house  built  in  Mound  City  was  F. 
M.  Rawlings',  in  185G;  it  was  fifty  feet 
square,  two  stories,  with  a  thirty-foot  ell — 
a  very  fine  building,  that  succumbed  to  the 
great  fire  of  1879.  Before  Mound  City  had 
been  platted,  Gen.  Rawlings  had  determined 
to  build  a  railroad  from  the  mounds  to  con- 
nect with  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  three 
miles  west  and  eight  miles  above  Cairo,  but 


542 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


to  do  BO  it  required  a  charter.  The  winter  of 
1854-55  found  him  at  Springfield,  m-ging  its 
passage.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  met 
with  stubbox'n  opposition.  The  Representa- 
tives of  the  Cairo  Company  opposed  the  pas- 
sage of  the  charter  with  all  their  energy  and 
with  all  the  means  at  their  command.  The 
building  of  the  Mound  City  Railroad,  three 
miles  long,  seems  to  have  caused  some  ap- 
prehension that  it  might  in  some  way  or  at 
some  time  be  injurious  to  the  interest  of 
Cairo.  Gen.  Rawlings  met  one  objection 
after  another  only  to  find  new  ones  devel- 
oped as  old  ones  disappeared.  It  is  a  part  of 
the  history  of  the  times,  however,  that  many 
members  of  that  Legislature  who  have  since 
figured  in  politics,  both  State  and  national, 
found  themselves  owners  of  corner  lots  in 
Cairo.  The  charter  passed,  and  the  General 
set  about  building  his  road  at  once,  without 
selling  stock  or  bonds,  but  with  his  own  in- 
dividual means.  The  Commissioners  to  con- 
demn it  were  Joseph  Essex,  Joel  Lackey 
and  Jefi*erson  Parker.  The  Commissioners 
reported  at  the  October  term  of  court,  1855, 
that  no  damage  would  accrue  to  the  land  or 
owners  by  building  the  road.  William  Burk, 
an  Irish  gentleman,  who  had  much  experience 
in  building  railroads,  and  having  just  com- 
pleted a  contract  on  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  was  given  the  contract  of  building 
the  Mound  City  Railroad.  Gen.  Rawlings 
in  his  lifetime  claimed  to  have  engineered  it 
himself  without  instruments,  determining 
the  levels  and  grades  with  his  eyes.  The 
winter  of  1855-56  was  a  disagreeable  one, 
especially  the  spring  of  '  1856.  The  con- 
tractor met  with  delays  from  rains.  The  in- 
tention was  to  make  the  road  on  an  air  line 
from  Mound  City  to  the  Central,  but  when 
about  half  way  out  from  Mound  City,  they 
found  water  standing  on  the  line  of  the  road 
in  such  quantities   as  to  interfere  with   the 


progress  of  the  work,  and,  desiring  to  com- 
plete it  within  a  certain  time,  induced  them 
to  make  a  curve  sufficient  to  avoid  the  water, 
hence  the  ci'ook  in  the  road  that  has  so  often 
been  asked  why  it  was  done  and  why  the 
road  was  not  built  straight.  By  the  time  the 
road  bed  was  completed,  the  iron  had  ar- 
rived, via  New  Orleans  per  steamboat,  and 
soon  followed  the  locomotive,  baggage  and 
passenger  coach,  and  in  the  spring  of  1856 
the  whistle  of  the  "  Pilot"  started  the  inhab- 
itants, alarmed  the  cattle  that  fed  upon  the 
cane  along  the  line  of  the  road,  and  put  the 
owls  and  other  birds  of  prey  to  flight  for  t)ie 
first  time.  There  was  but  five  or  six  houses 
in  Mound  City  when  the  road  was  finished. 
The  building  of  the  road  was  looked  upon 
as  an  era,  promising  much  in  the  near  fut- 
ui'e  for  the  city.  Up  to  this  time,  the  place 
was  without  a  post  office,  the  people  receiv- 
ing their  mail  from  Caledonia  mostly,  but  in 
June,  1856,  a  post  office  was  establi.shed, 
receiving  two  mails  a  day,  with  Gen.  Raw- 
lings Postmaster,  a  position  he  had  to  take 
for  the  want  of  any  other  available  man  to 
fill  it.  In  1858.  Gen.  Rawlings  resigned, 
much  to  his  relief,  and  equally  so  to  the  pub- 
lic. He  kept  the  office  in  his  store  room. 
While  his  clerks  were  deputies  and  attended 
to  the  office,  there  were  times  when  persons 
would  call  for  their  mail,  when  the  clerks 
were  out  and  the  General  alone.  We  are 
sure  he  never  opened  or  distributed  a  mail, 
neither  did  he  ever  find  a  letter  or  paper  for 
any  one.  When  he  made  the  effort  to  do  so, 
he  never  knew  where  to  look  for  them,  and 
after  considerable  worry,  he  would  discharge 
the  applicant  with  "  Who  would  write  you  a 
letter,  anyhow?"  R.  C.  Daniel  was  ap- 
pointed Postmaster  to  fill  the  vacancy.  He 
kept  the  office  in  the  railroad  depot  until 
early  in  1859;  he  resigned  and  William 
Dougherty  was   appointed,   and  in   1861   he 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


543 


resigned   and  George   Mertz  was  appointe  d 
and  has  been  and  is  still  Postmaster. 

In  1855, on  the  25th  of  June — more  than  a 
year  after  Gen.  Rawlings  had  laid  off  Mound 
City,  and  his  first  and  only  sale  of  lots  had 
taken  place — Paul  K.  Wambaugh,  John 
Fawcit  Smith,  and  John  R.  Gabriel,  who 
had  conceived  the  idea  of  obtaining  foothold 
in  Mound  City,  formed  a  joint -stock  associa- 
tion, under  the  name  of  Emporiom  Real 
Estate  &  Manufactui'ing  Company,  in  the 
city  of  Cincinnati.  It  has  never  been  record- 
ed that  either  of  the  above  gentlemen  had  a 
doJlar  at  the  time,  to  gain  a  foothold  any- 
where; however,  they  surrounded  the  organ- 
ization with  the  mystery  of  secrecy.  They 
gave  out  that  a  secret  city  was  to  be  built 
upon  the  l)anks  of  the  Lower  Ohio;  sometimes 
saying  on  the  high  bluff  banks.  The  city 
was  to  be  grander  than  all  the  cities  built 
since  the  downfall  of  ancient  Rome.  The 
imaginary  golden  streets  of  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem were  to  be  duplicated  in  the  Emporium 
City — the  name  given  to  this  forty  mile 
square  city  on  paper.  The  room  they  occu- 
pied in  Cincinnati,  while  they  were  forming 
this  association,  was  kept  locked  and  bolted, 
the  keys  and  bolts  only  turned  upon  the  de- 
mand of  one  of  the  original  three,  or  an  in- 
itiated member  accompanied  by  friends. 
When  once  within  the  private  precincts,  the 
above  gentlemen  would  proceed  to  explain, 
in  a  whispered  voice,  with  an  occasional  mys- 
terious and  fearful  glance  at  the  door,  appre- 
hending an  intruder  might  approach  and  over- 
hear the  story  of  wealth  and  happiness  that 
could  only  be  vouchsafed  to  those  who  offered 
to  take  so  much  stock  in  the  grandest  enterprise 
known  to  any  century;  but  before  they  placed 
their  names  on  paper,  the  result  of  which  would 
yield  them  in  the  near  future  all  the  wealth 
man  ought  to  have  or  ever  desire,  they  must 
make  a  solemn  promise  never  to  reveal  to  the 


uninformed  what  their  eyes  saw  or  their  ears 
heard.  Wambaugh  sat  at  the  head  of  the 
table,  grave  and  dignified.  Jere  Griswold, 
who  had  been  one  of  the  first  Initiated,  and 
who  afterward  was  the  company's  Secretary, 
sat  with  pen  in  hand  and  another  behind 
his  ear,  with  his  bland  smiles,  could  be  heard 
to  say,  "  Please  sign  your  name  on  this  line. 
Take  5=5,000  or  $10,000  of  stock?"  "You 
may  piit  me  down  for  $10,000.  Should 
tradf  and  deals  develop  as  I  anticipate  they 
will,  I  will  take  $10,000  more  later."  And 
so,  from  day  to  day,  new  members  were 
added  to  the  association,  while  J.  Fawcit 
Smith,  with  a  brilliant  imagination,  which 
constituted  his  principal  stock-in-trade,  ex- 
tended, each  day,  the  width  and  length  of 
the  streets  of  the  secret  city;  while  John  R. 
Gabriel  blew  his  trumpet  in  its  softest  notes 
in  the  corners  of  the  room  to  the  hesitating. 
Thus,  in  1855,  the  Emporium  Real  Estate 
&  Manufacturing  Company  was  formed,  and 
when  the  members  met  in  June,  1856,  they 
had  over  a  thousand  members.  Ohio,  In- 
diana, Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Pennsylvania 
and  Illinois  each  had  large  repi-esentation, 
and  at  that  time  they  represented  a  million 
and  a  half  in  money  and  real  estate.  A  per- 
manent organization  was  made  by  electing 
Hartzell  Hiner,  of  Ohio,  President,  and  J. 
W.  Cochran,  G.  W.  Hite,  W.  H.  Stokes,  H. 
K.  Linsey,  of  Kentucky,  John  Jorriam,  of 
Indiana,  and  M.  M.  Rawlings  and  Dr.  Arter, 
of  Illinois,  Directors,  with  J.  Griswold, 
Secretary.  In  the  meantime,  the  company 
had  purchased  a  strip  of  ground  of  Gen. 
Rawlings,  lying  north  and  running  east  and 
west  along  the  line  of  his  platted  city. 
Joining  this  strip,  they  had  purchasd  land 
from  the  Bichtel  heirs,*    all  of    which    they 


*The  land  upon  which  Eiuporiuni  City  was  located  was  Sec- 
tions 19  and  30,  Town  Kj,  Range  1  east,  also  the  southeast  quarter 
of  Section  25  and  the  north  part  of  Section  36,  Town  16,  Eange 
1  west. 


544 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


laid  out  into  streets  and  lots  (including  Wash- 
ington Park,  donated  for  court  house,  jail, 
etc.,  the  ground  where  the  jail  now  stands). 
Gen.  Rawlings,  in  platting  Mound  City, 
made  it  with  the  river,  but  when  the  Empo- 
rium Company  laid  off  Emporium  City  (more 
than  a  year  later),  they  laid  it  off  east  and 
west,  north  and  south,  hence  the  streets  in 
Emporium  City  strike  Mound  City  at  Walnut 
street,  that  divided  the  then  city  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  block. 

The  first  sale  of  lots  in  Emporium  City 
took  place  in  July,  1856.  The  sale  amounted 
to  §100,000.  In  the  same  year,  the  Shelton 
House  was  built.  It  was  three  stories  high, 
an  imposing  building,  framed  in  Cincinnati 
and  brought  to  Mound  City  on  steamboats; 
and  at  the  same  time  came  mechanics,  and 
in  just  sixty  days  from  the  time  the  frame 
was  landed  at  Mound  City,  the  hotel  was 
completed,  accommodating  boarders  and  the 
traveling  public.  Sixty  men  were  employed 
dm-ing  its  construction.  Of  all  the  me- 
chanics who  came  to  work  upon  the  build- 
ing, but  one  now  resides  in  Mound  City — 
Mr.  James  Holmes.  J.  C.  Worthington  was 
among  the  number,  to  do  the  painting;  after 
living  several  years  in  Mound  City  he  moved 
to  a  farm  four  miles  northwest  of  Mound 
City.  N.  L.  Wickmire,  carpenter,  remained 
in  Mound  City  several  years,  then  moved  to 
Cairo,  and  from  there  to  St.  Louis,  where  he 
is  now  doing  an  extensive  business  as  an 
architect.  The  rest  have  gone,  we  don't 
know  where.  James  Holmes  and  J.  C. 
Worthington  were  two  of  the  incorporated 
Councilmen.  The  second  sale  of  lots  was  in 
November,  1856.  The  terms  of  sale  were  one- 
quarter  cash,  the  balance  in  three  install- 
ments, with  6  per  cent  interest.  The  sale 
was  a  great  success.  Four  or  five  hundred 
persons  attended  the  sale.  They  were  here 
from  many  of    the    States.     Ninety- five   lots 


were  sold,  bringing,  in  the  aggregate,  $92,  - 
800;  the  price  per  front  foot  varying  from 
$90  to  $14.  At  the  third  sale  of  lots,  June, 
1857,  137  lots  were  sold,  averaging  $761.40 
each,  and  averaging  $26,99  per  fi-ont  foot 
The  sale  amounted  to  $104,968.  At  the  Nox 
vember  sale  following,  ninety-seven  lots  were 
sold,  averaging  $957.  At  this  sale  a 
vacant  lot  in  the  neighborhood  of  where  the 
Union  Block  now  stands  sold  for  $113  per 
front  foot.  It  began  to  look  as  if  '\\'am- 
baugh's  dignity,  Fawcit  Smith's  imagina- 
tion and  Gabriel's  whisperings  had  not 
been  all  in  vain.  Hartzell  Hiner  was  still 
President  of  the  company,  and  J.  Griswold, 
Secretary;  but  it  required  several  Assistant 
Secretaries  to  keep  the  books  posted  during 
the  interregnums  between  the  pul:>lic  sales. 
The  President  and^Secretary  were  daily  sell- 
ing lots  at  private  sale.  Hiner,  the  Pres- 
ident, looked  and  walked  the  Major  General. 
Money  fiowed  into  the  coffers:  newer  and 
larger  safes  were  bought,  to  hold  it;  every- 
thing seemed  to  pale  and  grow  dim  outside 
of  the  Emporium  Company.  They  built  a 
house  for  their  office,  in  which  they  had 
reception  rooms,  consultation  rooms,  clerks' 
rooms,  president's  room,  private  secretaries  • 
and  porters.  A  tingling  bell  was  the  signal 
that  one  of  the  high  contracting  parties  de- 
sired to  be  waited  on. 

About  this  time,  they  conceived  the  idea 
that  they  needed  more  territory;  they  did 
not  have  lots  enough;  they  must  extend  their 
borders;  at  the  same  time,  enlarge  their 
sphere  of  usefulness  to  their  fellow-men. 
The  Cairo  Company  owned  forty  acres  of 
land  in  the  woods  northwest  of  the  Empo- 
rium Company's  plat.  If  it  had  not  been 
bought  of  the  Government  by  Hoi  brook,  or 
other  Cairo  agents,  in  an  early  day,  for 
$1.25  per  acre  without  ever  having  seen  it, 
we  are  sure,  under  the  fit  act,  it   would  have 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI   COUNTY 


545 


been  the  last  forty  acres  purchased.  After 
becoming  satisfied  they  must  have  it,  they 
began  negotiating  for  it  with  C'dI.  S.  Staats 
Taylor,  the  Cairo  Company's  Agent.  Final- 
ly, after  much  going  and  coming,  Col.  Tay- 
lor agi-eed  (being  it  was  them)  to  take  $38,- 
000  for  the  forty  acres.  President  Hiner 
thought  it  was  reasonable,  and  fully  con- 
fident no  other  person  living  could  have 
secured  so  favorable  an  ofi"er  from  the 
Colonel  as  he  had;  but  just  at  that  particular 
time  the  President  of  the  Emporium  Com- 
pany had  only  130,000,  but  would  have  more 
very  soon,  and  as  they  were  needing  the 
forty  acres  at  once,  he  would  pay  Col.  Tay- 
lor the  §30,000  and  give  a  mortgage  on  the 
entire  forty  acres  to  secure  the  payment  of 
the  remaining  $8,000,  Col.  Taylor  pretended 
not  to  hear  the  proposition  distinctly  the  first 
time,  but  after  Hiner  had  repeated  it  several 
times,  the  Colonel  said  he  hated  to  part  with 
the  land — it  was  a  forty  acres  he  had  always 
regarded  as  very  valuable, but  owing  to  friend- 
ship, etc. ,  he  would  take  it.  The  $30,000  was 
paid  to  the  Colonel,  the  mortgage  was  given, 
which  some  years  after  was  foreclosed,  and 
the  Cairo  Company  still  own  the  forty  acres. 
In  1856.  the  Emporium  Company  purchased 
the  steamboat  "  Buckeye  Belle."  She  was  a 
side-wheel  boat,  and  was  employed  in  towing 
barges  of  rock  from  up  the  Tennessee  River, 
and  from  about  Golconda,  for  foundations 
for  houses  and  for  cellars.  She  was  often 
used  for  excursions,  and  for  a  short  time 
run  as  a  packet  between  Mound  City  and 
Hickman.  Early  in  1857,  Mr.  Alexander 
Kirkpatrick  completed  his  pottery.  In  1867, 
the  Emporium  Company  bought  of  Gen. 
Rawlings  the  Mound  City  Railroad,  and  from 
that  time  operated  it.  "When  the  crash 
came  upon  that  company  (the  beginning  of 
which  might  be  dated  from  the  time  they 
gave  the  Cairo  Company  $30,000),  they  sold 


locomotive  and  passenger  cars  and  ran  the 
road  with  mules  attached  to  a  caboose.  Less 
than  a  year  ago  it  was  sold  to  satisfy  claims, 
and  has  since  then  been  bought  by  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad,  with  the  understand- 
ing that  they  will  shortly  re-organize  it  by 
putting  it  in  good  condition,  and  make  it  a 
valuable  feeder  to  this  end  of  their  road. 
The  land  purchase<i  by  the  Emporium  Com- 
pany, and  laid  out  into  streets  and  lots,  was 
covered  with  heavy  timber,  and  when  the 
trees  were  cut  down  and  brush  piled  the 
ground  looked  to  be  covered  ten  feet  deep, 
but  logs  and  brush  were  finally  burnt  up, 
leaving  the  stumps  of  the  Irees,  thick  enough 
to  nearly  walk  on  them.  That  part  of  Em- 
porium City  was  soon  called  "  stump  town," 
and  while  the  stumps  have  long  since  disap- 
peared, the  name  "  Stump  Town  "  still  clings 
to  that  locality.  Failing  to  have  Gen.  Raw- 
lings  change  Mound  City  to  Emporium  City, 
an  act  of  incororpation  of  Moiind  City,  and 
to  change  the  name  of  Emporium  City  to 
that  of  Mound  Cit}',  passed  January  29,  1857. 
In  this  act  of  incorporation,  Moses  B.  Harrell 
was  constituted  Mayor,  and  Francis  M.  Raw- 
lings,  John  Given,  A.  J.  Miller,  J.  Griswold, 
James  Holmes  and  Joseph  C  AVorthington, 
Councilmen.  Moses  B.  Harrell  continued 
Mayor  until  1859,  when  Dr.  N.  R.  Casey 
was  elected,  and  was  Mayor  from  that  time 
until  1874,  a  period  of  fifteen  years,  when 
Capt.  Romeo  Friganza  was  elected,  who  was 
Mayor  until  1883,  when  George  Mertz,  pres- 
ent Mayor,  was  elected.  Mound  City  has 
been  an  incorporated  City  twenty-six  years, 
but  has  had  but  four  Mayors. 

In  1856,  James  Goodlow,  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Emporium 
Company,  commenced  and  completed,  in 
1857,  a  large  three-story  brick  foundry  on 
the  river  front,  in  the  upper  portion  of  the 
city.     It  fronted  the  river   180  feet;  it  was 


546 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI   COUXTY 


complete  and  extensive  in  all  its  departments. 
]\Ir.  Goodlow  was  an  elegant  old  gentleman, 
anil  had  much  experience  in  foundries.  He 
cast,  in  1857,  the  heavy  machinery  for  the 
marine  ways  of  this  place.  "When  the  civil 
war  broke  out,  he  closed  the  foundry,  but  con- 
tinued to  live  in  Mound  City  until  he  died, 
which  was  in  1865,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight. 
His  widow  still  resides  in  Mound  City. 
Notwithstanding  she  is  eighty-two  years  old, 
she  is  active,  and  does  much  of  the  work 
about  the  house.  George  Mertz  was  fore- 
man of  the  foundry  when  building,  and  while 
it  was  in  operation;  still  lives  in  Mound 
City.  He  has  been  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
Police  Magistrate,  City  Councilman,  County 
Commissioner,  Postmaster  s-ince  1861,  and 
the  present  Mayor  of  the  city.  The  foundry 
building  was  taken  by  the  Government  for 
the  storage  of  shell  and  shot  in  1863.  Soon 
after  it  was  thus  occupied  some  sailors  were 
handling  loaded  shells,  when  three  ex- 
ploded with  a  terrific  noise,  breaking 
down  a  part  of  the  building,  and  in- 
stantly killing  one  sailor  and  frightfully 
mutilating  two  others.  They  died  in  a  few 
hours  in  great  agony,  and  thus  the  great 
foundry  that  promised  so  much  for  Mound 
City  in  her  early  days  of  prosperity,  passed 
away.  You  can  scarcely  find  the  place  upon 
which  it  stood.  The  Emporiimi  Company,  in 
1856-57,  built  a  number  of  houses  to  rent. 
At  that  time,  many  who  came  to  locate,  un- 
able to  get  houses,  went  away. 

The  winter  of  1857,  the  Emporium  Com- 
pany seciu-ed  of  the  Illiiiois  Legislature 
a  charter  for  what  was  known  as  the  Illinois 
Southern  Railroad.  The  incorporators  met 
the  same  year  at  the  Shelton  House,  in 
Mound  City,  and  organized.  Gen.  A.  R. 
Butler,  of  Ohio,  was  made  President,  A.  J, 
Keykendoll,  of  Vienna,  C.  B.  Brown,  of 
Cincinnati,    Ohio,    George   W.   Hite,   R.  B. 


Shelton,  William  Burke,  of  Mound  City, 
Hiram  Boren,  of  Caledonia,  Directors,  and 
M.  D.  Gilbert,  Secretary.  The  office  of  the 
company  was  located  in  Mound  City.  Its 
southern  terminus  was  to  be  at  Mound 
City,  while  its  northeastern  was  to  be  at  Yin- 
cennes,  Ind.  The  road  was  sm-veyed,  located 
and  the  contract  for  building  let.  In  some 
of  the  counties  through  which  it  ran  con- 
sidei'able  grading  was  done.  For  a  time  it 
promised  success;  but  stringency  in  money, 
and  other  difficulties,  delayed  its  progress 
until  the  civil  war  put  an  end  to  further 
efforts.  In  1874,  a  new  charter  was  obtained, 
the  name  changed  to  Cairo  &  Yincennes  Rail- 
road, and  as  such  was  built. 

Among  the  early  enterprises  inaugurated 
by  the  Emporium  Company  was  the  building 
of  the  Marine  Railway.  They  were  located 
at  the  south  end  of  Rawlings'  reservation, 
and  eai'ly  in  1857,  Mr.  Robert  Calvin,  from 
Ohio,  had  the  contract  for  grading  the  river 
bank  preparatory  to  building  the  ways.  After 
this  contract  was  completed,  Calvin  graded 
the  wharf,  and  did  much  other  work  for  the 
company.  He  soon  after  repaired  to  a  farm 
near  Caledonia,  where  he  still  lives,  enjoying 
the  fruits  of  his  labor  and  the  beauties  of 
granger  life.  Samuel  T.  Hambleton,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  had  full  charge  of  the  con- 
struction, and  no  man  in  the  country  was 
better  qualified.  Familiar  with  all  the  de- 
tails of  a  work  of  that  kind,  he  possessed 
much  practical  sense,  with  a  genial  happy 
disposition,  made  him  a  favorite  with  all, 
and  especially  with  the  large  force  of  men  he 
worked  upon  the  ways.  As  was  said,  the  im- 
mense wheels  and  all  the  machinery  was 
molded  at  the  Mound  City  Foundry,  but  not  • 
until  1859  were  they  completed.  The  first 
boat  that  was  taken  from  the  river  and  drawn 
upon  the  ways  was  the  R.  H.  W.  Hill,  a  large, 
side   wheel   cotton   boat,   that   ran    between 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY, 


549 


Memphis  and  New  Orleans.  To  see  the  ma- 
chinery work,  and  to  see  a  boat  drawing  so 
much  water  and  weighing  so  much  gently 
lifted  from  the  water  and  left  upon  cradles, 
high  and  dry,  to  those  who  had  never  seen  it 
done,  was  an  interesting  sight.  This,  coupled 
with  the  desire  that  it  might  be  accomplished 
safely,  upon  which  depended  the  success  of 
the  ways  and  the  interest  of  the  city,  for  the 
tince  being,  at  all  events,  caused  a  large  num- 
ber of  people  to  be  present  while  the  boat 
was  being  taken  out.  Eveiything  worked 
like  clockwork.  The  engineer,  the  men  at 
the  different  posts  assigned  them,  the  cradles 
and  the  boat,  all  moved  together,  and  the 
success  of  hauling  out  one  of  the  largest 
steamers  upon  the  river  was  accomplished, 
and  Capt.  Sam  Hambleton  was  happy,  and 
so  was  everybody  else;  if  they  were  not  at 
that  time,  an  hour  later  they  wei'e.  Tradi  - 
tion  breaks  a  bottle  of  champaign  on  a  new 
boat  when  launched,  and  on  an  old  boat 
when  pulled  out  on  new  ways;  that  is  one  of 
the  traditions  which  has  continued  to  be  ob- 
served to  the  present  day.  Upon  this  oc- 
casion it  was  not  an  exception.  Nick  Long- 
worth's  (we  do  not  think  the  old  man  was 
dead  then)  sparkling  Catawba  flowed  free 
and  copiously.  Upon  the  command  of  Cap- 
tain Sam,  toasts  were  drunk,  speeches  were 
made  and  the  entire  population  were  hajjpy. 
The  happy  feeling  was  not  confined  to  the 
Catawba,  but  those  who  took  ice  water  felt 
the  inspiration.  It  was  quite  a  day  for  the 
marine  ways  and  for  Mound  City. 

Soon  after  this,  Capt.  Sam  Hambleton  re- 
turned to  Cincinnati,  where  he  and  his 
brother,  W.  L.  Hambleton,  owned  a  marine 
railway,  and  his  brother  William  came  to 
Mound  City  (but  did  not  bring  his  family 
until  1860),  and  took  charge  of  the  ways  at  this 
place.  The  ownership  of  the  ways  passed 
from  the  Emporium  Company  to  Hambleton, 


Collier  &  Co.,  W.  H.  Stokes,  of  Louisville. 
Ky.,  the  company,  Capt.  W.  L.  Hambleton, 
one  of  the  firm.  Superintendent.  No  man  in 
the  country  possessed  the  resources  and  quali- 
fications for  the  position  as  did  Capt.  Bill 
Hambleton.  As  a  special  notice  will  be 
given  him  in  this  history,  we  shall  only  re- 
fer to  him  in  connection  with  the  marine 
ways,  of  which  he  had  charge  from  1859 
until  he  died  in  1883 — a  period  of  twenty- 
four  years.  The  ways  worked,  constantly, 
a  large  force  of  men,  from  their  completion 
until  the  civil  war  came.  The  position  of 
Mound  City,  and  of  her  marine  railway,  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  (he  Government. 
The  three  wooden  gunboats  had  been  con- 
structed at  Cincinnati,  and  had  come  to 
Mound  City  and  anchored  out  in  the  river 
They  were  the  acorns  from  which  grew  the 
great  Mississippi  Squadron.  The  Govern- 
ment leased  the  marine  ways,  paying  $40,  - 
000  a  year,  retaining  Capt.  W.  L.  Hamble- 
ton in  charge.  Before,  howeveu,  Hambleton, 
Collier  &  Co. ,  by  contract  with  the  Govern- 
ment, built  three  ironclad  gunboats,  the  Cin- 
cinnati, the  Carondelet  and  the  Mound  City. 
After  that,  the  Government  made  gunboats 
of  steamboats,  and  repaired,  when  needed, 
the  boats  belonging  to  the  squadron,  working 
1,500  men.  On  the  1st  day  of  July,  1863, 
the  Government  took  possession  of  the  prop- 
erty fronting  the  river,  known  as  Kawlings' 
reservation,  for  a  navy  station,  together  with 
the  Mound  City  Railroad  depot,  that  stood 
on  the  reservation.  A  lease  was  given  the 
Government  to  this  reservation  by  the  city, 
and  the  depot  that  belonged  to  the  Empo- 
rium Company  was  sold  to  the  Government, 
after  which  the  Mound  City  Railroad  depot 
was  built  on  the  corner  of  Main  street  and 
Railroad  avenue,  where  it  now  stands.  Im- 
mediately after  the  leasing  of  the  reserva- 
tion, the  entire  Mississippi  Squadi-ou  moved 

31 


550 


HISTOKY   OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


to  Mound  City,  Admiral  D.  D.  Poi-ter  in 
command,  while  Capt.  A.  M.  Pennock  had 
command  of  the  navy  yard,  and  of  the  large 
force  of  mechanics  and  laborers.  More  than 
a  thousand  men  were  under  the  control  of 
William  H.  Faukner,  the  chief  Steam  En- 
gineer, and  Romeo  Friganza,  Navai  Con- 
structor. It  was  under  their  supervision  ex- 
tensive improvements  were  made;  workshops, 
ordnance  and  office  buildings.  During  the 
years  1863, 1864  and  1865,  the  squadron  was 
increased  from  twenty- four  gunboats  in  1863, 
to  100  gunboats,  22  transports,  32  mortars 
and  8  tugs  in  1865.  In  this  year,  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  navy  yard  in  the  West 
seemed  to  be  favored  by  the  naval  officers  at 
this  place,  and  by  the  Navy  Department. 
Cairo  desired  the  station  and  the  navy  yard, 
if  established.  Carondelet,  below  St.  Louis, 
desired  the  same.  Mound  City  had  the 
station,  and  wanted  the  navy  yard.  But 
Congress  was  the  making  power;  Congress, 
therefore,  must  be  appealed  to.  To  see  and 
talk  to  Congress,  Cairo  sent,  as  her  repre- 
sentative, Col.  S.  Staats  Taylor  and  Gen. 
Isum  N.  Haynie.  Blow,  of  Carondelet,  was 
a  Member  of  Congress,  and  aided  by  Gen. 
Frank  Blair,  did  the  talking  for  Carondelet. 
Mound  City  sent  Dr.  N.  R.  Casey  to  tell  of 
the  superior  advantages  of  Mound  City  as  a 
location  for  a  permanent  navy  yard.  As 
somebody  has  said,  "  they  met  at  the  hat- 
ter's." The  station  was  not  moved  from 
Mound  City,  and  had  Congress  believed  a 
navy  yard  in  the  West  a  good  thing  to  have, 
Mound  City  would  have  received  the  location. 
In  1865,  Admiral  Porter  was  ordered  East, 
and  Admiral  Lee  took  command,  followed  by 
Commodore  Livingston;  he  was  relieved  by 
Commodore  Poor;  in  1867  came  Commodore 
Schank;  he  was  followed  by  Commodore 
Walk,  who  remained  until  1869,  when 
Commodore  Goldsboro  relieved  him,  and  he 


was  relieved  in  1870  by  Capt.  Thompson, 
who  remained  in  command  until  1873.  On 
the  1st  day  of  July,  1874,  the  navy  depart- 
ment having  no  further  use  for  the  navy 
station  at  Mound  City,  the  Secretary,  Mr. 
Robeson,  discontinued  it,  the  Government 
releasing  the  lease,  and  turned  the  buildings 
and  improvements  over  to  the  city.  When 
the  war  was  over,  the  Government  turned  the 
marine  ways  over  to  the  owners,  Capt.  W. 
L.  Hambleton,  Superintendent.  In  1880, 
his  brother,  Capt.  Sam  T.  Hambleton,  came 
and  superintended  the  work  about  the  yard; 
he  continued  to  do  so  until  1882,  when  he 
began  to  have  trouble  with  his  heart;  he 
returned  to  his  home  in  Cincinnati,  when,  a 
few  weeks  later,  a  noble  man  passed  from 
earth,  surrounded  by  his  family  and  friends. 
While  he  was  never  a  resident  of  Mound 
City,  he  had  been  identified  with  it  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  was  known  and  loved 
by  all  the  inhabitants.  Capt.  W.  L.  Ham- 
bleton continued  in  charge  of  the  ways  until 
he  died,  which  took  place  in  February,  1883. 
They  are  now  in  possession  of  Capt.  W.  P. 
Halliday,  of  Cairo. 

The  Emporium  Company,  in  1857,  built 
the  stone  foundation  for  twelve  buildings  on 
the  riverfront,  known  as  Union  Block,  but  in 
June,  1858,  they  sold  lots  and  foundations 
to  individuals — parties  from  Ohio,  Indiana 
and  Kentucky.  These  parties  jointly,  in  the 
years  1858  and  1859,  built  the  block  of  the 
best  of  brick  made  above  the  city  limits,  on 
the  Ohio  River.  Each  of  the  buildings  was 
twenty-five  feet  by  eighty  feet,  and  three 
stories  high.  The  third  stories  of  the  two 
south  buildings  were  thrown  together  and 
finished  in  good  style,  and  called  Stokes 
Hall.  The  latter  is  forty-six  feet  by  eighty 
feet,  now  known  as  the  Opera  House. 
Theatricals,  dances,  conventions,  and,  since 
the  destruction  of  the  court  house  by  fire  in 


HISTORY   or  PULASKI   COUNTY, 


551 


1879,  Circuit  Courts  are  held  in  it.  Until 
the  civil  war,  the  building  was  auoccupied. 
The  Government,  in  1861,  took  possession  of 
it,  and  from  that  time  until  after  the  close  of 
the  war,  it  was  the  largest  United  States 
hospital  in  the  West.  The  wounded  from 
the  battle  of  Belmont  were  the  first  admitted. 
After  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  2,200  wounded 
and  sick  were  provided  for.  Among  the 
surgeons  in  charge  were  Dr.  Franklin,  of  St. 
Louis,  Dr.  H.  Wardner,  now  in  charge  of  the 
insane  asylum  at  Anna,  111.,  and  others,  while 
it  required  fifteen  or  twenty  Assistant  Sur- 
geons to  attend  the  sick  and  wovinded,  who 
came  from  various  parts  of  the  country.  The 
present  location  of  none  of  them  are  known, 
but  Dr.  C.  W.  Dunning,  of  Cairo,  and  Dr. 
N.  R.  Casey,  of  Mound  City. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  the  hos- 
pital, full  of  sick  and  wounded,  with  a  hun- 
dred or  more  attaches,  several  hundred 
strangers  in  the  city,  visiting  and  looking 
after  wounded  and  sick  friends,  sensational 
reports  were  frequent.  Rebels  had  been 
seen  in  large  numbers  on  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  river,  in  Kentucky;  a  large  body  of 
rebels  had  crossed  the  Mississippi  at  ^^Com- 
merce,  all  looking  to  a  raid  on  Mound  City, 
the  main  object  being  to  destroy  the  marine 
ways,  where  the  Government  was  repairing 
and  fitting  out  so  many  gunboats  and  trans- 
ports. This  gave  color,  and  to  many  positive 
belief,  that  the  stories  circulated  were  not 
only  reasonable  but  true.  During  one  of 
these  exciting  days,  the  surgeon  in  charge 
of  the  hospital  was  called  away,  to  be  gone 
twenty-four  hours.  Before  leaving,  he 
turned  the  hospital  and  all  his  authority  over 
to  Dr.  Charlie  Vail  until  his  return.  Dr. 
Vail  was  a  young  man  of  much  promise  as  a 
surgeon  and  physician,  with  a  large  amount 
of  social  qualities.  The  night  the  Chief 
Surgeon  left,  Dr.  Vail  attended  a  wine  sup- 


per— plenty  of  eating  and  plenty  of  wine, 
drinking  was  indulged  in,  followed,  of 
course,  by  patriotic  songs  and  patriotic 
speecliHS.  This  patriotic  feast  was  indulged 
in  until  after  midnight,  when  Vail  reached 
his  headquarters.  By  that  time  he  concluded 
he  would  at  once  put  down  the  rebellion  by 
a  grand  move  upon  the  enemy;  but  to  do  so 
ho  must  have  more  troops.  After  first  order- 
ing out  all  persons  attached  to  the  hospital, 
he  summoned  one  Tom  Clarke,  who  was  a 
sort  of  a  private  detective — that  is,  would 
follow  the  troops  down  into  Missoui'i  or  Ken- 
tucky and  return  with  some  old  buggies  and 
horses.  To  Clarke  Vail  issued  an  order, 
first  making  him  Commander  cf  the  citizens' 
forces,  with  authority  to  press  at  once  into 
the  service  all  able-bodied  residents  in  the 
place.  Clark  arrayed  himself  with  a  cavalry 
sword  and  scabbard.  With  sword  drawn  and 
scabbard  thumping  the  sidewalk,  with  aids 
at  his  heels,  he  proceeded  to  rouse  the  peo- 
ple and  order  them  to  the  front  of  the  hos- 
pital; that  strife  and  carnage  was  less  than 
a  mile  away.  People  turned  out  pell-mell  — 
some  alarmed,  and  some  to  see  what  was 
going  on.  When  they  got  in  front  of  the 
hospital,  Clarke  mustered  them  into  the  serv- 
ice for  the  night.  Many  did  not  like  this 
coercive  business,  and  sent  for  N.  R.  Casey, 
the  Mayor;  they  wanted  to  be  relieved.  The 
Mayor  went  He  found  all  the  space  in 
front  of  the  hospital,  to  the  river,  covered 
with  men,  armed  with  all  sorts  of  deadly 
weapons.  Near  the  Chief  Surgeon's  office 
he  met  Dr.  Vail,  Commander-in-chief.  Upon 
asking  him  what  all  this  meant,  Vail's  reply 
was,  "  Casey,  make  '  em  a  speech- — -makn  'em 
a  speech."  The  Mayor  saw  the  Doctor  retire 
for  the  night,  and  then  dismissed  his  army, 
and  quiet  prevailed.  Dr.  Vail  removed  to 
Wi8C<msin  after  the  war,  and  some  years  ago 
his  bright,  happy  spirit  passed  from  earth. 


552 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


Those  who  died  at  the  hospital  were  buried 
on  the  river  bank,  just  above  the  city,  and 
some  farther  up,  near  old  America.  After 
the  close  of  the  war,  the  Government  pur- 
chased ten  acres  of  ground,  three  quarters 
of  a  mile  west  of  Mound  City,  for  a  national 
cemetery,  and  moved  all  who  died  or  were 
killed  at  Columbus,  Belmont,  Cairo,  Com- 
merce, Paducah  and  Mound  City,  and  buried 
their  remains  in  this  ten- acre  plot  of  ground, 
and  when  counted  they  numbered  5,555. 
Congress  made  provision  for  the  improvement 
of  the  place.  It  was  soon  inclosed  with  an 
iron  fence.  Evergreens,  shade  trees  and 
flowers  were  planted;  marble  head-boards  at 
each  grave;  a  comfortable  brick  lodge  built 
for  the  Superintendent,  and  a  brick  rostrum, 
from  Avhich  orators  address  the  great  multi- 
tudes of  people  who  visit  the  spot  every  30th 
of  May  to  decorate  the  graves  of  the  dead 
soldiers.  In  1874,  N.  R.  Casey,  then  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  secured  the  pas- 
sage of  a  bill  appropriating,  out  of  the  State 
Treasury,  125,000  to  build  a  monument  at 
this  national  cemetery.  The  Governor  ap- 
pointed, as  Commissioners  to  carry  out  the 
provisions  of  the  bill,  Capt.  W.  L.  Hamble- 
ton,  of  Mound  City,  Jonathan  C.  Willis,  of 
Metropolis,  and  Dr.  Looney,  of  Vienna,  and 
in  1875  the  monument  was  completed,  stand - 
incf  seventy-two  feet  high  from  its  foundation. 

Congress,  at  its  last  session,  appropriated 
$15,000  to  build  a  gravel  road  from  the  land- 
ing on  the  Ohio  River  to  the  cemetery,  which 
will  soon  be  completed.  Joe  P.  Roberts, 
Esq.,  at  the  solicitation  of  many  of  the  citi- 
zens, went  to  Washington  City,  and  when  he 
stated  to  our  Member  of  Congress,  Hon. 
John  R.  Thomas,  the  necessity  of  the  road, 
Capt.  Thomas  at  once  inti'oduced  a  bill  appro- 
priating $25,000.  That  bill  passed  the  House. 
The  Senate  amended  it  by  making  it  $15,000. 
The  House  concurred,  and  it  became  a  law. 


After  the  war,  the  building  that  had  so 
long  been  used  for  United  States  Hospital,  in 
which  had  suftered  and  died  so  many  brave 
men,  where  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  had 
come  as  ministering  angels  early,  and  stayed 
until  the  last  sick  and  wounded  had  gone 
was  vacated.  For  a  long  time  it  stood 
idle,  as  if  taking  a  i*est  after  its  long  oc- 
cupancy of  suffering  and  distress.  Its  gloomy 
walls  seemed  to  tell  the  sad  story  of  the 
part  it  took  in  the  rebellion.  But  the 
war  was  over,  and  something  else  must  be 
done.  Three  of  the  south  buildings  were 
constructed  into  a  hotel,  and  called  the  Stokes 
House,  and  was  kept  by  different  persons; 
among  them,  Capt.  F.  A.  Fair,  who  came  to 
Mound  City  in  1856,  and  did  the  brick  work 
on  the  first  brick  house  built  in  Mound  City, 
in  ]  856  and  1857,  afterward  owned  and  kept 
the  wharf-boat,  and  still  resides  in  Mound 
City.  Mrs.  Van  Ostraa  at  one  time  kept  the 
Stokes  House,  having  for  many  years  kept  a 
boarding-house  in  Mound  City.  She  had 
great  energy,  and  the  general  verdict  was, 
she  knew  how  to  keep  a  hotel.  She  died 
while  proprietress  of  the  hotel.  It  is  now 
kept  by  Mr.  McClenan,  a  gentlemanly  prop- 
rietor, kept  in  first-class  style,  and  called 
the  Mound  City  Hotel.  W.  H.  Stokes,  of 
Louisville,  before  his  death,  became  owner  of 
the  block,  and  at  his  administrator's  sale  the 
buildings  were  bought  by  persons  of  Mound 
City,  Mr.  G.  F.  Meyer  being  the  largest  pur- 
chaser, after  which  he  took  down  three  of  the 
buildings  on  the  north  end,  out  of  Avhich  he 
built  his  extensive  and  elegant  storehouse 
building,  on  the  corner  of  Walnut  and  Main 
streets.  The  remaining  part  of  the  block, 
not  occupied  for  hotel,  is  being  rapidly  ar- 
ranged for  a  large  furniture  factory.  The 
factory  has  already  been  incorporated,  with 
Mr,  Ellis,  of  Indiana,  G,  F.  Meyer,  and  Ferd 
Wehrfritz,  of  Mound  City,  incorporators. 


HISTORY    OF  PULASKI  COUNTY 


553 


CHAPTER    VI.* 


MOUND  CITY— DECLINE  AND  DEATH  OF  THE  EMPORIUM  COMPANY— OVERFLOW  OF  THE  OHIO  IN 
1858— FLOODS  OF  1862.  1867,  1882  AND  1883— LEVEEING  THE  CITY— BONDS  FOR  THE  PAY- 
MENT OF  THE  SAME— A  FEW  MURDERS  WITH  A  TASTE  OF  LYNCH  LAW,  ETC. 


THE  first  public  evidence  of  financial 
trouble  with  the  Emporium  Company 
cropped  out  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
stockholders  in  June,  1858.  They  appointed 
a  committee  to  consider  ways  and  means  by 
which  they  might  be  relieved  from  their  in- 
debtedness. Said  committee  reported  and 
recommended  that  the  President  and  Direc- 
tors be  instructed  to  issue  mortgage  bonds, 
to  the  amount  of  $140,000  to  liquidate  the 
indebtedness  of  the  company.  The  recom- 
mendation was  unanimously  approved,  and 
the  bonds  were  issued  for  their  payment. 
All  their  real  estate  was  mortgaged.  The 
President  and  Directors,  finding  that  the 
bonds  could  not  be  sold  for  more  than  80 
cents  on  the  dollar,  and  to  avoid  this  shrink- 
age they  made  a  proposition  to  the  stock- 
holders, to  advance  an  amount  of  money  in 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  stock  they 
owned,  and  receive  these  mortgage  bonds 
therefor.  This  plan  was  adopted.  A  large 
number  of  stockholders  made  the  advance  and 
took  bonds.  Those  that  did  not,  held  the 
stock;  but  as  all  the  property  of  the  company 
had  been  mortgaged,  lefi  the  stock  worth- 
less. At  this  meeting,  in  June,  1858,  Dr. 
B.  Cloak,  of  Kentucky,  was  elected  President 
of  the  company,  and  he  continued  to  act  in 
that  capacity  until  1860,  when  Jesse  Payton, 
of  Philadelphia,  was  elected.  He  vn-ote  and 
published  several  encouraging  reports.  He 
was   President   for   two   years,    when  J.   K. 

*  By  Dr.  N.  R.  Casey. 


Emerie,    of    Mound   City,    was  elected;    he 
served  two  years,  when  George  W.  Carter,  of 
Mound  City,  was  elected  President.     He  was 
a  man  of  intelligence  and  energy.     He  came- 
from  Versailles,  Ky.,  to  Mound  City  in  1860, 
and  identified   himself  with  the  people  and 
the  interests  of  the  place.     He  owned  a  large 
number  of    lots  and  houses.     He  entered  at 
once  into  the  work  of  trying  to  save  the  de- 
cliaing  fortunes  of  the  company,  and  had  it 
been  possible  he  would  have  done  so.      The 
vast  amount  of  money  realized  from  the  sale 
of  stock  and  lots  had  gone,  and  what  property 
was  left  was  mortgaged.      Time  and  space  for- 
bid a  minute  history  of  this  company.  For  the 
first  two  years  of  its  existence  it  was  a  brill- 
iant success.      It  has  been  said,    precocious 
children  do  not  live  long;  so  it  was  with  the 
Emporium    Company.       George    W.    Carter 
was  eight  years  President  of  the  company. 
He  was  often  a  member  of  the  City  Council, 
and  four  years   one  of   the    County  Judges; 
he  died  in  1877  greatly  regretted.       He  was 
succeeded    as     President    of    the    company 
by   his   son,   John    W.    Carter,    who  served 
two    years.      John    W.     Carter,     in    1878, 
came   to    an    untimely    death.     He    was    a 
bright,    genial  young  man,  possessing  more 
than    ordinary     intelligence     and    business 
capacity.        His     loss    by    death   was    seri- 
ously   felt  by   the    community.       Then,    as 
President  of    the    company,     follow  N.  R. 
Casey,    Judge    W.   H.    Green,  of   Cairo,  D. 
Hogan  and  H.  G.  Carter.     These  last-named 


554 


IIiyTOHY    OF   PULASKI  COUNTY 


gentleman  were  elected  Presidents  with 
Directors  to  preserve  the  charter.  The 
mortgaged  property  was  sold  in  1868,  and 
bought  by  the  bondholders.  Those  holding 
bonds,  bought  enough  to  cover  the  amount 
of  bonds  they  held.  As  has  been  intimated, 
it  would  take  a  volume  to  follow  the  Empo- 
rium Company  thi'ough  all  its  wanderings. 
The  charter  incorporating  this  company  had 
been  gi-anted  for  twenty-live  years  only,  and 
it  expired  in  1882.  While  the  end  of  this 
once  grand  corporation  had  been  reached 
some  years  before,  its  breathings  only  ceased 
when  the  charter  died. 

The  question  whether  the  Ohio  River  ever 
had,  or  ever  would  overflow  her  banks  at 
Mound  City,  was  one  often  asked  and  dis- 
cussed by  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  city; 
but  in  June,  1858,  the  question  was  answered. 
Along  in  May,  the  river  became  bank- full, 
and  then  gradually  began  lo  overflow.  It 
was  not  rapid  or  turbulent,  but  a  constant 
increase  in  volume.  First,  the  depressions 
filled  with  water,  then  it  passed  around  ele- 
vations and  formed  a  small  island;  then  the 
island  gi-ew  less  until  it  disappeai'ed.  Houses 
were  encroached  upon;  a  false  floor  was 
necessary,  in  order  to  live  "  dry  shod "  on 
the  inside.  Thus  the  river  continued  to  come, 
and  the  people  continued  to  put  in  false 
floors  in  their  houses  until  the  water  stood 
from  two  to  three  feet  over  the  city,  except 
the  mounds.  The  weather  was  warm  and 
pleasant.  It  was  the  first  experience  of  the 
kind  the  people  ever  had,  and  instead  of 
despairing  and  discom-aging  them,  they 
rather  enjoyed  it.  Business  houses,  upon 
their  raised  floors,  kept  open;  there  was  but 
little  interruption  of  the  trade  of  the  city, 
any  way.  Skifi"s,  yawls,  scows,  flats  of  every 
conceivable  shape  and  style  of  boat,  could  be 
seen  canying  through  the  streets  merry  and 
happy  people.    The  "gunnel,"  twenty  to  fifty 


feet  long,  bearing  up  a  half-dozen  passen- 
gers, controlled  and  steered  with  a  pole,  was 
a  great  favorite  with  many,  especially  with 
those  who,  in  their  extreme  kindness,  de- 
sired to  get  some  friend  on  board  and  tilt 
him  off  into  the  water.  The  nights  were 
moonlight,  and  the  gay  and  happy  people  of 
all  ages  enjoyed  their  boat  rides  at  night. 
Music,  both  vocal  and  instrumental,  floated 
upon  the  air  in  every  direction;  serenading 
parties  were  frequent.  Cotillion  parties 
would  be  given,  and,  instead  of  coach  and 
four,  fifty  gondolas  would  be  moored  around 
the  hostess'  house.  Mound  City  looked  very 
much  like  Venice  did  when  the  American 
lady  said  she  visited  Venice  at  an  unfortu- 
nate time — the  town  was  overflowed,  and  the 
people  had  to  go  in  boats.  By  the  1st  day 
of  July,  the  waters  had  receded,  and  soon 
afterwai'd  it  was  difficult  to  find  a  resident 
that  would  admit  water  had  been  in  the 
town.  However,  it  established  the  fact  that 
a  levee  was  necessaiy  to  protect  the  city 
against  a  similar  occurrence;  yet  it  was  de- 
layed, and  in  the  spring  of  1862  the  city  was 
again  overflowed.  The  river  became  higher 
than  it  did  in  1858,  and  the  novelty  was  not 
so  gi'eat;  nor  was  the  enjoyment  of  the  peo- 
ple so  marked.  After  the  flood  had  come 
and  gone,  the  city  authorities  set  about  build- 
ing a  levee.  By  authority,  they  issued  city 
bonds,  bearing  10  per  cent  interest  and  run- 
ning ten  years,  to  pay  for  it.  Some  were  eold 
for  80  cents  on  the  dollai",  but  a  contract 
was  made  with  George  W.  Carter  and  Alex- 
ander Frazier  and  Timothy  Booth,  to  do  the 
work  for  30  cents  per  yard,  and  take  city 
bonds  in  payment.  Therefore,  late  in  1866, 
the  levee  was  completed.  The  length  was  three 
miles.  In  the  spring  of  1867,  the  Ohio,  fed 
by  the  Cumberland.  Tennessee,  Wabash,  and 
other  less  rivers,  again  overflowed  her  banks, 
and  soon  surrounded  the  levee.   Fears  at  once 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI  COUNTY. 


555 


were  entertained  that,  from  the  newness  of 
the  levee,  it  would  fail  to  resist  the  pressure 
of  the  water  fi-om  without.  Their  fears  were 
realized,  in  the  extreme  northwestern  por- 
tion; there  a  break  occurred,  fifty  feet  wide, 
and  water  rushed  into  the  city  with  great 
force  and  rapidity,  but  it  was  twenty  hours 
afterward  before  the  water  stood  as  high  on 
the  inside  of  the  levee  as  it  was  on  the  out- 
side. No  particular  damage  resulted,  but 
more  inconvenience,  for  the  reason  less  prep 
aration  had  been  made  for  such  a  visitation. 
When  the  location  where  the  levee  gave  way 
was  examined,  after  the  water  had  receded, 
several  old  logs  were  found,  having  been 
placed  in  the  levee  when  building,  which 
evidently  was  the  cause  of  the  break.  Then 
followed  the  contract,  on  the  part  of  the  city, 
with  A.  J.  Dougherty  and  George  E.  Louns- 
berry,  to  build  the  levee  broader  at  its  base 
and  higher,  paying  them  in  city  bonds.  This 
was  in  1867-68.  The  total  amount  of  city 
bonds  issued  for  levee  purposes  amounted  to 
$47,500.  The  river  was  again  high  in 
1872  and  1875.  By  this  time,  the  levee  had 
become  firm  and  compact.  In  the  spring  of 
1882,  the  unprecedented  flood  came;  but  the 
levee  protected  the  city.  This  flood  was  fol- 
lowed, in  1883,  with  a  still  greater  flood,  and 
while  many  towns  and  cities  on  the  Ohio 
River  were  flooded,  resulting  in  great  loss  of 
property,  the  Mound  City  levee  stood  the 
pressure,  and  the  city  remained  dry.  In  the 
winter  of  1867,  N.  R.  Casey,  then  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  from  this  county,  obtained 
from  the  State,  by  special  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature, the  State  tax  of  Mound  city  for  ten 
years,  to  be  applied  to  building  levee,  and 
paying  the  bonds  and  interest  on  the  same. 
The  State  paid  to  the  city  the  taxes  for  two 
years,  when  the  new  constitution,  adopted  in 
1870,  prohibited  any  further  payment.  The 
levee  had  been  built,  and  bonds  sold,  and  as 


one  of  the  inducements,  especially  to  pur- 
chasers of  bonds,  was  the  fact  that  the  city 
would  receive  yearly  her  State  tax  and  thus 
make  the  investment  good.  The  winter  of 
J 883,  Hon.  Daniel  Hogan,  Senator  from  this 
(Fifty-first)  district,  inti-oduced  a  bill  ap- 
propriating to  the  city  of  Mound  City  $8,000, 
the  amount  the  city  would  have  received  from 
the  State,  had  the  new  constitution  not  pro- 
hibited. After  making  many  and  serious  ob- 
jections, the  bill  passed,  and  the  city  now  has 
the  money.  The  flood  of  1883  established 
the  fact  that  Mound  City  is  protected  beyond 
a  question  against  all  floods  that  may  come 
in  the  Ohio  River  in  the  future. 

The  first  murder  committed  in  Mound  City 
was  early  in  1857.  John  T.  Cook  lived  upon 
a  flat-boat  lying  opposite  where  McDowell's 
saw  mill  now  stands.  Cook  kept  boarders. 
There  were  no  hotels  nor  boarding-houses 
then  in  Mound  City.  He  often  had  as  many 
as  sixty  boarders — never  less  than  thirty. 
In  a  shanty,  a  little  way  back  from  the  river 
and  Cook's  flat-boat,  lived  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Harper.  He  was  a  large,  stout,  robust 
Irishman.  Cook  was  off  his  boat,  but  near 
the  water's  edge,  splitting  stove  wood,  when 
Harper  came  up  to  him,  and  a  quarrel  com- 
menced about  the  ownership  of  some  hogs; 
Cook  claiming  ihat  he  had  taken  them  from 
a  man  for  making  a  coffin  for  the  man's  wife, 
while  Harper  said  they  were  his,  when  a 
fight  between  Harper  and  Cook  commenced. 
At  this  time  a  man  came  up,  by  the  name  of 
Scott,  who  struck  Harper  with  a  club  or  saw- 
buck,  on  the  head.  Harper  fell,  was  taken 
to  his  shanty,  but  never  spoke,  and  died  the 
next  morning.  Cook  and  Scott  were  arrested. 
Cook  took  a  change  of  venue  to  Golconda, 
and  was  acquitted.  Scott  was  tried  at  Cale- 
donia and  was  convicted  of  murder  in  the 
first  degree,  and  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged 
on  a   certain  day.     Some   hours   before  the 


556 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


time  set  to  hang  him,  the  Governor  gave  a 
reprieve  for  thirty  days.  This  information, 
however,  was  not  known  to  many,  and  early 
on  the  day^set  for  hanging  Scott  the  people 
began  to  arrive  in  Caledonia.  The  gallows 
was  built,  and  his  coffin  was  stored  away  in 
the  court  house.  By  12  o'clock,  it  was  es- 
timated that  two  thousand  people,  includ- 
ing men,  women  and  children,  were  upon  the 
gi'ound,  and  when  informed  that  the  Gov- 
ernor had  respited  Scott,  and  that  they 
would  have  to  wait  thirty  days  longer  before 
they  could  see  him  hanged,  they  were  out- 
raged, abused  the  Governor  and  all  who  had 
taken  any  part  in  giving  Scott  further  time 
to  prepare  to  die.  The  sequel  shows  that 
before  the  expiration  of  the  thirty  days  Scott 
made  his  escape  from  the  jail,  and  was  never 
heard  of  afterward. 

In  the  winter  of  1857,  there  lived  in  a 
cabin  opposite  the  south  end  of  the  marine 
ways,  but  back  where  the  Wabash  Railroad 
crosses  the  levee,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jerry 
O'Haloran,  and  his  wife.  They  were  both 
addicted  to  drink,  especially  the  vvife,  and  it 
was  known  that  they  frequently  had  out- 
breaks and  fights.  One  night,  at  9  or 
10  o'clock,  Mrs.  O'Haloran  was  found  dead 
in  their  house.  Evidence  indicated  that  she 
had  come  to  her  death  from  strangulation. 
Her  husband  was  '^arrested  as  her  mm-derer, 
who  was  finally  convicted,  but  the  Judges 
gave  him  a  new  trial,  and  before  another 
term  of  court  commenced  Jerry  escaped  from 
jail  and  came  down  to  Mound  City  to  see  his 
attorney,  Tom  Green;  but  Green  telling  him 
he  had  better  get  out  of  the  country,  he  did 
so,  and  was  never  heard  of  afterward. 

The  next  murder  was  in  1859.  A  family 
by  the  name  of  Vaughn  lived  here  part  of 
the  time,  and  part  of  the  time  on  the  river, 
and  occasionally  in  Massac  County.  Their 
reputation  was  not  good;  they  did  nc^  seem 


to  have  any    abiding-place    long  at  a    time. 
Joel  Vaughn,  the   father,  was  frequently  ar- 
rested for  fighting,  or   disturbing  the  peace 
in  some  way.      In  some  of  his  fights,  his  an- 
tagonist had  bitten  ofif  his  under  lip,  and  to 
conceal  the  appearance  it  gave  his  face,  he 
woi'e  a  strip  of  cotton  cloth  over  it,  the  ends 
tied  at  the  back  of  his  head.     He  was  fre- 
quently drunk,  and  by  no  means  a  desirable 
Sunday  afternoon  companion.     His  son  Jim. 
probably  twenty-five    years  old,    lived  about 
the  same  kind  of  a  life.    He  occasionally  took 
trips  to  New  Orleans  on   flat-boats,  and  was 
said  to  be  a  good  hand.    In  October,  1859,  a 
number  of  men  had  congregated  at  Zanone's 
saloon;  a  fight   commenced,  in  which   several 
seemed    to  be  taking    a   part,   among    them 
Daniel  K.  Charles,  who  had  just  knocked  a 
man  down  by  the  name  of  Wilmott,  when  he 
was  shot   without  knowing  who  did  it.      He 
staggered,    and    fell    dead.        It    was    soon 
learned  Jim  Vaughn  had  done  the  shooting. 
Vaughn  escaped   from  the  city,  and  crossed 
the  river  that  night  ,into  ^Kentucky.     Capt. 
C.  M.  Ferrill,  City  Marshal,    learning    these 
facts,    followed  him  early  Sunday   morning, 
overtaking  him  about  ten  miles  below  (Jairo, 
on  the    Kentucky    side.       He    admitted    the 
shooting,    and   was  brought  to  Mound  City 
just  at  night.     A  large  crowd  met  him  when 
he    landed    on   this    side  of    the   rivei-,    and 
threats  of  hanging  were  made  freely;  but  he 
was  placed  in  the  calaboose,  and,    to  protect 
him  the  Mayor  appointed  six  men,   provided 
with  loaded  shotguns,  to  guard  the  calaboose. 
At   12    o'clock  that   night,    the   Mayor   and 
Marshal  passed  through  most  of  the  streets; 
found   them  all  quiet;  stopped  at   the  cala- 
boose, and   instructed  the  guards,  should  an 
attack  be  made  to  spare  one  of  the  number  to 
inform  them  (the  Mayor  and   Marshal;,  and 
they  went  to  their  homes.     It  seems,  at  the 
time  these   instructions  were   given,  at  least 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI  COrNTY. 


557 


sixty  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were  then 
concealed  in  the  gymnasium,  that  had  a  high 
and  tight  fence  around  the  ground,  and  stood 
near  where  Capt.  Cole  Boren's  residence  now 
stands,  arranging  the  [details  to  hang 
Vaughn,  and  they  soon  after  made  their  ap- 
pearance at  the  calaboose.  Some  sixteen  of 
them  were  disguised,  and  to  them  the  hang- 
ing was  intrusted.  When  they  found  the 
guards  there  they  hesitated,  but  upon  one  of 
the  guards  saying,  "  If  you  are  going  to 
hang  him  I  wish  you  would  do  it,  as  I  want 
to  go  home  and  go  to  bed,"  with  this  en- 
couragement they  began  to  batter  down  the 
door.  Judge  Emerie  and  others  arrived  at 
this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  and  made  an 
effort  to  be  heard,  but  no  attention  was  paid 
to  them.  Vaughn  was  soon  pulled  out,  and 
the  rope  placed  around  his  neck.  He  begged 
for  fifteen  minutes  to  say  his  prayers  in,  but 
that  length  of  time  was  denied  him.  He  was 
dragged  along  to  where  a  tree  had  been 
blown  over,  about  twenty  feet  from  the 
ground,  but  not  separated  from  the  main 
trunk.  Over  that  portion  that  had  been 
blown  over,  they  threw  the  rope,  and  pulled 
Vaughn  up  several  feet  above  the  ground; 
then  tying  the  end  of  the  rope  to  a  stump, 
they  left  him  to  choke  to  death,  which  he  did. 
This  tree  upon  which  he  was  hanged  stood 
just  south  of  where  the  Catholic  Church  now 
stands.  The  first  intimation  the  Mayor  had 
that  Vaughn  was  hanged  was  given  him 
next  day  morning  by  Jim  Vaughn's  father. 
About  daylight  the  father  came  to  the  Mayor's 
house,  drunk,  and  said,  "  Well,  they  hung 
Jim,"  and  thus  ended  the  "tragedy."  Jim 
Vaughn's  father  was  afterward  convicted  of 
placing  obstructions  upon  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tralRail  road,  near  Pulaski  Station,  in  this 
county,  and  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  a 
term  of  years. 

After  this  hanging,  we  hear  of   no  more 


murders  until  1863.  Civil  war  was  upon 
the  country,  and  at  Mound  City  was  camp- 
ing the  Eighteenth  Illinois  Regiment,  com- 
manded by  that  veteran,  Col.  Mike  Lawler, 
later  a  General.  With  very  slight  provoca- 
tion, or  none  at  all,  one  soldier,  early  in  the 
evening,  shot  and  killed  a  brother  soldier. 
The  murderer  was  arrested  at  once,  and  Col. 
Lawler  made  an  effort  to  deliver  the  man 
over  to  the  civil  authorities.  The  civil  au- 
thorities, knowing  that  the  regiment  would 
soon  be  ordered  away,  and  with  it  would  go 
the  only  witnesses  against  the  murderer,  re- 
fused to  have  anything  to  do  with  him,  and 
suggested  that  the  regiment  dispose  of  its 
own  murderers.  Upon  this  suggestion.  Col. 
Lawler  organized  a  court,  consisting  of  a 
judge,  prosecuting  attorney  and  jury,  and 
appointed  an  attorney  to  defend  the  man. 
The  court  cenvened  in  a  few  hours  after  the 
murder  had  been  committed.  The  best  legal 
talent  in  the  regiment  had  been  selected. 
The  prisoner  was  brought  before  the  court, 
and  the  trial  proceeded.  In  a  short  time  the 
evidence  was  all  in;  the  attorneys  had  made 
their  speeches;  the  Judge  had  delivered  his 
instructions  to  the  jury,  and  the  jury  had 
rendered  a  verdict  of  guilty.  The  court  im- 
mediately pronoimced  the  sentence,  and  it 
was  that  the  murderer  be  taken,  at  sunrise 
the  next  morning,  to  the  most  convenient 
tree,  and  there  hung  by  the  neck  until  dead. 
The  word  dead  was  not  repeated  by  the 
judge,  so,  at  sunrise  or  a  little  before,  the 
next  morning,  twelve  hours  after  the  murder, 
the  condemned  man,  sitting  on  his  coffin,  in 
a  cart  drawn  by  a  yoke  of  oxen,  passed  out 
of  town  and  along  the  Mound  City  Railroad, 
until  they  reached  the  "  convenient  tree" 
that  stood  not  far  from  where  the  negro 
man  Cotton  afterward  built  a  house. 
One  end  of  a  rope  was  fastened  around  his 
neck^^and  the  other  over  the  limb  of  the  tree, 


558 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


and  the  order  "  Drive  off  the  cart "  given, 
which  left  the  victim  dangling  in  the  air. 
After  strangulation  was  complete,  he  was  cut 
down,  placed  in  his  coffin,  and  during  the 
hanging  a  few  soldiers  had  made  a  hole  in 
the  ground,  into  which  was  placed  the  dead 
man,  and  covered  over  with  dirt.  "  And  the 
man  that  kills  his  fellow-man  shall  by  man 
be  killed  "  had  been  followed  out  to  the  let- 
ter. Not  until  July  4,  1883,  did  Mound  City 
again  have  to  record  a  murder  and  the  mur- 
derer executedjwithout  Judge  or  jury.  The 
accommodation  train  on  the  Wabash  Rail- 
road, as  it  passed  down  to  Cairo  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  4th  of  July,  was  crowded  with 
people  going  to  attend  the  celebration. 
Upon  its  retm-n  in  the  evening,  about  6 
o'clock,  the  same  people  were  on  board,  re- 
turning home.  Among  the  number  on  this 
train  was  John  Kane,  a  white  man,  foreman 
of  the  bridge  builders  on  the  Wabash  road. 
He  lived  in  Carmi,  111.,  and  was  on  his  way 
home.  Nelson  Howard,  a  negro  man,  was 
also  on  the  train,  and  had  worked  as  a  sec- 
tion hand  on  the  road  at  Grand  Chain,  in 
this  county,  where  he  lived.  Kane  and 
Howard  had  no  acquaintance.  As  the  train 
was  pulling  up  to  the  depot  at  Mound  City, 
some  I'udeness  on  the  part  of  Howard  in 
passing  Kane,  caused  a  quarrel  between 
them.  A  scuffle  ensued,  and  Kane  drew  a 
pistol.  Both  men  had  been  drinking.  How- 
ard quickly  snatched  the  pistol  from  Kane. 
When  they  commenced  this  trouble,  they 
were  on  the  outside  platform  of  the  car,  but 
when  Howard  got  the  pistol  from  Kane  they 
were  just  on  the  inside  of  the  car.  Howard 
shot  Kane  in  the  head  and  through  the  body. 
From  his  actions  it  was  evident  he  was  fatal- 
ly shot.  By  this  time  the  train  had  reached 
the  depot,  when  Howard  escaped,  pursued 
by  Gibson,  the  conductor,  and  others,  but 
they  failed  to  overtake  him.   Kane  was  taken 


into  the  depot,  and  upon  examinaton,  besides 
the  two  pistol  wounds,  he  had  been  stabbed 
in  the  breast,  supposed  to  have  been  done 
before  Kane  drew  his  pistol.  He  died  at  10 
o'clock  that  night.  The  same  night,  Will- 
iam Painter,  Jailer  and  Deputy  Sheriff,  and 
A.  J.  Ross,  City  Marshal  of  Mound  City,  left 
in  pursuit  of  Howard,  and  on  their  way  to 
Grand  Chain,  where  Howard  lived,  they  were 
joined  by  William  Nappier,  G.  F.  Boren 
and  Robert  Summers.  Howard  lived  a  half- 
mile  from  Grand  Chain.  The  above  party 
reached  his  house  between  3  and  4  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  They  surrounded  it,  and 
he  was  called  to  the  door.  He  made  his  ap- 
pearance. The  presentation  of  pistols,  look- 
ing him  in  the  face,  induced  him  to  surren- 
der without  having  any  difficulty  with  his 
captors.  They  brought  him  to  Mound  City, 
and  placed  him  in  the  jail.  During  that  day 
(July  5)  the  inquest  was  held  on  Kane's  body, 
the  jury  finding  he  had  come  to  his  death  by 
the  hand  of  Nelson  Howard,  as  above  stated. 
No  threats  of  lynching  Howard  were  made 
during  the  day,  but  the  tragedy  was  regretted 
by  the  people,  neither  of  them  being  resi- 
dents of  'the  city,  however,  no  unusual  feel- 
ing was  created  by  the  occm-rence.  The 
night  of  the  5th  came,  and  Jailer  Painter 
retired  at  his  usual  hour,  taking  the  precau- 
tion, as  he  always  does  when  he  has  a  bad 
criminal  in  his  charge,  of  sleeping  in  the 
debtors'  room.  The  jail  is  a  two-story  brick 
house.  You  enter  a  hall  from  the  front,  and 
the  hall  passes  through  the  building,  from 
which  a  door  opens  at  the  rear  end.  The 
rooms  to  the  left  of  the  hall,  as  you  enter, 
are  occupied  by  the  jailer  and  his  family. 
The  stairway  starts  from  near  the  back  hall 
door,  that  leads  up  to  the  debtors'  room. 
From  the  debtors'  room,  a  door  leads  into  the 
room  that  contains  the  iron  cage  or  crib,  in 
which  persons  charged  with  murder,  etc.,  are 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


559 


kept,  and  where  Howard  had  been  placed. 
There  is  room  enough  to  pass  around  this  cage, 
and  you  can  look  out  of  the  grated  windows 
and  see  what  is  going  on  below.  About  half- 
past  1  o'clock,  the  morning  of  the  6th,  rapid 
knocking  was  heard  by  Mrs.  Painter,  the 
jailer's  wife,  at  the  front  door,  soon  followed 
by  Mrs.  Painter  calling  to  her  husband  that 
there  were  a  great  many  men  about  the  jail. 
He  got  up,  getting  his  revolver,  and  going 
forward  heard  some  one  say  below,  "  Give  me 
a  boost."  The  jailer  went  into  the  room 
where  Howard  was  caged,  and  upon  looking 
out  of  the  east  window,  he  saw  from  seventy- 
five  to  one  hundred  men  below,  and  that  some 
of  them  were  holding  guns  in  their  hands. 
The  jailer  warned  them,  and  said,  "  When 
this  man  goes  out  of  here  it  will  be  accord- 
ing to  law;  and  you  will  get  hurt  if  you  at- 
tempt to  take  him  out."  Some  one  below  said 
"  The  jailer  may  give  us  trouble;  we  will 
call  the  rest  of  our  company."  Thereupon  a 
M'histle  was  given,  when  a  crowd  of  twenty 
or  thirty  more  came  in  answer  to  the  whistle; 
when  some  one  said,  "  We  will  go  to  the 
church  and  get  the  ladder,  and  plug  him 
through  the  bars."  Others  said,  "No;  we 
want  the  scoundrel  out  of  there. "  Below, 
Mrs.  Painter  talked  to  them  through  the 
ticreened  windows.  They  wanted  the  keys  of 
the  jail,  and  she  had  made  four  trips  up- 
stairs to  talk  to  her  husband,  and  to  advise 
him  that  it  was  useless  to  attempt  to  resist 
them;  that  there  was  no  use  in  sacrificing 
himself  in  attempting  to  defend  Howard. 
The  jailer  started  down  stairs,  and  got  half 
way  when  he  changed  his  mind  and  returned, 
and  locked  himself  in  the  debtors'  room. 
Then  he  heard  thnm  jumping  in  through  the 
windows,  and  were  soon  at  the  door  up  stairs, 
saying,  "Jailer,  we  want  you  out  of  here; 
we  don't  want  to  hurt  you,  but  you  have  kept 
us  out  long  enough,  and  if    any  of   us  suffer 


you  will  suffer  with  us.  The  jailer  opened 
the  door  and  stepped  out  on  the  stairway. 
They  then  demanded  the  keys  to  the  cell, 
with  pistols  pointed  at  his  head.  Ha  said  he 
could  not  give  them  up;  that  L.  F.  Grain, 
the  Sheriff,  had  them  at  his  house.  Then 
they  shoved  the  jailer  down  the  stairway. 
Joe  T.  Diller  was  stopping  with  the  jailer, 
having  come  in  from  the  country  that  day. 
The  jailer  had  told  his  wife,  on  her  first  visit 
to  him,  to  have  Diller  slip  out  of  the  back 
door  and  inform  the  Sheriff  of  what  was 
going  on.  His  wife  replied,  "  I  have  already 
done  so;"  but  when  MJrs.  Painter  returned 
from  her  fourth  visit  to  her  husband  up 
stairs,  she  found  Diller  sitting  on  a  lounge 
in  one  of  the  bedrooms,  looking  discouraged. 
Upon  her  asking  why  he  had  not  gone  and 
notified  Grain,  the  Sheriff,  as  requested,  his 
reply  was,  "  My  God,  woman,  I  can't  get  out 
of  here;  the  house  is  surrounded  by  men. 
I  did  make  the  effort,  when  a  dozen  pistols 
were  pointed  at  me,  while  one  man  said, 
'  Let  him  come,  and  we  will  fill  him  so  full 
of  lead  he  can't  run.'  "  "  Well,"  said  Mrs.. 
Painter,  "  I  will  go  myself;  "  and  started, 
and  had  gotten  half  way  from  the  front  door 
to  the  gate,  probably  thirty  yards,  halloaing 
for  the  Sheriff  at  the  top  of  her  voice. 
Several  said,  "  Stop  that  noise."  Two  men 
came  up,  and  caught  her,  placing  their  hands 
over  her  mouth.  A  little  man  came  up,  and 
presented  a  revolver  to  her  face,  saying,  "  I 
will  make  her  stop  it."  She  knocked  his 
arm  down,  and  he  desisted,  while  another 
said,  "  We  are  not  here  to  insult  or  hurt 
you,  but  you  must  not  halloo. "  In  placing 
their  hands  over  her  face  they  got  a  finger 
in  her  mouth,  which  required  some  effort  to 
get  it  out.  Finally,  a  large,  stout  man  put 
his  arm  across  her  throat,  which  completely 
garroted  her,  and  stopped  her  from  making 
any  fxu'ther  noise.     She  begged,  throughout, 


560 


HISTORY   OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


for  the  negro  man,  that  he  ought  to  have  a 
fair  trial.  The  reply  was,  "  AVe  have  come 
to  court  martial  him."  During  this  time, 
the  jailer  was  in  the  cell-room,  and  he  had 
said  to  Howard  to  halloo  for  help,  which  he 
did.  After  they  had  shown  the  jailer  down 
stairs,  tliey  went  to  a  bedroom  and  got  a 
lamp  that  was  burning,  and  took  it  up  stairs, 
when  they  began  on  the  cell  door  with  sledge 
hammers,  with  which  they  were  provided. 
The  negro  man  was  still  halloaing,  but  seemed 
to  quit  when  the  pounding  on  the  door 
ceased.  The  jailer  heard  some  one  say, 
"  Pick  him  up,  boys;  pick  him  up."  The 
jailer,  like  Diller,  made  an  effort  to  escape 
by  the  back  door,  but  was  forced  back  into 
the  hall,  with  the  order,  "  Hold  up  your 
hands,"  and  then  guarded.  They  brought 
Howard  down,  and  through  the  hall,  and  out 
the  front  door,  and  between  there  and  the 
gate  leading  out  of  the  jail  inclosure  Mrs. 
Painter  heard  one  say,  "Stand  up  and  walk, 
or  we  will  make  you."  Fifty  yards  from  the 
gate,  on  the  outside,  they  hung  him  to  a 
limb,  with  a  rope  about  the  size  tishermen 
use,  and  call  "  trot  line,"  but  it  was  arranged 
with  a  regular  hangman's  knot.  When  this 
was  done,  three  pistol  shots  were  heard,  when 
the  jailer  saw  four  men  march  out  of  the  jail 
yard.  Then  all  left,  going  south.  Neither 
the  Sheriff,  jailer  or  any  one  else  had  been 
notitied  or  warned  of  the  danger  of  a  mob 
hanging  Howard.  Still,  four  or  five  colored 
men  went  that  night  to  guard  the  jail,  but 
all  left  with  the  exception  of  Pat  Scott  and 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Howard — no  relation, 


however,  to  the  man  who  was  hanged.  They 
were  not  over  fifty  yards  from  the  tree  How- 
ard was  hung  on  when  the  mob  came.  Scott 
passed  over  the  levee,  but  Howard  remained 
where  he  was.  They  had  guns,  but  made  no 
effort  to  pi'otect  Howard.  After  he  was 
hanged,  they  gave  the  alarm,  rang  the  fire 
bell,  but  when  the  Sheriff  and  others  reached 
the  jail,  Howard  was  hung  and  the  mob  gone. 
The  Sheriff  cut  Howard  down.  The  inquest 
developed  the  fact,  the  next  day,  that  the 
back  of  Howard's  skull  was  crushed  in,  which 
was  probably  done  before  they  got  him  out  of 
the  jail  yard,  when  he  refused  to  walk.  No 
clew  has  been  obtained  as  to  who  was  engaged 
in  the  lynching;  belief,  however,  is  that  it 
was  done  by  employes  on  the  Wabash  Rail- 
road. No  citizen,  it  is  quite  certain,  of 
Mound  City  was  engaged  in  it.  Hand  cars  came 
up  from  Cairo  that  night,  if  not  a  locomotive, 
as  both  have  been  reported  and  believed.  No 
arrest  followed.  The  city  offered  $200  re- 
ward for  the  arrest  of  the  guilty  ones.  No 
blame  could  be  attached  to  the  Sheriff  of  the 
county  or  the  jailer.  The  jailer  did  all  he 
could  to  prevent  it,  and  might  have  sacrificed 
his  life,  but  that  svould  not  have  saved  How- 
ard. Mrs.  Painter,  the  jailer's  wife,  ex- 
hibited great  courage,  and  did  all  she  could 
to  aid  her  husband  in  protecting  the  mur- 
derer. Much  excitement,  with  some  threats, 
prevailed  among  the  colored  people  for  some 
days  afterward,  but  it  gradually  subsided. 
The  lynchers  all  wore  masks,  and  seemed  to 
have  a  captain  who  gave  the  orders,  which 
were  readily  obeyed. 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI  COUNTY 


561 


CHAPTER    VII, 


MOUND  CITY— IT  BE<:()MES  THE  COUNTY  SEAT— COUNTY  OFFICIALS— JUDGE  MANSFIELD— LAWYERS 
— F.  M.  RAVVLINGS  AND  OTHERS— JO  TIBBS  AGAIN— THE  PRESS— "NATIONAL  EM- 
PORIUM "—OTHER    PAPERS— FIRST   PHYSICIANS   OF   THE   CITY— 
SCHOOLS— TEACHERS  AND  THEIR  SALARIES,  ETC.,  ETC. 


THE  enabling  act  authorizing  the  people  of 
Pulaski  County  to  vote  upon  the  removal 
of  the  county  seat  from  North  Caledonia  to 
Mound  City  passed  the  Legislature  in  February, 
1865,  and  the  vote  was  taken  on  the  thirteenth  of 
May  following.  This  question  in  Pulaski 
County  engendered  the  same  feeling  and  un- 
pleasantness among  the  people  that  invariably 
develops  upon  a  question  of  this  character. 
The  vote,  however,  resulted  in  favor  of  its  re- 
moval, and  after  some  legal  objection  had  been 
determined  it  was  moved  to  Mound  City  in 
1868.  Judge  John  Olney  held  the  first  court 
after  its  removal.  The  City  Hall  building  had 
been  given  to  the  county  without  charge.  The 
court  was  held  in  the  hall,  while  the  rooms  on 
the  first  floor  were  occupied  by  the  Clerks  and 
Sheriff.  At  the  time  of  the  removal,  A.  M. 
Brown  was  County  Judge,  with  Capt.  W.  L. 
Hambleton  and  George  W.  Carter,  Associates  ; 
H.  M.  Smith,  Circuit  Clerk  ;  H.  C.  Mertz,  County 
Clerk,  and  George  Minnich,  Sheriff.  In  1869, 
Col.  E.  B.  Watkins  was  elected,  and  continued 
County  Clerk  until  1873,  when  Daniel  Hogan 
was  elected.  He  continued  Count}'  Clerk  un- 
til 1882,  the  expiration  of  his  second  term, 
when  he  was  elected  State  Senator  from  this 
the  Fifty-first  District.  John  A.  Waugh,  the 
present  incumbent,  was  elected  in  November, 
1882.  B.  L.  Ulen  was  elected  Circuit  Clerk  in 
1872  ;  was  re-elected  in  1878  and  1882,  and 
consequently  is  the  present  Clerk.  Mr.  Ulen 
lived  in  Pulaski  County  since  1855.     He  was 

*By  Dr.  N.  R.  Casey. 


four  vears  in  the  Union  arm}' ;  was  severely 
wounded,  making  him  a  cripple  for  life. 
George  S.  Pigeon  was  County  Judge  until  1872, 
when  he  resigned,  and  the  Governor  appointed 
Judge  A.  M.  Brown  to  fill  the  vacanc}-.  In 
1873,  G.L.  Tombelle  was  elected,  and  continued 
County  Judge  until  1877,  when  Judge  A.  M. 
Brown  was  again  elected,  but  died  before  his 
term  expired,  and  this  vacanc}'  was  filled  by 
Judge  Smith,  who  is  still  the  County  Judge. 
In  1866,  S.  0.  Lewis  was  elected  Sheriff,  and 
in  1868  H.  W.  Dyer  ;  in  1870,  Thomas  C.  Ken- 
neday  ;  in  1874,  H.  H.  Spencer  was  elected 
Sheriff,  and  in  1876  Robert  Wilson  was  elect- 
ed Sheriflr,  and  held  the  office  until  1880,  when 
L.  F.  Crain,  the  present  Sheriff,  was  elected, 
serving  out  his  second  term.  These  gentlemen 
have  held  the  position  in  the  county  since  the 
removal  of  the  county  seat  to  Mound  City. 
Judge  Thomas  J.  Mansfield,  the  County  Judge, 
in  1856  removed  and  lived  for  a  year  or  more 
in  JMound  City.  When  he  came  to  Mound 
City,  no  Justice  of  the  Peace  or  Police  Magis- 
trate had  been  elected.  Parties  for  disturbing 
the  peace  were  frequently  brought  before  him. 
If  any  of  them  appeared  the  second  time,  he 
invariably  said,  "  Here  you  are,  boys,  again. 
I  fine  you  $3  and  cost."  If  their  attorney  in- 
sisted on  an  investigation,  the  Judge  would 
remark,  "  The  judgment  was  entered ;  no 
further  proceedings  in  order."  The  oflflcer 
would  retain  the  party  assessed  until  fine  and 
cost  were  paid.  Judge  Mansfield  came  to  Pu- 
laski   County  from  Franklin   County,  111.,  but 


562 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY 


was  originall}'  from  Tennessee.  He  moved  to 
Texas  after  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office, 
and  there  died. 

The  first  lawyer  that  located  in  Mound  City 
was  F.  M.  Rawlings.  He  had  moved  from 
Louisville  in  1847  to  Benton,  111.,  and  was 
soon  after  elected  State's  Attorney,  when  only 
twenty-three  years  old.  Under  the  judical 
districting  of  the  State,  he  was  Prosecuting 
Attorney  for  more  than  a  dozen  courts.  In 
1850,  he  went  to  Cairo,  and  for  awhile  edited 
a  paper  in  Cairo.  He  moved  to  Thebes,  then 
the  county  seat  of  Alexander  County,  and 
while  there  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Legis- 
lature. In  1855,  he  moved  to  Mound  City 
(his  father,  Gen.  Rawlings,  having  laid  out 
the  city  in  1854),  and  practiced  law  in  this 
judical  district  until  1858,  when  he  died.  He 
was  a  young  man  of  fine  ability'. 

The  second  attorney  that  practiced  law  in 
Mound  City  was  William  Hunter.  He  came 
to  the  city  a  pattern-maker,  and  worked  at 
his  trade  in  the  foundry  in  1857,  and  at  the 
same  time  taught  and  led  a  brass  band.  George 
Mertz,  the  foreman  at  the  foundry,  had  a  law- 
suit. He  went  to  employ  Frank  Rawlings,  but 
Rawlings  informed  him  he  was  employed  by 
the  other  party.  Hunter  hearing  of  Mertz's 
trouble,  volunteered  his  services.  They  were 
accepted  and  from  that  day  on  he  was  a  full 
fledged  lawyer.  He  finally  moved  to  Memphis, 
joined  the  Union  army,  when  war  was  de- 
clared. He  became  a'  Major,  and  after  the  war 
was  Judge  of  the  Criminal  Court  in  Memphis. 

George  W.  Hite,  from  Bardstown,  Ky.,  lived 
and  practiced  law  for  a  short  time  in  Mound 
City.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  Kentucky 
Legislature,  was  a  pleasant  speaker,  looked 
upon  as  a  good  lawyer,  but  moved  to  Louis- 
ville, Ky. 

R.  H.  Warner  was  elected  in  1856  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  and  James  Coons  and  F.  A.  Fair, 
Constables  Thev  were  the  first  officials  of 
the  city.     Dick   Warner,  as  he  was  familiarly 


called,  had  no  great  judicial  ability,  and  while 
he  held  the  office  he  shunned  its  duties  as  much 
as  possible.  Soon  after  his  election,  parties 
came  in  from  the  countr}^  in  search  of  Joe 
Tibbs,  who  they  said  had  been  harboring  and 
concealing  horse-thieves.  They  found  Tibbs 
in  Warner's  store.  Tibbs  inquired. if  they  had  a 
warrant  for  him  ;  when  they  said  no,  he  drew 
his  pistol  and  walked  awaj',  mounted  his  horse 
and  rode  home.  The  next  week,  the  same 
parties  brought  Joe  Tibbs  in,  and  took  him  be- 
foi'e  Squire  Warner  for  a  less  serious  offense. 
George  W.  Hite  was  employed  to  prosecute 
Tibbs.  While  the  trial  was  in  progress,  Jim 
Anglin,  one  of  the  prosecuting  party,  asked 
Joe  Tibbs  if  he  had  told  a  neighbor  that  they 
had  him  arrested  because  they  wouldn't  feed 
him  any  longer.  Tibbs  replied  that  he  had, 
and  Anglin  struck  him  in  the  face.  Tibbs  drew 
his  pistol.  The  Justice  went  out  at  the  back 
door,  followed  by  Hite,  the  Prosecuting  Attor- 
nej',  while  the  others  followed,  or  went  out 
through  the  windows.  Tibbs  leasurely  walked 
out  and  over  to  Gen.  Rawlings'  store,  bought 
some  goods  and  went  home.  That  ended  the 
trial,  and  the  next  day  Dick  Warner  resigned 
his  office.  Jim  Coons,  the  Constable,  was  killed 
some  years  later  in  a  saloon  at  Ashley,  111. 

After  Hite  left,  Tom  Green  came,  and  prac- 
ticed law  several  years.  During  the  time,  his 
brother,  E.  Bell  Green,  came,  and  practiced 
awhile  before  he  moved  to  Mt.  Carmel,  where  he 
still  lives  and  has  an  extensive  practice.  His 
brother  Tom  went  to  Kansas  City.  Then  came 
Hite  and  Watts  from  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1869. 
They  practiced  law  about  two  years  in  Mound 
City,  when  they  returned  to  Louisville.  lu 
1859,  S.  P.  Wheeler,  now  of  Cairo,  located  in 
Mound  City  to  practice  law;  he  was  j'oung  in 
the  practice,  and  young  in  years,  but  studious, 
and  gave  evidence  of  much  promise  in  the 
future,  which  has  been  verified.  He  was  gen- 
erally- found  defending  those  charged  with  vio- 
lating the  law.      To  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


563: 


Warner's  hasty  resignation,  A.  W.  McCormick 
had  been  elected  Justice  and  Acting  Police 
Magistrate.  The  Esquire's  education  had  been 
neglected  in  his  youth,  but  he  was  ever  ready 
to  sit  in  judgment  upon  his  fellow-man  when 
complained  of.  He  came  from  Memphis,  and 
lived  on  a  flat-boat,  with  his  family,  in  1857, 
but  moved  on  shore  before  he  was  elected.  The 
improvements  going  on  at  the  time  in  the  city 
brought  every  character  of  people  to  the 
place,  many  of  them  adventurers,  consequentl}' 
there  were  frequent  broils  and  violations  of  the 
statutes.  During  Esquire  McCormick's  adminis- 
tration, Wheeler  was  before  his  court  constantl}' 
defending  parties,  but  day  after  day,  and  week 
after  week,  his  clients  were  found  guilty.  This 
sort  of  thing  began  to  feel  and  look  discourag- 
ing to  a  young  lawyer.  One  day,  while  thus  dis- 
couraged, he  was  defending  a  man  before  the 
Squire,  and  had  established  the  fact,  beyond  a 
doubt,  that  his  client  was  innocent,  but  the 
Esquire,  with  his  thumbs  in  his  vest,  legs 
crossed,  while  he  gave  his  judicial  chair  a  gen- 
tle motion,  found  Wheeler's  client  guilty,  ac- 
companied with  a  lecture  to  law-breakers  and 
evil-doers  generall}-.  Wheeler  was  outraged 
and  indignant,  and  broke  out  in  unmeasured 
terms  of  the  court  and  his  findings,  and  said 
at  the  close  that  he  would  not  stand  it;  that  the 
law  and  the  evidence;  that  right  and  justice, 
had  all  been  violated  by  the  court.  This  was 
said  before  the  audience  that  usuall}'  attend 
the  Justice's  court.  The  court  adjourned,  and 
the  Esquire  took  Wheeler  into  an  adjoining 
room,  and  said  :  "  See  here,  Dr.  Casey  told 
me  to  decide  all  the  cases  in  favor  of  the  city, 
and  if  you  will  say  nothing  more  about  it,  I 
will  decide  the  next  case  in  favor  of  any  one 
j'ou  may  be  defending."  and  that  settled  the 
unpleasantness  between  the  court  and  attoi'ne}'. 
Henr}-  G.  Carter  came  to  Mound  Cit}-  with 
his  father,  Judge  George  W.  Carter,  in  1860. 
He  returned  to  Kentucky  to  study  law,  but 
came  back  to  Mound  City.      The  first  case  in 


which  he  ever  appeared  was  in  18G2.  It  was. 
one  in  which  his  father  was  complainant.  The 
trial  was  before  O.  A.  Osburne,  Esq.  His  father 
felt  considerable  interest  in  the  suit,  but  be- 
lieved his  son  Henr}-  could  carrj'  him  through 
it  safely.  S.  P.  Wheeler  was  the  opposing 
counsel.  Esquire  Osburne  had  upon  his  table, 
opened  at  the  pages  referring  to  such  cases,  the 
latest  statutes,  '•  Osling's  Justice  "  and  "  Haines' 
Treatise."  The  trial  commenced  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  close,  interspersed  on  the  part  of 
the  attorneys  with  the  usual,  "  I  object,"  but 
the  Esquire  referred  to  his  library,  and  rapidly 
decided  all  objections  to  questions  or  points  of 
law.  The  case  was  closed,  and  the  decision  of 
the  Esquire  was  against  George  W.  Carter, 
greatly  to  his  disappointment.  He  turned  to 
his  son  Henry  and  said  in  great  earnestness  : 
"  My  son,  I  have  gone  to  much  trouble  and  ex- 
pense to  educate  3'ou*  and  fit  3'ou  for  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law,  but  if  this  is.  the  best  j-ou  can 
do,  3'ou  had  better  quit  it  and  go  to  plowing, 
corn." 

Late  in  1858,  Judge  J.  R.  Emerie  came 
to  Mound  City  from  Hillsboro.  Ohio.  He  had 
been  County  Judge  of  the  county,  and  had 
been  a  Member  of  Congress  one  term  from  that 
district.  He  was  elected  Police  Magistrate  in 
1860,  and  continued  to  act  in  that  capacity 
until  1865.  A  part  of  the  time  he  edited  the 
Mound  City  Gazette,  and  kept  a  gi'ocery  store, 
besides  practicing  law.  He  died  in  Mound 
City  in  1869. 

James  B.  Crandell  came  to  Mound  City  from 
Caledonia  in  1863  ;  sold  groceries  until  1865, 
when  he  commenced  the  practice  of  law  ;  since 
that  time,  he  has  been  in  active  practice,  and 
still  resides  in  Mound  Cit}-. 

Col.  E.  B.  Watkins  moved  to  Mound  City 
from  Caledonia  in  1869.  He  was  County 
Clerk,  but  practiced  law  ;  was  elected  to  the 
State  Legislature  in  1876,  and  died  in  1880. 
He  was  a  man  of  ability  ;  he  took  an  active 
part  in  politics  ;  was  frequently  elected  School. 


564 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUXTY 


Director,  taking  great  interest  in  the  prosperity 
and  success  of  tlie  public  scliools. 

H.  G-.  Carter,  the  present  City  Attorne}',  J. 
P.  Roberts  ex-County  Attorney,  and  one  of  the 
Chester  Penitentiary  Commissioners,  J.  B. 
Crandell  and  John  Linegar,  L.  M.  Bradley,  the 
present  County  Attorney,  Thomas  Boyd  and 
W.  T.  Breeze  are  the  resident  attorneys  of 
Mound  City. 

The  Emporium  Company,  recognizing  the 
press  greater  than  any  other  means  they 
could  employ,  to  advance  the  interest  of  the 
company.  Even  before  the  company  was  or- 
ganized in  1856,  bought  a  printing  press  at 
Cincinnati  and  had  it  shipped  to  'Mound  City. 
The  first  number  of  the  National  Emporium 
was  issued  in  June,  1856.  With  the  press 
came  the  editor,  who  prints  his  name  at  the 
head  of  its  columns,  Dr.  Z.  Casterliue,  with 
J.  Walter  Waugh,  publisher.  Dr.  Casterline 
came  from  Ohio,  and  J.  Walter  Waugh  from 
Pennsylvania.  Casterline  edited  the  paper 
about  six  mouths,  when  he  departed  to  some 
other  country.  J.  Walter  Waugh,  the  pub- 
lisher, went  to  Aviston,  111.,  and  commenced 
the  study  of  divinity.  A  few  years  later,  he 
went  to  the  West  Indies  as  Missionary  and  is 
still  there  enlightening  the  people  upon  the 
great  hereafter.  When  Dr.  Casterliue  vacated 
the  editorial  chair,  Moses  B.  Harrell  sat  down 
in  it,  and  John  A.  Waugh,  a  brother  to  J.  Wal- 
ter, became  its  publisher.  Harrell  came  to 
Mound  City  from  Cairo.  He  was  a  ready  and 
graceful  writer.  He  advocated  the  interests  of 
the  Emporium  Company,  Mound  City,  and  the 
county  with  ability.  His  editorials  were  fall 
of  good  sense.  The  advantages  Mound  Cit}' 
possessed  as  a  desirable  location  for  manufac- 
tories were  truthfully  represented.  Harrell 
was  full  of  wit  and  repartee,  and  never  came 
out  second  best  in  the  tilts  he  had  with  his 
brother  editors.  He  was  clear  and  distinct  in 
all  he  wrote,  and  gave  great  satisfaction  to  his 
readers.     The  Emporium  Company's  financial 


embarrassments  indicated  retrenchment  on 
their  part,  and  they  withdrew  their  support 
from  the  paper,  and  Harrell  withdrew  from  the 
editorship  in  1859,  after  which  he  moved  back 
to  Cairo,  and  edited  the  Cairo  Gazette  for  a 
number  of  years,  and  from  Cairo  he  went  to 
Chicago,  where  he  now  lives,  and  is  connected 
with  a  pap«r  at  the  Stock  Yards.  Wherever 
he  goes,  the  people  that  lived  in  Mound  City 
during  his  Emporium  days  will  be  glad  to 
know  that  he  lives,  and  hope,  when  his  time 
comes,  he  may  die  happy. 

Upon  Mr.  Harrell  retiring  from  the  paper, 
its  publisher,  John  A.  Waugh,  became  editor, 
and  continued  its  editor  until  1860.  Mr.  Waugh 
became  clerk  of  the  Marine  Railway  Company 
in  1865,  and  continued  to  occupy  'that  posi- 
tion until  the  death  of  Capt.  Hambleton,  the 
Superintendent,  in  1883.  Mr.  Waugh  is  a 
Christian  gentleman  ;  was  elected  County  Clerk 
in  November,  1882.  He  made  a  good  editor,  a 
good  clerk  at  the  Ways,  and  is  making  a  good 
County  Clerk.  Upon  Mr.  Waugh's  retiring 
from  the  Emporium,  no  paper  was  published  in 
Mound  City  until  late  in  186U.  Judge  J.  R. 
Emerie  started  the  Mound  Cit}'  Gazette,  but  it 
survived  onl}'  a  year.  After  the  collapse  of  the 
Gazette,  Mound  City  was  not  represented  by  a 
newspaper  until  1864,  when  J.  D.  Mondy  es- 
tablished and  edited  the  Mound  Cit}'  Journal, 
but  he  was  soon  relieved  by  S.  P.  Wheeler. 
Mr.  Wheeler  continued  to  edit  the  paper  until 
1865,  when  he  published  his  valedictory,  and 
soon  after  moved  to  Cairo,  where  he  still  re- 
sides. He  was  a  bold  and  independent  writer, 
and  advocated  the  claims  of  Mound  City  and 
Pulaski  County  with  zeal  and  earnestness.  He 
came  to  Mound  City  when  comparativel}'  a 
hoy,  in  1859.  As  law3-er,  editor  and  citizen,  he 
is  still  remembered  in  the  kindest  manner  by 
his  old  friends  and  associates  in  Mound  City. 

H.  R.  Howard,  who  had  been  the  publisher 
of  the  paper  during  Wheeler's  administration, 
assumes  the  duties  of  editor,  and  May  26.  1866, 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY 


5fi7 


he  sold  the  press  and  all  else  belonging  to  it, 
to  Capt.  H.  F.  Potter,  who  was  its  editor  from 
that  day  until  he  removed  to  Cairo  in  1874, 
taking  his  press  with  him. 
\  Capt.  Potter  had  considered  himself  a  resi- 
dent of  Mound  Cit}'  from  1864,  as,  while  he  was 
at  that  time  in  the  army,  his  family  lived  in 
Mound  City.  When  the  war  was  over,  after 
having  served  his  country  more  than  four 
years,  he  joined  his  family  at  Mound  City,  and- 
soon  thereafter,  as  stated,  bought  the  Mound 
City  Journal .  He  devoted  his  entire  time 
and  talents  to  his  paper,  and  it  became  the 
organ  of  the  city  and  county.  He  discussed, 
what  seemed  to  be  the  interest  of  both  town 
and  county  with  intelligence,  and  did  not  over- 
look State  or  National  affairs.  He  was  con- 
servative and  judicious  in  all  he  said,  and  his 
paper  had  much  influence  wherever  read.  He 
now  edits  the  Cairo  and  Mound  City  Journal, 
weekly,  and  the  Cairo  Argus,  daily.  He  was 
elected  Circuit  Clerk  of  Pulaski  County  in 
1868,  for  four  years,  and  was  elected  Chief 
Enrolling  and  Engrossing  Clerk  of  the  Senate 
of  the  Twenty-ninth  and  Thirtieth  Greneral  As- 
sembly, which  duties  he  performed  with  credit 
to  himself,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  inter- 
ested. While  he  is  not  now  a  citizen  of  Mound 
Cit3%  her  people  remember  and  appreciate  him. 
The  National  Emporium,  throughout  its  ex- 
istence, was  neutral  in  politics,  its  object  and 
aim  being  to  advance  originally  the  interest  of 
the  Emporium  Company,  and  of  Mound  City. 
When  the  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to 
the  Mound  City  Journal,  and  later,  when  Capt. 
H.  F.  Potter  purchased  it,  under  his  manage- 
ment it  was  Democratic. 

The  Pulaski  Patriot  was  established  and 
first  cop}'  issued  on  the  17th  day  of  June,  1871, 
by  A.  J.  Alden  and  B.  0.  Jones,  editor  and 
publisher  ;  Republican  in  politics  ;  a  seven-col- 
umn folio.  The  second  week,  F.  R.  Waggoner  as- 
sociated himself  with  x\lden  &  Jones  in  the 
business,  and  withdrew  November  16  of  the 


same  year.  The  week  following,  the  firm  of 
Alden  &  Jones  was  dissolved,  Alden  retiring 
on  the  7th  of  December.  B.  A.  Jones  sold 
the  entire  outfit  of  the  office  to  F.  R.  Waggon- 
er, who  became  the  editor.  On  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary, 1872,  M.  0.  H.  Turner  purchased  an  in- 
terest, the  firm  name  being  Waggoner  &  Tur- 
ner. This  firm  continued  the  publication  of 
the  Patriot  until  the  1st  of  November,  1872 » 
when  Turner  withdrew.  On  the  1st  of  Decem- 
ber of  same  year,  Fred  W.  Corson  became  as- 
sociated in  the  business,  the  firm  name  of  Wag- 
goner &  Corson.  On  the  10th  of  April,  1873, 
Dr.  Waggoner  withdrew  and  was  succeeded  by 
Ed  H.  Bintlifl;  firm  name  Corson  &  Bintliff. 
On  the  23d  of  January,  1874,  Bintliff  with- 
drew, and  Corson  continued  alone  until  the  1st 
of  November,  1874,  when  he  sold  the  office  to 
Ed  S.  Ackerman  and  A.  Ackerman,  with  the 
latter  as  editor,  who  continued  to  conduct  the 
affairs  of  the  paper  until  December,  1877, 
when  he  retired,  and  the  paper  passed  entirely 
into  the  hands  of  Ed  S.  Ackerman,  who  con- 
tinued the  business  until  the  latter  part  of 
July,  1880.  During  these  years,  the  paper  was 
a  seven-column  folio,  with  both  sides  printed 
at  home,  until  1879,  when  it  was  enlarged  to 
an  eight-column,  with  one  side  patent.  In 
July,  1880,  J.  P.  Robarts  purchased  the  office 
reduced  the  paper  to  seven  columns  printed  at 
home,  and  continued  the  publication  until  the 
1st  of  September,  1881,  when  L.  M.  Bradley 
purchased  an  interest.  The  present  firm  name, 
Robarts  &  Bradley,  proprietors,  always  Repub- 
lican in  politics.  For  the  above  history  of  the 
Patriot  we  are  indebted  to  W.  S.  Singleton, 
local  editor. 

The  first  physician  to  locate  in  Mound  City 
was  Dr.  James  F.  Mahan  in  1856.  He  re- 
mained only  a  short  time  ;  the  second  was  Dr. 
R.  M.  Embry  had  his  office  room  No.  10,  Shel- 
ton  House,  but  like  Mahan,  he  soon  went 
farther  West.  The  third  practicing  pliysician 
was   Dr.   J.    H.  Brown,  and   it  was   in    1856. 

32 


568 


HISTORY   OF  PULASKI   COUNTY. 


Brown  came  from  Bardstown,  Ky.  He  was  an 
educated  and  intelligent  gentleman.  He  was 
retiring  and  diffident  in  his  manners,  was  not 
married,  and  was  reaching  that  age  when  a 
single  man  was  liable  to  be  called  a  bachelor ; 
notwithstanding  his  diffidence,  upon  an  ac- 
quaintance, he  was  genial  and  social,  and  be- 
came a  favorite  with  the  people.  He  practiced 
medicine  several  years  in  the  city,  when  he 
bought  a  farm  three  miles  northwest  of  Mound 
City  and  moved  onto  it,  and  soon  became  a 
great  enthusiast  upon  the  subject  of  growing 
apples,  peaches,  and  all  kinds  of  fruit.  He 
continued  the  practice  of  medicine  in  the 
country,  but  his  great  s^-mpathy  for  the  sick, 
and  their  suffering  seemed  to  him  as  much  as 
they  ought  to  endure,  without  paying  a  doctor's 
bill ;  consequently  he  did  not  realize  much  from 
his  profession.  Some  j'ears  ago,  he  moved 
back  to  Kentucky.  He  pays  Mound  Cit}'  and 
Pulaski  County  an  occasional  visit,  when  he  is 
warmly  welcomed  by  his  old-time  friends. 
He  was  elected  City  Councilman  when  living 
in  the  city,  and  while  he  was  living  in  the 
country  he  was  elected  Count}'  Superintendent 
of  Schools.  He  has  never  married  ;  resides  at 
Bardstown,  K}.,  inhaling  the  perfumes  of  the 
blue  grass.  Soon  after  Dr.  Brown,  came  Dr. 
Stapp,  located  in  Mound  City.  He  was  a  mid- 
dle-aged man,  with  a  large  famil}' ;  he  remained 
a  year  or  two.  Where  he  came  from  or  where 
he  went  to  is  not  known.  He  was  followed  b}' 
Dr.  Robert  Kelly,  who  came  from  Kentuck}-, 
and  practiced  medicine  for  several  years  in 
Mound  City  with  success.  He  went  to  Texas, 
and  was  never  heard  of  afterward.  Dr.  A. 
Gregg  was  the  fifth  doctor  to  locate  in  Mound 
City,  and  lived  for  several  years  in  the  city, 
practicing  medicine.  He  was  an  educated 
physician,  and  was  a  surgeon  of  some  reputa- 
tion. He  had  practiced  medicine  in  China  for 
a  number  of  years.  He  bought  a  lot  and  built 
a  house ;  the  latter  he  said  represented  the 
stj'le   of  houses  built   in    China.     It  was  one 


stor}'  high  with  low  ceiling,  with  a  flat  roof 
and  located  where  Mi;s.  Capt.  Hamble- 
ton's  residence  now  stands.  The  Doctor 
was  fond  of  exhibiting  Chinese  curios- 
ities that  he  had  collected  while  in 
that  countr}'.  He  moved  from  Mound  City 
to  Memphis.  Tenn.  In  June,  1857,  Dr.  N.  R. 
Casej^  came  from  Mount  Vernon,  III.,  and 
located  in  Mound  Cit}'.  Dr.  Grcnick.  an  edu- 
cated German,  came  next.  After  remaining 
several  years,  he  moved  to  Cairo,  and  from 
there  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  died  some  years 
ago.  During  the  war,  and  while  the  United 
States  Government  Hospital  remained,  the  city 
was  full  of  doctors,  those  attached  to  the  Hos- 
pital not  refusing  a  call  to  see  a  patient  in  the 
city.  Some  of  them  remained  after  the  war 
was  over.  Among  them  Dr.  A,  C.  McCoy,  who 
was  a  long,  slim  man,  with  e3'es  receding,  said 
to  have  been  so  from  the  time  he  had 
laid  a  number  of  days,  supposed  to  have 
departed  this  life,  that  is,  his  spirit.  He 
had  quite  a  practice,  and  gave  general  satisfac- 
tion. He  at  one  time  became  much  concerned 
about  the  existence  of  what  was  known  at  one 
time  as  the  Ku  Klux.  He  imagined  that  they 
were  located  in  or  about  Mound  Cit}",  and  that 
he  was  liable  to  meet  them  almost  any  dark 
night ;  he  moved  from  the  cit}'.  Dr.  A.  Kim- 
sic,  a  large,  portly  gentleman,  located  in  Mound 
Cit}'  in  1867.  He  was  rough  and  bluff,  did  much 
practice  and  was  regarded  a  good  physician. 
His  health  was  bad  during  the  last  year  that 
he  practiced  in  Mound  City  ;  he  went  to 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  died  in  the  Sisters'  Hos- 
pital, having  been  baptized  a  Catholic  before 
he  died,  1874.  Dr.  F.  R.  Waggoner  came 
from  Shelbyville,  111.,  and  located  in  Mound 
City,  and  practiced  medicine  for  several  years, 
editing  the  Patriot  paper  a  part  of  the  time. 
He  moved  to  Carbondale,  receiving  an  ap- 
pointment from  the  Government  as  Physician 
to  some  Indian  Agency,  and  is  now  somewhere 
in  the  Indian  Territory.     In  1871,  Dr.   A.    X. 


HISTORY  OF   PULASKI   COUNTY. 


569 


Araonett  located  in  Mound  Cit}'  to  practice 
medicine.  He  came  from  Columbia,  Massac 
Co..  111.,  but  was  original!}-  from  Tennessee. 
He  was  a  j'oung  physician  of  ability.  In 
connection  with  his  practice  he  purchased 
the  drug  store  of  George  Mertz.  His  health 
failed  him  in  1875  ;  in  1876,  he  went  to  Col- 
orado, hoping  the  climate  might  restore  him  ; 
but  finding  no  relief,  he  started  home.  At 
St.  Louis  he  took  the  Cairo  Short-Line  Rail- 
road, but  died  in  his  seat  in  the  car,  soon  after 
the  train  passed  Belleville.  Besides  those 
alluded  to,  many  others  have  come  and  gone. 
Of  all  the  number,  N.  R.  Casey  is  the  onl}' 
one  that  still  remains  in  Mound  City,  he  hav- 
ing been  a  resident  of  the  place  over  twenty- 
six  years. 

Early  in  1857,  a  frame  schoolhouse  was  built 
on  Walnut  street ;  it  was  built  by  subscription, 
Gen.  Rawlings  giving  the  lot  and  150.  It  was 
of  no  great  pretensions,  but  was  large  enough 
to  hold  all  the  children  comfortably,  then  in 
the  young  cit}-.  Before  the  building  of  the 
schoolhouse,  however,  a  school  had  been  taught 
in  a  small  building  belonging  to  Frank  Dough- 
ert}-,  located  on  the  alle\-  between  Poplar  and 
Walnut  streets.  Here  the  first  school  was 
taught  by  Samuel  P.  Steel,  a  30ung  man  who 
had  taken  Greeley's  advice  and  come  West  from 
Pennsylvania.  For  a  number  of  3'ears,  he 
taught  school  in  Mound  Cit}-,  and  gave  general 
satisfaction.  He  still  resides  in  Pulaski  County. 
At  no  time  since  has  the  necessity  of  schools 
been  overlooked.  When  the  public  funds  are 
exhausted,  and  the  public  schools  have  to  close, 
pay  schools  are  well  supported  until  the  public 
schools  commence  again.  The  amount  of 
money  expeyded  in  the  townships  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  April  4,  1883,  to  wit :  District 
No.  1,  $2,381.90  ;  District  No.  2,  $746.36  ;  Dis- 


trict No.  3,  $931.53  ;  District  No.  4,  $560.18  ; 
township  miscellaneous  expenses,  $62.38 ; 
amount  on  hand  at  the  end  of  the  year,  total, 
$4,765.40.  The  number  of  children  attending 
the  public  schools  during  the  past  year,  were 
620,  and  the  census  shows  225  children  under 
the  school  age.  The  School  Dii-ectors  jjrovide 
a  separate  and  comfortable  schoolhouse.  and 
furnish  competent  teachers  for  the  colored  chil- 
dren. The  following  were  the  teachers  of  the 
public  school  during  the  past  3'ear,  and  salaries 
paid  them  :  Prof  T.  J.  Crawford,  Principal, 
salary,  $75  per  month  ;  Mrs.  Hattie  M.  Smith, 
Assistant,  $48  ;  Miss  Flora  Marford,  Second 
Assistant,  $45  ;  Miss  Phrona  Howard,  Third 
Assistant,  $40  ;  Miss  Maggie  Harris,  $20  ;  M. 
M.  Avant  (colored),  and  teacher  of  the  colored 
school,  S40,  and  his  wife  Assistant,  with  a 
salary  of  $18.  The  present  school  Directors 
are  :  F.  G.  Fricke,  Edward  A.  Hayes  and 
Quinn  McCracken.  The  great  fire  of  1879 
burned  the  public  schoolhouse,  and  the  l)ui!d- 
ing  used  for  schools  at  that  time,  which  left  the 
cit}-  without  a  schoolhouse.  The  School  Direc- 
tors secured  the  Cit}'  Hall  building,  making 
such  improvements  as  I'cquired,  and  since  then 
the  public  schools  have  occupied  it. 

Sabbath  schools  were  organized  as  early  as 
1857,  before  there  was  a  church  organization. 
The  same  j-eara  temperance  society  was  formed, 
and  while  several  murders  have  been  commit- 
ted, and  the  murderers  disposed  of,  without  the 
benefit  of  judge  or  jur}',  which  is  always  to  be 
regretted,  even  when  extenuating  circumstances 
exist,  notwithstanding,  history  records  such 
instances  in  Mound  City,  a  high  regard  for 
morality,  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  the  law  of 
God,  is  recognized  and  observed  by  the  actual 
citizens. 


570 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   VIII, 


MOUND  CITY  —  ITS  rnURCH   HISTORY  — CATHOLIC  CHURCH— THE  METHODISTS,  ETC.  —  rOLORF.D 

THURCHES— FIRES  AND  THE  LOSSES  WHICH  RESULTED —  MANUFACTORIES  — SECRET 

AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETIES— SOMETHING  OF  THE  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS— 

POPDLATION  OF  THE  CITY— ITS  OFFICERS  AND  GOVERNMENT,  ETC. 


AS  early  as  1857,  a  number  of  Catholic 
families  lived  in  Mound  Cit}',  but  had  no 
organization.  Father  Walsh,  from  St.  Patrick's 
Church  at  Cairo,  came  to  Mound  City  every 
third  or  fourth  Sunda^^  and  said  mass  in  the 
school  house,  located  on  Walnut  street.  Occa- 
sionall}',  an  effort  was  made  to  build  a  church. 
Bishop  Younker,  of  the  Alton  Diocese,  which 
embraced  this  locality',  refusing  to  send  a  Priest 
until  a  church  was  built.  The  effort  to  build 
was  continued — Jerry  Dunleary,  P.  M.  Kelly, 
C.  Buckheart,  Mrs.  N.  R.  Casey,  James 
Browner,  and  indeed  all  the  Catholics  living  in 
the  place  were  not  onl}'  anxious,  but  zealous, 
in  their  efforts  to  accomplish  their  object,  and 
in  1863  they  had  the  satisfaction  of  worshiping 
in  their  own  church.  The  Emporium  Company 
gave  the  lot  the}'  built  upon.  It  was  located 
on  High  street,  and  runs  back  to  Pearl  street, 
between  Railroad  avenue  and  Walnut  street. 
The  organization,  and  the  christening  of  the 
Church  St.  Mary's  followed  its  completion.  The 
building  was  25x56  feet,  and  finished  and  fur- 
nished in  good  style.  The  organization,  at  that 
time,  was  a  strong  one.  A  large  number  of 
Catholic  families  were  here,  man}'  of  them  con- 
nected with  the  naval  station,  the  United  States 
Government  Hospital,  and  the  Government 
works  of  various  kinds.  Father  Moor  was  the 
first  priest,  followed  by  Father  Elthrop.  They 
were  here  only  a  short  time,  when  Father  Kuck- 
enbach  came,  and  while  he  remained  the  first 
house  was  built,  a  two-story  frame,  with  one- 

*«v  Dr.  N.  R.  rasey. 


stor}'  ell.  Father  Kuckenbach  was  relieved  b}- 
Father  Walsh,  who  took  charge  of  the  congre- 
gation. He  remained  six  or  seven  years,  and 
was  a  ver}'  popular  priest,  with  more  than  ordi- 
nar}'  ability.  Father  O'Conner  followed  Father 
Walsh  ;  he  was  a  young  man  of  ability,  but 
was  suffering  from  the  incipient  stages  of  con- 
sumption. He  remained  at  his  post  of  labor 
until  unable  to  do  so  longer,  went  to  the  Sister's 
hospital  at  Cairo,  and  from  there  to  Jackson- 
ville, 111.,  where  he  died.  Father  Denneher  was 
the  next  priest.  During  his  administration, 
the  ground  upon  which  is  located  St.  Mary's 
Catholic  Cemetery,  near  Mound  City  Junction, 
was  bought.  The  members  of  the  church  had 
long  felt  the  expense  and  inconvenience  of 
burying  their  dead  in  the  Catholic  cemetery  at 
Villa  Ridge,  eight  miles  from  Mound  City. 
To  avoid  this,  Mrs.  X.  R.  Casey  inaugurated 
the  plan  to  buy  of  the  Bichtill  heirs  twenty 
acres  of  land  embracing  the  first  high  ground, 
north  of  the  Mound  City  Junction,  opposite 
the  Beach  Grove  Cemeter}-,  and  along  the  line  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  To  do  so  would 
cost  $200.  Mrs.  Casey  succeeded  in  raising 
the  amount  by  subscription.  Her  Protestant 
friends  of  Mound  City  and  Cairo  were  as  liberal 
as  lier  Catholic  friends.  She  received  820  from 
Archbishop  Spalding,  of  Baltimore,  who  was 
her  god  father,  and  had  married  her  and 
her  husband.  When  the  twenty  acres  were 
surveyed,  it  showed  a  strip  of  land  containing 
three  or  four  acres,*  Ij'ing  between  the  land 
bought  and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  com- 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI   COUNTY. 


o71 


pletely  cutting  off  the  view  of  the  cemetery 
from  the  junction  and  railroad.  This  strip 
had  also  belonged  to  the  Bichtill  heirs,  but  Dr. 
Grain  had  a  tax  deed  for  it.  The  agent  of  the 
heirs  agreed  to  deed  Mrs.  Casey  this  strip  of 
land,  provided  she  secured  the  deed  from  Dr. 
Grain,  which  she  did  by  paying  him  $50  and 
it  was  added  to  St.  Mary's  Gatholic  Ceme- 
tery, and  upon  that  high,  beautiful  elevation, 
a  part  of  the  strip  alluded  to,  Mrs.  Casey  selected 
in  her  life-time,  for  her  last  resting  place,  where 
she  now  lies  buried. 

After  Father  Denneher,  Father  Grant  came, 
who  did  not  remain  long  ;  he  was  followed  by 
Father  Masterson,  a  young  priest  when  he 
came.  He  became  a  favorite  with  his  congrega- 
tion and  with  the  community.  He  remained 
five  or  six  years,  when  he  was  relieved  from 
his  charge  at  Mound  City  and  ordered  by  the 
Bishop  to  Cairo  ;  an  effort  was  made  to  have 
the  Bishop  retain  him  longer  in  Mound  City, 
but  without  success.  Father  Becker  came  in 
his  place,  who  remained  one  year,  when  the 
present  priest.  Father  Eckert  came.  The 
church  has  maintained  a  Catholic  school  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  since  its  organization. 
They  have  also  maintained  a  Sunday  school. 
The  church  built  some  years  ago  a  one-story 
schoolhouse,  on  Fourth  street,  between  Walnut 
and  Poplar.  N.  R.  Casey  gave  them  the  lot, 
while  the  building  was  paid  for,  largely,  by  pri- 
vate subscriptions  and  money  raised  b}'  festi- 
vals, etc.  The  church  is  out  of  debt ;  while  the 
majority  of  its  members  are  poor,  thej'  are  al- 
ways willing  to  contribute  their  mite  for  the 
advancement  of  the  church. 

In  the  year  1857,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  was  organized,  Rev.  R.  H.  Manier  of 
this  Conference,  and  now  of  Effingham 
charge,  was  the  first  Pastor  in  charge.  For 
some  time,  it  was  connected  with  Cairo  charge. 
In  1858,  Revs.  J.  A.  Scarrett  and  Lingenfelter 
were  sent  as  pastors  in  charge  of  the  work. 
Inasmuch  as  no   record  during  the   years  of 


its  connection  with  Cairo  has  been  kept  in  the 
possession  of  the  Mound  City  Church,  the 
names  of  certain  pastors  who  officiated  from 
the  time  of  organization  to  the  year  ISG.o  will 
not  appear  here.  In  the  year  1865,  the  church 
was  organized  as  a  station,  under  the  pastorate 
of  Rev.  J.  P.  Dew,  with  forty-nine  members  in 
full  connection.  The  charge  was  then  in 
Equality  District,  Southern  Illinois  Conference. 
The  pastors  who  have  been  associated  with  the 
charge  from  1865  up  to  September,  1880,  when 
it  ceased  to  be  a  station,  are  Revs.  J.  Hill,  one 
year  ;  F.  L.  Thompson,  one  year  ;  A.  P.  Morri- 
son, one  3'ear ;  D.  W.  Phillips,  two  j-ears  ;  F.  M. 
Vantreese,  two  years  ;  C.  H.  Farr,  one  year  ;  J. 
H.  Garret,  one  year  ;  R.  Z.  Fahs,  one  year  ; 
Revs.  Fredgold  and  G.  W.  Willson,  two  years ; 
Ephraim  Joy,  three  years.  In  1880,  the  charge 
was  organized  into  a  circuit,  and  Rev.  E.  M. 
Glasgow  was  sent  and  had  the  pastoral  care 
for  one  year.  In  September,  1881,  at  the  Con- 
ference held  in  Greenville,  Bishop  Hurst  sent 
to  the  charge  Rev.  H.  A.  Doty,  who  is  now  the 
present  pastor. 

In  the  year  1865,  under  the  labors  of  Rev. 
J.  P.  Dew,  a  brick  church,  36x60  feet,  was 
built.  Its  cost  was  $5,000.  Its  seating  capac- 
ity will  accommodate  300  persons.  On  the 
1st  da}'  of  Jul}',  1866,  it  was  solemnly  set 
apart  and  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Al- 
mighty God,  by  Dr.  G.  W.  Hughey,  now  of 
St.  Louis,  Mo.  Since  its  origin,  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  the  records  designate  its  prosperity 
and  its  decline.  During  the  palmier  days  of 
the  city,  it  flourished  accordingly.  During  the 
last  pastoral  year,  twenty-six  have  been  added 
to  the  church  at  Mound  City,  so  that  at  pres- 
ent there  is  a  membership  of  sixty,  and  in  the 
entire  charge  a  membership  of  140.  The 
charge  is  now,  as  Mound  City  and  Ville  Ridge 
charge,  in  the  Mt.  Vernon  District,  Southern 
Illinois  Conference,  with  Rev.  C.  Nash,  Presid- 
ing Elder.     For  the  above  history  of  the  Meth- 


572 


HISTORY  OF   PULAbKI  COUNTY. 


odist  Church,  we  are  indebted  to  the  very  kind 
and' reverend  Mr.  Doty. 

In    1861,  Dr.  Stephen  J.  McM  aster  resigned 
the  Presidency  of  a  college  in  Missouri,  and  be- 
came Chaplain  of  Col.    Buford's  Illinois  regi- 
ment.    In  18G2,  by  special  request,  he  became 
Chaplain   of   the    United   States    Grovernment 
Hospital  at  Mound  City,  where  he  administered 
to  the  sick  and  dying.      Finally,  a  chapel   for 
regular   service    was   fitted  u\)  in  the  hospital. 
The  service  in  the  chapel  was  attended  by  cit- 
izens    as    well    as    soldiers.       Dr.   McMaster 
was    a    gentleman     of    education    and    cult- 
ure.    In    18G3,  Dr.  Isaac  P.  Labough  became 
rector  of  the  church   in    Cairo.      Desiring  to 
hold   church  in   Mound    City,    the   Methodist 
Church    was  kindly   tendered   him,  where  he 
held   service  for  awhile  and  afterward  at  the 
schoolhouse.      In   1865,  the  Rev.  John  Foster 
held  service  in  the  schoolhouse.      During    the 
year  1866,  the  Rev.  William  Britton  officiated, 
and  during  this  year  the  church  was  built  and 
dedicated  St.    Peter's.     Dr.  X.  R.  Casey  gave 
the  lot ;    it  was  26x60  feet,  upon  which  it  was 
built ;  and  at  a  festival,  held  in  the  brick  store- 
house  on   the     corner   of    Poplar   and   First 
streets  (afterward  occupied  by  W.  J.  Price)  the 
members  realized  $2,200.      Rev.  M.  Lyle  held 
the  first  service  in  the  church,  followed  by  Rev. 
Mr.    Roften   in    1868.     Rev.  William  Mitchell 
had  chaig(3  during  the  year.      Bishop   White- 
house  confirmed  a  class  of  thirteen  in  1869-70. 
The   Rev.  James   Coe  and   Rev.  Edwin  Conn 
held  service  in  the  church  Sunday  afternoons. 
In  1871,  Rev.  A.  E.  Wells  had  come  to  Mound 
City  as  Chaplain  of  the  Navy  Station,  but  soon 
took   charge   of   St.    Peters    Church,  and  re- 
mained its  minister  for  six  years;  he  was  a  so- 
cial, pleasant   gentleman,   and   was   favorably 
known  by  the  community.      Rev.  Dean  Ervine 
held  service  in  1881,  and  in  1882-83  Rev.  Will- 
iam  Steel    and   Rev.    F.   P.   Davenport   occa- 
sionally  held   service    in  the  church.     Bishop 
Whitehouse,    McClaren     and    Seymour    were 


present  at  different  confirmations.  To  the  Rev. 
Dr.  McMaster,  in  his  capacity  as  Chaplain  at 
the  hospital  at  Mound  City,  should  be  given 
the  credit  of  inaugurating  the  first  move  to- 
ward the  establishment  of  the  church.  While 
the  church  is  at  present  without  a  minister,  its 
members  keep  up  their  Sunday  school  organi- 
zation, and  it  is  understood  they  are  soon  to  be 
supplied  with  a  pastor. 

The  colored  people  of  Mound  City  are  sup- 
porting four  churches.  The  First  Free-Will 
Baptist  Church  is  located  in  the  northwest  part 
of  the  cit}'.  It  is  a  frame  building,  26x50,  has 
been  built  for  several  years,  and  has  one  hun- 
dred and  eleven  members,  while  the  average 
attendance  at  the  church  is  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty.  Rev.  Nelson  Ricks  is  the  pastor. 
They  have  fort3'-five  children  that  attend  the 
Sunday  school.  The  Second  Free-Will  Baptist 
Church  is  near  Main  street,  in  the  upper  por- 
tion of  the  cit}-.  It  is  not  so  fine  a  church  as 
the  Fii'st.  It  is  a  box  house,  18x30  feet.  They 
have  twenty-five  members  ;  the  average  attend- 
ance is  about  fifty.  Rev.  George  W.  Young  is 
the  minister  in  charge.  The}'  have  twenty-five 
children  at  their  Sunday  school.  The  Meth- 
odist Church  is  a  frame  building,  25x-l:0  feet, 
has  a  membership  of  fort}",  fift}'  or  more  gener- 
ally attending  the  meetings  on  Sundaj-.  Rev. 
Joseph  White  is  in  charge.  Thirty-five  chil- 
dren attend  their  Sunda}'  school.  The  Mis- 
sionary organization  has  no  building  of  its  own 
to  worship  in.  They  rent  the  Second  Free-Will 
Baptist  Church  to  hold  their  meetings.  They 
have  twent}'  members.  Rev.  Charles  Moore  is 
the  minister.     Have  no  Sunday  school. 

On  Sunday,  November  2,  1879,  about  2 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  tire  was  discovered  is- 
suing from  the  top  of  John  Zanone's  two-story 
building,  on  Main  street,  used  for  a  saloon, 
billiard  hall  and  residence,  and  almost  immedi- 
ately thereafter  it  was  evident  the  building 
could  not  be  saved.  The  wind  was  blowing 
rapidly  from  the  northwest,  and  the  entire  roof 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


578 


was  soon   in  ttames.     Mrs.   Vogel's  two-story 
house,   north  of  Zanone's,  was  soon   on    fire, 
while   Kriss   Keller's,  south,  had  caught   and 
was  burning.     Then  on  the  north  followed  the 
burning  of  a  one  story  house,  belonging  to  Mr. 
Blum.     Here  an   effort  was   made  to  stay  its 
progress   north    by    pulling   down  the    Blum 
house,    but    it    was    not    accomplished,    and 
soon    Mr.  F.  T.  Fricke's  drug  store   and   his 
residence,  in   the  rear,  were  on    fire,  that  soon 
extended  to  the  large  double  two-story  house 
belonging  to  G.  W.  Carter.     Then  came  Peter 
(^oldwater's    two-stor}'^    building,    saloon     and 
residence,    together     with    Unsol's    building, 
residence  and  barber-shop.     This  included  all 
the  buildings  from  where  the  fire  started,  going 
north  on  Main  street,  to  William  Stern's  two- 
story  brick  house.     Here  the  fire  was  stopped 
going   north  ;  by  great  exertion  Stern's  housa 
was   saved.     All    this  time  the  fire  was  being 
driven   on   rapidly    by    the    wind    southwest. 
After  Keller's  house  came  Alexander  Wilson's 
furniture  store.     When  once  on  fire,  it  was  but 
a  moment  when  G.  F.  Meyer's  large  two-story 
grocery  store  was  on  fire.     From  Meyer's,  on 
the   corner   of  Main  and  Walnut   streets,  ^the 
fire  was  driven  across  Walnut  street,  and  caught 
the  old  brewer^'  building,  on  the  corner  of  Wal- 
nut  and    First   streets.     The    large   two-story 
brick    residence   of  Mrs.    Ninnengers,   along- 
side of  the  brewery  building,  was  next  to  take 
fire  and  burn  ;  then  Mrs.  Moll's  residence  and 
store  building  west  of  the  brewery  ;  then  the 
old  public  schoolhouse  across,  the  alle}-  on  Wal- 
nut street.     By  pulling  down  the  schoolhouse 
saved  the  buildings  south,  to  the    river,  from 
the  brewery.    The  fire  burned  all  the  buildings 
on  First  street  to  Poplar,  then  it  crossed  Pop- 
lar street  and  burned  W.  J.  Price's  brick  store- 
house ;    from    there   it  went   west   on   Poplar 
street  to  where  Mr.  Nordman   now  lives,  and 
south  on  First  to  the  reservation.     From  Mey- 
ers  store  and  the  old  brewery,  the  fire  crossed 
Walnut   and   First   streets,  to  G.  G.  &  J.  W.  I 


Morris's  tin  shop,  then  Tom  Dun's  house,  then 
I  Mrs.  M.  E.  Rawlings'  large  two-story  brick 
;  house,  then  William  Dougherty's  two-story 
frame  residence.  All  the  houses  in  the  block 
east,  the  fire  had  burned  ;  B.  L.  Ulen's  resi- 
dence, Ferd.  Wchrfritz  on  Commercial  street, 
and  all  the  buildings  (skipping  colored  church) 
and  depot  on  that  block.  From  there  it  caught 
the  cooper  shop,  Rawlings'  reservation,  then 
the  court  house  building,  then  Meyer  &  Nord- 
man's  stave  factory,  and  then  all  the  buildings 
on  the  bank  of  the  river,  that  was  built  by  the 
Government,  except  the  one  now  used  by  Mr. 
Reel  for  a  flouring  mill.  Fifty-five  houses,  in- 
cluding business  houses  and  residences,  in  three 
short  hours,  had  been  reduced  to  ashes. 

The  city  was  without  a   fire  engine.     They 
had   hooks   and    ladders,   and    worked    man- 
fully, but    it  was  soon  evident,  nothing  could 
stay  its  march  to  the  river.     The  wind  seemed 
to  increase  with  the  fire  until   it  blew  a  gale, 
bearing  boards  and  shingles,  which  blew  across 
the  river,  setting  the  woods  on   fire    in    Ken- 
tucky.     When    the   fire   was   discovered,    the 
people  were  helpless.     No  power  they  had  at 
command  coukl  stay  its  progress.     The  31ayor 
telegraphed    to  the  Cairo  fire  companies,  and 
they    responded     cheerftilly.        The    Cairo  & 
Vincennes  Railroad    furnished  an  engine  and 
flat  cars,  upon   which   two   hand-engines   were 
brought  to  the  city  with  the  companies,  while 
the  fire   had  about  exhausted  itself  when  they 
came,  for  the  want  of  material  to   burn.     The 
engines  did  good  service  in   throwing  water  on 
the  still  burning  houses.     It  was  not  believed 
any  number  of  engines,  after  the  fire  got  well 
started,  could  have  stayed  its  progress.     Many 
lo.st  not  only  their  homes,  but  all  their  limnes 
contained.     Household   goods   removed   from 
the  house  and   left  on  some  street  far  away 
from   the   fire,    where   it    was   supposed    they 
would    be    safe,     were     soon    overtaken     by 
the  fire  and  burned  up  in  the  street.    Even  the 
locust  trees  upon  the  Mound  on  the  river  bank, 


"ti 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


that  had  so  long  been  cherished  by  the  people, 
were  all  burned  down.  No  lives  were  lost,  but 
distress  and  excitement  were  seen  ever3'where ; 
women  and  little  children  huddled  together  in 
the  middle  of  the  street,  wondering  where  they 
would  lay  their  heads  that  night,  or  when  their 
hunger  would  be  relieved  ;  and  to  add  to  the 
calamity,  thieves  were  busily  engaged  in  car- 
rying off  any  and  everything  they  could  get 
hold  of  that  was  left  exposed.  Special  police- 
men had  to  be  appointed  before  the  stealing 
could  be  stopped.  Those  whose  houses  had  not 
burned  provided  for  as  many  of  the  destitute  as 
they  could,  and  in  this  way  all  had  found  a  place 
to  sleep,  and  were  provided  with  something  to 
eat  by  10  o'clock"  that  night.  An  appeal  the 
next  day  was  made  to  the  public,  and  some 
81,500  or  $1,600  was  given  by  various  towns 
and  cities  for  the  destitute.  This  was  greatly 
appreciated.  The  estimated  loss  by  the  fire 
was  over  $200,000.  The  citizens  that  had 
escaped  the  fire  continued  to  render  aid  and 
comfort  to  the  afflicted.  Compared  with  the  size 
of  the  city  and  the  number  of  inhabitants,  the 
fire  in  1879  was  as  disastrous  to  Mound  City 
as  the  great  Chicago  fire  was  to  that  city. 
While  the  fire  was  discouraging,  the  owners  of 
the  property  burned  set  about  at  once  rebuild- 
ing, and  while  all  the  lots  made  vacant  by  the 
fire  have  not  been  rebuilt  upon,  still  a  majority 
of  them  have,  and  instead  of  frame  houses,  the 
larger  number  are  elegant  brick  dwellings  and 
business  houses. 

In  1857,  Conner  &  Fubager  built  and  operat- 
ed a  stave  factory  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city. 
They  worked  about  fifty  men.  At  that  time 
they  procured  the  timber  for  their  staves,  imme- 
diately around  the  factory,  as  a  heavy  forest  of 
fine  timber  lay  all  around  them.  In  1858,  the 
factory  burned.  In  1857,  H.  C.  Howard  &  Co., 
near  Connor's  stave  factory,  built  and  operated 
a  furniture  factory.  The  close  proximity  to 
desirable  timber,  the  cheapness  of  labor,  and 
the  cheapness  of  freight  upon  the  river,  made 


I  it  a  desirable  location.  Their  trade  was  prin- 
I  cipally  from  the  South.  The  civil  war  coming 
:  upon  the  countxT,  the  factor}-  in  1861  was 
closed.  Mr.  Howard,  the  active  partner,  some 
[  years  later,  died,  and  it  was  never  revived.  In 
the  same  year,  a  planing  mill  and  a  sash 
I  and  door  factory  was  built  in  the  same 
neighborhood  of  the  furniture  factory.  For 
'  want  of  capital,  the  parties  that  built  it  sus- 
!  pended  before  the}-  had  run  it  long.  The  same 
year,  and  near  the  furniture  factory,  Johnson 
I  &  Carpenter  built  a  flouring  mill.  This  mill 
I  was  run  for  a  number  of  years,  when  the  build- 
ing was  purchased  by  Yocum,  and  in  1864 
started  an  ax  handle  factory  ;  later  it  was 
Yocum  &  Harris,  and  in  1869  the  Walworth 
Handle  Works  were  established,  where  McDow- 
el's  saw  mill  now  stands,  and  Yocum  &  Harris 
and  the  Walworth  factories  were  consolidated. 
They  did  an  extensive  and  profitable  business 
until  1876.  They  moved  the  factory  to 
St.  Louis,  where  it  is  still  operated  by  Chester 
&  Harris.  In  1858,  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Skeen  built  a  saw  mill  near  the  mouth  of  Cache 
River.  In  about  a  year,  it  passed  to  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Brown,  and  from  Brown  to  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Dudley.  In  1861,  Capt.  W. 
L.  Hambleton  became  owner,  and  William 
Dougherty  operated  it  a  year  or  two,  when 
George  E.  Lounsberry  had  charge  of  it  until 
1868,  when  William  Dougherty  became  owner. 
He  moved  it  near  the  bank  of  the  Ohio  River, 
rebuilding  the  greater  part  of  it.  He  operated 
it  until  1872,  then  Craig  &  Crandell  for  a  year 
followed  ;  by  Crandell,  Morris  &  Dougherty 
for  a  year,  when  the  machinery  was  sold  and 
removed,  which  ended  the  existence  of  rather 
an  eventful  saw  mill.  In  1869,  Jones  &  Harlia 
established  a  shingle  factory  at  the  mouth  of 
Cache  River.  Soon  after,  in  1870,  A.  J.  Dough- 
erty bought  it,  and  run  it  for  a  year.  In  1871 
he  added  machinery  for  manufacturing  staves, 
but  it  was  burnt  down  soon  afterward.  In 
July,  1871,  A.  J.  Dougherty  bought  the  build- 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


575 


ing  in  which  Yocum  first  started  his  ax  handle 
factory,  and  started  a  stave  factory,  first  mak- 
ing salt  barrel  staves  for  the  Ohio  Salt  Com- 
pany. In  the  course  of  the  year,  he  enlarged 
the  business  by  manufacturing  flour  barrel 
staves.  The  demand  for  the  goods  increased, 
and  instead  of  eight  or  ten  men  employed,  as 
was  all  required  at  the  start,  the  trade  now  re- 
quires 100  men  to  operate  it.  In  1877,  a  stock 
company  was  organized,  and  is  now  carried  on 
as  the  Mound  City  Stave  Company.  The  first 
stockholders  were :  W.  L.  Halliday,  Jake 
Martin  and  A.  J.  Dougherty.  The  stock  is  now 
owned  by  A.  J.  Dougherty  and  Orlando  Wil- 
son ;  capital  stock,  $5,000.  In  1881,  the  factory 
burned  down,  involving  a  loss  of  $15,000  ;  in- 
sured for  $7,000.  After  the  fire,  the  company 
purchased  the  lots  on  the  corner  of  East  First 
street,  and  levee,  upon  which  they  built  the 
present  factory  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,  and  are 
now  operating  it  with  success. 

In  1865,  the  hub  and  spoke  factory  was 
established  in  the  Union  Block  building  by  the 
Keer  Bros.,  with  W.  H.  Stokes,  of  Louisville, 
Ky.,  furnishing  the  capital.  It  was  continued 
for  a  number  of  years,  realizing  ready  sales  for 
their  work,  but  by  a  combination  of  circum- 
stances, principally  bad  management,  it  went 
into  bankruptcj'. 

In  1867,  Edward  Shippen  commenced  to 
manufacture  wheel-barrows  in  the  Union  Block, 
which  he  carried  on  extensively  for  about  four 
years.  He  was  a  son-in-law  of  the  late  W.  H. 
Stokes,  of  Louisville,  Ky.  Becoming  interested 
in  the  provisions  of  his  father-in-law's  will,  he 
moved  to  Louisville  to  look  after  it. 

In  1857,  William  Ninnenger  rented  a  two- 
stor}^  house,  between  Poplar  and  Main  streets, 
in  which  he  commenced  the  manufacture  of 
beer,  where  he  continued  until  1860,  when  he 
built  the  brewery  on  the  corner  of  Walnut  and 
First  streets.  Here  he  made  considerable 
money.  In  1866,  his  health  became  bad,  and 
he  went  to  Havana,  hoping  to  find  relief,  but 


early  in  1867  he  died  in  New  Orleans  on  his 
way  home.  His  brother  Charles  continued  the 
brewery  until  1870,  when  he  plosed  it  and  died 
in  1871.  The  Walworth  Handle  Company 
left  their  building  standing  when  they  moved 
to  St.  Louis,  and  in  1878  John  McDowell,  from 
Brazil,  Ind.,  purchased  it  and  established  an 
extensive  saw  mill.  The  mill  has  great  ca- 
pacity, and  is  considered  the  most  extensive  of 
the  kind  in  Southern  Illinois,  if  not  in  the 
State.  The  active  and  congenial  Quinn  Mc- 
Cracken,  also  from  Brazil,  Ind.,  is  the  Superin- 
tendent. J.  R.  Reel,  another  gentleman  from 
Brazil,  in  1879  established  in  one  of  the  orig- 
inal Government  buildings,  upon  the  levee,  a 
flouring  mill,  but  it  became  a  victim  to  the 
great  fire  of  the  same  year.  He  is  now  occu- 
pying and  operating  a  flouring  mill  in  the  only 
building  the  ravages  of  the  fire  spared  upon 
the  river  bank.  In  1858,  G.  F.  Meyer  came 
direct  from  Germany  to  Mound  City,  and  at 
once  went  into  partnership  with  A.  C  Hallen- 
berry  in  a  small  grocery  store  on  Main  street, 
opposite  where  the  post  office  is  now  kept. 
They  soon  moved  their  business  down  to  the 
brewery  building,  and  then  to  the  lot  he  now 
occupies,  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Walnut 
streets.  Meyer  &  Hallenberry  dissolved  part- 
nership in  1867,  Meyer  continuing  at  the^ame 
location,  Hallenberry  establishing  himself  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  with  a  grocery 
store.  Mr.  Meyer  at  an  early  day  connected 
the  business  of  buying  and  shipping  staves  in 
the  rough.  At  one  time  for  a  number  of  years 
he  controlled  and  operated  the  saw  mill  known 
as  Webster  &  Carroll's,  located  three  miles 
north  of  Mound  City  ;  had  a  wooden  railroad 
built  from  the  mill  to  the  Ohio  River,  upon 
which  the  lumber  was  brought  and  shipped. 

In  May,  1879,  Meyer  &  Nordman  established 
their  extensive  and  complete  stave  factory,  in  all 
its  departments,  upon  the  river  bank  just  north 
of  the  Mound,  and  on  Rawlings'  reservation, 
when,  the  same  year,  November  2,  1879,  the 


576 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


factory,  staves  and  all  apartments  thereunto  be- 
longing succumbed  to  the  fire  that  was  so  dis- 
astrous to  so  much  of  Mound  City.  The  ashes 
were  hardh'  cold,  however,  when  thc}'  began  to 
rebuild,  and  on  the  18th  day  of  December  the 
same  year,  they  were  running.  The}'  manu- 
factui'ed,  bricked  and  jointed  seasoned  white- 
oak  staves  and  headings  for  ale  hogsheads  and 
barrels,  beer  half-barrels,  and  kegs  for  whisky, 
and  sirup  barrels  ;  in  connection  with  the  fac- 
tory they  worked  fifty  men.  They  shipped 
their  staves  as  far  East  as  Boston,  and  west  to 
San  Francisco,  and  have  quite  a  trade  to 
Canada.  Mr.  Nordman  came  from  Indianapo- 
lis ;  like  Mr.  Me3'er,  he  had  much  experience 
in  the  stave  business  ;  both  seeing  and  appre- 
ciating the  advantages  of  the  place  for  such  an 
enterprise,  availed  themselves  of  it.  The  Wa- 
bash Railroad  runs  a  switch  upon  their  ground. 
The  Mound  Cit}'  Railroad  near  by,  and  the 
Ohio  River  washing  the  shores  just  in  front  of 
them,  tells  them  to  choose  the  route  to  send 
their  goods.  The  da}"  the  fire  consumed  the 
stave  factory  of  Meyer  &  Nordman,  it  also 
burned  the  large  grocery  store  of  Mr.  Meyer 
His  loss  was  great,  but  he  carried  an  insurance 
that  relieved  him  to  a  considerable  extent,  and 
the  next  day  after  the  fire,  Meyer  was  found 
selling  groceries  on  the  opposite  corner,  in  a 
building  which  he  owned.  In  1882,  he  com- 
pleted and  moved  into  his  ek^gaut  store  build- 
ing upon  the  ground  he  had  done  business  so 
long  before  the  fire.  His  store  building  is 
complete  in  all  its  depai'tments.  It  is  built  of  the 
best  of  brick,  foundation  of  stone.  The  struct- 
ure is  180x80  feet,  and  consists  of  four  separate 
and  distinct  double  stores  having  seven  de- 
partments, all  admirably  managed  and  all  con- 
nected by  broad  archways,  with  ample  light, 
and  two  elevators.  In  one  department  gTOce- 
ries,  in  another  hardware  and  stoves,  then 
boots,  shoes,  hats  and  caps,  then  saddlery, 
then  furniture,  and  separate  departments  for 
liquors   and  groceries  in  wholesale,  each  line 


being  full.  The  building  is  connected  with 
Cairo  by  telephone.  The  entire  second  floor 
is  devoted  to  wholesale  or  duplicated  stock,  as 
is  also  the  basement,  which  latter,  together 
with  the  entire  sidewalk  extending  around 
three  sides  of  the  building,  is  made  of  English 
Poi'tland  cement,  making  them  impervious  to 
water  and  vermin.  The  building  has  three 
fire  and  burglar-proof  vaults,  one  in  each 
double  store  ;  on  the  second  floor  an  elegant 
private  and  a  book-keeper's  office.  Mr.  Meyer 
buys  for  cash  direct  from  importers  and  first 
hands,  In  a  warehouse,  37x130  feet,  he  keeps 
wagons,  buggies  and  carriages  of  all  descrip- 
tions and  styles.  He  keeps  in  a  building 
45x50,  a  full  stock  of  sash,  doors  and  blinds. 
He  is  interested  in  nearly  everv  industrial 
enterprise  that  contributes  to  the  growth, 
and  prosperit}-  of  the  city.  His  chief  of 
staff,  the  gentlemanly  Ferdinand  Wehrfritz, 
has  full  charge  of  the  business  in  Mr.  Mev- 
er's  absence.  While  other  business  men  have 
made  money  in  Mound  City  and  gone  else- 
where to  spend  it,  G-.  F.  Meyer  spends  it 
where  lie  made  it. 

Mound  City  Lodge,  Xo.  250,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  was 
instituted  March  11,  1858.  The  M.  W.  G. 
Master,  W.  Dufl"  Green,  of  the  I.  O.  0.  F.  of  the 
jurisdiction  of  Illinois,  accompanied  b}'  Grand 
officers,  P.  a.,  D.  Hannon,  R.  W.  D.  (}.  M.  pro- 
tem  Brother  Greenwood,  R.  W.  Gr.  M.  P.  G., 
George  McKensie,  R.  W.  G.  T.  and  Brother 
Owen,  R.  W.  G.  G.,  instituted  the  lodge  with 
the  following  charter  members  :  P.  G.  J.  G-ris- 
wold,  P.  Gr.  H.  Hiner,  Bros.  C  Kirkpatrick, 
W.  McNight  and  J.  S.  Hawkins.  On  the  same 
evening,  the  following  persons  were  proposed 
and  admitted,  to  wit :  P.  G.  C.  M.  Ferrill,  P. 
G.  N.  R.  Casey.  M.  B.  Riggs,  A.  Patrick,  R. 
Adams  and  sixteen  others.  On  the  12th  of 
March,  1858.  the  hall  was  dedicated.  On  the 
15th  of  October,  1858.  a  charter  was  granted 
to  the  lodge,  W.  Duff  Green  being  Grand 
Master.     The    first   officers    elected    were    J. 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


577 


Oriswofd,  N.  G.;  C.  Kirkpatrick,  V.  G.;  William 
McNight,  Sec;  and  N.  R.  Case}-.  Treas.  Since 
the  institution  of  this  lodge,  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury has  elapsed.  It  has  undergone  many 
vicissitudes  ;  burning  of  its  hall  in  the  fire  of 
1879,  it  survives  the  struggle  of  other  years 
with  a  brighter  outlook  before  it.  It  now 
numbers  twent}-  members.  Its  present  oflScers 
are  W.  T.  Freeze,  N.  0.;  H.  A.  Doty,  Y.  G.;  L. 
D.  Reel,  Sec;  T.  W.  Reed.  Treas.  Since  the 
burning  of  the  hall  in  1879,  they  fitted  up  a 
hall  over  Price's  store,  on  Main  street,  and 
went  there  ever}'  Friday  evening. 

The  Knights  of  Honor  were  organized  in  Oc- 
tober, 1879,  with  twenty-four  charter  members. 
Since  then  the  order  has  increased  to  fiftj^-four 
members.  But  one  death  has  occurred  since 
the  organization  of  the  lodge,  that  of  A. 
Schnider.  The  lodge  meets  in  the  Odd  Fellows 
Hall.  Its  present  officers  are  George  Bosum, 
Dictator ;  Joseph  Cale,  Vice  Dictator  ;  H.  G.  Car- 
ter, Reporter,  and  Edward  A.  Hays,  Financial 
Reporter. 

The  Ladies  and  Knights  of  Honor,  No.  587, 
were  organized  November  4.  1882,  with  twenty- 
four  charter  members.  They  have  increased 
since  then  to  twenty-eight  members.  No  death 
has  occurred  since  the  order  was  established. 
The  present  officers  :  IMrs.  Joseph  Goodloe,  Pro- 
tector ;  Mrs.  Ninneuger,  Vice  Protector  ;  Mrs. 
Hattie  M.  Smith,  Deputy  Protector;  Mrs.  E.  B. 
Watkins,  Sec,  and  William  Painter,  Treas. 

In  1857,  there  lived  in  Mound  City  a  num- 
ber of  Masons,  belonging  to  lodges  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  and  that  the}'  might  en- 
joy directly  the  advantages  from  the  order, 
Cache  Lodge  was  instituted  in  1858.  The  fol- 
lowing were  the  charter  members :  James 
Goodloe,  H.  R.  Howard,  J.  Y.  Clemson,  R.  H. 
Warner,  I.  E.  Anderson,  J.  R.  Emerie  and  C. 
Jennings.  James  Goodloe  was  its  first  Master. 
Of  the  charter  members  none  are  now  living 
in  Mound  City,  and  the  majority  have  long 
since  been  admitted  or  rejected  in  the  lodge 


above.  Many  of  them  and  of  those  that  be- 
came members  of  the  order  were  faithful  and 
zealous  in  the  cause,  probably  none  so  much 
as  J.  W.  Morris,  now  of  Cairo.  He  was  fre- 
quently chosen  to  represent  Cache  Lodge  in 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State,  which  duty  he 
performed  with  great  satisfaction.  But  cir- 
cumstances over  which  they  had  no  control 
induced  them  to  consolidate  with  the  Cairo 
Lodge,  which  they  did  in  187-1. 

In  1866,  the  first  Good  Templars  society  was 
organized  by  old  Father  Bingham,  the  great 
temperance  worker.  The  lodge  was  carried  on 
successively,  and  did  much  good  until  1876. 
The  meetings  were  discontinued,  but  more  or 
less  temperance  work  was  done  until  1878,  when 
the  Red  Ribbon  movement  was  inaugurated  by 
Dr.  Reynolds,  which  resulted  in  much  good. 
In  1882,  another  Good  Templars  Lodge  was 
established,  and  is  now  in  successful  operation. 

The  first  store  opened  in  Mound  City  was 
by  Gen.  M.  M.  Rawlings  in  1855,  and  contained 
a  large  stock  of  assorted  merchandise.  It  was 
continued  until  early  in  1863.  The  store  room 
was  25x100  feet.  The  building  fronted  Raw- 
lings'  reservation  ;  after  1863,  it  was  known  as 
the  Marine  Barracks,  the  marines  occupying 
it  for  several  years,  or  while  they  were  sta- 
tioned at  3Iound  City.  The  second  business 
house  was  kept  by  R.  H.  Warner,  1856.  It 
consisted  of  groceries  only.  He  built  the 
house,  and  it  also  fronted  the  reservation.  The 
lot  and  buildings  were  afterward  sold  to  Capt. 
Kelsey  for  $10,000.  In  1857,  Warner  &  Dona- 
gon  kept  a  grocery  store  on  Poplar  street, 
between  Front  street  and  the  reservation. 
John  Donagon  is  still  in  Mound  City.  Then 
Harrell  &  Dougherty  in  1856  kept  a  store  con- 
sisting of  general  merchandise,  wholesale  and 
retail.  John  withdrew;  had  a  grocery  and 
provision  store.  Coyle  &  Harris  were  the  first 
carpenters  and  builders  to  ask  patronage  in 
their  business  in  Mound  City.  At  the  same 
time,   Joe   Worthington   offered  to   do  house 


578 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


and  ornamental  paintinir.  The  firm  of  Coyle 
&  Harris  was  soon  changed  to  Holmes  &  Wick- 
wire.  John  Given,  J.  B.  Morrison,  carpenters 
and  contractors,  found  plent}'  to  do  in  Mound 
City.  Charles  Ninnenger  was  the  first  barber, 
in  1856,  Room  34  Shelton  House.  Soon  after- 
ward came  Ben  Savage,  and  opened  barber- 
shop on  Front  street.  He  was  a  colored  man, 
pretty  well  advanced  in  years ;  for  several 
years,  besides  practicing  his  art,  played  the 
fiddle  for  all  the  children's  parties  in  the  city. 
He  was  not  an  Ole  Bull  in  that  line;  he  very 
rarely  had  more  than  three  strings  to  his  fiddle, 
yet  the  music  and  the  dance  went  on,  and  old 
Ben,  as  the  night  advanced,  "while  the  noise  of 
the  fiddle  continued,  seemed  to  charm  himself 
into  sweet  repose,  and  some  of  Peck's  bad 
boys  would  stick  pins  in  him  to  keep  him  go- 
ing. He,  like  all  the  men,  had  a  history,  and 
was  always  anxious  to  tell  it.  He  had  one 
story  that  was  his  favorite.  It  was  connected 
with  his  life,  away  back  "where  he  came  from." 
All  who  sat  under  his  razor  had  to  listen  to  it 
every  time  they  occupied  his  chair.  It  referred 
to  his  youthful  days  and  his  youthful  sports. 
It  was  always  enjoyable,  especially  so  when 
you  were  in  a  hurry,  for  the  recitation  seri- 
ously delayed  the  business  in  hand.  But  in  a 
few  years  he  passed  from  these  shores,  and  old 
Ben  and  his  fiddle  were  heard  no  more. 
Jonathan  Tucker  kept  the  first  butcher  shop. 
The  first  matrimonial  alliance  in  Mound  City 
was  consummated  by  Jackson  Stanly,  groom, 
and  Miss  Mary  Venoy  the  bride.  Rev.  I.  C. 
Anderson  pronounced  the  words  that  made 
them  inseparable. 

Capt.  C.  M.  Ferrill  and  Nelson  kept  a  wharf 
boat  in  1857.  Ferrill  was  elected  the  first  Po- 
lice' Magistrate  in  Mound  City,  resigning 
soon  after.  He  was  elected  City  Marshal,  and 
was  a  terror  to  evil  doers.  He  built  two  cot- 
tages in  Mound  City,  and  lived  in  one  of 
them  a  number  of  j'ears,  when  he  moved  to 
Elizabethtown.  Went  into  the  army,  came  back 


a  Colonel  of  a  regiment,  and  in  1873  was  elected 
to  the  State  Senate  from  the  Fifty-first  District. 
In  1857,  Bennett  &  Eddy  were  house  and  orna- 
mental painters  ;  acquired  a  good  business  in 
their  lines.     Mayfield  and  Cresp,  surgeon  and 
dentist,  could  be  found  if  you   had   the   tooth- 
ache, on  Main  street,  in  1857.     J.  S.  Hawkins, 
plasterer.     He  was  a  small  man,  walked  unu- 
sually   rapid,    but    understood    his   business. 
King  &   Rice  were  brickmakers  in  1856,  and 
Capt.  F.  A.  Fair  was  the  bricklayer.    The  Shel- 
ton House  was  supplying  the  wants  of  the  in- 
ner man.     It  was  first-class  and  had  some  style 
about  it.     The  proprietor,  R.  B.  Shelton,  fur- 
nished his  guests  with  a  bill  of  fare  at  all  meals. 
The  writer  of  this  has  one  dated  June  3,  1857. 
It  starts  out  with  three  kinds   of  soup,   then 
fish,  then   comes   corn    beef  and    cold  dishes, 
entrees  ;  but  listen  to  what  follows  under  the 
head  of  roast — chicken,  beef,  veal,  mutton,  ham, 
pork,  pig    and  duck — which    or    how    many 
kinds  will  3'ou  have  ?  was  the  question.     Then 
comes  game,  then  follows  vegetables,  eleven  dif- 
ferent  kinds.     Then   relishes,    puddings     and 
pastries,   consisting   of  fifteen   varieties,  then 
desserts.     The  list  of  wines,  with  meal  hours, 
including  when  children  and  servants  shall  be 
waked,  and  when  they  may  eat,  covers  one  en- 
tire side  of  the  bill.     Here  at  the  elegant  din- 
ners at  the  Shelton  House,  sat  the  President, 
Directors  and  stockholders  of  the  Emporium 
Company  in  1857,  sipping    their    champagne, 
and  talking  of  oriental  palaces  and  marble  halls. 
Detwiler  &  Yonker,  were  the    first  fashion- 
able boot  and  shoe  makers.     Their  sign  hung 
from  the  railroad  building  in  1856.     In  April, 
1856,  Younking  &  Mayfield   opened   the  first 
drug  store  in  the  building  where  George  Mertz 
&  Son  now  keep  grocery  store.     It  had  many 
owners.     In  1876,  Dr.  Amonett  was  the  owner, 
but   before  his  death  he  disposed  of  it,  and  it 
was  removed  from  Mound  City.     In  1857,  Tou- 
rill  &  Faelix  established   a  drug  store  where 
Mrs.  Moll  now  carries  on  business.     In  connec- 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY 


579 


tion  with  drugs,  they  kept  books  and  periodi- 
cals. Faelix  sold  his  interest  to  Tourill,  and 
returned  to  Germany.  Tourill  built  a  house 
on  Main  street,  south  of  Railroad  avenue,  and 
in  it  continued  the  drug  business  until  1870, 
when  he  sold  to  F.  G.  Fricke,  and  moved  to 
New  York  City,  where  he  died  some  years  ago. 
Mr.  Fricke  bought  property  on  the  east  side  of 
Main  street,  to  which  he  moved  the  drug  store. 
He  was  burnt  out  in  1879,  after  which  he  built 
a  brick  house,  and  still  carries  on  the  drug 
business.  A.  Fraser  advertises,  in  June.  1857, 
tin,  sheet-iron  and  copper-ware  for  sale,  whole- 
sale and  retail.  He  was  then  on  a  flat-boat, 
but  built  a  house  on  Main  street,  and  moved 
into  it  soon  after.  With  him  came  G.  G.  and 
J.  W.  Morris,  who  for  many  years  afterward 
lived  in  Mound  City,  and  as  G.  G.  &  J.  W. 
Morris,  did  business.  G.  G.  Morris  is  now  su- 
perintending a  stave  factory  at  Stone  Fort,  in 
this  State,  while  J.  W.  Morris  lives  in  Cairo, 
and  carries  on  a  tin,  sheet-iron  and  copper  shop. 
In  1857,  Orsbern  &  Kornlo,  opened  on  First 
street,  an  ice  cream  saloon,  and  to  increase  the 
luxuries  in  the  business,  they  added  cigars  and 
tobacco. 

John  F.  Morgan,  in  1857,  kept  a  grocery 
and  feed  store.  The  same  year  T.  Hilder- 
brand  opened  a  saddle  and  harness  shop,  and 
about  the  same  time  John  D.  James  &  Co. 
opened  on  Front  street,  between  Poplar  and 
Walnut,  an  exchange  and  banking  office,  but 
did  not  survive  a  great  while.  In  1857  Clem- 
son  &  Barney  opened  an  extensive  dry  goods 
house  on  First  street,  south  of  Poplar.  Before 
and  during  the  war,  a  number  of  gentlemen 
made  fortunes  selling  goods  in  Mound  City, 
but  moved  away  to  enjoy  them  and  at  the  same 
time  to  add  to  them.  But  they  have  found  fort 
une  to  be  fickle,  and  their  thousands  have  de- 
parted. The  moral  would  indicate,  you  had 
better  continue  to  live  where  you  do  well. 

Mound  Cit}-  has  a  population  of  2,500.     Her 
location,  contrary  to  the  judgment  of  a  strang- 


er, is  exceedingly  health)'.  Visit  her  public 
schools  and  see  her  bright,  healthy -looking 
children  ;  visit  the  public  demonstrations  that 
call  out  the  population,  and  for  healthful  ap- 
pearance they  will  compare  with  anj*  people  in 
any  part  of  the  countr}-.  The  breeze  from  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers  absorbs  or  drives 
over  and  above  Mound  City  the  malaria,  where 
it  exists  in  the  country  while  Mound  City  is 
comparatively  exempt  from  many  diseas'es  that 
carry  off  people  further  north,  and  who  are 
living  upon  higher  ground.  No  question  can 
exist  but  that  the  health,  according  to  actual 
statistics  of  Mound  City,  would  compare  favor- 
ably with  any  town  in  Illinois.  In  other  words, 
you  can  live  as  long  in  Mound  City  as  you 
would  any  where,  and,  as  to  your  happiness 
afterward.  Mound  City  should  not  be  responsi- 
ble. Mound  City  presents  no  idlers  or  loafers. 
Her  manufactures  and  her  enterprises  keep 
everybody  employed,  consequently  3Iound 
City  has  no  paupers  or  people  suffering  for 
bread. 

The  present  businesses  of  the  city  are  repre- 
sented by  Mrs.  Moll's  dry  goods  store,  on  Wal- 
nut street,  at  the  foot  of  Main  street  ;  A.  Lutz, 
butcher  shop,  on  west  side  of  Main  ;  John  Yo- 
gel,  baker  and  confectioner ;  John  Ballany , 
silver  smith;  John  Trampert,  boot  and  shoe 
maker,  with  large  stock  ready-made  ;  George 
Stoltz,  Stoltz  House,  of  which  he  is  proprietor; 
S.  Back,  dry  goods  store,  boots  and  shoes  and 
ready-made  clothing ;  L.  Blum,  dry  goods, 
boots  and  shoes  and  ready-made  clothing  ;  C. 
Boekenkamp  &  Co.,  groceries  ;  P.  Ward,  ice 
cream  saloon  and  confectionery  ;  Caesar  Shel- 
ler,  butcher  ;  George  Bosum,  boots  and  shoes  ; 
all  west  side  of  Main  street  and  south  of  Rail- 
road avenue — James  Mulrony,  saloon,  livery 
and  feed  stable  ;  Thomas  Browner,  groceries  ; 
A.  Weason,  undertaker ;  west  side  of  Main 
street  and  north  of  Railroad  avenue— Bell  & 
McCoy,  groceries  and  provisions  ;  A.  Mont- 
gomery, undertaker  ;  Loren  Stophlet,  groceries 


580 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY 


and  feed  stoi-e ;  N.  Newnogle,  bakery,  confec- 
tioneiy  and  toys  ;  George  Mertz  &  Son,  gro- 
cery and  feed  store  ;  Mike  Pracht.  tobacconist; 
William  Hough,  tinner  ;  W.  J.  Price,  dry  goods, 
groceries  and  ready-made  clothing;  Dr.  C.  B. 
Toher  ;  William  Neidstein,  saloon  and  billiard 
rooms ;  Romeo  Friganza,  books,  stationery, 
fancy  articles,  periodicals  and  newspapers ; 
William  Stern,  saloon  ;  Jake  Unroe,  barber, 
ice  cream  and  confectionery  saloon ;  Peter 
Coldwater,  saloon  ;  F.  G.  Fricke,  druggist ; 
Mrs.  Vogel,  washing  house ;  John  Zanone, 
variety  store  ;  Kris  Keller,  barber ;  G-.  F. 
Meyer,  groceries,  boots  and  shoes,  hardware, 
hats,  caps,  furniture,  saddlery,  wagons,  plows, 
reapers  and  mowers,  buggies  and  carriages,  and 
many  other  things,  all  on  the  west  side  of  Main 


street ;  Mrs.  Blake,  milliner,  on  Commercial 
street ;  Mrs.  Fray,  dre.is-maker  ;  Mrs.  Nick 
Smith's  Planter's  House  ;  Mound  City  Hotel, 
McClenen,  proprietor,  on  Railroad  avenue  and 
river  front ;  P.  M.  Kelly,  Eagle  Hotel  ;  John 
Dishinger,  blacksmith  shop  ;  Pat  Scott,  black- 
smith and  wagon  shop,  on  Main  street  ;  C.  A. 
Dowd,  blacksmith  ;  B.  R.  Barry,  blacksmith 
shop,  on  Third  street,  between  Walnut  and 
Poplar. 

The  present  otflcials  of  the  city  are  I.  W, 
Reed,  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  acting  Police 
Magistrate  ;  George  Mertz,  Mayor  ;  G.  F.  Mey- 
er, A.  J.  Dougherty,  Quinn  McCracken,  C.  N. 
Bell,  J.  H.  Reel,  Daniel  Hogan,  Councilmen  ; 
Frank  R.  Casey,  Clerk. 


CHAPTER      IX. 


ELECTION     PRECINCrS   ASIDE    FROM    MOUND   CIT7— BOUND.\RIES,   TOPOGR.VPH!'' VL    FEATURE.S. 
ETC.— ADVENT  OF  THE  WHITE  PEOPLE  AND  THEIR  SETTLEMENTS— HOW  THEY  LIVED— PROG- 
RESS OF  CHURCHES  AND  .'^CHOO US— GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OK  THE  COUNTY. 


"How  bowed  the  woods  beneath  their  sturdy  stroke.'" 

.    —  Oray. 

BEFORE  the  rear-guard  of  the  savages  had 
left  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  their  pale 
faced  foes  were  seeking  lodgment  in  the  present 
precincts  of  Pulaski  County.  In  a  preceding 
chapter,  we  have  a  thrilling  account  of  a  mas- 
sacre of  a  number  of  defenseless  whites  by  a 
band  of  Indians,  near  Mound  City,  as  an  evi- 
dence that  the  Anglo-Saxons  were,  here  as  else- 
whei'e,  treading  upon  the  red  man's  heels,  and 
as  elsewhere,  but  shared  the  fate  of  man^^  of 
their  ancestors,  as  a  penalty  of  their  temerity. 
We  have  not,  in  all  cases,  been  blameless  in 
our  contests  with  the  Indians.  The  most  in- 
sio-nificant  "  worm  of  the  dust  "  will  sometimes 
turn  when  trampled  upon,  and  the  "  untutored 

*By  W.  II.  Perrin. 


savage,"  with  the  provocation  of  being  deprived 
of  his  lands,  often  without  an}'  remuneration, 
can  scarcely  be  censured,  by  the  unprejudiced 
mind,  for  his  attempts  to  punish  the  despoilers. 
Driven  step  by  step  from  the  homes  of  his 
fathers,  he  has  almost  reached  the  end  of  his 
wanderings,  and  from  the  peaks  of  the  '■  rockies  " 
he  "  reads  his  doom  in  the  setting  sun."  As 
Sprague  says,  "  he  must  soon  hear  the  roar  of 
the  last  wave  which  will  settle  over  him  for- 
ever." Yes,  we  have  often  been  the  aggressor 
in  our  "  discussions "  with  the  Indians,  and 
much  of  the  punishment  we  have  received  at 
his  hands  was  richly  merited.  The  very  full 
and  complete  history  of  the  county  given  in 
the  preceding  chapters,  leaves  but  little  to  be 
said,  without  indulging  in  repetition,  in  the 
individual  precincts.     All  the  principal   points 


HISTORY   OF   PULASKI   COUXTY. 


581 


of  historic  interest  have  been  gone  over,  and 
the  progress,  growth  and  development  of  the 
different  portions  of  the  county  fairl}-  and 
truthfully  written.  A  few  words,  however,  will 
be  devoted  to  each  precinct  in  this  chapter,  by 
wav  of  conclusion  of  our  work. 

BurkviUe  Precinct.— This  is  the  smallest 
division  of  the  county,  and  with  Mound  City 
Precinct  forms  its  southern  extremity.  It  con- 
tains some  fine  land,  and  could  it  be  fully  pro- 
tected from  inundation,  it  would,  with  artificial 
drainage,  would  prove  as  fine  a  farming  region 
as  can  be  found  in  the  State.  It  is  mostly  rich 
bottom,  but  the  danger  from  overflow  renders 
much  of  it  comparatively  valueless.  It  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Villa  Ridge  Precinct 
on  the  east  by  Mound  City  Precinct,  and  on 
the  south  and  west  by  the  Cache  River.  The 
timber  growth  is  that  common  in  the  bottoms 
in  this  portion  of  the  State,  with  a  heavy  under- 
growth. 

Owing  to  the  nature  of  the  ground,  its  low 
level  surface,  it  was  not  settled  as  early  as 
other  sections  of  the  county.  No  settlements 
were  made  until  after  the  Emporium  Company 
had  commenced  operations  at  Mound  City,  if 
we  ma}'  except  an  occasional  squatter.  But 
since  the  building  of  the  Central  Railroad,  the 
land  has  been  mostly  taken  up,  and  a  number 
of  enterprising  people  have  settled  within  its 
limits.  No  doubt  the  time  is  not  far  distant, 
when,  by  our  Yankee  achievements,  BurkviUe 
Precinct  will  become  the  very  garden  of  Pu- 
laski Count}-. 

The  Village  of  BurkviUe  was  laid  out  by 
William  Burke  May  25, 1858.  It  is  situated  on 
the  west  half  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section 
22,  Township  16  and  Range  1  west.  It  is  the 
junction  of  the  Mound  City  division  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  but  as  a  town  its 
pretensions  are  modest  in  the  extreme,  and  half 
a  dozen  houses  are  all  there  is  of  it,  except  the 
side-tracks  of  the  railroad.  The  Beech  Grove 
and    Catholic  Cemeteries   are   located  a  little 


north  of  the  village — one  on  each  side  of  the 
railroad,  and  but  a  short  distance  apart.  There 
are  but  one  or  two  schoolhouses  in  the  precinct, 
owing  to  the  sparse  settlement. 

Villa  Ridge  Precinct. — This    is    one    of   the 
most  thickly  settled,  as  well  as  productive  por- 
tions of  the  county.     It  is  a  fine  fruit-growing 
section  ;    in  fact,  fruit   and  vegetables   are  its 
chief  products.     There  are   few  points  on  the 
Central  Railroad  from  which  are  shipped  more 
fruit  and  vegetables   than   from    Villa   Ridge. 
The  land  of  the  precinct  is    high  and    rolling, 
verging  into  hills  on  both  sides  of  the  railroad, 
and  is  well  adapted  to  fruit  culture.     The  tim- 
ber is  principally  oak,  walnut,  hickory,  maple, 
gum,  ash,  etc.,  etc.     The  land  is  drained  by  a 
number  of  small  streams  which  flow  into  Cache 
River.  Villa  Ridge  is  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Pulaski    Precinct,    on   the   east  by   Ohio  and 
Mound  City  Precincts,  on  the  south  by  Burk- 
viUe Precinct,  and  on  the  west  by  Cache  River. 
The   Illinois   Central  Railroad   passes    nearly 
through  the  center  with  a  station  at  the  town  of 
Villa  Ridge.  Taken  altogether,  it  is  a  fine  neigh- 
borhood ;  the  people  are  thrifty,  energetic  and 
intelligent,    and  are  rapidly  growing  wealthy. 
The  Atherton  settlement  was  one  of  the   first 
made,  not  only  in  this  precinct,  but  in  the  pres- 
ent limits  of  the  count}-.     Aaron  Atherton  was 
the  pioneer,  and  came  from  Kentucky,  probably 
as  early  as  1816,    and   settled    west    of  Villa 
Ridge  Station,  a  community  that  is  still  known 
as  the  Atherton  Settlement.     There  were  nine 
families  of  the  Athertons  and    their   relatives 
that  came  here  together,  and   about  the  same 
time.     The  first  church  in  the  county  was  or- 
ganized here,  and  probably  the  first  burying 
ground  was  laid  out  in  this  settlement.     The 
church    was   known    as    the    Shiloh    Baptist 
Church,  and  was  organized  in  1817,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  the  second  church  established  in 
the  State.     James  Edwards  and  Thomas  How- 
ard were  instrumental  in  its  formation,  and  it 
still  exists  as  a  monument  to  thoir    Christian 


582 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUI^TY. 


piety.  The  first  building  was  a  hewed  log 
house.  In  time  it  was  replaced  with  a  large 
frame,  which  was  afterward  burned.  The  pres- 
ent building  is  a  frame  ;  the  present  pastor  is 
Elder  T.  S.  Low. 

There  are  several  other  church  organizations 
in  Villa  Ridge  Precincl.  A  church  called  the 
Seventh  Day  Baptist  stands  about  two  and  a 
half  miles  east  of  the  village,  and  was  organ- 
ized about  1869.  Elder  Cottrell  was  the  first 
pastor.  The  church  building  is  a  frame,  and 
was  erected  some  ten  years  ago  at  a  cost  of 
$650.  A  flourishing  organization  of  Good  Tem- 
plars, known  as  Meridian  Lodge,  No.  94.  meets 
in  the  church.  It  was  formed  about  six  years  i 
ago,  and  is  still  doing  good  work  in  the  tem- 
perance cause.  The  colored  people  have  a 
Methodist  Church  and  also  a  Baptist  Church  in 
this  precinct.  The  Baptist  Church  is  in  the 
grove  near  the  village.  Rev.  A.  J.  Johnson  is 
pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  is  noticed 
further  in  Pulaski  Precinct.  The  Methodist 
Church  is  located  northwest  of  the  village,  and 
is  called  Chapel  Hill. 

Villa  Ridge  has  been  laid  out  as  a  village  in 
installments.  A  part  of  it,  but  whether  the 
first  part  of  it  the  records  do  not  say,  was  laid 
out  by  William  Harrell,  April  17,  1866,  on  the 
southeast  quarter  of  the  southeast  quarter  of 
Section  34,  Township  15,  and  Range  1  west. 
Another  part  was  laid  out  by  the  same  party  on 
the  northeast  quarter  of  the  northeast  quarter 
of  Section  3  of  Township  16,  and  Range  1  west. 
The  record  of  this  addition  gives  no  date.  A 
place  called  Salem  was  laid  out  on  the  hill 
above  Villa  Ridge,  but  has  been  vacated. 

Villa  Ridge  is  the  shipping  point  for  a  fine 
fruit-growing  section,  and  large  quantities  of 
fruit  and  vegetables  are  shipped  from  here 
every  season,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  chapter 
on  ao-riculture  and  horticulture.  It  is  also  a 
place  of  considerable  business,  having  several 
stores,  mills,  shops,  etc.  It  has  suflTered  a  great 
deal  from  fires  during  the  past  two   or  three 


3'ears,  so  much  so  that  insurance  companies,  we 
learn,  withdrew  their  policies.  A  Masohic  lodge, 
entitled  Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  No.  562,  A.,F.  & 
A.  M.  was  organized  here  June  22, 1867,  with  J. 
H.  Lufkin,  Master.  A  Methodist  Church  was 
organized  here  at  an  early  da^^  and  for  a  long 
time  held  their  meetings  at  difljerent  places  in 
the  neighborhood.  About  the  year  1870,  ef- 
forts were  commenced  to  build  a  house,  and  as 
soon  as  a  sufficient  amount  of  mone}'  could  be 
raised,  the  present  church  was  erected  at  a  cost 
of  about  SI. 000.  It  was  dedicated  in  1871. 
and  is  a  substantial  frame  building.  A  union 
Sunday  school  is  maintained  with  a  good  at- 
tendance. 

Ohio  Precinct. — This  precinct  contains 
some  fine  ftirmiug  land.  It  borders  on  the 
Ohio  River  and  lies  directly  north  of  Mound 
City  Precinct.  The  land  is  somewhat  rough 
along  the  river,  rising  into  blutfs  in  places, 
but  back  from  the  river  it  is  a  high  table- 
land, lying  well,  and  is  adapted  to  grain  and 
fruit.  The  fruit  business,  however,  has  not 
received  the  attention  here  that  it  has  in 
other  portions  of  the  county.  Much  of  the 
precinct  was  originalh-  heavily-  timbered,  but 
this  is  fast  disappearing  before  the  march  of 
progress.  It  is  bounded  north  by  Ullin  and 
Grand  Chain  Prec'ucts,  east  by  Grand  Chain 
and  the  Ohio  River,  south  by  Mound  City 
Precinct,  and  west  by  Villa  Ridge  and  Pu- 
laski Precincts. 

Among  the  early  settlers  of  this  precinct 
were  Enoch  Smith.  Thomas  Forker,  the  lat- 
ter a  Magistrate  and  a  man  of  considerable 
prominence ;  Nathan  M.  Thompson,  also  a 
prominent  man";  Capt.  James  Riddle  and 
others.  Capt.  Riddle  was  the  father-in-law 
of  "Parson"  Olmstead,  as  his  friends  all  call 
him,  and  was  a  man  of  energ}'  and  of  the  finest 
business  abilities.  He  built  the  house  where 
Mr.  Olmstead  now  lives,  and  owns  a  great 
deal  of  land,  amounting  to  several  thousands 
of  acres,  in  this  and  Alexander  Counties.    He 


HISTORY   OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


585 


was  one  of  the  first  traders  to  New  Orleans, 
and  followed  boating  for  years,  and  ran  one 
of  the  first  steamboats  to  New  Orleans.  A 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  he  lived  several  years 
in  Kentucky,  and  was  one  of  the  original 
proprietors  of  the  town  of  Covington  in  that 
State,  but  came  here  in  an  early  dsLj.  But  so 
much  is  said  of  him  in  a  preceding  chapter 
that  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  it.  Mr.  01m- 
stead  himself  is  not  a  new-comer  here,  but 
has  been  in  the  county  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury, and  is  well  acquainted  with  its  history. 
From  a  centennial  sketch  of  Pulaski  County 
written  by  him  and  published  in  the  Cairo 
Argus,  in  1876,  many  important  facts  in  this 
part  of  our  work  have  been  obtained.  He 
lives  in  the  little  village  which  bears  his 
name,  and  having  nearly  reached  the  end  of 
life's  journey,  he  stands  among  his  fellow- 
men,  highly  respected  by  all. 

The  old  town  of  Caledonia  was  laid  out 
by  Capt.  Riddle  and  John  Skiles,  after  the 
abandonment  of  America.  It  was  at  one 
time  quite  a  business  place,  but  upon  the 
death  of  the  proprietors,  its  progress  was  ar- 
rested, and  in  1861,  it  was  vacated  by  act  of 
Legislature.  Among  the  early  settlers  and 
business  men  of  old  Caledonia  were  John 
Worthington,  Sr.,  William  A.  Hughes  and 
Hugh  and  Isaac  Worthington,  all  of  whom 
are  now  deceased. 

North  Caledonia  was  laid  out  on  land  owned 
by  Col.  Justis  Post,  on  Section  26,  and  the 
south  half  of  Section  23.  all  in  Township  15 
and  Range  1  east.  The  plat  was  surveyed 
July  7,  1843,  and  submitted  to  record  Sep- 
tember 6,  following.  Col.  Post  made  a  dona- 
tion of  land  for  a  court  house  and  other 
county  buildings.  It  was  afterward  increased 
and  enlarged  by  the  Winnebago  Land  Com- 
pan}',  and  at  one  time  was  a  flourishing 
town.  But  the  building  and  opening  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  drew  its  trade  to 
other   points,  and    it    has   since    declined    in 


prosperity,  until  at  the  present  time  it  is 
almost  wholly  deserted.  The  town  of  Na- 
poleon is  a  thing  of  the  past.  It  was  once  a 
village  of  this  precinct,  but  not  a  vestige  of  it 
now  remains. 

The  little  village  of  Olmstead  was  laid  out 
E.  B.  Olmstead,  September  9,  1872,  on  the 
northwest  quarter  of  the  northeast  quarter, 
and  the  northeast  quarter  of  the  northwest 
quarter  of  Section  27,  and  the  southwest 
quarter  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  22, 
all  in  Township  15  and  Range  1  east.  It  con- 
tains a  dozen  or  so  of  houses,  two  or  three 
stores  and  a  few  shops.  The  Cairo  and  Vin- 
cennes  Division  of  the  Wabash  Railroad  passes 
through  it,  and  its  station  here  is  the  shipping 
point  for  a  large  scope  of  country. 

A  number  of  churches  in  the  precinct  aflbrd 
the  people  ample  religious  facilities.  There  is 
a  Presbyterian  Church  at  the  old  town  of  Cal- 
edonia ;  a  Southern  Methodist  Church  at  the 
Center  Schoolhouse,  and  a  Colored  Methodist 
Church  two  or  thi'ee  miles  north  of  Olmstead. 
The  precinct  has  some  four  or  five  good,  com- 
fortable school  houses,  in  which  schools  are 
taught  for  the  usual  terms  each  year. 

Pulaski  Precinct.  —  Next  to  Villa  Ridge 
Precinct,  Pulaski  pays  more  attention  to  fruit 
than  any  division  of  the  county.  Its  topo- 
graphical features,  except  a  small  portion  of  the 
northwest  corner  along  Cache  River,  which  is 
somewhat  swampy,  partake  of  the  same  nature 
of  Villa  Ridge,  being  high,  rolling  and  hilly, 
with  plenty  of  timber  of  the  kinds  common  to 
the  county.  The  precinct  is  bounded  north  by 
Ullin  Precinct;  east  by  Ohio,  south  by  Villa 
Ridge,  and  west  by  the  Cache  River.  It  has 
the  advantage  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
as  a  means  of  communication  with  the  outside 
world.  Settlements  were  not  made  in  Pulaski 
as  earl}-  as  in  many  other  portions  of  the 
county.  The  Lackey  settlement  was  perhaps 
the  first  in  the  precinct  made  by  white  people. 
Thomas  Lackey,  a  North  Carolinian,  came  here 


586 


HISTORY   OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


about  1823,  and  still  has  a  number  of  relatives 
and  descendants  living  in  the  vicinity.  At  the 
time,  however,  of  building  the  Central  Railroad, 
nearl}^  the  entire  precinct  was  a  thick,  unbroken 
wilderness.  But  since  that  great  thoroughfare 
was  opened,  it  has  settled  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, and  is  developing  rapidly  into  a  fine  farm- 
ing and  fruit-growing  region. 

The  village  of  Pulaski  was  laid  out  and  the 
plat  recorded  March  28,  1855.  It  is  located 
on  Section  15  of  Township  15,  and  Range 
1  west.  Abraham  A.  Perley  and  Egbert 
E.  and  Henry  Walbridge  were  the  orig- 
inal proprietors.  The  latter  two  gentlemen  were 
among  the  leading  business  men  of  the  place, 
and  under  the  name  of  Walbridge  Brothers, 
carried  on  a  large  trade.  Lumber  has  always 
been  the  largest  and  most  profitable  interest, 
and  man}-  saw  mills  have  from  time  to  time 
been  in  operation,  turning  out  immense  quanti- 
ties of  lumber,  which  finds  its  way  to  market 
over  the  Central  Railroad.  Several  stores  here 
do  a  flourishing  business.  The  post  office  was 
originally  called  Walbridge,  but  has  been 
changed  to  Pulaski.  A.  W.  Lewis  is  the  pres- 
ent Postmaster.  The  vegetable  business  was 
commenced  here  about  1867,  and  has  since 
grown  to  large  dimensions. 

The  Mount  Pleasant  Baptist  Church,  located 
in  the  Lacke}-  settlement,  though  having  a 
small  membership,  is  in  a  very  healthy  state 
The  colored  people  also  have  a  flourishing 
church  on  Section  24,  and  deserve  considerable 
credit  for  their  zeal  in  religious  matters. 

In  connection  with  this  church,  a  few  words 
are  due  to  Rev.  A.  J.  Johnson,  a  man  born  a 
slave,  in  Clark  County,  Ky.,  August  18,  1818, 
to  Col.  J.  D.  Thomas.  By  his  own  energy  and 
industry,  coupled  with  a  native  intelligence 
superior  to  that  of  most  of  his  race,  he  worked 
in  the  hemp  business  in  Kentucky,  made 
money  and  purchased  his  freedom,  paying  to 
his  master  $800  for  the  same.  He  came  to 
Illinois   in  1857,  and  first  stopped  at  Mound 


City,  but  a  few  years  later  came  to  this  pre- 
cinct, where  he  has  since  resided,  and  where 
he  owns  a  well-improved  farm.  He  has  been 
in  the  ministry  for  thirty- two  years,  first  in  the 
Christian  Church,  but  upon  coming  to  Illinois 
he  united  with  the  Free-Will  Baptists,  and  for 
the  past  seventeen  years  he  has  had  charge  of 
the  Villa  Ridge  Colored  Baptist  Church. 

Education  receives  the  attention  of  the  citi- 
zens of  the  precinct,  and  a  number  of  com- 
fortable schoolhouses  attest  their  interest  in 
this  great  civilizing  influence.  Good  schools 
are  taught  each  year  in  all  of  the  school  dis- 
tricts. 

TJllin  Precinct. — This  precinct,  like  Pulaski, 
is  comparatively  new  as  regards  settlement. 
It  is  largely  composed  of  bottom  lands,  which 
extend  from  Wetaug  into  Pulaski  Precinct. 
Cache  River  running  through,  and  its  bottom 
spreading  out  over  nearly  the  whole  precinct, 
frightened  the  early  settlers  from  what  they 
deemed  its  miasmatic  swamps.  It  lies  south 
of  Wetaug  Precinct,  north  of  Pulaski  Precinct, 
west  of  Grand  Chain  Precinct,  and  east  of 
Alexander  County.  Since  the  building  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  the  precinct  has  been 
considerably  settled.  The  lumber  interest  is 
the  most  valuable  industry  and  receives  much 
more  attention  than  agriculture.  The  Legisla- 
ture appropriated  $1,000  at  one  time  for  im- 
proving the  State  road  through  the  bottoms  of 
Ullin  Precinct.  This  money  was  expended  in 
grading  and  cordui'oying  the  road,  so  as  to 
render  it  passable  at  all  times,  when  not  over- 
flowed from  high  water. 

The  precinct  is  well  supplies  with  churches, 
and  the  people  have  no  lack  of  church  privi- 
leges.    There  is  a  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  village,  and  a  Lutheran  and  Methodist 
Church  in  the  precinct.     There  is  also  a  Bap- 
[  tist   Church  on    Section    21  of    the  precinct. 
I  Several  comfortable  schoolhouses  show  the  in- 
terest the  people  take  in  educational  matters. 
I       Ullin  Village  was  laid  out  by  D.  L.  Philips 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI   COUNTY. 


587 


and  J.  F.  Ashley,  and  the  plat  submitted  to 
record  February  20,  1857.  It  occupies  the 
southwest  corner  of  Section  26,  and  a  part  of 
Section  23,  Township  14,  Range  1  west.  It  is 
but  a  small  place,  having  but  a  hundred  or 
two  population,  two  or  three  stores  and  a  few 
shops.  The  lumber  interest  is  large  and  valu- 
able. The  saw  mills  of  James  Bell  are  the 
largest  in  Southern  Illinois,  and  the  piles  of 
lumber  cut  annually  by  them  are  simply  im- 
mense. Mr.  Bell  ships  millions  of  feet  from 
these  mills,  and  still  has  plenty  "more  to  fol- 
low." The  mills  are  on  the  banks  of  Cache 
River,  bj-  which  stream  great  rafts  of  logs  are 
brought  to  their  doors,  thus  saving  the  poor 
patient  oxen  many  a  hard  pull. 

The  lime  business  has  long  been  a  valuable 
interest  of  Ullin  Precinct.  Of  this  business, 
Mr.  Olmstead  says  in  his  sketch  :  "The  works 
of  the  Ullin  Lime  &  Rock  Company  are  situ- 
ated near  Ullin.  The  quantity  of  pure  blue 
limestone  is  inexhaustible.  The  capacity  of 
the  kilns  is  three  hundred  barrels  per  day. 
The  lime  is  specially  adapted  to  the  manufact- 
ure of  gas  and  glass,  and  for  building  pur- 
poses it  is  excellent.  Since  1866,  the  company 
has  expended  $40,000  in  improvements. 
There  are  twenty-five  neat  dwellings  belonging 
to  the  company,  besides  other  buildings.  The 
company  furnish  lime,  slightly  damaged,  in 
an}'  quantity  to  farmers,  and  man}'  are  avail- 
ing themselves  of  this  generous  offer." 

Grand  Chain  Precinct. — This  division  lies  in 
the  northeast  corner  of  the  count}',  having  for 
its  boundaries,  Johnson  County  on  the  north, 
Massac  County  on  the  east,  the  Ohio  river  on 
the  south,  and  Ohio  and  Ullin  Precincts  on  the 
west.  The  name  of  Grand  Chain  was  derived 
from  the  chain  of  rocks  which  extend  through 
the  precinct,  and  across  the  Ohio  River  here. 
The  precinct,  like  Ohio,  is  a  fine  farming  coun- 
try, and  some  of  the  most  flourishing  and  pro- 
ductive farms  and  thrifty  farmers  in  the 
county  are  to  be  found  here.     The  land  is  high 


and  lays  well,  is  gently  rolling,  except  along 
the  river,  which  is  quite  rough  and  hilly.  Origi- 
nally the  land  was  mostly  heavy  timbered,  and 
to  open  a  farm  was  a  work  of  great  labor. 
From  the  number  of  squatters  who  came  in 
early,  the  community  was  christened  "The 
Nation"  by  Capt.  Freeman,  a  name  it  long 
bore,  and  which  is  still  often  applied  to  it.  In 
the  formation  of  Pulaski  County  this  portion 
of  its  territory  was  cut  off"  from  Massac  County. 
It  is  also  told  that  during  the  campaign  upon 
the  new  county  question,  that  this  place  again 
received  the  name  of  The  Nation.  But  although 
some  of  the  first  comers  were  men  rather  rude 
and  uncouth,  the  community  has  grown  out  of 
the  backwoods  period,  and  in  no  portion  of  the 
county,  nor  of  Southern  Illinois,  can  there  be 
found  a  more  intelligent  and  refined  people,  or 
a  better  and  more  honorable  class  of  citizens. 
Some  of  the  early  settlers  were  :  Absalom 
Youngblood,  William  Cain,  the  Crockers, 
Smiths,  Bartlesons,  Hugh  McGee  and  others. 
These  hardy  pioneers  came  here  when  the  coun- 
try was  a  wilderness,  and  by  dint  of  great 
labor  and  perseverance,  succeeded  in  opening 
farms  and  rearing  houses  and  homes.  A  prior 
occupancy,  however,  was  what  was  known  as 
Wilkinsonville.  "  Gen.  Wilkinson,"  says  Mr. 
Olmstead,  "  about  the  close  of  the  war  of 
1812.  ascended  the  Ohio  River  with  a  large 
body  of  troops,  and  established  himself 
at  the  head  of  Grand  Chain.  He  erected  ex- 
tensive buildings  for  barracks,  with  large  brick 
chimneys,  the  remains  of  which  are  still  to  be 
seen.  Quite  a  population  gathered  around  the 
place,  which  in  honor  of  the  commander,  was 
called  Wilkinsonville.  From  200  to  400  graves 
mark  the  spot  where  citizens  and  soldiers  found 
burial.  The  last  inhabitant  was  Mr.  Cooper, 
the  father  of  Bonaparte  Cooper.'  This  move- 
ment of  Gen.  Wilkinson  is  a  little  curious,  and 
has,  perhaps,  never  been  wholly  accounted  for. 
Why  he  would  lead  a  body  of  men  to  this  spot, 
at  the  time  he  did,  is  something  of  a  problem. 


588 


HISTORY  OF  PULASKI  COUNTY. 


A  Christian  Church  was  built  in  the  pre- 
cinct, mostly  by  Mr.  Porter,  which  is  used  by 
all  denominations,  but  the  Christians,  we  be- 
lieve, have  the  preference.  Tt  stands  near 
Grand  Chain  Village,  but  was  built  before  the 
village  was  laid  out.  The  colored  people  also 
have  a  church  organization  called  Bethlehem 
Church.  The  precinct  is  well  supplied  with 
schoolhouses,  and  education  receives  the  warm- 
est support  of  the  people.  Some  half  a  dozen 
good,  comfortable  schoolhouses  are  scattered 
over  the  precinct  at  convenient  distances,  and 
are  well  attended  during  the  school  term. 

The  village  of  New  Grand  Chain  was  laid 
by  Joseph  W.  Gaunt,  Warner  K.  Bartleson 
and  David  Porter,  and  the  plat  recorded  Octo- 
ber 31,  1872.  It  is  located  on  the  southwest 
quarter  of  the  northwest  quarter,  and  the  north- 
west quarter  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  Sec- 
tion 32,  Township  14,  and  Range  2  east.  It  is 
on  the  Cairo  Division  of  the  Wabash  Railroad, 
about  five  miles  south  of  the  county  line,  and 
is  a  small  and  unpretentious  village,  with  a  few 
stores  and  shops.  A  large  amount  of  shipping 
is  done,  the  surplus  produce  of  a  large  tract 
of  territory'  accumulating  here  for  transporta- 
tion to  the  different  markets  of  the  country. 

A  village  called  Grand  Chain  was  laid  out 
near  where  the  present  village  of  New  Grand 
Chain  is  located,  but  we  have  no  record  of  it. 
Cacheton  was  also  laid  out  as  a  town  by  John 
Butler,  November  13,  1873.  It  was  situated 
where  Oaktown  Post  Office  stands,  on  the  rail- 
road, near  the  county  line.  February  17, 1875, 
it  was  vacated  b}'  law. 

Wetaug  Precinct. — This  is  the  northernmost 
precinct  of  Pulaski  County.  It  partakes  some- 
what of  the  surface  features  of  Ullin  Precinct, 
which  lies  south  of  it,  in  that  it  has  a  good 
deal  of  bottom  lands,  subject,  more  or  less,  to 
overflow.     It   contains,  however,   considerable 


fine  farm  lands,  and  many  productive  farms 
and  prosperous  farmers  are  to  be  found  in  this 
section.  The  precinct  is  bounded  north  by 
Union  County,  east  by  Johnson  County,  south 
by  Ullin  Precinct,  and  west  by  Alexander 
County,  from  which  it  is  separated  by  Mill 
Creek.  There  was,  originally,  considerable  fine 
timber,  but  much  of  it  has  been  cut  away  and 
sawed  into  lumber. 

One  of  the  earliest  settlements  made  in  the 
county  was  in  this  precinct,  and  was  known  as 
the  Sower's  Settlement.  Henry  Sowers  was 
the  pioneer  of  quite  a  colony,  who  came  from 
North  Carolina.  Sowers  settled  at  the  Big 
Spring,  as  it  was  called,  and  which  is  now  in 
the  village  of  Wetaug  in  1816.  Among  those 
who  gathered  around  him  were  :  Judge  Hoff- 
ner,  Richard  Brown,  the  Nally  family,  the  Dex- 
ters,  William  Mcintosh,  the  Knupps,  Levi 
Hughes  and  others.  Some  of  these  are  still 
living,  and  many  of  them  have  descendants 
here.  Judge  Hoffner  is  still  a  resident  of  the 
precinct,  and  is  one  of  the  prominent  men  of 
the  county. 

Educational  and  religious  facilities  of  the 
precinct  are  ample,  and  the  people  lack  neither. 
In  the  village  of  Wetaug,  there  is  a  Catholic 
and  a  Lutheran  Church,  both  of  which  are 
flourishing.  Preparations  are  making  for  the 
building  of  a  German  Reformed  Church  in  the 
village,  and  it  will  perhaps  be  erected  during 
the  present  j'ear. 

The  village  of  Wetaug  is  rather  a  small  place, 
containing  perhaps  not  more  than  a  hundred  or 
so  of  inhabitants.  A  store  or  two;  a  few  shops 
and  a  large  flouring  mill  comprise  its  business. 
It  is  a  water  and  coal  station  on  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  and  is  the  only  stop  the  fast 
mail  train  makes  between  Anna  and  Cairo.  We 
could  find  no  record  of  when  it  was  laid  out  as 
a  village. 


PART   V. 


Biographical  Sketches. 


fm^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^' 


PART  V. 


lOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES. 


OAIEO 


WILLIAM  ALBA,  deceased,  was  a  son  of 
Daniel  Alba  (barber),  who  was  born  in  Grosen- 
buseck,  Hesse-Darmstadt,  German}',  on  the 
28th  day  of  February,  1807.  He  grew  to 
manhood  in  Germany,  and  married  a  woman 
whose  name  cannot  now  be  known,  by  whom 
he  had  five  children  ;  William,  late  of  Cairo, 
is  the  only  one  ever  represented  in  the  United 
States.  She  died  in  the  old  country,  and  Mr. 
Alba  was  again  married  in  Germany  to  Miss 
Margretta  Doring,  who  is  still  living  with  her 
daughter  in  Cairo,  111.  This  marriage  was 
blessed  with  twelve  children,  of  whom  four  are 
now  living,  viz.  :  Conrad  Alba,  barber  at 
Cairo  ;  Henrietta  Klee,  of  Cairo  ;  Catherine, 
wife  of  Edward  Leffern,  of  St.  Louis,  and  Ma- 
ria, wife  of  Albert  Niemuth,  of  St.  Louis. 
Daniel  Alba  died  in  St.  Louis  on  the  7th  day 
of  September,  1857.  William  Alba  was  born 
in  Grosenbuseck,  Hesse-Darmstadt,  on  June 
13,  1837,  and  emigrated  to  the  United  States 
with  his  father's  family,  and  settled  in  St.  Louis  in 
1857.  He  there  married,  on  the  25th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1872,  to  Miss  Minnie  Lohmeier.  She  was 
born  at  Minden,  Westphalia,  Prussia,  on  the 
15th  day  of  May,  1835.  and  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1857,  with  a  sister,  Caroline, 
wife  of  Fred  Dunker,  of  South  Carondelet,  Mo. 
She   is    a  daughter   of  Christopher  Lohmeier, 


and  the  mother's  name  is  unknown,  both  par- 
ents having  died  when  she  was  a  small  child, 
leaving  a  family  of  eight  children,  fiv^e  of 
whom  came  to  the  United  States — Frederica 
(deceased),  Lizzie,  Louisa,  Caroline  and  Mrs. 
Alba.  Mr.  Alba  raised  a  family  of  five  chil- 
dren, viz.:  Bertha,  born  in  Cairo  July  12, 
1863  ;  Matilda,  born  May  12,  1865  ;  Itta,  born 
August  1,  1867;  Benito,  born  October  20, 
1869  ;  Minnie,  born  Juh'  7,  187-4,  and  died 
September  17,  1878.  Mr.  Alba  died  in  Cairo 
on  the  9th  of  November,  1882.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  I.  0.  0.  F., 
Knights  of  the  Golden  Rule,  and  of  the  Fire 
Department.  He  was  buried  with  the  honors 
of  these  sevei'al  societies. 

CONRAD  ALBA,  barber,  on  Eighth  street, 
Cairo,  111.,  is  a  native  of  Frankfort,  Germany, 
where  he  was  born  on  the  15th  of  June,  1849. 
His  parents.  Dr.  Daniel  Alba  and  M.  Alba, 
of  Germany,  came  to  the  United  States,  and 
settled  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  in  1857,  where 
the  father  soon  after  died,  leaving  a  large  fam- 
ily, of  whom  but  three  children  are  now  living, 
one  in  St.  Louis  and  two  residents  of  Cairo, 
111.  The  mother  was  born  on  the  8th  of  April, 
1810,  and  is  now  living  in  Cairo,  with  her 
daughter,  Mrs.  Jacob  Klee.  Conrad  Alba  came 
to  Cairo  in  1862,  and  at  once  began  the  trade 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


of  barber,  working  for  his  brother,  William 
Alba,  until  1875,  when  he  opened  a  shop  on 
Eighth  street,  where  he  is  still  located.  He  is 
not  a  partisan  in  politics,  but  on  matters  of  a 
general  issue  acts  with  the  Republican  party. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

GEORGE  M.  ALDEN,  commission  merchant 
in  Cairo,  is  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  born  in 
Newberry  District  November  4,  1828,  son  of 
Royal  and  Malinda  A.   (Frazer)  Alden.     The 
father  was  a  native  of  Stafford,  State  of  Con- 
necticut,   and  the  mother  of  South    Carolina. 
They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  of  whom 
George  M.  is  the  oldest.     His  mother  died  in 
Illinois  in  1840,  on  her  thirty-fourth  birthday. 
They  came  from  South  Carolina  in  1837,  and 
settled  in  Hamilton   County.     The  father  was 
subsequently  married  to  Mrs.  Eliza  C  Lasater, 
by  whom  he  had  a  family  of  nine  children.  They 
both  died  in  Hamilton  County,  he  in  1869  and 
she  in  1870.  The  father  was  a  teacher  by  profes- 
sion for  many  years,  teaching  thirty  years  in 
Hamilton   County.      George  M.  was  educated 
under  his  instruction.     He  is  a  lineal  descend- 
ant of  John  Alden  of  the  ship  Mayflower,  who 
was  private  secretary  to  Miles  Stanclish.     As  a 
first  employment  for  himself,   he  followed  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers  for  ten  years,  and 
became  a  pilot.      He  enlisted  in  1862,  in  the 
Thirteenth  Illinois  Cavalry,  and  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  regiment  was  commissioned  Cap- 
tain of  Company  G,  in  which  capacity  he  served 
until  April,  1865,  when  he  was  promoted  to  the 
position  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  regiment; 
promoted  to  full  Colonelcy  in  August  of  the  same 
year,  with  which  commission  he  was  discharged 
at  Springfield,  in  October,   1865.     Col.   Alden 
participated  in  much   of  the   service   of  the 
Seventh  Army  Corps,  and  was  principally  con- 
fined to  the  States  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas. 
Andrew  J.  Alden,  a  younger  brother   of  the 
Colonel,   was  Brst  enlisted   as  a  Captain,  in   a 
company  of  the  Sixty-second  Infantry,  and  was 


discharged  on  account  of  disability  at  the  end 
of  one  year.  Recovering  his  health,  he  rercuited 
a  company  for  the  Thirteenth  Cavalry,  and  was 
commissioned  Captain  of  the  company ;  he 
was  made  a  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Cross 
Roads,  Ark.,  and  held  over  one  year  at  Tyler, 
Tex.  He  was  promoted  to  the  position  of 
Major,  and  mustered  out  as  Lieutenant  Colonel 
of  the  regiment.  He  is  now  in  the  Government 
Printing  Office  in  Washington,  though  his  home 
is  in  Cairo,  III.  George  M.,  was  married  at 
McLeansboro,  III.,  in  April,  1860,  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  Wilmott,  a  native  of  Illinois.  She 
was  born  in  1840  and  died  in  1863.  He  was 
married  to  his  present  wife  December  9,  1865. 
Her  name  was  Ann  T.  Knight,  widow  of  Elisha 
R.  Knight,  and  daughter  of  Thomas  C.  and 
Nancy  Graves.  This  union  has  been  blessed 
with  two  children — Leon  L.  (born  November 
13,  1866)  and  Wilber  L.  Alden  (born  on  Sep- 
tember 22,  1869).  Besides  these  there  are  two 
children  as  result  of  Mrs.  Alden's  first  marriage 
— R.  G.  Knight  and  M.  G.  Knight.  Subject 
came  to  Cairo  in  1867,  since  which  time  he  has 
been  in  the  flour  and  grain  business.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  the  family  of 
the  Christain  Church,  in  which  he  holds  the 
position  of  Elder.  R.  G.  Knight  was  born  in 
Illinois,  and  chose  the  medical  profession,  but 
instead  of  practicing  he  became  a  druggist  lor 
some  years,  and  is  now  on  the  stafl"  of  the 
Chicago  Herald.  M.  G.  Knight  is  a  resident 
of  Fort  Worth,  Tex. 

JOHN  ANTRIM,  tailor,  Cairo,  III.,  was  born 
December  18,  1828,  in  Lawrenceburg,  Dearborn 
Co.,  Ind.  His  father,  Joel  Antrim,  was  born 
in  1806  in  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  and  was  of 
Irish  parentage.  He  was  by  trade  a  shoe-mak- 
er, and  in  early  life  moved  to  Indiana,  where 
in  1827  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Morgan. 
She  was  born  in  1 805  in  Pennsylvania,  of  Ger- 
man ancestry.  They  had  five  children,  John 
being  the  eldest ;  Eliza,  deceased  wife  of  Dr.  R. 
Ward,  of  Harrison,  Ohio  ;  Sarah  Antrim,  who 


CAIEO. 


is  also  deceased  ;  James  Antrim,  a  grain-dealer 
of  Peoria,  111. ;  Elisha  Antrim,  a  farmer  in  Ma- 
con Count}',  111.  The  father  is  still  living,  and 
a  resident  of  Richmond,  Ind.  The  mother  died 
in  1840  in  Iowa.  John  was  reared  to  manhood 
on  the  farm,  and  received  a  common  school  ed- 
ucation. He  early  developed  a  taste  for  mer- 
cantile business,  and  when  eighteen  years  old 
obtained  a  position  as  salesman  in  a  dry  goods 
house,  where  he  had  two  years'  experience. 
In  1848  he  went  to  Kentucky,  where  he  re- 
mained as  a  clerk  until  1850.  His  next  posi- 
tion was  that  of  clerk  on  a  merchant  store  boat. 
The  two  3'ears  immediately  preceding  his  com- 
ing to  Cairo,  he  was  employed  in  a  wholesale 
and  retail  clothing  house  in  Madison,  Ind.,  in 
which  he  obtained  his  first  lessons  in  the  busi- 
ness of  merchant  tailoring.  In  1852,  in  connec- 
tion with  John  Kelle}-,  he  established  a  busi- 
ness at  Yincennes,  Ind.,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Antrim,  Kelley  &  Co.,  which  continued  about 
eighteen  months,  when  the  stock  was  removed 
to  Metropolis,  111.,  where  they  continued  for 
some  3-ears.  At  the  expiration  of  two  j'ears, 
however,  Mr.  Antrim  retired  from  the  firm,  and 
in  the  same  3-ear  (1855)  came  to  Cairo  and 
opened  a  clothing  business,  which  existed  until 
1864,  during  which  time  he  enjoyed  unlimited 
success,  amassing  a  fortune  of  over  $100,000. 
But  being  yet  a  young  man  full  of  business  en- 
tei'prise,  he  was  loath  to  retire  from  the  arena  of 
trade,  and  in  1864  sold  his  stock,  went  to  the 
city  of  St.  Louis  and  engaged  in  an  ex- 
tensive wholesale  business,  in  which  he 
lost  heavily,  being  reduced  to  "first  prin- 
ciples." He  returned  to  Cairo  in  1870, 
since  which  time  he  has  engaged  in  the 
merchant  tailoring  business,  employing  three 
skilled  workmen.  He  was  married  in  Concor- 
dia, Meade  Co.,  Ky.,  May  10, 1853,  to  Miss  Eliza 
A.  Parr  (daughter  of  Col.  Smith  and  Mary 
Parr,  of  Kentucky),  in  which  State  she  was  born 
in  1831.  Their  family  consists  of  John  M.,  Al- 
bert W.,  Nellie  May,  Addie,  Viola  M.,  Hugh  S. 


and  Walter  Antrim.     Mr.  Antrim  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  of  Cairo. 

DR.  DANIEL  ARTER,  deceased,  was  born  in 
the  State  of  Maryland,  on  the  3d  day  of  June, 
1798,  and  died  in  Cairo,  111.,  on  the  6th  day  of 
August,  1879.  He  was  twice  married,  and  his 
last  wife  and  three  of  their  family  of  six  daugh- 
ters are  now  residents  of  the  city  of  Cairo. 
The  Doctor  came  to  Southern  Illinois  in  its  pio- 
neer daj's,  and  for  twenty-five  years  was  a  resi- 
dent of  Pulaski  County,  where,  including 
adjoining  counties,  he  had  an  extensive  medical 
practice,  always  (except  the  last  year  of  his 
life)  blessed  with  great  vigor  of  bod}-  and  an 
active,  well-balanced  mind;  he  not  only  became 
a  very  successful  physician,  in  his  treatment  of 
the  diseases  incident  to  the  country,  but  be- 
came a  widel}-  known,  popular  and  influential 
citizen,  loved  and  admired  in  life  for  his  many 
virtues,  the  memory  of  which  are  still  cherished 
in  the  hearts  of  his  man}-  ardent  friends.  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  war,  he  removed  to  Cairo, 
and  accepted  an  appointment  from  President 
Lincoln  to  the  then  very  responsible  and  labori- 
ous position  of  the  Surveyor  and  Collector  of 
the  Cairo  port.  This  office  he  held,  always  per- 
sonally surpervising  its  aflfairs,  until  the  close 
of  the  war,  when  he  retired  from  business  al- 
together, having  in  his  eventful  life  obtained 
an  ample  competence  for  his  old  age,  and  though 
frequently  importuned  to  offer  himself  as  can- 
didate for  offices  of  public  trust,  he  seemed  to 
possess  no  ambition  in  that  direction,  and  dur- 
ing his  eighteen  years'  residence  in  Cairo  con- 
tented himself  with  a  single  term  as  Select 
Councilman,  a  position  he  filled  most  intelli- 
gently and  industriously.  Although  but  little 
in  public  life,  few  men  were  more  constantly 
before  the  public,  known  to  and  knowing  almost 
everybody  in  the  country.  In  the  manage- 
ment of  his  private  business,  he  was  prudent 
and  successful,  and  his  declining  years  were 
blessed  with  "  temporal  abundance."  During 
the  last  decade  of  his  life,  he  gave  much  atten- 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


tion  to  matters  of  theolog}',  and  became  noted 
as  an  independent  and  deep  thinker,  discard- 
ing ever}'  ism  and  form  of  religious  doctrine 
not  in  accord  with  his  ideas  of  an  Infinite  God, 
and  embodied  in  pamphlet  form  the  results  of 
much  of  his  mature  thought.  He  approached 
death  without  a  fear — 3'ea,  he  longed  for  it  as  a 
happ3'  release  from  his  sufferings — as  a  sweet, 
rest  for  his  care-worn  bod}'.  For  several  days 
preceding  the  close  of  his  life,  he  would  fre- 
quently exclaim,  "  Oh,  will  the  end  never  come?" 
and  in  the  growing  certainty  that  the  end  could 
not  long  be  delayed,  he  was  never  alarmed,  but 
manifested  a  composure  that  bespoke  peace  of 
mind  as  to  the  great  future,  and  thus  he  calmly 
rested  in  death,  and  though  feeble  and  full  of 
j'ears.  his  place  in  the  community  is  difficult  to 
fill.     See  portrait  elsewhere. 

ROBERT  BAIRD,  Street  Commissioner, 
Cairo,  111.  In  every  local  community  or  city, 
there  is  always  an  '-oldest  inhabitant,"  and  in 
this,  as  in  most  other  matters  of  interest,  Cairo 
is  not  lacking,  but  points  with  pride  to  her 
"  oldest  inhabitant  "  in  the  person  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  Robert  Baird.  He  is  of 
Irish  origin,  his  father,  John  Baird,  being  born 
in  the  old  country,  on  the  26th  September,  1784r. 
His  mother,  Jane  Walker,  was  born  in  Wil- 
mington, Del.,  on  the  9th  of  January,  1790.  The 
parents  were  max-ried  at  Wilmington,  about 
1806,  and  reared  a  family  of  twelve  children,  of 
whom  Robert  is  the  eleventh.  He  was  born  on 
June  5,  1826,  at  Philadelphia,  and  was  left 
motherless  by  the  death  of  that  parent  thi'ee 
years  later,  September  26,  1829.  The  father 
lived  to  the  age  of  seventy  years,  and  died  in 
Cairo  December  18,  1854.  Robert  left  the 
home  of  his  father  when  eleven  years  old,  and, 
in  company  with  a  sister  and  brother-in-law, 
moved  to  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  where  they  re- 
mained but  a  short  time,  coming  thence  to 
Smithland,  Ky.,  where  he  began  the  trade  of 
ship  carpenter.  It  was  while  working  at  this 
trade    that    he    chanced    to    come    to   Cairo, 


being  sent  here  in  1839,  then  but  thirteen  years 
old,  to  make  some  repairs  on  a  boat.  By  some 
fatality  he  remained,  and  now,  though  in  active 
business  life,  is  a  landmark  of  Cairo's  earliest 
history.  He  followed  his  trade  for  some  years 
after  coming  to  this  city,  and  finally  became 
owner  and  captain  of  a  steamboat,  and  during 
the  late  war  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Grovern- 
ment  in  transporting  troops  and  provisions- 
He  has  acceptably  filled  the  various  official  po- 
sitions in  the  city  government,  and  now 
has  the  supervision  of  her  streets.  He 
is  an  honored  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, possessed  of  a  life  experience  which  is 
a  model  of  temperance,  and  in  politics  a  Demo- 
crat. His  worthy  wife,  Fransina  Tanner,  to 
whom  he  was  married  in  the  fall  of  1853,  was 
born  in  Tennessee  in  1830.  They  have  been 
blessed  with  six  children,  of  whom  but  three 
are  living,  viz.,  Henry,  Robert  and  Mary  Baird. 
The  family  residence  is  on  the  corner  of  Ninth 
and  Walnut  streets. 

SANFORD  P.  BENNETT,  of  the  firm  of 
Wood  &  Bennett,  Cairo,  111.,  is  a  native  of  Mil- 
ton, Pike  Co.,  111.,  and  is  the  second  of  a  family 
of  five  children  of  Lucius  Bennett  and  Deborah 
Renoud.  His  parents  are  of  French  ancestry, 
though  native  born — the  father  a  native  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  where  he  grew  to  manhood 
and  married.  From  New  York  they  removed 
to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Pike  County.  Sanford 
P.  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of 
Pike  County,  and  afterward  took  a  course  in  a 
commercial  college  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  Mo 
His  early  business  life  has  been  largely  ab- 
sorbed in  clerical  duties,  having  worked  for 
seven  years  as  Deputy  Circuit  Clerk  of  Pike 
County,  besides  a  term  as  County  Clerk  in  the 
same  county.  On  the  24th  of  May,  1861,  he 
enlisted  in  Company  K,  of  the  Sixteenth  Illinois 
Infantry  Regiment,  from  which  he  was  dis- 
charged in  December,  1862,  on  account  of  phys- 
ical disability,  and  from  that  time  until  1866 
he  was  connected  with  the  Quartermaster's  De- 


CAIRO. 


partment  at  Cairo,  111.  In  May,  1861,  he  was 
appointed  to  the  position  of  Postmaster  of 
Pittsfield,  111.,  by  President  Lincoln,  which  office 
he  filled  by  deputy  until  removed  by  President 
Johnson  in  1866.  In  December,  1876,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  firm  of  Green,  Wood  & 
Bennett,  which,  by  the  retirement  of  the  first 
named  gentleman,  is  now  Wood  &  Bennett, 
who  do  a  general  grain  and  milling  business  on 
the  Ohio  levee,  corner  of  Eighteenth  street. 
Mr.  Bennett  was  married,  December  14,  1865, 
in  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  to  Miss  Kate  McCallinn,  a 
native  of  Scotland,  where  she  was  born  on  the 
16th  day  of  December,  1842.  She  came  from 
Scotland  to  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  with  her  par- 
ents, when  four  years  old.  Their  family  con- 
sists of  five  children,  of  whom  one  is  deceased. 
Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bennett  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Cairo,  111.,  and  he  is  a 
member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 

ADOLPH  BLACK,  merchant,  Cairo,  111.,  is 
a  Hungarian  by  birth,  and  a  son  of  Leopold 
Black,  who  was  a  landlord  in  that  dominion. 
Both  father  and  mother  (Betty  Black)  were 
born  and  died  in  the  old  country.  Adolph  was 
born  May  20,  1823,  and  grew  to  manhood  on 
his  father's  farm,  and  in  1844  was  married  to 
Bessie  Neiman,  who  was  born  in  1823.  Mr. 
Black  came  to  the  United  States  in  1856,  land- 
ing at  New  York  City,  and  soon  located  at 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  for  five  years  he  en- 
gaged at  his  trade,  that  of  optician.  Having 
decided  to  engage  in  merchandising,  he  removed 
to  Upper  Sandusky,  in  Wyandot  County,  Ohio, 
where  he  opened  a  dry  goods  store,  which  he 
successfully  conducted  until  coming  to  Cairo, 
111.  He  landed  in  Cairo  on  the  11th  day  of 
May,  1867,  and  immediately  established  him- 
self in  the  boot  and  shoe  business,  located  on 
the  corner  of  Eighth  street  and  Commercial 
avenue,  remaining  at  that  place  until  1874, 
when  he  moved  to  No.  140  Commercial  avenue. 
His  business  career  has  proven  abundantly  suc- 
cessful, and  he  now  carries  an  extensive  stock, 


and  employs  several  skilled  workmen  in  manu- 
facturing. He  is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F., 
and  has  a  family  of  eight  children,  viz.:  David 
Black  ;  Betty,  wife  of  S.  Rosenstein  ;  Fannie, 
wife  of  Samuel  Rosenwater,  of  Cairo  ;  Sarah 
Rosenwater,  of  Sikeston,  Mo. ;  Herman  H., 
lawyer  and  ex-member  of  Illinois  State  Legis- 
lature ;  Lewis,  Marx  C.  and  William  E.  Black. 
BYRON  F.  BLAKE,  merchant,  Cairo,  111., 
was  born  November  21,  1848,  at  Kensington, 
N.  H.  His  father,  Josiah  T.  Blake,  was  also  a 
native  of  New  Hampshire,  and  born  August  15, 
1812.  His  mother,  Joanna  H.  Raynes,  was 
born  March  16,  1814,  in  York  County,  Me. 
The}'  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  B.  F. 
Blake  being  the  third.  When  he  was  yet  a 
child,  his  parents  removed  to  Lynn,  Mass., 
where  he  grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated, 
and  where  the  parents  still  reside.  In  the 
above-named  city  he  learned  the  trade  of  a 
last-maker,  which  he  preferred  to  that  of  his 
father,  who  was  a  carpenter.  He  worked  at 
last-making  in  the  city  of  Lynn  for  six  years, 
but  finally  left  the  parental  roof  to  seek  his 
fortune  in  the  West.  He  first  came  to  Chica- 
go, where  for  several  months  he  did  a  fair  bus- 
iness at  his  trade,  but  soon  returned  to  his 
home  in  Lynn,  with  the  expectation  of  remain- 
ing ;  but,  having  seen  a  portion  of  the  West 
in  its  rapid  development  and  numerous  busi- 
ness advantages,  he  soon  decided  to  return, 
which  he  did  in  1869.  In  that  year,  he  came 
directly  to  Cairo,  111.,  which  has  since  been  his 
home.  On  coming  to  Cairo,  he  associated  him- 
self with  Benjamin  F.  Parker  in  business,  un- 
der the  firm  name  of  Parker  &  Blake.  The 
stock  consisted  in  paints,  oils,  glass,  wall-pa- 
per, window-shades,  etc.,  in  which  Mr.  Blake 
is  still  engaged,  on  an  increased  scale.  In  1874, 
the  partnership  terminated  by  the  retirement 
of  Blake,  but  was  again  renewed  in  January, 
1876,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  was 
again  dissolved,  this  time  by  the  retirement 
from  the  firm  of  B.  F.  Parker.     Since  that  time, 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


Mr.  Blake  has  conducted  the  business  alone  ; 
has  a  large  stock  of  supplies  in  his  line,  and 
does  an  extensive  business  in  house-painting, 
by  which  he  gives  employment  to  quite  a  force 
of  practical  painters.  Business  location,  on  the 
corner  of  Eleventh  street  and  Commercial  av- 
enue. He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, Royal  Arch  and  Knights  Templar,  also 
of  the  Knights  of  Honor.  In  politics,  he  is  an 
enthusiastic  Democrat.  He  has  served  the 
city  of  Cairo  as  Treasurer  two  terms,  and  is 
serving  his  third  year  as  a  member  of  the  City 
Council.  He  was  married  in  Cairo,  111.,  on  the 
29th  of  June,  1876,  to  Miss  Annie  E.,  daughter 
of  John  B.  and  Rachel  J.  Phillis.  She  was 
born  in  Washington  County,  Penn.,  March  8, 
1851.  John  B.  Phillis  died  in  Cairo  on  the 
25th  of  September,  1881.  The  mother  is  still 
living,  and  makes  her  home  with  the  subject 
of  this  sketch.  Mr.  Blake  has  one  son,  Frank 
F.  Blake,  born  in  Cairo  February  17,  1883. 

HENRY  BLOCK,  manufacturer  and  dealer 
in  boots  and  shoes,  Cairo,  111.,  was  born    in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  on  the  25th  day  of  December, 
1841.     His    father,  Fred  Block,  was  born  in 
Hanover,  Germany,  in  1812,  and  the  mother, 
Sophia  Kramer,  was  born  in  the  same  kingdom 
in  1817.     They  were  married  in  their  native 
country,  where  they  resided  until    after   the 
birth  of  their  first  child,  when,  in  the  spring  of 
1838,  they  came  to  the  United  States  and  set- 
tled  in   Cincinnati,   Ohio.     Later,  the  family 
removed    to   Ripley   County,  Ind.,  where,   in 
1852,   the   father   died.     He  had  a  family  of 
twelve  children,  Henry  being  the  third.     Mrs. 
Block  was  subsequently  married  to  Peter  Gros- 
mann,  to  whom  have  been  born  four  children. 
She  still  survives  and  resides  in  Ripley  County, 
Ind.     Henry  received  an  ordinary  German  ed- 
ucation in  Indiana,  and  went  to  the  trade  of 
shoe-making  in  1857,  which  he  completed  in 
two  years,  working  at  his  shoe-bench  until  after 
the  breaking-out  of  the  war,  when  he  was  em- 
ployed at  Cincinnati,  by  the  Government,  in  the 


manufacture  of  military  saddles.     In  1867,  he 
went  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  worked  at  his 
trade  until  1870,  coming  that  year  to  Cairo,  111. 
He  here  worked  in  the  shop  of  Fred   Winter- 
berg  for  about  two  and  a  half  years,  and  for 
the  next  year  and  a  half  was  again    in   St. 
Louis.     In  April,  1874,  he  opened  a  small  shop 
in  Cairo,  situated  on  Eighth  street,  between 
Washington    and   Commercial   avenues.      By 
close  application  to  work,  he  was  able,  in  1868, 
to  invest  in  a  small  stock  of  ready-made  boots 
and  shoes,  to  which  he  added  as  he  was  able.  By 
honorable  dealing,  he  has  succeeded  fairly,  and 
now,  at  No.  131   Commercial  avenue,  he  has  a 
complete  stock  of  goods,  in  connection  with 
which  he  does  an  extensive  custom  business, 
employing  three   skilled    workmen.     To    say 
that  Mr.  Block  has  risen  from  the  shoe-bench 
to  the  proprietorship  of  a  first-class  shoe  store 
would   only   do   him  an  injustice,   as  he   has 
not  abandoned  his  bench,  but  continues  to  su- 
perintend the  manufacturing  department  and 
work  at  the  bench  when  not  otherwise  engaged. 
He   was  first  married  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  on 
the   24th  of  October,  1865,  to    Miss   Louisa 
Kortgartner.      She   was    born   in  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  November  10,  1845,  and  died  December 
5,  1866,  leaving  one  daughter,  Louisa  Block, 
born  November  17,  1866.     He  was  married  to 
his  present  wife,  Dena  Stekhahn,    August  6, 
1874.     She  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany, 
April  22,  1851.     Her  parents,  George  and  El- 
eanor Stekhahn,  both  natives  of  the  kingdom 
of  Hanover,   Germany,   came   to  the    United 
States  in  1867,  and  settled  in  Cairo,  111.,  where 
the  father  died  October  1,  1877.     He  was  by 
trade  a  wagon-maker,  and,  like  each  of  the  sur- 
viving members  of  the  family,  was  a  faithful 
member  of  the  Lutheran  Church.     Was  born 
in  July,  1812.     The  mother  was  born  Septem- 
ber 20,  1807,  and  now  lives  with  her  daughter, 
Mrs.  Block.     Mr.  Block's  family  comprises  Al- 
wena,  born  April    29,  1875  ;    Hermina,  born 
October  28,  1876  ;  Anna,  born  June  4,  1879  ; 


CAIRO. 


9 


and  Ludwig  Block,  born  August  19,  1881. 
Mr.  Block  is  a  member  of  the  American  Legion 
of  Honor,  and  is  in  politics  a  Democrat.  Fam- 
ily residence  on  Eighth  street,  between  "Wash- 
ington avenue  and  Walnut  street. 

HERMAN  BLOMS,  Cairo,  III,  grocery  and 
provision  dealer,  on  the  corner  of  Seventh 
street  and  Washington  avenue,  was  born  in 
Hanover.  Germany,  on  the  16th  da}-  of  October, 
1841.  The  names  of  his  parents  were  Engle- 
bert  H.  Bloms  and  Gesiua  Kettel,  both  of  whom 
were  natives  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hanover.  His 
father  was  born  in  1800,  and  died  in  the  old 
country  in  1866.  His  mother  was  born  in  1798, 
and  is  now  living  in  Hanover.  They  had  but 
two  children,  the  subject  and  an  older  sister, 
^lar}-,  wife  of  William  Book,  of  German}-.  She 
was  born  in  1838.  Herman  received  a  fair  ed- 
ucation in  the  country  of  his  nativity,  and  ob- 
tained his  business  training  in  Rhorer's  Com- 
mercial College,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.  He  came  to 
this  country  in  1860,  and  after  finishing  his 
business  course  he  established  a  market  business 
in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  remaining  in  that  city 
in  business  until  1865.  In  Mai'ch  of  that  year, 
he  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  and  for  two  years  there- 
after engaged  in  the  same  kind  of  business, 
but  in  1867  opened  a  grocery  and  provision 
store  on  Washington  avenue,  between  Eighth 
and  Ninth  streets.  In  1869,  he  was  burned  out 
with  a  severe  loss,  but.  knowing  no  such  word 
as  fail,  he  immediately  opened  up  again,  and 
this  time  on  the  corner  of  Seventh  street  and 
Washington  avenue,  where  he  is  still  located. 
He  carries  an  extensive  stock  and  enjoys  the 
confidence  of  a  large  number  of  friends.  He 
was  married  in  Cairo,  on  the  5th  of  January, 
1873.  to  Miss  Maragret  Maloney.  Their  family 
consists  of  M.  Gesina,  Englebert  J.,  Herman 
and  Annie  Bloms.  The  family  are  members  of 
the  Catholic  Church  of  Cairo.  Mr.  Bloms  owns 
city  property  consisting  of  three  improved  lots 
on  his  business  corner,  and  including  his  family 
residence. 


WALTER  L.  BRISTOL.  In  all  communities 
are  found  men  who  rise  equal  if  not  superior 
to  their  surroundings,  and  instead  of  being  en- 
tirely the  creatures  of  circumstance,  by  their 
native  energy  and  perseverance,  so  mold  and 
direct  their  business  interests  as,  to  a  great 
extent,  to  govern  circumstances  and  make  them 
subserve  their  immediate  interests.  The  city 
of  Cairo  is  not  without  its  portion  of  such  men. 
Taking  front  rank  in  this  class  is  the  subject 
of  these  lines,  Walter  L.  Bristol.  He  was  born 
in  Erie  County,  Penn.,  on  the  6th  of  May,  1839, 
and  is  the  son  of  Lester  Bristol  and  Adelaide 
Pettibone.  The  father  was  of  German  parent- 
age, and  was  married  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
about  1844  removed  to  Wisconsin,  where  the 
mother  died  in  1849.  The  father  lived  to  the 
age  of  seventy-seven  years,  and  died  in  Iowa 
about  1870.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children 
— Walter  L.,  of  Cairo,  111.:  Edward  Bristol,  of 
Dakota ;  Adeline,  deceased  wife  of  A.  Stone- 
braker;  George  Bristol,  of  Wisconsin;  and 
Lucius  Bristol,  of  Iowa.  Mr.  W.  L.  Bristol  was 
reared  on  the  farm,  and  chiefly  by  strangers.  In 
1859,  having  grown  to  manhood,  he  went  to 
Chicago,  and  until  1863  was  employed  in  the 
dry  goods  house  of  Potter  Palmer,  of  that  city. 
Having  saved  a  little  money,  he  came  to  Cairo 
in  1863,  and  soon  after  associated  with  L.  W. 
Stilwell  in  the  grocery  trade,  the  partnership 
existing  until  April,  1875,  when  Mr.  Stilwell 
retired  from  the  firm,  which  was  known  as 
Bristol  &  Stilwell.  Since  the  latter  date,  Mr. 
Bristol  has  conducted  the  business  alone,  and 
with  marked  success.  In  1881,  he  erected  a 
neat  two-story  brick  business  house  at  No.  32 
on  Eighth  street,  where  he  keeps  a  select 
stock  of  groceries,  provisions  and  queensware. 
In  addition  to  his  city  business,  he  has- a  grain 
and  fruit  farm  of  243  acres  in  Pulaski  County. 
He  was  married  in  Bristol,  Wis.,  on  the  25th 
of  December,  1866.  to  Miss  Louisa  S.  Watkins, 
daughter  of  George  and  Maria  (Chamberlain) 
Watkins — the  former  born  in  England  in  1811, 


10 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


and  the  latter  was  born  in  1814  in  Connecticut. 
These  parents,  in  1844  (then  having  three 
children),  removed  from  the  State  of  New  York, 
to  Kenosha  Count}-,  Wis.,  where  the  father  en- 
gaged in  farming  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  1851.  His  wife  and, four  of  a  famil}^  of  nine 
children  still  survive  him.  Mrs.  Bristol 
was  born  in  the  State  of  New  York  in  1844. 
Their  family  consists  of  Walter  W.,  born  Octo- 
ber 2,  1867;  Willis  E.,  born  October  23,  1868; 
Louis  T.,  born  September  1,  1872;  and  John  B. 
Bristol,  born  May  15,  1877.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  both  husband  and  wife 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  Cairo. 

EDWARD  A.  BUDER,  jeweler  and  watch- 
maker, Cairo,  111.,  was  born  November  4,  1839, 
in  Austria.  He  is  the  second  of  a  family  of 
five  sons  of  Florian  and  Rosalia  Buder,  both  of 
whom  were  Austrians  by  birth.  Edward  A., 
when  fourteen  years  old,  having  received  a  fair 
education,  came  to  the  United  States,  and  for 
four  years  was  located  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  was  learning  the  art  of  plat- 
ing in  the  establishment  of  the  famous  Rogers 
Bros,  of  that  city.  Leaving  there  in  1857,  he 
came  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  spent  another 
four  years  in  perfecting  the  trade  of  watch- 
maker and  jeweler.  He  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  in 
1861,  and  that  year,  in  connection  with  his 
brother,  William  Buder,  opened  a  business  on  a 
very  limited  scale.  B}-  a  natural  adaptation 
to  business,  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  their 
line,  together  with  a  native  energy,  they  soon 
found  themselves  able  to  branch  out  largely, 
and  in  a  few  years  began  a  wholesale  business, 
emplo3'ing  a  traveling  salesman.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years  the  firm  did  business  on  corner  of 
Eighth  street  and  Washington  avenue,  now  oc- 
cupied by  Barclay  Brothers,  druggists.  Mr. 
Buder  has  met  with  some  severe  losses,  one  by 
fire,  and  others  perhaps  more  serious,  and  from 
a  source  far  more  aggravating.  Being  in  busi- 
ness during  the  war,  they   were   subjected  to 


cruel  robbery  at  the  hands  of  an  unprincipled 
mob  of  drunken  soldiers  who,  in  passing  along, 
were  attracted  by  the  display  of  watches  in  the 
show  windows.  Immediately,  as  if  by  instinct, 
they  were  impressed  with  their  need  of  watches, 
and  a  rush  was  made  for  the  window,  all  (in- 
cluding the  proprietors)  striving  for  first 
choice.  In  1877,  the  partnership  terminated 
by  the  withdrawal  of  William,  since  which  time 
Edward  A.  has  been  sole  proprietor.  He  is 
now  located  at  No.  1 04  Commercial  avenue, 
where  he  has  a  stock  and  trade  second  to  none 
in  Southern  Illinois.  He  owns  a  quantity  of 
valuable  city  real  estate,  including  a  block  of 
three-story  buildings  on  northwest  corner  of 
Eighth  street  and  Commercial  avenue.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  and  Knights  of 
Honor.  He  was  married  in  Cairo,  111.,  Febru- 
ary, 1866,  to  Miss  Susan  Schmidt.  She 
was  born  in  Prussia  in  1844,  and  died  in 
Cairo,  111.,  in  1870,  leaving  two  daughters — 
Mary  and  Rosa  Buder.  Minnie  Kaufman,  to 
whom  he  is  now  married,  was  born  in  Prussia 
in  1850.  By  this  union  there  are  four  chil- 
dren, viz. :  Edward,  Otto,  Minnie  and  Florence 
Buder. 

ANDREW  J.  CARLE,  Cairo,  111.,  was  born 
near  Ithaca,  Tompkins  Co.,  N.  Y.,on  the  7th  day 
of  April,  1823.  He  is  the  fifth  of  a  family  of 
ten  children  of  David  T.  Carle  and  Sibyl  Ow- 
ens, who  were  both  natives  of  New  York.  The 
father  was  born  December  25, 1794,  and  died 
in  Pennsylvania  on  the  20th  of  March,  1872. 
The  mother  was  born  on  March  20,  1789,  and 
died  in  Pennsylvania  on  the  17th  of  February, 
1865.  In  1836,  the  family  moved  from  Tomp- 
kins County  to  Western  New  York,  where  An- 
drew J.  grew  to  manhood,  and  from  where  the 
parents  removed  to  Pennsj'^lvania.  In  the  year 
1844,  Andrew  J.  went  to  Grirard,  Penn.,  and 
there  learned  the  trade  of  a  carriage-maker.  He 
opened  a  carriage  shop  at  Meadville,  Penn.,  in 
1846,  which  he  operated  until  1852,  when  he 
sold  out  and  removed  to  Lacon,  111.,  where  he 


CAIRO. 


11 


purchased  a  carriage  business,  but  becoming 
dissatisfied  with  the  business  facilities  of  that 
town  he  soon  returned  to  Meadville.  Here,  on 
the  23d  day  of  August,  1853,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Harriet  M.  Kinnear,  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  daughter  of  Milita  Kinnear,  of  Cairo.  She 
was  born  in  1825,  and  died  in  Cairo  in  1870, 
leaving  one  son,  Frank  A.  Carle,  who  was  born 
June  10,1860.  Soon  after  marriage,  Mr.  Carle 
settled  in  Allegany  County,  N.  Y.,  where  they 
lived,  however,  but  a  short  time.  The}-  re- 
moved to  Cincinnati  from  Allegany  County 
by  water,  bringing  their  effects  on  a  rude  raft 
constructed  for  the  trip,  and  spent  nine  weeks  in 
reaching  Cincinnati.  He  then  established  a  bus- 
iness in  Willoughby,  Ohio,  where  he  remained 
until  coming  to  Cairo,  111.,  which  he  did  in  the 
fall  of  1858,  immediately  after  the  flood  of  that 
year.  In  1859,  he  was  appointed  to  the  office 
of  City  Police,  and  for  many  years  thereafter 
was  connected  with  that  part  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment. In  1873,  he  opened  a  livery  and  sale 
stable  on  the  corner  of  Tenth  street  and  Wash- 
ington avenue,  which  he  still  owns.  In  1883, 
there  was  opened  another  stable  on  corner  of 
Tenth  street  and  Commercial  avenue,  which  is 
under  the  control  of  Frank  A.  Carle.  Mr.  Carle 
was  married  to  his  pi'esent  wife,  Mrs.  Augeline 
(Warner)  Bushnell,  in  November  of  1871.  Mrs. 
Carle  has  one  daughter  by  former  marriage, 
Clara  Bushnell,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania 
December  4, 1859,  and  the  mother  in  Ohio  in 
1836.  Family  residence,  No.  32  on  Ninth 
street,  Cairo. 

WILLIAM  G.  CARY,  undertaker,  Cairo. 
Among  those  whose  residence  in  Cairo  entitle 
them  to  the  appellation  of  pioneers  must  be 
mentioned  the  name  of  William  G.  Carj^,  who 
came  here  in  1854.  His  father  was  a  native  of 
England,  though  of  Irish  descent,  and  married 
in  Vermont  Miss  Aurilla  Bishop,  a  native  of 
that  State.  They  reared  a  family  of  six  chil- 
dren, all  of  them  now  living,  and  of  whom 
William  is  the  third.      From  Vermont  the  par- 


ents moved  to  Palmyra,  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y., 
where  our  subject  was  born  on  the  14th  of 
April,  1824.  They  then  removed  to  Canada, 
and  later  to  Michigan,  where  they  died— the 
mother  in  1858,  and  the  father  in  September, 
1881,  at  the  advanced  age  of  one  hundred  and 
eight  years.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  William  G. 
went  from  his  home  in  Canada  to  Niagara  Falls, 
where  he  remained  about  five  years ;  then 
went  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  ran  the  rivers 
from  that  place  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.  He  after- 
ward engaged  in  business  in  Louisiana,  from 
where  he  came  to  Cairo  in  1854,  as  above 
stated.  Being  a  practical  carpenter  and 
builder,  he  found  the  city  of  Cairo  an  ample 
field  of  labor,  for  some  time  employing  a  large 
number  of  men  in  his  business.  In  1858,  he 
began  the  manufacture  of  coffins,  and  has  re- 
mained in  Cairo,  engaged  in  the  undertaker 
line,  ever  since.  He  was  married,  1855,  to  Em- 
ma Crabtree,  daughter  of  James  Crabtree  and 
Phoebe  E.  Cookney.  Her  father  was  of  Eng- 
lish and  the  mother  of  Scotch  birth.  They 
were  married  in  Virginia,  and  had  a  family  of 
ten  children.  Of  this  family,  Mrs.  Cary  is  the 
fourth  member,  and  was  born  in  Kentucky  on 
the  29th  day  of  September,  1829.  Mr.  Cary 
has  a  family  of  three  children  living,  and  has 
buried  several — Aurilla  J.,  wife  of  W.  H. 
McFarland,  was  born  September  23,  1858 ; 
Ella  M.,  born  January  27,  1864,  and  George 
W.  Cary,  born  March  10,  1867.  It  is  worthy 
of  remark  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cary  are  still  liv- 
ing in  the  same  house  in  which  they  began 
their  married  life,  where  each  of  their  children 
were  born,  and  also  a  grandchild,  daughter  of 
Aurilla  J.,  who  was  married  at  the  "same  old 
stand."  They  are  members  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  he  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 

BENJAMIN  F.  CLARK,  engineer,  Cairo,  III, 
was  born  in  Ohio  County,  Va..  January  19, 1824. 
He  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  eleven  children 
of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Anderson)  Clark,  who 
were  born  and  reared  in  Maryland.     He  was 


13 


BIOGRAPHICAL, 


left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  twelve  years  b}' 
the  death  of  his  mother,  the  father  having  died 
about  seven  3'ears  previous.  He  thus  early  in 
life  was  thrown,  comparatively,  upon  his  own 
resources,  and  soon  after  began  an  apprentice- 
ship to  the  trade  of  blacksmith,  which  he  pur- 
sued until  the  year  1852.  He  worked  at  his 
trade,  in  the  emplo}^  of  the  Government,  during 
the  Mexican  war,  remaining  with  the  United 
States  Armj'  through  the  entire  contest.  In 
1852,  he  began  what  has  ever  since  been  his  oc- 
cupation, that  of  marine  engineer,  on  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  and  during  the  late 
civil  war  was  a  regularly  commissioned  engi- 
neer in  the  United  States  Navy,  participating 
in  several  severe  naval  engagements.  Since 
the  war,  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Cairo,  111., 
and  emploj'ed  on  local  vessels  ;  now  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  Compa- 
ny, as  engineer  of  their  transfer  vessel.  In 
1845.  at  Ravenswood,  Jackson  Co.,  Va.,  he 
married  Miss  Mar}-  E.  Merr^-man,  daughter  of 
Caleb  Menyman,  formerly  of  Baltimore,  Md. 
She  is  a  native  of  Virginia. 

JEFFERSON  M.  CLARK,  painter  and  pa- 
per hanger,  Cairo,  111.,  is  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  was  born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
on  June  1, 1844.  His  parents,  Charles  S.  Clark 
and  Sarah  B.  Taj'lor,  were  born  and  reared  in 
the  East,  the  father  in  New  Jersey,  and  the  latter 
in  Pennsylvania.  Jefferson  M.  is  the  oldest  of 
a  family  of  eight  children ;  he  learned  the 
trade  of  painter  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  1860 
moved  with  his  parents  to  Indiana,  and  in  the 
spring  of  the  following  3'ear  he  enlisted  in 
Company  P,  of  the  Thirteenth  Indiana  Regi- 
ment, serving  in  this  organization  for  three 
3'ears.  He  was  afterward  commissioned  a  First 
Lieutenant,  on  Gen.  Thomas'  staff,  and  served 
one  3'ear.  He  participated  in  several  hard- 
fought  battles,  including  Rich  Mountain,  Win- 
chester, Nashville  and  the  siege  of  Charleston 
and  others.  He  was  discharged  in  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  where  he  immediately  began   work   at 


his  trade,  and  where,  on  September  25,  1865, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Mildred  E.  Atkins. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  A.  L.  and  Nancy  Atkins, 
and  was  born  October  22,  1847,  at  Waverly, 
Tenn.  Mr.  Clark  continued  in  the  South  until 
1874,  when  he  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  and  has 
since  been  engaged  constantly  at  his  trade. 
He  keeps  in  stock  an  assortment  of  paints, 
wall  paper,  window  shades,  picture  frames  and 
moldings.  Mr.  Clark  has  four  children  living 
and  two  deceased — Bertie,  born  October  3, 
1867  ;  Jefferson  L.,  born  June  25,  1869 ; 
Charles  M.,  born  January  6,  1873,  died  Sep- 
tember 19  of  same  year  ;  John  A.,  born  Jul}' 
9, 1874,  died  February  16,  1879  ;  Angelo  A., 
born  February  7,  1879  ;  and  an  infant,  born 
September  3,  1881.  Mr.  Clark  is  a  member  of 
the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  in  which  he  has  filled  the  vari- 
ous offices  of  honor  ;  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Honor  and  of  the  Arab  Fire  Com- 
pany. Addison  L.  Atkins,  father  of  Mrs.  Clark, 
was  born  in  Virginia  ;  married,  in  Tennessee, 
Miss  Nanc}-  S.  Coffman  ;  reared  a  family  of  ten 
children,  and  died  in  1868.  The  mother  still 
lives  at  Waverly,  Tenn. 

ALBERT  C.  COLEMAN,  traveling  passen- 
ger agent  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  is  a 
native  of  Oneida  County,  N.  Y.,  born  March  7, 
1824,  son  of  John  and  Ama  (Smith)  Coleman, 
the  father  a  native  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  and 
a  descendant  of  an  English  famil}',  who 
were  first  represented  in  the  United  States 
about  1760.  He  grew  to  manhood  in  Connecti- 
cut, and  in  1808  became  a  settler  in  Oneida 
County,  N.  Y.,  then  a  wilderness  ;  he  was  there 
married  to  Miss  Ama  Smith,  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont, and  of  English  origin,  and  a  daughter  of 
Asal  Smith,  a  Revolutionar}^  soldier.  A.  C. 
Coleman  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  ten 
born  to  these  parents.  He  grew  to  manhood  in 
Oneida  County,  N.  Y.,  receiving  the  benefits  of 
an  academic  education.  From  1841  to  1857, 
he  was  chiefl}'  employed  on  steam  and  sail  ves- 
sels, becoming  a  master.      In  1852,  however, 


CAIRO. 


13 


he  was  employed  by  Messrs.  Phillips  &  Vaudu- 
sen,  contractors  on  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, as  foreman  of  a  part  of  their  work,  and 
superintended  the  first  of  their  earthwork  at 
La  Salle,  111.  Since  June,  1864,  he  has  been 
in  the  employ  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company,  as  traveling  passenger  agent,  with 
his  residence  at  Cairo,  111.  He  was  first  mar- 
ried in  Bellows  Falls,  Vt.,  to  Miss  S.  A. 
Carter,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire.  She  died  in 
1851,  at  La  Salle,  111.  Subsequently  he  was  mar- 
ried, in  Chicago,  to  Miss  Susan  E.  Mclntyre,  of 
Fabius,  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.  She  died  in 
Cairo,  111.,  February,  1876,  leaving  two  chil- 
dren— Eflfie  May  and  Albert  V.  Coleman..  His 
present  wife  was  Miss  Flora  Van  Cleve,  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  William  Van  Cleve,  of  Centralia, 
111.,  and  was  born  in  Illinois  in  1844.  Mr.  Cole- 
man is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

WILLIAM   M.  DAVIDSON,  tinner,  Cairo, 
111.,  was  born    February   7,   1838,  in   Allegany 
County,    N.  Y.,   and  was  reared  from   child- 
hood to  maturity  in  Wyoming  County,  of  that 
State.     James  Davidson,  father  of  William  M., 
was  born  in  1808,  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey, 
but  of  Scotch  parentage.  He  grew  to  manhood 
in  his  native  State,  and  in  Tompkins    County, 
N.    Y.,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lucy    Com- 
stock,  of  that  State.     Their  family  comprised 
eight  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living, 
William  M.  being  the  second  of   the  family. 
The  mother  died  in  Pulaski  County,  III,  on 
May  29,  1877.  The  father  is  still  living,  making 
his  home  with  his  son  William  M.,  and  though 
seventy-five  years  old  retains  much  of  his  youth- 
ful vigor.     William  Davidson  first  came  West 
in  1854,  located  at  Rockford,  111.,    where  he 
adopted  the  trade  of  tinner,  and  where  he  woi'ked 
until  1858,  returning  that  year  to  New  York, 
there  engaging  at  the  trade  until  May,   1861, 
when    he    became  a    member   of  Company   I, 
Thirty-second  New   York  Infantry.     He   par- 
ticipated in  both  the  Bull   Run  battles,   and 
most  of  the  active  service  incident  to  G-en.  Mc- 


Clellan's  campaign  of  the  peninsula.     He  was 
mustered  out  in  New  York  City  at  the  close  of 
his  term  of  enlistment,  with  the  commission  of 
First  Lieutenant  of  his  company.  Immediately 
after  being  discharged,  he  came  to  Cairo,  111., 
where  for  a  short  time  he  was  employed  as  a 
clerk  in  the  post  ofHce.    Soon,  however,  in  con- 
nection with  a  man  named  Brown,  he  opened  a 
tin  store  on  a  ver}-  limited  capital,  and  a  portion 
of  that  was  borrowed  funds.     Fortune  smiled 
upon  them  in  this  enterprise,   and  they   were 
soon  able  to  expand  their  business,  and  to  do 
.so  they  leased   the  Cunningham  Building  on 
Commercial  avenue,  paying  an  annual  rental  of 
$2,000.     Mr.   Davidson  has  stemmed   the  tide 
of   business    depressions,    overcoming    some 
severe  financial  reverses,  and  to-day  has  a  very 
complete  stock  of  stoves,  tinware,  etc.,  occupy- 
ing Nos.  25  and  27  on  Eighth  street.     He  was 
married  in  Cairo,  111.,  on  the  30th  of  October, 
1867,  to  Miss  Anna  Helby,  daughter  of  Herbert 
Helby.     She  was  born  in  Liverpool,   England, 
September  26,  1847.     Their  family  consists  of 
William,  James  H.,    Charles  E.,    Harlow  C, 
Lucy  and  Frank  M.  Davidson.     Mr.  Davidson 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Legion  of  Honor. 
GIDEON  DESROCHER,   market   gardener 
and   florist,   is  the   eldest  of  a  family  of  six 
children  of  Francis  and  Victoire  (Lafortune) 
Desrocher.   His  parents  were  born,  reared  and 
married  in  Canada,  where  he  was  also  born  on 
the  20th  of  April,  1829.      His  father  was  born 
in  1801,   and  died  in  Jackson   County,  111.,   in 
1862.     The   mother   died   ten   years   later   in 
Canada.     Gideon  was  educated  in  his  native 
place,  and  while  young   learned    the  cabinet, 
trade.     In  1856,  he  went  to  Chicago,  111.,  where 
for  three  years  he  was  foreman  in  a  caliinet 
manufactory.     From   Chicago  he  removed  to 
Jackson  County,  111.,  where   he  undertook  the 
task  of  clearing   a   tract   of   land,    which    he 
developed  into  a  valuable  fruit  farm.     Tiie  re- 
sult of  this  labor  he  lost  in  an  unfortunate  bus- 
iness partnership  in  Murphysboro,  III.  In  1872, 


14 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


he  came  to  Cairo  and  established  a  gardening 
business,  whicli  is  fully  noticed  elsewhere.  In 
1851,  he  was  married  in  Canada  to  Miss  Ilar- 
menia  Beauchamp.  She  was  born  in  Canada 
in  1836,  and  died  in  1869  in  Jackson  County, 
111.,  leaving  four  children — Arthur,  O.scar, 
Henry  and  Josephine  Dcsrocher.  The  oldest 
son,  Arthur,  married  Miss  Thompson,  and  has 
two  children,  named  Oscar  and  Francis  Gideon. 
The  second  son,  Oscar,  married  Miss  Mary 
Scott,  and  has  one  daughter— Emma  Des- 
rochcr.  Mr.  Desrocher  was  married  to  his 
present  wife,  Eliza  Tippet,  in  1872.  She  was 
born  in  England  in  1847.  Frank  Desrocher  is 
the  only  child  by  the  second  marriage. 

CHARLES  W.  DUNNING,  physician  and 
surgeon,  Cairo.  Tiie  greatest  genius  of  which 
any  one  can  boast  is  the  power  of  molding 
circumstances— of  beuig  able  to  turn  them  to 
good  account,  and  of  using  his  talents  to  bet- 
ter the  condition  of  others  and  develop  in  him- 
self a  true  manhood.  Such  reflections  natur- 
ally come  to  us  as  we  study  the  life-histories 
of  such  men  as  he  whose  name  heads  this  arti- 
cle. He  was  born  April  15,  1828,  in  Auburn, 
N.  Y.  His  father,  Lucius  Dunning,  died  in 
1834,  and  his  mother,  Mary  Dunning,  who  was 
born  in  1807,  is  still  living.  His  father  died 
wiien  he  was  but  six  years  of  age,  and  he  was 
left  to  battle  with  the  world,  stimulated  only 
by  a  mother's  devoted  love  and  liis  own  energy. 
He  was  educated  in  Gambler  College,  Ohio, 
and  immediately  after  finishing  his  course  at 
that  institution,  he  determined  to  gratify  his 
desire  to  become  a  physician,  and  to  that  end 
entered  upon  the  study  of  medicine.  He  un- 
derwent the  usual  preparatory  reading  with 
Dr.  G.  W.  Hotchkiss,  of  Nashville,  111.,  and 
Prof  Joseph  N.  McDowell,  of  St.  Louis.  In 
1850,  he  graduated  from  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Missouri.  Imme- 
diately after,  he  accepted  the  position  of  Assist- 
ant Resident  burgeon  of  a  private  hospital  in 
St  Louis,  known  as  the   "Hotel    for  Invalids," 


where  he  remained  for  two  years,  and  then  re- 
moved to  Centralia,   111.     During  a   residence 
hereof  four  years  he  won  for  himself  many  ar- 
dent friends,  and  established  a  lucrative  prac- 
tice.    From    Centralia    he   removed  to  Cairo, 
which    has   since  been   his   permanent    home, 
though  his  business  and  profession  frequently 
calls    him  away.     He  was  connected  witli  the 
United  States  Hospital  at  Mound  City,  111.,  dur- 
ing the  years  of  1861  and  1862,  returning  to 
his  home  in  Cairo  when  his  services  there  were 
no  longer  a  necessity.     In  18  63,  he  was  hon- 
ored with  the  appointment  of  Professor  of  Sur- 
gery in  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  Chi- 
cago, which  he  declined,  and  in  1865  he  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Physiology  and  Materia 
Medica  in  the  University    of  Missouri.     This 
position  also  he  was  forced  to  decline,  on  ac- 
count of  business  and  professional  connections 
here  which  he  could  not  sever.     Dr.  Dunning 
is  often  called  to  attend  critical   cases   remote 
from  and  beyond  the  circle  of  his  usual  prac- 
tice.    His  popularity  as  a  man  and  as  a  phy- 
sician has  been  fairly  and  honorably  earned, 
and  his  professional  success  no  less  due  to  his 
knowledge  an<l  ability  than  to  his  purely  sym- 
pathetic nature   so   indispensable   in    the  sick 
chamber  antl  in  the  character  of  the  true  phy- 
sician.    While  he  devotes  his  attention  closely 
to  his  practice,  he  also  takes   an    unselfish  but 
hearty  interest  in  the  politics  of  the   day,    and 
exerts  no  small  influence,  the  benefits  of  which 
are    enjoyed   by    the   Democratic   party.     He 
wields  a  commanding  influence  in  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  in  which  he  is  an  honored  member. 
He  is  an  officer  in  the  Grand  Commandery  of 
Knights  Templar  for  the  State  of  Illinois,  be- 
ing Grand  Captain  General  of  that  august  body. 
He  has  been  ten  times  elected  Eminent  Com- 
mander of  Cairo  Commandery,  No.  13,  which 
position  he  now  fills.     Dr.  Dunning  was  first 
married  in  1840  to  Amanda  Shannon,  of  Spar- 
ta, III.     She  died  in  1859,  leaving  one  son,  who 
is  now  living.     His  present  wife  was  Miss  El- 


CAIRO. 


15 


len   0.    Dashiell.      They    have    one    child — a 
daughter. 

WILLIAM  EICHHOFF,  wholesale  and  re- 
tail dealer  in  parlor,  office  and  kitchen 
furniture,  on  the  corner  of  Seventeenth  street 
and  Washington  avenue,  Cairo,  was  born  in 
Westphalia,  Prussia,  June  19,  1835.  He  is  a 
son  of  Casper  H.  and  Anna  EichhofF,  both  of 
whom  were  natives  of  Prussia,  the  former  born 
in  1789,  and  the  latter  in  1796.  They  married 
in  Prussia,  and  to  them  were  born  a  family  of 
six  children,  William  being  the  fourth.  He 
was  educated  in  Prussia,  and  came  to  the 
United  States  with  an  elder  brother,  Charles 
Eichhoff,  in  1854,  and  the  same  year  located  at 
Cairo,  111.  Here  he  engaged  at  his  trade,  that 
of  carpenter  and  cabinet-maker,  and  worked  on 
the  first  storehouse  erected  on  the  Ohio  levee. 
In  the  year  1856,  he  went  to  Dongola,  111., 
where  for  several  years  he  followed  contracting 
and  building.  He  returned  from  there  to  Cairo, 
111.,  and  in  1865,  established  a  planing  mill  on 
Eighteenth  street,  which  he  operated  success- 
fully for  about  two  years,  discontinuing  this  to 
place  the  machinery  in  a  furniture  manufactor}', 
which  he  erected  on  the  corner  of  Seventeenth 
street  and  Washington  avenue,  which  has  been 
his  business  location  since,  and  which  has  been 
converted  from  a  manufacturing  to  a  wholesale 
and  retail  establishment.  Mr.  Eichhoff  was 
first  married  in  Union  Count}-,  111.,  to  Miss  La- 
vina  Casper,  who  was  born  in  Union  Count}' 
March  4,  1840.  She  died  in  Dongola,  of  small- 
pox, April  3,  1863.  His  second  wife,  Rachel 
Fleshman,  to  whom  he  was  married  February 
3,  1870,  was  born  near  Manheim,  on  the  Rhine, 
in  Germany,  June  12,  1844,  and  died  in  Cairo, 
111.,  April  12,  1873,  leaving  two  children,  viz.: 
Sibilia  Eichhoff,  born  February  9,  1873,  and 
Walter  Ellsworth  Eichhoff,  born  April  17, 1871. 
Sibilia  died  June  20,  1873.  Mr.  Eichhoff  is  a 
member  of  the  order  of  Masons. 

EUGENE  E.  ELLIS,  job  printer  and  book- 
binder, of  Cairo,  and  son  of  Henrj-  B.  and  Otti- 


lini  (Waugh)  Ellis,  was  born  in    Rock   Island, 
111.,  on  the  20th  day  of  June,  1 859.     His  father , 
Henry  B.  Ellis,  was  born  in  Devonshire,  Eng., 
in  August  of  1829,  and,  while  an  infant,  came 
with  the  parents,  Richard  and  Mar}'  Ann  Ellis, 
to  the  United  States,  where,  after  brief  resi- 
dences in  various  places,  settled  at  Rock  Island. 
Mr.  H.  B.  Ellis,  while  a  3'oung  man,  learned  the 
trade  of  marble  cutter,  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  at 
which  he  worked  for  eight  years,  when  he  be- 
came interested  in  the  iron  foundry  business  in 
St.  Louis,  which  he  conducted  for  a   term  of 
fifteen    years.     From    St.    Louis   he   came   to 
Mound  City,  III,  and  took  charge  of  a  foundry 
at  that  place,  which  he  ran  for  two  years,  com- 
ing thence  to  Cairo,  which  is  still  their  home. 
He  was  married  in  Rock  Island,  in  March,  1858, 
to  Miss  Ottilini  Waugh.  She  was  born  in  Canada, 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1839.  She  is  a  niece  of  Sam- 
uel Waugh,  the  celebrated  painter  of  Philadel- 
phia. Eugene  E.is  the  oldest  of  a  family  of  nine 
children  born  to  these  parents,   two  of  whom  are 
deceased.     He  established,  a  few  years  since,  a 
job  printing  and  book-binding  house  in  Cairo, 
which  is  doing  a  ver}'  successful  business.    He 
was  married  on  the  16th  of  May,  1883,  to  Miss 
Edith  L.  Martin,  daughter  of  Jacob  Martin,  of 
Cairo,  111.,  and  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Legion  of  Honor. 

ISAAC  FARNBAKER,  merchant.  Cairo, 
was  born  in  Bavaria,  German}-,  son  of  Solomon 
Farubaker  and  Zerlina  Teldhahn.  He  grew  to 
manhood  and  received  an  education  in  Ger- 
many, learning  the  trade  of  weaver  when  young. 
In  1840,  being  then  twenty  years  old,  he  came 
to  the  United  States,  and  for  four  years  made 
his  home  in  the  city  of  New  York,  though  en- 
gaged during  the  time  to  travel,  two  years  in 
Maine  and  two  years  in  the  South.  He  then 
made  a  permanent  settlement  or  residence  in 
Mississippi  until  1856,  at  which  time  he  came 
to  Cairo,  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  pioneers 
of  that  city,  which  at  that  time  contained  but 
few  of  the   present  buildings   of  Cairo.     The 


16 


BIOGRAPHICAL ; 


town  of  Cairo  was  in  need  of  just  such  enter- 
prise and  energy  as  Mr.  Farnbaker  possessed, 
the  impress  of  which  has  been  realized  and  felt 
for  3'ears.  He  embarked  in  the  clothhig  trade 
in  1856,  and  has  been  actively  engaged  in  that 
line  since,  a  portion  of  the  time  having  two 
stores  in  Cairo,  and  one  in  Paducah,  Kj'.,  be- 
sides, from  1864  to  1872,  he  was  conducting  a 
wholesale  establishment  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  In  1862,  he  paid  $10,000  in  currency 
for  the  lot  on  corner  of  Levee  and  Sixth  streets, 
now  occupied  b}-  Mr.  F.  Korsmeyer.  His 
present  location  is  corner  of  Commercial  ave- 
nue and  Seventh  street.  He  was  married,  1849, 
at  Natchez,  Miss.,  to  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Flippen. 
She  was  born  at  the  above  named  citj'^  on  No- 
vember 22,  1826.  Their  family-  consists  of 
three  sons,  viz.,  Solomon,  Joseph  and  Morris 
Farnbaker  ;  the  latter  married  in  Cairo,  in  1880, 
to  Miss  Ellen  Torrence,  daughter  of  Smith  Tor- 
rence,  of  that  place.  They  have  one  child — a 
daughter. 

GEORGE  FISHER,  lawyer,  Surveyor  of 
Customs  and  ex  officio  Collector  of  the  Port  of 
Cairo,  111.,  was  born  April  13,  1832,  in  Chester, 
Vt.  His  father,  Joseph  Fisher,  was  a  native 
of  New  England,  though  of  Scotch  origin,  and 
his  mother,  Orythia  (Selden)  Fisher,  was  a  lin- 
eal descendant  of  the  eminent  English  states- 
man, John  Selden,  who  figured  prominently  in 
literature  and  politics  in  the  first  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  family  name  upon 
both  sides  was  represented  in  New  England  at 
an  early  date.  Mr.  Fisher's  elementary  educa- 
tion was  obtained  in  the  common  schools  of 
his  native  town  ;  he  fitted  for  college  at  the 
Chester  Academy.  He  afterward  entered  the 
Middlebury  College,  where  he  continued  for 
four  years,  receiving  the  degree  conferred  by 
that  institution  in  1858.  Immediatel}'  after 
the  completion  of  his  collegiate  course,  he  be- 
came the  Principal  of  an  academy  in  Vermont, 
where  he  remained  three  years,  winning  for 
himself  a  name  among  the  leading  teachers  of 


his  State.  His  next  position  was  as  Principal 
of  one  of  the  grammar  schools  of  Alton,  111., 
where  he  also  took  rank  amons;  the  leading 
educators  of  Illinois.  During  the  three  years 
that  he  taught  in  Alton,  he  pursued  the  study 
of  law,  under  the  instruction  of  Hon.  H.  W. 
Billings,  and  later  of  Seth  T.  Sawyer.  In  1864, 
having  been  admitted  to  practice,  he  removed 
to  Cairo,  111.,  which  has  since  been  his  perma- 
nent home,  and  where  he  has  enjoyed  a  lucra- 
tive practice,  as  well  as  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  an  extensive  circle  of  friends.  While 
his  court  practice  has  not,  perhaps,  been  as 
extensive  as  some  members  of  the  Cairo  bar, 
he  has  proven  himself  especially  able  as  an 
office  law^^er,  and  in  the  settlement  of  estates, 
which  he  has  made  a  specialty.  His  ancestry, 
for  several  generations,  have  been  noted  for 
their  abilit}'  and  enthusiasm  in  political  issues, 
aud  it  is  but  natural  to  expect  that  Mr.  Fisher 
would  have  inherited  some  of  their  character- 
istic zeal ;  while  he  is  not  a  politician  in  the 
accepted  sense  of  that  term,  he  takes  an  ardent 
interest  in  public  affairs,  and  his  natural  abili- 
ties aflford  no  small  aid  to  the  Republican 
party,  with  which  he  has  always  acted.  In 
1869,  he  was  appointed  Surveyor  and  ex  officio 
Collector  of  the  Customs  for  the  Port  of  Cairo, 
111.,  and  has  held  the  position  ever  since.  For 
several  j-ears  he  has  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  and  takes  a  lively  and 
unselfish  interest  in  the  advancement  morally, 
intellectually  and  politically  of  the  community 
in  which  he  is  an  honored  citizen.  He  was 
married,  November  29,  1860,  to  Miss  Susan  G. 
Copeland,  of  Middlebury,  Vt. 

NICHOLAS  FEITH,  undertaker,  on  the 
corner  of  Eleventh  street  and  Washington 
avenue,  was  born  on  the  6th  of  December, 
1819,  in  Echternech,  Luxemburg,  Europe.  He 
is  the  fifth  of  a  family  of  eight  children  of 
Peter  Feith  and  Catherine  Nea.  But  three  of 
the  family  are  now  living.  The  father  was 
born   December   25,  1777,  and    the  mother  on 


CAIRO. 


17 


the  6th  of  December,  1787.  On  arriving  at 
manhood,  Nicholas  adopted  the  trade  of  cabi- 
net-maker, in  which  he  acquired  a  great  profi- 
ciency, and  is  without  a  superior,  if,  indeed,  he 
has  an  equal  in  the  United  States,  on  inlaid 
work.  He  worked  extensively  in  Paris, 
France,  and  in  Brussels,  Belgium,  where,  on 
the  26th  of  July,  1845,  he  married  Miss  Su- 
sanna Feller.  She  was  born  in  Medernach, 
Luxemburg,  February  12,  1820.  There  was 
one  child  born  to  them  in  the  old  country — 
Anna  Feith,  born  on  the  23d  of  June,  1847, 
and  is  the  deceased  wife  of  William  Kluge,  of 
Cairo.  Mr.  Feith  came  to  this  country'  in  the 
fall  of  1848,  and  lived  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
until  1854,  in  which  time  three  children  were 
born  to  the  famil}* — Madeline,  born  November 
17,  1849,  deceased  ;  Nicholas,  born  Januar}-  5, 
1851,  deceased,  and  Katie  Feith,  pi-esent  wife 
of  William  Kluge,  born  August  10,  1853.  In 
1854,  he  removed  to  Southeast  Missouri,  where 
he  purchased  a  farm  and  resided  until  1862, 
and  at  that  place  were  born  John  Feith,  Au- 
gust 24,  1857,  and  Eddie,  January  29,  1860.  In 
December,  1862,  the  family  came  to  Cairo,  111., 
but,  being  unable  to  procure  a  house,  they 
again  went  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where,  on  the 
17th  of  August,  1863,  William,  the  youngest 
child,  was  born.  They  returned  to  Cairo  in 
1864,  and  the  following  year  Mr.  Feith  opened 
a  shop  for  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  coffins, 
and  has  ever  since  been  engaged  in  that  line  of 
business.  The  famil}'  are  members  of  the 
Catholic  Church  of  Cairo,  111. 

WILLIAM  B.  GILBERT,  lawyer,  Cairo, 
111.,  is  a  son  of  Hon.  Miles  A.  Gilbert,  whose 
biography  appears  elsewhere  in  this  volume, 
and  Ann  Eliza  (Baker)  Gilbert.  He  was  born 
September  24,  1837,  in  Kaskaskia,  111. ;  ob- 
tained a  classical  education  in  Shurtleff  Col- 
lege, of  Upper  Alton,  and  began  the  study  of 
law  in  the  office  of  his  grandfather,  Judge 
David  J.  Baker,  Sr.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  he 
became  a  student  in  the  law  office  of  Krum  & 


Harding,  of  St.  Louis,  continuing  his  reading 
with  them  for  one  year.  In  May,  1859,  he 
was  admitted  to  practice,  and  soon  after  en- 
tered the  senior  class  in  the  Law  Department  of 
Harvard  University,  graduating  therefrom, 
with  the  degree  of  LL.B.,  in  July,  1860.  In 
the  summer  of  1861,  he  took  the  degree  of 
A.  M.  from  St.  Paul's  College,  Mo.  He  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Genevieve, 
Mo.,  associated  with  Hon  John  Scott,  one  of 
the  most  eminent  and  able  lawyers  of  Mis- 
souri. In  the  spring  of  1862,  owing  to  the 
suspension  of  the  Missouri  courts,  he  removed 
to  Illinois,  and  located  at  Alton,  forming  a 
partnership  with  his  uncle,  H.  S.  Baker,  which 
continued  until  March,  1865,  when  he  came  to 
Cairo,  and  associated  himself  with  Gen.  I.  N. 
Haj-nie  and  B.  F.  Marshall.  By  reason  of  Mr. 
Haj'nie's  appointment  to  the  office  of  Adju- 
tant General  of  Illinois,  Mr.  Gilbert  became 
the  leading  member  of  the  firm,  and  continued 
in  the  chief  control  of  its  immense  and  im- 
portant business  until  May,  1867,  when,  by 
the  withdrawal  of  Haynie  and  Marshall,  he 
was  left  in  the  possession  of  a  practice  sec- 
ond to  none  in  Southern  Illinois.  In  June, 
1867,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Judge  Will- 
iam H.  Green,  and  still  continues  an  active 
member  of  the  firm  of  Green  &  Gilbert,  which 
includes  a  junior  partner  in  the  person  of  his 
brother,  Miles  F.  Gilbert.  They  have  charge 
of  the  legal  business  of  the  Illinois  Central, 
New  Orleans,  St.  Louis  &  Chicago,  and  the 
Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  Companies,  the 
Cairo  City  Property  Company,  City  National 
Bank  and  other  corporations.  Mr.  Gilbert  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  the  Federal  courts  in 
1865,  and  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  in  1873,  and  in  that  court  represented 
his  firm  as  counsel  for  Phillips  in  the  case  of 
the  Grand  Tower  M.  M.  &  T.  Co.  v.  Phillips 
and  St.  John,  involving  a  judgment  of  $200,- 
000.  He  was  married,  in  1866,  to  Miss  Kate 
Barr}',  daughter  of  A.  S.  Barry,  and  has  a  fam- 


18 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


ily  of  three  sons,  viz. :  Miles  S.,  William  C 
and  Barry  (Gilbert.  The  genealogy  of  the 
Gilbert  family  traces  back  to  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  characters  in  English  history, 
and  was  first  represented  in  the  United  States 
by  five  brothers,  who  settled  in  Virginia,  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut,  the  father  of  our 
subject  being  a  descendant  of  the  Connecticut 
branch.  Mr.  Gilbert  is  an  influential  member 
and  a  Vestryman  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church. 

MILES  F.  GILBERT,  lawyer,  Cairo,  is  the 
junior  partner  of  the  law  firm  of  Green  &  Gil- 
bert ;  was  born  September  11,  1846,  at  Alton, 
111.  He  received  a  high  school  education  in 
Alton,  111.,  and  entered  the  Washington  Univer- 
sity, but  was  compelled  to  quit  this  course  on 
account  of  failing  health.  He  then  became  a 
student  in  the  Pennsylvania  Military  Academy, 
where,  through  the  rational  discipline  of  that 
institution,  he  was  restored  to  health.  He  be- 
gan the  study  of  law  in  1866,  and  after  two 
years'  reading  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He 
then  became  a  member  of  the  senior  class  in 
the  Law  Department  of  Harvard  University, 
and  received  the  degree  conferred  by  that  in- 
stitution m  1869.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
the  well-known  law  firm  of  Green  &  Gilbert 
since  1870,  in  which  year  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Addie  L.  Barry.  He  is  a  Vestryman  in 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

JACOB  A.  GOLDSTINE,  Cairo,  111.,  was 
born  in  Hungary  August  17,  1832,  and  is  the 
second  member  of  a  family  of  seven  children 
born  to  Abraham  and  Rachel  (Kohn)  Goldstine. 
Of  these  seven  children,  two  are  deceased,  and 
the  remaining  ones  are  residents  of  the  United 
States.  The  father,  Abraham  Goldstine,  was 
born  in  Hungary,  in  the  year  1805,  and  died 
July  24,  1873.  The  mother  was  a  native  of 
the  same  country,  born  1807,  and  died  on  the 
30th  of  the  same  month  as  her  husband  ;  both 
died  of  the  cholera.  In  1847,  in  the  time  of 
the  Hungarian  war,   Jacob  A.  left  his  home 


and  attended  school  in  the  cities  of  Werpclet, 
Gyongyos  and  Presburg,  being  absent  from  his 
home  for  more  than  nine  years,  during  which 
time  he  acquired  a  liberal  education.     He  was 
married  in  the  old  country,  May  22,  1859,  to 
Miss  Mary  Roth.     She  is  the  eldest  of  a  fami- 
ly of  five  children,  of  Ignatius  Roth  and  Hanie 
Moscovitz,  all  of  whom,  including  parents,  are 
residents  of  the  United  States.     Mrs.  Goldstine 
was  born  September  18,  1842.     They  have  two 
interesting  daughters — Annie  B.,  born  August 
25,  1860,   and  Rosa   G.,   born    November   16, 
1862,  both  of  whom  are  being  educated  in  Vas- 
sar  College.     Mr.  Goldstine,  with  his  little  fam- 
ily, left   their  native  country    for   the    United 
States  on  the  7th  of  July,  1863,  arriving  at  New 
York  City  August  3,  1863,  and  on  the  9th  of 
the  same  month  located   in    Cleveland,    Ohio, 
and  during  a  short  residence  there  was  engaged 
in  merchandising,  in  the  meantime  making  his 
home  with  Mr.  M.  Black,  of  the  firm  of  D.  Black 
&  Co.,  from  whom  he  received  some  material 
assistance.  February  10, 1864,  Mr.  Goldstine  re- 
removed  to  Cairo,  and  the  year  following  he 
formed  a  business  connection  with  his  present 
partner,  Mr.  Rosenwater,  which  has  since  exist- 
ed and  grown  into  one  of  the  most  substantial 
business  firms  of  Illinois.     Mr.  Goldstine  has 
for  several  years  been  an  active  member  of  the 
Board  of  Education  for  Cairo,  and  is  an  hon- 
ored member  of  the  Masonic  order.     He  wields 
a  potent  influence  in  the  local  politics   which 
benefits  are  enjoyed  by  the  Republican  party. 
J.  J.  GORDON,  M.  D.,  Cairo,  was  born  in 
Perry  County,    Ohio,    January  6,    1835.     His 
parents,  Adam  Gordon  and  Eleanor  Shriver, 
were  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  where  they  were 
reared    and    married,    soon   after   which  they 
moved  into  Perry  County,   Ohio.     There  the 
father  died  in  1836,  leaving  but  one  child,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.     His  mother  was  sub- 
sequently married,  reared  a  family  and  is  now 
living  at  the  old  homestead,  in  Perry  County, 
in  her  sixty- ninth  year.     J.  J.  Gordon  grew  to 


CAIRO. 


19 


maturity  in  his  native  county,  receiving  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  common  school  education,  and 
then  took  a  three  years'  course  in  the  St. 
Joseph  College  of  same  count}'.  He  then  en- 
tered the  office  of  W.  W.  Arnold,  M.  D.,  of 
Ohio,  under  whom  he  pursued  the  study  of 
medicine  for  four  years.  He  graduated  from 
the  Cleveland  Medical  College  in  1859,  and  im- 
mediately began  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  the  town  of  Somerset,  Ohio,  where  he  re- 
mained but  a  brief  period,  coming  to  Cairo,  111., 
in  the  fall  of  1859.  Since  that  time  he  has 
been  in  active  practice  ;  from  1863  to  1868,  he 
was  associated  with  Dr.  W.  R.  Smith,  but  with 
that  exception,  he  has  practiced  alone.  Office 
on  Commercial  avenue.  He  was  married,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1862,  to  Mrs.  Isadore  Burke,  widow 
of  William  Burke,  and  daughter  of  Dr.  Henry 
Delaney.  She  was  born  in  Kentucky  Febru- 
ary 23,  1838,  died  November  14,  1875,  leaving 
two  children — Mary  Adella.  born  March  29, 
1863,  and  Joseph  J.,  born  February  6,  1866. 
The  family  are  members  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  enjo}'  the  confidence  of  many 
warm  friends. 

HORACE  A.  HANNON,  dealer  in  and  gen- 
eral agent  for  sewing  machines,  being  the  dis- 
tributing agent  for  Southex-n  Illinois,  Missouri 
and  Kentucky  of  the  White  Manufacturing 
Company.  He  is  a  native  of  Illinois  ;  was  born 
in  Springfield  on  the  14th  day  of  June,  1843. 
Daniel  Hanuon.  father  of  H.  A.,  was  born  in 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  in  1810,  where  he  grew  to 
manhood  and  received  the  benefit  of  a  liberal 
education.  He  early  adopted  the  business  of 
architecture,  for  which  he  became  very  noted. 
He  came  to  Illinois  and  located  in  Springfield 
about  1840.  He  was  married  in  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  to  Miss  Welthea  Ewell,  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  and  born  m  1809.  They  had  a 
family  of  six  children,  one  of  whom,  Daniel 
Hannon,  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  and  who 
is  deceased  ;  Mary,  wife  of  B.  F.  Parker,  of 
Chicago  ;  H.  A.  Hannon,  of  Cairo  ;  Lucy,  wid- 


ow of  George  T.  Cushing,  of  Dubuque,  Iowa  ; 
Charles,  deceased  ;  Eva,  wife  of  Gr.  W.  John- 
son, of  Dubuque,  Iowa  ;  were  born,  reared  and 
educated  in  Springfield.  The  mother  is  still 
living,  and  is  a  resident  of  Dubuque.  The 
father  died  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1863.  H.  A. 
Hannon,  in  company  with  the  famih-,  came  to 
Cairo,  111.,  in  1857,  the  father  having  come  the 
3'ear  previous.  He  early  learned  the  business 
of  printing  in  the  office  of  the  Cairo  Gazette, 
and  afterward  became  a  salesman  in  the  drug 
store  of  J.  B.  Humphreys  &  Co.,  and  the  pre- 
scription clerk.  In  September  6,  1861,  he 
enlisted  in  the  United  States  Nav}',  in  the 
capacity  of  "  first  class  bo}-,"  and  was  mustered 
out,  January,  1866,  as  Captain  of  a  gun-boat. 
He  participated  in  much  of  the  active  service 
of  the  Mississippi  Squadron,  and  was  in  seven- 
teen engagements,  receiving  a  wouud  at 
the  battle  of  Greenwood.  At  the  close  of  the 
war,  he  returned  to  Cairo  and  engaged  in  the 
book  business,  associated  with  W.  J.  Yost,  un- 
der the  firm  name  of  Yost  &  Hannon,  in  which 
he  continued  until  1868,  when  he  bought  the 
interest  of  Mr.  Yost  and  continued  the  busi- 
ness until  1872,  and  sold  to  B.  F.  Parker. 
Since  the  latter  date,  he  has  been  in  the  sewing 
machine  and  real  estate  business.  He  was 
married,  September  19,  1872,  in  Caledonia,  111., 
to  Mrs.  Sallie  Wood,  daughter  of  B.  F.  Echols 
and  widow  of  L.  Wood,  of  Iowa.  She  was 
born  in  Caledonia  June  14,  1845.  They  liave 
one  son,  Horace  Blake  Hannon,  Ijorn  in  Cairo 
May  18,  1874.  Mr.  Hannon  is  a  member  of  the 
Episcopalian  Church,  and  is  a  Master  Mason, 
and  a  member  of  the  A.  L.  of  H. 

A.  HALLEY,  merchant,  Cairo,  was  born 
February  6,  1837,  in  Monroe  County,  Ark. 
He  is  the  sixth  of  a  family  of  ten  childreu  of 
David  and  Elmira  (Jacobs)  Halley,  the  father 
a  native  of  Virginia.  Our  subject  was  in  early 
life  left  an  orphan,  and  compelled  to  face  the 
realities  of  life  for  himself  In  1852,  he  went 
to    Cincinnati,   Ohio,   where,  although    among 


no 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


strangers,  he  managed  to  avail  himself  of  the 
advantages  of  a  common  school  education,  and 
then  turned  his  attention  to  learning  the  tin- 
ners  trade,  but  after  serving  two  years  his  em- 
plo\-ers  failed,  and  he  went  to  St.  Louis  in  1858, 
where  he  completed  his  trade,  and  where  he 
remained  until  the  breaking-out  of  the  war, 
when  he  became  connected  with  the  Quarter- 
master's Department.  In  1863,  he  came  to 
Cairo,  111.,  and  was  here  employed  in  the  navy 
yard  until  its  removal  to  Mound  City,  in  which 
city  he  worked  until  the  fall  of  1864,  when  he 
returned  to  Cairo  and  opened  a  tin-shop  on  a 
small  scale.  After  two  years,  he  was  able  to 
add  a  stock  of  stoves  to  his  business,  and  in 
1875  extended  the  business  to  embrace  a  full 
line  of  hardware.  Mr.  Halley  has  been  very 
successful,  and  is  entirely  the  architect  of  his 
own  fortune.  He  was  married  in  Cairo  on  the 
1st  day  of  December,  1869,  to  Miss  Mary  Hart- 
man,  daughter  of  Daniel  Hartman,  of  Cairo. 
She  was  born  in  1844.  Their  family  consists 
of  four  children,  viz.:  William,  born  Novem- 
ber 4,  1870  ;  Leah,  born  April  30,  1874  ;  Da- 
vid, born  March  11,  1879  ;  and  Pearl  Halley, 
born  August  31,  1881.  Mr.  Halley  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  I.  0.  O.  F. 

EDGAR  C.  HARRELL.  Among  those  who 
in  an  early  day  came  to  Cairo  and  assisted  in 
its  subsequent  development  was  Isaac  L.  Har- 
rell.  He  was  married  in  Missouri  to  Miss  Mil- 
dred E.  Keesee,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  To 
these  parents  were  born  six  children,  but  one 
of  whom  is  now  living — Edgar  C.  Harrell,  of 
Cairo.  He  was  born  in  Cairo,  111.,  on  the  5th 
of  January,  1856.  His  father  was  born  in 
Hamilton  Count}',  Ohio,  in  1824,  and  came  to 
Cairo  on  arriving  at  manhood.  After  his  mar- 
riage, he  resided  in  Cairo  for  some  years,  but 
before  the  war  removed  to  Missouri,  where  he 
was  engaged  in  mercantile  business  until  1872, 
returning  that  year  to  Cairo.  Here  he  em- 
barked in  the  furniture  trade,  at  which  he  con- 
tinued until  his  death,  which  occurred  Novem- 


ber 19.  1882.  Mildred  E.  Harrell  was  born  on 
the  31st  of  December,  1828,  and  is  now  a  resi- 
dent of  Cairo,  111.  Edgar  C.  succeeds  his 
father  in  the  furniture  business,  and  is  located 
on  Tenth  street,  between  Commercial  avenue 
and  Poplar  street,  where  he  has  six  rooms  well 
stored  with  stock  of  the  most  modern  pattern. 
They  own  a  family  residence  on  Twelfth  street, 
between  Walnut  and  Cedar  streets. 

GEORGE  W.  HENRICKS,  carpenter  and 
contractor  at  Cairo,  111.,  is  a  native  of  Spring- 
field, Ohio,  and  was  born  November  1,  1825. 
His  father,  William  Henricks,  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  and  assisted 
in  its  organization.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky 
in  1797,  and  was  of  German  parentage.  He 
went  to  the  Territory  of  Ohio,  and  there  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Mary  Darnell,  also  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  born  in  1799,  and  descends  from 
Irish  ancestr}'  on  the  mother's  side.  To  these 
parents  were  born  six  children,  George  W.  be- 
ing the  fifth  of  the  family  ;  three  are  now  de- 
ceased, one  living  in  Missouri,  and  one  in 
Washington  Territory.  When  G.  W.  was  four- 
teen years  old,  the  family  removed  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Hancock  County  (1839),  the  father 
having  died  in  1827  at  Natchez,  Miss.  The  moth- 
er died  in  Illinois  in  1858.  In  1849,  George  W. 
crossed  the  plains  to  California,  where  he  spent 
two  years  in  mining.  Returned  to  Warsaw, 
Hancock  Co.,  111.,  and  in  1852,  February  15, 
there  married  Miss  Martha  A.  Elliott,  a  na- 
tive of  Pennsylvania.  She  was  born  August 
10,  1832,  and  is  still  living.  Soon  after  mar- 
riage, Mr.  Henricks  removed  to  Hannibal,  Mo.. 
where  they  resided  until  1860,  when  they  went 
to  Memphis,  expecting  to  make  their  home 
South,  but  owing  to  the  breaking-out  of  the  war. 
returned  North,  and  in  1862  settled  in  Cairo, 
111.,  which  has  since  been  his  home.  He 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade  when  a  j'oung 
man,  and  has  spent  most  of  his  life  in  that  de- 
partment of  labor.  He  has  had  a  familv  often 
children,  four  of  whom  died  in  infancv.  and  one 


CAIRO. 


21 


died  at  the  age  of  twelve  3-ears.  Those  living 
are  William  and  George,  both  lawyers  in  Cairo, 
Laura,  Clara  E.  and  Beatrice  Henricks  Will- 
iam is  present  Cit}-  Attorney  of  Cairo,  111. 
Mr.  Henricks  is  a  member  of  the  American  Le- 
gion of  Honor.  Famil}'  residence  on  Twelfth 
street. 

JESSE  HINKLE,  senior  partner  of  the  firm 
of  Hinkle&  Co.,  pork-packers  and  dealers  in 
leaf  tobacco,  Cairo,  111.,  is  a  native  of  Shelbj- 
County,  Ky.,  where  he  was  born  September  28, 
1829.  His  father,  for  several  years  an  exten- 
sive farmer  and  stock-grower  of  Kentucky, 
was  born  in  Shelby  County  in  1802,  and  died 
in  same  count}'  in  1842.  His  mother,  Jessie 
Oglesby,  first  cousin  to  Richard  J.  Oglesby,ex- 
Grovernor  of  Illinois  and  United  States  Sena- 
tor, was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1797  and  died  in 
same  State  in  1881.  They  reared  a  family  of 
six  children,  all  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz.  : 
G-eorge  Hinkle,  a  farmer  of  Ballard  County, 
Ky. ;  Jesse,  the  subject  of  these  lines  ;  Susan, 
wife  of  William  J.  Scott,  of  Hinkleville,  Kj-.  ; 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  Benjamin  Sear}-,  of  Shelby 
County,  Ky. ;  C  harles,  a  practicing  physician 
at  Hinkleville,  Ky.,  and  Rachel,  wife  of  J.  W. 
Rollings,  of  Ballard  County,  Ky.  Jesse  grew  to 
maturity  in  his  native  county,  and  in  Decem- 
ber, 1854,  married  Susan  S.  Hinkle.  She  was 
born  in  Shelby  County,  Ky.,  in  October,  1835, 
and  died  in  Cairo,  111.,  January  14,  1878,  leav- 
ing two  children:  Robert  Hinkle,  born  Septem- 
ber 7,  1855.  He  is  the  junior  partner  in  the 
firm  of  Hinkle  &  Co.,  and  was  married  April 
21,  1881,  to  Miss  Jessie  Phillis,  of  Cairo,  who 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania  September  4,  1857. 
They  have  one  child,  Mildred  D.,  born  Febru- 
ary 3,  1883.  Jessie  F.  Hinkle  was  born  Octo- 
ber 14,  1861,  is  the  wife  of  Phil  C.  Barclay. 
[See  biography.]  Jesse  Hinkle  removed  from 
Simpsonville,  Ballard  Co.,  Ky.  (where  he  had 
previously  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits),  in 
1856,  and  located  at  the  present  site  of  Hinkle- 
ville, in  Ballard    County,  where   he   again  en- 


gaged in  mercantile  business.  During  the  late 
war,  he  championed  the  cause  of  the  South,  and 
in  1861  was  mustered  into  service  as  First 
Lieutenant  of  Company  C,  of  the  Seventh  Ken- 
tucky Regiment,  and  was  mustered  out  at  the 
close  of  the  war  as  Major  of  that  regiment.  He 
is  now  serving  his  second  term  as  member  of 
the  City  Council,  is  a  member  of  the  order  of 
Masons,  and  both  he  and  sons  are  members  of 
the  Knights  of  Honor.  They  came  to  Cairo  in 
1872,  since  which  time  they  have  been  engaged 
in  the  tobacco  trade  and  pork-packing,  in  addi- 
tion to  which  they  conduct  two  meat-markets, 
one  at  No.  79  on  Ohio  Levee,  and  at  No.  14  on 
Eighth  street.  In  this  latter  business  they 
have  been  ver}-  successful,  their  sales  amount- 
ing to  over  $100,000  annually.  On  the  5th  of 
July,  1882,  their  tobacco  warehouse  burned, 
incurring  them  a  loss  of  about  $10,000,  part- 
ly covered  b}*  insurance.  He  was  married  to 
his  late  wife,  Katie  C.  Moylan,  of  Memphis,  in 
December,  1879.  She  died  in  Cairo  March 
15,  1883. 

JOHN  HODGES,  Sheriff  of  Alexander 
County,  111.,  and  a  resident  of  Cairo,  was  born 
at  the  old  town  of  Unity,  in  Alexander  County, 
August  19,  1836.  His  father,  John  Hodges, 
was  born  in  the  State  of  Tennessee  in  1810, 
and  came  in  an  early  day  to  Southern  Illinois, 
first  locating  in  Union  County,  and  there  mar- 
ried Miss  Margaret  Hunsucker,  in  1833.  soon 
after  which  event  he  removed  to  Unity,  Alex- 
ander Count}',  where  the  family  of  twelve  chil- 
dren were  born.  He  was  by  trade  a  hatter,  but 
engaged  mostly  in  mercantile  pursuits,  indeed, 
with  the  exception  of  the  few  closing  years,  his 
entire  life  was  spent  in  merchandising.  He 
was  a  man  of  strong  physical  development  and, 
while  of  limited  education,  was  possessed  of  a 
strong  will  power  and  brilliant  intellect,  some- 
what slow  to  decide,  but  whose  judgment  when 
formed  was  seldom  at  fault.  He  was  a  Jack- 
son Democrat,  and  represented  Alexander 
County  two  }'ears  in  the  General  Assembly — 


BIOGllAPHICxVL 


probably  in  1848-49.     Shortly  after  the  close  ! 
of  his  Legislative  office,  he  purchased  a  farm 
a  few  miles  from  Unity,   upon  which  he  lived 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the  fall  of 
1862.     Mrs.   Margaret  Hodges  is  a  member  of 
one  of  the  oldest  families  of  Union  County, 
and  is  still  living  on  the  old  homestead  near 
Unity.      John   Hodges,  the   subject  of   these 
lines,  is  the  oldest  of  their  family  of  twelve 
children,  and  received  the  benefit  of  a  common 
school  education,  and  obtained  a  practical  knowl-  j 
edge  of  business  while  with  his  father.     He  was 
married  in  Mississippi  County,  Mo.,  on  the  25th 
of  July,    1858,   to   Miss   Isophine   I.  Wicker, 
daughter  of  ^Charles  and  Margaret  Wicker.  She 
was^born  August  20,  1837.     Mr.   Hodges  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  County  Treasurer  and 
Assessor  in  1859.  but  resigned   to  become  a 
candidate  for  Sheriff,   in  1860,  and  was  elected 
to  that  office,  which  he  filled  for  two  years. 
From  1862  to  186-4,  he  was  Deputy  Sheriflf  un- 
der 0.  Greenly,  and,   until  1866,  in  the  same 
office  under  C  D.  Arter.  In  1876,  he  was  again 
appointed  to  the  office  of  Deputy  Sheriff  under 
Peter  Saup,  serving  until  elected  to  the  Sheriff's 
office  in  1878.     He  still  holds  the  office,  having 
been  re-elected  in  1880  and  again  in  1882.    He 
is  a  Democrat,  and  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor.     They  have  a  family  of  six  children- 
Charles  E.,  born  May  30,  1859;  John  S.,  born 
March  17,  1866;  Loraine,  born  June  17,-1868; 
Margaret,  born  September  26,  1870;  Mary  E., 
born    August    19,    1873,    and    Fredoline    B. 
Hodges,  born  March  13,  1875.      Family  res- 
idence on  Ninth  street,   between    Washington 
and  Walnut  streets. 

JOHN  HOWLEY,  merchant,  Cairo.  Among 
the  pioneers  of  the  city  of  Cairo  may  be 
mentioned  the  name  of  John  Howley,  a  man 
who  has  witnessed  the  erection  of  every  build- 
ing now  in  the  city.  He  was  born  in  the 
County  of  Mayo,  Ireland,  on  the  27th  of  June, 
1819,  and  is  the  eighth  of  a  family  of  ten 
children  of  Patrick  and  Eleanor  (Hughes)  How- 


ley,  of  whom  but  two  survive—  John  and  James 
Howley,    the  latter  of    Pennsylvania.       John 
Howley  was  reared  and   married  in  his   native 
country,  and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1840, 
and  from  that  date  until  1853  spent  much  of 
the  time  traveling  in  the  Eastern  States.     In 
1853,  at  a  time  when  Kansas  was  being  peopled 
so   rapidly  with  Eastern  and  Southern  people, 
Mr.  Howley  started  to  find  for  himself  a  home 
in   the    West,    but  being  impressed   with  the 
beautiful  location  of  the  then  infant  city   of 
Cairo,    he   determined   to    make  it  his  future 
home;  he  therefore  invested  in   property  and 
the  year  following  (1854)  came  and  made  a  per- 
manent  residence  at  that   place,   which,  with 
slight   exceptions,    has    been    his   home  since. 
He  has  been   engaged  in  business  of   a  mer- 
cantile nature  through  all  these  years,  and  in 
1859,  during  the  fire  known  as  the  "  Taylor 
house  fire  "  he  sustained  a  loss  of  $2,500,  partly 
covered  by  insurance.     Mrs.  Catherine  Howley, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Connell}',  was  born  in 
Ireland.     They  have  traveled  together   along 
life's  pathway  for  a  period  of  forty-five  years. 
Though  they  have  never  had  any  children  born 
to  them,  they  have  reared  several  children  who 
were  left  orphans  and  in  need  of  homes.  Family 
residence  on  corner  of  Third  street  and  Com- 
mercial avenue.     Members  of  Catholic  Church. 
CICERO  N.    HUGHES,    insurance    agent, 
Cairo,    111.,    is    the    oldest    of    a    family    of 
four     children,     born      to     David      B.      and 
Mariah   (Griffith)    Hughes.     His   father  was  a 
native  of  Delaware,  and  the  mother   of  Mary- 
land.    They  were  married  in  Missouri,  where, 
in  Knox  County,  Cicero  N.  was  born  on  the  7th 
of  August,  1838.    The  family,  in  1846,  removed 
to  Keokuk,  Iowa,  where,   ten  years  later,    the 
mother  died,  the  father  surviving  her  until  No- 
vember, 1881,  when  he  died  in  California.  Cic- 
ero  N.,    being   possessed  of  robust  form  and 
abundant  mental  endowment,  to  which  he  added 
a  liberal  education,    early  found  fields  of  use- 
fulness opening  before  him  whereon  to  bestow 


CAIRO. 


23 


his  energ}'.  His  early  life,  after  concluding  his 
school  studies,  was  spent  in  the  position  of 
book-keeper  for  the  firm  of  R.  B.  Hughes  &  Co., 
of  Keokuk,  for  whom  he  worked  four  years,  re- 
signing that  place  to  accept  the  position  of 
teller  in  the  bank  of  Charles  Parsons  &  Co.,  of 
Keokuk,  which  he  filled  for  three  years,  when 
he  became  Teller  in  the  Keokuk  State  National 
Bank.  This  position  he  filled  with  credit  to 
himself  for  seven  years,  and  in  the  meantime 
served  that  city  in  the  capacity  of  Treasurer, 
and  also  as  a  member  of  the  Cit}-  Finance 
Committee  ;  and  while  a  member  of  that  body, 
as  the  city  records  show,  performed  a  very 
prominent  part  in  successfully  grappling  with 
a  city  bonded  debt  of  $1,750,000,  which  was 
adjusted  in  the  brief  term  of  ten  years.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  City  Council  of  Keo- 
kuk two  terms.  In  18G5,  at  the  close  of  the 
wai',  he  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  to  accept  the  posi- 
tion of  Teller  in  the  First  National  Bank  at  that 
place,  but  at  the  expiration  of  one  year,  was 
made  its  cashier,  which  duties  he  performed 
with  ability  and  entire  acceptance  until  1873. 
Since  the  latter  date,  his  business  has  been 
general  insurance.  In  politics,  he  wields  a 
very  potent  influence,  the  benefits  of  which  are 
enjoyed  by  the  Republican  party.  For  the 
past  six  years,  he  has  been  Chairman  of  the 
Republican  Central  Committee,  and  is  now 
serving  his  fourth  year  as  Chairman  of  the  Re- 
publican Congressional  Committee  of  the 
Twentieth  Congressional  District.  For  several 
years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen,  and  is  also  a  Trustee  of  the  South- 
ern Normal  Institute.  Being  a  man  of  broad 
and  charitable  views,  during  his  residence  in 
Cairo  he  has  surrounded  himself  with  an  exten- 
sive circle  of  ardent  friends.  At  the  begmning 
of  the  civil  war,  Mr.  Hughes  organized  a  com- 
pany of  cavalry  troops,  known  as  the  Keokuk 
Cavalry,  for  the  protection  of  the  border.  He 
was  commissioned  Captain  of  the  company, 
which  commission  he  held  until  he  was  regu- 


larly mustered  out.  He  was  married  in  Cairo, 
111.,  in  1868,  to  Miss  Ella  C.  Miller,  daughter  of 
John  C.  and  Annis  Miller.  She  was  born  on 
the  2d  of  March,  1848,  in  Carrolton,  Green  Co., 
111. 

JACOB  KLEIN,  brick-maker,  Cairo.  111., 
a  native  of  Bavaria,  Germany,  is  the  only 
living  representative  of  a  family  of  five 
children  of  Peter  and  Margaret  Klein, 
who  were  born,  married  and  died  in  the 
old  countr}'.  Jacob  was  born  on  the  29th  of 
May,  1825,  and  received  a  common  German 
education,  and  was  married  to  Agnes  Zeller,  in 
1852,  and  two  years  later  came  to  the  United 
States,  landing  at  New  York  on  the  15th  of 
July,  1854.  He  first  located  at  Louisville,  Kj-., 
where  he  lived  for  about  ten  years,  and  where 
his  wife  died  on  the  18th  of  June,  1864,  leaving 
two  children — Annie,  wife  of  Charles  Rode,  and 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  Valentine  Resch,  of  Cairo. 
He  was  married  in  Cairo  in  1865,  to  the  widow  of 
Peter  Kleiner,  his  deceased  brother,  with  whom, 
in  1868,  he  visited  the  scenes  of  his  boyhood  in 
the  old  country.  His  second  wife  died  in  March, 
1875,  and  he  afterward  married  his  present 
wife,  Caroline  Haller.  She  was  born  in  Ham- 
ilton County,  111.,  May  21,  1844.  They  have 
been  blest  with  three  children,  viz.:  Louisa, 
born  August  15,  1876  ;  Jacob  A.,  born  in  Oc- 
tober, 1878,  and  Emma  C,  born  in  January, 
1881,  died  in  September,  1882.  Since  coming 
to  Cairo  Mr.  Klein  has  been  engaged  in  brick 
manufacture,  in  which  he  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful. He  owns  a  quantity  of  city  real  estate, 
including  four  lots  and  buildings  adjoining  the 
court  house,  and  about  eight  acres  of  land,  in- 
cluding the  family  residence  on  the  western  side 
of  the  city,  also  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  near 
Goose  Island,  in  Alexander  County.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Fire  Department,  and  the  family 
are  members  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

FRANCIS  KLINE,  butcher,  Cairo,  111.,  was 
born  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  January  30,  1831. 
His  parents,  Ferdinand  and  Catherine  (Greg) 


24 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


Kline,  with  three  children,  Catherine,  Elizabeth 
and  Francis,  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in 
1840,  and  that  year  settled  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Catherine  Kline  was  married  to  Jacob  Strieker 
of  Cincinnati,  and  is  now  deceased.     Elizabeth 
is  the  wife  of  George  Smith  and  is  a  resident 
of  Cincinnati,  Ohio.     Francis,  at  an  earlj-  age, 
went  to  the  trade  of  butchering,  and  later  to 
that  of  carpentering.     He  continued  a  resident 
of  Cincinnati  until  coming  to  Cairo,    111.,   in 
1864,  which  time  was  occupied  variously  at  his 
trades  and  in   the  capacity  of  cook  on  steam- 
boats.     In  1847,  he  enlisted    in    the  United 
States  military  service,  and  participated  in  the 
closing  campaign  of  the  Mexican  war,  serving 
as  musician.     Since   1864,  he  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Cairo,  and  constantly  employed  in  the 
management   of  a   meat    market.     His    wife, 
Anna  B.  (Collet)  Kline,  to  whom  he  was  mar- 
ried in  Cincinnati,  was  born  December  11, 1831, 
in  Prussia.     She  came  to  this  country  in  1847, 
in  company  with  a  brother,  her  parents  having 
died  while  she  was  quite  young.     Mrs.  Cathe- 
rine Kline,  mother  of  Francis,  was  born  in  1808 
and  died  in   Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in    1856.     His 
father  was  born  in  1800  and  died  in  1863  in 
Cincinnati.     Annie  Kline,  who  was  married  to 
John  Kent,  is  a  daughter  of  Francis  and  Cath- 
erine Kline,  and  was  born  on  the  9th  of  July, 
1858.     He  has  one  son,  John  Kent,  born  Octo- 
ber 1,  1874.     Lena  Kline  was  born  October  4, 
1863,  in   Cincinnati ;  Theresa    Kline,  born  in 
Cairo,  111.,  April  6,  1867. 

WILLIAM  KLUGE,  wholesale  and  retail 
grocer,  and  one  of  the  most  successful  of  Cairo's 
business  men,  is  a  native  of  Prussia,  and  was 
the  third  of  a  family  of  six  children  of  John 
Kluge  and  Wilhelmine  Loedige.  The  parents 
were  each  natives  of  Prussia,  the  father  born 
in  1800  and  died  in  his  native  country  in  1849, 
his  wife  surviving  him  until  1871,  when  she, 
too,  died.  The  names  of  their  children  were 
Augusta,  Hermine,  William,  Amelia,  John  (who 
died  in  infancy)  and  Mary    Kluge.      William 


received  a  practical   education  in  the  country 
of  his  nativity,  which,    combined  with  his  na- 
tive ability,  has  placed  him  among  the  foremost 
of  the  business  men  of  Southern  Illinois.     He 
came  to    the   United  States   when    seventeen 
3'ears  old,  and  for  a  pex'iod  of  about  three  years 
was  engaged  as  a  salesman  in  a  Chicago  busi- 
ness house.     He    then  went  to  New  Orleans, 
where  he  established  a  small  business   in  the 
wa}'  of  a  market  stand.     Being  impressed  with 
the  commercial  facilities  of  Cairo,  he  came  to 
that  city  in  1860,  and  soon  after  opened  a  pro- 
vision and  produce   store  on    a   very  limited 
scale.     Having  business  energy  and  a  high  ap- 
preciation of  honorable  dealing,  he  soon  found 
his  trade  rapidl}'  increasing  until  a  removal  to 
more  commodious    rooms   became   necessary. 
He  therefore  obtained  a  room  on  Commercial 
avenue,  opposite  his   present  place,  where  he 
added  a  line  of  groceries  to  his  stock.    In  1874, 
he  erected  the  substantial  brick  store  building 
on  the  corner  of  Sixth  street  and   Commercial 
avenue,  where  he  is  now  located.     Since  1878, 
he  has  done  considerable  wholesale  trade.     Mr. 
Kluge's  success  in  Cairo  has  not  been  procured 
without  meeting  loss,  as  he  sustained  serious 
loss  b}^  fire,  and,  during  the  war,  was  repeated- 
ly relieved  of  quantities  of  goods  at  the  hands 
of  those  who  appeared  to  have  a  Government 
license  to  steal.     He  was  married  in  Cairo,  111., 
to  Miss  Anna  Feith,  daughter  of  Nicholas  and 
Susanna  (Feller)  Feith.     She  was  born  in  Ger- 
many June  23,  1847,  and  died  in  Cairo,  111.,  on 
the  28th  of  April,  1873,  leaving  one  child,  Ida 
Kluge,  who  was  born  October  28,  1871.     His 
present  wife,  Katie  Feith,  to  whom  he  was  mar- 
ried in  November,  1874,  is  a  younger  sister  to 
his  former  wife,  and  was  born   in    Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  August  10,  1853.     They   have  had  one 
child,  a  son — Willie  Kluge — born  November  8, 
1875,  and  died  September  16,  1879.     The  fam- 
ily are  members   of    the    Catholic  Church  of 
Cairo.      Besides    his    business    property,    Mr. 
Kluge  owns  considerable  city  real  estate.  Fam- 


CAIRO. 


25 


ily  residence  on  Seventh  street,  between  Wash- 
ington and  Commercial  avenues. 

MICHAEL  KOBLER,  merchant  tailor, 
Cairo,  III.,  was  born  in  Alsace,  France  (now 
Germany)  August  IS,  1831.  His  father, 
George  J.  Kobler,  who  was  an  agriculturist, 
was  born  in  France  in  1783,  and  died  in  the 
same  place  in  1844.  His  mother,  Eva  Friedley, 
was  born  in  France  in  1791,  and  died  in  1840. 
To  these  parents  there  were  born  nine  children, 
of  whom  Michael  is  the  eighth,  and  besides 
whom  there  are  but  two  living^ — Peter  Kobler, 
a  tailor,  of  Cairo,  111.,  and  Phillip  Kobler,  a 
shoe-maker,  in  New  York.  Michael  was  reared 
to  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  in  his  native 
countr}^,  during  which  time  he  took  the  trade 
of  tailor.  Coming  to  the  United  States  in  1853, 
he  first  located  in  New  York  City,  for  several 
months  engaging  at  his  trade  in  that  place. 
From  New  York  he  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  in  1854. 
Since  the  latter  date  he  has  been  a  perma- 
nent resident  of  Cairo,  where  for  many  years  he 
worked  as  journeyman  tailor,  first  for  Peter 
Neflf,  and  afterward  for  John  Antrim.  In  1871, 
in  connection  with  Phillip  Lehnning,  he  opened 
a  shop  on  Eighth  street,  and  continued  as  part- 
ner with  Ml'.  Lehnning  until  August,  1878, 
when  the  partnership  was,  by  mutual  consent, 
dissolved.  Since  1878,  Mr.  Kobler  has  con- 
ducted business  alone,  and  in  1879  removed  to 
his  present  site,  on  Commercial  avenue.  He 
employs  three  skilled  workmen,  and  is  enjoy- 
ing a  successful  trade,  which  is  wholly  due  to 
his  enterprise  and  skill  in  conducting  his  busi- 
ness. Mr.  Kobler  was  first  married  in  Cairo, 
111.,  on  the  26th  of  September,  1856,  to  Miss 
Wilhelmina  Oexle,  who  died  in  the  summer  of 
1860.  His  second  wife,  to  whom  he  was  mar- 
ried in  Cairo,  was  Elizabeth  Rees.  She  died  in 
the  Insane  Asylum  at  Anna,  111.,  leaving  two 
daughters — Elizabeth  Kobler,  born  in  Cairo 
December  13,  1866,  and  Katie  Kobler,  born  in 
Cairo  January  28,  1869.  The  family  residence 
is  on   Ninth  street,  besides  which  Mr.  Kobler 


owns  a  quantity  of  city  real  estate.  He  is  a 
Republican,  and  a  director  in  the  Women's  and 
Orphans'  Mutual  Aid  Society. 

CHRISTIAN  KOCH,  manufacturer  of  and 
dealer  in  fashionable  boots  and  shoes,  at  No.  90 
Commercial  avenue.  Cairo,  111.,  was  born  in 
German}'  August  21, 1835.  He  is  the  youngest 
of  a  family  of  five  children  of  Christian  Koch 
and  Margaretta  Hubochueider,  of  Germany. 
His  father  died  in  1846,  while  in  the  prime  of 
life,  and  the  mother  in  1853,  at  the  age  of  six- 
ty-three years.  Mr.  Koch  was  educated  in 
Germany,  where  he  also  served  an  apprentice- 
ship of  four  years  to  the  trade  of  shoe- maker. 
In  1854,  became  to  the  United  States,  landing 
at  New  York,  and  first  located  at  Louisville, 
Ky^,  where  for  some  time  he  worked  at  his 
trade,  receiving  a  weekly  wage  of  $1.50.  From 
Louisville  he  went  to  New  Albany,  Ind.,  where 
he  worked  about  two  years,  thence  to  St.  Louis, 
where  he  remained  until  coming  to  Cairo,  111., 
in  1861.  In  that  year,  he  opened  a  shop  for 
the  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  at  Cairo, 
to  which  he  added  a  small  stock  of  ready-made 
goods.  He  returned  to  St.  Louis  after  the  war, 
where  he  did  business  during  the  year  1866, 
coming  to  Cairo  a  second  time  at  the  close  of 
that  year,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  year  following 
sustained  a  loss  by  fire  of  $3,500.  He  now  has 
a  two-story  brick  building  comprising  two  store 
rooms,  Nos.  88  and  90  Commercial  avenue,  which 
he  erected  in  1875,  at  a  cost  of  $8,500,  in  one 
of  which  he  is  carrying  a  $7,000  stock  of  boots 
and  shoes.  Mr.  Koch  was  married  in  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  on  the  19th  of  August,  1860,  to  Miss 
Frances  Gerst,  a  daughter  ofWentel  and  Cath- 
erine Gerst,  the  former  deceased,  and  the  mother 
a  resident  of  St.  Louis.  His  wife  was  born  in 
Bavaria,  Germany,  on  the  6th  of  August,  1841, 
and  came  to  America  with  the  parents  when  a 
child.  She  died  in  Cairo,  111.,  March  14,  1880, 
leaving  a  family  of  five  children  living,  two 
having  died  previous  to  the  death  of  their 
mother — Christian  Koch  was  born  August  13, 


26 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


1861  ;  Louisa,  born  March  25,  1863,  and  died 
April  28,  1865  ;  John  G.  was  born  February 
15,  1865,  and  died  on  the  1st  of  June,  1865; 
William  F.  was  born  Februar}'  21, 1867;  Henry 
P.,  born  June  4, 1869  ;  Matilda  R.,  born  in  May, 
1871,  and  Augusta  L.,  was  born  July  30,  1878. 
JOHN  KOEHLER,  liquor-dealer,  on  the 
corner  of  Twentieth  street  and  Commercial 
avenue,  and  one  of  Cairo's  pioneers,  was  born 
on  the  23d  of  June,  1831,  in  German}-.  Fred 
Koehler  and  Mary  Statler  were  both  natives 
of  Germany,  where  the}-  grew  to  maturit}-  and 
married,  and  to  these  parents  were  born  five 
children,  John  Koehler  being  the  third  of  this 
family.  In  1836,  the  mother  died  and  the  fol- 
lowing 3'ear  the  father  also  died,  leaving  the 
children  dependent  almost  eutirel}'  upon  their 
own  exertions  for  their  sustenance.  John  was 
reared  in  the  famil}^  of  a  friend  and  sent  to 
school  until  he  was  fourteen  years  old.  From 
that  time  until  he  was  of  age,  he  was  engaged 
as  a  farm  laborer,  and  in  1852  he  came  to  this 
countr}",  and  for  two  years  made  his  residence 
in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  he  learned  the  baker 
business.  About  1854,  he  came  to  Cairo,  111., 
in  the  capacitj^  of  cook  for  the  Taylor  House, 
and  has  made  this  his  home  ever  since.  On  the 
25th  of  April,  1857,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Louisa  Ritter,  daughter  of  Abraham  Ritter. 
She  was  born  June  11,  1838,  in  Ohio.  For 
nearly  twenty  j-ears  Mr.  Koehler  has  engaged 
in  the  produce  trade,  in  which  he  was  very 
successful.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  and 
a  member  of  the  Fire  Department.  He  has  a 
family  consisting  of  William,  born  February  13, 
1857  ;  George  G.,  born  December  17,  1858; 
Kittie,  born  July  10,  1860;  John  B.,  born  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1862;  Mary,  born  June  15,1864;  and 
Annie  Koehler,  born  on  the  8th  of  August, 
1867.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  Mr.  Koehler  owns  a  quantity  of  val- 
uable city  real  estate. 

JOHN  A.  KOEHLER,  manufacturer  of  guns 
and  pistols,  and  dealer  in  general  hardware,  at 


No.  160  on  Commercial  avenue,  was  born  in 
Hesse-Darmstadt,  Germany,  on  the  3d  da}-  of 
September,  1830.  His  father,  John  Koehler, 
was  born  in  Germany  in  1790,  married  Elizabeth 
Luly,  who  was  born  in  same  country  in  1800. 
The  father  died  in  1850,  and  the  mother  in 
1849,  having  had  a  family  of  nine  children — 
George  Koehler  (deceased),  Matthew  Koehler 
(also  deceased),  Lena,  wife  of  Lewis  Pfeffer,  of 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.;  Balthser  Koehler,  of  Chicago; 
John   A.    Koehler,    subject    of    this    sketch ; 

Catherine,  wife  of Caston,  of  Blue  Island, 

III.;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  William  Kleber,  of 
Chicago;  Frank  Koehler,  of  Chicago;  and  Eve, 

deceased   wife  of Mishler,  of   Germany. 

John  A.  was  reared  in  his  native  country, 
where  he  served  four  years'  apprenticeship  to 
the  trade  of  gunsmith.  He  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1851,  and  for  ten  years  worked  at  his 
trade  at  various  points,  principally  in  Chicago, 
from  where  he  came  to  Cairo  in  1861.  He 
came  here  to  engage  at  his  trade  in  the  interest 
of  the  Government,  and  has  been  a  resident  of 
the  city  of  Cairo  ever  since.  In  1872,  he 
erected  a  .two-story  brick  business  house  at  a 
cost  of  $5,000,  located  on  Commercial  avenue 
between  Ninth  and  Tenth  streets,  where,  since 
1880,  in  addition  to  his  regular  trade  stock  he 
has  kept  a  full  line  of  general  hardware  goods. 
He  was  married  in  Ottawa,  La  Salle  Co., 
III.,  on  the  24th  of  May,  1863,  to  Miss  Hen- 
rietta Purucker,  who  was  born  in  Bavaria,  Ger- 
many, in  October,  1844.  She  was  the  second 
of  a  family  of  four  children  of  Adam  aud 
Elizabeth  (Weis)  Purucker,  the  latter  deceased. 
The  names  of  this  family  were  John,  Hen- 
rietta, Margaret  and  Johanna  Purucker.  Mrs. 
Henrietta  Koehler  aud  the  youngest  sister  are 
deceased;  the  former  died  in  Cairo,  on  the  15th 
of  January,  1876,  leaving  two  children — Louisa, 
born  July  18,  1866;  and  Charles  Koehler,  born 
August  13,  1868.  The  family  are  members  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  Mr.  Koehler  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  in  politics,  Repub- 


CAIRO. 


27 


lican.     He  owns  a  residence  propei'ty  on  Center 
street,  Cairo. 

FREDERICK  KORSMEYER,  wholesale  to- 
bacconist, Cairo,  is  a  native  of  the  principality  of 
LipiJe.  Germany,  and  was  born  March  -4,  1836. 
His  father,  William  Korsmej^er,  also  a  native  of 
Germany,  and  a  farmer  by  profession,  having 
married  Miss  Julia  Schafer,  of  Germany,  reared 
a  family  of  seven  children,  of  whom  Frederick 
is  the  third.  The  family  emigrated  to  the 
United  States  in  1854,  with  the  exception  of 
Frederick,  who  remained  two  years  later,  in 
order  to  complete  his  mercantile  training  in  the 
business  house  of  Henry  Gerhard,  in  the  town 
of  Holzminden.  The  family  settled  near  Evans- 
ville,  Ind.,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  par- 
ents and  one  daughter,  who  are  deceased,  are 
at  this  time  residents  of  the  United  States. 
Soon  after  coming  to  Indiana,  which  was  in 
1856,  Mr.  Korsmeyer  obtained  a  position  in 
the  dry  goods  house  of  Rose  Bros.,  of  Evans- 
ville,  where  he  remained  for  some  months,  but 
after  worked  two  years  in  a  general  store  near 
the  home  of  his  parents,  conducted  by  a  Mr. 
John  Decker,  whom  he  bought  out  at  the  end 
of  the  second  year,  and  conducted  the  business 
himself  for  about  two  years,  this  being  his  first 
business  undertaking.  He  was  married  in 
1859  to  Miss  Adelia  Lemcke,  of  Evansville, 
but  a  native  of  Hamburg,  Germany.  She  was 
born  November  11,  1839,  and  is  a  daughter  of 
Martin  and  Elizabeth  Lemcke.  Preferring  to  re- 
side in  the  city,  they,  in  1861,  removed  to 
Evansville,  selling  his  stock  of  goods,  and  for 
a  time  was  employed  in  the  business  house  of 
Schroeder  &  Lemcke,  and  after  employed  as 
clerk  on  a  steamboat.  In  1864,  he  came  to 
Cairo,  and  engaged  in  the  retail  tobacco  trade, 
associated  with  Alexander  Lemcke,  as  Lemcke 
&  Co.  Mr.  Korsmeyer  conducted  this  business 
for  three  years,  when  he  purchased  the  interest 
of  Lemc'ke,  since  which  time  he  has  been  sole 
proprietor,  and  since  1878  has  done  a  wholesale 
trade,  and  now  employs  two  traveling  sales- 


men. Business  on  corner  of  Smith  and  Levee 
streets.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order, 
Cairo  Commandery .  They  have  a  family  of  three 
children,  viz.:  William,  Elizabeth  and  Alexander. 
FRANK  KRATKY,  baker  and  confectioner, 
on  Commercial  avenue,  between  Fourth  and 
Sixth  streets,  Cairo,  111.,  is  a  native  of  the  town 
of  Predbor,  Bbkemia,  Germany,  and  was  born 
on  the  23d  of  March,  1834.  He  is  the  fifth  of  a 
large  family  of  Wenzel  and  Anna  (Lehovetz) 
Kratky,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Germany, 
where  the  father  still  lives,  the  mother  having 
died  in  1873.  Frank  Kratky  was  reared  to 
manhood  in  his  native  country,  and  was  for  ten 
years  a  soldier  in  the  German  Army.  In  1863, 
he  left  the  old  country  and  came  to  New  York 
City,  and  thence  to  Mexico,  where  he  remained 
about  four  years  engaged  in  the  bakery  business 
in  the  City  of  Mexico.  He  came  to  Cairo,  III, 
from  Mexico,  in  1868,  since  which  time  he  has 
conducted  a  bakery  and  confectionery  store  at 
that  place.  In  1879,  he  sustained  a  loss  of 
about  $2,000  by  fire,  and  the  same  year  erected 
the  two-story  brick  house  on  Commercial  ave- 
nue, which  he  now  occupies.  He  was  married 
in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  April  20,  1873,  to  Miss 
Laura  Weber,  daughter  of  Ambrosias  Weber 
and  Dora  (Tier)  Weber.  She  was  born  at  Kal- 
ter-Vasser,  Germany,  July  11,  1852,  and  came 
to  the  United  States  with  her  parents  in  1865. 
They  settled  in  St.  Louis,  where  the  mother  is 
still  living  in  her  sixty-second  year,  and  where 
the  father  died  January  4,  1883,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three.  Mrs.  Kratky  is  the  second  of  a 
family  of  five  children  of  these  parents.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Kratky  have  a  family  of  six  children, 
of  whom  four  are  deceased.  Emma  Kratky  was 
born  in  Cairo,  111.,  on  the  6th  of  February,  1874, 
and  Rosa  H.  Kratky,  born  in  Cairo,  May  28, 
1881.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Mr.  Kratky's  parents  were  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  as  was  also  the  father 
of  Mrs.  Kratky,  her  mother  belonging  to  the 
Lutheran  Church. 


28 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


CHARLES  LAME,  carpenter,  is  a  native  of 
Philadelphia,  Penu.,  and  was  born  May  31,  ISIL 
He  is  a  son  of  Caleb  and  Margaret  Lame, 
both  natives  of  New  Jersey,  and  is  the  young- 
est and  only  surviving  one  of  a  family  of  five 
children.  The  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  Trip- 
olian  war,  serving  three  3'ears  witli  Decatur 
and  Com.  Bainbridge.  He  died  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1812.  The  mother  survived  him 
until  1850,  and  died  in  the  same  city.  Charles 
was  reared,  educated  and  learned  his  trade 
in  Philadelphia,  where  he  made  his  residence 
until  coming  to  Cairo  in  1863,  and  where,  in 
October,  1834,  he  married  Miss  Hannah  Rose, 
daughter  of  William  Rose,  Sr.,  a  manufacturer 
of  Philadelphia.  She  was  born  in  Philadel- 
phia on  the  29th  of  February,  1812,  and  is  a 
direct-lineal  descendant  of  the  family  of  Will- 
iam Peun.  Mr.  Lame  has  engaged  in  his 
trade  since  he  was  tweutj'-one  years  old,  and  is 
still  actively  engaged,  though  he  is  now  seven- 
t3'-two  years  old,  and  maintains  his  youthful 
vigor  to  a  great  extent.  He  came  to  Cairo, 
111.,  in  1863,  and  has  continually  resided  there 
since.  His  family  consists  of  five  children,  of 
whom  but  two  are  now  living — William  R. 
Lame,  the  oldest,  is  a  resident  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  y.  ;  John  and  Charles  Lame,  each  of  whom 
died  in  infancy,  and  Margaret  K.,  wife  of  E.  C. 
Ford,  of  Cairo,  111.,  and  Annie  M.,  deceased 
wife  of  E.  A.  Burnett,  of  the  Cairo  Bulletin. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lame  are  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  of  Cairo.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  Family  residence  on  Tenth  street, 
between  Washington  and  Commercial  avenues. 

CHARLES  LANCASTER,  lumber  dealer, 
Cairo,  III,  was  born  in  St.  Clair  County,  111.,  on 
the  15th  of  August,  1836.  The  father,  Levi 
Lancaster',  was  of  English  parentage,  though 
born  in  Virginia  in  1801.  He  came  to  Illinois 
and  to  St.  Clair  County  in  1822,  and  there  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Terrey,  by  whom  he  had  seven 
children,  Charles  being  the  fifth,  and  besides 


whom  there  is  another  member  of  the  family 
in  Cairo,  Sarah,  wife  of  Robert  S.  Lemmon. 
Levi  Lancaster,  Charles'  father,  died  in  Hastings, 
Minn.,  where  he  had  gone  for  health,  in  1859. 
The  mother  died  in  1841,  in  St.  Clair  County, 
111.  Charles  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  St.  Clair  Count}'  and  in  Colliusville, 
and  learned  the  trade  of  carpenter  in  Minne- 
sota and  in  Peoria,  111.  He  came  to  Cairo, 
III,  and  engaged  at  his  trade  in  1862,  and 
until  1874  was  chiefly  employed  as  ship  car 
penter.  In  1874,  he  began  the  lumber  busi- 
ness, though  on  a  very  limited  scale  when  com- 
pared with  the  present  business.  He  has  asso- 
ciated with  him  Newton  Rice,  and  in  1881  they 
established  a  large  planning-mill,  in  which  the}' 
employ  regularly  several  workmen.  In  addi- 
tion to  their  mill,  preparation  is  now  being 
made  to  erect  a  large  warehouse.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1868,  Mr.  Lancaster  was  married  to  Miss 
Sarah  Hodge.  She  was  born  in  Kentucky 
March  4,  1846.  Their  family  consists  of  Min- 
nie, born  October  27,  1868  ;  Pearl  L.,  born  y 
June  4, 1873  ;  Mabel,  born  November  12, 1876, 
and  Geraldine  L.  Lancaster,  born  December  16, 
1878.  Mr.  Lancaster  is  a  member  of  the 
I.  0.  0.  F.,  Knights  of  Honor,  and  the  Amer- 
ican Legion  of  Honor. 

THOMAS  LEWIS,  lawyer,  Cairo,  was  born 
on  the  9th  of  July,  1808,  in  Somerset  County, 
Ohio.  His  parents  were  Thomas  Lewis  and 
Susan  McCoy,  the  former  of  Welsh  descent  and 
the  latter  of  Scotch,  and  both  natives  of  New 
Jersey,  where  they  married  and  reared  a  family 
of  eleven  childi'en,  Thomas  being  the  ninth  and 
the  onl}'  member  of  the  family  now  living.  He 
received  the  benefits  of  a  common  school  edu- 
cation in  his  native  county,  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  an  apprenticeship  to  the  trade  of  shoe- 
maker, which  he  completed.  Soon  after  he 
completed  his  trade,  he  started  a  wholesale 
boot  and  shoe  manufactory  in  the  city  of 
Brunswick,  N.  J.,  which  business  he  conducted 
successfully  for  seven  years,  emplo^'ing  a  large 


CAIRO. 


29 


number  of  workmen.  In  1836,  he  came  West 
to  look  out  a  location  for  a  future  home,  and 
as  a  result  of  which  he  settled  the  year  follow- 
ing in  Springfield,  111.,  where  he  again  em- 
barked in  the  boot  and  shoe  trade.  Having  a 
natural  fondness  for  law,  to  which  he  had  given 
considerable  study,  he  decided  to  adopt  the 
profession,  and  in  1845  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice. Though  he  has  not  been  a  prominent 
practitioner,  he  has  been  associated  with  some 
of  the  best  talent  of  Springfield,  and  in  the 
meantime  was  engaged  in  various  business  en- 
terprises of  magnitude.  He  came  to  Cairo, 
111.,  in  1863,  and  established  the  Cairo  Demo- 
crat, which  he  conducted  for  some  years,  re- 
turning to  Springfield  in  1869  to  engage  in  ed- 
itorial work.  Since  1875,  he  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Cairo,  and  that  year  organized  the  Al- 
exander County  Bank.  In  1867,  he  organized 
the  "  Widows'  and  Orphans'  Mutual  Aid  Soci- 
ety," of  which  he  is  now  Secretar}-.  He  is  a 
stockholder  In  the  Cairo  Street  Railway,  which 
he  organized,  in  connection  with  Messrs.  Strat- 
ton  and  Goldstein.  Mr.  Lewis  was  married  in 
New  Jerse}'  to  Miss  Margaret  A.  Van  Nor- 
strand,  of  New  Jersey.  She  was  born  October 
-4, 1810.  They  celebrated  their  golden  wedding 
on  the  4th  of  April,  1882.  Have  a  family  of 
three  children — Adaline,  wife  of  S.  D.  Ayers,  of 
Kansas  Citj-;  William  T.  Lewis,  of  Kansas; 
and  Albert  Lewis,  a  resident  of  Cairo. 

HON.  DAVID  T.  LINEGAR,  lawyer  and 
present  member  of  Legislature  of  Illinois,  was 
born  in  Milford,  Clermont  Co.,  Ohio,  February 
12,  1830.  His  father,  Thomas  Linegar,  was  of 
German  ancestry,  and  his  mother,  Hannah 
Thompson,  was  of  English  origin.  His  parents 
in  1840  removed  from  Ohio  to  Indiana;  there 
he  acquired  a  common  school  education,  and 
with  a  fixed  determination  to  enlarge  his 
sphere  of  usefulness,  he  qualified  himself  for 
the  duties  of  a  teacher,  and  during  his  four 
years'  experience  in  that  capacit}',  availed  him- 
self of  the  opportunity  thus  aflforded    to   read 


law.  He  subsequenth-  entered  the  office  of 
Hon.  L.  Q.  DeBruler,  of  Rockford,  Ind.,  and 
in  1856  was  admitted  to  practice.  In  1858,  he 
located  for  practice  in  Fairfield,  111.,  where  he 
remained  until  1861,  coming  in  that  j-ear  to 
Cairo,  111.,  which  has  since  been  his  home. 
Here  he  has  been  associated  with  some  of  the 
ablest  lawyers  of  Southern  Illinois.  He  was 
reared  under  Democratic  influences,  but  has 
not  been  a  strict  partisan,  but  has  acted  with 
that  party  whose  political  policy  most  nearly 
harmonized  with  his  own.  From  1854  until 
1874,  he  was  in  the  Republican  ranks,  and 
from  1861  to  1863  was  Postmaster  at  Cairo. 
In  1872,  he  was  the  Republican  Presidential 
Elector  of  Illinois  for  the  State  at  large,  and 
cast  his  vote  for  Grant.  He  was  elected  to 
the  Illinois  Legislature  in  1880  as  a  Democrat, 
and  is  now  serving  his  district  with  credit  and 
acceptance.  He  was  married  in  Newbux'g, 
Ind.,  August  24,  1853,  to  Miss  Emma  Hutch- 
ens.  They  have  two  children,  viz.:  Luella  and 
Lucretia  Linegar. 

ANDREW  LOHR,  Cairo,  111.,  was  born  on 
the  20th  of  December,  1831,  in  Prussia.  His 
father,  Henry  Lohr.  was  a  native  of  same 
kingdom,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  Prussian  Ar- 
my, participating  in  the  famous  battle  of  AVa- 
terloo  in  1815.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Cath- 
erine Sticher.  They  reared  but  one  child,  the 
subject  of  these  lines.  The  father  and  mother 
both  died  in  the  old  country,  the  former  in 
1850,  and  the  latter  in  1854.  Andrew,  at  the 
age  of  fourteen,  was  compelled  to  provide  for 
his  own  sustenance,  and  for  several  years  both 
before  and  after  coming  to  Cairo,  worked  by 
the  month.  He  was  married  in  Germany  in 
1857  to  Miss  Catherine  Steckhahn,  who  was 
born  in  Germany  on  the  28th  of  September, 
1837.  They  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1858,  and  on  the  passage  was  born  their  only 
child,  Hermine,  wife  of  Harr}^  Schulze,  of  Cai- 
ro. She  was  born  September  5,  1858.  They 
came  directly  to  Cairo,  and  for   some   months 


30 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


Mr.  Lohr  worked  for  S8  per  month.  He  soon 
became  the  possessor  of  a  cow,  and  began  the 
milk  business  on  a  small  scale,  but  by  adding 
to  his  herd  of  dair}'  cows,  he  soon  built  up  a 
desirable  trade.  He  next  fitted  up  a  dray, 
which  proved  a  profitable  investment,  and  thus 
he  worked  his  wa}-  until  1861,  when  he  sold 
his  stock  of  horses  and  cows,  and  bought  a  soda 
factory,  which  he  has  operated  ever  since  with 
abundant  success.  In  1858,  he  erected  a  small 
house  at  a  cost  of  $300.  This  building  was 
destroyed  by  fire  on  the  7th  of  December,  1861, 
just  three  3'ears  from  the  day  on  which  he 
moved  into  it.  He  next  erected  a  $4,000  brick 
building,  which  he  now  occupies  as  a  family 
residence.  He  has  erected  some  substantial 
brick  buildings  in  connection  with  his  manu- 
factory. Besides,  he  owns  a  large  amount  of 
city  real  estate  elsewhere.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Lutheran  Church,  having  been  a  trustee 
since  its  organization,  and  for  some  years  Su- 
perintendent of  the  Sabbath  school.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Arab  No.  2  Fire  Compan}-,  and 
has  been  three  years  its  President,  and  the 
present  Vice  President.  Mr.  Lohr  is  in  poli- 
tics a  Democrat,  and  has  served  the  Second 
Wai'd  for  three  years  on  the  Board  of  City 
Council.  Mrs.  Lohr  died  in  Cairo,  in  June, 
1879,  and  in  August  of  the  following  j-ear  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Amanda  Hahn.  She  was 
was  born  in  Saxony,  Germany,  September  14, 
1860.  This  union  resulted  in  two  daughters, 
Rosa  and  Emma  Lohr,  the  former  born  on  the 
19th  of  August,  1881,  and  the  latter  October 
7,  1882.  Hermine  Lohr  was  married  to  Harr}^ 
Schulze  on  the  21st  of  November,  1878,  and  is 
the  mother  of  three  children,  viz.:  Ida,  born  Oc- 
tober 10,  1879;  Herman,  born  July  10,  1881, 
died  June  8,  1882,  and  Harry  Schulze,  born 
November  7,  1882. 

WILLIAM  LONERGAN,  merchant,  Cairo. 
111.  The  writers  of  this  book  are  largely  in- 
debted to  the  man  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch  for  much  valuable  information  that  per- 


haps could  have  been  obtained  from  no  other 
source-  Mr.  Lonergan  was  born  May  20,  1833, 
in  Pottsville,  Penn.  His  parents,  Michael  and 
Bridget  (Riley)  Lonergan,  were  both  of  Irish 
birth.  They  were  married  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  had  three  children,  William  being  the 
eldest.  His  father  died  while  he  was  yet  a 
small  bo}-,  and  as  a  consequence  he  was  de- 
prived of  many  of  the  advantages  which  are 
the  common  enjo3-ment  of  most  bo3's,  especial- 
ly those  that  are  the  result  of  education.  Al- 
though he  was  deprived  of  the  benefit  of  even 
a  common  school,  3'et  b3'  application  to  stud\- 
and  b3'  close  observation,  he  has  been  able  to 
succeed  ver3'  well,  and  now  manages  his  mer- 
cantile business  without  the  aid  of  a  book- 
keeper. He  came  to  Cairo  in  1852,  and  has 
been  engaged  in  various  business  enterprises 
ever  since,  the  past  nineteen  years  in  the  flour 
and  commission  trade.  He  has  had  a  large 
experience  as  a  steamboat  man,  and  during  the 
late  civil  war  was  mate  on  the  boat  used  as 
Gen.  Grant's  flag-ship  and  headquarters.  He 
was  married  in  1858  to  Miss  Mary  Kinne3-,  who 
was  born  in  Louisville,  K3\,  but  reared  in  Cairo 
by  Robert  H.  Cunningham.  They  have  had 
eight  children,  the  three  oldest  of  whom  are 
deceased.  Their  names  are  Michael.  William 
E.,  John  K.,  Alice,  Mar3-,  3Iargaret,  Frank  and 
Thomas  Lonergan.  The  famil3'  belongs  to  the 
Catholic  Church  of  Cairo.  Mr.  Lonergan  en- 
joys the  enviable  reputation  of  never  having 
been  intoxicated.  He  has  served  the  countN' 
as  Constable  and  the  city  of  Cairo  on  the  Board 
of  Councilmen. 

WILLIAM  LUDWIG,  manufacturer  and 
dealer  in  harness  and  saddles,  at  No.  121  Com- 
mercial avenue,  Cairo,  111.,  was  born  June  22, 
1854,  in  Hanover,  German3-,  but  came  to  the 
United  States  with  his  parents,  Henrv  and 
Sophia  Ludwig.  when  three  years  old.  His 
parents  are  both  natives  of  Hanover,  and  are 
still  living  at  Warrington,  Ind.,  where  they  set- 
tled when  the3'  first  came  to  America.     Will- 


CAIRO. 


31 


iam  is  the  youngest  of  their  family  of  seven 
children,  and  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Warrington,  Ind.  He  took  the 
trade  of  harness-maker  and  saddler  at  Fort 
Branch,  Ind.,  in  which  business  he  has  since 
engaged.  He  came  to  Cairo  in  1872,  and  in 
August  of  that  year  established  a  harness  shop, 
which  he  has  conducted  ever  since  with  varied 
success.  He  now  carries  a  $4,000  stock  of 
harness  and  saddles,  in  addition  to  which  he  is 
dealing  in  hides,  tallow,  wool  and  furs.  He 
was  married,  December  31,  1876,  in  Cairo,  111., 
to  Miss  Thakla  Whittig,  daughter  of  Carl 
Whittig,  a  noted  musician  who  died  some  years 
ago  in  Cairo,  her  mother  having  previously 
died  in  Memphis  of  3'ellow  fever.  They  had 
three  daughters,  one  of  whom  is  a  resident  of 
Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  and  one  of  Grolconda,  111. 
The  Ludwig  family  has  been  represented  in 
Cairo  b}-  a  daughter,  wife  of  William  Beerwart, 
who  was  well  and  favorably  known  in  Cairo, 
and  intimately  connected  with  the  business 
and  official  interests  of  the  city.  He  died  on 
the  3d  day  of  Februar}',  1879,  at  Evansville, 
Ind.,  where  his  wife  and  four  children  now  live. 
JACOB  MARTIN,  book-keeper,  Cairo,  111., 
was  born  in  Londonderry,  Ireland,  April  21, 
1836.  His  father,  Hugh  Martin,  was  born  in 
Ireland  March  30,  1801,  where  he  died  Sep- 
tember 11,  1837.  His  mother,  Hannah  Liv- 
ingston, was  also  of  Irish  birth,  dating  from 
the  4th  of  May,  1803.  She  and  family  came 
to  the  United  States  in  1841,  and  located  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where,  on  the  13th  of  May, 
1878,  the  mother  died.  Jacob  was  educated  in 
the  city  of  Cincinnati,  and  acquired  proficiency 
in  the  science  of  book-keeping,  and  in  early 
manhood  came  to  Mound  Cit}-,  111.,  as  book- 
keeper and  secretary  for  the  Mound  City  Em- 
porium Company.  For  the  past  eighteen 
years,  he  was  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Halli- 
day  Bros.,  in  the  capacity  of  book-keeper  and 
financial  secretary.  He  was  married,  October 
4,  1863,  to  Miss  Amarala   Arter,  daughter   of 


Daniel  Arter,  whose  portrait  will  be  found  else- 
whex-e.  The  record  of  Mr.  Martin's  family  is 
as  follows:  Amarala  (Arter)  Martin,  born  May 
2,  1837;  Edith  L.,  born  October  20,  1864;  Lau- 
ra I.,  born  November  25,  1871,  died  October 
25,  1873;  Jacob  P.,  born  March  22,  1877,  and 
died  June  24,  same  year;  and  Jessie  V.  Mar- 
tin, who  was  born  on  Februai-y  7,  1879,  and 
died  April  16,  1881. 

JAMES  S.  McGAHEY,  lumber  dealer  on 
corner  of  Twentieth  street  and  Washington 
avenue,  was  born  at  Jackson,  Mo.,  on  the  7th  of 
December,  1834.  His  father,  Edwin  McGahey, 
was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  born  in  1804, 
where  he  grew  to  manhood,  and  married  Elea- 
nor McNeel}',  also  of  same  State,  and  born  in 
1803.  They  emigrated  to  Missouri  in  1832, 
and  settled  at  Jackson,  where  he  for  many 
years  followed  farming  and  dealing  in  mer- 
chandise. J.  S.  McGahey  is  the  fourth  of  a 
family  of  eight  children  born  to  these  parents. 
The  father  died  in  Murphysboro,  III.,  in  1874, 
and  the  mother  in  Missouri  in  spring  of  1845. 
Edwin  C,  the  sixth  member  of  this  family,  has 
for  several  years  been  in  Anna,  Union  Co.,  III. 
J.  S.  McGahey  was  i-eared  on  the  farm,  and  ed- 
ucated in  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
State,  and  married  in  Duquoin,  III.,  September 
2,  1862,  to  Miss  Carrie  E.  Dyer,  daughter  of 
Dr.  L  Dyer,  of  that  place,  and  one  of  the  old 
physicians  of  Southern  Illinois.  Mrs.  McGa- 
he}'  was  born  in  Martinsbui'g,  Knox  Co.,  Ohio, 
on  the  23d  of  September,  1837.  Their  family 
consists  of  four  children,  viz.:  Laura,  Eleanor, 
born  in  Vergennes,  Jackson  County,  111.,  on  the 
18th  of  August,  1863;  Clara  D.,  born  in  Du- 
quoin, III.,  September  19,  1865;  Marcus  H. , 
born  in  Pulaski  County,  III.,  September  29, 
1869,  and  Ruth  Lee  McGahey,  born  in  Cairo 
August  2,  1873.  From  1862  to  1868,  he  en- 
gaged in  the  produce  business  at  Duquoin,  and 
from  there  went  to  Pulaski  Count}',  where  he 
engaged  in  the  lumber  business.  He  came  to 
Cairo  and  established  a  lumber  trade  in  1871, 


32 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


since  which  time  it  has  been  his  permanent 
home.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Widows'  and 
Orphans'  Mutual  Aid  Society,  and  is  its  present 
President;  also  a  member  of  the  American  Le- 
gion of  Honor.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gahey  are 
members  of  the  Cairo  Baptist  Church.  Family 
residence  on  Twenty-eighth  and  Poplar  streets. 
Dr.  Lewis  Dyer,  father  of  Mrs.  McGahey, 
was  born  in  Manchester,  Vt.,  on  February  24, 
1807,  and  reared  to  manhood  in  Vermont,  and 
when  a  young  man  taught  school  to  secure 
funds  with  which  to  qualify  for  his  chosen  pro- 
fession, that  of  ph3'sician.  He  graduated  from 
different  medical  institutions  in  the  East,  and 
while  a  young  man  came  to  Ohio,  where  for  a 
time  he  was  physician  and  surgeon  for 
the  Kenyon  College  in  Knox  County.  He 
was  married  in  Vermont  to  Miss  Lau- 
ra A.  Purdy,  a  native  of  Vermont,  on  De- 
cember 24,  1828.  She  was  born  at  Manches- 
ter, Vt.,  January  21,  1810,  and  died  in  Illinois 
on  the  27th  of  August,  1858.  Mrs.  3IcGahey 
is  the  fourth  of  a  family  of  seven  children  born 
to  these  parents.  The  father  was  for  three 
years  a  surgeon  in  the  late  war,  entering  as 
Regimental  Surgeon  of  the  Eighty-first  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  from  which  he  was  pro- 
moted to  Brigade,  and  finally  to  Division  Sur- 
geon.    He  is  still  a  resident  of  Duquoin,Ill. 

JAMES  W.  McKINNEY,  of  Cairo,  111.,  Cap- 
tain of  the  Illinois  Central  Transfer,  is  a  native 
of  Beaver  County,  Penn.  He  was  born  on  the 
21st  of  December,  1839,  and  is  a  son  of  Charles 
McKinney  and  Permelia  Lytic.  But  little  can 
be  learned  of  his  parents,  his  mother  dying 
when  he  was  but  nine  years  old,  and  his  father 
when  he  was  twelve.  He  was  then  left  an  or- 
phan in  childhood,  and  i-educed  to  the  necessity 
of  supporting  himself,  which  he  managed  to  do 
quite  handsomely.  About  the  time  of  the 
death  of  his  father,  be  became  a  cabin  boy  on 
the  steamboat  Irene,  running  on  the  Ohio  River 
from  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  to  Wheeling,  Va.  He 
continued  to  serve  as  cabin    boy  until    strong 


enough  to  assume  the  duties  of  a  deck  hand. 
He  rapidly  worked  himself  into  the  position  of 
pilot,  receiving  his  first  license  to  that  position 
in  1861.  In  1862,  he  was  appointed  to  the  po- 
sition of  post  pilot  at  Cairo,  and  Captain  of  the 
boat  Champion  No.  2.  He  continued  in  this 
position  until  September,  1865,  and  during  the 
war  made  some  very  perilous  trips  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi River.  At  the  last-named  date,  he  was 
employed  as  Captain  of  the  Illinois  Central  R. 
R.  Passenger  Transfer  from  Cairo  to  Columbus, 
Ky.,  and  during  a  period  of  eight  years  made 
12,040  round  trips,  never  meeting  with  the 
slightest  accident.  Since  1873,  he  has  been 
Captain  and  pilot  of  the  company's  transfer 
boat  at  Cairo.  He  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M. — Royal  Arch  and  Knights  Templar.  Mr. 
McKinney  was  married  in  Champaign,  III, 
March  17,  1873,  to  Lulu  J.,  daughter  of  D.  W. 
and  Tabitha  Robinson,  of  Effingham,  111.  She 
was  born  in  Lima,  Allen  Co.,  Ohio.  They  have 
had  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  dead :  Fannie 
S.,  James  W.,  James  W.,  Jr.,  William  H.  G., 
Josie  Bell,  and  Clarence  Wilbur.  They  own 
a  city  residence  at  No.  20  Twentieth  street,  be- 
sides a  valuable  property  on  corner  of  Ninth 
and  Cedar  streets. 

HERMAN  MEYERS,  dealer  in  cigars  and  to- 
bacco, 62  Ohio  Levee,  Cairo,  111.,  was  born  in 
the  city  of  Hanover,  Germany,  on  the  29th  of 
May,  1835.  At  the  termination  of  his  school 
years,  he  adopted  the  trade  of  locksmith  and 
machinist,  serving  an  apprenticeship  thereat 
of  four  years.  In  1853,  he  came  to  the  United 
States  and  located  in  Chicago,  111.,  where  he 
engaged  to  work  in  the  machine  shops  of  Se- 
ville &  Sons,  who  had  a  contract  for  the  first 
locomotive  engines  ever  built  in  Illinois.  He 
was  afterward  employed  in  the  Wright  Reaper 
Factory,  and  finally  in  1855  he  opened  a  cigar 
manufactory  in  Chicago,  which  he  operated 
with  varied  success  until  the  panic  of  1857, 
when  he  was  compelled  to  seek  other  fields. 
He    next   located   at  Davenport,  Iowa,  from 


CAIRO. 


33 


whence  he  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  became 
associated  in  business  with  his  brother-in-law, 
William  Mej'ers,  anclenjojed  a  successful  bus- 
iness until  the  breaking-out  of  the  civil  war, 
when  he  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  in  1861,  and 
opened  a  manufactor}'  there,  and  is  now  the 
oldest  tobacconist  in  the  cit}-.  Here  he  has  a 
very  lucrative  trade,  as  his  brands  of  cigars  are 
of  the  best  quality  on  the  market.  He  was 
married  on  the  9th  of  August,  1863,  and  has  a 
family  of  nine  children,  of  whom  two  are  dead. 
WILLIAM  M.  MURPHY,  a  native  of  Ad- 
ams Count}',  Ohio,  and  present  Postmaster  of 
Cairo,  was  born  on  the  24th  day  of  September, 
1836.  His  parents,  R.  S.  Murphy  and  Rachel 
Kelle}-,  were  natives  of  New  Jersey,  but  came 
with  their  parents  to  Ohio  while  young.  The 
grandfather  of  our  subject  was  the  original  set- 
tler on  land  now  occupied  by  the  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati. R.  S.  Murphy  and  Rachel  Kelle}'  were 
married  and  reared  their  familj-  in  Adams 
County,  Ohio,  where  they  still  reside.  William 
M.  was  educated  in  the  common  school  of  his 
native  county,  and  in  a  college  of  Cincinnati. 
He  first  came  to  Cairo  in  1858,  when  he  en- 
gaged as  salesman  in  the  dry  goods  firm  of 
Kelley  Bros.,  with  whom  he  remained  until  the 
breaking-out  of  the  rebellion.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Eighty-first  Ohio  Regiment  and 
was  mustered  in  as  private  in  Compan3'H,  from 
which  he  was  mustered  out  as  Captain  in  May, 
1865,  at  the  city  of  Cincinnati.  He  participated 
in  all  the  active  service  incident  to  the  siege  of 
Atlanta,  and  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea.  From 
the  close  of  the  war  until  1869,  he  was  con- 
nected with  J.  H.  Kelley  in  hotel  business,  but 
that  3  ear  entered  the  office  of  revenue  depart- 
ment as  clerk.  In  1870,  he  was  made  Chief 
Deputy  Collector  of  the  district,  which  position 
he  filled  until  March  1,  1883,  when  he  received 
the  appointment  of  Postmaster  under  Presi- 
dent Arthur.  He  is  a  member  of  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, holding  the  position  of  Captain  Gen- 
eneral  of  the  Cairo  Commanderv,  No.  13. 


PETER  NEFF,  retired,  Cairo,  was  born  on  the 
18th  of  July,  1826,  in  the  kingdom  of  Hesse- 
Darmstadt,  Grermany.  His  parents,  Bernhard 
Nefl'and  Barbara  Boehm,  were  natives  of  same 
place  and  reared  a  family  of  six  sons,  Peter 
being  the  youngest.  The  family  have  been  repre- 
sented in  the  United  States  by  the  three  sons, 
Adam,  George  A.  and  Peter  ;  the  former  died 
in  Cairo,  111.,  in  1867,  leaving  a  family  consist- 
ing of  wife  and  two  daughters,  who  are  now 
residents  of  Cairo.  George  A.  is  a  resident  of 
St.  Louis,  Mo.  The  subject  of  these  lines  was 
reared  and  educated  in  the  old  country,  where 
he  learned  the  trade  of  merchant  tailor.  He 
came  to  the  United  States  in  18-47,  and  that 
year  located  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  where,  for 
four  years,  he  worked  at  his  trade.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1851,  he  removed  to  Jonesboro,  111., 
where  he  made  his  first  independent  business 
venture  in  the  way  of  a  small  stock  of  cloth- 
ing. He  remained  in  Jonesboro  until  1854 
(spring),  at  which  time  he  removed  his  stock  to 
Cairo,  where  he  has  since  lived.  Here  he  soon 
merged  into  an  extensive  trade  in  clothing  and 
furnishing  goods,  and  for  man}'  years  enjoyed 
an  immense  patronage.  In  1878,  he  sold  his 
entire  stock  of  clothing  to  A.  Marx,  but  con- 
tinued in  the  tailoring  business  until  1881, 
when  he  retired.  He  has  erected  several  bus- 
iness houses  and  controls  a  large  interest  in 
city  real  estate.  At  present  he  is  Vice  Presi- 
dent of  the  Alexander  County  Bank.  He  has 
a  family  of  four  children,  of  whom  one  is  de- 
ceased, those  living  being  Calvin,  Alexander 
W.  and  Effie  Nefl^.  The  maiden  name  of  his 
present  wife  was  Rachel  Lence,  who  was  born 
at  Jonesboro,  111.,  in  1841. 

GEORGE  F.  ORT,  general  merchant,  on 
the  corner  of  Commercial  avenue  and  Twenty- 
eighth  street,  Cairo,  111.,  is  a  native  of  Am- 
sterdam, Holland,  and  was  born  November  27, 
1842  ;  son  of  G.  F.  Ort  and  Elizabeth  De 
L'Etang,  both  natives  of  Holland,  the  former 
of  German  descent  and  the  latter   of  French 


34 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


origin.  Tiie  father  was  born  in  1812  and  tiie 
mother  in  1807  ;  both  are  living  and  are  the 
parents  of  five  children,  of  whom  George  F.  is 
the  second.  Names  of  children  are  as  follows: 
Elizabeth,  resident  of  Amsterdam ;  George 
F.,  of  Cairo  ;  Charles  P.,  of  Amsterdam  ; 
Jeanette,  wife  of  John  Vergonue,  of  Holland  ; 
John  G.  N.,  present  book-keeper  for  the 
Cit}-  National  Bank  at  Cairo.  George  F.  was 
reared  and  educated  in  his  native  country,  and 
took  a  practical  business  training  in  the  mer- 
cantile line  in  the  old  countr}-.  He  came  to 
United  States,  and  in  the  fall  of  1860  located 
in  Eastern  Iowa,  where,  for  three  years  he  en- 
gaged in  agricultural  pursuists.  He  came  to 
Cairo,  in  June,  1864,  and  engaged  in  market 
gardening,  associated  with  Mr.  Smallenburg, 
but  after  returning  from  a  visit  to  the  scenes 
of  his  boyhood,  in  1867,  he  engaged  alone  in 
the  same  business,  and  continues  the  bus- 
iness still.  In  connection  with  this  in 
the  spring  of  1882,  he  opened  a  general 
store,  where  he  is  now  located.  He  employs 
regularl}'  three  salesmen.  He  was  married  in 
Cairo,  111.,  on  the  6th  of  November,  1874,  to 
Miss  Ellen  DeGelder,  of  Holland,  where  she 
was  born,  September  7,  1850.  She  came  to 
the  United  States  with  her  parents,  Matthew  and 
Gertrude  (Yermazen)  Be  Gelder,  in  the  year 
1856.  The  parents  are  now  residents  of  Alex- 
ander County,  111. 

CHRISTOPHER  31.  OSTERLOH,  dealer  in 
ha}',  corn,  oats,  and  proprietor  of  general 
feed  store  on  Commercial  avenue,  between 
Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth  streets,  Cairo, 
111.,  was  born  April  27,  1823,  in  Brunswick, 
Germany.  His  father,  John  H.  Osterloh,  was 
a  native  of  the  same  dukedom,  where  he  was 
reared  and  married,  and  died  in  1845,  leaving 
a  family  of  six  children,  Christopher  M.  being 
the  third.  The  family  was  first  represented  in 
the  United  States  by  the  oldest  son,  Henry, 
who  came  and  located  in  Missouri  in  1845 
soon  after  the  [death  of  his  father.     In  1848, 


the  mother  and  four  children  came,  and  also 
settled  in  Missouri,  where,  in  the  fall  of  1852, 
the  mother,  Mar}-  Osterloh,  died.  Christopher 
M.  remained  in  Germany  until  1850,  when  he, 
too,  came  to  this  country,  but  made  his  first 
permanent  location  at  Yazoo  City,  in  Mississipi, 
where  he  opened  a  barber  shop,  having  learned 
the  '•  art  tonsorial  "  in  the  old  country.  He 
was  afterward  employed  as  barber  on  a  steam- 
boat, and  thus  he  came  to  Cairo,  III,  in  1852, 
and  was  induced  by  its  people  to  open  a  barber 
shop,  which  he  did,  first  on  a  wharf-boat,  but 
soon  after  removed  upon  the  levee.  He 
continued  to  be  ,a  "  knight  of  the  razor  "  until 
1864,  in  the  fall  of  which  year  he  sold  out ;  the 
year  following  he  built  the  brick  storehouse 
which  he  now  occupies,  located  on  Commercial 
avenue,  where  he  has  done  a  general  grain  and 
feed  business  ever  since.  On  the  3d  of  Octo- 
ber, 1858,  in  Cairo,  111.,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Catharine  Wagner,  of  Germany,  where  she  was 
born  Api'il  7, 1838,  coming  to  St.  Louis  in  1847. 
Their  union  has  been  blest  with  eight  children, 
all  born  in  Cairo,  viz.:  Charles,  born  Novem- 
ber 22, 1859  ;  Louisa,  born  November  30,  1861, 
and  died  January  5,  1863  ;  Amelia,  born  De- 
cember 31, 1863  ;  Ernest,  born  October  3, 1866  ; 
Ada,  born  December  20,  1868  ;  August,  born 
September  28,  1871  ;  Louisa  J.,  born  April  1, 
1874,  and  Frank  Osterloh,  born  July  14,  1876. 
Mr.  Osterloh  is  a  Republican,  has  served  four 
years  on  Board  of  City  Councilmen,  and  for 
twenty-seven  years  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 
MILES  W.  PARKER,  Treasurer  and  Asses- 
sor of  Alexander  County,  was  born  June  12, 
1826,  near  the  site  of  the  village  of  Sandusky, 
in  Alexander  County,  111.  His  father  was  born 
about  1772,  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  where  he 
grew  to  manhood,  and  married  Ellen  Guerten, 
who  was  also  a  native  of  same  State,  and  was 
born  perhaps  in  1782.  After  a  brief  residence, 
they  moved  to  Yirginia,  thence  to  Kentucky, 
and  in  1818  removed  from  Kentucky  to  Illi- 
nois and  settled  in  the  western  part  of  Alex- 


CAIRO. 


35 


under  County.  The  father  died  in  Pulaski 
County,  111.,  in  1833,  and  the  mother  in  Alex- 
ander Count}-  in  1837.  They  had  a  famil}-  of 
sixteen  children  ;  of  these  Miles  W.  is  the  fif- 
teenth. Through  force  of  circumstances,  he 
received  but  a  limited  common  school  educa- 
tion, being  reared  under  the  influences  incident 
to  pioneer  life.  He  possessed  however  a  natural 
business  abilit}-,  which  he  took  opportunity'  to 
develop  as  soon  as  he  became  of  age,  coming 
to  Cairo  in  1847,  to  engage  in  the  steamboat 
wood  trade,  continuing  it  until  1852,  when  he 
embarked  in  the  grocery  trade.  He  continued 
in  the  grocer}'^  business  until  1863,  and  some 
time  later  invested  his  means  in  the  livers- 
business.  In  1875,  he  was  reduced  to  "  first 
principles  "  b}-  the  burning  of  his  stable  and 
contents,  which,  being  uninsured,  was  a  total 
loss  in  less  time  than  is  required  to  pen  this 
sketch.  His  loss  is  better  described  in  his  own 
words  :  "I  saved  nothing  but  a  set  of  broken  bug- 
gy shafts,  which  I  turned  over  as  a  part  pay  on  a 
blacksmith's  bill."  He  is  now  engaged  in  busi- 
ness on  Washington  avenue,  near  Tenth  street. 
In  1879,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  County 
Treasurer  and  re-elected  in  1882  and  now  fills 
that  office.  He  cannot  be  termed  in  an}-  sense 
a  politician,  but  has  acted  with  ttfe  Democratic 
party.  He  was  married  in  1852,  to  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Fisher,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  on 
the  24th  of  September,  1826.  She  came  to 
Illinois  with  her  parents  when  a  child.  Their 
family  consists  of  six  children,  of  whom  three 
ai*e  deceased — Mar}-,  wife  of  W.  F.  Axley,  of 
Cairo  ;  Gilbert  Parker,  deceased  ;  Emma,  de- 
ceased wife  of  H.  A.  Harrell  ;  Nellie,  wife  of 
William  Winter,  and  Lizzie  Parker.  Mr. 
Parker  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor. 
CHARLES  0.  PATIER,  wholesale  and  re- 
tail merchant,  Cairo.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  born  Jan- 
uary 1,  1839.  He  is  of  French  descent,  his  fa- 
ther having  emigrated  to  this  country  in  1820, 
and -located  at  Easton,  Penn.,  where  Charles  0. 


was  born.  He  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  until  twelve  years  of  age,  when  he  was 
sent  to  Williamsport,  Penn.,  to  learn  the  mer- 
cantile business  with  Adam  Follmer,  then  a 
leading  merchant  of  that  place,  and  while  a  resi- 
dent there,  took  a  course  of  instruction  in  the 
Commercial  College  of  that  city.  At  an  earls- 
age,  he  became  noted  for  his  great  energy  and 
success  as  a  salesman,  to  which  he  seemed 
peculiarly  adapted.  At  the  age  of*  eighteen,  he 
came  "West,  and  stopped  at  Freeport,  III.,  where 
he  was  employed  as  salesman  for  William  Allen, 
and  soon  established  for  himself  a  reputation 
for  ability  and  efficiency  equaled  by  few  men 
of  his  age.  He  had  always  been  a  strong  Re- 
publican, in  all  the  political  issues  of  the  time, 
and  immediately  upon  the  breaking-out  of  the 
late  civil  war,  he  went  to  St.  Louis,  and  there 
aided  in  raising  a  company  of  volunteers,  and 
joined  the  Sixth  Missouri  Regiment,  under  the 
first  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  troops.  He 
was  mustered  into  the  United  States  service  as 
First  Lieutenant  of  Company  D,  of  the  Sixth, 
and  took  part  in  the  march  to  Southeastern  Mis- 
souri after  the  Confederate  Gen.  Price.  After- 
ward he  was  appointed  Provost  Marshal  of 
Jelferson  City,  in  which  capacity  he  remained 
about  two  years,  and  became  noted  for  his 
patriotism  and  the  able  manner  in  which  he 
discharged  the  duties  of  this  office.  After  this, 
he  again  joined  his  command  ;  took  part  in 
the  siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburg,  and  the 
battles  following;  participated  in  Sherman's 
march  to  the  sea  ;  was  seriously  wounded  in 
the  right  breast,  at  Goldsboro,  N.  C.  After 
which  he  was  sent  to  David's  Island,  New  York 
Harbor,  to  be  cured,  and  after  four  months  was 
again  with  his  command,  which  was  then  on 
duty  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  and  there  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  Captain,  and  mustered  out  with 
his  regiment  in  June,  1865,  having  served  his 
country  faithfully  and  nobly — not  from  a  taste 
for  the  profession  of  arms,  or  for  official  po- 


36 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


sition,  but  from  a  strict  sense  of  dut3^  He 
settled  in  Cairo  in  1866,  and  was  engaged  as 
salesman,  b}'  William  II.  Purcell,  whose  stock 
of  merchandise  at  the  time  consisted  of  a  rem- 
nant of  sutler's  goods,  not  exceeding  $1,000 
in  value,  but  under  the  stimulus  of  Mr.  Patier's 
activit}-,  the  business  rapidl}'  increased,  and 
the  house  assumed  the  style  of  the  "  New  York 
Store."  In  1868,  he  bought  a  half  interest  in 
the  firm,  which  continued  to  prosper  and  grow 
in  favor  with  the  public.  In  March,  1872,  Mr. 
Patier  bought  the  remaining  interest  of  the  firm 
and  became  sole  proprietor,  and  taking  into 
partnership  with  him  Mr.  William  Wolf,  the 
former  book-keeper  of  the  house.  The  new 
firm  now  entered  upon  a  career  which,  for  suc- 
cess and  rapidity  of  growth,  has  had  but  few 
equals,  and  still  fewer  superiors  in  the  annals 
of  commerce.  They  commenced  business  in  a 
small  frame  house,  with  a  small  stock  of  mis- 
cellaneous goods,  valued  at  $5,000,  while  to- 
day they  have  a  stock  embracing  ever}'  va- 
riety of  articles  needed  in  the  econom}-  of 
home,  person  or  farm.  From  the  little  ham- 
pered room  in  which  they  commenced  busi- 
ness, the}'  have  enlarged  and  expanded  their 
trade,  until  in  1875  their  present  magnificent 
brick  and  iron  store  was  erected.  It  is  175  feet 
deep  and  seventy  feet  front,  three  stories 
high,  every  floor  of  which  is  packed  with  goods. 
The  house  began  with  two  salesmen,  the  pro- 
prietors ;  and  now  they  emplo}'  a  full  force  of 
clerks,  with  several  salesmen  on  the  road.  A 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  Mr.  Patier  was  an 
obscure  clerk,  in  an  interior  town  in  Penns}'!- 
vania.  Through  his  own  efl'orts,  firm  business 
integrit}',  and  tireless  industr}',  he  has  risen  to 
the  proud  distinction  of  a  leading  merchant 
and  capitalist  of  Illinois.  He  has  achieved  this 
success  fairly  and  honorably,  and  truth,  candor 
and  infiexible  uprightness  have  characterized 
all  of  his  transactions.  Mr.  Patier  was  married 
on  the  27th  of  November,  1874,  to  Miss  Mary 
Toomy,  of  Chicago.  They  have  two  children — 
a  son  and  a  daughter. 


ALMANZER  0.  PHELPS,  artist,  Cairo,  111., 
a  native  of  Natchez,  Miss.,  was  born  on  the  6th 
of  October,  1842,  soon  after  which  date,  the 
parents,  Clark  L.  and  Pascalena  (Paul)  Phelps, 
removed  to  Muscatine,  Iowa,  where  he  was 
reared  and  educated.  The  father  was  born 
near  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1816,  where  he  resided 
until  grown  to  manhood,  going  thence  to 
Natchez,  where  he  married  Miss  Pascalena 
Paul.  She  was  born  in  Natchez  in  1819. 
though  of  French  ancestrv,  and  died  in  Mus- 
catine, Iowa,  on  the  12th  of  June,  1880.  The 
father  in  earl}-  life  was  an  extensive  trader  and 
speculator,  and  later  in  life  was  engaged  in  the 
interest  of  steam  boating,  being  for  thirt}' 
years  the  Captain  and  owner  of  a  steamboat  on 
the  Upper  Mississippi  and  tributaries.  He  is 
still  living  and  a  resident  of  Cairo,  111.  He 
reared  a  family  of  seven  children,  of  whom 
Lorenzo  A.  is  the  eldest,  and  subject  the  second. 
Two  sons  and  one  daughter — Charles  F., 
Joseph  P.  and  Nancy  C.  Phelps,  are  residents 
of  Muscatine,  Iowa ;  one  son  and  daughter, 
Clark  L.  and  Flora  Phelps,  are  deceased.  A. 
0.  Phelps  began  life  as  an  engineer  and  be- 
came a  regularly  licensed  engineer  on  river 
and  ocean  steamers,  but  becoming  wearied  of 
this  life  determined  to  turn  his  attention  to 
photography,  for  which  the  family  appear  to 
develop  a  natural  fitness,  the  four  brothers 
being  each  skilled  artists.  He  came  to  Cairo, 
111.,  in  1876,  and  at  once  engaged  in  this  work, 
and  now  has  two  galleries,  one  on  Eighth  street, 
and  one  on  Sixth  street,  under  the  management 
of  his  brother,  L.  A.  Phelps.  They  are  pre- 
pared to  execute  all  kinds  of  artistic  work 
coming  within  the  range  of  their  profession. 
A.  0.  Phelps  was  married  in  Quinc}',  111.,  on 
the  15th  of  August,  1868,  to  Miss  Ella  Vance, 
daughter  of  John  and  Mar}-  (Kreel)  Vance,  the 
former  deceased,  the  latter  of  Keokuk,  Iowa. 
She  was  born  at  Steubenville,  Ohio,  on  the 
11th  of  May,  1853.  Tliey  have  one  son,  viz.: 
Almanzer  0.  Phelps,  Jr.,  born  in  Muscatine,  Iowa, 


CAIRO. 


37 


on  the  11th  of  July,  1871.  Lorenzo  A.  Phelps 
was  born  in  Natchez,  Miss.,  on  June  11,  1840, 
was  educated  in  Muscatine,  Iowa,  and  spent 
his  early  life  as  pilot  on  the  Upper  Mississippi 
River.  He  began  the  trade  of  photographer  in 
1871,  at  which  he  engaged  in  Muscatine  until 
coming  to  Cairo  in  the  fall  of  1881.  He  was 
married  in  Muscatine,  on  the  16th  of  October, 
1874,  to  Miss  Lillian  S.  Perkins,  daughter  of 
Capt.  T.  P.  Perkins,  a  well-known  steamboat 
man  and  owner  of  the  vessel  "  Mongolia,"  which 
burned  several  years  since  at  St.  Louis,  IMo. 
Both  the  father  and  mother — Annie  Perkins — 
were  natives  of  New  England,  and  are  now  de- 
ceased. She  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  September 
20,  1855.  Thej-  have  a  famil}-  consisting  of 
Lillian  A.,  born  August  8,  1875  ;  Frederick  L., 
born  February  22,  1877  ;  Ada  P.,  born  October 
18,  1878,  and  Frank  S.  Phelps,  born  December 
22,  1881.  Mr.  L.  A.  Phelps  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Legion  of  Honor  and  one  of  the 
board  of  managers  of  the  Widow's  and  Orphan's 
Mutual  Aid  Society.  The  grandfather  on  the 
mother's  side  was  Paul  Pascaline  a  relative  and 
body  guard  to  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  after  whose 
defeat  he  fled  to  the  LTnited  States,  dropping 
the  name  Pascaline,  and  was  afterward  known 
as  Mr.  Paul. 

GEORGE  B.  POOR,  present  Wharfmaster  at 
Cairo  and  one  of  the  oldest  of  its  inhabitants, 
is  a  native  of  Steuben  County,  N.  Y.  He 
was  born  on  the  "  old  Holland  Purchase  "  Feb- 
ruary' 29,  1828,  and  when  eight  ^-ears  old  his 
parents,  Samuel  Poor  and  Elnora  Begole,  re- 
moved to  3Iichigan.  The  father  was  a  native 
of  Massachusetts,  and  was  born  about  1782  ; 
was  a  soldier  under  Gen.  Harrison  in  the  war 
of  1812,  and  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Black  Rock.  He  was  married  in  Steuben 
County,  N.  Y.,  about  1822,  to  Miss  Elnora  Be- 
gole. She  was  born  in  Maryland,  and  descends 
from  French  origin,  and  was  a  first  cousin  to 
Hon.  Josiah  Begole,  present  Governor  of  Michi- 
gan.   She  died  in  Michigan  May  9,  1848.  They 


had  a  family  of  nine  children,  of  whom  George 
P.  is  the  second  ;  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Daniel 
Fenn,  of  Jackson,  Mich.  ;  Jane,  deceased  wife 
of  M.  Powel,  of  Grass  Lake,  Mich.  ;  Hannah, 
wife  of  Aaron  Morfort,  of  Barr}-  Count}-,  Mich., 
William,  deceased;  Samuel  B.,  of  Dongola,  111., 
married  to  Nettie  Hite,  of  Pulaski  County,  111  ; 
David  M.  Poor,  Methodist  Episcopal  minister,  of 
Kansas  ;  Evan  J.,  of  Barry  Count}-,  Mich.; 
and  Harlan  Poor,  killed  in  the  battle  of  Spott- 
sylvania  Court  House  in  Virginia.  George  B. 
grew  to  manhood  in  Michigan,  and  took  the 
trade  of  millwright,  which  he  followed  until 
the  fall  of  1850,  at  which  time  he  commenced 
laying  railroad  track  for  the  Michigan  Central 
Company.  In  1854,  on  the  9th  of  April,  he 
arrived  at  Cairo,  where  he  took  charge  of  the 
track-laying  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company,  putting  down  the  first  rail  in  Cairo 
on  the  following  day,  April  10.  He  remained 
in  the  employment  of  the  company  until  July, 
18G1,  as  the  supervisor  of  their  track  from 
Cairo  to  Jonesboro.  On  the  26th  of  July, 
1861,  he  was  mustered  into  military  .service  as 
Captain  of  Company  K,  Ninth  Illinois  Volun- 
teers, in  which  he  served  until  December  of  the 
same  year,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of  the 
ill  health  of  his  wife,  who  died  on  the  .30th  of 
April,  1862.  He  afterward  took  command 
of  a  dispatch  boat  from  Cairo  southward.  In 
November,  1865,  he  became  Captain  of  the 
boat  "  Ike  Hammitt,"  and  held  the  position 
until  August,  1875,  since  which  time  he  has  de- 
voted his  attention  to  the  interests  of  his  farm 
in  Union  County,  111.,  until  November,  1882,  at 
which  time  he  took  the  office  of  Wharfmaster 
at  Cairo.  He  was  first  married  in  Cairo,  June 
14,  1855,  to  Miss  Julia  Clerry,  who  was  born 
at  Jacksonville,  111.,  in  1838,  and  died  as  above 
stated.  Married  to  his  present  wife,  x\.ddie 
Osboru,  daughter  of  Otis  A.  Osborn,  of  Cairo, 
111.,  on  the  17th  of  September,  1863.  She  was 
born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  December  17,  1839. 
Their  family  consists  of  six  children,  only  two 


3S 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


of  whom  are  living,  viz. :  Lewis  C.  Poor,  born 
January  24,  1869,  and  Vida  Y.  D.  Poor,  born 
November  29,  1877.  Mr.  Poor  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  Dongola  Lodge,  No. 
581. 

THOMAS  PORTER,  a  pioneer  of  Cairo.  111., 
was  born  on  the  11th  day  of  April,  1820,  in 
Stokes  County,  N.  C.  His  father,  whose  name 
was  also  Thomas,  was  born  in  the  same  county, 
and  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Brand,  by  whom 
he  had  two  children — Thomas  Porter,  of  Cairo, 
and  James  Porter.  The  parents  died  in  North 
Carolina  while  Thomas  was  yet  a  child,  and  he 
removed  with  an  uncle  to  Tennessee  when 
twelve  years  old.  There  he  grew  to  manhood, 
and  married  in  1848  to  Miss  Martha  Ely,  of 
Kentucky.  She  died  in  Cairo  in  1859,  leaving 
a  family  of  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
still  living.  Came  to  Cairo  in  Januar}-,  1856, 
and  has  been  a  resident  ever  since.  His  pres- 
ent wife  was  Mrs.  Mesnier  Knight,  daughter  of 
William  and  Sarah  Knight.  She  was  born  in 
Kentucky,  March  26,  1840.  Their  union  has 
been  blest  with  five  children,  two  of  whom  are 
deceased — Henry  B.  and  Edward  Porter,  are 
deceased  ;  John  W.,  William  E.  and  Addie  D. 
Porter  are  living  with  the  parents.  Of  the  first 
family,  there  are  living  Mary,  wife  of  Harry 
Clifton,  of  New  York  City  ;  Julia,  wife  of  Fred- 
erick Lawton,  of  New  York  City,  and  Thomas 
B.  Porter.  Family  residence  on  corner  of 
Twentj'-first  street  and  Commercial  avenue, 
Cairo. 

NATHANIEL  PROUTY,  of  Cairo,  111.,  was 
born  near  Boston,  Mass.,  June  3,  1830. 
The  father,  Elijah  Prouty,  was  born  in  the  same 
State,  and  there  man-ied  to  Mary  Stoddai'd,  of 
Massachusetts.  To  these  were  born  six  chil- 
dren. Nathaniel  being  the  oldest.  The  parents 
and  three  of  the  children  are  deceased.  Na- 
thaniel left  the  parental  roof  at  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  and  when  seventeen  went  to 
Boston,  and  there  took  the  trade  of  Louse-car- 
penter, at  which  he  worked  until  1875,  with  the 


exception  of  three  and  a  half  years — while  he 
was  connected  with  Company  I,  of  the  Second 
Kentucky  Cavalr}'.  He  left  Massachusetts  in 
the  summer  of  1857,  and  the  same  year  located 
at  Cairo,  which  has  been  his  permanent  home 
since.  During  his  militar}'  service,  he  was 
taken  prisoner  at  Newnan,  Gra.,  and  for  five 
months  was  a  prisoner  of  war  in  Andersonville 
and  Florence  Prisons.  He  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Perryville,  Chickamauga,  Stone  River 
and  several  others  of  minor  importance.  He 
was  mustered  in  at  Mound  City,  111.,  in  October, 
1861,  and  discharged  with  the  rank  of  Ser- 
geant, at  Louisville,  K}-.,  April,  1865.'  He  re- 
turned to  Cairo  and  pursued  his  trade  until 
1875.  On  the  12th  of  May,  1876,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Elizabeth  Dinkle,  widow  of  Henry  Din- 
kle.  Mr.  Prout}',  for  more  than  twent}-  years 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Arab  Fire  Depart- 
ment. Since  1875,  he  has  been  the  proprietor 
of  a  saloon  on  Commercial  avenue.  No.  92, 
with  family  residence  connected. 

JOHN  T.  RENNIE,  manufacturer,  Cairo,  was 
born  in  Ayr,  Scotland,  May  20,  1819,  where  he 
grew  to  manhood;  and  remained  until  coming  to 
the  United  States  in  1840.  Being  a  blacksmith 
by  trade,  he  woj^ed  at  various  places  in  this 
country  before  coming  to  Illinois.  He  was 
married,  in  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  in  1845,  to  ]Mar- 
garet  J.  McFarrel,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania, 
but  of  Irish  parentage.  She  died  in  Cairo, 
111.,  in  1876,  leaving  eight  children.  Soon 
after  his  marriage,  Mr.  Rennie  went  South  and 
located  in  Louisiana,  where,  until  1852,  he  car- 
ried on  a  shop  ;  but,  owing  to  the  prevalence 
of  the  cholei-a,  returned  North,  and,  in  1852, 
located  at  Metropolis,  in  Massac  Count}',  III. 
There  he  engaged  in  the  drj'  goods  business 
until  1862,  when  he  came  to  Cairo  and  estab- 
lished his  present  business,  though  on  a  limited 
scale.  In  1878.  he  sustained  a  very  severe 
loss  in  the  destruction  by  fire  of  his  entire 
foundry  and  shops,  but  rebuilt,  and  was  in 
active  operation  in  less  than  one  month  from 


m 


CAIRO. 


39 


the  time  of  the  fire,  a  fact  which  speaks  much 
for  the  business  energ}'  of  Mr.  Rennie.  His 
business  location  is  between  Eighth  and  Tenth 
streets,  on  the  Ohio  levee.  Family  residence 
on  Walnut  street.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  order  and  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  He  was 
married  to  his  present  wife,  Jane  K.  (Davison) 
Kennedy  in  June,  1877. 

WOOD  RITTENHOUSE,  merchant,  Cairo, 
is  a  native  of  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  and  was 
born  June  21,  1835.  His  father,  Joseph  Rit- 
tenhouse,  was  born  in  the  same  count}'  in  1808, 
and,  in  1828,  married  Miss  Sarah  J.  Ewing, 
who  was  born  in  1812  in  Hamilton  County, 
Ohio,  To  these  parents  were  born  five  sons — 
William  E.,  John  H.,  Wood,  James  A.  and 
Joseph  H.  Rittenhouse.  Their  father  died  in 
1842,  and  the  mother  was  subsequently  mar- 
ried to  Thomas  Lind.  She  is  now  living  on  the 
old  Rittenhouse  homestead  in  Ohio,  though 
enfeebled  by  age.  Wood  Rittenhouse  received 
a  common  school  education  in  his  native  State, 
to  which  he  added  a  coarse  in  the  Evansville 
Commercial  College  of  Indiana.  In  1858,  he 
came  to  Cairo,  111.,  and  for  four  or  five  years 
was  employed  in  the  capacity  of  salesman  for 
B.  S.  Harrell  and  William  White.  At  the 
death  of  Mr.  White,  Mr.  Rittenhouse  and  C. 
Hanny,  another  clerk,  became  his  successors, 
and  continued  their  business  for  a  term  of 
eight  years,  the  last  five  years  of  which  time 
they  occupied  the  building  now  used  for  the 
Alexander  County  Bank,  which  they  erected  in 
1865.  At  the  termination  of  this  partnership, 
Mr.  R.,  in  1870,  began  his  present  line  of  trade, 
that  of  flour  and  commission  business,  locating 
on  the  Ohio  levee.  In  1872,  he  associated 
with  him  in  business  his  brother,  Joseph  H. 
Rittenhouse,  which  partnership  still  exists,  and 
is  one  of  the  standard  firms  of  Cairo.  Mr.  R., 
for  several  years  past,  has  been  and  now  is 
President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He 
has  served  the  cit}-  for  several  years  as  a  mem- 
ber of  its  Council,  and  also  of  the  Board  of 


Education.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
order,  and  a  Republican  in  politics,  and 
morall}-  and  sociall}'  he  exerts  an  extensive 
influence  for  good.  He  was  married,  in  Pulaski 
County,  111.,  December  31,  1863,  to  Miss  Laura 
J.  Arter,  daughter  of  Dr.  Daniel  Arter,  whose 
biography  and  portrait  appear  elsewhere.  She 
was  born  in  Pulaski  County  April  30,  1841. 
Their  family  consists  of  Isabella  Maud.  Wood 
Arter,  Harry  H.,  Fred  M.  and  Robin  C.  Ritten- 
house. 

JOSEPH  H.  RITTENHOUSE,  junior  part- 
ner of  the  firm  of  Rittenhouse  &  Bro.,  was  born 
in  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  on  the  7th  of 
November,  1840,  and  grew  up  to  manhood  in 
his  native  State,  receiving  in  the  meantime  the 
benefits  of  a  common  school  education.  On 
the  29th  of  August,  1862,  he  became  a  member 
of  Company  D,  Fifth  Ohio  Cavalry,  in  which  he 
served  for  the  time  of  his  enlistment,  or  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  being  discharged  June  26, 
1865,  and  was  mustered  out  at  Raleigh,  N.  C. 
Until  May,  1864,  he  was  employed  principally 
on  detached  duty  in  Tennessee  and  Mississippi, 
but  at  the  latter  date  was  connected  with  the 
Atlanta  campaign,  and  was  with  Sherman  on 
his  memorable  march  to  the  sea.  He  came  to 
Cairo  in  October,  1865,  and  entered  the  custom 
house  as  Deputy  Surveyor  of  Customs  under 
Dr.  Daniel  Arter,  in  which  office  he  continued 
until  3Iay,  1869.  In  1872.  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  of  Rittenhouse  &  Bro.,  and  has 
continued  a  member  of  that  firm  since.  He 
was  married,  October  15,  1874,  in  Hamilton 
County,  Ohio,  to  Miss  Martha  E.  Mclntyre, 
daughter  of  Peter  and  Mary  Mclntyre,  the 
former  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  the  latter  of 
Virginia.  Mrs.  Rittenhouse  was  born  in  Hamil- 
ton County,  Ohio,  on  the  18th  of  October,  1852. 
Their  family  consists  of  two  children,  of  whom 
one  died  in  infancy,  the  other,  Archie  M.  Ritten- 
house, was  born  in  Cairo  December  7, 1875.  The 
family  residence  is  on  Walnut  street,  between 
Seventh   and  Eighth   streets,  Cairo. 


W^ 


40 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


JOHN    H.    ROBINSON;     County     Judge, 
Cairo,  is  a  native  of  Ross  County,  Ohio,  and  is 
the  fourth  of  a  family  of  eleven  children  of  John 
J.  and  Katie  Robinson,  both  natives  of  West- 
moreland County,  Va.     They  were  married  in 
the  State  of  Ohio,  about  1826,  and  settled  in 
Ross  County,   where  John  H.  was  born  May 
31,  1833.     The  father  was  born  December  17, 
1801,   and  died  in  Springfield,  Mo.,  December 
24,  1882.    The  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Katie  Hutt,  was  born  May,  1809,  and  is  now  a 
resident  of  Springfield,  3Io.     John  H.  left  the 
parental  roof  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  worked 
for   some   time  at  his    trade  of   cigar-making 
which  he  had  previously  learned.     In  1853,  in 
Somerset,   Ohio,  he   was  married  to  Miss  Clara 
M.    Brunner,   daughter   of  Jacob    and    Julia 
Brunner.     She  was  born  in   Ohio,  October  9, 
1833.     Mr.   Robinson    came    to    Cairo,   from 
Louisiana,  in  May,  1858,  and  started  a  cigar 
manufactory  on  the  corner  of  Eighth  street  and 
Commercial  avenue,    which    business    he  con- 
tinued for  about  one  year.     He  was  soon  after 
elected  to  the  office  of  County  Constable  and 
Deputy  Sheriff.     In  1862,   he  organized  Com- 
pany C,    One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  mustered  in  as  its 
Captain,   which   position  he  continued  to  the 
close  of  the  war.     He  took  part  in  the  battles 
of  Port  Gibson,  Champion  Hills,  Black  River 
and  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  ;  was  then  trans- 
ferred to  the  department  of  the   Gulf  under 
Banks,   and   participated   in   the   famous  and 
fatal  Red  River  expedition.     He  was  mustered 
out  at  New  Orleans  in  February  of  1865.     On 
returning  to  Cairo,  he  was  appointed  Chief  of 
Police  of  the  cit3%  which  he  filled  about  two 
years  to  acceptance.     Since  that  time  he  has 
been  for  about  nine  years  in  the  emplo}-  of  the 
Cairo  City  Property   Company,  as  superinten- 
dent of  lands  and  levees,  during  which  time  he 
was  twice  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Board  of 
Aldermen.     Has  been  frequenth'  elected  to  the 
office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  in  November 


of  1882,  he  was  the  choice  of  the  people  for 
the  office  of  Count}'  Judge,  which  position  he 
now  holds.  In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat,  a 
member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  He  has  a  family  of 
two  children,  viz.  :  Kate,  wife  of  James  M. 
Murr}-,  of  Alexander  County,  and  Florence 
Robinson.  Famil}'  residence  on  Eighth  street, 
between  Walnut  and  Cedar  streets. 

SAMUEL  ROSEN  WATER,   of  the  firm    of 
Goldstine  &  Rosenwater,  Cairo,  111.,  was  born  in 
Hungary  on  the  13th  of  May,  1840.     His  pa- 
rents, Aaron  Rosenwater  and  Leah  Gross,  were 
each  natives  of  Germany,  the  former  born  in 
1798  and  the  latter  in   1809.     The  father,  who 
was  a  farmer  and  hotel-keeper,  died  in  Europe, 
in  1872.     The  mother  is  still  living  and  enjoys 
a  pleasant  home  with  her  son,  Samuel,  in  Cairo. 
She   is   the    mother  of   seven  children,    three 
of  whom   are   deceased,  and  of  the   four   sur- 
viving  ones,  two   are  in  Europe,  one  in  Sikes- 
ton,  Missouri,  and  one  in  Cairo,  111.      Samuel 
was  educated    in    his    native  place,  and  when 
twenty  years  old  came   to   the   United  States, 
and,  being  possessed  of  limited   means,  he  be- 
gan business  as  a  peddler  at    Cleveland,   Ohio. 
He  pursued  this    business  in    Ohio   for  three 
3'ears,  and  also  for  a  few  months  after   coming 
to  Cairo,  which  he  did    in  1863.     During  this 
time  he   had  so   multiplied  his  twenty-dollar 
gold  coin  (which  was  the  amount    of  his  cash 
account  on  landing  in  this  county)  as  to  be  able 
to  locate   in  regular  style  ;  accordingly,  in  the 
early   part  of  1854,  he  formed   a   partnership 
with   J.    A.    Goldstine   in  the  drj-  goods    and 
clothing  trade,  and  has  been  in  active,  success- 
ful business  ever  since.     They  are   located  on 
Commercial  avenue  and  have  three  well  stocked 
rooms.     He  is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  the 
I.  0.  B.  B.  and    the    Hungarian    Aid   Society. 
Politics,  Republican.     He  was  married  in   Cai- 
ro, 111.  August  31,  1868,  to  Miss  Fannie  Black, 
daughter  of  Adolph  Black.     She  was  born  De- 
cember 31, 1850.     Their  family  comprises  three 
children— Eddie  L.,  born  June  5,  1869  ;  Ernes- 


■ur' 


CAIRO. 


41 


tine  B.,  bom  August  23,  1879,  aud  Yintie  Ro- 
senwater,  born  December  31,  1881.  Family 
residence  on  Eighth  street,  between  Washing- 
ton avenue  and  Cedar  street,  Cairo. 

JAMES  ROSS,  grocer,  on  the  corner  of 
Tenth  street  and  Commercial  avenue,  is  a  native 
of  Ireland,  Count}'  of  Cork.  His  parents,  James 
Ross  and  Margaret  McCarty,  were  both  natives 
of  Ireland,  where  the}-  were  reared  and  married, 
and  where  they  died,  leaving  the  subject,  a  lad 
of  tender  age.  When  he  was  about  fifteen 
years  old  he  came,  unaccompanied  by  an}-  rela- 
tives, to  the  United  States  and  located  in  the 
cit}'  of  "Brotherl}'  Love,"  where  he  managed 
to  avail  himself  of  the  privilege  of  going  to 
school  for  a  brief  period.  He  soon  obtained 
regular  employment  in  a  hat  manufactorv,  and 
remained  thus  employed  in  Philadelphia,  until 
1858,  when  he  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  where  for  about 
three  years  he  was  in  the  employ  of  W.  Gra- 
ham. He  was  thus  enabled  to  provide  himself 
with  a  horse  and  dray,  which,  during  the  war, 
produced  a  ver}-  handsome  income.  He  also 
established  a  retail  coal  business,  which  he 
conducted  with  profit  until  1875.  when  he  em- 
barked in  mercantile  business,  and  that  ^-ear 
established  his  grocery  store,  where  he  is  now 
located.  He  was  married  in  Cairo,  111.,  on 
the  24th  of  November,  1863,  to  Miss  Ellen 
Farrell,  who  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1844.  Their 
marriage  has  been  blest  with  a  family  of  ten 
children,  viz.:  James  Ross,  born  April  19,  18(35; 
John  Ross,  August  17,  1866  ;  William  Ross, 
April  12,  1868,  died  on  the  14th  August,  of  same 
year;  Margaret  Ross,  born  April  29,1869; 
George  Ross,  January  16,  1871  ;  Anna  Ross, 
November  27,  1874  ,  Mary  E.  Ross,  September 
2,  1876  ;  Katie  Ross,  October  15,  1878,  and 
Henriettie  and  Antenettie  Ross,  November  2, 
1880.  Henriettie  died  May  18,  1881,  and  An- 
tenettie, died  June  21,  1881.  The  familj-  are 
members  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Cairo. 
Mr.  Ross  owns  four  lots  including  the  residence 
houses  on  Walnut  street. 


HERMAN  SANDER,  dealer  in  groceries 
and  provisions,  No.  113  Commercial  avenue,  is 
a  native  of  Hanover,  Germany,  and  was  born 
on  the  19th  of  February,  1826.  His  father, 
Gerhardt  Sander,  was  born  in  Hanover  in  1795; 
served  as  a  soldier  in  the  German  arm}',  after 
which,  in  1825,  he  married  Miss  Rebecca  M. 
Wessel,  of  Germany  ;  she  was  born  in  1806,  and 
is  now  living  with  her  son,  John  H.  Sander,  in 
Missouri.  The  father  died  in  the  old  country, 
in  1843.  They  reared  a  family,  consisting  of 
seven  sons — Herman,  John  H.,  Casper,  Coni-ad, 
Gerhardt  H.,  George  H.  and  George  Herman 
Sander.  Casper,  Gerhardt  H.  and  George 
Herman  are  deceased.  Herman  Sander,  our 
subject, came  to  the  United  States  in  1847,  and 
was  for  fifteen  years  a  resident  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  where  he  adopted  the  trade  of  machinist, 
and  where,  on  the  8th  of  January,  1850,  he 
married  Miss  Maria  Horstmann.  She  was 
born  in  Germany  on  the  19th  of  January,  1826, 
and  came  to  this  countr}'  in  the  same  year  and 
in  the  same  vessel  in  which  Mr.  Sander  sailed. 
She  died  in  1861,  leaving  but  one  child,  John  D. 
Sander,  the  junior  partner  of  the  firm  of  Sander 
&  Son  ;  he  was  born  December  8,  1859.  Mr. 
Sander  came  to  Cairo  in  1869,  and  for  ten  years 
was  employed  as  salesman  in  the  business 
house  of  William  Kluge.  He  opened  a  store 
in  1879,  on  the  corner  of  Tenth  street  and 
Washington  avenue,  where  he  remained  about  a 
year,  when,  in  1880,  in  connection  with  his  son, 
John  D.  Sander,  he  purchased  the  stock  of  L. 
H.  Meyers  and  then  removed  to  Commercial 
avenue.  No.  113,  where  they  now  have  a  full 
and  complete  line  of  groceries  and  provisions. 
In  January,  1864,  he  was  married  to  his  present 
wife,  Mary  K.  Cohn,  who  was  born  in  Hanover, 
on  the  2d  of  July,  1846.  Their  marriage  has  been 
blest  with  six  children,  viz.:  Marie  E.,  born  No- 
vember 21,  1865  ;  Casper  L.,  born  June  25, 
1868  ;  George  W.,  born  March  4,  1S70  ;  Her- 
man, born  December  10,  1872,  died  in  infancy; 
Herman,  Jr.,  born  October  25,  1874,  and  died 


42 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


in  May,  1877  ;  Carolas  B.  Sander,  boi'n  Febru- 
ary 28,  1881.  The  family  are  members  of  the 
Catholic  Church  and  have  a  cit}-  residence  on 
Cedar  street,  between  Seventh  and  Eighth 
streets,  Cairo,  111. 

WILLIAM  0.  SANDUSKY,  Captain  of  the 
Iron  Mountain  Railway  Transfer  (Julius  Mor- 
gan), is  a  native  of  Fa}' ette  County,  Penn.  He 
is  the  oldest  of  a  family  of  seven  children  of 
Albert  G.  Sandusky  and  Martha  McClain,  and 
was  born  August  4,  18-16.  The  parents  were 
both  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  the  father  of 
Scotch  and  English  ancestry,  and  the  mother 
of  Irish  origin.  The  former  is  now  living  in 
his  native  State,  at  an  advanced  age.  The 
mother  was  born  in  1827,  and  died  in  1865,  at 
the  old  homestead  in  Fayette  County.  The 
father  served  as  a  soldier  through  the  late  war, 
being  a  member  of  a  Pennsylvania  cavalry 
regiment,  with  which  he  took  part  in  several  of 
the  most  decisive  and  hard-fought  battles  of 
the  war,  and  during  his  service  received  but 
one  wound.  William  G..  when  a  mere  child, 
manifested  a  strong  inclination  for  a  life  on  the 
water,  which  was  as  strongly  discouraged  by  his 
father,  resulting,  as  is  often  the  case,  in  a  radical 
move  on  the  part  of  the  boy.  He  left  home 
when  eleven  years  old,  and  was  that  year  (1857)- 
in  Cairo,  but  not  to  remain,  and  his  experience 
for  several  \'ears  was  a  varied  one,  although  he 
demonstrated  his  ability  to  take  care  of  him- 
self, which  is  an  exception  to  the  rule,  with  boys 
under  similar  circumstances.  He  spent  con- 
siderable time  in  traveling  in  different  parts  of 
tjie  South  and  West,  thus  gaining  a  practical 
idea  of  life  while  a  mere  boy.  His  first  expe- 
rience in  boating  was  on  the  Allegheny  and 
Monongahela  Rivers,  and  on  the  Ohio,  as  far 
south  as  the  city  of  Cincinnati.  He  was  a  reg- 
ularly licensed  pilot  on  those  rivers  before  he 
had  become  of  age,  and  has  been  thus  em- 
ployed ever  since  with  slight  exception.  Dur- 
ing the  war,  he  was  in  G  nment  employ  as 
pilot,  principally  on  the  Mississippi  River.  From 


1868  to  1877,  he  was  Captain  of.  the  steam 
ferry  boats  "  Missionary,"  '•  Cairo "  and  the 
"  Three  States,"  but  in  July  of  the  latter  year, 
was  appointed  to  the  position  of  Master  of 
Iron  Mountain  Transfer  "  Julius  Morgan,"  which 
he  still  retains.  He  was  married  in  Dubuque. 
Iowa,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Deveren.  of  Tuscaloosa, 
Ala.  Their  residence  is  Walnut  street,  between 
Eleventh  and  Twelfth. 

PETER  SAUP.  Cairo,  III,  was  born  in  Dun- 
kirk, N.  Y.,  on  the  18th  of  August,  1839.  His 
father  was  a  native  of  France,  and  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1816.  being  then  sixteen  years 
old.  In  1833,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Smith, 
who  was  born  in  France  in  1815.  Her  ances- 
tors are  characterized  for  longevity-,  the  parents 
celebrating  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  their 
wedding,  in  Mansfield,  Ohio,  where  they  died, 
the  father  at  the  advanced  age  of  one  hundred 
and  thirteen  years,  and  the  mother  at  the  age 
of  ninety -nine  years.  Mr.  Saups  father  died 
in  February,  1860,  at  Zanesville,  Ohio,  where 
the  mother  is  still  living.  Peter  is  the  third  of 
their  family  of  ten  children,  three  of  whom  are 
dead.  He  was  educated  in  Zanesville,  Ohio, 
and  learned  the  trade  of  cabinet-maker  and 
wood-turner,  which  he  followed  for  some  years. 
He  came  from  Zanesville,  Ohio,  to  Cairo.  Ill, 
in  1860.  where,  for  some  time,  he  was  employed 
in  a  planing  mill.  In  1864.  he  enlisted  in 
Company  B  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Forty- 
third  Regiment,  in  which  he  served  until  they 
were  mustered  out.  He  then  became  a  mem- 
ber of  Company  G,  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Ninety-third  Ohio  Regiment,  from  which  he 
was  discharged  at  the  close  of  the  war.  In  each 
of  these  organizations  he  held  the  office  of  Ser- 
geant. In  the  winter  of  1865,  he  returned  to 
Cairo,  111.,  which  has  been  his  home  since.  He 
has  served  the  county  as  Sheriff  one  term,  the 
city  in  the  office  of  Councilman  for  several  years, 
and  is  now  one  of  the  Board  of  County  Commis- 
sioners. He  was  married  in  Cairo  on  the  17th  of 
November,  1872,  to  Miss  Philomena  Botto,  a 


CAIRO. 


48 


native  of  Ital\-,  where  she  was  born  in 
1840. 
^SOL.  A.  SILVER,  Passenger  Agent  for  the 
Anchor  Line  Steamers  at  Cario,  111.;  is  a  native 
of  Baltimore,  born  July  26,  1830.  His  parents 
were  Lewis  Silver  and  Leah  (Abrams)  Silver  ; 
his  father  was  born  in  Maryland,  in  1798,  and 
was  married  to  Miss  Leah  Abrams,  in  New 
York  City,  about  1827,  by  which  union  there 
were  ten  children,  Sol  A.  being  the  second. 
The  father  followed  merchandising  in  New 
York  and  Baltimore,  and  died  in  New  York 
City  in  1846.  The  mother  is  still  living, 
and  though  seventy-flve years  old,  retains  much 
of  her  youthful  vigor.  She  is  still  a  resident 
of  New  York  Cit}'.  Sol  A.  was  educated  in 
Baltimore,  Md.,  where  he  was  reared  until  fif- 
teen years  old.  His  parents  then  removed  to 
New  York  Cit}-,  and  three  years  after  the  death 
of  his  father,  in  1846,  he  went  to  California, 
where  he  remained  until  1853,  engaged  in  mer- 
chandising and  mining,  which  proved  success- 
ful. The  two  years  intervening  from  1853  to 
1855  were  spent  in  traveling  in  South  America 
and  Australia,  returning  to  New  I'ork  in  1856, 
by  way  of  California.  In  1857,  he  located  at 
Centralia,  111.,  where  he  was  appointed  to  the 
office  of  Postmaster,  by  President  Buchanan, 
in  connection  with  which  duties  he  conducted  a 
book  store.  He  remained  there  until  coming 
to  Cairo,  111.,  in  the  fall  of  1859,  since  which 
time  the  latter  city  has  been  his  permanent 
home.  During  the  war  he  was  engaged  in  a 
general  auction  business,  together  with  a  news 
stand,  continuing  this  business  until  1869.  In 
1870.  he  was  employed  b}-  the  St.  Louis  Anchor 
Line  Company,  and  has  remained  in  their  con- 
stant employ  since.  He  was  married  in  Cairo, 
111.  on  the  8th  of  September,  1874,  to  Miss 
Lizzie  Wallace,  daughter  of  Bertrand  Wallace, 
of  Pulaski  County,  111.  She  was  born  at  Villa 
Ridge,  in  Pulaski  County,  on  the  22d  of  Janu- 
ary, l85o,  and  is  a  second  of  a  family  of  six 
children,  the  parents  of  whom  are  still  living 


in  Pulaski  County  ;  her  mother  was  originally 
Miss  Mary  Robinson.  Mr.  Silver  is  a  Demo- 
crat in  politics,  and  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Golden  Rule.  Ownes  a  fruit  farm  in  Villa 
Ridge  of  fifty  acres  in  Section  24,  of  Town  15, 
Range  1  west,  including  a  dwelling  house  and 
other  improvements. 

PAUL  a.  SCHUH,  one  of  the  leading  mer- 
chants and  a  prominent  druggist  of  Cairo,  is  a 
native  of  the  kingdom  of  Wurtemberg,  Ger- 
many, where  he  was  born  on  the  8th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1838,  and  where,  until  fifteen  years  old.  he 
was  reared  and  educated.  His  father,  Chris- 
tian M.  Schuh,  was  a  native  of  Germany,  and 
a  Lutheran  minister  of  some  note.  His  mother 
was  Augusta  Geysel,  also  a  native  of  Germany, 
where  both  parents  died.  Mr.  Schuh  received 
his  earlv  mercantile  training  with  his  brother, 
Herman  Schuh,  of  St.  Louis,  who  died  sevei-al 
years  ago.  He  was  engaged  in  mercantile  labor 
in  St.  Louis,  Paducah,  Ky.  and  Alton,  111.,  until 
April,  1861,  when  he  responded  to  the  Presi- 
dent's call  for  troops  and  became  a  member  of 
Company  K,  of  the  Ninth  Illinois  Regiment, 
enlisting  for  three  months,  but  before  the  ex- 
piration of  this  time,  he  was  detached  to  take 
the  position  of  assistant,  in  the  office  of  Med- 
ical Purveyor,  under  Dr.  John  P.  Taggait.  Mr. 
Schuh  filled  this  position  to  acceptance  until  the 
time  of  his  final  discharge,  January,  1863.  Since 
that  time  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  drug 
business  in  the  city  of  Cairo,  in  which  he  has 
been  eminently  successful.  Being  an  able 
pharmacist,  as  well  as  an  energetic  and  aggress- 
ive business  man,  he  has  been  able  to  surmount 
all  opposing  obstacles,  and  while  carving  for 
himself  the  reputation  of  an  eminent  man  of 
business,  he  has  not  stooped  to  any  of  the 
groveling  customs  so  frequently  resorted  to  by 
tradesmen.  In  1863,  Mr.  Schuh  commenced 
business  in  a  frame  building  on  Commercial 
avenue,  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  streets,  pay- 
ing the  first  year  a  rent  of  $40  per  month  and 
double  that  amount  the  following  year,  at  the 


44 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


close  of  which  he  purchased  the  property  at  a 
cost  of  $5,000.  He  built  a  brick  additioa  to 
this  building  and  still  owns  it.  In  1879  he 
erected  a  large  brick  business  house,  No.  106 
Commercial  avenue,  where,  two  3'ears  later, 'he 
sustained  quite  a  loss  to  building  and  stock 
b}'  fire.  He  was  married  in  Cairo  1886,  to 
Miss  Julia  Korsmeyer,  who  died  in  1869, 
leaving  one  son,  Julius  P,  born  November  10, 
1867.  Miss  Evaline  Clotter,  his  present  wife,  to 
whom  he  was  married  in  October,  1872,  was 
born  July  21,  1854.  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
Mo.  They  have  two  children — Carl  and  Alma, 
the  former  born  October,  1873  and  the  latter 
November,  1877. 

JAMES  R.  SMITH,  merchant,  Cairo  111.,  of 
the   firm  of  Smith  Brothers,   on   Washington 
avenue,  was  born  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada  on 
the   3d   day   of  August,    1854.       His  father, 
George  Smith,  who  died  in  Cairo   October  24, 
1864,    was    born  in    England,  in  1809,  where 
he  was  married  to    Annie   Groves,    who  died, 
leaving  a  family  of  six  children.  George  Smith, 
with  his  childi'en,  emigrated  to  Canada  about 
1839  or  1840,   and  was  there  married  to  Cath- 
erine Turner,  and  to  these  parents    were  born 
seven  children  :  Cyrus  Smith,  now  of  Denver, 
Col.;  Arthur  W.  Smith,  deceased  by  drowning; 
James  E.  and  Egbert  A.  Smith,  of  Cairo;  be- 
side whom  there  were  three  daughters — Clara, 
Mary  E.  and   Carrie  F.  Smith.     The  two  older 
are  deceased,  and  the  latter  of  Cairo,  111.     This 
family  came  to  Cairo  in    1859,  and   the  father, 
the  3-oar   following,  engaged  in  the    mercantile 
business  which  he  continued  with  varied  suc- 
cess until  his  death,  after  which  a  son  b}-  first 
raai'riage,  William   H.   Smith,    continued    the 
business  until  1869,  when   it   was   closed  out. 
The   mother  having  married  Mr.    Lewis  Lin- 
coln, of  Carbondale,  the  family    removed  to  the 
latter  town  in  1869.     In  the   fall   of  1870,  the 
members  of  the  present  firm  of  Smith  Brothers 
returned  to  Cairo,  and  in  1872,  having  less  than 
$100,  laid  the  foundation  of  their  immense  bus- 


iness by  opening  a  small  store,  fronting  on  Pop- 
lar street,  which  is  now  a  portion  of  their  busi- 
ness house.     Owing  to  their  business   energy 
and  ability,  their  success  has  been  very  marked, 
and  they  now  occupy  a   store  room   over  forty 
feet  in  width,  and  extending  from  Poplar  street 
to  Washington  avenue,  in  which  they  employ  a 
large  number  of  regular  salesmen,  and  in  addi- 
tion to  their  extensive  stock   of  merchandise, 
they  own  a  large  quantity  of  valuable  city  real 
estate.     James  R.  Smith,   the   senior  partner, 
was  married  in  Milan,  Tenn.,  on  the  8th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1882,  to  Miss  Emma  McDonald,  who  was 
born  in  Tennessee  April  21,  1862.     They  have 
one  child,  James  A.,  born  in  Milan,  Tenn.,  Oc- 
tober 6,  1882.     They  are  members  of  the  Epis- 
copalian Church,  and  Mr.  Smith  is   a    member 
of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  and  of  the  American 
Legion  of  Honor.  Egbert  A.  Smith,  junior  part- 
ner of  thefirmof  Smith  Bros.,  was  born  in  Can- 
ada June  18,1856.  He  is  a  man  of  pronounced 
business    ability  and   sober    habits,  enjoying 
the  confidence  of  an  extensive  circle  of  friends, 
and  is  now  representing  the  Third  Ward  in  the 
City  Council  for  the  second    term.     He   is    a 
member  of  the    A.  L.  of  H.     Too  much  cred- 
it  cannot  be  given    to  these  sterling    young 
men  for  their  entei'prise  and  material  aid  ren- 
dered to  the  city  of  Cairo.     They  have  bravely 
fought  for  success,  which  has  been  won  fairly 
and  honorably,  and  their   experience  affords  a 
valuable  example  to  other  young  men,  proving 
what  may  be  achieved  in  a  few  3'ears,  by    per- 
sistent and  honest  industry. 

ROBERT  SMYTH,  merchant,  Cairo,  is  the 
youngest  of  a  family  of  six  children  of  Dennis 
and  Mary  (Healey)  Smyth,  being  the  only  sur- 
viving member.  The  famih^  was  first  repre- 
sented in  Cairo  by  Thomas  Smith,  who  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1850,  and  to  Cairo  in 
1855.  His  first  business  connection  with  the 
city^  was  in  the  capacity  of  book-keeper  for  the 
Old  Taylor  House,  which  burned  in  1859.  He 
was  afterward  book-keeper  for   the  wholesale 


CAIRO. 


45 


firm  of  William  Stephens  &  Co.  His  brother 
Bernard  having  come  to  Cairo  in  1858,  they 
began  business  together  on  corner  of  Sixth  and 
Commercial  avenue,  but  soon  after  moved  to 
the  building  now  occupied  by  Robert  Smyth. 
In  1862  Thomas  Smith  died,  leaving  a  wife  and 
three  children,  of  whom  but  one  is  now  living. 
The  business  was  conducted  by  Bernard  Smyth 
until  1870,  when  the  entire  business  fell  into 
the  hands  of  our  subject,  Robert.  He  was  born 
in  County  Galway,  Ireland,  in  1843.  He  was 
reared  in  Ireland,  where  he  received  a  fair  bus- 
iness education.  He  came  to  Cairo  in  1863. 
He  owns  the  building  known  as  the  Stephens 
Block,  including  two  large  store  rooms,  one  of 
which  he  rents.  It  was  erected  in  1855,  and  is 
the  oldest  brick  building  in  Cairo.  3Jr.  Smyth 
is  a  member  of  the  A.  0.  H.  and  the  Hibernian 
Fire  Department,  also  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
Politics,  Democratic.  Bernard  Smyth,  who 
was  highly  respected  by  the  people  of  Cairo 
for  his  social  and  genial  nature,  as  well  as 
many  other  excellent  qualities,  died  at  his  res- 
idence in  Cairo  on  thellrth  of  June,  1883.  * 

GEORGE  W.  STRODE,  Cairo,  III,  was  born 
in  Galena,  111.,  and  is  a  son  of  Col.  James  M. 
Strode  and  Mar3'  B.  Parish.  The  father  was 
born  in  Fleming  County,  Ky.,  about  1798, 
where  he  grew  to  manhood,  receiving  a 
liberal  education  and  where  he  prepared  for 
the  profession  of  law.  He  was  married  in 
Elkton,  Todd  Co.,  Ky.,  in  1818  ;  shortly  af- 
terward moved  to  Sangamon  Count}-,  111.,  and 
while  there  was  a  conteraporar}-  lawj'er  with 
A.  Lincoln  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  was 
a  warm  friend  of  Judge  Sidney'  Breese.  In 
1827,  having  removed  to  tlie  north  part  of  the 
State,  he  was  enrolled  as  Captain  of  company 
known  as  the  Galena  Mounted  Volunteers,  and 
served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  was  after- 
ward appointed  to  the  position  of  Registi-ar  of 
the  laud  office  in  Chicago.  While  on  a  busi- 
ness trip  to  his  native  State  in  1862,  he  died, 
near   Flemingsburg.     Marv    A.   Parish  was   a 


daughter  of  Benjamin  Parish,  an  extensive 
land-owner,  planter  and  tanner  of  Elkton,  Ky. 
She  was  born  in  1800,  and  died  in  Denver,  Colo., 
in  1879.  They  reared  a  family  of  seven 
children — Eugene  Strode,  deceased  ;  William 
Strode,  deceased  ;  Mary  E.,  deceased  wife  of 
Dr.  Banks  of  St.  Louis  ;  James  A.  Strode,  a 
lawyer  and  planter  of  Huntsville,  Ala.  ;  Fannie, 
wife  of  Hon.  J.  Q.  Charles  of  Denver,  Col.  ; 
George  W.  Strode,  of  Cairo,  and  Dr.  E.  C. 
Strode,  who  was  a  surgeon  in  the  late  war,  and 
a  young  man  who  had  acquired  an  enviable 
distinction.  He  died  in  Denver,  Col.,  in  1871. 
George  W.  was  educated  at  Galena,  Crystal 
Lake  and  Woodstock,  and  his  first  business 
experience  was  in  the  capacit}-  of  druggist 
clerk  ;  then  for  several  years  was  the  business 
manager  of  the  forwarding  and  commission 
business  of  H.  F.  McClasky,  of  Galena,  111.  In 
1859,  he  went  to  the  city  of  Memphis,  Tenn., 
when  he  obtained  a  position  as  Cashier  for  the 
firm  of  J.  D.  Morton  &  Co.,  remaining  in  this 
connection  for  three  years,  when  he  became 
the  successor  of  W.  D.  Love,  a  former  member 
of  the  firm.  In  1866,  he  took  a  clerkship  with 
the  firm  of  Halliday  &  Co.  in  Columbus,  Ky., 
and  continued  with  them  four  years.  He  then 
established  an  implement  store  in  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  which,  owing  to  unfortunate  business 
association,  proved  unsuccessful.  He  then  re- 
turned to  the  emplo}'  of  Hallida}'  &  Co.,  at 
Columbus,  where  from  1871  to  1877,  he  had 
chief  control  of  their  banking  and  stock  yard 
business.  At  the  latter  date  he  came  to  Cairo, 
111.,  since  which  time  he  has  been  correspond- 
ing secretary  for  the  Halliday  Brothers.  Mr. 
Strode  was  married  in  Gainsville,  Ala.  Novem- 
ber 14,  1865,  to  Miss  Mary  P.  Stuart.  She 
was  born  in  Greene  County,  Ala.,  September 
24,  1845,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Dr.  R.  F.  Stu- 
art, a  planter  and  physician  of  Alabama.  He 
was  a  man  who  was  characterized  for  broad 
and  liberal  views,  and  possessed  of  benevolent 
heart,  with  an  open  hand  to  relieve  any  who 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


needed  sympathy.  He  was  a  devoted  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church  in  which  he  was  a 
pillar.  He  died  on  the  25th  day  of  December, 
1867,  leaving  the  indelible  impress  of  his  ex- 
emplary life  written  upon  the  memories  and 
hearts  of  an  extensive  circle  of  ardent  friends. 
His  wife,  Martha  A.  Wilkes,  was  a  remarkable 
adaptation  to  a  remarkable  husband.  She  also 
was  a  native  of  Greene  County,  Ala.,  born 
September  19,  1821,  and  for  many  years  was 
devotedly  attached  to  the  Baptist  Church  in 
which  she  was  an  active  member.  She  died 
March  10, 1863.  They  had  but  two  children- 
Mrs.  Strode  and  a  brother,  Emmett  Stuart, 
who  died  September  27,  1853.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Strode  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church,  in 
which  he  sustains  the  relation  of  a  Deacon;  he 
is  also  an  ardent  Sunday  school  worker,  and 
tQe  President  of  the  Alexander  County  Bible 
Society.  They  have  had  but  one  child — Mary 
Strode.  She  was  born  in  Edgefield,  Tenn.,  in 
1870,  and  died  in  Cairo,  111.,  September  13, 
1880. 

FRANK  W.  STOPHLET,  grocer,  Commer- 
cial avenue,  between  Twenty-eighth  and  Twen- 
t3'-ninth  streets,  Caii-o,  was  born  in  Pulaski 
County,  111.,  February  9,  1858.  He  is  the 
eighth  member  of  a  familv  of  nine  children 
born  to  Preserved  and  Sophia  (Hui-d)  Stophlet, 
who  were  among  the  pioneers  of  Southern  Illi- 
nois. Frank  W.  received  the  advantages  of  a 
common  school  education,  and  in  1872  came  to 
Cairo,  where  he  became  a  salesman  for  the  firm 
of  C.  0.  Patier  &  Co.,  with  whom  he  continued 
about  eight  years,  thus  laying  the  foundation  of 
a  practical  knowledge  of  business.  He  estab- 
lished his  business  house  at  the  present  loca- 
tion, on  the  5th  of  July,  1882,  and  has  thus  far 
met  with  satisfactory  success.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  ]Mound  City,  III,  April  23,  1879,  to 
Miss  May  Hawle}',  daughter  of  Robert  and 
Mar}-  Hawley,  of  ]Mound  City,  where  the  father 
still  lives.  The  mother  is  deceased.  Mrs. 
Stophlet  was  born  in  Cincinnati  in  1862,  and  is 


a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  Cairo.  The}'  have  two  children — Rose  Stella 
and  Elmer  Stophlet,  the  former  born  February 
13,  1880,  and  the  latter  April  28,  1882.  Mr. 
Stophlet  is  a  member  of  the  American  Legion 
of  Honor. 

SIMPSON  H.  TABER,  dealer  in  watches, 
jewelry,  etc.,  at  No.  128  Commercial  avenue, 
and  also  on  corner  of  Seventh  street  and  Wash- 
ington avenue,  Cairo,  111.,  is  a  native  of  Knox 
County,  111.,  and  was  born  on  the  21st  day  of 
June,  1843.  He  is  the  fourth  of  a  family  of 
six  children  of  Benjamin  and  Caroline  Taber. 
The  parents  ai'e  both  natives  of  New  Bedford, 
Mass.,  where  they  grew  to  maturity  and  married. 
The  father  was  born  on  January  21,  1814,  and 
after  the  usual  school  training,  entered  the  Med- 
ical College  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  and  from 
which  he  graduated.  The  mother  was  born  in 
1807,  and  is  still  living.  About  1834,  they 
came  West  and  located  in  Knox  County,  111., 
where  the  father  began  his  long  career  as  a 
practicing  physician.  He  is  still  actively  en- 
gaged in  practice,  and  resident  at  Mound  City, 
111.,  being  among  the  oldest  practitioners  in  the 
State.  Caroline,  mother  of  S.  H.  Taber,  is  the 
second  of  a  family  of  four  children  of  the  Rev. 
John  Briggs,  of  New  Bedford,  3Iass.  Simpson 
H.  was  educated  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  and  in 
1861  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  and  began  the  trade  of 
watch-maker,  under  the  instruction  of  an  older 
brother — John  C.  B.  Taber,  now  of  St,  Louis. 
The  firm  of  Taber  Brothers  was  established  in 
1869,  and  continued  thus  until  1880,  since 
which  date  S.  H.  Taber  has  conducted  the  busi- 
ness alone,  the  older  brother  that  year  retiring 
from  the  firm.  Mr.  Taber  was  married  in 
Brantford,  Canada,  to  a  native  of  that  place — 
Miss  Mary  E.  Workman,  born  January  28, 1848. 
They  were  married  on  the  28th  of  June,  1872. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Hugh  Workman  and 
Elizabeth  Turner,  the  former  born  in  January, 
1818,  and  the  latter  on  the  15th  day  of  July, 
1825.     They  were  married  on  the  18th  of  Jan- 


CAIRO. 


47 


uar}',  1844,  and  had  a  family  of  seven  children, 
viz.:  Robert  Workman,  born  December  23, 
1844.  and  died  on  his  birthday  in  1873  ;  John 
Workman  was  born  on  the  16th  of  December, 
1846,  and  was  married  to  Mar}'  J.  Burton, 
April  25, 1871  ;  they  have  one  daughter — Ethel 
May  Workman,  born  March  15,  1872;  Mary  E. 
(Workman)  Taber  ;  Lizzie  S.  Workman,  born 
October  15, 1851  ;  Sarah  J.,  born  September  8, 
1853  ;  Jennie  A.,  born  October  14,  1855,  and 
James  Workman,  born  December  1,  1857.  Mr. 
Taber  has  a  famil}'  of  eight  children — Hugh 
Taber,  born  September  23,  1873  ;  Eugene  Ta- 
ber was  born  October  12,  1875  ;  Jaunita  and 
Anita  were  born  August  12,  1877,  and  the  latter 
died  on  the  2d  of  December,  1877  ;  Orvil  and 
Clyde  Taber  were  born  Augusts,  1879  ;  Eidola 
Taber,  born  Jul}-  20,  1881,  and  one  unnamed, 
born  June  2,  1883. 

JAMES  M.  TATTEN,  Cairo,  III,  Captain 
and  pilot  of  the  W.  Butler  Duncan,  Cairo,  111., 
was  born  November  19,  1840.  in  Crawford 
County,  Ind.  His  father,  John  Tatten,  was 
born  in  1796,  near  Atlanta,  Cla..  and  emigrated 
to  Southern  Indiana  about  1820,  where  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Sarah  Smith,  who  was  born  in  Indi- 
ana in  1801.  James  M.  is  the  seventh  of  a 
family  of  nine  children  born  to  these  parents. 
His  mother  died  in  Indiana  in  1844,  and  the 
father  subsequently  married  a  Mrs.  Williams, 
Nancy,  wife  of  James  B.  Edgemau,  of  Missouri 
is  the  only  child  born  to  this  union.  The 
father  died  in  Missouri  on  the  7th  of  Octqber, 
1881.  James  M.  early  in  life  developed  a 
fondness  for  the  water,  and  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen years  went  on  the  river  to  prepare  him- 
self for  the  position  of  pilot,  the  duties  of 
which  he  assumed  in  1861.  During  the  civil 
war,  he  was  duly  commissioned  as  pilot  in  the 
navy,  and  was  one  of  the  pilots  who  ran  the 
blockade  at  Vicksburg  on  the  night  of  the  23d 
of  April,  1863.  From  the  close  of  the  war 
until  1870,  he  was  on  the  Mississippi  River  be- 
tween  St.  Louis  and   New  Orleans,  the   next 


four  years  in  the  employ  of  the  Govei-nment, 
and  from  1874  until  1880,  was  in  the  employ 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Railway  Company  as 
pilot  of  their  transfer  boat  at  Cairo.  In  April, 
1881,  he  was  made  Captain  of  the  Mobile  and 
Ohio  Companies  transfer,  which  position  he 
now  holds.  He  was  married  in  New  Albany, 
Ind.,  September  2,  1863,  to  Miss  Anna  Z.  Bar- 
nett,  daughter  of  John  S.  and  Sarah  (Hale) 
Barnett.  Mrs.  Tatten  was  born  in  New  Al- 
bany, Ind.,  June  8, 1844.  Their  family  consists 
of  George  B.,  born  August  15,  1865  ;  Harry, 
deceased  ;  Blanche,  deceased  ;  Addie  C,  born 
Octobers,  1873 ;  Ella,  January  5,  1877  ;  Josie, 
deceased  ;  and  Nina  B.  Tatten,  born  November 
16,  1882.  Mr.  Tatten  is  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Honor,  and  Mrs.  T.  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  Famil}-  residence  on 
Eighteenth  street,  Cairo,  111. 

FRANCIS  VINCENT,  Cairo,  111.,  and  one 
of  the  pioneei's  of  the  Cairo  peninsula,  is  a 
native  of  Southern  France,  and  was  born  June 
4,  1814.  His  fether,  Andrew  Vincent,  was 
born  about  1763,  and  during  his  life  engaged 
in  farming  pursuits,  with  the  exception  of  the 
time  spent  in  military  service,  being  a  volun- 
teer in  the  French  revolution  of  1789.  He 
died  in  France  at  the  age  of  eightj'-two  years. 
The  mother  of  Francis  Vincent,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Louisa  Bertram,  died  when  he  was 
but  three  years  old.  He  was  educated  in 
France,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  went  to 
Paris,  and  there  learned  the  trade  of  baker. 
In  1836,  he  set  sail  for  the  United  States,  com- 
ing b}'  way  of  New  York.  His  aim  was  to 
reach  the  city  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  but  before 
reaching  that  point  his  means  were  exhausted, 
he  was  accommodated  by  a  fellow-traveler 
to  a  small  loan,  with  which  to  complete 
the  trip.  Arriving  at  Louisville,  he  had 
a  solitar}'  5  cents  with  which  he  procured  a 
shave  and  started  in  pursuit  of  work.  This 
was  finally  secured  on  a  snag  boat  that  was 
about  to  start  on  an  extended  trip  from  that 


48 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


point  to  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River.  By  this 
means  he  obtained  a  start  in  the  new  world, 
and  since  that  time  has  never  laclced  employ- 
ment. He  next  obtained  work  on  a  steam 
boat,  and  soon  after,  in  connection  witli  a 
German,  fitted  up  a  store  boat  at  Paducah,  Ky., 
and  started  on  a  mercantile  trip  down  the 
river  ;  this  partner  abandoned  him  at  Vicks- 
burg,  but  he  continued  the  trip  to  New 
Orleans,  returning  to  A'icksburg  where  he  es- 
tablished a  grocery  store,  remaining  until  the 
spring  of  1845.  He  next  went  to  Yazoo  City 
where  he  was  for  twelve  j-ears  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile pursuits.  In  the  month  of  April,  1848, 
he  returned  to  his  native  countr}-,  where,  in 
February,  1849,  he  married  Miss  A'irginia 
Veirum.  who  was  born  in  France  in  1830. 
The}'  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  for  permanent  resi- 
dence in  1857,  and  have  taken  an  active  part 
in  the  interests  of  the  citj'  ever  since.  While 
in  the  main  he  has  been  ver^'  successful,  he 
has  met  with  some  severe  financial  losses  from 
fire  and  other  sources.  They  own  the  property 
fronting  on  Eighth  street,  between  Commercial 
avenue  and  Old  Railroad  street,  which  they 
have  improved.  He  also  built  the  residence 
owned  by  James  Reardon  at  a  cost  of  $10,000, 
and  his  present  family  residence  on  Ninth 
street,  between  Washington  and  Commercial 
avenues.  Their  family  consists  of  Henr}'  E., 
Louisa  A.,  Meiraban,  and  Tillie  E.  Vincent. 
Mr.  Vincent  is  now  engaged  in  wholesale  and 
retail  trade  in  lime  and  cements,  located  on 
Eighth  street.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  since  1848. 

HARRY  WALKER.  Alderman  in  the  First 
Ward,  Cairo,  III.,  was  born  on  the  3d  of  No- 
vember, 1842,  in  Clinton  Count}-,  111.  His 
parents,  Herman  and  Annie  Walker,  were 
natives  of  Prussia,  from  where  they  came  to 
the  city  of  New  Orleans.  They  were  married 
in  Prussia,  and  two  children  were  born  to  them 
before  coming  to  the  United  vStates,  Mary  and 
George  "V\'alker,  the  former  a  resident  of  Indi- 


ana, and  the  latter  an  entensive  stock  dealer 
in  Kansas.  Coming  to  the  United  States  in 
1840,  they  located  for  a  short  time  in  New 
Orleans,  soon  removed  to  St.  Louis,  and  thence 
to  Hanover,  Clinton  County,  111.;  there  they 
died  about  the  same  time,  having  had  four 
children  born  in  this  country,  Harry  being 
the  first ;  he  left  home  at  the  age  of  thirteen 
years,  and  for  a  time  made  his  home  in  St. 
Louis,  where  he  attended  the  Jones  College. 
In  August,  1862,  he  came  to  Cairo,  III,  and 
has  made  it  his  permanent  residence  since. 
He  has  been  employed  much  of  the  time  as  a 
salesman  in  different  business  houses  of  Cairo, 
and  in  1868  he  formed  a  partnership  with  a 
Mr.  Sisson,  in  the  hotel  business,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Walker  &  Sisson.  In  1871,  they 
were  burned  out,  sustaining  a  loss  of  several 
thousand  dollars.  Since  1879,  he  has  been 
conducting  a  house  of  amusement,  known  as 
the  Theater  Comique,  in  his  own  building, 
fronting  on  Commercial  avenue  and  Fifth 
street.  He  was  married  in  Cairo,  in  1865,  to 
Miss  Maggie  O'Connel,  a  sister  of  John  W. 
O'Connel,  of  St.  Louis.  She  was  born  in  Ireland 
in  1845,  and  came  to  the  United  States  when  a 
child.  They  have  four  children,  viz.:  Maggie, 
Harry,  Allie  and  Nettie  Walker.  Mr.  Walker 
is  independent  in  politics,  a  member  of  the  K. 
G.  R.,  the  K.  C.  C,  and  of  the  fire  department. 
JACOB  WALTER,  meat  market  at  Nos.  38 
and  39  Eighth  street,  is  a  native  of  Wurtem- 
berg.  Germany,  where  he  was  born  December 
25,  1837.  He  is  a  son  of  Andrew  and  Cathe- 
rine (Hag)  Walter,  both  of  whom  were  born  in 
Germany,  the  father  born  in  1798,  and  the  mother 
in  1804.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children, 
of  whom  Jacob  is  the  fourth.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  Germany,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1852,  locating  first  at  New  York, 
where  he  began  the  trade  of  butcher,  and  after- 
ward worked  in  many  diflerent  cities  of  the 
United  States.  He  went  to  St.  Louis  in  1857, 
where  he  worked  for  four  vears,  enlisting  in  the 


CAIRO. 


49 


Fourth  Missouri  Cavalry  in  the  fall  of  1861, 
and  served  three  years,  and  was  mustered  out 
at  St.  Louis  in  1864.  Participated  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Pea  Ridge  and  others  incident  to  the 
campaign  of  the  West.  Soon  after  the  war,  he 
settled  in  Cairo,  111.,  where  he  has  followed  his 
trade  since,  opening  a  shop  in  1867.  In  1868, 
November  29,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Wilhel- 
mina  Lemm.  She  was  born  in  Prussia  Sep- 
tember 16,  1846,  and  came  to  the  city  of  Cairo 
in  1867.  The}'  have  a  famil}'  consisting  of 
John  J.,  born  in  Cairo  August  19,  1869  ;  Wil- 
helmina,  born  February  24,  1872,  and  died  in 
infancy ;  Albert,  born  March  6,  1873,  and 
died  January  6,  1875;  Rosa  L.,  born  Septem- 
ber 2,  1878  ;  Frank  J.,  born  September  4,  1880, 
and  Gustav  Walter,  born  February  24,  1883. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Cairo  Casino  Society, 
and  the  family  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Mrs. 
Walter  is  a  daughter  of  John  and  Doretta 
Lemm,  the  mother  deceased,  and  the  father 
living  at  an  advanced  age  in  the  old  country. 
HENRY  WELLS,  banker,  Cairo,  was  born 
in  Rising  Sun,  Ind.,onthe  12th  of  March,  1850. 
Jacob  Wells,  father  of  Heniy  Wells,  was  a 
native  of  Corinth,  Vt.,  but  principally  reared 
and  educated  in  the  State  of  New  York ;  he 
was  born  in  1815.  Having  arrived  at  man- 
hood, he  went  to  Indiana,  where,  in  1837,  he 
married  Miss  Fannie  S.  Shaw,  a  daughter  of 
Lloyd  and  Ellen  Shaw,  and  a  native  of  Taunton, 
Mass.,  where,  in  1813,  she  was  born.  Henry 
Wells  is  the  fifth  of  a  family  of  sis  children 
born  to  these  parents  ;  but  two  of  whom  are 
now  living,  there  being  one  daughter,  Emily, 
who  is  the  wife  of  Charles  J.  Noyes,  a  states- 
man of  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Wells  pursued 
the  ordinary  common  school  course  at  Rising 
Sun,  Ind.,  after  which  he  continued  his  studies 
at  the  Haverhill  High  School,  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  in  the  Brown  Universit}-  of  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  and  in  1866  entered  the  Harvard 
University,  taking  the  complete  classical  course, 
receiving  the  degree  conferred  by  that  institu- 


tion in  1870.  The  two  years  following  his 
graduation,  he  was  associated  with  his  father 
in  a  general  mercantile  business  in  Rising  Sun, 
at  which  time  he  assisted  in  the  organizing  of 
the  National  Bank  of  that  place,  becoming  one 
of  its  Directors.  After  the  death  of  his  father, 
which  occurred  on  July  5,  1872,  he  decided  to 
close  up  the  business  interests  in  Rising  Sun, 
and  seek  a  banking  location,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose; in  1875,  started  to  Florida.  He,  however, 
located  in  Cairo,  III,  where  he  assisted  in  the 
organization  of  the  Alexander  County  Bank, 
and  under  the  first  organization  was  made  Vice 
President.  It  was  re-organized  in  tlie  same 
year,  and  Mr.  Wells  was  made  the  Cashier, 
which  position  he  still  occupies. .  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Rising  Sun  on  May  25,  1872,  to  Miss 
Emma  C.  Morse,  dau_ghter  of  George  W.  and 
Mary  Morse — the  father  a  native  of  Ohio,  born 
March  19,  1821,  and  at  present  a  resident  of 
Cairo  ;  the  mother  was  born  July  5,  1823,  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  died  in  Cairo  on  the  24th 
of  October,  1880.  Mrs.  Wells  was  born  in 
Rising  Sun,  Ind.  Their  familj-  consists  of  two 
sons — James  C.  and  Harry  M.  Wells.  Mr. 
Wells  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  of 
the  I.  0.  0.  F.  Family  residence  on  the  corner 
of  West  Twenty-fourth  street  and  Holbrook 
avenue,  Cairo,  111. 

SAMUEL  P.  WHEELER,  lawyer,  Cairo,  111., 
was  born  at  Binghamton,  Broome  Co.,  N.  Y., 
on  the  13th  of  January,  1839.  His  father, 
Alvan  Wheeler,  was  born  in  Massachusetts  in 
1797.  He  was  an  emnient  educator  and  phy- 
sician of  Massachusetts  from  1820  to  1832, 
when,  on  account  of  failing  health,  he  removed 
to  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  where  he  purchased  a 
farm,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He 
died  October  12,  1869.  The  mother  of  Samuel 
Wheeler,  Harriet  A.  Bulklej-,  was  a  descendant 
from  an  English  family  which  was  first  repre- 
sented in  the  United  States  b}'  the  Rev.  Peter 
Bulkle}-,  who  came  from  England  to  Massachu- 
setts in  1635.  She  died  in  Williamstown,  Mass., 


50 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


in  1875,  having  reared  a  family  of  six  children, 
of  whom  Samuel  was  the  fourth.  He  was  edu- 
cated liberally  in  New  York.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1859,  and  the  same  year  located 
at  Mound  City,  III.,  where  he  remained  until 
coming  to  Cairo  in  1865.  Though  his  influence 
has  been  chieflj-  with  the  Democratic  party,  he 
has  studiously  avoided  the  political  arena,  and 
adhered  strictly  to  his  profession  with  commend- 
able zeal.  In  1875,  he  was  appointed  General 
Solicitor  for  the  Cairo  &  Vincennes  Railroad 
Compan}',  which  position  he  held  until  that 
company  was  consolidated  with  the  St.  Louis  & 
Pacific  Railway,  and  is  now  General  Solicitor 
for  the  Cairo  Division  of  the  latter  company. 
He  was  married  on  the  11th  of  January,  1860, 
to  Miss  Kate  F.  E.  Gross,  daughter  of  Milo 
J.  Gross,  of  Kalamazoo,  Mich. 

CHARLES  W.  WHEELER,  of  Cairo,  111., 
was  born  in  Stratford,  Fairfield  Co.,  Conn.,  on 
the  10th  of  October,  1840.  His  parents,  Levi 
Wheeler  and  Elvina  Booth,  were  both  natives 
of  Connecticut,  though  of  English  origin.  They 
reared  a  famil3^of  six  children,  of  whom  Charles 
W.  is  the  fifth.  Levi  Wheeler  died  in  Con- 
necticut in  1873,  and  his  wife  in  the  same 
State  in  1882,  both  in  advanced  age.  Charles 
W.  was  educated  in  his  native  county,  and  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  left  the  parental  home, 
coming  West.  He  located  at  Olney,  Richland 
Co.,  111.,  where,  until  1861,  he  was  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railwaj'^  Com- 
pany. In  April,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  thirty 
days'  service,  and  at  the  expiration  of  that 
time  re-enlisted  for  three  years,  but  on  ac- 
count of  physical  disability  was  discharged  in 
June   of  the   following  year.      In   the  fall  of 

1862,  having  sufficiently  regained  his  health, 
he  again  engaged  with  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railway'    Company    at   Olne^-,    111.      Early  in 

1863,  he  was  employed  by  the  Adams  Express 
Company  as  messenger  on  the  road  between 
Olney  and  Cairo,  111.,  continuing,  however,  but 
about  six  months,  when  he  was  placed  in  their 


oflSce  at  the  last-named  place.  He  remained 
in  this  office  until  the  fall  of  1866.  For  six 
years  subsequent  to  this  date,  he  was  in  the 
employ  of  Cairo  City  Coal  Companj'^,  in  the 
management  of  their  business.  In  1873,  in 
connection  with  J.  C.  Stiers,  he  established  a 
retail  wood  and  coal  3^ard,  from  which  is  sup- 
plied a  large  portion  of  the  fuel  of  the  city  of 
Cairo.  Their  partnership  continued  until  Oc- 
tober, 1879,  when  it  terminated  by  the  retire- 
ment of  Mr.  Stiers.  Mr.  Wheeler  still  con- 
ducts the  business  in  his  own  interest,  and 
besides  owns  and  operates  a  farm  of  160 
acres  in  Pulaski  County,  111.  In  June,  1863, 
in  Wisconsin,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Amanda 
Bragg,  daughter  of  Samuel  G.  and  Lorinda 
Bragg,  of  Wisconsin,  where  they  are  now  living, 
and  where  Mrs.  Wheeler  was  born  on  the  6  th 
of  December,  1840.  Their  family  consists  of 
Sarah  A.,  Ella,  Josie  and  Charles  F.  Wheeler. 
SCOTT  WHITE.  We  glean  from  the  col- 
umns of  the  Cairo  city  papers  the  following  facts 
concerning  Mr.  Scott  White,  one  of  the  pros- 
perous and  most  respected  men  in  Cairo's  his- 
tory. Scott  White  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1813, 
and  grew  to  manhood  in  his  nativ^e  country, 
coming  to  the  United  States  in  1832.  He  took 
this  step  as  the  result  of  a  determination  to 
make  his  mark  in  the  world.  From  the  time 
of  his  arrival  in  this  country  until  he  came  to 
Cairo  in  1855,  we  have  learned  but  little  of  his 
experiences  ;  but  perhaps  the  time  was  princi- 
pally passed  in  Pennsylvania,  where,  in  No- 
vember, 1856,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Rosy 
Hunter,  who  was  born  in  1828,  in  the  immedi- 
ate locality  of  the  birthplace  of  Mr.  White. 
He  was  a  man  who  was  possessed  of  a  strong 
will  power  and  a  kind  and  generous  nature, 
which  appeared  to  develop  more  fully  as  he  in- 
creased in  3'ears.  These  characteristics,  coup- 
led with  his  native  business  ability,  insured 
his  success.  In  1855,  he  came  to  Cairo,  111., 
and  formed  a  partnership  with  R.  H.  Cunning- 
ham, which  existed  for  about  ten  years.     The 


CAIRO. 


51 


first  business  house  on  the  Ohio  levee  was 
erected  for  this  firm.  In  his  composition, 
there  was  nothing  assumed,  and  he  had  no 
compromise  to  make  with  a  dishonorable  trans- 
action, always  able  tosa}'  "  No,"  when  his  judg- 
ment dictated  that  answer,  regardless  of  con- 
sequences. In  his  earlier  business  life  in 
Cairo,  this  straightforward,  outspoken  style 
sometimes  amounted  almost  to  sternness,  but 
was  always  the  result  of  honest  promptings. 
Later  in  life,  he  lost,  to  some  extent,  his  busi- 
ness enthusiasm,  and  having  amassed  a  hand- 
some fortune,  his  business  activity,  in  a  great 
degree,  gave  place  to  the  more  kindly  influences 
of  social  life.  He  laid  aside,  so  to  speak,  much 
of  his  business  care,  and  looked  more  to  the 
encouragement  of  efforts  to  improve  the  moral 
and  social  condition  of  Cairo.  But  in  the 
hour  of  his  greatest  usefulness,  after  having 
successfully  fought  the  battle  of  life,  just  at  the 
moment  when  his  ample  hand  was  being 
stretched  out  in  the  work  of  making  the  world 
happier,  thereby  making  it  better,  he  was  taken 
away.  In  all  the  relations  of  husband,  father, 
and  citizen,  he  was  a  model  of  uprightness, 
justice  and  true  manliness.  He  honored  the 
position  he  occupied  in  the  estimation  of  his 
large  circle  of  friends.  He  died  at  his  resi- 
dence in  Cairo  on  the  19th  of  April,  1871,  leav- 
ing his  wife  and  three  children — Maragret  A., 
Scott  A.  and  William  White— who  still  survive 
him.  Resolutions  of  respect  were  adopted  by 
the  officers  of  the  City  National  Bank,  of  which 
he  was  a  director,  and  by  the  Delta  Social 
Club,  of  which  he  was  an  honored  member. 

DR.  E.  W.  WHITLOCK,  dental  surgeon 
No.  136  Commercial  avenue,  Cairo,  was  born 
on  the  22d  day  of  June,  1855,  in  Jeflerson 
County,  111.  His  father,  George  Whitlock,  was 
born  in  1818,  in  Virginia,  where  he  grew  to 
maturity  and  from  where  he  came  to  Illinois. 
He  was  married,  in  Illinois,  to  Miss  Angeline 
Caldwell.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Wallace  Cald- 
well, a  lineal  descendant  of  Dr.  Charles  Cald- 


well, formerl}'  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  the  ac- 
knowledged father  of  phrenolog}-  in  this  coun- 
try. Angeline  was  born  in  Illinois  in  1828, 
and  is  now  a  resident  of  the  city  of  Cairo,  111. 
To  these  parents  were  born  five  children,  of 
whom  the  Doctor  is  the  j'oungest,  the  three 
older  children  being  deceased.  The  names  are 
Abigail,  Isabelle,  Charles  R.,  George  T.  and 
Edward  W.  Whitlock.  George  T.  is  married 
to  Miss  Ada  F.  Hambleton,  of  Mound  City,  IlL, 
and  at  present  a  resident  of  Marshall,  111.  Ed- 
ward W.  Whitlock  was  reared  and  educated  in 
Jonesboro  and  Cairo,  coming  to  the  latter 
place  with  his  parents  in  1866.  In  1876,  he 
became  a  student  of  the  Philadelphia  Dental 
College,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1877, 
when  he  immediatel}'  opened  rooms  in  Cairo 
for  the  practice  of  dental  surgery.  His  pro- 
fessional skill,  together  with  the  principles  of 
thorough  gentleman  have  secured  for  him 
a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  a  member  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  as  is  also  his  mother. 
George  Whitlock,  father  of  E.  W.,  died  in 
Cairo,  111.,  in  April,  1881,  having  been  engaged 
in  mercantile  business  since  1866. 

WILLIAM  M.  WILLIAMS  is  a  member  of 
one  of  the  old  families  of  the  early  settlers  in 
Cairo,  the  members  of  which  were  among  the 
most  prominent  and  best  people  of  the  town. 
The  brothers,  Capt.  Abram  and  Isaac  Will- 
iams, for  man}'  j-ears  well  known  as  among  the 
best  business  men  of  the  place,  and  in  their 
active  lives  here  made  a  wide  acquaintance 
and  a  strong  and  deep  friendship  with  all  who 
came  in  contact  with  them.  The}'  were  exem- 
plary citizens,  honorable  men  and  most  genial 
and  pleasant  companions.  They  came  from  Vii'- 
ginia  here,  and  especially  Capt.  Abe  was  pos- 
sessed of  all  those  better  qualities  of  that  peo- 
ple without  the  sometimes  glaring  faults  in 
social  life  that  characterize  too  many  men  of 
that  State.  They  built  and  for  many  years 
carried  on  a  saw  mill  in  the  northern   part  of 


52 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


the  city,  and  during  their  long  residence  here 
were  engaged  in  several  successful  enterprises 
of  different  kinds.  In  the  hearts  of  those  who 
knew  these  brothers  is  a  sufficient  and  endur- 
ing monument,  but  this  mention  is  due  the 
good  name  of  two  men  whom  the  coming  gen- 
erations should  learn  to  respect  and  venerate. 
William  M.  Williams  was  born  in  Kanawha 
County,  Va.,  May  4,  1831  ;  his  parents  were 
Isaac  and  Mary  (Torrence)  Williams.  The 
father,  a  Penns^'lvanian,  born  in  1802,  and  was 
a  farmer  and  steamboatman  in  the  early  days 
of  steam  navigation,  and  William  is  the 
younger  of  two  children  ;  his  sister  Anna  J. 
married  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Baltimore,  and  died 
some  3-ears  ago.  His  mother  died  in  1844,  in 
Ohio  and  his  father  died  in  Kentucky  in  1857. 
William  resided  in  Virginia  until  he  attained 
his  majority  and  had  learned  the  printer's 
trade,  and  had  also  engaged  in  the  salt  manu- 
facturing in  West  Columbia,  Va.  He  came  to 
Cairo  in  1855,  in  company-  with  his  cousin, 
Capt.  Abram  Williams,  and  at  once  engaged 
in  a  general  mercantile  business,  pork  packing, 
wharf-boat  interests,  etc.,  during  a  period  of 
four  years.  He  was  one  of  a  company  that 
organized  the  St.  Louis  Silver  Mining  Com- 
pany of  Arizona,  and  in  the  year  1860  took 
the  first  mining  engine  that  was  ever  taken  to 
that  Territory.  He  continued  in  the  mining 
business  until  every  member  of  the  company, 
except  himself,  had  been  massacred  b}'  the 
Mexicans.  He  escaped  the  fate  of  his  com- 
panions by  almost  a  miracle.  He  then  became 
a  Grovernment  contractor  in  the  Territory,  his 
partner  being  William  S.  Grant  During  the 
war,  he  was  steamboating  and  carried  on  a 
wharf-boat  at  Vicksburg,  and  he  made  his 
home  in  the  latter  place  until  1870,  when  he 
returned  to  his  old  Illinois  home,  Cairo,  where 
he  came  to  carry  out  and  complete  an  enter- 
prise that  had  been  inaugurated  by  his  cousin 
Abram.  Of  late  years,  he  has  been  actively 
connected  with  the  Cairo  press,  and  also  in  the 


emploj'ment  of  different  railroads  and  is  now 
the  efficient  and  popular  Cairo  agent  of  the 
Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  At  the  early  age 
of  eighteen  j-ears  he  was  the  publisher  of  a 
daih'  paper  in  Wheeling,  Va.  He  was  married 
in  Kentuck}^,  in  1865,  to  Miss  Rachel  Williams, 
daughter  of  Greorge  and  Mary  Williams.  He 
has  long  been  an  honored  and  exemplary 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  of  the 
Knights  of  Honor,  and  also  of  the  Knights  of 
the  Golden  Rule.  He  has  one  child,  Mar}'  L., 
living,  born  in  Vicksburg,  February  5,  1868, 
and  has  buried  one  other  child,  Caroline  Or' 
Lea,  born  in  Cairo,  December  5,  1871,  and 
died  in  May,  1881. 

GEORGE  D.  WILLIAMSON,  merchant, 
Cairo,  is  a  native  of  Hunterdon  Count}-,  N. 
J.,  and  is  the  fourth  of  a  family  of  twelve 
children  of  Samuel  Williamson  and  Maragret 
Giltz,  both  of  whom  descend  from  German 
parentage,  and  both  natives  of  New  Jersey. 
George  D.  was  born  on  the  30th  of  May,  1815. 
He  was  principalh'  reared  and  educated  in  his 
native  county,  but  at  the  age  of  sixteen  began 
his  business  career  as  a  grocer  clerk  in  New 
York  City,  where  he  remained  about  one  year. 
In  the  fall  of  1832,  he  went  to  Philadelphia, 
where,  for  six  3-ears,  he  engaged  as  clerk  in  a 
hotel,  and  for  five  years  of  this  time  was  a 
member  of  the  fire  department  of  that  city. 
From  Philadelphia  he  came  to  Smithland,  K}-., 
in  1838,  and  the  following  year  to  Cairo,  111., 
where  he  took  business  control  of  the  old  Cairo 
Hotel,  under  the  direction  of  D.  B.  Holbrook. 
A  change  in  the  administration  of  the  hotel, 
which  was  owned  b^-  a  company,  caused  him  to 
sever  his  connection  therewith,  and  he  returned 
to  Smithland,  where,  until  1859.  he  was  suc- 
cessfully engaged  in  mercantile  business.  At 
the  last-named  place,  he  constructed  a  wharf- 
boat,  which  was  the  first  on  the  Ohio  River 
provided  with  staging  for  the  passage  of  teams 
in  landing  freight.  In  1859,  he  landed  this 
boat  at  Cairo,  and  owned  until  1863,  when  he 


CAIRO. 


53 


sold  it  for  $25,000.  He  then  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile trade,  where  he  is  now  located,  having 
previously  formed  a  partnership  with  Gr.  W. 
Hag3\  This  partnership  terminated  about 
1875.  He  now  conducts  the  business  alone, 
and  does  an  extensive  grocer}'  business,  both 
wholesale  and  retail.  Mr.  Williamson  was  mar- 
ried in  Kentucky  in  1850,  to  Miss  Nina  Mc- 
Cauley,  daughter  of  James  McCauley.  The 
result  of  this  marriage  was  thi-ee  children,  but 
one  of  whom  is  living — Mattie,  wife  of  W.  W. 
Wright.  Her  mother  died  about  1857.  Mr. 
Williamson's  present  wife  was  Mrs.  Harriet  P. 
Smith,  widow  of  John  H.  Smith,  and  daughter 
of  John  H.  Wood.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  has  been  several  years 
a  member  of  the  City  Council. 

THOMAS  WILSON,  ex-Mayor  of  the  city 
of  Cairo,  and  one  of  its  oldest  living  residents, 
is  a  native  of  Northumberland,  England.  He 
was  born  on  the  23d  day  of  July,  1823,  and 
came  to  the  United  States  with  his  parents, 
Andrew  and  Mary  Wilson,  in  1835.  The  family 
settled  in  New  York  City,  where  they  remained 
until  1838,  in  which  year  the}'  removed  to 
Illinois  and  located  at  Fairfield,  in  Wayne 
County,  where  the  parents  died.  Thomas  was 
educated  in  England  and  in  New  York  City, 
and  married  in  Shawneetown,  111.,  to  Miss 
Sarah  Marshall,  daughter  of  Samuel  Mar- 
shall of  that  city.  For  several  years 
following,  Mr.  Wilson  had  his  residence  at 
Shawneetown,  a  portion  of  the  time  engaged  in 
boating  interests,  and  for  a  time  was  Sheriff  of 
this  county.  In  1854,  prompted  b}'  the  flatter- 
ing prospects  for  the  future  gi*eatness  of  the 
town  of  Cairo,  which,  besides  its  manifest 
river  advantages,  gave  an  omen  of  coming  re- 
nown, in  that  year  being  united  with  the 
north  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  he 
came  to  this  place,  where  he  engaged 
in  the  wharf-boat  and  commission  busi- 
ness. Notwithstanding  his  attention  ha§  been 
largely  absorbed  in  his  private  business,  he  has 


frequently  been  called  to  positions  of  public 
trust,  having  a  decided  ability  in  matters  per- 
taining to  the  public  good.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  ever  elected  to 
preside  over  the  business  aflairs  of  the  town  of 
Cairo,  since  which  time  he  has  served  the  city 
for  three  terms  as  Mayor,  and  from  1868  to 
1872,  was  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of 
Equalization.  His  first  wife  died  in  1872,  leav- 
ing two  children — Mary  E.,  wife  of  George 
Dougherty,  of  Jonesboro,  111.,  and  Amy  M. 
Wilson.  In  1877,  he  was  married  to  Mrs. 
Wicker,  widow  of  P.  J.  Wicker,  and  daughter 
of  John  Hodges,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  South- 
ern Illinois.  She  was  born  in  Thebes,  Alexander 
Co.,  111.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with 
two  children — Margaret  and  Thomas  Wilson. 
Mr.  Wilson,  at  present  is  the  corresponding 
secretary  for  the  firm  of  Halliday  Bros.  Poli- 
tics, Democrat. 

HENRY  WINTER,  ex-Mayor  of  the  city  of 
Cairo,  was  boi'u  in  Portsmouth,  England,  Au- 
gust 15,  1829,  being  the  thirteenth  of  a  family, 
of  sixteen  children  of  Robert  and  Jane  Winter. 
The  famil}'  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in 
the  summer  of  1837,  and  located  in  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  where  Henr}'  remained  until  1849,  re- 
ceiving in  the  meantime  the  advantage  of  an 
ordinary  common  school  education.  After  the 
death  of  his  mother,  he  was  bound  as  appren- 
tice to  the  trade  of  tinner,  but  in  consequence 
of  ill  treatment,  at  the  end  of  four  j'ears,  he 
left  his  employer,  and  under  the  instructions  of 
another  part}'  completed  his  trade,  becoming  a 
first-class  tinner.  During  eight  years  of  his 
residence  in  Cincinnati,  he  was  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  fire  department.  He  left  Cincinnati 
in  1849,  to  take  a  position  in  Cannelton,  Ind., 
where  he  won  the  esteem  of  many  warm  friends, 
among  whom  was  the  Hon.  Jacob  Mayuard, 
who  advanced  him  the  money  to  estalilish  a 
small  business,  which  proved  very  prosperous, 
and  by  which  he  was  soon  able  to  branch  out 
largely,  but  in  consequence  of  an  unfortunate 


54 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


partnership    alliance,  his  business  was    com- 
pletel}-  broken  up.      During  his  residence  of 
seven  3'ears  at  Cannelton,  he  organized  two  fire 
companies,  and  was  for  five  3'ears  the  President 
of  one  of  them.     On  the  20th  ot  August,  1856, 
he  came  to  Cairo,  and  soon  had  started  a  tin 
shop  on  a  paying  basis,  and  for  several  years, 
so  marked  was  his  success  that  in  the  years 
1867-68  he  was  tlie  largest  tax-payer  in  Alex- 
ander County.     It  is  said  that  previous  to  this 
date,  he  had  built  over  $180,000  worth  of  brick 
buildings,  besides   several  frame  houses,  and 
was  the  owner  of  three  flourishing   business 
houses  in  Cairo,  two  in  Paducah,  Ky.,  and  one 
at  Omaha,  Neb.     In  many  instances  the  city 
of  Cairo  to-day  bears  the  impress  of  his  mold- 
ing hand.     During  the  war,  and  from  its  begin, 
ning,  he  was  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  Union 
at  a  time  and  place  where  to  be  loyal  meant  a 
great   deal.      He   acted   with   the  Republican 
party  until  1872,  when  he  supported  the  nomi- 
nation of  Horace  Greeley  to  the  Presidency,  and 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Cincinnati   Convention 
which,  nominated  him.       In  local   affairs,  he 
takes  a   liberal  view,  always  acting  according 
to  his  best  judgment  in  the  best  interests   of 
the  people.     He  has  been  twice  elected  Mayor 
of  the  city,  and  has  proven  himself  an  able  and 
wise  leader.     Since  his  residence  in  Cairo,  he 
has  been  intimately  connected  with  the  fire  de- 
partment ;   was    President    of   the  Arab   Fire 
Company  for  ten  years.     He*  is  noted  for  his 
unselfish,  generous  spirit,  having  given  many 
thousands  of  dollai'S  to  benevolent  institutions, 
in  fact  while  he  has  accumulated  an  untold 
amount  of  money,  it  has  mostly  gone  to  bless 
others,  and  to-day   he  is  possessed  of  only   a 
moderate  subsistence.     He  was  married  on  the 
13th  of  August,  1851,  to  Miss  Margaret  Mur- 
dock,  of  New  York. 

MAJ.  WILLIAM  WOLFE,  deceased.  In 
the  history  of  the  city  of  Cairo,  no  event,  per- 
haps has  occurred  which  caused  such  universal 
gloom  and  sorrow  as  did  the  sudden  and  wholly 


unexpected  death  of  Maj.  William  Wolfe,  which 
took  place  Thursday,  January  4,   1883.     The 
Major  was  born  on  the  24th  of  January,  1832, 
near  Williamsport,  Penn.,  where    he  spent  his 
childliood.     His  parents  removing  to  Williams- 
port,  he  there  grew  to  manhood ;  at  this  place 
was  formed  the  friendship  between  himself  and 
Charles  0.  Patier,  which  ripened  into  a  mutual 
attachment,  and  continued  until  his  death.     In 
1855,  Maj.  Wolfe  went  to  St.  Louis,  where   he 
became  the  general  manager  in  the  house  of 
Baker,   Mills   &    Co.     This   position    he   held 
until  the  civil  war  broke  out,  when,  with  the 
assistance  of  Mr.  Patier,   he  organized  a  com- 
pany  for   the   Sixth   Missouri   Volunteers,  in 
which   he   was   Second   and   Mr.  Patier  First 
Lieutenant.     With   this   command    he  served 
with  credit  three  years,  when,  he  was  mustered 
out  on  his  march  to  Atlanta,  just  after  the  fight 
of  Resaca.     He  remained  with  the  army,  how- 
ever, and  was  detailed  as  aid-de-camp  to  Gen. 
Jones,   First   Brigade,    Second   Division,  Fif- 
teenth Army  Corps,  and  went  through  to  the  sea. 
After  the  war,  he  returned  to  St.  Louis,  and  was 
there  appointed  Major  in   Adjutant   General's 
oflace,  by  Gov.  Thomas  C.  Fletcher.     After  this 
and  until  1866,  he  was  engaged  as  clerk  in  the 
court  house.     In  the  last-named  year,  he  came 
to  Cairo  at  the  solicitation  of  Mr.  Patier,  and 
accepted   the   position   of  book-keeper  in  the 
general  business  house  of  Messrs.  G.  H.  Greeley 
&  Co.,  whose  house  was  then  known  as  the  New 
York  Store,  and  located  on  Commercial  avenue, 
corner  of  Nineteenth  street.     A  year  later,  this 
firm  changed  to  Greeley  &  Patier,  and  in  187  2 
Mr.  Wolfe  took  the  place  of  Mr.  Greeley,  under 
the  firm  name  now  employed  of  C.  0.  Patier  & 
Co.,  which  is   one  of  the  strongest  and  most 
respected   in   the    country.       In    1872,    Maj. 
Wolfe    married    Miss    Dulcina,    daughter    of 
Justice   Otis   A.  Osborn,  who,  together  with 
three   sisters   and    one  brother,  survives  him. 
Maj.   Wolfe  was  a   director  of  the  Alexander 
County  Bank,  and  an  honorary  member  of  the 


CAIRO. 


55 


Delta  Fire  Company.  In  his  death  the  business 
interests  of  Cairo  suffer  an  irreparable  loss,  and 
soeietj'  loses  one  of  its  brightest  ornaments, 
and  his  wife,  a  devoted  husband. 

WILLIAM  WOOD,  M.  D.,  was  born  on  the 
8th  of  February,  1822,  in  Bethlehem,  N.  H. 
He  is  the  oldest  of  a  family  of  three  children 
of  David  Wood  and  Abigail  Hosraer.  The 
father  was  of  English  birth,  and  the  mother  a 
relative  of  the  famous  sculptor  (Hosmer)  of 
Massachusetts,  and  also  of  Lieut.  Abner  Hos- 
mer, who,  as  history  tells  us,  was  the  first  to  sac- 
rifice his  life  in  the  cause  of  American  inde- 
pendence, being  killed  in  the  battle  of  Lexing- 
ton, Mass.  Of  the  other  two  members  of  the 
Wood  family,  one  is  deceased.  Charles  Wood, 
who  for  several  years  was  engaged  in  the 
wholesale  mercantile  business  at  St.  Louis. 
The  third  is  Clara  A.  Clark,  a  resident  of 
Bloomington,  111.  William  Wood,  on  arriving 
at  manhood,  decided  to  learn  the  blacksmith 
trade,  having  two  objects  in  view,  namely, 
physical  development,  but  more  especially  that 
he  might  obtain  the  means  with  which  to  defra}^ 
the  expense  of  a  course  in  college,  for  which 
he  was  preparing.  He  afterward  became  a 
student  in  the  Burlington  College,  where  he 
continued  his  studies  one  year.  Later,  he 
entered  the  Dartmouth  College,  where  he  grad- 
uated in  the  year  1850.  He  then  entered  the 
Castleton  Medical  College  of  Vermont,  and 
received  the  degree  conferred  by  that  institu- 
tion in  1852.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he 
came  to  Cairo,  111.,  and  immediately  entered  on 
what  has  proven  a  long  and  prosperous  prac- 
tice. Though  he  may  not  compare  favorably- 
with  many  others  of  his  profession  as  a  col- 
lector, he  has,  by  good  investment  and  strictly 
temperate  habits,  succeeded  in  acquiring  a  hand- 
some income  for  his  old  age.  He  is  the  maker 
and  proprietor  of  the  Wood's  fever  and  ague 
pills.  Subject  was  married,  at  Cairo,  111.,  on 
the  3d  of  April,  1863,  to  Miss  Ann  E.  Spiller, 
daughter  of  W.  H.  Spiller,  one  of  the  pioneers 


of  Southern  Illinois,  who  died  in  Cairo  in 
1882.  Mrs.  Wood  was  born  in  Union  County 
February  5,  1844.  Their  family  consists  of 
five  children — Kate  C,  born  August  12,  1868  ; 
David  C,  born  September  28,  1870  ;  William 
H.,  born  March  16,  1875  ;  Flora,  born  August 
2,  1880,  and  Henry  F.,  born  September  24, 
1882.  Family  residence  and  office  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Third  street  and  Washington  avenue. 

JOHN  WOOD,  mill,  and  grain  dealer,  of 
the  firm  of  Wood  &  Bennett,  Cairo,  111.,  is 
a  son  of  John  Wood  and  Ann  (Stephenson) 
Wood,  of  Scotland,  where  he  was  born  Jan- 
uary 8,  1833,  being  the  fourth  of  a  family 
of  nine  children.  John  Wood,  Jr.,  and  sub- 
ject of  these  lines,  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1850,  and  located  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  the 
family  coming  the  year  following,  locating  also 
in  Wisconsin,  where  the  father  died  in  1861. 
The  mother  died  in  Wisconsin  in  1876.  In 
Milwaukee  he  learned  the  ti'ade  of  brick-la^^er, 
working  at  this  business  there  until  the  spring 
of  1852,  at  which  time  he  went  to  Chicago,  where 
he  was  emplo3-ed  in  building  until  1862.  In 
the  early  part  of  that  3'ear,  he  enlisted  in  the 
service,  and  was  mustered  in  as  First  Lieuten- 
ant of  Company  A,  of  the  Sixty-fifth  Illinois 
Infantry  Regiment ;  he  was  soon  promoted  to 
the  commission  of  Captain,  and  later  in  the 
same  3ear  received  a  promotion  to  Major  of 
his  regiment,  which  office  he  held  until  mus- 
tered out  in  May  of  1864.  He  participated  in 
several  eai'uest  engagements,  and  was  made  a 
prisoner  at  Harper's  Ferry.  In  June,  1864,  he 
came  to  Cairo,  111.,  where  he  associated  himself 
with  J.  C.  Rankin,  under  the  firm  name  of  Ran- 
kin &  Wood,  engaged  in  merchandising,  also 
contracting  and  building.  This  partnership,  by 
mutual  agreement,  terminated  in  1868.  Mr. 
Wood  continued  to  work  at  building  until  1872, 
and  for  three  years  was  one  of  the  committee 
to  construct  the  Asylum  for  Feeble-Minded  at 
Anna,  111.,  and  the  State  Normal  Institute  at 
Carbondale,  111.     From  1872  to  1878,  he  was 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


engaged  in  the  commission  grain  business  in 
the  firm  of  Green  &  Wood,  later  Green,  Wood 
&  Bennett,  and  now  as  Wood  &  Bennett,  Mr. 
Green  having  retired  from  the  firm  in  1882. 
Mr.  Wood  was  married,  in  Chicago,  III.,  No- 
vember 16,  1857,  to  Miss  Mary  L.  Young, 
daughter  of  Peter  and  Lizzie  (Dougan)  Young. 
Mrs.  Wood  was  born  in  Scotland  September  1, 
1835,  and  came  with  her  parents  to  the  United 
States  in  1855.  Both  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Cairo,  and  Mr.  Wood 
of  the  Masonic  order.  Their  family  comprises 
nine  children,  three  of  whom  are  deceased. 
Those  living  are  John  H.,  Elizabeth  D.,  James 
C.  R,  Walter  H.,  Lillian  D.  and. Mary  L. 

C.  R.  WOODWARD,  wholesale  and  retail 
hardware  merchant  of  Cairo,  III,  was  born  in 
Lockport,  N.  Y.,  on  the  12th  of  July  1831,  son 
of  Warsham  M.  Woodward,  who  is  a  native  of 
Connecticut,  but  for  over  sixty  years  a  resident 
of  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  where  he  still  lives,  being  in 
his  eighty-third  year.  He  was  married  in  Lock- 
port  to  Miss  Abigail  Richardson,  a  native  of 
New  York,  but  of  English  parentage.  She  died, 
a  few  yeax's  after  marriage,  leaving  one  son, 
Gorodon  R.,  who,  at  the  time  of  the  mother's 
death,  was  but  a  few  months  old.  The  father 
was  subsequently  married  and  reared  two  chil- 
dren, viz.  :  Chauncey  (deceased),  and  Mary  S., 
widow  of  James  Gash,  formerly  of  Lockport. 
and  later  of  Cairo,  where  he  died.  C.  R. 
Woodward  was  reared  in  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  and 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  came  to  St.  Louis,  Mo., 


where  he  afterward  took  a  thorough  course  in 
business  training   in   a  commercial  school  of 
St.  Louis,  attending  the  school  through    the 
winter  term  and  engaging  as  pilot  on  the  river 
the  remainder  of  the  year.     He  was  for  five 
years  a  pilot  and  five  years  a  Captain  of  a  steam- 
boat on  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers.    Dur- 
ing the  year  1859  and  1860,  he  was  in  the  em- 
plo}'  of  a  hardware  firm  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis. 
In  1861,  having  embarked  in  the  iron  business 
on  his  own  responsibility,  and  having  taken  a 
sub-contract  of  Capt.  Eads  to  furnish  boat  sup- 
plies for  Com.  Foote's  gunboats,  he  came  to  Cai- 
ro, as  it  afforded  better  facilities  than  at  that 
time  were   to  be  had  at  St.  Louis.     Thus  the 
city  of  Cairo  obtained  one  of  its  most  enter- 
prising and  energetic  business  men.     He  was 
married  in  1852,  at  St.  Louis,  to  Miss  Christina, 
daughter  of  William  and  Celeste  Christman,  the 
former  of  German  and  the  latter  of  French  an- 
cestry.    She  was  born  in  East  St.  Louis  on  the 
25th   day   of   December,    1828.     Her  parents 
having  died   when   she  was  a  child,  she   was 
reared  by  a  relative  in  St.  Louis.     They  have 
four  children— Agatha  L.,  the  wife  of  Alexan- 
der G.  Boyse,  Jabish  H.,  Robert  K.  and  Chris- 
tina A.  Woodward.     Mr.  Woodward  is  just  com- 
pleting a  family  residence   on  the  corner   of 
Tenth  and  Walnut  streets,   which,  in  architect- 
ural design,  is  a  marvel  of  beauty,  and  which 
for  durability  perhaps  surpasses  any  building 
in  the  city  of  Cairo.     He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternitv  and  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 


CAIRO. 


56a 


CAIRO    EXTRA. 


[BIOGRAPHIES    RECEIVED    TOO    LATE    FOR    INSERTION    IN 
ALPHABETICAL    ORDER.] 


ALFRED  BOARDMAN  SAFFORD,  de- 
ceased, whose  portrait  appears  in  tiiis  work, 
was  born  in  Hyde  Park,  Vt.,  January  22,  1822. 
Wiien  fifteen  years  of  age,  his  parents  removed 
to  the  then  so  called  far  West — to  Illinois, 
where  they  preempted  a  Government  homestead 
in  the  primeval  prairie,  at  Crete,  thirty  miles 
south  of  Chicago.  That  year,  1837,  Chicago 
became  a  city  with  a  population  of  between 
three  and  four  thousand.  Who  to  have  looked 
upon  the  low,  flat,  muddy  surface  of  the  Chi- 
cago of  that  time,  would  not  have  been  hooted 
at  as  a  false  prophet,  had  he  foreshadowed  the 
wonderful  growth  and  business  capacitv  of  the 
Chicago  of  to-day.  With  the  exception  of  a 
small  hotel  located  at  Blue  Island,  twelve  miles 
from  Chicago,  there  was  scarcely  a  house,  as  a 
waymark,  the  entire  distance  to  Crete,  where 
one  or  two  New  England  families  had  previously 
located.  There  was  a  public  thoroughfare  lead- 
ing from  Chicago  to  Southern  Illinois.  The 
sparse  settlers  along  it,  remote  from  each  other, 
received  their  meager  supplies  from  what  were 
called  the  "  Hoosiers,"  who,  making  Chicago  an 
objective  point  for  the  sale  of  their  products, 
peddled  them  out  on  the  way  to  those  who 
sought  after  them.  Tliese  "  Hoosiers  "  seemed 
a  curious  folk  to  the  New  Englanders.  They 
traveled   in  covered  wagons,  often  as  many  as 


fifteen  and  twenty  in  file,  and  a  distance  of  from 
one  to  two  hundred  miles.  They  made  camp- 
fires  out  of  what,  it  now  seems  a  mystery,  since 
the  prairies  were  almost  destitute  of  trees. 
They  cooked  their  own  food  and  usually  slept 
in  their  wagons.  The  supplies  they  brought 
were  smoked  bacon,  corn  meal,  flour,  potatoes, 
and,  in  their  season,  apples  and  peaches. 
There  was  great  advantage  in  several  teams 
traveling  in  company.  In  seasons  of  heavy 
rains,  the  roads  were  almost  impassable,  and  it 
often  required  a  frequent  doubling  up  of  teams 
to  extricate  the  wagons  from  a  slough,  into 
whose  black,  heavy  mud  they  had  settled  to 
the  hub.  Then  the  tediousness  of  a  long,  slow 
journey  was  greatly  ameliorated  b}'  the  social 
evenings  the  teamsters  would  spend  around  the 
camp-fire,  and  their  frugal  meal,  composed  of 
fried  bacon,  corn  dodgers,  and  black  coflfee. 
They  all  wore  homespun,  and  made  clothes 
of  blue  or  butternut  colored  jeans.  With  all 
of  their  uncouthness  and  illiteracy,  they  were 
an  honest  people,  and  they  were  certainly  bene- 
factors to  the  new  settlers  who  had  to  build 
their  log  cabins,  plow,  sow  and  reap  before  they 
could  become  self-supporting.  These  efforts 
were  often  retarded  months  by  prostrating 
fevers,  which  not  unfrequently  incapacitated, 
in  turn,  or  at  the  same  time,  every  member  of 


56b 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


a  famil}'.  The  habits  of  industry  and  of  fru- 
gality that  were  prominent  factors  in  the  boy- 
hood training  of  Mr.  Safford,  shaped  his  useful 
and  successful  career  as  a  man.  His  opportu- 
nities for  an  early  education  were  limited  to  a 
public  country  school,  which  was  a  crude  af- 
fair as  compared  with  the  country  schools  of  the 
present  time.  Mr.  Safford's  mother  had  a  great 
desire  that  her  children  should  be  well  edu- 
cated, and  there  was  no  sacrifice  among  the 
many  she  was  called  upon  to  make  which  she 
made  more  cheerfully  than  when  she  could 
provide  good  books  for  them,  or  give  them  op- 
portunities for  study.  She  used  to  stimulate 
them  to  read,  by  reading  to  and  with  them^ 
and  she  used  to  talk  with  them  about  the  lives 
of  the  great  and  good  benefactors  of  the  world. 
And  in  every  way  she  strove  to  incite  them  to 
seek  after  such  knowledge  as  would  enable 
them  to  do  more  for  themselves  and  for  others. 
When  Mr.  Safford  was  about  eighteen  years  of 
age,  he  expressd  a  desire  to  study  law,  and  the 
noble  mother,  ever  on  the  alert  to  gratify  every 
worthy  aspiration  of  her  children,  made  the 
way  clear  for  him  to  follow  out  his  inclination. 
He  went  to  Joliet,  111.,  and  studied  in  the  office 
of  his  cousin,  William  A.  Boardman,  Esq.,  at 
that  time  a  prominent  lawyer  of  that  town. 
He  proved  a  very  apt  student  and  gave  promise 
of  a  brilliant  career  in  the  profession.  But 
when  he  put  the  knowledge  he  acquired  to  a 
test,  he  found  the  practical  application  of  it 
very  distasteful  to  him,  and  he  very  soon 
abandoned  the  practice  of  law  to  enter  upon 
mercantile  pursuits.  In  this  line  of  business 
he  was  very  successful.  First,  because  he  gave 
to  it  his  undivided  attentiorf,  and  second,  be- 
cause he  was  sincere  and  truthful;  and  third 
because  he  was  genial  and  courteous  to  all 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  After  doing 
business  for  several  years  in  Joliet,  he  went  to 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  continued  in  trade  for 
five  or  six  years.  While  living  in  St.  Louis,  a 
very  severe  scourge  of  cholera  was  visited  upon 


the  city.  While  some  of  his  associates  in  busi- 
ness were  carried  off  by  it,  he  did  not  abandon 
his  post,  nor  shrink  from  giving  aid  to  those 
who  were  attacked  by  it.  He  always  felt  that  his 
immunity  from  the  disease  was  largel}'  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  had  no  fear  of  it ;  he  did  not 
deviate  from  his  regular  habits  and  kept  his 
mind  constantly  occupied.  But  during  his  resi- 
dence in  St.  Louis,  he  was  brought  to  the  verge 
of  death  by  an  attack  of  small -pox ;  he  attrib- 
uted his  recover}'  to  the  considerate,  tender 
care  that  was  given  him  by  friends.  In  1854, 
a  bank  was  established  in  Shawneetown,  111., 
and  he  was  appointed  cashier  of  it.  The  only 
communication  that  Shawneetown  had  with  the 
outside  world,  at  that  time,  was  bj'  boats  that 
ran  upon  the  Ohio  River.  It  not  unfrequentl}' 
happened  that  runs  were  made  upon  the  bank, 
and  at  most  unpropitious  times,  when  the  Ohio 
was  at  low  water,  and  communication  in  conse- 
quence obstructed  for  days  and  sometimes  even 
for  weeks,  by  boats  getting  stranded  on  sand 
bars.  It  was  upon  such  an  occasion  as  this 
that  a  carpet-bagger  made  his  appearance,  and 
demanded  the  redemption  of  several  thousand 
dollars  of  the  bank's  paper. 

Specie  had  been  sent  for  and  was  expected 
on  a  boat  that  was  stranded,  and  in  order  to 
gain  as  much  time  as  possible,  the  mone}'  was 
counted  out  in  the  smallest  coin,  from  10  cents 
upward,  that  the  bank  had  on  deposit.  So 
much  time  was  consumed  in  the  counting  of  it 
that  before  the  man  left  with  his  weighty  load 
the  boat  arrived  with  I'e-enforcements  that 
made  the  bank  secure  against  a  repeated  run 
on  it.  There  were  some  very  primitive  expe- 
riences connected  with  banking  in  that  section 
of  the  country  at  that  time.  There  was  a  man 
in  the  neighborhood  who  had  accumulated 
something  of  a  competenc}'.  He  could  not 
read  nor  write,  and  he  had  great  distrust  of 
those  who  could.  He  said  he  did  not  ^ant  his 
sons  to  go  to  school,  for  if  they  were  nlucated 
the}-  might  become  great  rascals.     H     :ept  his 


CAIRO. 


56c 


money  buried,  but  he  livetl  in  constant  fear  lest 
some  one  would  find  it.  One  day  he  came  to 
the  bank  and  asked  to  see  Mr.  Safford,  and  with 
great  secresy  divulged  to  him  the  nature  of  his 
errand.  He  wanted  to  know  if  he  might,  after 
unearthing  his  money,  bring  it  and  deposit  it  in 
the  safe.  He  came  and  deposited  it  in  install- 
ments, slung  in  bags  across  his  saddle.  He  want- 
ed it  all  counted,  but  he  did  not  want  any  writ- 
ing to  show  the  amount  on  deposit.  Shawnee- 
town  was  a  border  town  between  the  North  and 
South.  The  inhabitants  were  largely  composed 
of  Kentuckians,  Tennesseans  and  Missouri- 
ans.  Although  there  was  a  public  school  fund, 
there  had  never  been  a  public  school  in  the 
town.  The  one  log  schoolhouse  it  once  had 
was  burned  to  celebrate  the  victory  of  Gen. 
Jackson  in  New  Orleans,  and  none  had  ever  been 
built  to  replace  it.  Mr.  Safford  immediately 
went  to  work  to  get  the  public  school  funds  in 
available  shape.  A  public  school  was  opened 
by  Mr.  Saftbrd's  sister  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  There  was  considerable  opposition  to 
it,  and  it  was  called  the  "  Satford  Ragged 
School."  But  it  increased  from  six  pupils  the 
first  week,  to  fifty  the  first  mouth,  and  to  the 
ingathering  of  all  the  children  within  a  few 
months.  jNIr.  Safford  advanced  the  money  to 
build  a  schoolhouse,  and  from  that  time  to  this 
Shawneetown  has  had  as  good  public  schools 
as  are  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  State.  In 
1858,  the  bank  was  removed  from  Shawneetown 
to  Cairo,  III,  and  Mr.  Safford  was  still  retained 
as  its  Cashier.  When  the  civil  war  was  inau- 
gurated, Cairo  sprang  at  once  into  importance  ; 
soldiers  poured  in  from  p]ast  and  West ;  every 
available  building  was  seized  upon  for  military 
purposes.  Hospitals  increased  from  one  to 
man}-,  and  the  din  of  battle  was  soon  heard. 
The  first  engagement  occurred  at  Belmont, 
twelve  niiles  distant.  All  da}*  cannonading 
was  hcil  1,  and  the  excitement  and  anxiety  was 
intense^'  'long  those  who  watched  and  waited. 
Gren.  Gf     t  was  stationed  at  Cairo  at  this  time, 


and  commanded  at  the  attack  upon  Belmont. 
A  confidence  and  friendship  sprang  up  between 
Gen.  Grant  and  Mr.  Safford  that  lasted  until 
the  latter's  death.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to 
appreciate  the  skill  and  predict  the  future  brill- 
iant career  of  Gen.  Grant.  Even  before  the 
battle  of  Belmont,  he  wrote  to  his  brother,  then 
living  on  the  Pacific  coast,  that  if  sucli  a  man 
as  Grant  could  be  put  at  the  head  of  the  army 
the  success  of  the  Union  arms  would  be  se- 
cured. While  Mr.  Safford  did  not  take  an  act- 
ive part  in  the  war,  the  great  and  innumerable 
services  he  rendered  those  who  did  will  never 
be  forgotten  as  long  as  memory  lasts  in  regard 
to  those  trying  and  eventful  times.  Mr.  Saf- 
ford was  possessed  of  a  judgment  so  candid, 
and  of  a  mind  so  comprehensive,  that  his  coun- 
sel was  often  sought  after  by  those  in  respons- 
ible official  positions,  and  his  pecuniary  aid  was 
called  into  requisition  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  in  command  and  service.  Mr.  Safford 
always  responded  so  readily  and  generously, 
and  withal  so  quietly,  to  calls  for  help  that 
those  most  closely  associated  with  him  knew 
nothing  of  the  amounts  in  mone^'  that  he  gave 
and  advanced  to  soldiers.  And  it  was  not  un- 
til after  his  death  that  unpaid  notes  revealed 
all  that  he  had  advanced  to  them  and  their 
families.  It  was  said  of  Mr.  Safford,  that  if 
any  one  asked  a  favor  of  him  that  he  could  not 
grant,  that  his  refusal  was  so  courteous  that  the 
man  went  awa}'  feeling  almost  as  happy  as  if 
his  request  had  been  granted.  As  the  war  ad- 
vanced, the  opportunities  were  often  vevy  great 
to  take  advantage  of  some  speculation  that  had 
the  prospect  of  great  gain  in  it.  But  Mr.  Saf- 
ford, when  approached  by  those  who  were  eager 
to  have  his  clear-sighted  business  judgment 
bi'ought  to  bear  upon  a  scheme  of  such  prom- 
ise, was  often  heard  to  say,  "  No,  it  shall  never 
be  said  of  me,  whether  my  country  wins  or 
loses,  that  I  speculated  upon  her  misfortunes. 
What  I  make  shall  be  done  upon  an  open- 
handed,  unswerving  business  basis."     It  will 


56b 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


a  famil}-.  The  habits  of  industry  and  of  fru- 
gality that  were  prominent  factors  in  the  boy- 
hood training  of  Mr.  Saffoixl,  shaped  his  useful 
and  successful  career  as  a  man.  His  opportu- 
nities for  an  early  education  were  limited  to  a 
public  country  school,  which  was  a  crude  af- 
fair as  compared  with  the  country  schools  of  the 
present  time.  Mr.  Safford's  mother  had  a  great 
desire  that  her  children  should  be  well  edu- 
cated, and  there  was  no  sacrifice  among  the 
many  she  was  called  upon  to  make  which  she 
made  more  cheerfully  than  when  she  could 
provide  good  books  for  them,  or  give  them  op- 
portunities for  study.  She  used  to  stimulate 
them  to  read,  by  reading  to  and  with  them^ 
and  she  used  to  talk  with  them  about  the  lives 
of  the  great  and  good  benefactors  of  the  world. 
And  in  every  way  she  strove  to  incite  them  to 
seek  after  such  knowledge  as  would  enable 
them  to  do  more  for  themselves  and  for  others. 
When  Mr.  Safford  was  about  eighteen  years  of 
age,  he  expressd  a  desire  to  study  law,  and  tlie 
noble  mother,  ever  on  the  alert  to  gratify  every 
worthy  aspiration  of  her  children,  made  the 
way  clear  for  him  to  follow  out  his  inclination. 
He  went  to  Joliet,  III,  and  studied  in  the  office 
of  his  cousin,  William  A.  Boardman,  Esq.,  at 
that  time  a  prominent  lawyer  of  that  town. 
He  proved  a  very  apt  student  and  gave  promise 
of  a  brilliant  career  in  the  profession.  But 
when  he  put  the  knowledge  he  acquired  to  a 
test,  he  found  the  practical  application  of  it 
very  distasteful  to  him,  and  he  very  soon 
abandoned  the  practice  of  law  to  enter  upon 
mercantile  pursuits.  In  this  line  of  business 
he  was  verj'  successful.  First,  because  he  gave 
to  it  his  undivided  attentioh,  and  second,  be- 
cause he  was  sincere  and  truthful;  and  third 
because  he  was  genial  and  courteous  to  all 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  After  doing 
business  for  several  years  in  Joliet,  he  went  to 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  continued  in  trade  for 
five  or  six  years.  While  living  in  St.  Louis,  a 
very  severe  scourge  of  cholera  was  visited  upon 


the  city.  While  some  of  his  associates  in  busi- 
ness were  carried  off  by  it,  he  did  not  abandon 
his  post,  nor  shrink  from  giving  aid  to  those 
who  were  attacked  by  it.  He  always  felt  that  his 
immunity  from  the  disease  was  largely  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  had  no  fear  of  it ;  he  did  not 
deviate  from  his  regular  habits  and  kept  his 
mind  constantly  occupied.  But  during  his  resi- 
dence in  St.  Louis,  he  was  brought  to  the  verge 
of  death  b}*  an  attack  of  small -pox ;  he  attrib- 
uted his  recovery  to  the  considerate,  tender 
care  that  was  given  him  by  friends.  In  1854, 
a  bank  was  established  in  Shawneetown,  111., 
and  he  was  appointed  cashier  of  it.  The  onh' 
communication  that  Shawneetown  had  with  the 
outside  world,  at  that  time,  was  by  boats  that 
ran  upon  the  Ohio  River.  It  not  unfrequently 
happened  that  runs  were  made  upon  the  bank, 
and  at  most  unpropitious  times,  when  the  Ohio 
was  at  low  water,  and  communication  in  conse- 
quence obstructed  for  da3-s  and  sometimes  even 
for  weeks,  by  boats  getting  stranded  on  sand 
bars.  It  was  upon  such  an  occasion  as  this 
that  a  carpet-bagger  made  his  appearance,  and 
demanded  the  redemption  of  several  thousand 
dollars  of  the  bank's  paper. 

Specie  had  been  sent  for  and  was  expected 
on  a  boat  that  was  stranded,  and  in  order  to 
gain  as  much  time  as  possible,  the  money  was 
counted  out  in  the  smallest  coin,  from  10  cents 
upward,  that  the  bank  had  on  deposit.  So 
much  time  was  consumed  in  the  counting  of  it 
that  before  the  man  left  with  his  weight}-  load 
the  boat  ai-rived  with  re-enforcemeuts  that 
made  the  bank  secure  against  a  repeated  run 
on  it.  There  were  some  very  primitive  expe- 
riences connected  with  banking  in  that  section 
of  the  countr}'  at  that  time.  There  was  a  man 
in  the  neighborhood  who  had  accumulated 
something  of  a  competenc}-.  He  could  not 
read  nor  write,  and  he  had  great  distrust  of 
those  who  could.  He  said  he  did  not  ^^ant  his 
sons  to  go  to  school,  for  if  the}'  were  'ducated 
the}-  might  become  great  rascals.     H      :ept  his 


CAIRO. 


56c 


raone}'  buried,  but  he  lived  in  constant  fear  lest 
some  one  would  find  it.  One  day  he  came  to 
the  bank  and  asked  to  see  Mr.  SaflEbrd,  and  with 
great  secresy  divulged  to  him  the  nature  of  his 
errand.  He  wanted  to  know  if  he  might,  after 
unearthing  his  money,  bring  it  and  deposit  it  in 
the  safe.  He  came  and  deposited  it  in  install- 
ments, slung  in  bags  across  his  saddle.  He  want- 
ed it  all  counted,  but  he  did  not  want  an}'  writ- 
ing to  show  the  amount  on  deposit.  Shawnee- 
town  was  a  border  town  between  the  North  and 
South.  The  inhabitants  were  largeh'  composed 
of  Kentuckians,  Tennesseans  and  Missouri- 
ans.  Although  there  was  a  public  school  fund, 
there  had  never  been  a  public  school  in  the 
town.  The  one  log  schoolhouse  it  once  had 
was  burned  to  celebrate  the  victor}'  of  Gen. 
Jackson  in  New  Orleans,  and  none  had  ever  been 
built  to  replace  it.  Mr.  SaflTord  immediately 
went  to  work  to  get  the  public  school  funds  in 
available  shape.  A  public  school  was  opened 
by  Mr.  Satford's  sister  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  Tliere  was  considerable  opposition  to 
it,  and  it  was  called  the  "  Saftbrd  Ragged 
School."  But  it  increased  from  six  pupils  the 
first  week,  to  fifty  the  first  month,  and  to  the 
ingathering  of  all  the  children  within  a  few 
months.  ^Ir.  Safford  advanced  the  money  to 
build  a  schoolhouse,  and  from  that  time  to  this 
Shawnee  town  has  had  as  good  public  schools 
as  are  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  State.  In 
1858,  the  bank  was  removed  from  Shawneetown 
to  Cairo,  III.,  and  Mr.  Safford  was  still  retained 
as  its  Cashier.  When  the  civil  war  was  inau- 
gurated, Cairo  sprang  at  once  into  importance ; 
soldiers  poured  in  from  East  and  West ;  every 
available  building  was  seized  upon  for  military 
purposes.  Hospitals  increased  from  one  to 
many,  and  the  din  of  battle  was  soon  heard. 
The  first  engagement  occurred  at  Belmont, 
twelve  'tiailes  distant.  All  day  cannonading 
was  het'lrV,  and  the  excitement  and  anxiety  was 
intense-'  nong  those  who  watched  and  waited. 
Gren.  Gy-    t  was  stationed  at  Cairo  at  this  time, 


and  commanded  at  the  attack  upon  Belmont. 
A  confidence  and  friendship  sprang  up  between 
Gen.  Grant  and  Mr.  Safford  that  lasted  until 
the  latter's  death.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to 
appreciate  the  skill  and  predict  the  future  brill- 
iant career  of  Gen.  Grant.  Even  before  the 
battle  of  Belmont,  he  wrote  to  his  brother,  then 
living  on  the  Pacific  coast,  that  if  such  a  man 
as  Grant  could  be  put  at  the  head  of  the  army 
the  success  of  the  Union  arms  would  be  se- 
cured. While  Mr.  Safford  did  not  take  an  act- 
ive part  in  the  war,  the  great  and  innumerable 
services  he  rendered  those  who  did  will  never 
be  forgotten  as  long  as  memory  fasts  in  regard 
to  those  trying  and  eventful  times.  3Ir.  Saf- 
ford was  possessed  of  a  judgment  so  candid, 
and  of  a  mind  so  comprehensive,  that  his  coun- 
sel was  often  sought  after  by  those  in  respons- 
ible otiicial  positions,  and  his  pecuniary  aid  was 
called  into  requisition  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  in  command  and  service.  Mr.  Saft'ord 
always  responded  so  readily  and  generously, 
and  withal  so  quietly,  to  calls  for  help  that 
those  most  closely  associated  with  him  knew 
nothing  of  the  amounts  in  money  that  he  gave 
and  advanced  to  soldiers.  And  it  was  not  un- 
til after  his  death  that  unpaid  notes  revealed 
all  that  he  had  advanced  to  them  and  their 
families.  It  was  said  of  Mr.  Safford,  that  if 
any  one  asked  a  favor  of  him  that  he  could  not 
grant,  that  his  refusal  was  so  courteous  that  the 
man  went  away  feeling  almost  as  happy  as  if 
his  request  had  been  granted.  As  the  war  ad- 
vanced, the  opportunities  were  often  very  great 
to  take  advantage  of  some  speculation  that  had 
the  prospect  of  great  gain  in  it.  But  Mr.  Saf- 
ford, when  approached  by  those  who  were  eager 
to  have  his  clear-sighted  business  judgment 
brought  to  bear  upon  a  scheme  of  such  prom- 
ise, was  often  heard  to  say,  "  No,  it  shall  never 
be  said  of  me,  whether  my  country  wins  or 
loses,  that  I  speculated  upon  her  misfortunes. 
What  I  make  shall  be  done  upon  an  open- 
handed,  unswerving  business   basis."     It  will 


56d 


BIOGRAPHICAL . 


never  be  known,  except  b}'  those  who  drew  up- 
on his  bounties,  how  Mr.  Safford  upheld  and 
strengthened  the  endeavors  of  those  who 
worked  in  the  hospitals  and  cared  on  the  battle 
fields  for  the  dead  and  the  dying.  He  could 
not  go  into  the  midst  of  suffering  himself. 
The  writer  well  remembers  taking  him  into  a 
hospital,  but  before  he  had  passed  through  one 
ward  he  became  deathly  pale  and  sick,  and  had 
to  be  helped  ont.  But  he  was  in  the  closest 
sympathy  with  those  who  did  devote  them- 
selves to  the  work,  and  he  gave  unsparingly  to 
help  carry  it  on.  Mr.  Safford  always  identified 
himself  with  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lived.  As  soon  as  the 
country  was  restored  to  peace,  and  life  and 
business  moved  on  in"  its  usual  channels,  he 
bent  his  efforts  toward  building  up  first-class 
public  schools  in  Cairo.  The  best  of  teachers 
were  selected,  schoolhouses  were  built,  and  the 
public  schools  of  Cairo  became  the  pride  and 
boast  of  its  inhabitants. 

The  poor  widows  and  orphans  found  in  him 
an  abiding  friend,  they  came  to  him  for  advice, 
and  if  they  had  a  pittance  to  be  cared  for  he 
was  the  one  to  whose  keeping  it  was  intrusted,  j 
He  was  the  first  to  establish  a  Savings  Bank 
in  Cairo,  into  which  the  mites  of  the  working 
people  could  be  put  with  safety,  and  thus  help 
to  encourage  them  to  save,  rather  than  to  squan- 
der their  earnings.  When  festal  days  occurred, 
it  was  Mr.  Safford's  custom  to  see  to  it  that 
there  was  none  so  poor  and  friendless  in  the 
community  as  to  be  forgotten.  He  gave  often 
without  the  recipients  knowing  the  source  from 
whence  it  came.  He  was  one  of  those  rare  char- 
acters who  lived  to  do  good  and  to  make  others 
better  and  happier  for  his  having  lived,  but  so 
modest  and  unselfish  was  he  that  he  wanted  no 
praise  for  what  he  did,  and  hisonl}^  reward  was 
the  consciousness  that  he  had  done  good.  Mr. 
Safford's  position  led  him  in  close  contact  with 
young  men,  and  his  living  example  was  an  in- 
spiration to  them.     He  was  the  soul  of  indus- 


ti'3';  he  never  delegated  to  others  duties  that 
belonged  to  him.  He  never  was  in  debt;  when 
his  means  were  limited,  he  lived  within  them. 
He  never  used  intoxicating  drinks  in  any  form. 
He  never  indulged  in  the  use  of  tobacco  in  any 
shape.  He  was  temperate  in  all  things,  and  his 
habits  and  tastes  were  all  simple.  He  was 
never  happier  than  when  he  saw  others  pros- 
perous, and  he  contributed  to  the  success  of  a 
great  many  young  men  by  encouraging  them, 
and  by  helping  them  into  good  business  habits. 
Ml-.  Safford  was  very  jovial  and  fond  of  play- 
ing jokes  upon  others,  but  he  could  take  a  joke 
as  good-huraoredly  as  he  gave  it.  He  abhorred 
shams  and  pretensions.  The  writer  was  with  him 
once  at  a  hotel  where  there  was  a  famil}^  who 
put  on  a  great  deal  of  style  and  made  them- 
selves rather  conspicuous  in  man}'  ways.  He 
remarked  in  regard  to  them  :  "  They  can  afford 
to  put  on  airs;  the  man  has  recently  gone  into 
bankruptcy,  but  we  who  pay  our  debts  as  we 
go  along,  need  to  move  on  quietly."  Mr.  Saf- 
ford's love  for  children  and  the  ready  confi- 
dence they  gave  him,  spoke  volumes  for  the 
beauty  and  tenderness  of  his  nature.  When 
quite  a  young  man,  his  greatest  pleasure  in 
winter  was  to  get  a  spacious  sleigh  and  fill  it 
with  children  unable  to  indulge  in  such  pleas- 
ures, for  a  merry  ride,  and  all  his  life  he  was 
ever  mindful  of  ways  to  make  children  happy. 
Although  married  twice,  he  was  never  blessed 
with  children  of  his  own.  He  cared  very  little 
for  societ}',  but  his  home  was  everything  to 
him,  and  was  the  center  of  genuine  hospitality. 
Mr.  Safford  took  no  interest  in  party  strifes, 
but  was  devoted  to  his  country  and  its  welfare, 
and  he  was  always  firm  in  his  support  of  such 
men  for  ofHce  as  he  believed  would  best 
serve  the  public  weal.  Mr.  Safford  left  his 
home  in  July,  1877,  for  a  rest  of  a  few  weeks 
in  New  England.  He  spent  a  week  at  the  sea- 
shore with  an  enjoyment  of  old  ocean  that  was 
refreshing  to  witness.  He  was  verj'  fond  of 
nature,  and  seemed  a  bov  again  in  the  buoyancy 


CAIRO. 


r)6K 


and  freshness  of  his  spirit,  when  in  close  com- 
munion with  her.  His  face  was  so  expressive 
of  geniality,  that  strangers  were  inA'ariabl}'  at- 
tracted to  him.  He  had  the  tender,  shrinking 
nature  of  a  woman,  with  all  of  the  finest,  no- 
blest traits  of  a  man.  He  was  most  loyal  in 
his  friendships,  and  it  can  be  truly  said,  that 
he  had  no  enemies,  but  a  host  of  friends  ;  he 
was  so  just  and  true  in  his  dealings  with  men? 
that  they  could  aflford  to  differ  from  him  in 
opinions,  and  yet  harbor  no  feelings  of  ill  will 
or  distrust  toward  him.  After  leaving  the  sea- 
shore, Mr.  Safford  went  on  a  visit  to  his  native 
State.  He  seemed  in  perfect  health.  Along 
the  journey  he  called  the  frequent  attention  of 
those  traveling  with  him  to  the  beauty  of  the 
scenery,  his  soul  seemed  attuned  to  all  beauty 
in  nature,  and  to  all  goodness  in  mankind.  The 
day  after  his  arrival,  he  was  constantly  occu- 
pied in  rendering  kindh'  services  to  those  about 
him.  He  drove  with  an  aged  relative  to  the 
beautiful  cemetery  in  Burlington.  She  said  to 
him  while  driving,  do  3'ou  not  have  a  dread  of 
death  ?  No,  he  replied,  it  is  inevitable,  and 
comes  in  the  order  of  nature,  and  when  it  calls 
me,  I  shall  be  ready  and  willing  to  meet  it. 
This  remark  was  made  in  the  forenoon,  and  at 
10  o'clock  in  the  evening,  he  had  passed  on  t© 
that  bourn  from  whence  none  return.  He 
went  for  a  stroll  in  the  evening,  accompanied 
b}'  his  cousin,  and  fell  insensible  on  the  street 
in  a  fit  of  apoplexy.  He  was  taken  to  the 
home  of  his  cousin,  where  he  was  visiting  in 
Burlington,  Vt.,  and  regained  consciousness  so 
as  to  speak  to  those  about  him,  but  soon  sank 
into  a  swoon,  and  passed  awa}-  as  calmly  as  if 
falling  into  a  peaceful  sleep.  He  had  often  re- 
marked that  it  would  be  his  desire  to  die  in 
harness,  and  so  it  was;  up  to  the  last  hour,  he 
was  useful  and  happy  in  conducing  to  the  hap- 
piness of  others.  Not  alone  did  those  who 
were  nearest  and  dearest  to  him,  feel  that  his 
loss  was  irreparable,  but  in  business  circles,  in 
the  Odd  Fellows  Lodge,  to  which  he  was  at- 


tached, in  the  public  schools,  and  in  all  places 
where  there  was  need  of  aid  to  further  noble 
effort,  he  was  missed  and  mourned. 

"So  calm,  so  constant  was  his  rectitude, 
That  by  his  loss  alone  we  knew  its  worth, 
And  feel  how  true  a  man  has  walked  with  us  on  earth.' 

HENRY  HINSDALE  CANDEE,  Cairo,  was 
born  at  Harwinton,  Litchfield  Co.,  Conn  ,  on 
the  6th  day  of  December,  A.  D.  1833.  At  the 
age  of  three  years,  his  parents  moved  to  Illi- 
nois and  settled  in  the  old  town  of  Kaskaskia, 
where  they  resided  till  December,  1844,  when, 
having  been  rendered  homeless  by  the  unprece- 
dented floods  of  that  year,  they  removed  to 
Cairo,  111.  At  that  date,  the  facilities  for  obtain- 
ing an  education  in  Cairo  were  very  meager. 
Mr.  Candee's  parents  being  anxious  that  their 
bo}'  should  receive  an  education,  sent  him,  at 
an  early  age,  to  Jubilee  College,  a  promising 
institution  then  just  established  by  Bishop 
Chase  at  Robin's  Nest,  Peoria  Co.,  111. ;  but.  be- 
fore finishing  his  education,  young  Mr.  Candee 
was  called  home  b^-  the  death  of  his  father,  and 
was  compelled  to  seek  employment  and  assist 
his  mother  in  the  support  of  herself  and  three 
children.  He  engaged  in  various  occupations, 
learning  telegraphy,  etc.,  till  finally,  by  the  as- 
sistance of  friends,  he  was  enabled  to  purchase 
a  grocer3'  stock.  He  continued  in  this  business 
till  the  outbreaking  of  the  rebellion,  when  he 
entered  the  United  States  Navy,  first  as  a  Clerk 
in  one  of  the  departments  at  Cairo,  and  later 
receiving  an  appointment  as  Assistant  Pay- 
master. He  served  on  the  United  States  Re- 
ceiving Ships  "  Maria  Denning  "  and  •  Clara 
Dolsen."  stationed  at  Cairo,  and  in  the  oflSce  of 
the  Fleet  Paymaster.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
he  accepted  a  position  in  the  City  National 
Bank  of  Cairo,  and  was  appointed  Assistant 
Cashier.  He  remained  in  the  bank  about  a 
year  and  a  half,  when  he  left  that  institution  to 
engage  in  his  present  business,  that  of  insur- 
ance. Mr.  Candee  ranks  among  the  oldest  res- 
idents of  the  city  of  Cairo.     He  was  its  first 


56f 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


City  Treasurer,  and  has  held  other  offices  at  the 
hands  of  its  people.  He  is  now  a  Notary  Pub- 
lic and  United  States  Commissioner,  and  holds 
other  responsible  positions,  being  the  President 
of  the  Enterprise  Savings  Bank  and  a  Di- 
rector of  the  City  National  Bank.  In  religion, 
Mr.  Candee  is  an  Episcopalian,  and  is  a  zealous 
member  of  the  church.  He  is  held  in  high  es- 
teem in  the  councils  of  his  church  ;    among 


other  positions,  he  is  the  Treasurer  of  the  En- 
dowment Fund  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  Illinois — the  first  Province  established 
by  the  American  Church.  On  the  20th  of  Feb- 
ruar}'.  1868,  Mr.  Candee  married  Miss  Isabella 
Shepard  Laning,  daughter  of  Capt.  James  Lan- 
ing  (late  of  the  United  States  Navy),  at  La 
Salle.  111.  One  son — Henry  Safford  Candee — 
has  been  the  fruit  of  this  marriage. 


ANNA    PRECINCT. 


57 


UNION    COUNTY. 


ANISTA     PEECIl^OT. 


OLIVER  ALDEN,  merchant,  Anna,  is  a  na- 
tive of  Plymptou,  Mass.,  born  August  7,  1828. 
His  father,  John  Alclen,  was  a  farmer,  a  native 
of  Massachusetts.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war 
of  1812.  His  wife  and  mother  of  our  subject 
was  born  in  Massachusetts,  and  died  in  her  na- 
tive State.  They  were  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren, of  whom  Oliver  was  the  oldest  child.  He 
was  raised  on  a  farm,  and  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools.  At  twelve  years  of  age,  he  left 
his  home  and  apprenticed  himself  at  the  shoe- 
maker's trade.  When  he  was  sixteen  3'ears  of 
age,  he  gave  up  the  shoemaker's  trade  and  be- 
gan leai'ning  the  blacksmith's  trade,  and 
worked  at  the  same  in  Massachusetts  until  he 
was  twent3'-two  years  of  age.  In  the  winter 
of  1850,  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  again  worked 
at  his  trade  until  1859.  He  first  came  to  Jones- 
boro,  Union  Count}-,  in  1856,  and  three  years 
later-  engaged  as  clerk  with  John  E.  Nail,  in  a 
general  merchandising  store.  He  continued 
with  this  gentleman  until  1862,  when  he  engaged 
with  C.  M.  Willard  &  Co.  in  the  same  business. 
In  1863,  he  bought  the  stock  of  goods  of  his 
former  employer,  John  E.  Nail,  and  engaged  in 
business  for  himself  In  1879,  he  removed  his 
stock  of  goods  to  Anna,  where  he  is  now  doing 
a  large  and  lucrative  business.  Mr.  Alden  was 
united  in  matrimony  in  1853  to  Miss  Sarah 
Tripp,  a  native  of  Union  County.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  William  and  Frankie  (Grrammer) 
Tripp,  who  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
Union  County.  The}-  were  from  Tennessee, 
but  natives  of  Georgia.     Mr.  and  Mrs.    Alden 


have  the  following  children,  viz.:  Abby,  wife  of 
L.  T.  Cook  ;  Alice,  wife  of  H.  C.  Bouton  ;  Ern- 
est (John  and  Thomas — twins)  Oliver,  Betsey, 
Robert,  Everett  and  Mary.  Mr.  Alden  votes 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

F.  P.  ANDERSON,  jeweler,  Anna,  was  born 
in  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  -September  1,  1858,  and  is  a 
son  of  Dennis  and  Mar}'  (Cullen)  Anderson, 
and  one  of  a  family  of  ten  children — nine  of 
whom  are  still  living.  He  was  educated  in  the 
High  School  at  Shelby  ville.  111.,  whither  his  par- 
ents had  removed  in  1868.  At  the  age  of 
thirteen  years,  he  apprenticed  himself  to  the 
jeweler's  trade  with  Mr.  R.  N.  Mitchell,  with 
whom  he  worked  nearly  eleven  years,  becoming 
a  thorough  and  practical  workman  in  every  de- 
partment of  the  business  he  has  chosen.  In 
June,  1880,  he  came  to  Anna,  111.,  and  opened 
a  jewelry  store,  a  business  he  has  successfully 
conducted  ever  since.  He  carries  a  large  and 
well-selected  stock  of  his  line  of  goods,  con- 
sisting of  a  full  assortment  of  clocks,  watches, 
jewelry  of  all  kinds,  together  with  a  complete 
stock  of  picture  frames,  stationery,  etc.  His 
square  dealing,  gentlemanly  manners  toward 
his  customers,  and  uniform  courtesy,  has  won 
for  him  a  large  and  profitable  trade  and  hosts 
of  friends  throughout  the  county.  Mr.  Ander- 
son was  married  in  1881  to  Miss  Anna  M. 
Dennis,  of  Pana,  111.,  a  daughter  of  Frank  and 
Hannah  (Colby)  Dennis.  They  have  one 
child— Ora,  born  October  28,  1881. 

CAPT.  HUGH    ANDREWS,    the     second 
child  of  Samuel  A.  and  Margaret  (Ramsey)  An- 


58 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


drews,  was  born  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  March  16, 
1834.  Samuel  Andrews  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, born  in  1802,  and  with  his  parents  re- 
moved to  Dayton  in  the  year  1804.  In  this 
place  he  was  reared  and  became  a  farmer.  His 
father,  Huojh  Andrews,  was  a  native  of  Ireland, 
who  came  to  America  in  company  with  two 
brothers,  and  located  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
married  in  December,  1831.  His  consort 
was  born  in  Hanover,  Penn.,  Decembei", 
1811.  The}' were  both  exemplary  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  issue  of  this  mar- 
riage was  eleven  children,  nine  of  whom,  four 
sons  and  five  daughters,  survive  to  light  with 
love  and  joy  the  evening  of  life  of  the  venera- 
ble father.  The  mother  passed  awa}-  October 
19,  1868.  Capt.  Hugh  Andrews  was  reared  in 
Dayton,  and  attended  the  common  schools  of 
that  place,  and  afterward  studied  at  Wittenburg, 
and  graduated  in  law  department  of  Ann  Arbor 
Universit}'  in  1864.  In  1855,  he  caine  to  Union 
County  and  taught  school.  In  1859,  he  went 
to  California,  and  for  three  years  was  a  travel- 
ler and  miner  in  that  wild,  rough  countr3^  He 
returned  to  Union  County  in  1862,  and  entered 
the  service  of  his  country  as  a  Captain  of  Com- 
pany D,  One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regiment 
Illinois  Volunteers,  and  continued  in  this  serv- 
ice for  nine  mouths.  He  had  studied  law 
with  Judge  James  Baggott,  of  Ohio,  and  with 
Col.  Doughert}',  of  Jonesboro,  and  in  1864; 
he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  the  law,  open- 
ing his  office  at  Anna,  where  he  is  still  in  the 
active  practice  of  his  profession,  and  conduct- 
ing his  fruit  farm.  In  1865,  he  was  elected 
Countv  School  Superintendent,  which  position 
he  filled  with  signal  abilit}'  for  four  years.  He 
entered  into  his  office,  finding  it  simply  unor- 
ganized chaos.  From  this  he  brought  order 
and  placed  the  entire  sj'stem  of  schools  in  Un- 
ion County  upon  their  present  successful  career 
of  usefulness.  He  organized  teachers'  insti- 
tutes, brought  the  teachers  together  and  trained 
them     to    their    work    in    a  sj'stematic  way, 


and  thus  created  a  high  order  of  graded  schools. 
He  built  the  most  of  the  schoolhouses  that 
now  ornamented  the  school  districts  of  the 
count}',  and  has  here  erected  a  monument  that 
will  stand  for  man}'  years  as  a  fitting  tribute  to 
his  intelligence,  his  energy  and  fine  executive 
abilities.  Capt.  Andrews  was  married  to 
Miss  Kate  E.  Grofi",  October  8,  1867.  She  is 
a  native  of  Lawrenceburg,  Ind.  Of  this  issue 
there  have  been  eight  children,  of  whom  four, 
all  girls,  are  now  living,  as  follows  :  Christie 
L.,  Maggie,  Mary  and  Sarah  Belle.  Capt. 
Andrews  has  had  a  busy  life  in  Union  County, 
practicing  law,  farming,  and  widely  influencing 
the  politics  of  the  county,  and  filling  important 
oflScial  positions.  He  has  long  been  a  member 
of  the  Masonic,  Odd  Fellows  and  Knights  of 
Honor  societies,  and  has  frequently  repre- 
sented the  first  two  in  the  Grand  Lodges.  He 
is  a  young  man  yet,  hardly  reached  the  prime 
of  his  mental  life,  and  is  well  justified  in  look- 
ing forward  to  a  most  promising  future,  and 
being  a  man  of  noted  integrity,  a  high  sense 
of  honor,  and  a  genial,  warm  heart,  with  the 
best  of  social  qualities,  there  is  around  him 
and  among  his  extended  acquaintance  a  host 
of  friends  who  will  rejoice  at  any  and  all  suc- 
cess that  may  await  him. 

JOSIAH  BEAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  is  a 
native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  in  December, 
1835.  His  father  George  Bean,  was  born  in 
Virginia  in  1806,  and  was  there  raised  and 
educated;  arriving  at  his  majority,  he  removed 
to  Tennessee,  and  there  married.  In  1831,  he 
removed  to  Union  County,  111.,  and  settled  in 
Jonesboro  Precinct.  He  was  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation. He  died  in  the  fall  of  1856.  Eliza- 
beth (Taylor)  Bean,  subject's  mother,  was  born 
in  Tennessee,  in  1807,  and  died  in  Union 
County,  111.,  December  25,  1880.  She  was  the 
mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom  the  following 
are  living  :  Thomas,  Josiah,  Amanda,  wife  of 
Henry  Hess,  Emma,  wife  of  Marshall  Rendle- 
man.     Josiah,  our  subject,  was  raised  on  the 


ANNA  PRECINCT. 


59 


farm  and  educated  in  the  subscription  schools 
common  in  his  da}-.  At  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  he  left  home  and  engaged  in  farming  on 
his  own  account.  He  commenced  life  in  very 
limited  circumstances,  and  has  succeeded  in 
accumulating  good  property,  and  is  the  owner 
of  about  1,000  acres  of  good  land.  In  May, 
1858,  he  married  Miss  Caroline  Hileman,  a 
native  of  the  count3^  They  have  the  following 
children  :  George  C,  Monroe,  Nancy,  Emma 
and  Carrie.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bean  are  members 
of  the  United  Baptist  Church  of  Anna.  Polit- 
icall}-,  he  is  a  Democrat.  He  was  at  one  time 
President  of  the  Union  Count}'  Agricultural 
Association  for  two  years. 

HARVEY  CADY  BOUTON,  proprietor 
Farmer  and  Fruit- Groioer,  Anna,  111.  Some 
individuals  spend  a  life-time  in  the  endeavor 
to  discover  the  avocation  for  which  nature  has 
best  fitted  tliem,  and  to  which  their  talents 
can  most  profitably  and  usefully  be  directed. 
Not  so  with  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Mr. 
Bon  ton  was  born  to  his  business,  his  father  and 
his  uncle  being  old  in  experience  in  printing, 
publishing  and  general  newspaper  enterprise 
before  him.  His  birth  occurred  on  June  28, 
1856,  in  Centreville,  St.  Joseph  Co.,  Mich. 
From  his  infancy,  he  was  accustomed  to  watch 
the  manipulations  of  type  and  press,  and  while 
j-et  in  his  early  boyhood  handled  the  composing 
stick  and  rule.  His  education  was  received  at 
good  home  schools,  and  at  Notre  Dame  Uni- 
versit}',  Ind.  After  serving  several  years  with 
his  father  in  publishing  the  Jonesboro  Gazette, 
he  in  March,  1877,  struck  out  for  himself,  and 
began  issuing  the  Farmer  and  Fruit- Grower  in 
Anna,  at  first  as  a  semi-monthl}-.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1877,  it  was  made  an  eight-page  weekly 
journal.  In  1882,  it  was  again  enlarged,  and 
has  remained  thus  to  the  present  time.  On 
October  10,  1877,  he  was  married  to  Alice  Al- 
den,  by  whom  he  had  one  child,  Susie  S.,  born 
March  9,  1880. 

S.   D.   CASPER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  is  a 


native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  June  25, 
1858,  to  Peter  H.  and  Elizabeth  (Henderson) 
Casper.  He  was  born  in  Union  Count}'  in  1822, 
and  was  here  raised  on  a  farm  and  educated  in 
the  subscription  schools  of  his  day.  He  first 
left  his  home  to  enter  the  Mexican  war,  and 
served  in  it  to  its  close,  when  he  returned  to 
Union  and  engaged  in  farming  and  fruit  grow- 
ing to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
December  2,  1878.  His  wife  (subject's  mother), 
was  born  in  Tennessee  December  29,  1828,  and 
was  brought  to  Union  County  by  her  parents 
in  1837.  She  is  the  mother  of  the  following 
children  :  Walter  J.,  America  J.,  S.  D.,  Addie 
L.,  Lincoln  L.,  John  R.  and  Oscar.  Our  sub- 
ject spent  his  early  life  at  home,  assisting  to 
till  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm,  and  receiving 
such  an  education  as  could  be  obtained  in  the 
common  schools.  At  nineteen  years  of  age,  he 
took  the  management  of  his  father's  fai-m.  and 
is  now  the  owner  of  about  ninety  acres  of  good 
land.  His  farm  and  its  general  surroundings 
show  the  marks  of  a  good  agriculturist  and  an 
enterprising  man. 

H.  M.  DETRICH,  Steward  of  the  South  Hli- 
nois  Insane  Asylum,  Anna,  is  a  native  of 
Sparta,  Randolph  Co.,  111.  He  was  born  April 
29,  1856,  to  J.  E.  and  Lydia  (Wise)  Detrich. 
He  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  Grcrman  language  ;  he  learned 
the  printer's  trade  in  Pennsylvania  in  1832- 
He  came  to  Illinois  and  located  in  Randolph 
County,  where  he  worked  at  his  trade  for  some 
time,  and  later  became  the  editor  and  proprietor 
of  the  Columbus  Herald.  After  two  years,  he 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  at  Sparta 
(formally  Columbus).  He  was  elected  Repre- 
sentative of  Randolph  County,  and  afterward 
was  elected  Senator  of  his  district.  After  the 
expiration  of  his  Senatorial  term,  he  again  en- 
gaged in  the  mercantile  business,  and  while 
thus  engaged  was  appointed  Internal  Revenue 
Collector.  At  the  breaking-out  of  the  late  rebell- 


60 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


ion,  he  raised  a  eompan}'  of  men,  known  as  Com- 
pany K,  of  the  Twenty-second  Illinois  Regi- 
ment Volunteers,  and  was  appointed  Captain  of 
the  company.  He  served  three  years  and  was 
engaged  in  many  battles.  He  was  mustered 
out  of  the  service  on  account  of  poor  health  ; 
he  returned  to  Randolph  County  and  again  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  pursuits.  Under  Gen. 
Grant's  first  administration,  he  was  again  ap- 
pointed Internal  Revenue  Collector,  which  posi- 
tion he  held  for  several  j'ears,  and  in  connection 
with  his  official  duties  engaged  in  real  estate. 
He  was  appointed  Trustee  of  the  Southern  Illi- 
nois Insane  Asylum,  and  elected  President  of 
the  board.  In  1882,  he  was  appointed  to  a 
position  in  the  Pension  Department  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  in  which  he  is  now  engaged.  He 
has  been  married  three  times  ;  his  first  wife  was 
a  Miss  Shannon,  who  bore  him  two  children  — 
Robert  and  Fred  ;  the  former  is  now  Deputy- 
Clerk  of  Randolph  County,  and  the  latter  a 
druggist  of  Alton,  111.  His  second  wife  was 
Lydia  Wise,  the  mother  of  our  subject,  and 
Don  E.,  who  is  State's  Attorney  of  Randolph 
Count}',  111.  He  was  married  a  third  time  to 
Mrs.  S.  A.  Jacobs.  Harr}'  M.  Detrich  was  edu- 
cated in  the  high  schools  of  Sparta,  111.,  and  in 
earl}'^  life  learned  the  printing  and  newspaper 
business  ;  he  worked  at  the  same  in  this  State, 
also  in  Colorado.  In  the  spring  of  1878,  he 
was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Southern  Illinois 
Insane  As3"lum,  and  after  one  year  was  promoted 
to  the  position  of  Steward  by  Dr.  H.  Wardner? 
which  office  he  now  holds.  Mr.  Detrich  was 
married  at  Anna,  111.,  October  19,  1881,  to  Miss 
Anna  M.  Hay,  a  native  of  Illinois.  They  have 
been  blessed  with  one  child,  Burke  H.,  born 
July  7,  1882.  Mr.  Detrich  is  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  order  K.  of  H.,  Anna  Lodge,  No. 
1892.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican,  and  in 
1880  he  stumped  this  Congressional  District 
for  James  A.  Garfield. 

JAMES       DEWITT,     blacksmith,      Anna. 
This  gentleman  is  a  native  of  Union  Count}', 


born  November  9,  1844.  His  father,  John 
Dewitt,  was  born  in  Virginia,  where  he  was 
only  partly  raised,  when  he  was  removed  to 
Kentucky  by  his  parents.  He  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  engaged  in  the  same  until 
the  breaking-out  of  the  late  war,  when  he  en- 
tered it ;  was  wounded  at  Fort  Donelson,  and 
died  at  the  St.  Louis  Hospital  from  its  effects  ; 
also  sunstroke;  it  occurred  in  June,  1863. 
His  pai-ents  were  natives  of  Virginia,  and  of 
French  descent.  Margaret  (Cruse)  Dewitt, 
(subject's  mother),  was  born  in  North  Carolina, 
and  came  to  Union  County  with  her  parents 
who  settled  south  of  Jonesboro.  She  died 
in  1873,  aged  forty -six  years.  She  was  the 
mother  of  six  children,  of  whom  the  following 
four  are  now  living  :  Martha,  wife  of  Henry 
Douglass,  a  farmer  of  Jonesboro  Precinct ; 
Mary,  wife  of  Eli  Douglass,  a  blacksmith  of 
Alexander  County;  Laura,  wife  of  E.  C. 
English,  a  cooper  of  Jonesboro,  and  James, 
our  subject,  who  was  the  fourth  child  ;  he  was 
raised  on  the  farm,  and  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  ;  at  twenty -one  years  of  age,  he 
left  his  home  and  apprenticed  himself  to  Eli 
Douglass  to  learn  the  blacksmith's  trade,  and 
remained  with  him  for  about  three  years  ;  w&en 
he  came  to  Anna,  and  opened  a  shop  on  his  own 
account.  He  is  now  engaged  in  the  same 
business  in  partnership  with  William  W. 
Stokes,  and  besides  doing  a  general  blacksmith- 
ing  business,  they  carry  a  large  and  complete 
stock  of  farm  wagons,  road  buggies,  also  a 
large  assortment  of  plows,  cultivators,  harrows, 
~and  in  fact  a  general  line  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments. Mr.  Dewitt  was  married  in  1869,  to 
Miss  Laura  A.  Walker,  a  native  of  Union 
County,  and  a  daughter  of  Hiram  Jay  and 
Nancy  (Hargrave)  Walker.  This  union  has 
been  blessed  with  the  following  children :  Es- 
tella  and  Mamie.  Mr.  Dewitt  is  a  Democrat 
in  politics,  and  a  member  of  the  Knights  and 
Ladies  of  Honor,  and  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 

PETER  DILLOW,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna.  The 


ANN^A    PRECINCT. 


61 


subject  of  the  following  sketch  descended  from 
a  long  line  of  ancestors,  all  tillers  of  the  soil, 
and  has  spent  nearly  the  whole  of  his  active 
life  as  a  farmer,  and  now  enjoys  that  respect, 
confidence  and  affection  of  his  fellow-citizens 
which  a  useful  and  upright  life  can  permanently 
secure.  He  was  born  February  28,  1820,  in 
Union  County,  111.,  and  is  the  son  of  Samuel 
and  Margaret  (Lingle)  Dillow,  natives  of  North 
Carolina  and  residents  of  this  county.  While 
3'et  single,  the  father  settled  with  his  father, 
Jacob  Dillow,  near  Cobden.  He  is  deceased. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  survives,  with  him, 
at  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety  3'ears.  She  is  the 
mother  of  five  children  ;  the  subject  only  sur- 
vives. Peter's  educational  advantages  were  such 
as  only  a  district  school  afforded,  and  were  lim- 
ited at  that,  the  entire  amount  not  being  more 
than  one  year.  He  was  subjected  to  the  com- 
mand of  his  father  to  attend  the  duties  of 
farmer  life  until  having  reached  his  majority, 
when  he  set  out  for  himself,  marrying  at  that 
age  Mahulda  Treece,  a  daughter  of  Alexander 
Treece,  the  result  of  which  union  is  ten  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  survive,  viz.,  Calvin,  Wal- 
ter, James,  Nelson, Columbus,  S3'dne3',  Mansena, 
Alice,  Frances.  Dora.  Immediatel3'  after  his  mar- 
riage, he  located  on  a  tract  of  land  3'et  in  his  pos- 
session, and  in  real  earnest  set  about  the  busi- 
ness of  taming  the  wilderness,  which,  under  his 
strong  hand,  guided  b3'  his  consummate  skill  and 
taste,  has  long  since  been  made  to  "  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  the  rose  ;"  he  is  one  of  the  most 
successful  and  dexterous  farmers  in  his  neigh- 
borhood, and  is  the  artificer  of  his  own  fortune 
of  -400  aci'es  of  finel3'  improved  land.  He  has 
long  since  laid  aside  the  wooden  mold-board 
plow,  and  has  at  his  command  the  modern  im- 
plements for  tilling  the  soil.  Although  he  had 
but  little  chance  for  education,  3'et  he  has  given 
his  familv  of  children  every  advantage  he  rea- 
sonably could.  He  votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 
The  farail3'  attend  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
HORACE  T.  EASTMAN,  farmer  and  dairy- 


man, P.  0.  Anna,  Anna  Township.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  stands  prominent  among 
the  leading  farmers  of  Union  County,  and 
justl3'  merits  a  most  honorable  mention.  He 
was  born  in  Orleans  County,  N.  Y.,  October  27, 
1820,  and  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth 
(Tanner)  Eastman.  The  former  was  born  in 
Vermont  in  1793,  and  was  there  brought  up  on 
a  farm  and  educated.  At  the  age  of  nineteen 
years,  he  enlisted  in  the  war  of  1812,  partici- 
pating in  the  battles  of  Plattsburg  and  Bur- 
lington, under  Gen.  Dearborn,  serving  his  coun- 
try about  two  3'ears.  After  the  war  was  over, 
he  learned  the  carpenter's 'trade,  which  he  fol- 
lowed during  his  life.  In  1819,  he  removed  to 
Orleans  Count3',  N.  Y.,  and  in  1835  to  Ohio,  lo- 
cating at  Sandusky.  He  came  to  Illinois  in 
1857,  and  settled  in  Union  Co.unty,  and  died 
in  Anna  in  1858.  He  was  of  English  descent, 
and  a  son  of  Samuel  H.  Eastman,  who  was  a 
native  of  Rhode  Island,  a  soldier  of  the  Rev- 
olutionar3^  war,  and  who  died  at  Sandusk3%  Ohio. 
He  was  a  son  of  Ichabod  Eastman,  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  also  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  the  Rev- 
olution. The  mother  of  our  subject  was  born 
in  Vermont  in  1799,  and  died  in  Michigan  in 
1826.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Josiah  Tanner, 
a  native  of  Massachusetts.  His  father,  with 
his  seven  brothers,  were  in  the  United  States 
service  during  the  Revolutionary  war.  The 
parents  of  our  subject  had  two  children,  he  be- 
ing the  eldest,  and  the  onlv'  one  surviving.  He 
was  raised  mostl3'  in  Ohio,  and  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  that  State.  At  the 
age  of  seventeen  years,  he  left  his  home  and 
commenced  business  for  himself  He  worked 
for  other  parties  and  also  with  his  father  at 
the  carpenter's  trade,  becoming  an  efficient 
mechanic.  In  1845,  he  engaged  with  the  San- 
dusk3',  Da3'ton  &  Cincinnati  Railroad  Corapan3', 
and  remained  with  them  for  eleven  yeai's,  five 
3'ears  as  a  journe3'man  carpenter,  and  car 
builder,  and  nearl3'  six  years  as  master  car- 
penter.      Upon    leaving    the    emplo3'  of    the 


68 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


company,  he  was  presented  by  the  President 
and  other  officials  with  complimentary  recom- 
mendations as  to  his  ability  as  a  workman, 
and  his  industry  and  business  habits.  At  the 
time,  and  in  connection  with  his  duties  in  the 
railroad  company,  he  was  interested  in  a  sash 
and  blind  factory,  at  Sandusky,  in  partnership 
with  Samuel  J.  Catherman,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Eastman  &  Catherman.  Mr.  Eastman 
came  to  Union  County  in  December,  1856, 
and  located  at  Anna,  where  he  worked  at  his 
trade  for  several  years.  He  built  many  of  the 
residences  and  business  houses  of  that  place, 
including  the  brick  mill,  recently  burned,  also 
many  of  the  finest  residences  and  barns  through- 
out the  county.  In  1861,  he  removed  to  his 
present  farm,  which  he  managed  in  connection 
with  his  trade,  until  1880,  when  he  gave  up 
carpentering  for  the  purpose  of  devoting  his 
entire  attention  to  his  farm.  He  has  120  acres 
in  a  fine  state  of  cultivation  and  well-improved. 
Formerly  he  was  largely  engaged  in  fruit-grow- 
ing, but  is  at  present  giving  his  attention  al- 
most wholly  to  the  dairy  business,  and  is  sup- 
plying with  milk  some  of  the  largest  hotels  in 
Southern  Illinois,  among  which  are  the  Euro- 
pean at  Anna,  and  the  Halliday  at  Cairo — fur- 
nishing to  the  latter  over  8200  worth  of  milk 
per  month.  He  keeps  now  about  thirty  cows. 
Mr.  Eastman  was  married  in  1849  to  Miss 
Hannah  L.  Snow,  a  native  of  Genesee  Count}^, 
N.  Y.  She  was  born  in  February,  1828,  and  is 
a  daughter  of  Libeas  and  Mercy  (Smith)  Snow  ; 
her  father  was  a  native  of  Vermont  and  a 
marine  in  the  war  of  1812,  with  Com.  Mc- 
Donough,  in  the  battles  of  Plattsburg  and  Lake 
Champlain.  He  lived  to  be  eighty-four  years 
of  age,  and  died  in  Michigan  about  the  year 
1865.  His  wife  died  in  Holmes  County,  Ohio, 
October  18,  1842.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eastman  have 
eiijht  children  living — Julia,  wife  of  Henry  A. 
Walls,  a  farmer  of  Morgan  County,  111.  ;  Fan- 
ny, wife  of  L.  N.  Davis,  a  farmer  of  this  coun- 
ty,   Elmer  B.,     Nora,     Harmon,     Horace    Gr., 


Kittie  and  Samuel.  Mr.  Eastman  is  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics  ;  he  is  probably  the  largest 
bee-raiser  in  the  county,  and  has  made  many 
improvements  in  hives  and  in  bee-culture 
generally.  On  the  19th  day  of  September, 
1830,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  with  his 
father  and  brother  on  board  of  steamer  Peacock, 
and  when  off  Cattaraugus  Creek,  N.  Y.,  she 
blew  up,  blowing  off  her  forward  upper  works, 
killing,  scalding  and  drowning  over  sevent}' 
people,  but  he  escaped  with  a  few  slight  burns. 

M.  V.  EAVES,  merchant,  Anna,  is  a  native 
of  Union  County,  111.,  and  was  born  five  miles 
east  of  Anna,  August  28,  1845,  and  is  a  son  of 
Judge  William  and  Martha  (Williams)  Eaves. 
They  had  five  children,  of  whom  our  subject 
was  the  youngest.  He  was  brought  up  on  the 
farm  and  educated  in  the  common  schools  of 
the  county.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  years, 
he  left  home  and  commenced  the  battle  of  life 
for  himself;  he  engaged  in  clerking  in  the  store 
of  C.  M.  Willard,  at  Anna,  remaining  with  him 
for  about  two  years,  when  he  commenced  mer- 
chandising on  his  own  account,  but  after  two 
years  went  back  to  his  former  employer,  and 
after  two  years  more  engaged  in  trading  in 
live  stock  and  grain,  and  in  April,  1878,  en- 
gaged in  his  present  business  in  partnership 
with  Mr.  Goodman.  In  1866,  he  married  Miss 
Fanny  Braiznell,  a  native  of  Union  County  and 
of  English  parentage,  a  daughter  of  Andrew 
Braiznell,  a  native  of  England.  They  have  one 
child  living — Eva,  born  in  Anna,  July  22, 1867, 
and  two  children  dead.  He  is  a  Democrat,  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  he  and  his 
wife  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

WILLIAM  MICHAEL  EDDLEMAN,  phy- 
sician, Anna.  One  of  the  old  and  prominent 
families  of  Union  Count}-  is  that  of  Eddleman. 
The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Joseph  Eddle- 
man, was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1802,  and 
was  a  son  of  John  Eddleman,  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, who  emigrated  to  North  Carolina  at 
an  early  day.     The  wife  of  Joseph  Eddleman 


ANNA  PRECINCT. 


63 


was  Sarah  Hess,  a  native  of  Illinois,  and  who 
was  born  in  Union  Count}'  in  1806.     She  is  still 
living,  and  is  the  mother  of  thirteen  children — 
ten  boys  and  three  girls — all  of  whom  lived  to 
the  3'ears  of  maturity.     Joseph  Eddleman  was 
a  prosperous  farmer   and  died  in  1856.     Eli 
Eddleman,    father   of  our   subject,  was    born 
February  21,  1831,  in  Union  County,  and   is 
now   the  owner  of  over  500  acres  of  excellent 
land.     He  was  for  a  time  engaged  in   milling 
and  merchandising,  but  gave  up  the  former  for 
a  number  of  years,  and  afterward  engaged  in 
the   mercantile  business.     He  was  married  in 
1852,  in  this  county,  to  Miss  Mary  L.  Halter- 
man,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  born  Septem- 
ber 24,  1829,  and  came  to  Union  County  with 
her  parents  in  1850.     She  has  nine  children, 
viz.:  Henry  E.,  born  September  1,  1853;  Sarah 
J.,  born  June  8,  1855,  and  the  wife  of  "William 
N.  Jenkins  ;  John  Wesley,  born  December  14, 
1856  ;  William  Michael  (subject),  born  March 
22, 1858  ;  Walter  Allen,  born  January  10,  1860, 
deceased  ;  George,   born  September  18,    1861, 
deceased  ;  Daniel  T.,  born  February    3,    1863, 
deceased  ;  Mai»y  Ellen,  born  August  26,  1 865, 
and  the  wife   of  D.  Penninger ;  James  Cyrus, 
born  November   14,   1867.      Mrs.  Eddleman's 
father  was  Abraham  Halterman,  a   native   of 
North  Carolina,  and  born  in  1800.     He  was  a 
farmer  and  carpenter,  and  in  1823  built  the 
County  Court  House  at  Concord,  N.  C,  and  in 
1850  came  to  Union  County,  HI.     He  was   a 
large  land  holder,  owning  some  2,500  acres  of 
land  ;  he  died  in  1853.     His  father  was  Chris- 
tian Halterman,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  but 
an  early  emigrant  to  North  Carolina.    Our  sub- 
ject was  raised  on  the  farm  until  he  was   nine- 
teen 3-earsofage,  and  receiving  during  the  time, 
the    benefits   of  the  common  schools.     Small 
events  sometimes  change  the  whole  current  of 
our  lives,  as  the  following  incident  in  the  life  of 
Dr.  Eddleman  will  show  :     In  his  boyhood,  he 
took  great  interest  in  domestic  matters,  and 
particularly  in  the  raising  of  poultry,  so  much 


so  that  he  soon  relieved  his  mother  of  all  care 
of  her  chickens  and  other  fowls.     So  great  was 
his  devotion  to  his  feathered  charges,  that  if  one 
met  with  the  slightest  accident,  he  nursed   it, 
and  cared  for  it  to  such  an  extent  that  the  fam- 
ily in  derision  applied  to  him  the  title  of  "  Doc- 
tor."   This  was  at  first  somewhat  embarrassing, 
but  as  he  grew  older  the  idea  of  making  a  phy 
sician  of  himself  was  conceived.     At  the  age  of 
nineteen,  he  entered  Ewing  College,  at  Ewing, 
111.,  where  he  remained  for  about  five  months 
and  then  returned  home.     In  the  fall  of  1878 
he  went  to  Valparaiso,  Ind.,  and  there  attended 
the  Indiana  Normal  School,  graduating   from 
that  institution  in  June,  1880.     He  had,  how- 
ever, taken  lectures  at  the  Kentucky  School  of 
Medicine,  and   the  Hospital  College  at  Louis- 
ville, and  in  the  fall  of  1881  entered  the  Med- 
ical Departmert  of  the  University  of  Tennessee, 
at  Nashville,  and  after  seven  months,  graduated, 
receiving  his  diploma  February  23,  1882.     In 
June  following,  he  located  at  Anna,  III,  and  en- 
tered upon  the  practice  of  medicine.     His  nat- 
ural ability,  education,  and  a  strong  sympathy 
for  the  woes  of  suffering  humanity,  qualify  him 
in  an  eminent  degree  for  the  profession  he  has 
chosen.     Although   he   has   not   yet   been   in 
practice  a  year,  he  has  professional  charge  of 
the  County  Almshouse.     Dr.  Eddleman  is    a 
Democrat  in  politics,   is   connected  with  the 
Lutheran    Church,   and   is   a   member  of  the 
Southern  Illinois  Medical  Association. 

REV.  JOHN  M.  FARIS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna, 
was  born  in  Ohio  County,  Va.,  May  23, 1818,  to 
William  and  Elizabeth  (McDonald)  Paris.  The  - 
elder  Paris  was  a  native  of  the  same  county, 
born  in  1793  and  died  in  1873.  He  was  a  farmer, 
a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812.  and  home  guard  of 
the  late  civil  war.  He  was  a  son  of  John 
Paris,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who,  with  his  father, 
William  Paris,  came  to  America  in  1850.  John 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  war  three  years. 
Our  subject's  mother  was  a  native  of  Wash- 
ington County,  Penn.,  born  in  1797.     She  re- 


64 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


moved   to  Ohio  County  with   her    parents  in 
1812,  and  was  married  to  William   Faris  (sub- 
ject's father)  in  1817,  and  died  in  1876.     She 
was  a  daughter  of  Archy  McDonald,  a  native 
of  Scotland,    who    came    to  America  at    the 
age   of  twelve     He  was  seven  years   in    the 
Revolutionary  war  as  a  fifer,  and    played    at 
the  battle  of  Yorktown.     Subject's  parents  had 
twelve  children,  of  whom  four  are  now  living, 
viz.:  Margaret,  wife  of  Richard  Carter,  residing 
in  Virginia  ;  Sarah   J.,  wife  of    David  Flock, 
residing  in  Atchison  County,  Mo.;  Mary  Ann, 
wife  of  Joseph  E.  Stewart,  residing  in  Topeka, 
Kan.,  and  John  M.,  our  subject,  who  was  the 
oldest  child.  He  was  raised  on  the  farm  ;  taught 
school   at   fourteen  years  of  age,  and  at   six- 
teen    entered   the   Washington    (Penn.)    Col- 
lege ;   graduated  in  1837,  and  from  the  West- 
ern  Presbyterian     Theological    Seminary    at 
Allegheny    City   in    1840.      He   immediately 
commenced  preaching  at  Barlow,  Washington 
Co.,  Ohio.     In  1844,  he  removed  to  Frederick- 
town,  Knox  Co.,  Ohio,  and  remained  until  1855, 
when  he  became  financial  agent,  raising  funds 
for  the  Washington  College.    In  January,  1858, 
he  was  called  to  first  Church  of  Rockford,  111., 
and  held  the  same  for  five  years,    when    he 
took  the  financial  agency  of  the  Presbyterian 
Theological  Seminary  of  Chicago,  and  resigned 
the  same  in  November,  1866,  when  he  came 
to  Union  County  and  engaged  in  farming  on 
his  present   farm.      He  has    spent   fifteen  or 
sixteen    years    in    the    church    financial  work 
with    notable    success.      He    resigned    all    of 
his  positions  in  the  spring  of  1883.     In  1840, 
at  Allegheny  City,  he  married  Miss  Anna  E. 
Wallace,    a   native  of  Pennsylvania   who  has 
borne  five  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing, viz.:  William  W.,  whose    biography    ap- 
pears in   this  work,  and   Sarah  Anna,  wife  of 
E.  R.  Jennette,  of  Anna,  111.  IMr.  Faris  is  a  man 
well  worthy  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is 
held  by  the  communit)^  in  which  he  lives  ;  he 
has  given  up   active  life  and  is  now  residing 


on  his  farm,  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his    past 
labors. 

REV.  WILLIAM  W.  FARIS,  editor  of  Anna 
Talk,  minister  of  Presbyterian  Church,  was 
born  in  Barlow,  Washington  Co.,  Ohio, 
August  25,  1843  ;  passed  through  the  high 
school  of  Fredericktown,  Knox  Co.,  Ohio,  in 
1855-56  ;  spent  the  winter  of  1856-57  on  the 
farm  of  his  grandparents  in  Ohio  County  (now 
West),  Va. ;  was  at  Miller  Academy, 
Washington,  Guernsey  Co.,  Ohio,  during  the 
summer  of  1857,  and  immediatelj^  thereafter 
took  the  freshman  and  sophomore  years  at 
Washington  College,  Pennsylvania ;  taught 
school  in  Winnebago  County,  111.,  during  the 
winters  of  1859-61,  spending  the  one  summer 
mostly  as  a  farm  laborer,  and  the  other  as  a 
book-keeper  in  N.  C.  Thompson's  bank.  Rock- 
ford  ;  went  to  California  in  August,  1861, 
spending  most  of  the  time  until  September, 
1864,  in  teaching  ;  enlisted  in  the  First  Nevada 
Cavalry  in  September,  1864,  and  received  his 
commission  as  Second  Lieutenant  of  the  same 
in  1865;  owing  to  the  close  of  the  war,  he  was 
not  mustered  in  as  such.  Retui'ning  East,  he 
graduated  from  Chicago  Universit}'  in  1866, 
and  from  the  Presbyterian  Theological  Semin- 
ary of  the  Northwest  at  Chicago  in  1869.  He 
was  licensed  in  April,  1867,  and  ordained  to  the 
ministry  of  the  Presbj'terian  Church  in  June, 
1868.  He  served  the  church  of  Vermont,  III, 
from  1867  to  1869,  and  again  from  1871  to 
1874,  spending  a  few  months  in  1869  in  charge 
of  the  Twenty-eighth  Street  Church,  Chicago, 
and  the  interval  till  1871  as  pastor  in  Cape 
Girardeau,  Mo.  He  was  pastor  of  Grace  Mis- 
sion Church,  Peoria,  from  1874  to  1876;  of  the 
church  in  Clinton,  from  1876  to  1881,  and  the 
church  in  Carlinville,  from  1881  to  1883  ;  when, 
finding  a  large  family  on  his  hands  inadequate- 
1}'  provided  for  by  strictly  ministerial  income^ 
he  removed,  May,  1883,  to  Anna,  under  call  to 
the  pastorate  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
that  place,  and  also  to  the  Principalship  (with 


ANNA  PRECINCT. 


6.5 


the  Rev.  C.  "W.  Sifferd  as  his  associate)  of  the 
Union  Academy,  originated  by  the  citizens  of 
that  place,  and  announced  to  be  opened  in  Sep- 
tember, 1883.  With  this  work,  he  has  also 
undertaken  the  conduct  of  a  local  newspaper 
with  religious  and  literary  features,  known  as 
The  Talk,  the  first  number  of  which  was  issued 
May  11,  1883.  On  June  22, 1868,  he  was  mar- 
ried in  Chicago  to  Isabelle  Hardie  Thomson, 
daughter  of  the  late  Thomas  and  Marion 
(Somerville)  Thomson,  who  was  born  in  Lin- 
lithgow, Scotland,  in  1843.  To  them  have  been 
born  nine  children,  eight  of  whom  survive,  one 
having  died  in  infanc}-.  In  1876,  he  was 
awarded  by  the  Trustees  of  Dartmouth  College 
the  Fletcher  prize  ($500)  for  the  best  essay  on 
worldliness  among  Christians,  and  the  book  was 
published  in  1877  by  Roberts  Bros.,  Boston, 
under  the  title  "  The  Children  of  Light." 
Further  than  this  his  literary  productions  have 
so  far  been  confined  to  pamphlets  and  fugitive 
articles  in  Scrihners  Monthly^  the  Independent, 
and  other  secular  and  religious  periodicals.  His 
political  sympathies  have  always  been  with  the 
conservative  wing  of  the  Republican  party. 

E.  H.  FINCH,  livery,  Anna.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Wayne  Count}-,  N.  Y., 
on  the  14th  of  December,  1818.  He  was  the 
son  of  Andrew  Finch,  a  carpenter  and  builder, 
and  a  native  of  Connecticut,  born  May  27,  1781. 
He  built  some  of  the  first  houses  in  Lyons,  N. 
Y.  In  1834,  he  removed  to  Ridgeway,  Orleans 
Co.,N.  Y.,  and  subsequently  to  Medina  Count}', 
Ohio,  where  he  died  on  the  22d  of  August, 
1863.  His  wife  was  Catherine  Crandall,  of 
Kinderhook,  N.  Y.,  and  was  born  November 
24,  1787,  and  died  in  Medina  County,  Ohio, 
July  20,  1869.  She  was  the  mother  of  twelve 
children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living.  E.  H. 
Finch,  our  subject,  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native  count}',  and  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  years  was  apprenticed  to  the 
trade  of  blacksmith.  He  worked  at  the  forge 
until  1850,  and  during   the  time   was  engaged 


in  New  York,  Ohio,  Michigan  and  Illinois,  and 
in  1850  he  came  to  the  latter  State,  where  he 
was  employed  on  the  Chicago,  Alton  &  St. 
St.  Louis  and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroads, 
grading  under  cohtracts  from  the  companies. 
He  came  to  Anna  in  1855,  and  engaged  in  the 
lime  business  with  Mr.  Cyrus  Shick,  an  industry 
in  which  they  are  still  engaged.  In  addition 
to  this  business,  Mr.  Finch  owns  an  extensive 
livery  stable,  which  he  has  very  successfully 
carried  on  for  about  eighteen  years  ;  was  for  a 
time  employed  in  operating  the  People's  Mills. 
Mr.  Finch  ranks  among  the  solid,  enterprising 
business  men  of  the  county,  and  one  of  its  most 
honorable  and  respected  citizens.  In  politics, 
he  Is  a  Republican,  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  also  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Southern  Illinois  Insane  A.sylum,  and  is  Presi- 
dent of  the  board.  He  was  married  in  1840  in 
Gaines,  Orleans  Co.,  N.  Y.,  to  Miss  Ange- 
line  Gregory,  a  native  of  Greene  County,  N.  Y. 
She  died  in  1851,  leaving  one  child,  Edgar  A., 
now  clerk  at  the  Insane  Asylum.  Mr.  Finch 
was  married  a  second  time,  December  21,  1853, 
to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Philips,  of  Belleville,  111. 

A.  D.  FINCH,  dentist,  Anna,  was  born  in 
Hinckley,  Medina  Co.,  Ohio,  October  13,  1838. 
and  is  a  son  of  William  and  Louisa  Ann  (Mar- 
quitt)  Finch,  natives  of  New  York  State.  He 
was  born  in  1806,  and  was  brought  up  on  his 
father's  farm,  where  bis  education  was  con- 
fined to  the  subscription  schools  of  the  period. 
When  he  reached  manhood,  he  became  a  car- 
penter and  builder,  and  in  1836  emigrated  to 
Hinckley,  Ohio,  where  he  died  in  1849.  He 
was  a  son  of  Andrew  Finch,  a  native  of  New 
York,  of  German  descent,  and  a  farmer  and 
carpenter.  The  mother  of  subject  was  born  in 
1806,  and  died  at  Hinckley,  Ohio,  May  6, 
1880.  She  was  the  mother  of  seven  children, 
of  whom  our  subject  was  the  fifth,  and  is  the 
oldest  of  the  three  now  surviving,  the  other 
two  being  Mrs.  Ellen  Wait,  the  widow  of 
Henry  Wait,  a  farmer  of  Hinckley,  Ohio,  and 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Mrs.  Kate,  wife  of  William  Kratzinger,  a  farm- 
er of  Anna  Precinct ;  he  also  attends  to  the 
pumping  of  water  for  the  tank  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  at  Anna,  and  is  one  of  the 
oldest  men  in  the  employ  of    the  road.     Dr. 
Finch  was  educated  at  the  common  schools, 
and    at    Hillsdale   College  of    Michigan,  and 
afterward     studied     dentistry.      He     enlisted 
April  23,  1861,  in  Battery  A  of  the  First  Ohio 
Volunteers,  under  the  first  call  for  troops.     He 
re-enlisted  for  three  years,  and  in  186-4  veter- 
anized, serving  until  the  close  of  the  war  in 
1865.     He  participated  in  the  battles  of  Shiloh) 
Stone  River,  Chickamauga,  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign, Nashville  and    many  others.     He  was 
taken  prisoner  at  Stone    River,  and  spent  a 
time  in  Libby  Prison,  but  was  soon  paroled 
at    Annapolis,  and  with    four   others  walked 
from  there  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  sixteen  days, 
in  the  month  of  March.     Upon  his  return  home 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  he  commenced  the 
practice  of  dentistry  in  Medina,  Ohio,  and  re- 
mained there  until  April,  1867,  when  he  came 
to  Illinois,  and  located,  at  Anna,  where  he  has 
practiced  his  profession  ever  since.     He  owns 
a  good  farm  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the 
town,  which  he  operates  for  his  amusement  and 
recreation  of  mornings  and  evenings,  and  not 
allowing  it  to  interfere  with  the  practice  of  his 
profession.     He  was  married  in  1857  to  Miss  ■ 
Ruth  Damon,  a  sister  of  Rev.  J.  H.  Damon,  of 
Medina,  Ohio  ;  she  died  in  July,  1866,  leaving 
two  children,  viz.:   Addie  B.,  wife  of    D.   W. 
Goodman,  a  merchant  of  Anna,  and  Nettie  R. 
He  was  married  a  second  time,  in  1868,  to  Miss 
Mary  Bowman,  a  native  of    Medina  County 
Ohio.     The  result  of  this  union  is  five  chil- 
clren — Carrie  L.,  George  L.,  Nannie  L.,  Flora 
E.  and  Andrew  M.     He  is  a  Republican   in 
politics,  and    a  member  of    the    Knights    of 
Honor. 

E.  A.  FINCH,  clerk  at  Insane  Hospital,  An- 
na, was  born  April  27,  1841,  in  Orleans  Coun- 
ty, N.  Y.,  and  is  a  son  of  Mr.  E.  H.  Finch,  the 


President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  South- 
ern Illinois  Insane  Asylum.  He  was  educated 
principally  at  Adrian,  Mich.,  and  in  May,  1855, 
came  to  Anna,  111.,  where  his  parents  were  liv- 
ing. In  1861,  on  the  4th  of  May,  he  enlisted 
in  Company  I,  of  the  Eighteenth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry.  After  six  months'  service, 
he  was  transferred  to  Company  M,  Sixth  Illi- 
nois Cavalry,  commanded  by  Col.  Grierson, 
afterward  Major  General.  Subject  served  in 
the  army  about  twenty-three  months,  mostly 
on  detached  duty.  It  was  his  regiment  that 
made  the  famous  raid  from  Memphis  to  Baton 
Rouge.  He  was  a  private  while  in  the  infan- 
try service,  but  was  Second  Lieutenant  in  the 
Cavalry.  After  his  discharge  from  the  army, 
he  returned  to  this  county,  where  lie  was  ap- 
pointed Provost  Marshal  for  Union  and  Palaski 
Counties.  After  this  he  was  appointed  agent 
of  the  Adams  Express  Company  at  Anna,  and 
held  the  position  almost  five  years.  In  1869, 
he  entered  the  Anna  City  Mills  as  a  partner, 
in  which  he  remained  until  1872,  when  he 
sold  out  and  went  to  Kansas.  After  remaining 
there  engaged  in  farming  for  a  year  and  a  half, 
he  returned  to  Anna  in  the  fall  of  1873,  and 
took  charge  of  the  express  office  until  1877, 
when  he  farmed  for  one  3'ear,  and  was  then 
appointed  by  Superintendent  Wardner  to  the 
clerkship  of  the  insane  hospital,  which  posi- 
tion he  still  holds.  He  was  married,  March  29, 
1863,  in  Anna,  to  Miss  Rebecca  Dresser,  born 
November  21,  1842,  near  Springfield,  111.  She 
is  the  mother  of  seven  children — Leod  G. 
Nathan  D.,  Eleazer  C,  Kate,  Charles  E.,  Re- 
becca and  Ford  S.  Mr.  Finch  is  a  member  of 
the  Odd  Fellows,  the  Knights  of  Honor,  Knights 
and  Ladies  of  Honor,  and  is  a  Republican  in 
politics. 

JAMES  W.  FULLER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna. 
This  gentleman  is  a  native  of  Cayuga  Count}-. 
N.  Y.,  born  February  6,  1832.  His  father,  Levi 
Fuller,  was  a  native  of  one  of  the  New  England 
States,  and  was  born  in  1788.     He  was  brought 


ANNA  PRECINCT. 


67 


to  New  York  State  by  his  parents  when  a  bo}', 
and  there  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade,  but 
worked  at  the  same  onl}-  for  a  short  time.  He 
went  to  New  Jerse}-  after  he  became  of  age, 
and  while  there  married  and  soon  after  removed 
to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  subsequently  to  Jeffer- 
son County,  111.,  in  1843-44.  Here  he  remained 
activelj'  engaged  in  farming  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  1875  ;  he  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  was  at  Butfitlo,  N. 
Y.,  at  the  time  the  city  was  taken.  His  wife, 
Elizabeth  (Wescott)  Fuller  (subject's  mother), 
was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1808,  and  died  in  Jef- 
ferson County,  111.,  in  1872.  She  was  the  mother 
of  nine  children,  of  whom  the  following  are  now 
living  :  Maria,  widow  of  Michael  Bond,  John  ^Y., 
William,  Robert,  George  and  James  W.,  who  was 
the  second  child.  John,  William  and  Robert 
served  through  the  late  war;William  was  wound- 
ed in  the  head  bj-  a  shell  at  the  charge  on  Tunnel 
Hill.  James  W.  Fuller  remained  at  home  with 
his  parents  until  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age 
and  in  the  meantime  received  the  benefit  of  the 
common  schools.  For  eighteen  years  he  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company,  as  track-laj-er.  In  the  winter  of 
1852,  he  came  to  Union  Count}'  and  located  at 
Anna.  He  engaged  in  farming  and  working  at 
his  trade,  that  of  carpentering,  which  he  had 
learned  when  a  young  man.  In  1882,  he  gave 
up  working  at  his  trade,  and  is  now  devoting  his 
whole  time  and  attention  to  his  farm  which 
contains  130  acres  of  good  land.  On  the  30th 
of  July,  185G,  he  married  Miss  Emil}-  Mangold, 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  born  July  2, 
1835.  Her  father,  Henry  Mangold,  was  born 
in  German}'  in  1804,  and  when  he  was  four 
years  of  age  he  came  to  America  with  his  pa- 
rents, who  located  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a 
farmer,  carpenter  and  cooper.  He  died  in  1870. 
Her  mother,  Catherine  (Gunnold)  Mangold, was 
born  in  Yirginiain  1800  and  died  in  1849.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Fuller  have  been  blessed  with  the 
following  children  :  Laura,  wife  of  I.  C.  Piercol; 


Kittie,  wife  of  H.  J.  Hileman  ;   Harry,  James 
L.,  Franklin  and  Fred,  at  home. 

D.  WEBSTER  GOODMAN,  merchant,  Anna, 
was  born  in  Union  County,  III,  January  8, 
1855,  and  is  a  son  of  Moses  and  Amanda  C. 
(Peeler)  Goodman.  He  was  born  in  Rowan 
County,  N.  C,  September  27, 1806,  and  brought 
up  on  a  farm,  and  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  the  time.  When  he  attained  his 
manhood,  he  engaged  in  farming  and  teaming, 
in  the  latter  business  often  making  trips  from 
his  own  county  to  Charlestown,  S.  C,  and  to 
other  distant  points.  In  1852,  he  with  two 
sons  came  to  Union  County,  111.,  and  settled  at 
Peru,  or  the  cross  roads  in  Dongola  Precinct, 
where  he  engaged  in  mei'chandising.  He  re- 
mained there  until  about  1868,  when  he  retired 
from  active  business,  giving  his  attention  only 
to  his  farm  interests.  He  is  now  the  owner  of 
100  acres,  mostly  in  grain  and  fruit.  In  1827, 
he  was  married,  but  his  wife  died  in  North 
Carolina,  leaving  two  children,  viz.:  Dr.  M.  M. 
Goodman,  of  Jonesboro,  and  J.  V.,  who  died  in 
California  about  1878.  In  1854,  he  married  in 
this  county  JMiss  Amanda  C.  Peeler.  The  re- 
sult of  this  union  is  five  children,  of  whom  are 
living  D.  W.  (subject),  Thomas  B.,  Nettie  E., 
Charles  H.  and  William  W.,  who  died  in  1879, 
aged  nineteen  years.  The  mother  of  subject 
was  born  in  Union  County,  September  22, 1836. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  John  C.  Peeler,  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  and  residing  now  in  Anna. 
Our  subject  received  the  benefits  of  a  common 
school  education,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  old 
enough,  he  worked  with  his  father  in  the  store 
until  he  closed  out  his  business,  and  in  1869 
he  entered  the  employ  of  C.  M.  Willard,  with 
whom  he  remained  until  ]  878,  when  he  entered 
into  partnership  with  Mr.  Eaves  in  his  present 
business.  He  was  married,  September  6, 1882, 
in  Anna,  to  Miss  Addie  B.  Finch,  a  daughter 
of  Dr.  A.  D.  Finch.  Mr.  Goodman  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party. 


68 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


HALL  FAMILY.— Benjamin  Hall  was 
born  in  Maryland,  on  the  coast,  and  was  drowned 
in  the  Mississippi  River,  while  engaged  in  trad- 
ing by  flat-boat  on  the  river.  His  parents  were 
natives  of  Charleston,  S.  C. 

Green  W.  Hall,  a  son  of  Benjamin  Hall, 
was  born  in  Tennessee,  and  was  educated  prin- 
cipally at  Baltimore,  Md.,  where  his  parents 
had  sent  him,  and  where  his  education  was 
liberal.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  he 
left  home,  and  commenced  his  own  business 
career  as  a  carpenter,  a  business  he  had  learned 
from  his  father,  who  was  a  ship  builder.  He 
was  about  six  years  old  when  his  parents 
moved  from  Tennessee  to  Union  County,  111. 
Here  he  has  remained  ever  since,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  about  three  years  he  was  engaged 
at  the  Ferry  at  Commerce,  Mo.  He  is  now  en- 
gaged in  agricultural  pursuits,  which  he  has 
followed  since  1860.  He  owns  a  fruit  farm  of 
forty  acres,  in  a  fine  state  of  culture.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  is  identified  with  the  Republican  party.  In 
1834,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Minerva  Doug- 
lass, a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  a  daughter  of 
Henry  and  Nancy  (Armstrong)  Douglass,  both 
natives  of  Virginia.  Henry  Douglass  served 
in  the  war  of  1812  and  in  the  Black-Hawk  war. 
They  had  twelve  children,  of  whom  seven  are 
now  living,  viz. :  Frank  H.,  the  oldest ;  John 
W.  D.,  tin  and  slate  business  at  St.  Joe,  Mo.; 
Margaret,  wife  of  Thomas  Crews,  a  bricklayer  at 
Duquoin,  111.;  Eliza  J.,  wife  of  James  R. 
Kiger,  a  bricklayer  of  Jonesboro  ;  Thomas  W. 
C;  Emma  C,  at  home,  and  Athena  A.,  wife  of 
Alonzo  King. 

Frank  H.  Hall,  a  son  of  Green  W.  Hall, 
was  born  in  Commerce,  Mo.,  February  4,  1840. 
He  was  educated  in  the  common  schools,  and 
learned  more  from  his  father  and  b}'  observa- 
tion and  experience  in  business,  than  in  anj' 
other  wa}'.  He  was  raised  mostly  in  Jones- 
boro, whence  his  father  removed  when  he  was 
but  four  years  of  age.     When  he   was   eleven 


years  of  age,  he  was  apprenticed  to  A,  C.  Cald- 
well, a  tin-smith  of  that  town,  and  remained 
with  him  for  four  years,  after  which  he  worked 
for  diflferent  individuals  in  Jonesboro  and 
Anna  until  the  year  1861,  when  he  removed  to 
Cairo,  and  worked  for  the  Government  on 
gunboats  until  Fremont  had  the  Mississippi 
fleet  ready  to  sail.  He  then  returned  to  Vienna, 
and  enlisted  in  Company  A,  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Forty-fifth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
under  command  of  Col.  Lackey,  serving  for 
about  four  and  a  half  years,  and  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  was  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg, 
and  with  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  After 
his  discharge  from  the  army,  he  returned  to 
Vienna,  and  engaged  in  business  for  himself — 
tin  and  general  merchandise.  In  the  fall  of 
1868,  he  was  burned  out,  sustaining  a  loss  of 
all  his  goods,  and  was  compelled  to  again  go  to 
work,  which  he  did,  with  his  brother  at  Cin- 
cinnati, in  the  tin  and  slate  roofing.  In  1874, 
the  3^ear  after  the  panic,  he  returned  to  Anna, 
and  has  since  been  here,  working  at  his  trade. 
In  the  fall  of  1866,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Flora  A.  Elkins,  a  native  of  Johnson  County, 
111.     They  have  five  children — Flora  A.,  Mary 

C,  Adaline,  Maggie  and  Frank.  Politicalh', 
he  is  a  Republican  ;  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows  fraternities. 

T.  W.  C.  Hall,  a  brother  to  Frank  H.  Hall, 
whose  sketch  precedes  this,  is  a  native  of 
Union  Count}-,  and  was  born  April  1,  1850,  a 
son  of  Green  W.  and  Minerva  (Douglass)  Hall. 
His  early  life  was  spent  on  his  father's  farm, 
receiving  the  benefits  of  a  common  school  edu- 
cation. At  the  age  of  twenty-two  years,  he 
went  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  engaged  in  part- 
nership with  his  brothers,  Frank  H.  and  J.  W. 

D.  Hall,  in  the  roofing  business.  He  remained 
there  until  1878,  when  he  returned  to  Anna, 
and  engaged  in  the  stove,  tin  and  furniture 
business,  in  which  he  has  been  successful.  He 
was  married  in  Jonesboro,  in  September,  1875, 
to  Miss    Emma    A.    Hileman,  a  daughter   of 


ANNA    PRECINCT. 


Daniel  and  Sarah  J.  (Hargraves)  Hileman.  They 
have  only  one  child — Stella,  born  in  Cincinnati 
June  29,  1876.  Mr.  Hall  is  a  Republican,  but 
does  not  take  much  interest  in  the  political 
questions  of  the  day. 

J.  I.  HALE,  physician,  Anna.  Among  the 
rising  medical  practitioners  of  Anna,  and  her 
influential  and  self-made  citizens,  is  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  who  was  born  in  Union  County 
on  the  16th  of  April,  1844.  He  is  a  son  of 
James  V.  and  Susan  Hale,  who  were  natives  of 
Kentuck}'  and  earl}^  settlers  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois. Mrs.  Hale  is  still  living  and  resides  with 
our  subject.  She  is  the  mother  of  three  chil- 
dren, of  whom  he  is  the  second.  When  he  was 
six  j-ears  of  age,  he  was  apprenticed  to  Adam 
Lentz,  a  farmer  in  Saratoga  Precinct,  and  while 
with  him  received  the  benefits  of  the  common 
schools  at  such  times  as  the  work  of  the  farm 
would  permit,  which,  to  say  the  least,  was  very 
limited.  He  remained  with  Mr.  Lentz  until  he 
was  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  he  enlisted  in 
the  late  civil  war,  and  served  in  Company  C, 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry.  He  was  principally  engaged  in  hos- 
pital duty,  first  as  nurse  and  afterward  as  hos- 
pital warden  and  steward.  He  was  wounded 
at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  as  a  proof  of  his 
patriotism  now  carries  the  ball  in  his  arm. 
July  21,  1865,  he  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service,  and  immediately  returned  to  his  native 
county,  and  soon  after  entered  the  Southern 
Illinois  College  at  Carbondale,  where  he  re- 
mamed  until  the  summer  of  1867,  when  he  be- 
gan the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  S.  S.  Con- 
don, of  Anna.  In  the  fall  of  1868,  he  entered 
the  Chicago  Medical  College,  and  after  attend- 
ing a  course  of  lectures  he  in  the  spring  of 
1869  began  the  practice  of  his  chosen  profes- 
sion at  Saratoga,  and  in  the  spring  of  1870  re- 
moved to  Penninger  ;  but,  in  the  fall  of  1873,  he 
returned  to  Chicago,  and  in  the  same  college 
he  had  already-  attended  he  completed  his  med- 
ical studies  and  graduated  in  the  spring   of 


1874.  Since  then  he  has  resided  in  Anna, 
where  he  has,  by  a  faithful  attendance  to  duty, 
acquired  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  It  be- 
came so  extensive  that  recently  (in  the  sprino- 
of  1883)  he  took  into  partnership  Dr.  Martin, 
a  gentleman  of  fine  abilit}-  and  an  ornament 
to  the  medical  profession.  Dr.  Hale  was  mar- 
ried in  Caledonia,  111.,  in  1868,  to  Miss  Mary 
J.  Wilson,  a  native  of  Union  County.  Three 
children  have  blessed  their  union — John  Adam, 
Esculapius  V.  and  Flora  Ann.  Religiously, 
they  are  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Anna,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  Eld- 
ers. Dr.  Hale  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  the  State  Medical  Associ- 
ation and  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Medical  So- 
ciety ;  of  the  latter  body  he  is  Secretary.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Masonic,  Odd  Fellows 
and  K.  of  H.  orders.  He  was  State  Grand 
Master  of  the  order  of  Knights  of  Trinity,  an 
order  that  is  still  flourishing  in  some  locations. 
He  has  served  two  3'ears  as  Postmaster  at  Pen- 
ninger, this  county.  Is  now  holding  his  second 
term  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council,  and  is 
Coroner  of  Union  County.  Politically,  he  is  a 
Democrat. 

REV.  ASA  HARMON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna, 
was  boi'n  in  the  town  of  Rupert,  Bennington 
Co.,  Vt.,  July  9,  1830,  and  is  a  son  of  Elijah 
and  Martha  (Lamphear)  Harmon,  both  natives  of 
Vermont ;  he  was  a  farmer  by  occupation  ;  she 
was  born  in  1795,  and  died  in  Missouri  in  1877, 
and  was  the  mother  of  six  children,  five  of  whom 
are  living.  Mr.  Harmon,  our  subject,  was  raised 
on  the  farm,  and  received  but  a  limited  educa- 
tion in  the  common  schools  of  the  time.  When 
he  was  six  years  of  age,  he  removed  to  New 
York  with  his  mother,  and  at  seventeen  came 
with  her  to  Michigan,  and  there  lived  with  and 
cared  for  her  until  he  married.  In  1856,  he 
was  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  was  pastor  of  a  church  near  Paw- 
paw, Mich.,  for  five  years.  In  1861,  he  en- 
listed in    the    Second    Michigan    Cavalry,  and 


70 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


stood  guard  one  night,  after  which  he  was  pro- 
moted and  transferred  to  Hospital  Steward  of 
the  Third  Regiment.  The  command  went  to 
St.  Louis,  and  he  remained  in  the  army  until 
May,  1862,  when,  owing  to  failing  health,  and 
at  the  advice  of  his  physician,  he  was  dis- 
charged and  taken  to  his  home  by  the  attend- 
ing physician.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year, 
having  somewhat  recovered  his  health,  he  was 
elected  Chaplain  of  his  old  regiment,  and  in 
February  following  was  commissioned  to  that 
office  by  Gov.  Blair.  He  remained  with  the 
regiment  until  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was 
mustered  out  of  the  service  in  February,  1866. 
He  then  removed  to  his  present  residence, 
bought  a  farm  of  forty  acres,  and  since  has  ad- 
ded sixty-three  acres  to  it.  His  success  has 
been  good,  and  his  farm  which  is  highly  im- 
proved, shows  the  care  he  has  bestowed  upon 
it,  and  his  superior  judgment  as  an  agricultur- 
ist. In  1854,  he  married  Miss  Lucy  Courtright, 
a  native  of  Ohio.  They  have  had  five  children, 
but  two  of  whom  are  now  living — 0.  E.  Har- 
mon, a  lawyer  at  Chehalis,  Lewis  Co.,  W.  T.;  he 
married  Miss  Viola  Noyes,  a  daughter  of  James 
A.  Noyes,  of  Missouri,  and  is  doing  well;  Ulysses 
who  is  farming  with  his  father.  Mr.  Harmon 
and  his  family  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  he  often  occupies  the  pulpits  of 
diflPerent  churches  as  his  health  will  permit. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and 
of  the  K.  of  H.  Politically,  he  is  a  Republican. 
He  has  served  one  year  as  President  of  the 
Union  County  Agricultural  Fair  Association. 
JOHN  HESS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  was  born 
in  Union  County,  111.,  near  his  present  resi- 
dence, November  21, 1821.  His  father,  Joseph 
Hess,  was  among  the  first  settlers  of  the 
.county  ;  he  was  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C, 
in  1800,  and  came  to  Union  County,  111.,  in 
1818,  where  he  entered  eight}-  acres  of  land, 
and  later  eighty  acres  additional.  He  is  now 
residing  near  our  subject,  enjoying  in  his  latter 
years,  a  life  of  ease  and  influence.     He  is  a 


son  of  John  Hess,  a  native  of  North  Carolina, 
became  to  Union  County  with  Joseph  in  1818, 
and  lived  but  a  few  years  afterward.  He  was 
of  German  descent.  Mary  (Hartline)  Hess 
(subject's  mother)  was  born  in  Rowan  County, 
N.  C,  in  1798,  and  is  still  living.  She  is  the 
mother  of  the  following  children :  John,  Mrs. 
Rendleman,  Silas,  Elijah,  Isaac  J.  and  Nancy. 
Our  subject  spent  his  early  life  at  home  assist- 
ing till  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm  and  receiv- 
ing a  limited  education  in  the  subscription 
schools  common  in  his  day.  At  twenty-three 
years  of  age,  left  his  home  and  embarked  on 
life's  rugged  pathway  as  a  farmer.  He  com- 
menced on  a  forty  acre  farm  and  has  added  to 
it  since,  and  now  is  the  owner  of  265  acres. 
In  1844,  he  married  ^liss  Soloma  Craver,  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  born  August  16, 
1824.  They  are  the  parents  of  the  following 
children,  James  C,  Emaline  M.,  wife  of  Jerry 
Boyds  ;  Malinda,  wife  of  Thomas  Manees ; 
Soloma  M.,  wife  of  John  Hileman  ;  John,  Allen 
v.,  Dennis  and  MoUie  at  home. 

JASPER  L.  HESS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  was 
born  in  Union  County,  111.,  four  miles  southeast 
of  Anna,  August  12,  1849.  He  is  a  son  of 
Silas  and  Mary  (Hileman)  Hess  ;  he  was  born 
in  Union  Count}'  in  1826  ;  was  raised  on  a 
farm  and  educated  in  the  subscription  schools 
of  the  county  ;  he  is  now  engaged  in  farming 
and  is  the  owner  of  249  acres  of  land  ;  he  is 
a  son  of  Joseph  Hess  (subject's  grandfather), 
a  native  of  North  Carolina,  born  in  1798  ;  he 
came  to  Union  County  in  1820,  and  still  living, 
residing  in  Anna  Precinct.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  born  in  Union  County,  111.,  in  1826; 
she  is  the  mother  of  the  following  children  : 
Henry  L.,  Jasper  L.,  Mary  E.,  the  wife  of  Will- 
iam Boswell,  George  W.,  Silas  F.,  Nancy  C, 
John  W.  and  Frances  I.  Jasper  L.  Hess  was 
raised  on  the  farm  and  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native  county  ;  he  remained 
with  his  parents  on  the  farm  until  1877,  when 
he  married  and  embarked  on  his  career  in  life 


ANNA    PRECINCT. 


7,1 


as  a  farmer,  upon  his  present  farm,  now  con- 
taining 151^  acres  of  the  best  land  in  Union 
County.  In  1847,  on  the  2d  of  October,  he 
married  Miss  Clemmie  Eaves,  a  native  of  the 
county,  born  March  8,  1854.  Mr.  Hess  is  for 
the  second  year  President  of  the  Union  County 
Agricultural  Fair  Association.  Politically,  he 
is  a  Democrat. 

JACOB  HILEMAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna, 
Anna  Township.  To  mark  the  progress  in  the 
history  of  Union  County  during  the  last  half 
century,  one  need  only  compare  the  condition 
of  the  country  at  the  present  time  with  its 
flourishing  villages  and  growing  cities  ;  its 
farms,  with  their  waving  crops,  their  blooming 
orchards,  groves  and  hedges,  and  substantial 
dwellings  ;  its  system  of  schools  ;  its  railroads 
and  its  net-work  of  telegraphic  wires,  to  its  con- 
dition over  fifty  years  ago,  when  its  soil  was  un- 
broken by  the  hand  of  husbandry,  and  the  still- 
ness of  its  forests  was  undisturbed,  save  by  the 
noise  of  the  hunter's  tread,  and  the  crack  of 
the  Indian's  rifle.  It  was  at  this  early  day,  in 
1819,  that  the  Hileman  family  moved  from 
North  Carolina  to  Union  County.  Jacob  Hile- 
man, the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
Union  County,  111.,  on  the  21st  day  of  Decem- 
ber, 1823,  and  is  of  German  descent.  His 
father,  Christian  Hileman,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  in  1797,  and  was  brought  up  on  a 
farm,  an  occupation  he  followed  during  life.  In 
1819,  became  to  Union  County  with  his  father's 
family,  and  settled  near  St.  John's  Church, 
south  of  Jonesboro.  In  1823,  he  married  and 
settled  in  Anna  Precinct,  near  where  the  South- 
ern Illinois  Insane  Asylum  now  stands.  He 
became  the  owner  of  about  500  acres  of  land, 
and  was  an  excellent  farmer.  Both  he  and  his 
wife  were  members  of  the  Reformed  Church  ; 
he  died  October  18,  1857.  His  father,  Jacob 
Hileman,  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  but  his 
parents  came  from  Germany  prior  to  the  Re- 
volutionary war,  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania. 
Subject's  mother,  Nancy  (Davis)  Hileman  was 


born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  in  1805,  and 
came  with  her  parents  to  Illinois  in  1817,  set- 
tling about  three  miles  south  of  Jonesboro;  she 
is  still  living,  and  resides  in  Anna.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  George  and  Catherine  (Trexler) 
Davis,  both  natives  of  North  Carolina — the 
former  a  farmer  and  tailor,  and  the  first  tailor 
in  Union  County,  having  his  shop  on  his  farm. 
The  parents  of  our  subject  had  nine  children, 
of  whom  he  is  the  oldest ;  Mary,  wife  of 
Charles  Barringer,  grocer  of  Jonesboro ; 
George,  a  farmer  near  Duquoin,  111.  ;  Thomas, 
who  died  from  disease  contracted  while  in  the 
late  war,  his  death  occurring  at  home  in  1863  or 
1864  ;  Levi,  a  farmer  of  Anna  Precinct ;  Lavina, 
wife  of  John  Barringer,  a  farmer  of  Anna  Pre- 
cinct ;  Caroline,  wife  of  Josiah  Bean,  a  farmer 
of  Anna  Precinct ;  Christian  M.,  a  farmer  of 
Anna  Precinct.  Subject  spent  his  early  life  at 
home,  assisting  to  till  the  soil  of  his  father's 
farm,  and  receiving  such  an  education  as  could 
be  obtained  in  the  subscription  schools  of  the 
pioneer  period,  taught  in  log-cabin  school- 
houses,  with  their  slab  seats,  writing  desks,  etc. 
He  remained  at  home  until  he  was  twenty- 
three  years  of  age,  when  he  married  and  went 
to  farming  on  his  own  account.  He  at  once 
located  on  his  present  farm,  which  then  com- 
prised but  eighty  acres,  with  only  ten  acres  in 
cultivation.  It  now  contains  120  acres,  with 
about  eighty-five  acres  in  a  high  state  of  culti- 
vation. He  erected,  in  1870,  a  handsome  brick 
residence,  which  he  has  well  and  elegantly 
furnished.  Mr.  Hileman  has  been  quite  suc- 
cessful in  raising  sweet  potatoes  and  small 
fruits,  but  makes  wheat  a  specialty.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1846,  he  was  mari'ied  to  Miss  Tena  Sif- 
ford,  a  native  of  this  county,  born  in  October, 
1825,  and  a  daughter  of  Peter  and  Leah 
(Mull)  Sifford,  natives  of  North  Carolina.  They 
came  to  Union  County  in  1819,  the  Mull  fam- 
ily settling  north  of  Anna,  and  the  Sifford 
family  south  of  Cobden.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hile- 
man  have  been   blessed   with  eight  children. 


72 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


viz. :  Phillip  W.,  John  L.,  Jame3  N.,  Ellen  D., 
Hamilton  J.,  George  T.,  Charles  C.  and  William 
W.  Both  Mr.  Hileman  and  his  wife  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Reformed  Church  ;  he  is  an  Elder 
in  the  same  ;  is  also  a  member  of  the  Odd 
Fellows  Lodge  at  Anna.  He  is  a  Democrat, 
and,  though  not  an  office  seeker,  was  Sheriff  of 
Union  County  from  1870  to  1874. 

HON.    MATTHEW  J.  INSCORE,  attorney 
at  law,    Anna,  was  born  at  Springfield,  Tenn., 
February  2,  1841.     His  great-grandfather  came 
from  Germany,  and  settled  in  North  Carolina, 
where  his  son  William  was  born.     The   latter 
was  a  farmer,  married  there,  and  was  the  father 
of  five  children — Louis,    Matilda,  William  W., 
Louisa  and  Joseph,  the  brother  of  subject,  who 
was  born  1811,  in  North   Carolina.     He    went 
to  Tennessee  with  his  parents,  and  there  learned 
the  cabinet-maker's   trade    in   Nashville.     He 
came  to  this  county  in    1850,  and   died   there 
in    1854.     He    was    married    at    Springfield, 
Tenn.,    to    Mrs.     Eliza    J.    Fyke,     who    was 
born  in  South   Carolina,  and   died    at   Spring- 
field, Tenn.,   in    1846.    She    was   the    daugh- 
ter of  William  C.  and  Eliza  Powell,  whose  par- 
ents came  from  England.     She  was  the  mother 
of  seven  children — Matilda,  Oliver  C,  William 
W.,  Mary  J.,  Matthew  J.,  Martha  A.  and  John 
L.     Our  subject   received  the  full   benefit   of 
about   thirty  days'  schooling  during  a   three- 
months  term  in   a   district   school    in   Union 
County.   At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  commenced 
to  work  as  an  apprentice  for  Klutts  &  O'Neal, 
saddlers  and  harness-makers  at  Jonesboro  for 
a  three-3'ear  term.    After  the  shop  had  changed 
to  Samuel  Flagler,    who  had   bought    it  and 
moved  it  to  Anna,    our  subject  continued  to 
work  for  him.     After  working  two  jears   and 
seven   months,  as  an   apprentice,   in  1863   he 
commenced  working  for  himself,  and  continued 
in  that  until  1869,  when  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.     Our  subject  is  a  self-educated  man,  in  his 
youth  his  books  being  his  dearest  companions, 
and  while  working  at  his  trade  he  would  have 


a  law  book  before  him,  and  thus  through  his 
own  exertions  he  rose  from  the  harness  shop  to 
the  bar.     Mr.  Inscore  has  devoted  most  of  his 
attention  to  the  criminal  law,    that  being  his 
favorite  department.     He  has  filled  the  offices 
of  Town  Clerk,  Treasurer  and  Police  Magistrate 
of  Anna,  111.     In  1872,  he  was  elected  by  the 
Republican  party,    as  Representative  for   the 
Fiftieth  Senatorial  District  of  Illinois.     He  was 
re-elected  in  1874,  and  since  then  has  followed 
his  profession.     Our  subject  has  been  married 
twice.     The  first  time  in  Xenia,  111.,  to  Amanda 
J.  Haskins,  who  died  June  26,  1876,  at  Anna, 
111.     She  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  now 
living — Frances  E.,  Stella  B.,  Leet  and  Henry 
W.     Mr.  Inscore  was  married  the  second  time 
to  Miss  Mary  E.  Brown,  born  April   17,  1841, 
in  Pulaski,  111.     Subject   is  a  member  of  the 
Hiawatha  Lodge,  No.  291,  L  0.  0.  F.,  and  in 
politics  is  identified  with  the  Republican  party. 
C.  KIRKPATRICK,    Anna   Pottery,  Anna, 
was  born  in   Fredericktown,   Ohio,   December 
23,    1814,   and   is  a  son  of  Andrew  and  Anna 
(Lafever)  Kirkpatrick.     His  great-grandfather 
was  a  native  of  Scotland ;  his  grandfather,  Al- 
exander  Kirkpatrick,  was   a   native    of  New 
Jerse}',  and   his  father,  Andrew,  was  born  in 
Washington,  Penn.,  in  1788.     He  learned  the 
trade  of  potter  in  that  State,  and  came  to  Anna, 
111.,  with  subject  in  1859,  where  he  died  April 
5,   1865  ;  he  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812. 
His   wife,   subject's   mother,    was  a  native   of 
Pennsylvania,  and  died  at  Yermillionville,  La 
Salle  Co.,  111.     She  was  a   daughter   of  Minor 
Lafever,  a  Revolutionar}'  soldier,  also  of  the 
war  of  1812,  and  of  French  descent.     Subject 
is  one  of  a  family-  of  thirteen  children,  ten  boys 
and  three  girls,  five  of  whom  are  now  living. 
His   education   was  limited   to   the    common 
schools,  and  at  twelve  years  of  age  he  left  home 
and  commenced  clerking  in  a  store  and  keeping 
books,  where  he  remained  for  seven  years.    He 
then  returned  home  and  learned  the  trade  of 
potter  with  his   father,   remaining  about   one 


ANNA   PRECINCT. 


73 


year,  and  mastering  the  business  before  the 
year  expired.  After  this  he  went  to  Cincinnati, 
and  then  to  New  Orleans  on  a  flat-boat,  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  the  couutr}-,  and  though  re- 
ceiving but  $10  per  month,  felt  well  repaid  in 
the  strange  sights  which  met  his  view.  This 
was  in  February,  1837.  Being  taken  sick  on 
the  way,  he  returned  home  to  Cincinnati,  and 
in  May  of  the  same  year  he  went  to  Urbana, 
Ohio,  and  engaged  in  the  pottery  business  for 
himself,  but  after  two  years  there  went  back  to 
Cincinnati,  married,  and  built  a  shop  at  Cov- 
ington, K}-.,  where  he  remained  for  about  nine 
years.  In  1848,  he  sold  out  and  i-emoved  to 
Point  Pleasant,  Ohio,  where  he  bought  the  La- 
con  Potter^'  and  the  house  in  which  Gen.  Grant 
was  born,  and  two  of  his  own  children  were  born 
there.  In  1853,  he  returned  again  to  Cincin- 
nati, and  in  1857  came  to  Illinois,  locating  at 
Mound  Cit}',  in  Pulaski  County,  where  he  built 
a  pottery.  In  1859,  became  to  Anna,  and 
built  the  pottery  where  he  is  now  engaged,  and 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  was  married 
in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in  1839,  to  Miss  Rebecca 
Vance,  eldest  daughter  of  Capt.  Alex.  Vance, 
who  died  in  1847,  leaving  two  children — Sarah 
and  Alexander — both  now  dead.  In  1849,  he 
again  married,  Miss  Amy  Vance.  She  is  the 
mother  of  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  living, 
viz.:  William,  Cornwall,  A.nna,  Amy  and  Ed- 
ward. Harriet  is  dead.  Of  his  daughters, 
Amy  is  quite  an  artist.  Of  her  talent,  the  Chi- 
cago Tribune,  of  March  4,  1883,  says:  "Miss 
Kirkpatrick,  of  the  Vincennes  Gallery  of  Fine 
Arts,  a  pupil  under  Messrs.  Bromley  &  Green, 
has  just  finished  a  painting,  a  scene  at  Conway 
Meadows,  with  the  White  Mountains  in  the  far 
distance,  which  reflects  very  great  credit  upon 
her  ;  also  a  farm  scene,  being  a  composition 
characteristic  of  Southern  Illinois  rural  life, 
etc.  These  paintings  possess  unusual  merit 
for  one  so  young,  and  her  teachers  and  friends 
are  enthusiastic  in  predicting  for  her  a  future." 
Mr.  Kirkpatrick  has  never  aspired  to  any  polit- 


ical office  that  would  materially  interfere  with 
his  private  business.  He  was  a  Whig  in  poli- 
tics, and  afterward  a  Republican.  He  relates 
an  incident  which  occurred  when  he  lived  in 
Covington,  Ky.  He  was  a  candidate  for  Coun- 
cilman against  a  preacher,  and  defeated  him  by 
one  vote.  When  the  result  was  known,  the  de- 
feated parson  took  Mr.  K.  on  his  shoulder,  and 
carried  him  through  the  streets  in  front  of  the 
polls.  He  is  now  Mayor  of  Anna,  an  office  he 
has  filled  for  five  years  previous  to  this  term. 
A  charter  member  of  the  Masonic  and  Odd 
Fellow  Lodges  of  Anna;  he  holds  the  following 
official  positions  in  the  same  ;  Secretary  of 
Anna  Lodge,  No.  520,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.;  Secretary 
of  Anna  Encampment,  No.  59, 1.  O.  0.  F.;  Treas- 
urer and  Conductor  of  Hiawatha  Lodge,  No. 291, 
I.  0.  0.  F.;  Secretary  of  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Southern  Illinois  Insane  Asylum  ;  Director  of 
Southern  Illinois  Fair  Association  ;  Chairman 
of  Committee  on  Chartered  Lodges  in  Masonic 
Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois,  and  King  of  Egyptian 
Chapter,  No  45,  R.  A.  M. 

W.  W.  KIRKPATRICK,  Anna  Pottery, 
Anna,  was  born  at  Urbana,  Ohio,  September 
23,  1828,  and  is  a  3'ounger  brother  of  C.  Kirk- 
patrick, whose  sketch  appears  in  this  volume. 
He  was  the  twelfth  in  a  family  of  thirteen 
children.  When  nine  years  of  age,  his  parents 
removed  to  Illinois,  in  1837,  and  settled  at 
Vemilliouville,  in  La  Salle  County.  Here  his 
father  carried  on  a  pottery,  and  subject  re- 
ceived a  limited  education  in  the  common 
schools.  When  he  was  twent}-  years  of  age,  he 
went  to  Point  Pleasant,  Ohio,  and  learned  the 
trade  of  potter  with  his  brother,  remaining 
with  him  about  two  years,  and  about  the  3'ear 
1850  went  to  California,  where  he  engaged  in 
mining  for  some  two  years,  and  then  returned 
to  Cincinnati,  working  in  a  pottery  for  a  year. 
He  then  removed  to  La  Salle  County,  111., 
where  he  carried  on  a  pottery  for  himself. 
Two  years  later,  he  removed  to  Mound  City, 
III,  and  was  engaged  as  the  General  Supervisor 


74 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


of  the  Mound  City  Building  Compau}'  on  all 
out-door  work.  He  remained  there  two  years, 
and  in  1859  came  to  Anna,  111.,  where  he  has 
since  remained,  in  partnership  with  his  brother 
in  the  Anna  Potterj'.  He  was  married,  in  1854, 
to  Miss  Martha  Vance,  of  Cincinnati.  A  fam- 
il}-  of  seven  children  have  been  born  to  them, 
of  whom  one  is  living,  Wallace,  born  in  1865. 
Politically,  Mr.  K.  is  a  Republican.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows 
fraternities;  is  Warden  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 
Lodge  and  Encampment. 

C.  E.  KIRKPATRICK,  photographer  and 
Amercian  Express  agent,  is  a  native  of  Point 
Pleasant,  Ohio,  born  Januar}'  15,  1852,  to  C. 
and  Amy  (Vance)  Kirkpatrick,  whose  history 
appears  in  another  part  of  this  volume.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  ; 
he  came  to  Anna  with  his  parents  in  1859  ;  he 
worked  with  his  father  in  the  pottery  until  he 
was  eighteen  3'ears  of  age,  when  he  appren- 
ticed himself  to  Mr.  McGahey,  of  Anna,  and 
learned  the  photographer's  trade.  In  1876,  he 
engaged  in  the  drug  business  at  Anna,  on  his 
own  account,  and  continued  the  same  until  1878, 
when  he  sold  his  business  and  took  the  agenc}' 
of  the  American  Express  Company,  at  Anna, 
a  position  he  still  holds.  In  1883,  he  opened 
a  photograph  gallerj^,  which  he  controls,  in 
connection  with  the  duties  of  the  Express  Com- 
pan}-.  He  is  also  agent  for  eight  different  fire 
insurance  companies.  He  was  married  at  Pana, 
in  1878,  to  Miss  Frances  Hubbard,  a  native  of 
Indiana  ;  she  has  borne  him  three  children, 
viz.:  Harlow  B.,  Olive  M.  and  Harriet  V.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  and  K.  of  H., 
and  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 

WILLIAM  KRATZINGER,  employe  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  and  farmer,  P.  0. 
Anna,  born  December  17.  1832,  in  Darmstadt, 
Gei'many.  His  father,  Johann  H.  Kratzinger. 
was  born  in  1797  in  German}^ ;  he  died  in 
1849  in  Chicago,  111.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Dietrich,  born  in  Germany,  where  she  died  in 


1845.  She  was  the  mother  of  William  and 
Eva.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  Germany, 
and  in  1847,  he  came  to  the  United  States 
with  his  father  and  sister,  and  settled  in  Chi- 
cago. In  1848,  he  went  to  Michigan  City, 
where  he  clerked  in  a  general  store  till  1851, 
when  he  returned  to  Chicago,  where  he  com- 
menced to  work  for  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Compau}',  as  messenger,  till  the  road  was 
completed  in  1855  ;  then  he  was  appointed 
conductor  on  the  Southern  Division,  running 
till  1863,  when  he  quit  the  road  and  went  to 
farming  in  this  county,  near  Anna.  He  also 
runs  the  steam  pump  on  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad.  He  has  125  acres  of  land  on  which 
he  has  a  dairy.  His  residence  is  close  to  the 
noted  Cave  Spring.  Mr.  Kratzinger  was  mar- 
ried in  1855,  in  Jonesboro,  to  Mary  C.  Condon, 
of  Jonesboro,  she  died  in  1873,  on  Cave  Spring 
farm.  She  was  the  mother  of  four  children 
now  living,  viz.:  Augusta,  Harr\,  Richard  and 
Mamie.  Our  subject  was  married  a  second 
time,  August  28,  1878,  in  Hinckley,  Ohio,  to 
Mrs.  Kate  Griffin,  born  October  13,  1846,  in 
Hinckley,  Ohio.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
William  and  Louisa  (Marquette)  Finch.  She 
is  the  mother  of  Bert  Griffin.  Mrs.  Kratzinger 
i3  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  Mr.  Krat- 
zinger is  a  Knight  of  Honor  and  member  of  I. 
0.  0.  F.  In  politics,  he  is  identified  with  the 
Democx'atic  party. 

PHILLIP  H.  KROH.  Much  of  the  real 
history  of  a  new  countr}-  is  generally  con- 
tained in  the  accounts  of  a  few  families  that 
became  members  of  the  young  society  and 
whose  force  of  character  impresses  itself  upon 
the  development  of  the  community,  and  directs 
and  shapes  the  destiny  of  affairs  about  them. 
Often  a  close  stud}'  of  such  men  is  necessarj- 
in  order  to  comprehend  the  commanding  forces 
the}'  have  exercised,  and  while  the  individual 
ma}'  pass  away,  the  effects  of  which  he  has 
been  the  cause  may  go  on  perpetually.  And 
often  such  men  may  not  gain  great  local  noto- 


ANXA    PRECINCT. 


riet}-.  The  individual  ma}'  not  be  self-assert- 
ing, the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  men  are 
generall}'  retiring,  and  yet  they  will  give  the 
world  the  benefits  that  may  come  of  strong  and 
active  minds.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  in 
money  value  the  worth  of  such  men  to  a  com- 
munit}-,  and  there  is  but  one  way  that  a  people 
who  reap  the  benefits  of  their  lives  can  mani- 
fest their  appreciation  of  such  men,  and  that 
is  by  gratefully  cherishing  their  memories,  and 
passing  them  to  posterity  as  a  legac}-  to  be 
guarded,  loved  and  admired,  and  placed  before 
their  children  as  models  for  their  guidance 
and  control.  Histor}',  some  time  in  the  future, 
will  consist  of  the  biographies  of  good  men, 
the  true  soldiers  in  the  cause  of  civilization 
and  morality,  whose  lives  have  tended  to  ad- 
vance mankind  and  beat  back  ignorance,  pro- 
mote the  happiness  of  their  fellow-men,  and 
ameliorate  the  pains  and  penalties  of  ignorance 
and  vice.  In  other  words,  it  will  cause  to  be 
known  some  time  that  the  best  history  consists 
of  the  best  biographies  of  the  best  men  and 
that  here  the  coming  generations  may  find 
those  lessons  that  constitute  the  highest  and 
best  type  of  knowledge.  The  world's  histor}' 
cannot  now  be  written  because  the  biographies 
of  the  true  men  who  have  humbly  toiled,  and 
thought,  and  worked,  and  died,  sometimes  of 
want  in  a  garret,  and  then  again  of  fire  and  fagot 
at  the  stake.has  not  been  preserved,  and  it  is  only 
a  modei'n  conception  that  begins  to  place  the 
writers  of  true  biographies  among  the  ablest 
and  best  of  all  interpreters  of  philosophy.  The 
study  of  the  human  mind  is  the  source  of  the  best 
possible  education,  and  the  stud}'  of  the  better 
minds  the  world  has  produced  is  the  fountain  of 
the  highest  wisdom  that  is  given  to  man  to  have. 
All  else  called  history  is  generall}-  mere  chro- 
nology, a  skeleton  of  dates  and  important 
events  that  have  been  most  temporary  in  their 
effects,  and  that  bear  no  lesson  in  their  story 
of  which  can  come  the  ripened  fruit  of  civili- 
zation.    In  local   histories,  then,  the  real   eras 


that  are  eventful  to  the  young  communities 
are  the  coming  of  certain  families,  who  thus 
cast  their  fortune  among  the  few  simple 
pioneer  settlers  in  a  new  country  and  aid  and 
assist  them  in  developing  and  building  up  the 
blessing  of  a  good  government  and  a.  ripened 
and  just  public  and  moral  sentiment. 
Rev.  Phillip  H.  Kroh  was  born  in  Fred- 
erick Count}',  Va.,  February  10,  1824,  and 
in  company  with  his  parents,  Henry  and  Mary 
(Stough)  Kroh,  came  to  Union  County  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1842,  and  settled  one  and  one- half  miles 
south  of  Jonesboro.  The  father,  Henry  Kroh, 
was  a  minister  of  the  German  Reformed  Church; 
had  studied  theology  in  Mercersburg  College, 
Penn.,  and  was  engaged  in  the  active  service  of 
the  church  during  his  life.  In  1832,  he  came 
with  his  family  to  Wabash  County,  111.,  and 
ten  years  thereafter,  as  stated  above,  came  to 
Union  County.  In  the  year  1847,  he  removed 
to  Cincinnati,  and  in  1849  he  joined  the  Argo- 
nauts in  their  overland  search  for  the  Golden 
Fleece  in  California.  Somethingof  the  character 
and  intellectual  force  of  the  man  may  be  gleaned 
from  the  circumstances  on  this  trip.  He  stopped 
to  rest  awhile  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  while  there, 
at  the  request  of  Brigham  Young,  preached  to 
the  Mormons  from  the  text,  "  Behold,  I  bring 
you  glad  tidings  of  good  things."  The  sermon 
came  like  a  revelation  indeed  to  the  benighted 
followers  of  Joe  Smith.  While  this  man  of 
God  told  the  story  of  the  true  God  and  His  only 
begotten  Son  in  his  simple,  touching  and  elo- 
quent way,  the  vast  audience  became  entranced, 
and  when  the  discourse  was  ended  the  people 
were  so  deeply  moved  that  tears  and  sighs  per- 
vaded the  entire  congregation,  and  Brigham 
Young  had  become  so  impatient  that  he  could 
hardly  restrain  himself  until  Mr.  Kroh  had 
taken  his  seat,  after  which  he  commenced  an 
excited  harangue  against  the  President  of  the 
United  States  and  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
the  land.  The  cunning  old  fox  saw  the  mar- 
velous effect  the  true  word  of  God  had  pro- 


76 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


duced  among  his  people,  and  he  knew  he  could 
not  directly'  oppose  the  fervid  eloquence  and 
the  sublime   simplicit}-  with  which    the  truth 
had  been  presented,  and  so  he  commenced  by 
complimenting  Mr,  Kroh  very  highly  upon  his 
great  sermon,  and  the  moment  he   had  done 
this  and  thus  gained  the  close  attention  of  the 
audience  he  commenced  to  launch  his  fierce 
epithets  at  the  United  States  Government,  and 
thus  destroy  the  effects  the  word  might  other- 
wise produce  upon   the  people.     Rev.  Henry 
Kroh  died  in  Stockton,  Cal.,  in  1877,  his  widow 
having    died   in    that   city  in  the  year    1876. 
He  was  the  son  of  Simon  Kroh,  of  Virginia,  and 
his  wife  was  a  native  of  Berks  County,  Penn., 
born  in  1802.     She  was  of  German    descent, 
and   the  daughter  of  Conrad  Stough,  a  native 
of  Wittenburg,  Germany,  who  came  to  America 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  American  Revo- 
lution.    After  the  war,  he  was  for  many  years 
the  cashier  of  the  bank  of  Wormendorf,  Penn., 
They  had  nine  children,  of  whom  eight  are  now 
living,  as   follows  :     Elizabeth,  wife  of  Clark 
Flagler,  of  Evansville,  Ind.;  Phillip  H.  Kroh, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  ;  Matilda,  who  mar- 
ried William  Trembly,  of  California,  both  of 
whom   died  in  the  latter  State  ;  she  was  for 
some  years  principal   of    the  high  school    in 
Stockton ;  Jane,  wife  of  William   Knight,  the 
efficient  agent  of  the  Adams  Express  in  Oak- 
land, Cal.;  Sarah,  wife  of  William    Harrold,  a 
prominent  merchant  of  California  ;  Margaret, 
wife  of  Engineer  Alivison,  of  San  Francisco  ; 
George,    who    is    at    present    a   mechanic  in 
Stockton  ;  Loretto,  wife  of  Mr.  Zimmerman,  a 
farmer  near  Stockton,  and  Olevianus,  who  is  at 
the  present  time  a  farmer  and  cattle-dealer  of 
California.  Phillip  H.  Kroh  has  spent  more  than 
an  average  life-time  among  the  people  of  Union 
Countj'.     In   farming,  preaching  and  in  active 
political  life,  he  has  been  a  leader  among  men, 
he  has  been  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  coun- 
t^-'s  history  for  many  years.     His  life  has  been 
a  busy  and  useful  one,  and  his  versatility  of  tal- 


ents are  well  illustrated  by  his  various  occupa- 
tions and  his  triumphs  in  them  all.     In  the  pul- 
pit to-day,  telling   the   pathetic  and    sublime 
story  of  the  Cross  and  calling  sinners  to  repent- 
ance ;  in  the  political  rostrum  the    next   day , 
exposing  shams  and  holding  up  to  the  scorn  of 
the  people  the   frauds    and   demagogues   who 
would    cheat    and    rob    the  people    of  their 
birthright;     on     his     farm     the      next     day, 
directing,    commanding,    and    with    his    own 
hands   doing  deftly  the   work  of  the   trained 
laborer  ;  then  in  the  school  room,  the  lyceum, 
the  debating  club,  or  last  and  best  of  all,  in  his 
family  circle,  and  everywhere  aiding,  counsel- 
ing and  directing  to  the  pleasure  and   weal  of 
all,  is  the  work  of  no  laggard,   but   constitutes 
one  of  those  true  soldiers  of  life  that  make   of 
this  a  pleasant  and    wholesome    world.     Amid 
all  these   many   self-imposed  labors,  he    has 
found  time  to  pursue  a  large  and  varied  course 
of  literary  and  scientific  reading  that  has  kept 
his  growth  of  knowledge  on  an  even  pace  with 
the  great  thinkers  who  have  in  the  past  quarter 
of  a  century  fairly  startled  a  slumberous  world 
with  their  bold  and  brilliant  thoughts  and  inves- 
tigations.   A  mind  thus  trained  and  cultivated 
will  produce  a  liberal,  broad  and  generous  relig- 
ion, a  pure  and  elevating  political  sentiment,  and 
a  warm,  generous  and  noble  social  life,  whose 
genial  effects  will  remain  in  the  world  long  after 
their  author  has  gone  to  sleep  with  his  fathers. 
Judge  Kroh    was    educated  in  Wood  College, 
Indiana,  and  at  the  Theological  College  of  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio,  graduating  at  the   latter   in    the 
class  of  1850.     He   returned  to  Union    County 
and  had   ministerial    charge    of    the  Reform 
Church  of  Jonesboro,   and  filled   this  position 
until  1854,  when  he  went  to    California,   where 
he  dug  for  gold  and   preached  for   God   until 
1858,  when  he  returned  to  his  old  home  in  Un- 
ion County,  and  resumed  the  pastorate  of  his 
church,  at  this  time  making  his  home  in  Anna. 
In  1862,   he  accepted  the  chaplaincy   of  the 
One  Hundred  and   Ninth  Regiment  of  Illinois 


ANNA   PRECINCT. 


77 


Volunteers,  and  continued  in  this  position  for 
eighteen  months,  when,  receiving  a  serious  in- 
jury at  Bolivar,  Tenn.,  he  resigned  and  returned 
home.  In  1879,  he  was  elected  Superintendent 
of  Schools  of  Union  County,  and  for  four  years 
discharged  the  difficult  duties  of  this  position 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  people.  When 
he  retired  from  the  position,  he  gave  his  en- 
tire time,  except  when  forced  out  to  stump  the 
district  in  the  interest  of  some  candidate  who 
i'couldn't  speak,"  to  raising  improved  stock 
and  farming.  He  was  el<>cted  Police  Magis- 
trate for  the  city  of  Anna,  at  the  last  city  elec- 
tion, and  his  friends  are  well  satisfied  that  for 
the  next  four  3'ears,  he  will  continue  to  hold  aloft 
the  scales  of  justice  with  the  same  signal 
abilit}'  and  integrity  that  has  marked  all  his 
past  life.  In  1851,  he  married  Miss  Diana 
Bowman  Perry,  of  Pulaski  County,  111.,  a 
daughter  of  Capt.  EUer}-  Perr}',  the  popular 
commander  of  the  steamer  Diana,  of  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  River  trade.  Of  this  marriage 
are  four  children — Nellie,  Jennie,  Frank  and 
Lulu. 

JESSE  E.  LENTZ,  agricultural  implements, 
Anna,  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1831, 
to  Charles  and  Susan  (Simmons)  Lentz. 
He  was  raised  on  a  farm  in  North  Carolina,  and 
educated  in  the  subscription  schools  of  the 
period.  He  died  in  1855 ;  was  of  German 
descent.  She  was  born  in  North  Carolina  and 
died  in  Georgia,  where  the  family  had  removed. 
They  had  twelve  children,  of  whom  nine  are 
now  living,  our  subject  was  brought  up  on  the 
farm,  and  early  learned  the  trade  of  blacksmith. 
He  came-to  Anna  in  1851,  then  scarcely  twenty 
3-ears  of  age,  and  when  he  arrived  had  but 
25  cents  and  the  clothes  he  wore.  He  worked 
with  Adam  Cruse,  of  Jonesboro,  for  two  years, 
and  in  185-1  went  to  California.  In  1855,  he  re- 
turned to  Union  County,  and  resumed  his  trade 
and  opened  a  shop  of  his  own,  in  which  he 
continued  until  1879,  when  he  engaged  in  the 
agricultural  implement   business.     He  is    the 


owner  of  126  acres  of  land.  He  has  been  in- 
strumental in  building  up  the  town,  having 
erected  a  number  of  the  fine  brick  buildings. 
He  was  married,  in  December,  1859,  to  Miss 
Sarah  Braiznell,  a  native  of  England.  They 
have  no  children.  Politically,  Mr.  Lentz  is  a 
Democrat. 

SAMUEL  MARTIN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Anna, 
is  a  native  of  Jackson  County,  Ala.,  and  was 
born  August  31,  1824.  His  father,  Urias 
Martin,  was  born  in  Clinton  County,  Ky.,  in 
1796,  and  was  there  raised  on  a  farm,  and  on 
account  of  its  being  a  new  settled  country  was 
deprived  of  the  opportunit}-  of  receiving  an 
education.  In  1818,  he  married  and  engaged 
in  farming,  an  occupation  he  followed  during 
his  life.  In  1828,  he  removed  from  Kentucky 
to  Jackson  County,  Ala.,  and  thence  to  Ten- 
nessee, and  after  two  j'ears  came  to  Union 
County,  111.,  and  settled  in  Anna  Precinct. 
In  1835,  he  removed  to  Greene  County,  111., 
and  subsequently  to  Texas,  where  he  died  in 
1856.  He  was  of  Irish  descent.  Keziah  (Will- 
iams) Martin,  subject's  mother,  was  born  in 
Clinton  County,  Ky.,  in  1800,  and  died  in 
Texas  in  1879.  She  was  of  Welsh  descent,  and 
the  daughter  of  Hardin  Williams,  an  old  time 
Baptist  Preacher.  She  was  the  mother  of  ten 
children  of  whom  nine  are  now  living — James 
H.,  Urias,  Benjamin  F.,  Elizabeth,  Jane,  Mal- 
vina,  Lucinda,  Joseph,  and  our  subject,  who 
was  the  third  child  born.  He  was  brought  to 
Union  County  by  his  parents  when  he  was  six 
years  of  age,  and  was  raised  on  a  farm,  and 
educated  in  the  subscription  schools.  At 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  left  home  and  en- 
gaged in  farming  on  his  own  account,  and  con- 
tinued the  same  for  one  year,  when  he  enlisted 
in  the  Second  Regiment  of  the  Mexican  war, 
and  served  under  Col.  William  H.  Bissel.  His 
brother,  Joseph  Martin,  also  served  in  the  same 
regiment  and  company.  In  1847,  our  subject 
returned  home  to  Union  County  and  resumed 
the  occupation  of  farming,  and  has  since  con- 


78 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


tiiiued  the  same  on  his  farm  of  145  acres.  In 
1849,  he  married  Miss  Matilda  McElhany,  a 
native  of  the  count}',  born  near  Jonesboro  in 
1828.  She  is  the  mother  of  the  following 
children— Sidney  C,  M.  D.,  Franklin  P., 
Samuel,  Hannibal  H.  and  Anna  H.  Politically, 
Mr.  M.  is  a  Democrat ;  he  served  as  Assessor 
and  Treasurer  of  the  county  from  1871  to  1875. 

MARIA  JANE  McKINNEY,  proprietress 
of  St.  Nicholas  Hotel,  Anna,  is  a  native  of 
Union  County,  111.,  born  November  5,  1844. 
Her  father,  James  Hanners,  was  born  in  Rowan 
County,  N.  C;  he  was  brought  to  Union 
County,  111.,  by  his  parents  in  about  1823  ;  here 
he  was  reared  and  educated  ;  arriving  at  his 
majority,  he  engaged  in  farming,  an  occupation 
he  followed  during  life.  He  died  in  1872  ;  his 
wife,  Elizabeth  Davis,  was  a  native  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  N.  C,  and  the  mother  of  two 
children,  viz.:  William  S.  Hanners,  ex-County 
Clerk  of  Union  County,  and  Mrs.  McKinney, 
our  subject,  who  has  been  twice  married,  and 
the  mother  of  the  following  children  :  Ida  Mc- 
Lain,  Albert  McLain  and  W.  Frank  McLain. 
Mrs.  McKinney  is  the  proprietress  of  the  St. 
Nicholas  Hotel  at  Anna,  and  has  been  thus  en- 
gaged for  the  past  three  years. 

ARCHIBALD  McNAUGHTON,  merchant 
tailor,  Aima.  Among  the  energetic,  active 
and  highly  respected  business  men  of  Anna, 
who  have  carved  out  a  successful  career  in  life 
by  their  indomitable  will  and  enterprise,  is  Mr. 
Archibald  McNaughton,  whose  name  stands  at 
the  head  of  this  sketch.  He  is  a  native  of 
Scotland,  and  was  born  May  6,  1849.  He  was 
educated  in  the  schools  of  his  native  country, 
and  when  but  twelve  years  of  age,  was  appren- 
ticed to  learn  the  trade  of  tailor.  He  came  to 
America  with  his  father  and  settled  in  Wash- 
ington County,  Ohio,  whei'e  he  remained  until 
1871,  when  he  removed  to  Anna,  and  engaged 
in  work  at  his  trade  as  a  journeyman.  In 
1873,  he  opened  a  tailor  shop  on  his  own  ac- 
count, and    subsequently  added    a    stock   of 


clothing,  etc.,  as  his  means  would  allow.  By 
dint  of  close  application  to  business,  his  uni- 
form courtesy  and  affability  toward  his  cus- 
tomers, and  strict  economy,  he  has  won  a  well- 
merited  success,  and  has  now  the  largest  and 
best  selected  stock  of  goods  of  his  line  in  the 
town.  He  carries  a  full  and  complete  stock  of 
clothing,  hats,  caps  and  gents'  furnishing 
goods,  and  by  his  honor  and  business  integrity 
has  the  confidence  of  all  who  deal  with  him. 
Mr.  McNaughton's  father  was  born  in  1795, 
and  died  in  Union  County,  111.,  January  14, 
1883.  His  wife,  Euphemia  McNaughton  {sub- 
ject's mother),  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  and 
died  in  that  country  ;  she  was  the  mother  of 
eleven  children,  of  whom  only  two  are  now 
living,  viz.:  William,  a  farmer  in  Washington 
County,  Ohio,  and  our  subject.  The  latter  was 
married  in  Anna,  in  1874,  to  Miss  Anna 
Craver,  a  native  of  this  county,  and  a  daughter 
of  Levi  Craver.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McNaughton 
have  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  living — 
Elizabeth  and  Euphemia.  They  are  connected 
with  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  he  is  a  member  of 
the  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor,  and  a  Re- 
publican in  politics. 

JOHN  B.  MILLER,  Postmaster,  Anna,  is  a 
native  of  this  county,  and  was  born  September 
3,  1829.  He  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth 
(Biggs)  Miller,  the  former  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, March  5,  1802,  and  the  latter  born  in 
South  Carolina,  May  8,  1795,  and  died  in  Ar- 
kansas, August  24,  1864  ;  she  was  a  daughter 
of  John  Biggs,  a  native  of  South  Carolina, 
but  a  resident  many  years  of  Tennessee.  The 
elder  Miller  was  raised  on  a  farm  and  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  the  country.  In 
1825,  he  emigrated  with  his  wife  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Union  County,  north  of  Cobden, 
where  he  engaged  in  farming.  His  father, 
Joseph  Miller,  came  with  him  and  entered  land, 
but  left  it  soon  after.  In  1839,  Mr.  Miller  re- 
turned to  Tennessee,  where  he  died  June  5, 
1845.     Our   subject  was   the  third   child  in    a 


ANNA    PRECINCT. 


79 


famil}-  of  five,  three  of  whom  are   now  living, 
viz.:  Joseph    M.,  a  farmer   in    Kansas  ;  Davis 
W.,  real   estate,  Chicago,    and   John   B.,  Post- 
master at  Anna.     He   was   raised   on  a  farm, 
and  his  years  of  boyhood  and  early   manhood 
were  not   3'ears  of  prosperity  and  ease,  but  of 
labor    and    toil.     He    and    his    two   brothers 
worked  and  saved  their  money,  denying  them- 
selves the  luxuries  of  life,  in  order  to  educate 
themselves.     Mr.   Miller,  when   about   twenty- 
six   years    of  age,   entered    the    Academy    at 
Alton,  having  previousl}-  enjoyed  but  a  limited 
attendance   at  the   public  schools,  and  was  the 
first  repi'esentative  student  in  the  State  Normal 
School    at  Bloom ington   from    Union    Count}'. 
In  1839,  he  accompanied    his   parents  to  Ten- 
nessee and  remained  there  until  after  the  death 
of  his    father.     He    taught    school   while    in 
Tennessee,  and  upon  his  return  he  still  followed 
teaching.     After  completing  his  education,  he 
made  Union  County  his  permanent  home.     In 
1864,  he   engaged  in  merchandising  at  Jones- 
boro.  in    copartnership  with  his  brother  Davis. 
May  1, 1870,  he  took  chai'ge  of  the  post  office 
at    Anna,  and    in   1873   was    appointed    Post- 
master, and  as  evidence  that  he   is  "  the  right 
man  in  the  right  place,"  he  has  held  the  posi- 
tion ever  since,  having  been  twice  re-appointed. 
In  connection  with    his  office,  he  carries  on  a 
large  store  of  books,  stationery,  etc.     He  was 
married    October    16,  1870,    in   Jonesboro,  to 
Miss   Frances  Meisenheimer,  a   native  of  Ten- 
nessee.    She   died   July  29,  1878,  leaving  two 
boys,  viz.:  John  B.  and  Francis  Jeffery.     Mi-. 
Miller  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  both  of  the  Lodge  and 
Chapter,    also   of    the   Methodist    Church,   of 
which  he  is  Treasurer. 

JOHN  B.  MILLER,  farmer,  P.  0.,  Anna, 
was  born  in  Union  County,  111.,  October  4, 
1826,  to  Abraham  and  Nancy  (Murray)  Miller. 
He,  a  native  of  Rowan  Count}',  N.  C,  was  born 
in  1799.  In  1816,  with  his  parents,  emigrated 
to    Illinois,   and    located   in    Anna    Township, 


Union  County.  Arriving  at  his  majority,  be 
engaged  in  farming,  and  continued  the  same  to 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Decem- 
ber, 1840.  He  was  a  son  of  Peter,  also  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina,  and  a  soldier  in  the 
Revolutionary  war,  and  participated  in  battles 
in  North  and  South  Carolina.  Subject's  mother 
was  born  in  Burke  Count}',  N.  C.  in  1796,  and 
was  married  in  1818.  She  was  brought  to 
Illinois  by  her  parents,  who  settled  in  Alexan- 
der County,  on  Clear  Creek,  in  1811.  and  sub- 
sequently in  Anna  Township,  Union  County,  in 
about  1816  or  1818.  They  had  previously  set- 
tled in  Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo.,  in 
about  1799.  She  was  a  daughter  of  John 
Murray,  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution,  first  as  a 
tory,  and  afterward  a  rebel.  She  died  in 
Union  County  in  1882,  and  was  the  mother  of 
nine  children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living,  viz.: 
Ezekiel  M.,  Charles  M.,  Jane,  Nancy,  Abraham 
and  John  B.,  our  subject,  who  was  the  second 
child  born.  He  was  raised  and  educated  in  this 
county,  and  has  been  engaged  principally  in 
fruit-growing  upon  his  farm,  which  is  located 
in  Anna  Precinct,  southeast  of  Anna.  Polit- 
ically, Mr.  Miller  is  a  Republican. 

ALEXANDER  J.  NISBET,  lawyer,  Anna, 
was  born  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio  ;  Hved  during  child- 
hood at  that  place,  St.  Louis,  Alton,  111.,  Mad- 
ison, Ind.,  Louisville  and  Owensboro,  Ky.  ;  was 
in  Kentucky  during  war ;  came  to  Jonesboro, 
111.,  1866  ;  resided  there  a  year  and  a  half  with 
his  father  ;  went  to  McKendree  College  at  Leb- 
anon, Ind.,  State  University,  Bloomington,  and 
Chicago  University  ;  graduated  from  Law  De- 
partment of  latter  school  in  1870.  Went  to 
Duluth,  Minn.  ;  was  appointed  County  Judge 
and  Court  Commissioner.  Elected  to  same 
office  on  ticket  with  Gen.  Grant  at  his  last  elec- 
tion. Resigned  on  account  of  bad  health  ;  set- 
tled at  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis. ;  remained  there  until 
his  father's  death  in  1876.  Came  to  Jonesboro  ; 
has  been  there  and  at  Anna  since,  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law.     Latterly,  also  engaged  in  raising 


80 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


fine  blooded  stock,  hogs  and  sheep.  His  father, 
William  Nisbet,  was  born  and  educated  in 
Ediuboro,  Scotland ;  came  to  this  country 
when  he  was  about  eighteen  years  old  ;  settled 
at  Cincinnati.  Ohio.  Married  Miss  Amanda  Lee, 
oldest  daughter  of  Rodney  J.  Lee.  She  was  first 
cousin  to  Admiral  S.  P.  Lee,  who  commanded 
Mississippi  and  James  River  flotillas  during 
the  war,  and  Gen.  Lee,  who  commanded  Gen. 
Grant's  cavalry  at  Vicksburg.  Was  in  bus- 
iness at  Cincinnati  for  some  years  ;  came 
West,  settled  first  in  St.  Louis,  later  at 
Alton.  Came  to  Union  County  in  1854. 
Came  out  of  Cairo  on  first  train  over 
Illinois  Central  Railroad;  resided  six  miles 
east  of  Cobden  until  1860.  Made,  by  request, 
farewell  speech  to  the  first  company  of  Gen. 
Logan's  regiment  that  left  this  county — Com- 
pany C.  Came  to  Jonesboro  in  1860  ;  resided 
there  until  his  death,  March  31.  1876.  En- 
traged  in  farm  gardening  ;  was  the  first  man  to 
successfully  introduce  sweet  potatoes  North  of 
Mason  &  Dixon's  line  in  large  quantities.  Took 
an  active  part  in  all  public  enterprises. 

C.  L.  OTRICH,  druggist,   Anna,  was   born 
in  Union   County,  seven  miles  east  of  Anna, 
September  16,  1849,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry  W. 
and   Caroline  (Pinuinger)  Otrich,  he    born  in 
Rowan  County,  N.  C,  in  1817,  and  died  in  this 
county.     He  was  a  carpenter  and  builder,  and 
also  a  farmer.     In  1837.  he  emigrated  to  Illi- 
nois, and  located  in  this  county,  becoming  the 
owner  of  one  of  the  best  farms  (of  200  acres) 
in  it,  now  owned  by  his  son,  George  W.  Otrich. 
He  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  a  stanch 
Democrat,     His  wife,  subject's  mother,  was  a 
native  of  Rowan  County.  N.  C,  where  she  was 
born  in  1818,  and  is  now  residing  in  this  county 
on  the  old  homestead.     She  was  the  mother  of 
ten  children,  five  of  whom  are  yet  living.     Our 
subject  was  raised  on  a  farm,  and  when  eight- 
een years  old  left  home  and  entered  the  State 
Normal  School  at  Bloomiugton.  111.,  having  pre- 
viously attended  Southern  Illinois  College  at 


Carbondale.  He  read  medicine  with  Dr.  Black, 
of  Jacksonville,  for  eighteen  months.  In  1869, 
he  began  teaching  school  in  Union  and  Menard 
Counties,  and  in  1873  engaged  in  the  drug  bus- 
iness as  successor  to  Dr.  Dodds,  the  firm  being 
Parks  &  Otrich.  He  soon  after,  however, 
bought  out  his  partner's  interest,  and  has  since 
conducted  the  business  alone.  He  was  mar- 
ried, in  March,  1878,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  McClure, 
of  Alexander  County.  She  died  March  11. 
1880,  leaving  one  child,  Thomas  McClure 
Otrich.  In  addition  to  his  drug  store  in  Anna, 
he  in  1879  opened  a  similar  store  in  Cobden, 
which  is  now  under  charge  of  Dr.  Wilson  Brown. 
His  store  in  Anna  is  full  and  complete  in  its 
lines,  is  in  the  Otrich  House  Block,  and  known 
as  '-Egypt's  Pharmacy."'  He  is  also  interested  in 
farming  in  Alexander  County,  and  is  an  owner 
of  the  Otrich  House  Block,  one  of  the  hand- 
somest blocks  in  the  city  of  Anna.  He  and 
four  others  are  directors  and  have  procured 
the  right-of-way  for  a  railroad  from  Jones- 
boro to  Cape  Girardeau. 

CLARENCE  K.  PARKS,  druggist,  P.  0. 
Anna,  was  born  in  Jonesboro,  August  29, 1851, 
and  is  a  son  of  Luther  K.  and  Amira  (Clay) 
Parks.  He  was  born  in  Lawrenceburg,  Ind..  in 
1819,  and  brought  up  on  the  farm,  receiving  but 
a  limited  education.  He  made  several  trips 
"  down  the  river"  on  flat-boats  loaded  with  the 
produce  of  the  country.  Of  studious  turn,  he 
finally  decided  to  become  a  physician,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1839.  he  commenced  reading  med- 
icine with  Dr.  N.  H.  Torbet,  of  Wilmington, 
continuing  with  him  until  October,  1841.  He 
attended  a  full  course  of  lectures  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  and  finally  graduating  at  the  St.  Louis 
Medical  College  when  under  the  management 
of  Pope.  He  practiced  his  profession  about 
twenty-five  years,  but  for  five  years  previous  to 
his  death,  he  only  attended  to  office  calls.  He 
was  not  an  active  worker  in  politics  but  an 
ardent  Republican.  He  was  engaged  in  real 
estate  for  some  ten  vears  and  made  considera- 


ANNA    I'KKCINCT. 


81 


ble  money  ;  he  was  an  active  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity.  His  father,  John  Parks, 
waB  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  but  principally 
raised  in  Indiana,  and  was  of  Irish  descent. 
Dr.  Parks  died  in  February,  1872,  highly  re- 
8pect(!d  by  all  who  knew  him.  The  mother  of 
subject  was  born  in  St.  Charles  County,  Mo.,  in 
1828,  but  raised  near  St.  Louis,  and  is  still  liv- 
ing. She  is  relat<;d  to  Henry  Clay,  the  great 
statesman  ;  her  father  was  Ceorge  Clay,  a  na- 
tive of  Kentucky,  and  a  Captain  and  owner  of 
steamboats  on  the  Mississippi  and  Illinois 
Rivers.  Subject's  parents  had  six  children,  of 
whom  he  is  the  oldest  now  living,  three  of 
them  being  dead.  He  was  raised  in  Union 
County  and  educated  in  the  common  schools, 
and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  began  clerk- 
ing in  a  drug  store.  He  continued  at  this  oc- 
cupation until  1873,  when  he  bought  a  half 
interest  of  Dr.  Dodds,  and  since  1877  has  been 
in  business  alone.  In  1874,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Bugg,  of  Alabama,  a  daughter 
of  James  and  Rebecca  CRaker;  Rugg.  natives  of 
Georgia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Parks  have  two  children 
— Sybil  and  Henry.  .^Ir.  Parks  is  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics,  following  the  example  of  his 
father  before  him.  He  is  one  of  the  active  and 
wide  awake  young  business  men  of  llie  city, 
and  highly  respecUid  citizen. 

THOMAS  H.  PHILLIPS,  attrjmey  at  law, 
Anna,  was  born  in  lielleville,  St.  Clair  Co.,  Hi., 
November  23,  1827,  to  John  and  Laura  H'ippy) 
Phillips.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Virginia, 
born  in  1789.  During  his  life,  he  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits.  He  was  a  LieuUmant  in 
the  war  of  1812,  and  after  its  close  removed 
from  Virginia  to  Kentucky.  In  181G,  he  came 
to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Williamson  County, 
and  after  a  few  years  removed  to  St.  Clair 
County,  where  he  died  in  1847.  His  father, 
(subject's  grandfather)  was  one  of  three  broth- 
ers who  came  to  America  and  settled  in  Vir- 
ginia, previous  to  the  Revolutionary  war;  they 
were  natives  of    Wales.     The   mother  of  our 


subject  was  born  in  Tennessee,  in  1797,  and 
was  married,  in  1818.  She  died  at  Anna,  III., 
Octol)er  11,  1875.  Her  father  was  a  nalive  of 
Germany,  who  eniigraU.'d  U)  America,  and 
settled  in  New  York  State.  He  was  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  afUir  its 
close  he  wandered  away  from  his  liorn«!  and  has 
not  b«:<:n  heard  from  since.  Thotnas  H.  I'liil- 
lips  was  of  a  family  of  thirte<;n  childr<;n, 
f>f  whom  the  following  are  now  living  ;  William, 
a  carpenter  of  Springfield,  111.  ;  Mary,  wife  of 
Isaac  Whiteside,  a  farm(;r  of  .Madison  County, 
111.;  Klij^abeth,  widow  of  William  M.  Howell, 
formally  Marion  County,  III.  ;  Capt.  Isaac  N., 
a  farmer  of  Union  County,  who  wan  Provost 
Marshal  of  this  district  during  the  war  ;  Nancy, 
wiflowof  John  W.  Riindy,  of  Cobdf;n  ;  Sarah, 
wife  of  L.  H.  Finch,  of  Anna  ;  Thomas  H.,  our 
subject ;  and  Margaret,  wife  of  Capt.  I.  M. 
Spery,  a  farmer  of  Cobden.  'i'homas  H.  spent 
his  early  life  at  home  on  the  farm,  and  there 
received  th<;  h<;nf;fit  of  the  subscription  'and 
common  schools.     When  he  was   twenty-eight 

i  years  of  age,  he  entered   the  Shurtleff  College 

I  of  Illinois,  and  there  remained  two  years.  In 
1807,  he  began  reading  law  with  Hon.  VVilliam 
H.  Cnderwfxjd,  of  Relleville,  III.,  and  was  ad- 
mitU;d  to  the  bar  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year. 
In  1808,  he  began  the  practice  of  law  at  J'ana, 
111.,  where  he  remained  two  years.  In  1870,  he 
came  U)  Anna,  HI.,  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained.    In  September,  1882,  he  went  U>  Wash- 

''  ington,  D.  C,  and  acted  as  Clerk  in  the  De- 
partment of  the  InUjrior  ;  he  resigned  however 
on  account  of  a  disability  in  his  right  arm,  and 
returned  U)  his  home  at  Anna  in  January, 
1883.  In  1807,  he  married,  at  Relleville,  III., 
Miss  Ellen  A.  Hughes,  a  native  of  the  same 
place,  and  a  daught^jr  of  Judge  .iolm  D. 
Hughes  and  Rebecca  W.  (Shannon;  Hughes. 
He  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  who  emigrated  to 
Illinois,  in  1820,  an«l  died  in  1809.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  i'hillips  have  two  children— Maurice  H., 
born    May  29,  1873,    and    Florence   L.,  bom 


82 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


October  19,  1877.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  she  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M., 
Blue  Lodge  and  Chapter ;  also  of  the  K.  of  H. 
Politically,  he  is  a  Republican,  and  cast  his 
first  vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  twice 
nominated  for  the  Legislature,  and  once  for 
County  Judge,  but  owing  to  the  power  of  the 
Democratic  party  he  was  defeated.  He  is  now 
City  Attorney  of  Anna.  During  the  war,  he 
was  Deputy  Provost  Marshal  of  this  district, 
which  included  fifteen  counties.  He  was 
Postmaster  in  1872,  and  resigned  after  holding 
the  office  one  year. 

ANNA  POTTERY,  Anna.  One  of  the  old 
and  valuable  industries  of  this  city  is  the  Anna 
Pottery.  It  was  established  in  1859  by  C.  & 
W.  W.  Kirkpatrick,  men  thoroughly  experi- 
enced in  this  line  of  business,  and  who  can 
make  more  articles,  both  useful  and  ornamental, 
out  of  mud  than  any  men  in  Illinois.  Visitors 
to  their  extensive  works,  as  they  watch  the 
busy  hands  molding  the  clay  into  hundreds  of 
diflerent  shapes,  find  themselves  unconsciously, 
as  it  were,  repeating  Longfellow's  lines  : 

"Turn,  turn,  my  wheel!    This  earthen  jar 
A  touch  can  make,  a  touch  can  mar; 
And  shall  it  to  the  potter  say. 
What  makest  thou?  " 
The  establishment  employs  some  twenty  hands, 
and  turns  out  annually  a  large  amount  of  sewer 
pipe,  jars   of  various  sizes,  fruit  cans  or  jars, 
milk  crocks  and,  in  fact,  almost  evevy  species 
of  stoneware,   together  with  bull-dogs,    owls, 
snakes,   hogs    and  illustrated   railroad    maps, 
pipes  b}"  the  thousand,  bull-frogs,  and  a  variety 
of   other   animals   and   things  too   tedious  to 
mention.      One  of  their  greatest  curiosities  is 
the  "  Pioneer  Farm,"  made  whoU}'  out  of  cla}', 
and  fully  noticed  in  a  chapter  in  the  historical 
portion  of  this  work. 

REV.  WILLIAM  RHODES,  merchant,  P.  0. 
Anna,  was  born  January  15,  1836,  in  Moultrie 
County,  111.  '  His  father,  John  Rhodes,  was  a 


native  of  North  Carolina,  and  was  born  in  Ran- 
dolph County.     In  1816,  when  but  seven  years 
of  age,  he  removed  with  his  father's  family  to 
Lawrence  County,  Ind.     There  he  grew  to  man- 
hood, and  in  1831  removed  to  Moultrie  County, 
111.      He     married   Rachel    Senteney,  born  in 
Maysville,  Ky.,  in  4813,  and  died  of  paralysis 
in  1881.  He  settled  in  his  new  home  in  Illinois, 
with   no  means  for  success,  save  a  large   en- 
dowment of  industry,  perseverance  and  hope, 
and  with  a  companion  whose  power  to  perform 
well  her  part  and  sweeten  the  toils  of  pioneer 
life  was  his  constant  admiration.     He  is  still 
living,  and  where  he  now  sees  well-improved 
farms  he  found  an  almost  uninhabited  wilder- 
ness.    Eight  children  were  born  to  him,  seven 
sons  and   one   daughter.      Our    subject    was 
brought  up  on  the  farm  and   after  receiving  a 
full  course  in  the  common  schools,  he   spent 
one  year  in  the  Sullivan  Academy,  one  year  at 
Bethany  College,  West  Virginia,  and  one  year 
at  Eureka  College,  in  Woodford  County,    111. 
He   was   converted   at  the   age   of  seventeen 
years,  under  the  preaching  of  Elder  Etheridge, 
at  his  father's  house,  and  united  with  the  sect 
known  as    "  Disciples "    or  the    "  Church   of 
Christ."     After  completing  his   education,  he 
began  teaching,  which  he  continued,  together 
with   farming,    until   1862,  when  he    was  or- 
dained to  the  Christian  ministrj'  and    has   re- 
mained with  that  church  and  labored  for   its 
good  ever  since.     In  1877,  he  came  to   Anna 
and  engaged  in  the  hardware  business,  and  at 
the   same   time   occupied  the   pulpit    in    the 
Christian   Church.     In    1882,  he  retired   from 
business,  leaving  his  sons  to  manage  it,  but  he 
still  retains  his  interest.     He   was   married  in 
Moultrie    County,  111.,   February  19,   1840,  to 
Miss   Sarah  C.  Souther,   a  daughter  of  Abra- 
ham and  Catharine  (Hardin)  Souther,  natives 
of  Oldham  County,    Ky.     She  died    in    1864, 
leaving  one  child,    Thomas   B.     He  was  mar- 
ried a  second  time,  November,  1866,  to  Miss 
Amanda  J.  Hatfield,  a  native  of  Greene  County, 


ANNA  PRECINCT. 


83 


Ind.,  by  whom  he  has  four  children,  viz.:  Rosa 
A.,  Rudolph  A.,  William  and  John.  The  latter 
died  when  three  years  old.  Mr.  Rhodes  has 
held  six  different  discussions,  one  with  an  in- 
fidel on  the  Divinity  of  the  Bible,  the  others 
upon  religious  matters  with  ministers  of  dif- 
ferent denominations. 

J.  H.  SANBORN,  M.  D.,  editor  Farmer  and 
Fruit  Grower,  Anna,  111.,  whose  portrait  ap- 
pears elsewhere,  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass., 
May  21,  1834.  His  boyhood  was  passed  in 
the  Eastern  States,  in  each  of  which  he  lived 
more  or  less  time.  After  attending  various  in- 
stitutions of  learning,  and  teaching  several 
years,  he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts  at  the  Weslej'an  University,  Middletown, 
Conn.  Having  an  inclination  for  the  profession 
of  medicine,  he  studied  two  years  with  Dr.  C.  P. 
Gage,  President  of  the  New  Hampshix-e  State 
Medical  Society,  and  a  year  with  his  brother.  Dr. 
J.  E.  Sanborn,  who  was  for  several  years  Profess- 
or of  Chemistry  and  Materia  Medica  in  the  Medi- 
cal Department,  at  that  time,  of  the  Iowa  State 
University  at  Keokuk ;  and,  after  attending 
courses  of  lectures  at  Harvard  University 
Medical  College,  graduated  in  1856  at  the 
Medical  Department  of  Dartmouth  College, 
New  Hampshire.  He  then  attended  supple- 
mentary partial  courses  in  the  Philadelphia 
Medical  Schools  ;  returned  to  the  New  England 
States  and  practiced  medicine  about  ten  years. 
His  health  becoming  poor,  he  went  to  Florida 
and  remained  there  nearly  four  3'ears  as  Land 
Commissioner  of  the  Florida  Railroad  Com- 
pany, buying  and  selling  land,  locating  set- 
tlers, and,  as  opportunity  offered,  practicing  his 
profession.  During  these  years,  he  wrote  a 
long  series  of  letters  for  the  Country  GentJe- 
man,  and  corresponded  with  other  journals  in 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  These 
letters  were  widely  copied,  and  were  the  means 
of  first  drawing  attention  to  Florida  and  caus- 
ing that  now  immense  annual  pilgrimage  of 
invalids  and  others  to  the  land  of  the  orange 


and  magnolia.  In  July,  1869,  Dr.  Sanborn 
came  with  his  family  to  Anna,  and  during  the 
following  three  jx^ars  was  Principal  of  the  city 
public  schools.  Since  then  he  has  mostly  given 
his  time  to  fruit-growing,  occasionally  teaching 
during  the  winter.  Almost  from  the  first 
issue  he  has  been  a  contributor  to  the  Farmer 
and  Fruit  Grower,  published  in  Anna,  and  for 
several  years  has  acted  as  editor  of  the  horti- 
cultural department.  In  1857,  he  married  Miss 
Hannah  M.  Moody,  and  had  one  child, Winifred, 
born  March  31,  1861. 

CHARLES  S.  SIMMERMAN,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Anna,  was  born  in  Union  County,  111.,  March 
20,  1847,  and  is  a  son  of  Peter  and  Jane 
(Frogge)  Simmerman  ;  he,  Peter,  is  a  native  of 
Virginia,  and  now  residing  in  Johnson  City, 
Tenn.,  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  ;  his 
wife  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  died  in  1847. 
Charles  S.  was  the  only  child  born  to  her  ;  at 
three  years  of  age  he  was  taken  to  Texas  b}- 
his  grandfather,  and  was  there  raised  by  him 
on  his  stock  farm.  When  he  became  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  came  to  Union  County,  111. 
In  1871,  he  bought  his  present  farm  of  eighty 
acres.  May  4,  1864,  he  married  Miss  So- 
phronia  Jackson,  a  native  of  this  county  ;  her 
parents.  Reason  and  Rachael  (GuUion)  Jackson, 
are  both  natives  of  Kentuck}*.  Mr.and  Mrs.  Sim- 
merman  have  six  children  :  William  H.,  Minnie 
B.,  Charles  S.,  Cora  J.,  Arthur  L.  and  Lemuel. 

W.  H.  SMART,  clerk  at  Insane  Hospital, 
Anna,  was  born  August  22,  1844,  and  is  a 
grandson  of  Ezra  Smart,  a  native  of  London, 
England,  a  lawyer  there,  and  of  a  very  old 
English  famil}-.  He  came  to  the  colonies  be- 
fore the  Revolutionary  war,  and  served  in  the 
struggle  for  independence  on  the  side  of  the 
Colonies.  He  was  married  in  this  country  to 
Miss  Chapman,  bj'  whom  he  had  three  children, 
viz.:  Ezra,  Edwin  K.  and  Richard,  the  father  of 
our  subject.  He  was  born  in  1785,  in  Grafton 
County,  N.  H.,  and  died  in  1870  in  Rumney, 
in  that  county.     He  was  educated  to  the  law 


84 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


under  Josiah  Quincy,  and  practiced  the  pro- 
fession for  twenty  years  in  Haverhill,  N.  H.; 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  for  nine- 
teen years,  from  1841  to  1860.  He  married 
Ancena  Chapman,  born  in  1784  in  Grafton 
County,  N.  H.,  and  died  there  in  1865 ;  her 
father  was  also  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary 
war.  She  was  the  mother  of  five  children,  of 
whom  four  are  now  living — Charles  C,  a  brick 
manufacturer,  in  Rumney,  N.  H. ;  Caroline, 
wife  of  J.  Greenough,  a  merchant,  in  Canter- 
bury, N.  H. ;  Harriet,  wife  of  Frank  A.  Cush- 
man,  a  merchant  of  Lebanon,  N.  H.,  and 
William  H.,  our  subject,  who  was  educated  in 
Dartmouth  College  for  the  law.  He  read  with 
Hon.  A,  F.  Pike,  of  Franklin,  N.  H..  and  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  in  1864,  at  Plymouth.  He 
followed  the  profession  nine  years  in  Mexico, 
Mo.  In  1871,  he  went  to  Charleston,  S.  C, 
where  he  had  charge  of  John  H.  Deveraux"s 
plantation,  until  1878,  when  he  came  North, 
settling  at  Anna,  111.,  where  he  commenced  to 
work  as  an  attendant  in  the  hospital  for  the 
insane,  and  in  the  fall  of  1882  he  was  appoint- 
ed Clerk,  by  Superintendent  Wardner,  a  posi- 
tion he  now  occupies.  He  was  married,  April 
19,  1872,  at  Sparta,  111.,  to  Miss  Alexina  A. 
Jacobs,  a  step-daughter  of  John  E.  Detrich, 
and  who  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  They 
have  one  child,  Willie  R.,  born  in  June,  1873. 
Mr.  Smart  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  Anna  Lodge 
No.  1892.  of  which  body  he  is  now  Dictator. 

JOHN  SPIRE,  painter,  Anna,  was  born  in 
Holland,  Europe,  October  9,  1835.  to  Leonard 
and  Martha  (Gerlhood)  Spire,  both  natives  of 
Holland.  He  was  born  in  1801,  and  in  1849, 
with  his  wife  and  family,  he  emigrated  to  Amer- 
ica, locating  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died 
the  same  year  with  the  cholera.  The}'  had 
eight  children,  of  whom  three  are  living — sub- 
ject, the  eldest ;  Charles,  living  in  Buffalo  ;  and 
Martha,  wife  of  Van  Blois,  at  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.     Subject,  was  educated  in  the  common 


schools  until  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age, 
when  he  was  compelled  to  assist  in  supporting 
the  family,  which  he  did,  working  by  the  day 
at  such  work  as  he  could  find  to  do.  At  six- 
teen, he  apprenticed  himself  to  the  trade  of 
painter  in  Bufl^alo,  and  after  learning  the  trade 
he  came  West  to  Paducah,  Ky.,  and  during  the 
summer  of  1854  worked  there  at  journeyman 
work.  He  then  went  to  New  Orleans,  and  the 
next  spring  went  to  Cincinnati,  but  soon  after 
returned  to  Paducah,  and  in  the  fall  of  1855 
came  to  Anna,  III,  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained, working  at  his  trade  of  painting  ; 
sometimes  emplo3's  as  many  as  eighteen  men. 
In  1857,  he  married  Miss  Emily  Knight,  a  na- 
tive of  Kentucky,  but  raised  principally  in 
Williamson  County,  and  a  daughter  of  Alfred 
Knight,  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  Subject 
has  two  children — George  Leonard  and  Ella, 
wife  of  T.  B.  Rhoades,  of  Anna.  Mrs.  Spire  is 
a  member  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Mr.  Spire 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  Odd 
Fellows.  Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat.  He 
has  been  Mayor  for  two  terms  (four  years). 
School  Director,  and  a  member  of  the  Town 
Board  for  three  years.  He  enlisted,  August 
15,  1862,  in  Company  H,  One  Hundred  and 
Ninth  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry,  under  com- 
mand of  Col.  Nimmo,  and  was  at  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg  for  forty-two  days.  He  was  mus- 
tered out  of  service  as  Fourth  Sergeant  in  April, 
1863.  The  regiment  was  consolidated  with 
the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh,  and  he  was 
appointed  to  the  same  office,  and  afterward 
promoted  to  First  Lieutenant  in  same  com- 
pany, which  he  held  until  mustered  out  July 
14,  1865.  While  in  the  army,  he  was  not 
wounded  nor  captured,  and  never  ofl'  duty. 

L.  E.  STOCKING,  M.  D.,  Anna.  This  gen- 
tleman is  a  native  of  Collinsville,  N.  Y.,  born 
December  2, 1847.  His  grandfather,  Ansel  Stock- 
ing, was  of  Scotch  descent,  a  blacksmith  by  oc- 
cupation. His  father,  Walter  Stocking,  a  na- 
tive of  Connecticut,  was  born  in   1812.     He  is 


ANNA  PRECINCT. 


85 


now  a  resident  of  Caledonia,  Mo.,  where  he  is 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits,  but  he  was 
formerly  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business. 
He  married  Miss  Rebecca  (Downey)  Stocking 
(mother  of  subject),  a  native  of  Vermont,  born 
in  1812.  She  traces  her  ancestry  back  to  Com- 
modore Downey,  of  the  English  Navy.  She  is 
the  mother  of  nine  children,  five  boys  and  four 
girls.  Dr.  Stocking  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Wisconsin,  and  took  a  prepara- 
tory collegiate  course  at  Allen's  Grove  Acade- 
m}^,  of  the  same  State.  At  nineteen  years  of 
age,  he  entered  the  Michigan  University,  gradu- 
ating from  the  same  in  June,  1870.  Soon  after 
his  return  from  college,  he  began  teaching,  and 
was  Principal  of  the  school  at  Potosi,  Mo.,  also 
at  Irondale,  Mo.  In  about  1873,  he  began  the 
study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  L.  T.  Hall,  of  Po- 
tosi, Mo.,  and  in  1874  he  entei'ed  the  St.  Louis 
Medical  College,  and  graduated  from  the  same 
in  March,  1876.  He  immediatel}^  began  the 
practice  of  his  chosen  profession  at  Dardanelle, 
Ark.,  where  he  remained  until  1877,  when  he 
came  to  Anna,  Union  Co.,  111.  The  following 
year,  he  was  appointed  First  Assistant  Physi- 
cian of  the  Southern  Illinois  Insane  Asylum,  a 
position  he  still  holds.  In  Anna,  September  6, 
1876,  he  married  Miss  Helen  L.  Whiteman,  a 
native  of  Watseka,  111.,  born  November  23, 
1855.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and 
Nancy  (Wright)  Whiteman.  The  Doctor  and 
wife  are  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  is  a  member  of  the  South- 
ern Illinois  Medical  Society,  and  the  Tri-State 
Medical  Association.  In  polities,  the  Doctor  is 
identified  with  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
party. 

THOMAS  G.  STOKES,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna, 
is  a  native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  March 
6, 1840,  to  Thomas  and  Edna  (Jennette)  Stokes. 
Thomas  Stokes  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1809, 
where  he  was  raised  and  educated.  He  came 
to  Union  County  with  his  parents,  who  located 
in  what  is  now  known  as  the  Stokes  settlement. 


During  his  life,  he  engaged  in  agricultural  pur- 
suits. He  died  in  1847.  He  was  a  son  of 
John  Stokes,  a  native  of  Virginia,  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  who  died  about  1854.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  in 
1811,  and  in  1825,  with  her  parents,  emigrated 
to  Union  County  and  settled  in  Anna  Precinct. 
She  died  in  1849.  Thej'  were  the  parents  of  the 
following  children  :  William  B.,  Mar}^,  the  wife 
of  James  S.  Campbell,  and  Thomas  G.  Our 
subject  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources 
after  the  death  of  his  parents,  and  struggled 
hard  to  gain  a  livelihood.  His  education  was 
limited  to  the  common  schools  of  the  period. 
At  nine  years  of  age,  he  apprenticed  himself  at 
the  tanner's  trade,  to  W.  Davis,  and  remained 
with  him  about  two  years.  He  afterward 
learned  the  cabinet-maker's  trade,  and  subse- 
quently the  milling  business,  and  was  thus  en- 
gaged when  the  war  of  the  rebellion  broke  out. 
He  enlisted  in  Company  F  of  the  Sixtieth  Illi- 
nois Infantry,  under  command  of  Col.  S.  E. 
Toler,  and  was  with  the  regiment  to  the  close 
of  the  war,  taking  part  in  every  engagement. 
He  was  wounded  once  while  on  a  foraging  ex- 
pedition. He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service 
Jul}'  30, 1865,  and  immediately  returned  home, 
and  soon  after  went  West  and  engaged  in  stock- 
raising  in  Iowa  and  Nebraska,  where  he  re- 
mained about  one  year.  His  time  since  has 
been  occupied  in  mercantile  pursuits,  milling 
ahd  clerking.  In  1880,  he  removed  to  his  pres- 
ent residence,  where  he  has  since  remained  en- 
sraaed  in  farmincr.  In  1871,  he  married  Miss 
Nettie  Springgate,  who  died  in  1873,  leaving 
two  children,  one  of  whom  is  living — Maud.  In 
1874,  he  married  a  second  time.  Miss  Martha 
A.  Eaves,  a  daughter  of  Judge  Eaves,  of  Anna. 
She  has  borne  him  five  children,  of  whom  four 
are  living,  viz.:  Stella  M.,  Everett  T.,  William 
Mr.  Stokes  is  a  member  of  the 
and  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  is  a  Re- 


P.  and  Edna. 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 
publican. 
WILLIAM 


WATSON    STOKES,     black- 


^ 


86 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


smith,  Anna,  was  born  in  Jonesboro  Septem- 
ber 11,  1856,  to  Matthew  J.  and  Sarah  J. 
(Cruse)  Stokes.  The  senior  Stokes  was  also  a 
native  of  the  count}',  and  during  his  life  worked 
at  the  blacksmith's  trade.  He  died  in  May 
1869,  his  wife,  subject's  mother,  was  born  in 
Jonesboro,  and  is  now  residing  in  Anna;  she  is 
the  mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom  William, 
our  subject,  was  the  oldest.  After  the  death 
of  his  father,  he  was  thrown  upon  his  own 
resources,  and  engaged  in  doing  such  work  as 
his  age  and  strength  would  permit.  His  edu- 
cation was  limited  to  the  common  schools.  At 
fourteen,  he  began  to  learn  the  blacksmith's 
trade,  with  Adam  Cruse,  and  remained  with 
him  four  years,  and  then  engaged  with  Lenz, 
Dewitt  &  Braiznell,  but  remained  with  them 
only  a  short  time,  when  he  began  traveling  and 
working  onl}-  a  short  time  at  a  place,  continu- 
ing the  same  until  January,  1879,  when  he 
returned  to  Anna  aud  entered  into  partnership 
with  James  Dewitt.  They  are  both  enterpris- 
ing gentlemen  of  good  standing  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  they  live,  and  do  a  large  and 
lucrative  business,  it  being  the  most  extensive 
business  of  the  kind  in  Union  County. 

J.  E.  TERPINITZ,  who  has  been  a  citizen 
of  Union  County  for  over  twenty-five  years, 
and  is  now  conducting  a  jewelry  and  music 
store  in  Anna,  is  a  native  of  the  Empire  of 
Austria,  and  was  born  to  Sylvester  and  Jo- 
sepha  (Zettel)  Terpinitz,  on  the  20th  of  May, 
1836,  in  the  city  of  Penerbach  in  the  province 
of  Upper  Austria.  The  family  is  of  ancient 
Russian  origin,  and  possess  a  coat  of  arms,  a 
family  relic,  bearing  the  date  1590.  They  em- 
igrated to  Silesia,  and  thence  to  Linz,  the  cap- 
ital of  Upper  Austria,  where  the  father  of  our 
subject  carried  on  a  mercantile  and  drug  busi- 
ness for  3'ears.  Some  of  the  members  of  the 
family  have  held  high  positions  under  the  Aus- 
trian Government,  an  uncle  having  been  for  a 
time  Postmaster  General  at  Vienna,  the  capital 
of  the  Empire,  and  his  father  was  Mayor  of  his 


city  during  the  troublesome  revolutionary  times 
of  that  then  much  oppressed  country.  Mr. 
Terpinitz  received  a  liberal  education,  and  his 
father,  being  an  ardent  lover  of  music,  placed 
him,  at  the  age  of  nine  years,  in  the  conserva- 
tory of  Prague,  in  Bohemia,  then  as  now  one  of 
the  renowned  institutions  of  that  musical  coun- 
try. Subsequently,  he  entered  the  Polytechnic 
Institute  at  Vienna.  The  memorable  month  of 
October,  1848,  found  him  at  the  age  of  thirteen 
in  the  ranks  of  the  National  Guards  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  band.  When  the  curtain  dropped 
on  that  unfortunate  struggle  for  liberty,  a  fort- 
unate sabre-cut  received  across  his  head  dur- 
ing the  combat  laid  him  up  for  months  in  a 
hospital  and  saved  him  from  the  sad  fate  of 
many  of  his  young  comrades,  who  were  led  out 
to  the  sand  hills  back  of  Vienna  and  executed 
with  powder  and  lead  for  their  youthful  mis- 
take of  yearning  for  liberty.  After  regaining 
his  health,  the  revolutionary  storm  having  sub- 
sided, through  the  influence  of  prominent 
friends  of  the  family  he  was  allowed  to  resume 
his  studies.  Becoming  a  member  of  one  of 
those  man}'  musical  organizations  in  that  coun- 
try, he  had,  at  one  time,  the  rather  gratifying 
satisfaction  to  appear  in  a  concert  before  the 
imperial  family  at  the  castle  of  Maximilian,  a 
brother  of  the  present  Emperor,  in  Ebenz- 
weyer,  the  same  Maximilian  who  was  after- 
ward the  victim  of  Napoleonic  intrigues  in 
Mexico.  The  yearning  for  the  "  laud  of  the 
free  and  the  home  of  the  brave  "  becoming  very 
strong,  his  father  concluded  to  emigrate  to  the 
new  El  Dorado  where  milk  and  honey  flow,  and 
the  pining  for  freedom  from  despotic  tyranny 
could  be  gratified.  And  so,  in  the  year  1854, 
the  family  embarked  for  foreign  shores.  After 
rambling  for  awhile  in  the  Atlantic  States  and 
remaining  a  time  in  Cincinnati,  the  family  came 
farther  west,  with  the  idea  of  engaging  in  agri- 
cultural pursuits.  A  number  of  farmers,  with 
their  families,  from  Upper  Austria,  had  previ- 
ously emigrated,  and  settled  three  miles  south 


ANNA  PRECINCT. 


87 


of  Jonesboro,  and,  being  well  pleased  with  the 
fertility   of  the   countiy,    built  a  church  and 
schoolhouse  and  gave  the  settlement  the  ap- 
propriate name  of  Kornthal  (Corndale).     Mr. 
Terpinitz..  Sr.,  was  attracted  to  this  settlement, 
and,    procuring    the     necessarj-    implements, 
stock,  etc.,  went  to  work,  but  the  old   German 
adage,    ''  Shoe-maker,    remain    by    your  last," 
proved  only  too  true.     Neither  the  old  gentle- 
man nor  any  of  his  sons  had  the  least  knowl- 
edge of  practical  farming  in  the  West,  except 
what   the}-    had    read,  and  so  the   enterprise 
proved  a  miserable  failure,  not  only  absorbing 
all  the  means  in  possession  of  the  family,  but 
also  sacrificed  the  oldest   son,    Sylvester,  who 
succumbed   to   the   then    prevailing   malarial 
fevers.     Mr.  J.  E.  Terpinitz  then   returned   to 
his  profession  and  trade,  becoming  connected 
with  the  jewelrj-  establishment  of  Grear  &  Co. 
in  Jonesboro,  then  the  largest  establishment  of 
that  kind  in  Southern  Illinois.     In  the  fall  of 
1859,  he  married  Miss  Marie  Dushel,  and  moved 
to  the  infant  city  of  Anna,  where   he  opened 
the  first  watch  and  jewelry  establishment  in 
this  city.     Mr.  Terpinitz  may  be  said  to  be  the 
veteran  musician  of  Southern  Illinois,  having 
been  more  or  les^  connected  with  the  organiza- 
tion of  bands,  orchestras  and  musical  societies 
in  this  portion  of  the  State  for  the  last  twenty- 
five  years.     He  has  met  with  man}-  reverses  in 
his  business  career,  having  been  burned  out  of 
house  and  home  three  times,  and  had  his  store 
burglarized  to  a  large  amount.     Nevertheless, 
with  the  proverbial  adhesiveness  and  industry 
of  his  nationality,  he  remained    in   our   city 
through  prosperity  and  adversity,  and  is  now 
one  of  the  old  citizens  of  our  rapidly  growing 
town. 

JOHN  M.  TOLER,  P.  0.  Anna.  The  gen- 
tleman whose  name  heads  this  biography 
is  a  native  of  Wayne  County,  N.  C,  born  July 
16,  1806.  His  father,  Stephen  Toler  was 
born  in  the  same  State  in  1762,  and  was  a 
farmer  during  his  life,  which  ended  in  1818.    His 


paternal  ancestors  emigrated,  at  an  early  date, 
to  America  from  Ireland.      Elizabeth   Powell, 
the  mother  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina   in    1763,   and    was   the   daughter  of 
Peter  Powell,  a  native  of  Scotland.     The  union 
of  Stephen   and    Elizabeth  resulted  in  sixteen 
children,  all  of  whom  are  deceased,  save  John 
M.,    whose   school   advantages  were  very  lim- 
ited.     Such   education   as   he  did  get  was  ob- 
tained   within  the  log   cabin,  with  slab   seats 
and  writing  desks,  etc.     While  yet  in  his"  mi- 
nority, perhaps  when  about  fifteen  years  old, 
he   began    '■  paddling  his  own  canoe  "  as  a  la- 
borer on  a  farm,  at  a  small  compensation.     At 
the  age   of  sixteen,  he   assumed  the  manage- 
ment of  a   store  and  fishery  along  the  Neuse 
River  for  Silas  Cox,  from  which   he   withdrew 
in  1829,  and  immediately  came  to  what  is  now 
Stokes   Township,   where   he   remained    until 
1868,  in  the  meantime  entering  1,100   acres  of 
land.      Here  he  devoted  his  entire  efl!brts  and 
time  to  the  labors   of  the  ruralist,  and  was  al- 
ways well   repaid   for  the  same.     In  the  year 
mentioned   above,  he   removed  to  his  present 
farm  of  125  acres,  lying  a  short  distance  from 
Anna,  where  he  gives  his  attention   to    horti- 
culture, especially  in  small  fruits.     In  1830,  he 
married    Mary   Throgmorton,  born    November 
15,  1812,   in  Kentucky,  and  who  came  to  this 
county  when  quite  young.      She  died  in  1866. 
Her   union  with   Mr.  Toler  gave  her  nine  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom  survive,  viz.  :  Martha,  the 
wife  of  Ezekiel  Bishop  ;  L.  H.,  born  February 
15,  1844   (married,    March  22,   1868,  Amanda 
Sivea,  and  has  four  of  six  children  living,  viz.: 
Ary,  A.  J.,  Charles  L.  and  Ed  L.) ;  J.  M.,  born 
July  18, 1847  (married,  October  13,  1867,  Su- 
san M.  Helton,  the  result  being  ten  children, 
seven  of  whom   survive,  viz.  :  Isa  A.,  Preston 
E.,  Olive  B.,  Ida  A.  Alice  G.,  John  A.  and 
Clarence  E.).      Three   of   our   subject's   sons 
joined  the  patriots  to  defend  their  country,  and 
lost  their  lives  in  the  service.     Dr.  S.  E.  raised 
the  Sixtieth   Illinois   Volunteer  Infantry,  and 


88 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  commissioned  General,  but  died  before  the 
time  to  take  command.  John  W.  was  assigned 
the  position  as  Quartermaster,  and  Josiah  served 
as  Lieutenant.  June  17,  1869,  Mr.  Toler  was 
married  to  Mary  Baker,  a  daugther  of  Charles 
and  Celia  (Clark)  Baker,  the  former  born 
March  25,  1794,  in  Alabama,  where  he  died  in 
1861,  and  the  latter  born  in  North  Carolina 
November  10,  1797,  and  died  in  Alabama  in 
1865.  The  present  Mrs.  Toler  was  born  in 
Georgia  November  6,  182-4,  and  belongs  to  the 
Methodist  Church.  Mr.  Toler  was  early  iden- 
tified with  the  Whig  party,  and  is  now  a  stanch 
Democrat.  He  served  his  township  for  several 
years  as  Treasurer  and  Trustee,  and  has  held 
other  small  offices. 

HORACE  WARDNER,  M.  D.,  Anna,  Super- 
intendent Southern  Insane  Asj'lum,  was  born 
on  the  25th  of  August,  1829,  in  W^-oming 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  is  a  son  of  Philip  and  Maria 
(Frisby)  Wardner,  also  natives  of  New  York. 
The  famil}'  is  of  German  descent,  the  name 
Wardner  being  from  the  German  "  Veidner." 
Philip  Veidner,  the  original  ancestor,  came  to 
America  about  the  year  1750.  He  was  a  stone- 
cutter, and  was  employed  in  building  the  old 
State  House  in  Boston.  Our  subject's  boyhood 
was  spent  upon  his  father's  farm,  where  the 
foundation  of  a  strong  physical  organization 
was  built  up.  He  evinced  a  taste  for  literature 
when  veiy  young,  a  taste  encouraged  by  his 
parents  and  by  his  uncle,  the  Rev.  Nathan 
Wardner,  formerly  a  missionary  to  China. 
The  desire  for  knowledge  increasing  with  his 
years,  determined  him  to  gain  as  liberal  an 
education  as  possible,  and  to  enter  one  of  the 
learned  professions.  His  father  being  of  limited 
means,  with  a  large  family  to  support,  was  un- 
able to  afford  him  the  desired  facilities,  and  at 
sixteen  years  of  age  he  launched  out  in  sup- 
port of  himself  A  few  months'  employment 
secured  to  him  the  means  to  commence  his 
education,  which  was  pursued  at  Cayuga  Acad- 
emy   and  at  Alfred  University,  during  the  fol- 


lowing seven  3'ears,  except  such  intervals  spent 
in  teaching  as  became  necessary  to  defray 
expenses.  In  1852,  he  commenced  the  study 
of  medicine  with  Dr.  W.  B.  Alley,  at  Almond, 
N.  Y.,  and  during  the  years  1853  and  185J:,  in 
Wisconsin,  where  he  was  also  engaged  in  teach- 
ing. In  the  autumn  of  the  latter  year  he 
located  in  Chicago,  and  was  a  pupil  of  Profs. 
A.  B.  Palmer  and  DeLaskie  Miller.  He  en- 
tered Rush  Medical  College  at  the  opening  of 
the  lecture  course  of  1854,  andgi'aduated  from 
that  institution  in  the  spring  of  1856.  After 
spending  one  ^-ear  in  the  Mercy  Hospital,  where, 
under  excellent  instructions,  he  made  a  thor- 
ough study  of  disease  and  its  treatment,  he 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at 
Liberty  ville,  111.  Here  he  rapidl}-  made  friends 
and  readily  commanded  a  fair  practice.  In  a 
few  months,  however,  he  sold  out  his  business 
to  another  physician,  and  returned  to  Chicago, 
where,  in  1858,  in  conjunction  with  Prof  Ed- 
mund Andrews,  M.  D.,  he  opened  a  private  an- 
atomical room,  where  classes,  consisting  of  stu- 
dents, artists  and  professional  men  were  re- 
ceived and  instructed,  in  human  anatomy.  The 
Chicago  Medical  College  was  organized  in  the 
spring  of  1859,  and  Dr.  Wardner  was  elected 
to  the  position  of  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy 
which  he  filled  with  success  and  acceptance 
until  the  breaking-out  of  the  late  civil  war, 
when  he  entered  the  armj*  as  Surgeon  of  the 
Twelfth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Col.  John 
Mc Arthur  commanding.  In  April,  1862,  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Staff-Surgeon,  and 
assigned  to  duty  as  a  Medical  Dii'ector  in  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,  under  the  command  of 
Gen.  Grant.  He  remained  with  the  army  in  the 
field  until  after  the  battle  of  Corinth,  in  October^ 
1862,  having  participated  in  the  engagements 
of  Belmont,  Fort  Henry,  Fort  Donelson,  Pitts- 
burg Landing,  luka  and  Corinth,  rendering 
services  for  which  he  received  the  highest 
commendation  from  his  superior  ofl[icers.  He 
was  then  assigned  to  the   United   States  Gen- 


ANNA  PRECINCT. 


89 


eial  Hospital   at  Mound  City,  111.     In  Febru- 
ary, 1863,  he  was  ordered   forward   to  Vicks- 
burg,  and  while  there  was  Assistant  Medical 
Director  on  Gen.  Grant's  staff.     He   was  then 
re-assigned  to  the  Mound  City  Hospital,   and 
continued  in  that  extensive  establishment  until 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  the  discontinuance  of 
the  institution  in  1865.     He  was  then   placed 
in  charge  of  the   medical    department  of  the 
post  of  Cairo,  which  position  he  occupied  until 
its  close  in  September,   1866.      He   was   five 
years  and  four  months  in  the  army,  and  was 
promoted    to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant  Colonel 
for  meritorious    services.     Pleased   with    the 
mild    climate   of    Southern    Illinois,    he    de- 
cided   to    henceforth   make   it  his  home,  and 
upon  his   retirement  from  the  United  States 
service,    he    resumed    the    practice     of    his 
profession  in  the  city  of  Cairo.     In    1867,  he 
was  instrumental   in  establishing  in   Cairo  St. 
3Iary's  Infirmary,  and    was    its  chief  medical 
officer   for  ten   j'ears,    enjoying   at  the  same 
time  a  large  and  lucrative   practice.     In  1877, 
he  was  appointed  by  Gov.  Cullom  to  the  State 
Board  of  Health,  a  position  he  filled  with  abil- 
ity and  satisfaction,  and  which  he  resigned   in 
consequence  of  his  increasing  duties  at  the  Hos- 
pital.    The  last  two  years  he  was  a  member  of 
the  board  he  served  as  its  President.    In  1878, 
he  was  tendered  the   superintendency    of  the 
Southern  Illinois  Hospital  for  the  Insane,    by 
the     Truetees,     under    Gov.    Cullom.     Being 
urged     b}'     his     friends,     he     accepted     the 
position,    and    has    continued   in   charge     of 
the     institution     ever    since.     Dr.     Wardner 
is   identified  with   the    Republican   party ;  is 
a  member  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Medical  So- 
ciety,  the  American  Medical   Association,  the 
Association  of  Medical  Superintendents  of  In- 
sane Asylums  of  the  United  States   and  Cau- 
adas,   the  American  Public  Health   Associa- 
tion, and  for  several  3'ears  previous  to  entering 
the  Hospital    had  been  Surgeon  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad    Company,    and   Examining 


Surgeon  for  United  States  Pensioners.  He  is 
the  author  of  several  able  papers  valuable  to 
the  medical  prosession.  His  successful  man- 
agement of  the  Government  Hospital  during 
the  war,  his  executive  and  financial  ability, 
and  his  well-known  honor,  integrity,  humanity 
and  Christian  character,  were  largely  the  means 
of  securing  him  the  high  and  responsible  posi- 
tion he  now  holds  in  the  stead  of  Dr.  Barnes 
resigned.  He  and  his  estimable  lady  were  a 
valuable  acquisition  to  the  Hospital.  Dr.  Ward- 
ner was  married  February  16,  1858,  to  Miss 
Delia  Louise  Rockwood,  who  was  born  in  Can- 
ton, N.  Y.,  July  6,  1832.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Capt.  Cephas  Rockwood,  a  step-son  of  Gov. 
Aaron  Leland,  of  Vermont,  and  who  partici- 
pated in  the  war  of  1812  against  England. 
Mrs.  Wardner's  ancestors  were  of  English  de- 
scent (the  original  English  name  being  Rook- 
wood),  and  came  from  the  North  of  England. 
They  have  yet  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  family. 
Mrs.  Wardner  is  a  lady  of  great  force  of  char- 
acter, and  has  been  an  able  assistant  to  her 
husband  in  his  charge  of  the  Insane  Hospital, 
of  which  she  was  for  two  years  Matron.  They 
are  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  ex- 
emplary Christians.  The  Industrial  School  for 
dependent  girls  at  Evanston,  111.,  was  estab- 
lished l)y  the  suggestion  of  Mrs.  Wardner, 
and  she  has  been  an  officer  in  it  since  its  com- 
mencement in  1877.  She  and  her  husband 
have  educated  three  young  ladies,  viz.  :  Ma- 
rian, the  wife  of  George  Cary  Eggleston,  a  well- 
known  author  residing  in  Brooklyn  ;  Mary 
Wardner,  a  niece  of  Dr.  Wardner,  and  now 
the  wife  of  N.  W.  Hacker,  a  law  student,  and 
son  of  William  A.  Hacker,  and  grandson  of 
Col.  Hacker  ;  and  Alice,  wife  of  Fred  M.  Slack, 
druggist  in  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

JAMES  K.  WALTON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna. 
When  we  study  the  life-history  of  successful 
men,  we  find,  as  a  rule,  that  they  are  men  of 
fixed  purpose  and  great  continuity,  who  are 
fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  choose  a  voca- 


90 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


tion  in  keeping  witli  tlieir  tastes,  and  for  wliich 
their  native  or  acquired  powers  fit  them.     The 
great  cause  of  failure,  or  non-success   in  busi- 
ness or  professional  life,  is  a  lack  of  continued 
effort.     Of  this  class  of   men   who    succeed  in 
finding  the  avocation  in  which  their  best  pow- 
ers are  furnished  with  ample   scope   for   exer- 
cise, must  be  named  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
James  K.  Walton,  a  native  of  Lebanon  County, 
Penn.,  was  born  May  18,  1825,  and  is  a  son  of 
Isaac  and  Mary  (Brown)  Walton.     The   elder 
Walton  was  born  in  Chester  County,  Penn.,  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1788,    and   was  raised  in  the  State, 
spent  his  whole  life  and  died  in  it,   May  28, 
1827.     He  learned  the  stone-mason's  trade   in 
early  life,  but  in  later  years  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  on  a  small  scale.   He  was  married, 
December  19,  1815,  and  both  he  and  his  wife 
were  exemplary   members    of    the  Episcopal 
Church.     She  was  born  in  Chester  County  also, 
February  28,  1797,  and   died  July   31,  1839. 
She  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  of  whom 
our  subject  was  the  youngest — Ellen,  widow  of 
John  Irvin,  now  living  at  Hiawatha,  Kan.,  the 
other  two,  William    and  Augustus,  are  dead. 
The  former  was  long  engaged  in  the  foundry 
business  in  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  in  the 
firm  of  Isaac  A.  Shepard   &  Co.  ;  he  died   in 
Philadelphia   in  February,    1883,    aged  sixty 
years  ;  was  quite  wealthy,  worth  some  $120,000. 
Our  subject  was  raised  on  a  farm,  and  educated 
in  the  subscription  schools   of  Pennsylvania. 
He    remained  at   home  until    1853,  when    he 
came  to  Illinois,  and  located  in  Union  County, 
entering  upon  his  career  in  life  as  a  hired  hand, 
grading  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.     Before 
leaving  his  native  State,  he  had  worked  on  a 
farm  by  the  month,  and  the  highest  wages  he 
ever  received  was  at  the  rate  of  $12  per  month. 
He  worked  on  the  railroad  for  one  year,  and  in 
1854  embarked  in   farming  upon  his  present 
farm.     It  then  contained  240  acres,  but  be  has 
added  to  it   until  now  it  comprises  440   acres, 
highly  improved,  and  in  an  admirable  state  of 


cultivation;  he  also  owns  some  1,500  acres  in  the 
IMississippi  bottoms.     He  makes  a  specialty  of 
hay,  wheat,  corn  and  fine  stock,  of  which  latter 
he  has  some  excellent  and  valuable   animals. 
In  1869,  he  erected  from  his  own   designs  a 
large   and  commodious   brick   residence,    and 
upon  his   farm  he  has  large  barns,  numerous 
outbuildings,  all  of  substantial  character.     In- 
deed, his  is  a  model  farm,  and  displays  in  every 
design  and  improvement   the  good  taste   and 
judgment  of  its  owner.     Mr.  Walton  was  mar- 
ried, March  26,  1854,  to  Mrs.  Serena  Walker, 
a  native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  in  Jones- 
boro,  June  24,  1833.     She  is  a   daughter   of 
Hon.  Winstead  and  Anna  (Willard)  Davie  ;  he 
was  born  in    North    Carolina,    and  came    to 
Union  County  in  1820.     His  history  appears 
elsewhere  in  this  volume.     Mr.  and  Mrs.   Wal- 
ton have  seven  children  living,  and   two  dead. 
Anna  Ellen,  died  in  infancy  ;  Winstead  Davie, 
born  February  15,  1856,  a  farmer  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi bottoms  ;  Mary  Emma,  born  October 
12,  1858.  at  home  ;    Clinton  B.,    born  March 
16,  1861,  and  died  November  12,  1862  ;    Ed- 
ward B.,  born  November  14,  1863,  at  home  ; 
James  K.,   born  February   12,  1866  ;    William 
B.,  born  July  25,  1868  ;  Charles  A.,  born  De- 
cember 28,  1870  ;  Samuel  D.,  born  August  6, 
1873.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walton  are  members  ol 
the    Presbyterian  Church  at   Anna — he   is   a 
Trustee  of  the  same  ;  he  is  also  a  charter  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Honor  at  Jonesboro.    He 
is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  of  the  old  Jackson 
school. 

WILLARD  FAMILY,  Anna.  The  Willards 
are  one  of  the  oldest,  as  well  as  one  of  the 
most  numerous  families  in  America,  being 
scattered  over  many  of  the  older  States  of  the 
Union.  The  family  is  believed  to  be  of  French 
origin,  although  from  a  published  work  entitled 
"Willard  Memoir,"  which  we  have  perused,  we 
find  the  family  traced  back  to  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.  of  England,  at  which  time  they 
were  found  quite  numerous  in  the  British  Do- 


AXNA  PRECINCT. 


\j1 


minion.  An  extended  sketch  of  this  old 
family  is  given  in  the  historical  part  of  this 
volume,  and  without  following  it  from  the  time 
of  Edward  III,  a  brief  space  will  be  devoted  to 
members  of  the  famil}'  who  are  known  to  many 
of  our  readers. 

Charles  M.  Willard,  a  banker  in  the  city 
of  Anna,  was  born  in  Sherbrook,  Canada,  April 
17,  1815,  and  is  a  son  of  William  R.  and 
Eleanor  (Mann)  Willard.  He  was  born  in  Ster- 
ling, Mass.,  July  23,  1785,  and  was  raised  on  a 
farm.  When  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  he 
went  to  Chester,  Vt.,  where  he  learned  the 
trade  of  tanner  with  a  man  named  Alfred 
Onion,  who  afterward  changed  his  name  to 
Deming.  He  followed  the  business  of  tanner 
until  within  twenty  years  of  his  death,  and  ac- 
cumulated a  moderate  fortune.  He  removed  to 
Canada  about  1809-10,  where  he  remained 
until  his  death,  September,  1864.  He  married 
Miss  Eleanor  Mann,  of  Chester,  Vt.,  who  was 
born  April  17,  1787,  and  died  July  24,  1832. 
Nine  children  were  the  fruit  of  this  marriage, 
of  whom  Charles  M.  (our  subject),  Walter  H., 
and  Caroline,  widow  of  William  C.  Kimball,  of 
Elgin,  111.,  are  living.  Our  subject  was  edu- 
cated at  the  American  College  at  Peacham,  Vt., 
and  the  French  schools  at  La  Bais,  Nieholet 
and  Sherbrook,  Canada.  At  the -age  of  twenty- 
one  3'ears,  he  left  his  home  and  came  to  the 
United  States,  and  to  Illinois,  locating  in  Jones- 
boro,  where,  during  the  first  summer,  he  engaged 
in  teaching.  In  1837,  he  commenced  merchan- 
dising with  E.  A.  Willard,  Sr.,  and  afterward 
with  Elijah,  Sr.,  Willis  and  William,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Willard  &  Co.  .  William  died  in 
1843,  and  Elijah  in  1848,  when  Walter  was  ad- 
mitted, the  firm  still  remaining  Willard  &  Co. 
In  the  spring  of  1849,  Mr.  Willard  went  to 
California,  remaining  some  twenty-two  months, 
mining  and  merchandising.  Upon  his  return 
home,  he  again  went  into  the  goods  business 
with  Willis  and  Walter  Willard,  a  business  he 
continued    more    or   less,   with    several   fii-m 


changes,  until  1873,  when  he  added  banking. 
April  22,  1879,  he  was  burned  out,  and  then 
discontinued  mercantile  business,  and  has  since 
been  engaged  in  banking  business.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1853,  he  was  married  to  Ellen  D.  Tuthill, 
who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1830.  Poli- 
cally,  Mr.  Willard  is  a  Democrat. 

Walter  H.  Willard,  a  merchant  of  Anna, 
III,  was  born  in  Sherbrook,  Canada,  December 
23,  182(3,  and  is  a  brother  of  Charles  M.  Wil- 
lard, of  the  preceding  sketch.  He  was  the 
youngest  of  nine  children,  and  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools,  and  in  Nieholet  College, 
where  he  took  a  French  course.  At  the  age  of 
twenty  years,  he  left  his  home  and  came  to 
Jonesboro,  111.,  where  he  commenced  his  busi- 
ness career  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  Willard 
&  Co.,  remaining  with  them  for  sixteen  or 
seventeen  years,  and  after  the  first  three  years 
taking  an  interest  in  the  business.  In  1851,  he 
came  to  this  city,  where  he  continued  the  mer- 
cantile business  with  his  brother,  Charles  M. 
Willard,  and  in  1865  he  and  Mr.  Wilcox  be- 
came partners,  which  continued  five  years. 
He  then  bought  out  his  partner  and  has  since 
then  conducted  the  business  alone.  He  was 
married  in  1863  to  Miss  Lucy  Loomis,  a  native 
of  Sherbrook,  Canada,  and  a  daughter  of 
Francis  and  Mary  Loomis,  she  a  native  of 
Vermont,  and  he  of  Connecticut.  They  have 
five  children — two  boys  and  three  girls,  viz.: 
Francis  W.,  Walter  L.,  Mary  L.,  Lucy  E.  and 
Maud  E.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 

JOHN  F.  WILLIAMS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna, 
was  born  in  Union  County,  111.,  February  20, 
1856.  His  father,  Peter  Williams,  is  a  native 
of  Virginia,  and  is  now  residing  in  Saratoga 
Precinct,  Union  County.  His  mother,  Nancy 
(Verble)  Williams,  was  born  in  Union  County, 
and  died  in  1859.  She  was  the  mother  of  two 
children.  John  F.,  our  subject,  was  raised  on 
the  farm  and  educated  in  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  countv.    At  nineteen  years  of  age, 


92 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


he  left  his  home  and  embarked  on  his  career  in 
life  as  a  farmer.  He  is  now  the  manager  of  120 
acres  of  land,  and  is  the  owner  of  forty  acres. 
In  1875,  he  married  Miss  Mary  A.  Penninger, 


a  native  of  Union  County.  This  union  has 
been  blest  with  the  following  children  :  William, 
Everet,  Oscar  and  Ralph. 


..^ 


JOl^ESBORO    PREOIlSrOT. 


B.  H.  ANDERSON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jonesboro, 
was  born  January  5,  1838,  in  Union  County. 
His  father,  Preston  Anderson,  may  be 
classed  among  the  pioneers  who  came  here 
when  the  settlements  were  few,  and  the  for- 
est w^as  fille^l  with  wild  beasts,  and  the 
prairies  abounded  with  game.  He  was  born 
in  1809,  in  Tennessee,  and  died  November,  1875, 
in  this  county.  When  quite  young,  he  was  left 
an  orphan.  He  w  as  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
and  was  married  in  Tennessee  to  Luciuda 
Williams,  who  was  born  in  1815  in  Tennessee. 
She  died  in  1867  in  this  county.  She  was  the 
mother  of  twelve  children,  of  whom  ten  reached 
the  age  of  maturity.  Her  son,  Benjamin  H., 
was  the  fifth  child.  He  received  a  common 
school  education  in  this  county,  where  he  also 
enlisted  August  15, 1862,  in  Company  D  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regiment  of  Illinois 
Volunteers.  He  was  afterward  transferred  to 
the  Eleventh  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, Company  I,  and  was  mustered  out  Oc- 
tober 10,  1864,  on  the  White  River,  Ark. 
While  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regiment, 
he  was  promoted  from  Orderly  Sergeant  to 
First  Lieutenant.  He  participated  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Yazoo  City,  Clinton,  Miss.,  and  Jackson, 
Miss.  Our  subject  was  joined  in  matrimony, 
November  7, 1864,  in  Jonesboro,  to  Miss  Serena 
Armstrong,  born  September  18,  1844,  in  this 
county.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Calvin  and  Mar}' 
A.  (McElhaney)  Armstrong,  who  were  born  in 
Union  County,  111.,  where  they  also  died 
when  Mrs.  Anderson  was  quite  young.     Mrs. 


Anderson  is  the  mother  of  four  children  now 
living,  viz.:  Henry  H.,  who  was  born  October 
6,  1865 ;  Charles  H.,  born  June  9,  1868  ; 
Fannie,  born  February  28,  1871  ;  William  S., 
born  January  15,  1881.  Mr.  Anderson  has  over 
200  acres  of  land,  of  which  over  eighty  acres 
are  in  the  corporation  of  Jonesboro.  He  is  a 
Knight  of  Honor,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  1,891. 
In  1883,  he  was  elected  Alderman  of  Jonesboro. 
In  politics,  he  is  connected  with  the  Democratic 
party. 

0.  P.  BAGGOTT,  Sheriff,  Jonesboro,  was 
born  in  Montgomery  County,  near  Dayton, 
Ohio,  September  1,  1840.  His  father,  James 
Baggott,  was  born  in  1791,  near  Fredericks- 
burg, Va.,  and  died  in  Osborn,  Ohio,  in  1863. 
He  was  a  participant  in  the  war  of  1812.  He 
married  Mary  Caylor,  who  bore  him  the  fol- 
lowing children  :  Martin  V.,  Oliver  P.,  Jose- 
phine, James  P.  and  Charles  L.  Oliver  P. 
Baggott  (our  subject)  was  educated  in  Ohio, 
and  in  early  life  engaged  in  farming  and  teach- 
ing school.  In  1861,  the  21st  of  June,  he  re- 
sponded to  the  call  of  his  country,  and  enlisted 
in  the  Eleventh  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
served  three  years.  He  participated  in  many 
scenes  and  battles,  some  of  which  may  be  men- 
tioned, as  second  Bull  Run,  South  Mountain, 
Antietam,  Chickamauga,  Mission  Ridge  and 
Resaca,  Ga.  In  1864,  he  returned  to 
Ohio,  and  soon  afterward  went  to  the  oil 
regions  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained 
two  years.  In  1866,  he  came  to  Illinois  and 
located  in  Union  County,  where  he  engaged  in 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


93 


farming  and  teaching  until  1878,  when  he  was 
appointed  Deputy  Sheriff  under  George  Barrin- 
ger,  and  remained  in  said  office  until  1882, 
when  he  was  elected   Sheriff   of  the  county. 
Mr.   Baggott  was  married,  April    8,  1869,  in 
Union  County,  111.,  to  Miss  Ruth  Delves,  a 
native  of  England,  near  Market  Drayton ;  she 
was  born  November  11,  1845;  she  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  William  and    Mary  (Watkins)  Delves, 
and  is  the  mother  of  four  children,  viz.:  Harry 
Lee,  born    February  28,   1870  ;    Maud,  born 
July  7,  1871 ;  George  M.;  July  17,  1877,  and 
Lola,  born  January  23,    1879.     Mr.    Baggott 
is  a  member  of  the  following  fraternities  and 
orders:  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Anna  Lodge,  No.  520  ; 
I.  0.  0.  F.,  Anna  Lodge,  291  ;  the  K.  of  H.,  and 
the  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor.     In  politics, 
his  sympathies  are  with  the  Democratic  part}-. 
C.  C.    BALLANCE,   farmer,  P.   0.    Jones- 
boro,  is  a   native  of  this   county,  and  a   son 
of  Samuel,  and   Vina  (Steiner)   Ballance,  who 
came  to  this  county  from  Louisiana.     He  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education  and  then 
settled  down  as  a  farmer,  and  now  owns  a  farm 
of  130  acres,  a  part  of  which  is  devoted  to  a 
large  orchard.     Our  subject  was  married,  Octo- 
ber 3,  1867,  to  Mrs.   Ritta  Penrod,  who   was 
born  in  this  count}'  January  9, 1842,  and  is  the 
daughter   of    Henry    and    Elizabeth    (Smith) 
Lyerly.     She  is  the  mother   of  five   children 
now  living,  viz.:  William  R.  Penrod,  now  mar- 
ried to  a  Miss  Maggie  Miles  ;  Sarah  I.  Penrod, 
who  married  Hugh  Grammer  ;  Ada  S.,  Colum- 
bus C.  and  Minnie  A.  E.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bal- 
lance are  both  members  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Mr.    Ballance  has    occupied    the    position    of 
School    Director   and    is  identified    with    the 
Democratic  party. 

E.  M.  BARNWELL,  Circuit  Clerk  and  Re- 
corder, Jonesboro,  was  born  June  13,  1837,  in 
Hind  County,  Miss.,  and  is  a  son  of  Edward  M. 
and  Maria  Ann  (Martin)  Barnwell.  He  was  a 
son  of  E.  M.  Barnwell,  and  was  born  in  England 
and  died   in  New  Orleans,  La.;  she  was  born  in 


Ireland,  and  died  near  Natchez,  Miss.  They 
were  the  parents  of  three  children,  viz.:  Ed- 
ward M.  (our  subject),  John  P.,  a  farmer  in 
Cass  County,  Mo.,  and  Mark  W.  He  died  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  at  Pleasant  Hill,  Mercer 
Co.,  Ky.,  at  the  Shaker  settlement,  where 
he  and  his  brothers  had  been  placed  after  their 
mother's  death,  by  her  request.  In  1861,  our 
subject  left  the  Shaker  settlement,  and  came  to 
this  county.  He  worked  for  Mr.  W.  Davie  in 
the  harness  and  shoe  shop  for  about  a  year  ; 
after  that  he  taught  school  six  months  and  then 
commenced  the  study  of  telegraphy  at  Anna 
In  1865,  he  obtained  a  position  as  operator  in 
Dongola,  111.,  where  he  remained  until  the 
spring  of  1881,  when  he  was  elected  Clerk  of 
the  Circuit  Court  and  Recorder  of  Union 
County,  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  death 
of  A.  Polk  Jones,  who  had  been  Clerk  for  many 
years.  Mr.  B.  was  married,  September  19, 
1871,  in  Dongola,  to  Miss  Emma  J.  Bristol,  a 
native  of  Palestine,  Crawford  Co.,  III.  She 
died  in  Dongola  in  March,  1872.  Mr.  B.  is  a 
member  of  Dongola  Lodge,  No.  343, 1.  0.  0.  F., 
and  Dongola  Lodge,  No.  2205,  K.  of  H.  He 
is  politically  a  Democrat. 

C.  BARRIXGER.  merchant,  Jonesboro,  was 
born  September  29,  1825,  in  this  county,  and 
is  the  oldest  of  seven  children.  His  grand- 
father, Henry  Barringer,  came  to  this  county 
in  an  early  day,  and  his  son  Daniel,  who  came 
here  with  his  father,  was  married  to  Elizabeth 
Treese,  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C.  She  died 
in  this  county.  Mr.  C.  Barringer's  chances  for 
an  education  were  limited,  he  only  attending 
the  old  fashioned  subscription  schools  in  this 
county.  In  most  respects  in  regard  to  his 
business  career,  it  may  be  said  that  he  is  a 
self-made  man.  In  early  life  lie  was  a  farmer, 
and  in  1846  he  enlisted  in  Company  F,  of  the 
Second  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  (Col.  Bissel), 
and  with  it  participated  in  the  Mexican  war, 
serving  one  year.  After  the  war,  he  followed 
farming  for  some  years.     On  March  5, 1848,  he 


94 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  married  to  Miss  Matilda  Hileman,  born 
November  9,  182G,  in  Union  Count}-,  111.  She 
is  a  daughter  of  Christian  and  Nancy  (Davis) 
Hileman,  who  were  old  settlers.  Three  chil- 
dren were  the  result  of  this  union — George, 
Nancy  C.  and  Phena.  In  the  summer  of  1861, 
Mr.  Barringer  enlisted  in  Company  F,  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry (Col.  A.  J.  Nimmo).  In  the  spring  of 
1863,  our  subject  opened  a  grocery  store  on  a 
small  scale,  with  a  stock  of  $64.  He  has  con- 
tinued in  that  busmess  ever  since,  and  has 
prospered.  Mr.  Barringer  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fratei'nity,  Jouesboro  Lodge;  No.  111. 
He  has  served  the  public  in  the  capacity  of 
Alderman,  Mayor  and  City  Treasurer,  which 
latter  office  he  fills  now.  In  politics,  he  has 
been  connected  with  the  Democratic  party. 

J.  F.  BITTLE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jonesboro, 
was  born  in  this  county  December  18,  1835, 
and  is  a  son  of  John  Bittle,  who  was  born  in 
North  Carolina,  and  married  in  Kentucky  to 
Hannah  Kitts,  who  was  the  mother  of  twelve 
children.  Her  father,  Jackson  Kitts,  was  a 
soldier  under  Gren.  Jackson  in  the  war  of  1812. 
John  Bittle  was  a  farmer,  and  came  to  this 
county  in  an  early  day.  Our  subject,  John  F. 
Bittle,  went  to  school  in  this  county,  and  also 
married  here  to  Lavina  Sheral,  who  was  the 
mother  of  five  children,  viz.  :  Maranda  A., 
born  April  29,  1863  ;  Columbus  M.,  born  June 
24,  1867  ;  Sarah  A.,  born  March  7,  1871  ;  Han- 
nah I.,  born  October  21.  1874  ;  Martha  E.,  born 
December  1,  1878.  This  lady  died  January, 
16.  1880,  after  which  Mr.  Bittle  was  married 
the  second  time,  to  Mrs.  Julia  J.  Rhoades,  nee 
Douglas,  born  December  5, 1841,  in  Cape  Girar- 
deau County,  Mo.  She  is  the  daughter  of 
Ptobert  and  Maria  Ann  (Hall)  Douglas,  and  the 
mother  of  five  children,  viz. :  Alice  J.  Rhoades, 
born  June  5,  1860,  wife  of  Walter  Rhinehart ; 
Robert  A.  Rhoades,  born  November  2,  1861  ; 
Mary  L.  Rhoades,  born  September  22,  1863, 
wife  of  Richard  Williams  ;  Anna  Rhoades,  born 


September  19, 1866  ;  Ford  Francis  Bittle,  born 
April  5,  1882.  At  present,  Mr.  Bittle  resides 
upon  a  farm  of  200  acres,  and  is  connected  with 
the  Democratic  party. 

HENRY  CASPER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro, was  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C.,  Oc- 
tober 29,  1835,  and  is  a  son  of  Jacob  Casper, 
who  was  also  born  in  that  State,  and  there 
married  Eliza  Maura,  also  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.  She  is  the  mother  of  seven  living 
children — Hemy  (our  subject),  Adam,  George, 
David,  Elizabeth,  Anna  and  Amy.  Subject 
attended  school  in  this  county,  and  here  he  was 
also  married,  January  14,  1868,  to  Miss  Ma- 
linda  Brown,  born  Februarj-  3,  1838,  in  this 
count}'.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Isaac  and 
Elizabeth  Brown,  who  are  old  settlers  in  this 
count}',  and  the  mother  of  two  children — Olive, 
born  October  29,  1869  ;  William,  born  April 
20,  1875.  Mr.  Casper  at  present  has  a  farm  of 
about  one  hundred  acres,  and  in  politics  he  is 
connected  with  the  Democratic  party.  Mrs. 
Casper  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

WILLIAM  M.  CHESTER,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Jonesboro,  was  born  July  14,  1831,  in  Bedford 
County,  Tenn.  He  is  a  son  of  John  Chester, 
who  was  a  carpenter  by  occupation,  learning 
and  following  his  ti'ade  in  Tennessee,  and  also 
in  this  county,  to  which  he  had  come  in  1847. 
He  was  married,  in  Tennessee,  to  Mary  Lee, 
who  was  also  a  native  of  Tennessee,  where  she 
was  born  in  1797  ;  she  died  in  1865,  Ma}-  26, 
in  this  county.  She  was  a  daughter  of  John 
and  Mary  Lee,  who  were  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  she  is  the  mother  of  ten  children,  of 
whom  five  are  now  living — Sarah  Meisenheimer, 
Elizabeth  Green,  William  M.,  Amanda  R. 
Sams  and  John  D.  The  father  of  our  subject 
was  born  August  7,  1794,  in  North  Carolina, 
and  died  December  21,  1872,  in  this  county. 
Our  sul)ject,  William  M.  Chester,  received  his 
education  partly  in  this  State  and  partly  in 
Tennessee.  He  was  joined  in  matrimony, 
October  14,   1860,   in  Union   Tounty,  to  Miss 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


95 


Francis  J.  Meisenheimer,  who  died  March  22, 
1873,  leaving  three  children — William  N.,  born 
July  17,  1867  ;  Ann  Mary,  born  April  9,  1869 ; 
and  Amanda,  born  January  9,  1871.  Mr. 
Chester  was  married  a  second  time,  September 
14,  1877,  in  this  county,  to  Mrs.  Georgie  A. 
Leyerle,  who  was  born  in  Kentucky.  She  is 
the  mother  of  four  children  now  living — John 
B.  Lyerle,  born  November  6,  1870  ;  Levy  L. 
Leyerle,  born  February  18,  1875;  Henrietta 
Chester,  born  October  10, 1878,  and  Magdalene 
Chester,  born  March  23,  1882.  Mr.  Chester 
has  a  farm  of  eighty  acres,  which  is  the  old 
home  place  of  the  Chester  famil3^  Our  sub- 
ject, as  well  as  his  ancestors,  have  been  con- 
nected with  the  Democratic  part}-. 

JAMES  CRAVER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro,  was  born  March  4,  1822,  in  Davidson 
County,  N.  C,  and  is  the  third  oldest  sou  of 
Michael  Craver,  also  a  native  of  that  State, 
who  married  Susannah  Sowers  in  the  same 
State  and  then  came  to  this  county,  where  he 
resided  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1838. 
Here  he  first  followed  farming,  but  during  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  he  shipped  pork  South  to 
New  Oi'leans,  and  was  at  one  time  the  Cap- 
tain of  a  compan}'  of  State  militia.  He  was 
the  father  of  ten  children,  of  whom  seven 
are  living,  viz.,  Christina  Ury,  Mary  Cover, 
James,  David,  Malinda,  Daniel  and  Anna  Hile- 
man.  David  is  now  in  Florida.  Daniel  is 
a  miner  of  1849  in  California,  and  the  rest  are 
in  this  county.  Our  subject,  James  Craver, 
came  to  this  count\-  with  his  parents  in  1827, 
and  has  lived  here  ever  since.  He  attended  the 
schools  of  this  count}'  in  an  early  day,  and  has 
since  made  farming  his  occupation.  He  now 
has  a  farm  of  116  acres  inside  of  the  corpora- 
tion of  Jonesboro  and  560  acres  on  the 
Cape  Girardeau  road,  six  miles  southwest  of 
Jonesboro.  At  present,  his  sister  Malinda 
is  keeping  house  for  him.  He  is  now  identi- 
fied with  the  Democratic  party,  and  will,  he 
says,  stick  to  'ihat  party  as  long  as  he  lives. 


JUDGE  M.  C.  CRAWFORD,  lawyer,  Jones- 
boro, was  born  in  Franklin  Count3^  III.  May 
26,  1835,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Randolph)  Crawford.  The  elder  Crawford  was 
born  in  Maryland,  to  which  province  his  father, 
also  John  Crawford,  had  emigrated  from  the 
North  of  Ireland  prior  to  the  Revolutionary 
war.  He  left  his  native  country  in  disgust  with 
the  British  rule  and  participated  in  our  war  for 
independence.  He  married  Mary  Wright  in 
Vii'ginia  ;  she  was  a  native  of  England,  and 
died  in  Mar3'land.  John  Crawford,  the  father 
of  our  subject,  was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  He 
served  in  the  Indian  wars  under  Gen.  Jackson, 
participating  in  several  battles  with  the  sav- 
ages. His  wife.  Elizabeth  Randolph,  to  whom 
he  was  married  in  1830,  in  Franklin  County, 
111.,  was  born  in  1812,  in  Rutherford  County, 
Tenn.,  and  died  in  1842.  She  was  the  mother 
of  five  children,  viz.:  Ellen,  wife  of  Jefferson 
Whittington  ;  Monroe  C.  (our  subject) ;  Huldah, 
former  wife  of  Isaac  Whittington,  deceased  ; 
Napoleon  B.,  a  ph3sician  in  Woodford  County, 
111.,  and  Thomas,  a  teacher  in  Franklin  County. 
Judge  Crawford  is  mainly  self-educated,  re- 
ceiving his  early  learning  in  the  common 
schools  of  Southern  Illinois,  which  in  the  days 
of  his  boyhood  were  common  indeed.  In  1853, 
he  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  Judge 
William  K.  Parrish,  and  was  licensed  to  prac- 
tice in  1854.  After  attending  a  course  of  lect- 
ures at  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  receiving  the 
degree  o^  Bachelor  of  Law,  he  began  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  at  Benton,  the  county 
seat  at  Franklin,  in  1855.  In  November,  1856, 
he  was  elected  States  Attorney  for  the  Third 
Judicial  Circuit,  composed  at  that  time  of  ten 
counties  ;  he  was  re-elected  in  1860.  He  en- 
tered the  army  during  the  late  war,  and  in  1862 
was  made  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  One 
Hundred  and  Tenth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
participating  in  man}-  stirring  scenes  and  bat- 
tles, among  which  were  Champion  Hill  and 
Stone  River.     After  the  war.  Judge  Crawford 


96 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


returned  to  Southern  Illinois  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  law  at  Duquoin.  He  was  elected 
Judge  of  the  Third  Judicial  Circuit  in  1867, 
and  was  re-elected  in  1873.  He  came  to  Jones- 
boro  in  October,  1867.  After  serving  out  his 
last  term,  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. Judge  Crawford  was  married,  Novem- 
ber 1,  1858,  in  Benton,  111.,  to  Miss  Sarah  I. 
Willbanks,  who  was  born  December  31,  1842, 
in  Jefibrson  County,  111.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Col.  Robert  A.  D.  and  Madaline  S.  (Arrington) 
Willbanks.  They  have  six  children  living, 
viz.:  Robert  N.,  Stanley  A.,  John  C,  Charles 
C,  George  W.  and  Mary.  Judge  and  Mrs. 
Crawford  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  ;  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  of  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No. 
Ill,  of  which  he  is  Master  ;  he  is  also  an  I.  0. 
0.  F.,  and  P.  G.  of  his  lodge  ;  is  a  member  of 
the  Knights  of  Honor,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No. 
1891.  He  has  been  twice  elected  by  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Illinois,  K.  of  H.  to  represent  it  in 
the  Supreme  Lodge  of  the  United  States.  In 
politics.  Judge  Crawford  is  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party. 

G.  W.  CROWELL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jonesboro, 
is  a  native  of  this  county,  and  was  born  in  June, 
1829.  He  is  a  son  of  John  Crowell,  whose 
father,  John  Crowell,  Sr.,  was  a  South  Carolina 
Indian.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Miss 
Mar}'  Dougherty,  of  Irish  descent  and  the 
mother  of  a  large  family.  John  Crowell  came 
to  this  county  in  a  very  earlj^  day,  when  the 
forests  were  inhabited  by  wild  beasts  and 
wilder  men.  Here  he  married,  and  the  twain 
endured  the  hardships  of  pioneer  life,  depend- 
ing part  of  the  time  on  the  hunt  for  subsistence. 
Our  subject,  when  young,  went  for  a  few  months 
to  the  old-fashioned  subscription  schools,  and 
in  early  manhood  turned  his  attention  to  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer,  and  now  has  a  farm  of 
120  acres.  He  was  married  in  this  count}'  to 
Miss  Mary  Jane  O'Neal,  who  was  born  in  Ten- 
nessee, but  came  to  this  county  when  young. 


with  her  father,  Austin  O'Neal.  She  is  the 
mother  of  nine  children,  viz.:  John,  Marinda, 
Allen,  Charles,  Mary,  Mize,  Sarah,  Alonzo  and 
"V^''illiam.  The  oldest  son  is  now  married  to  a 
Miss  Alice  Nash,  and  the  result  of  this  union 
is  one  child,  Frank.  Mrs.  G.  W.  Crowell  is  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  our  subject 
is  an  Independent  regarding  political  parties, 
voting  always  for  the  best  man. 

ALBERT  CROWELL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro. This  gentleman  was  born  in  Union 
County,  III,  July  4,  1858,  and  is  a  son  of 
Charles  and  Elizabeth  (Bennett)  Crowell.  He 
was  a  native  of  Illinois,  and  during  his  life  was 
principall}'  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  ;  he 
died  in  Jonesboro,  111.,  in  1878,  where  he  had 
resided  for  some  j-ears  previous.  His  wife,  and 
mother  of  our  subject,  was  a  native  of  Illinois  ; 
she  died  in  Anna,  111.,  in  1881.  She  was  the 
mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom  six  are  now 
living,  viz.:  Belle,  wife  of  S.  R.  Green,  a  mer- 
chant of  Cobden,  111.;  Charley,  a  carpenter  who 
maiTied  Miss  Mollie  Bissel ;  Dora,  wife  of  G. 
W.  Smith,  a  merchant  in  Makanda,  111.;  Ester, 
wife  of  Newt  Meisenheimer,  agent  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad  at  Anna  ;  Ollie  D.,  and 
Albert,  our  subject.  He  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  Union  County,  and  embarked  on  his 
career  in  life  as  a  clerk  in  his  father's  store  ;  he 
afterward  engaged  in  business  for  himself,  in  a 
general  merchandising  store  at  Cobden,  111.,  in 
partnership  with  his  brother  Charley,  he  re- 
maining about  two  years,  when  he  sold  his 
business  an  d  removed  to  Cairo  and  engaged  in 
the  dry  goods  business  for  about  eight  months, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1882  returned  to  Jones- 
boro, and  in  August  of  the  same  3'ear  returned 
to  the  old  home  farm  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained actively  engaged  in  farming.  In  March^ 
1880,  he  married  Miss  Addie  Williams,  a  native 
of  St.  Louis,  born  in  1859.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Nicholas  Williams,  a  resident  of  Cairo.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Crowell  have  been  blessed  with  one 
child,  Maud  S.,  born    April  4,  1882.     He   is  a 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


97 


wide  awake  business  man.  and  a  Republican  in 
politics. 

W.  S.  DAY,  attorney  at  law,  Jouesboro, 
was  born  March  14,  1848,  in  Smith  County, 
Tenn.  He  is  of  Scotch-English  descent.  His 
grandfather,  John  D.  Day,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  and  died  in  Tennessee.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  Margaret  Cauley,  born  in  Scotland,  who 
died  in  Tennessee.  She  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children.  Her  son,  Henr}^  D.,  was  born 
December  14,  1822,  in  Smith  County,  Tenn.; 
he  died  in  December,  1881  ;  his  death  was 
caused  by  a  runaway  team.  He  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  was  married  to  Martha  W. 
Kerley,  born  in  1821  in  Smith  County,  Tenn. 
She  is  the  mother  of  ten  children,  viz.:  Aman- 
da Davis,  William  S.,  Jonathan  W.,  Mar}'  and 
James  (deceased),  George,  Alice,  Henry,  Dar- 
thula  Hess  and  Louisa  Bean.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  the  common  schools  principall}-. 
He  came  to  this  count}-  with  his  parents  in  the 
spring  of  1861.  In  the  spring  of  1872,  he 
commenced  the  study  of  law  in  Jouesboro  with 
Judge  M.  C.  Crawford,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  June,  1874,  at  Mount  Vernon,  111. 
Since  then  he  has  followed  his  profession  in 
this  county.  In  the  fall  of  1876,  he  was  elected 
State's  Attorney,  filling  the  office  four  years. 
Mr.  Day  was  joined  in  matrimon}',  August  20, 
1876,  in  Jonesboro,  111.,  to  Miss  Helen  A. 
Frick,  born  April  26,  1856,  in  Jonesboro,  111. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Paul  and  Hannah  (Mc- 
intosh) Frick.  She  is  the  mother  of  William 
C,  born  April  13,  1880.  Mrs.  Da}-  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
Mr.  Day  is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  South- 
ern Lodge,  No.  241  ;  is  also  a  Knight  of  Honor, 
Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  1891.  In  politics,  he  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 

HENRY  DILLOW,  farmer,  P.  0.  Spring- 
ville,  was  born  in  Union  County,  111.,  November 
4,  1829.  His  father,  Peter  Dillow,  was  born 
in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  in  1797,  and  came  to 
Union  County  when  a  young  man.     During  his 


life,  followed  the  occupation  of  a  farmer.  He 
died  in  1880.  His  wife,  Polly  (Lence)  Dillow, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  and  is  now  living. 
She  is  the  mother  of  fifteen  children,  of  whom 
eight  are  now  living.  Henr}',  our  subject,  was 
raised  on  the  home  farm  and  educated  in  the 
old-fashion  subscription  schools  common  in  his 
day,  and  to  say  the  least  his  education  was 
very  limited.  He  has,  however,  by  observation 
and  study,  since  acquired  a  fair  knowledge  of 
the  English  language.  When  he  became  o 
age,  he  embarked  on  his^career  in  life,  at  which 
he  is  still  actively  engaged,  being  the  owner  of 
170  acres  of  land.  He  has  been  twice  married. 
His  first  wife  was  Sophia  Lingle,  daughter  of 
Peter  and  Betsey  (Cruse)  Lingle.  She  died  in 
1862,  leaving  three  children  as  the  results  of 
their  union,  viz.:  Alfred,  Mary  J.  and  Levi  C. 
His  second  wife  was  Amy  Light,  daughter  of 
John  Light.  She  died  March  13,  1878,  leav- 
ing five  children,  viz.:  Alice  L.,  Lilly  S.,  Cora 
A.,  John  A.  and  Henry  D.  Mr.  Dillow  is  a 
member  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  a  Demo- 
crat. 

JOSEPH  DUSCHEL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro, was  born  March  26,  1852,  in  Schwanen- 
stadt,  Upper  Austria.  His  fathei",  Joseph  Dus- 
schel,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Bavaria.  He  was  the 
proprietor  of  the  Emperor's  iron-workers  at 
Kanfing,  in  Austria.  He  had  gained  that  po- 
sition through  his  industry,  fidelity  and  skill 
as  a  mechanic.  He  finally  sold  out ;  and,  in 
1854,  came  to  the  United  States,  settling  in 
Union  County,  111.,  where  he  bought  a  farm, 
and  tilled  it  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1872.  He  was  married  twice  ;  the  first  time  to 
Magdalena  Grrahamer,  who  died  while  crossing 
the  ocean  ;  the  second  time  to  Theresa  Fuerth- 
bauer.  Five  children  of  his  first  wife  are  yet 
living ;  their  names  are  Magdalena,  Anna,  Mary, 
Louisa  and  Joseph.  The  oldest  child,  Magda- 
lena, was  married  in  this  country  to  F.  L.  Ter- 
penitz,  who  was  a  nobleman's  son,  of  Russian 
descent.     He  was  a  Government  employe  dur- 


98 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


ing  the  late  war,  and  died  in  the  South  of  fever. 
His  two  surviving  daughters,  Amalia  M.,  born 
March  21,  1865,  and  Josephina  L.,  born  June 

II,  1867,  were  educated  in  the  St.  Joseph's 
Convent,  at  Baton  Kouge,  La.,  and  are  now 
living  with  their  mother  at  Joseph  Duschel's, 
in  Union  Count}-,  111.  Our  subject,  Joseph 
Duschel,  went  to  school  in  the  German  settle- 
paent  in  Union  County,  111.  He  has  been  a 
farmer  all  his  life.  He  was  joined  in  matri- 
mony September  10, 1876,  in  Alexander  County, 

III.  to  Miss  Malinda  Cole,  who  was  born  in 
June,  1858,  in  Alexander  County,  111.,  and  died 
November  16,  1882,  in  this  county.  She  was 
the  mother  of  one  little  girl,  named  Ida,  who 
was  born  December  24,  1879.  Mr.  Duschel  is 
a  quiet,  industrious  man,  who  enjoys  the  respect 
of  his  neighbors.  He  has  a  farm  of  120  acres 
of  land,  on  a  part  of  which  he  raises  fruit.  In 
politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

CHRISTIAN  G.  FLAUGH,  miller,  Jones- 
boro,  was  born  March  26,  1821,  half  a  mile 
northwest  of  Jonesboro,  son  of  Christian  G. 
Flaugh,  Sr.,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  where 
he  learned  the  cooper  and  brewer  trades.  When 
a  young  man,  he  came  to  this  country,  being 
thirteen  weeks  crossing  the  ocean,  settling  in 
Reading,  Penn.,  whei^  he  married  a  lad}'  who 
was  born  in  Germany,  and  on  her  arrival  here 
was  hired  out  to  pay  for  her  passage  across  the 
ocean,  as  was  often  done  in  those  days.  Shortl}' 
after  they  were  married,  they  started  for  the 
West  with  other  emigi*ants,  in  a  keel-boat, 
starting  from  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  and  landing 
near  Murphy sboro,  111.  They  then  came  across 
to  Jonesboro.  The  journey  from  Cairo  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Big  Muddy  Rivei',  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, was  hard  and  tedious  work,  as  the 
boat  had  to  be  propelled  with  oars  and  pike 
poles,  and  at  times  had  to  be  drawn  along  with 
a  cable  by  men  walking  along  the  shore.  It 
took  almost  as  long  as  it  does  now  to  travel 
across  the  continent.  The  family  stopped  one 
year  near  Jonesboro,  and  then  bought  a  small 


farm  southwest  of  thei'e,  that  had  a  mill  on  it. 
There  he  put  up  a  distillery,  and  continued  to 
run  it  until  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  July,  1834,  at  the  Hamburg  Landing,  while 
on  his  way  to  St.  Louis.  His  body  was  found 
in  the  river,  covered  with  wounds,  indicating 
that  he  had  been  murdered.  His  wife  died 
some  five  3-ears  afterward.  She  was  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  of  whom  five  reached  the  age 
of  maturity.  They  are  all  dead  except  Henr}^ 
B.  Flaugh  and  our  subject,  who  received  a 
limited  education  in  the  old  subscription 
schools,  but  who  has  since,  through  reading, 
acquired  a  fund  of  useful  knowledge.  In  early 
life,  he  worked  with  his  father  on  the  farm,  and 
after  his  father's  death  he  ran  the  mill  and  dis- 
tiller3^  He  is  j'et  engaged  in  milling,  but  quit 
the  distilling  business  in  1852,  when  he  became 
a  convert  to  the  temperance  cause,  of  which  he 
is  now  a  warm  supporter.  After  he  gave  up 
the  distillery,  he  ran  a  tannery,  and  also  a  shoe 
and  harness  shop  till  after  the  war.  Our  sub- 
ject was  married  here,  March  25, 1841,  to  Nancy 
A.  Mcintosh,  born  January  21,  1823,  in  Jones- 
boro. She  was  a  daughter  of  an  old  pioneer 
named  John  Mcintosh,  Sr.  The  result  of  this 
union  was  seven  children,  of  whom  only  two 
daughters,  viz.,  Emil}-  J.  Lingle  and  Syndona 
M.  Rushing,  are  now  living.  Mr.  Flaugh  is 
one  of  those  men  who,  while  the  evening  shad- 
ows gather  around  him,  and  the  embers  of  life 
burn  low,  can  look  back  upon  a  well-spent  life, 
enjoying  the  esteem  of  those  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics. 
He  has  been  a  member  and  officer  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church  for  thirty-seven  j^ears. 

H.  B.  FLAUGH,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jonesboro. 
Our  subject  is  a  native  of  this  county,  and  was 
born  May  15,  1823.  He  is  a  son  of  Christian 
Flaugh,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  where  he 
also  married,  and  is  the  father  of  six  children, 
of  whom  only  our  subject  and  his  Ifrother 
Christian,  Jr.,  are  now  living.  Christian  Flaugh^ 
Sr. ,  came  to  this  countr}'  soon   after  his  mar- 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


99 


riage  and  settled  north  of  Jonesboro,  where  he 
remained  about  one  3'ear,  and  then  removed  to 
a  farm  south  of  that  town.  He  was  drowned 
in  the  Mississippi  River  about  flft}'  years  ago  ; 
his  wife  also  died  in  this  count}'.  Henr}-  B. 
Flaugh,  our  subject,  went  to  school  in  the  old- 
fashioned  subscription  schools,  paj'ing  his  own 
tuition  for  a  winter  term,  while  working  for 
$5  or  $6  per  month.  At  the  age  of  eighteen, 
he  learned  the  cooper  trade  with  Paul  Frick, 
of  Jonesboro,  but  after  following  it  for  three 
years,  he  commenced  farming,  and  now  has  a 
farm  of  IGO  acres.  He  enlisted  in  the  Second 
Illinois  Regiment  of  Infantry-,  commanded  by 
Col.  Bissell,  and  sei'ved  one  year  in  the  Mexi- 
can war.  Our  subject  has  been  twice  married  ; 
first  in  1848,  to  Miss  Rebecca  Sams-  She  was 
born  February  23,  1830,  in  this  county,  and 
died  here  November  16,  1875.  This  lady  was 
the  mother  of  eight  children  now  living,  viz.: 
Alice,  wife  of  Chester  Atwood  ;  Serena,  wife  of 
Joseph  Chester ;  Augusta,  wife  of  Andrew 
Brown  ;  Franklin,  married  to  Harriet  Gunn  ; 
Fi-ancis,  wife  of  Joseph  Brown  ;  Ida,  Eva  and 
Idella.  He  married  the  second  time,  to  Miss 
Sarah  C.  Neal,  who  lived  only  seven  weeks 
after  her  marriage,  departing  this  life  December 
24,  1876.  Mr.  Flaugh  is  a  member  of  the 
Jonesboro  Baptist  Chui'ch,  and  is  a  Democrat 
in  politics.  He  has  served  as  School  Director. 
PAUL  FRICK,  machinist,  Jonesboro,  was 
born  July  9,  1816,  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C.  His 
great-grandparents  came  from  Switzerland 
about  1740,  settling  in  Bucks  Count}-,  Penn. 
Their  son  Rudy  was  born  there,  but  afterward 
moved  to  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  in  1755.  His 
son,  Jacob  Frick,  was  born  in  Penns3'lvania. 
He  was  married,  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C.  to 
Elizabeth  Earnhart,  who  was  the  mother  of 
twelve  children,  of  whom  Pai.l,  our  subject, 
was  the  youngest.  Jacob  Frick  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  serving  mostly  under 
Gen.  Rutherford,  and  afterward  drawing  a  pen- 
sion.    Our  subject  came  to  this  county  with 


his  pai'ents  in  1823,  arriving  on  Christmas  Day. 
He  attended  the  subscription  schools,  and  paid 
his  own  wa}-  by  making  and  selling  split-bot- 
tom chairs,  walking  three  miles  night  and 
morning.  IMr.  Frick  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion in  earl}-  life,  and  then  learned  and  followed 
the  cooper  trade  for  fifteen  years.  In  1854.  he 
opened  a  machine  and  farm  implement  shop, 
in  which  he  has  continued  to  the  present  da}', 
although  he  has  retired  from  active  life.  Mr. 
Frick  has  been  married  twice,  the  first  time 
July  25,  1839,  to  Hannah  Mcintosh,  born  July 
13,  1820,  in  Jonesboro;  she  died  May  14, 
1863.  She  is  a  daughter  of  John  and  Mary 
(Miller)  Mcintosh.  Mrs.  Frick  was  the  mother 
of  seven  children — Martha  J.  (deceased),  Eliz- 
abeth A.  (wife  of  Davis  W.  Miller,  of  Chicago), 
William  Dennis,  Laura  Ann,  Mary  F.,  Helen 
A.  and  Cyrus  W.  (deceased).  Mr.  Frick  was 
married  a  second  time  to  Mrs.  Nancy  Walker, 
born  June  24,  1819.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Robert  and  Catharine  (Hunsaker)  Hargrave, 
Mi-s.  Nancy  Frick  is  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren— Laura  (wife  of  James  Dewitt),  William 
W.  (married  Sarah  I.  Williford),  Willis  W. 
(married  Nettie  Scott),  and  Flora  (wife  of  Wal- 
ter Grear).  These  children  are  by  Mrs.  Prick's 
first  husband.  Mrs.  Frick  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  Mr.  Frick  was  elected  County 
Commissioner  in  1841.  The  office  is  now 
called  County  Judge.  He  was  formerly  a 
magistrate  for  thirteen  years,  and  filling  the 
oflftce  of  Mayor  for  the  same  length  of  time. 
Our  subject's  life  has  been  a  prosperous  one, 
yet  his  prosperity  is  the  result  of  hard  toil  and 
perseverance.  He  has  about  580  acres  of  well- 
improved  land.  In  politics,  Mr.  Frick  is  the 
strongest  kind  of  a  Democrat,  hoping  to  live 
and  die  within  the  fold  of  that  grand  old  party. 
M.  M.  G00D3IAN,  M.  D.,  Jonesboro,  is  the 
oldest  son  of  a  family  of  three  children.  He 
was  born  June  12,  1831,  in  Rowan  County, 
N.  C.  His  grandfather,  George  Goodman,  was 
of  German   descent,    but    born    in    Caljarrus 


100 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


County,  N.  C.     His  son  Moses  was  born  in  the 
same  place.     He  was  formerly  a  merchant  in 
Anna,  111.,  where  he  now  resides.     He  was  mar- 
ried  to    Elizabeth   Josey,    who   was    born    in 
Rowan  County,  N.  C,  where  she  died.    She  was 
the  mother  of  three  children,  viz.:  Mumford 
M.,  Rosannah  and  Julius  V.,  the  two  latter  de- 
ceased.    Our  subject.  Dr.  M.  M.  Goodman,  was 
a  tiller  of  the  soil  in  early  life.     After  reaching 
the  age  of  maturity,  he  shook  the  dust  of  South 
Carolina  off  his  feet,  and  came  to    what  was 
then  and  may  yet  be  called  "  God's   country," 
namely.  Union  County,  111.,  where   he  taught 
school  for  one  year,  and  then  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine,  graduating  at  the  Medical 
Department  of   the    St.  Louis    University   in 
March,  1855.     He  then  returned  to  Jonesboro, 
where  he  followed  his  profession.     The  Doctor 
was  joined   in   matrimony,  May   18,  1862,  in 
Jonesboro,  111.,  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Willard,  born 
June  23,  1841,  in  Jonesboro,  111.     She  is  the 
daughter   of  Willis   and   Frances    C.    (Webb) 
Willard,  the  pioneer  family  of  Willards,  of  whom 
there  appears  in  the  general  county  history  of 
Union  County  an  extended  account.     Mr.  and 
Mrs.    M.   M.  Goodman  have  three  children — 
Frances  J.,  born  September  15, 1864  ;  Willard, 
born  January  29,  1867  ;  and   Charles  M.,  born 
December  16, 1869.  Mrs.  Goodman  is  a  member 
of  the  Episcopal  Church.     Has   spent  her  life 
among   the  people  and  has  many   friends  of 
Union  County.     She  possesses  a  large  proper- 
ty, which  she  inherited  from  the  fortune  left 
by    Elijah   Willard,    which    she   has  managed 
and  cai-ed  for  in  such  a  way  as  to   add  to  its 
value  from  year  to  year.     In  the  bosom  of  her 
pleasant  family  she  is  a  model  mother,  a  warm 
friend,  a  valued   acquaintance.     She  is  a  most 
worthy  and  exemplary   member   of  the   com- 
munity in  which  she  lives. 

HON.  JOHN  GRE  AR,  Mayor  of  Jonesboro, 
whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work,  sprung 
from  a  good  old  Jackson  Democi*atic  family. 
His  father,  George  Grear,  was  born  June  28, 


1791,  in  North  Carolina,  and  entered  the  army 
at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  where  he  served 
his  country  until  twenty-three,  most  of  the  time 
with  Gen.  Jackson,  being  with  him  through  the 
Creek  and  Seminole  wars.  He  married  Mary 
Meisenheimer,  a  native  of  North  Carolina. 
They  had  seven  children  as  follows:  Elizabeth, 
John,  Jacob,  Mathias,  Paulina,  Malinda  and 
Mary.  Our  subject,  John  Grear,  was  born 
March  2,  1824,  in  Jonesboro,  111.,  whence  his 
parents  moved  from  North  Carolina  among  the 
pioneers  of  Union  County.  His  chances  for  an 
education  were  few,  as  were  all  children  here  in 
an  early  day.  He  learned  the  jewelry  or  watch- 
making business,  a  trade  he  still  follows.  Like 
his  father  before  him,  he  is  a  Democrat  in  poli- 
tics, but  is  not  an  office  seeker  or  a  politician. 
At  the  last  city  election  (spring  of  1883),  he 
was  elected  Mayor  of  Jonesboro,  which  about 
constitutes  his  career  as  an  office  holder.  He 
was  married  April  13,  1847,  to  Miss  Dona 
Meadows,  who  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and 
is  a  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (Smith) 
Meadows.  The  fruit  of  this  marriage  is  four 
children,  all  boys  and  all  living — Walter,  Sid- 
ney, John  W.  and  Harry.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grear 
have  lived  together  as  man  and  wife  over  thii'ty- 
six  years  ;  have  raised  four  children  of  their 
own,  and  raised  or  partly  raised  and  educated 
nine  others,  and  have  never  had  a  death  in 
their  family. 

F.  W.  GREEN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jonesboro, 
was  born  October  26,  1834,  in  Union  County, 
111.,  where  his  father,  William  Green,  also  was 
born  in  1807,  although  the  name  of  Union 
County  was  unthought  of  The  grandfather 
of  our  subject  went  from  South  Carolina  to 
Kentucky,  and  finally,  in  1805,  he  came  to 
this  country,  settling  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  what  is  now  called  Jonesboro  Township, 
where  he  and  his  neighbors  erected  a  kind  of 
Indian  fort  for  mutual  protection  from  the  wild 
beasts  and  wilder  men  who  roamed  through 
the   forest.     His   two    brothers,   Thomas   and 


JONESBOKO  PRECINCT. 


101 


Parish  Green,  established  a  ferr}-  across  the 
Mississippi  River,  at  what  is  now  called  Will- 
ard's  Landing,  but  the  ferr}-  is  yet  known  to 
a,  great  many  people  as  Gi'een's  old  ferr}'. 
"William  Green  was  married  in  this  county  four 
times,  viz.:  Mary  Witaker  was  his  first  wife, 
and  is  the  mother  of  Florence  W.,  who  is  our 
subject.  His  second  wife  was  Cornelia  C. 
Mounts,  whose  maiden  name  was  Bennett ; 
she  was  the  mother  of  Mary,  wife  of  John  C. 
Miller,  and  William  P.  Mrs.  Josephine  Min- 
ton,  whose  maiden  name  was  Clark,  was  the 
third  wife  ;  she  was  the  mother  of  David  M. 
His  last  Avife  was  Permelia  Peel.  William 
Green  died  October  28,  1864.  Our  subject 
went  to  school  in  this  county,  where  he  was 
also  joined  in  matrimony,  January  17, 1865,  to 
Miss  Annetta  Cover,  who  was  born  November 
25,  1847,  in  Jonesboro.  Her  parents,  Daniel 
D.  and  Mary  (Craver)  Cover,  were  farmers  by 
occupation.  The  former  came  from  ^Iar3-land, 
and  the  latter  from  North  Carolina.  Mrs. 
Green  is  the  mother  of  seven  children — Otis, 
born  October  14, 1865  ;  Daniel,  April  19,  1867  ; 
Theron,  January  22,  1869  ;  John  H.,  January 
7, 1871  ;  Florence  E.,  October  15, 1873  ;  James 
A.,  January  12,  1876  ;  Lula  A.,  February  25, 
1878.  Mr.  Green  is  a  member  of  Knights  of 
Honor,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  1891.  He  has 
been  Township  Trustee,  Treasurer  and  School 
Director.  He  has  a  good  farm  of  212  acres. 
In  politics,  he  has  been  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party. 

G.  W.  HALL,  fruit-grower,  P.  0.  Jonesboro, 
was  born  November  29,  1812,  in  Maury  Count}'. 
Tenn.  He  is  a  son  of  Benjamin  Hall,  who  was 
born  in  Maryland,  and  drowned  in  the  Missis- 
sippi River.  His  wife,  Rebecca  Green,  was 
born  in  North  Carolina,  and  died  in  Mills 
County,  Iowa.  She  was  a  distant  relative  of 
Gen.  Green,  of  Revolutionar}-  fame,  and  was 
the  mother  of  twelve  children.  Our  subject, 
G.  "W.  Hall,  had  but  little  opportunity  to  obtain 
an  education  ;   but  what  he  has  was  mainly 


acquired  through  his  own  exertions.  In  early 
life,  he  learned  the  carpenter  trade,  and  followed 
it  for  about  foi'tj'-five  years,  and  now  he  is  re- 
tired from  active  life,  and  oversees  his  fruit 
farm  near  Jonesboro.  He  came  to  this  county 
January  8, 1844.  He  was  joined  in  matrimony 
in  1834,  at  Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo.,  to 
Miss  Mhierva  Ann  Douglas,  of  Scotch  descent, 
born  in  1813  near  Nashville,  Tenn.  She  was 
the  mother  of  eleven  children.  She  died  in 
this  county  some  years  ago,  and  Mr.  Hall  was 
married  the  second  time  to  Mrs.  Upchurch, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Rhoda  Ann  Powell, 
born  in  this  county  January  25,  1831,  daughter 
of  William  Powell.  He  has  a  farm  of  about 
forty  acres,  and  of  this  about  two-thirds  is  de- 
voted to  fruit  culture,  principally  to  that  of 
strawberries.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  are  members 
of  the  M.  E.  Church.  In  politics,  our  subject 
is  now  and  always  has  been  connected  with 
the  Republican  party,  and  although  raised 
among  people  who  favored  slaver^',  he  was  al- 
ways strenuously  opposed  to  it. 

G.  W.  HESS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  was  born 
November  20,  1854,  in  this  county,  and  is  the 
grandson  of  Joseph  Hess,  who  was  born  in 
North  Carolina,  where  he  married  Mary  Hart- 
line.  The}'  are  still  living  in  this  county,  where 
their  children,  five  boys  and  three  girls,  are  also 
living,  and  are  prosperous.  Silas  Hess  was  the 
second  oldest  of  these  children,  and  was  mar- 
ried in  this  count}'  to  Mary  Hileman,  daughter 
of  Christian  Hileman,  and  the  mother  of  eight 
children,  of  whom  our  subject,  George  W.  Hess, 
is  the  fourth  oldest.  He  received  a  common 
school  education,  and  then  taught  a  number  of 
years  in  the  schools  of  this  and  adjoining  pre- 
cincts. At  present,  he  is  following  the  occupa- 
tion of  a  farmer,  and  owns  a  farm  of  157  acres, 
a  part  of  which  is  devoted  to  fruit  raising. 
Mr.  Hess  was  joined  in  matrimony,  September 
7,  1879,  to  Josie  Wilson,  who  was  born  Janu- 
ary 31,  1858;  in  this  county,  and  is  a  daughter 
of  John   and  Mary   McCasland  Wilson.     Mr. 


102 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


and  Mrs.  Hess  are  both  members  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  and  in  politics  Mr.  Hess  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  part}-. 

J.  HENRY  HILBOLDT,  County  Clerk,  was 
bomi  October  2,  1853,  in  Berne,  Switzerland. 
His  father,  Samuel  Hilboldt  was  born  January 
1,  1797,  in  Switzerland  ;  he  died  January  L 
1860,  in  Dongola,  III.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the 
old  country  and  a  blacksmith  by  occupation. 
He  was  married  there  to  Mary  Weisenbach, 
born  August  12,  1812  ;  she  died  July  18,  1868, 
in  Dongola,  111.  She  was  the  mother  of  Ed- 
ward W.,  Jacob  S.,  Mary  C.  and  J.  Henry. 
Mr.  Hilboldt  came  to  this  county  with  his 
parents,  in  May,  1854.  He  was  educated  in  this 
county,  and  in  early  life  clerked  in  Jonesboro. 
In  November,  1882,  he  was  elected  County 
Clerk  b}'  the  Democratic  party.  Mr.  Hilboldt 
was  joined  in  matrimony  April  20,  1875,  in 
Jonesboro,  to  Miss  Ellen  V.  Evans,  who  was 
born  May  29,  1855,  in  Jonesboro.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Mary  (Evans)  Evans,  and 
is  the  mother  of  two  children,  viz.:  J.  Heurj', 
born  August  31,  1878,  and  Eva  W.,  born  Jan- 
uary 5,  1881.  Mrs.  Hilboldt  is  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  and  Mr.  Hilboldt  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  Southern  Lodge,  No, 
241.  He  is  also  a  Knight  of  Honor,  Jonesboro, 
Lodge,  No.  1891,  and  also  a  member  of  the 
Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor,  Flora  Lodge, 
No.  596.  In  politics,  our  subject  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

DANIEL  HILEMAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro, is  a  descendant  of  one  of  our  old  and 
worthy  pioneer  families.  His  father,  Henry 
Hileman,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  came  to 
this  county  in  1819.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject was  Elizabeth  Mull,  also  a  native  of  North 
Carolina  ;  she  died  1883  in  this  count}'.  She 
was  the  mother  of  six  children  now  living,  viz.: 
Daniel,  our  subject ;  Anna  Rendleman,  Malinda 
Hargrave,  Elizabeth  Rendleman,  Harrison  and 
Jefferson.  The  Hileman  family  is  of  German 
descent  and  is  mentioned  in  our  aeneral  his- 


tory. Our  subject,  Daniel  Hileman,  was  edu- 
cated in  the  schools  of  Union  County,  where  he 
was  also  married  afterward  to  Miss  Sarah  J. 
Hargrave,  who  was  born  in  January,  1832,  in 
this  county.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Robert 
and  Catharine  (Hunsaker)  Hargrave,  and  was 
the  mother  of  three  children,  viz.:  Emily,  born 
June  15,  1855,  wife  of  T.  W.  C.  Hall;  Ann 
Hannah,  deceased,  and  Elizabeth  C,  born  Au- 
gust 19,  1859.  Mrs.  Hileman  is  now  dead. 
The  Hileman  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  respected  families  in  Union  County,  and 
our  subject  has  inherited  many  of  his  ancestors" 
sterling  qualities.  He  is  a  quiet,  unassuming 
man,  who  spends  most  of  his  time  on  his  farm 
of  240  acres  near  Jonesboro.  In  politics,  he 
is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party,  al- 
though in  county  offices  he  votes  for  the  best 
man. 

J.  E.  HILEMAN,  Postmaster,  Jouesboro, 
was  born  January  27,  1860,  in  Union  County, 
111.  His  great-grandfather  was  Rinehart  Hile- 
man, of  German  descent.  His  son  Adam 
Hileman,  was  born  in  North  Carolina  ;  he  died 
in  this  county  where  he  was  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation. His  son  Eli  was  born  June  11, 1832. 
in  this  county,  where  ,he  farmed  until  the 
breaking-out  of  our  late  war,  when  he  obeyed 
the  call  of  his  county  to  protect  the  stars  and 
stripes  by  enlisting  in  Company  I,  of  the 
Eighty-first  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteers,  par- 
ticipating in  several  battles  and  also  in  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg,  in  which  city  he  died  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1864.  of  the  small-pox.  He  was  mar- 
ried, April  6,  1854,  to  Mary  xinn  Reitzel,  born 
December  13,  1829,  in  North  Carolina  ;  she 
died  August  8,  1867,  in  this  county.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  Christian  and  Delilah  (Ingold) 
Reitzel,  of  North  Carolina.  She  was  the 
mother  of  six  children,  four  now  living,  viz.: 
Jerome  D.,  a  farmer  in  Johnson  County ; 
Matilda  E.,  Jairus  E.  and  Philetus  E.  Our 
subject  received  a  common  school  education  in 
this  county,  and  was  formerly  a  student  of  Car- 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


103 


bondale,  111.  In  early  life  he  was  a  tiller  of 
the  soil,  but  in  1880  he  clerked  in  the  post 
office  of  Jonesboro  and  Anna,  and  in  February, 
1881,  was  appointed  Postmaster  at  Jonesboro, 
and  has  held  the  office  since.  Mr.  Hileman  is 
a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church  at  Anna,  111. 
In  politics,  he  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party. 

ME?.  NANNIE  C.  JONES  was  born  in  this 
county  February  24,  1851,  and  is  the  daughter 
of  Charles  and  Matilda  (Hileman)  Barringer. 
She  received  her  education  in  the  schools  of 
Jonesboro,  and  was  joined  in  matrimony  May 
9,  1869,  to  A.  Polk  Jones,  who  was  born  Au- 
gust 27,  1846,  in  Johnson  County,  111.  He 
was  a  son  of  William  and  Eliza  (Woreley) 
Jones.  Mr.  A.  P.  Jones  received  a  common 
school  education  in  Jonesboro,  and  afterward 
entered  the  office  of  Thomas  Findley,  who  was 
then  County  Clerk,  and  from  that,  by  his  own 
exertions,  he  worked  his  way  up.  He  filled 
several  offices  by  appointment,  and  was  finally 
elected  to  the  office  of  Circuit  Clerk  in  the  fall 
of  1872,  serving  eight  years  in  succession,  and 
filling  the  office  with  ability,  and  enjoying  the 
confidence  of  the  people  to  such  an  extent  that 
he  was  re-elected  to  a  third  term  of  four  years, 
but  he  did  not  long  fill  the  office,  for  the  angel 
of  death,  in  his  journey  over  the  earth,  called 
the  worker  to  his  home  above  on  the  27th  day 
of  November,  1880.     He  was  a  member  of  the 

1.  0.  0.  F.,  and  also  a  Knight  of  Honor.  In 
politics,  Mr.  Jones  was  a  Democrat.  He  was 
the  father  of  five  children — Luella,  born  De- 
cember 24,  1869  ;  Ada  P.,  born  December  20, 
1870  ;  Charles  L.,  born  January  10,  1874 ; 
Adolphus,  born  December  24,  1876,  and  died 
May  11,  1880,  and  Myrtle  S.,  born  September 

2,  1880.  Mrs.  Jones  at  present  makes  her 
home  at  Jonesboro,  where  she  devotes  herself 
to  the  education  of  her  children. 

D.  W.  KARRAKER,  lawyer,  Jonesboro, 
was  born  in  Union  County,  III,  February  12, 
1854.     He  is  a  grandson  of  Daniel  Karraker, 


who  came  to  Union  County  from  North  Caro- 
lina, where  he  was  married  to  Rachel  Black- 
welder,  who  bore  him  nine  children,  who  lived 
to  the  ages  of  maturit}-.  Their  names  are 
Paul,  Peggie,  Jacob,  Paulina,  Nathan,  Dennis, 
Bazil,  Wilson  and  Sally.  The  father  of  our 
subject,  Jacob  Karraker,  was  born  in  this 
county  in  1822,  and  is  engaged  in  farming. 
He  married  Mary  Peeler,  who  was  born  in 
Union  Count}^  in  1824.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Christian  Peeler,  who  emigi'ated  to  Union 
County  in  an  early  day.  Parents  of  our  sub- 
ject had  ten  children — Rachel,  Anna  (deceased), 
Malinda,  William  W.,  David  W.,  Lucinda  J. 
(deceased),  Henr}-  W.,  Julius  (deceased),  Jacob 
C.  and  Mary  E.  David  W.  received  the  bene- 
fits of  the  common  schools  of  his  native  county, 
and  was  afterward  a  student  at  the  A.  M.  Col- 
lege at  Lexington,  Ky.  He  began  the  study  of 
law  with  Gov.  John  Doughert}'  in  Jonesboro 
in  the  spring  of  1876,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  June,  1878,  at  Mt.  Vernon,  111.  He 
taught  school  in  Union  County  for  four  terms. 
In  December,  1876,  he  was  elected  Secretary  of 
the  Union  County  Fair  Association  ;  in  April, 
1877,  he  was  elected  Attorne}'  for  the  citj'  of 
Jonesboro.  In  November,  1877,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three,  he  was  elected  County  Superin- 
tendent of  Schools,  which  office  he  filled  till 
November,  1880,  when  he  was  elected  State's 
Attorne}-,  which  office  he  now  fills.  He  was 
married,  June  19,  1881,  in  Jackson  County, 
111.,  to  Miss  Cora  L.  Harreld,  only  daughter  of 
Cyrus  and  Amelia  (Tuttle)  Harreld.  She  was 
born  April  26,  1859,  in  Jackson  County,  111. 
Mr.  Karraker  is  a  strong  Prohibitionist,  and  in 
politics  is  a  Democrat. 

D.  M.  KIMMEL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jonesboro, 
was  born  September  9,  1845,  in  the  Mississippi 
bottom,  in  Union  County,  and  is  a  son  of 
George  W.  and  Eliza  Jane  (Smith)  Kimmel. 
He  was  a  farmer,  and  came  here  when  quite 
young,  and  died  April  3,  1877.  His  wife  was 
born  in  Missouri.     She  was  the  mother  of  seven 


104 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


children,  of  whom  our  subject  is  the  oldest  now 
living.  He  received  his  education  here  in  the 
common  schools,  and  follows  the  occupation  of 
farming  ;  has  an  excellent  farm  of  132  acres. 
He  was  married,  April  28,  1867,  to  Miss  Mar- 
garet E.  Oterich,  born  December  13,  1849,  in 
this  county.  She  is  a  daughter  of  George  W. 
and  Mar}-  (Renninger)  Oterich,  who  were  also 
early  settlers.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kimmel  have  but 
one  child — a  daughter  named  Mary  Olive,  born 
Februar}'  9,  1868.  They  and  their  daughter 
are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  He  is 
School  Director  in  his  district.  The  gi-and- 
father  of  our  subject,  Daniel  Kimmel,  came 
from  North  Carolina  and  settled  in  this  county, 
near  Jonesboro.  His  son,  George  W.,  after- 
ward moved  to  the  bottom,  where  he  became  a 
large  farmer,  aud  where  subject  was  born. 

WALTER  G.  KIMMEL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro, a  native  of  Union  County,  was  born  July 
20,  1861,  on  the  old  homestead  of  his  father, 
George  W.  Kimmel,  also  a  native  of  this  count}'. 
He  was  born  August  29,  1820,  and  died  April 
4,  1876.  The  genealogy  of  the  Kimmels  is  as 
follows  :  Michael,  born  in  Germany  in  Octo- 
ber, 1626  ;  married  in  November,  1689,  at  the 
age  of  sixtj^-three  years.  He  had  three  sons 
and  one  daughter — Philip.  Valentine,  Jacob 
and  Elizabeth.  Philip  was  born  in  1695,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  eighty-four.  He  married 
Elizabeth  Tolston  in  1719,  by  whom  he  had 
six  sons  —  Philip,  Nicholas,  Jacob,  Michael, 
George  and  Anthon}-.  George  was  born  De- 
cember 21,  1743,  and  was  married  August  17, 
1768,  to  Juliana  Kell}',  in  York  County,  Penn., 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons — Philip  and  George, 
and  five  daughters.  Daniel  was  a  son  of  Philip, 
and  the  father  of  six  children,  viz.,  Mar}',  Louisa, 
George  W.,  Philip  and  Anna,  who  is  the  only 
surviving  member  of  the  family.  George  W. 
was  married,  August  18,  1842,  to  Eliza  J. 
Smith,  by  whom  he  had  eleven  children,  six  of 
whom  are  now  living — Daniel,  Mary  and  Mar- 
tha (twins),  Josiah,  William  and  Walter  G.,  our 


subject.  He  was  educated  in  this  county,  and 
lives  on  his  father's  home  place  with  his  mother. 
It  contains  158  acres,  is  well  improved,  and 
considered  one  of  the  best  farms  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. Mr.  and  Mrs.  K.  are  members  of  the 
Baptist  Chui'ch.  He  is  a  true-blue  Democrat, 
as  were  his  ancestors. 

CHARLES  KLUTTS,  retired,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro, was  born  June  6,  1827,  in  Cabarrus 
County,  N.  C.  His  grandfather,  Leonard  Klutts. 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  died  in  North 
Carolina.  He  was  a  potter  by  trade.  His  son 
George,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in 
Cabarrus  County,  N.  C,  and  died  there.  He 
married  Polly  Holshauser,  who  was  born  in 
Rowan  County,  N.  C.  ;  she  died  in  Cabarrus 
County.  She  was  the  mother  of  eight  children, 
of  whom  our  subject  was  the  third  oldest.  He 
got  a  common  school  education  in  Cabarrus 
County,  where  he  also  learned  the  tanner  and 
saddler's  trade.  He  was  joined  in  matrimony, 
August  26,  1854,  to  Sarah  Dry,  who  was  born 
August  30,  1831,  in  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Rachel  (Lipe) 
Dry.  Her  parents  were  farmers  by  occupation. 
After  Mr.  Klutts  was  married,  he  came  to 
Jonesboro,  where  he  first  settled  in  1851.  In 
Jonesboro  he  engaged  in  the  harness  and  sad- 
dle business,  which  he  followed  with  good  suc- 
cess till  1877,  when  he  retired  from  active  life. 
The  past  life  of  our  subject  has  been  a  success- 
ful one,  especially  in  a  financial  view.  In  the 
fall  of  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Company  F  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regiment  Illinois 
Volunteers,  commanded  by  Col.  Nimmo. 

W.  C.  LENCE,  physician,  Jonesboro.  The 
gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  rep- 
resents one  of  our  old  settler  families,  who  came 
here  when  the  settlements  were  few,  when  the 
whistle  of  the  steam  monster  on  railroad  or 
river  was  unknown,  but  in  its  stead  the  child 
of  the  forest  plied  his  birch  canoe  on  the 
Father  of  Waters.  W.  C  Lence  was  born 
September  30,  1844,  in  Union  County,  111.    He 


JONESBORO  PRECIXCT. 


105 


is  a  grandson  of  John  Lence,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, born  in  North  Carolina,  where  he  was 
married  to  Sallie  Mull,  who  was  born  in  North 
Caroliua.  and  died  in  this  county  in  1880.  She 
was  the  mother  of  a  large  family,  whose  de- 
scendants are  numerous,  and  are  living  prin- 
cipally in  Southern  Illinois.  John  Lence  died 
in  Union  County.  His  son  John  J.  was  born 
here  in  1818.  He  was  married  to  Elizabeth 
Sifford,  who  was  the  mother  of  Sarah  Jane 
Lentz  and  William  Carol.  Mrs.  E.  Lence  died 
September  30,  18J:4.  Mr.  Lence  was  a  farmer 
in  early  life,  and  was  married  a  second  time  to 
Millie  Lingle,  who  was  the  mother  of  Mary 
Ann  Treece.  Mrs.  Lence  died  a  year  after  she 
was  married.  In  1850,  he,  in  company  with 
others  from  Union  Count}-,  went  to  California, 
where  he  worked  at  gold  mining,  returning  to 
this  county  in  1857,  where  he  was  married  a 
third  time  to  Eliza  Dilday,  who  was  the  mother 
of  two  children  now  living — John  and  Helen. 
Mr.  John  Lence  bought  a  mill  in  1860  in 
Jonesboro,  which  he  ran  till  1870,  when  he  sold 
out  and  spent  his  last  days  on  a  farm,  where  he 
died  in  1876.  His  memory-  is  cherished  b}- 
those  who  knew  him.  Our  subject  received  a 
common  school  education  in  this  county,  and 
then  taught  school  here  for  two  years,  and  then 
attended  the  college  of  Notre  Dame,  near 
South  Bend,  Ind.  He  returned  to  Jonesboro 
in  1878,  where  he  commenced  the  stud}'  of 
medicine  with  Dr.  G.  W.  Schuchardt.  In  the 
fall  of  1879,  he  went  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  and 
studied  in  the  Medical  Department  the  Univer- 
sity of  Louisville,  graduating  in  March,  1872, 
after  which  he  returned  to  Jonesboro,  where  he 
has  followed  his  profession  ever  since.  The 
Doctor  was  joined  in  matrimony,  December  31, 
1872,  in  Cairo.  111.,  to  Miss  Luella  Mulkey,  born 
June  10.  1852,  in  Jonesboro.  She  is  the 
daughter  of  Judge  John  H.  Mulkey.  She  is 
the  mother  of  two  children — Maggie  L.,  born 
September  21,  1873,  and  John  H..  born  April 
1.    1881.     Mrs.    Lence   is   a    member    of    the 


Catholic  Church.  Mr.  Lence  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No. 
Ill,  and  the  Knights  of  Honor.  Jonesboro 
Lodge.  No.  1,891.  In  politics,  the  Doctor  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 

JAMES  A.  LEWIS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro, is  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  pioneer 
families  of  U^nion  County.  He  is  a  native  of 
this  county,  born  July  29,  18-18.  His  father, 
William  Lewis,  came  to  the  county  when  he 
was  about  nine  years  of  age.  He  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation.  His  wife,  subject's  mother,  was 
Missouri  (Tripp)  Lewis,  a  daughter  of  William 
Tripp,  more  familiarly  known  among  the  old 
settlers  of  the  county  as  "  Uncle  Bill  Tripp." 
Of  the  children  born  to  them,  but  three  are 
now  living — Henry,  Willis  and  James  A. 
Henry  married  Mattie  Alexander,  who  bore 
him  four  children — Ott,  Ella,  Bob  and  an  in- 
fant, unnamed.  James  A.  Lewis  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  Union  County,  and 
early  learned  how  to  till  the  soil,  a  business  he 
is  at  present  engaged  in.  He  is  now  the  owner 
of  a  good  farm  containing  240  acres,  upon  a 
portion  of  which  he  grows  fruit.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo.,  to  Miss 
Anna  McNeally,  a  native  of  the  same  county. 
She  was  born  February  5,  1852.  They  have 
the  following  children  :  George  F.,  born  June 
19,  1S72  ;  Eva,  born  August  28,  1874;  Nora 
L.,  born  November  20.  1876  ;  and  Otho  J., 
born  November  28,  1878.  Mr.  Lewis  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  K.  of  H.,  Lodge  No.  1891,  at  Jones- 
boro, and  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  at  Jonesboro.  He 
has  served  the  people  as  School  Director  and 
Township  Trustee  for  several  years.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  independent. 

NELSON  LINGLE,  carpenter,  Jonesboro, 
was  born  July  15,  1823,  in  Union  County. 
His  father,  John  Lingle  was  born  in  North 
Carolina,  where  he  was  married  to  Elizabeth 
Cruse,  who  was  born  also  in  North  Carolina  ; 
she  died  in  this  county  in  1837,  two  years  after 
the  death  of  her  husband.     She  was  the  mother 


106 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


of  eight  children.  Our  subject,  Nelson  Liugle, 
received  a  limited  education  in  the  old-fashioned 
subscription  schools  in  this  count}',  where  he 
also  learned  his  trade  with  Mr.  J.  Roberts,  and 
was  joined  in  matrimon}-  August  2,  1852,  to 
Miss  Harriet  Lamer,  born  February  5,  1829,  in 
this  count}-.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Nancy  (Zimmerman)  Lamer,  and  is  the 
mother  of  six  children  now  living,  viz.: 
Nannie  E.,  born  May  14,  1853 ;  Cornelia,  born 
August  2.  1855  ;  Charle}.  born  February  22, 
1858  ;  James,  born  January  16,  1860  ;  Willie, 
born  June  21,  1869,  and  Johnny,  born  October 
29,1872.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lingle  are  members  of 
the  Baptist  Church.  3Ir.  Lingle  has  followed 
his  occupation  of  carpenter  in  Jonesboro  and 
vicinity,  and  has  served  the  public  as  School 
Director  and  Alderman.  In  politics,  he  has 
been  connected  with  the  Democratic  party  all 
his  life,  and  for  the  last  thirtj  -four  years,  he 
has  been  a  strong  temperance  advocate. 

MOSES  LINGLE.  farmer  and  fruit  grower, 
P.  0.  Jonesboro.  Our  subject  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1829,  in  Union  County,  111.  His 
father  was  John  Lingle,  of  German  descent,  a 
farmer  b}-  occupation,  and  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  this  count}-.  He  was  married,  to  Elizabeth 
Cruse,  also  of  German  descent.  She  was  the 
mother  of  eleven  children,  of  whom  our  sub- 
ject Moses,  was  the  youngest.  Both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lingle  are  now  dead  and  lie  buried  in 
this  county.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  this 
county,  and  here  he  was  also  married,  Septem- 
ber 6,  1860,  to  Miss  Emily  J.  Flaugh.  who  was 
also  born  in  this  county  June  3, 1842,  and  is  a 
daughter  of  Christian  G.  and  Nancy  A.  (Mc- 
intosh) Flaugh.  She  is  the  mother  of  eight 
children  now  living,  viz.:  Dora  A.,  born  July 
15,  1861  ;  Clara  0.,  born  February  28,  1863; 
Mary  E.,  born  March  11,1865;  Robert  A., 
born  September  7,  1867  ;  Minnie  I.,  born  Jan- 
uary 14,  1871  ;  John  W..  born  November  2, 
1876;  Lelia  E.,  born  February  20,  1879,  and 
Christine  E.,  born  October  6.  1881.     Mr.  and 


Mrs.  Lingle  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
He  has  a  farm  of  140  acres,  a  part  of  which  is 
devoted  to  fruit-raising.  Mr.  Lingle  has  been 
a  School  Director  for  fifteen  years  and  in  poli- 
tics he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 

FRANK  MARTIN,  grain  dealer,  Jonesboro, 
was  born  in  this  county  March  14, 1853,  and  is 
a  son  of  Samuel  Martin,  a  native  of  Alabama, 
and  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war  under  Col. 
Bissell.  After  that  war,  Mr.  Martin  was  mar- 
ried to  Matilda  McElhany,  a  native  of  Jones- 
boro, and  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Delilah 
(McElyea)  McElhany, who  were  among  the  older 
settlers  of  this  county,  and  founders  of  the  city 
of  Jonesboro.  Mrs.  3Iartin  is  the  mother  of 
five  children,  of  whom  our  subject  is  next  to 
the  oldest.  This  gentleman  received  a  common 
school  education  in  the  schools  of  this  county, 
and  in  early  life  followed  various  occupations, 
but  mainly  farming.  He  has  had  about  two 
years'  experience  in  the  grain  trade.  On  the 
18th  of  October,  1882,  he  commenced  buying 
grain  for  Houston  &  Co.,  but  about  the  last  of 
March  he  began  buying  for  D.  R.  Francis  & 
Ross,  a  St.  Louis  firm.  Our  subject  was  joined 
in  matrimony  on  December  7,  1882,  to  Louisa 
Barnes,  who  was  born  in  Jonesboro,  this  county, 
and  is  a  daughter  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Barnes,  a 
widow  lady  living  in  Jonesboro.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Martin  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party. 

N.  B.  MAXEY,  attorney  at  law,  Jonesboro, 
was  born  July  15,  1853,  in  Smith  County,  Tenn. 
His  ancestors  came  from  Wales.  His  great 
grandfather  was  William  Maxey,  whose  son, 
Nathaniel,  was  born  in  Buckingham  County, 
Va.,  and  came  to  his  death  by  a  boiler  explo- 
sion, in  1834,  on  the  Mississippi  River.  He 
married  IMildred  Taylor,  born  in  Virginia.  She 
died  in  Smith  County,  Tenn.  She  was  the 
mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom  Thomas  J., 
the  father  of  our  subject,  was  the  third  sou. 
Four  of  his  brothers  were  soldiers  in  the  late 
war,  one  of  them,  William  T.,  being  killed  at 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


lO" 


the  battle  of  Sliiloh.  Thomas  J.  Maxey  was 
born  November  30,  1828,  in  Smith  County, 
Tenn.,  where  he  married  Mary  B.  Day,  born 
1829,  in  Smith  County,  Tenn.,  where  she  died 
in  July,  1878.  She  was  the  mother  of  six 
children  now  living,  viz.,  Virginia  T.,  Napoleon 
B.,  John  D.,  Thomas  J.,  Jr.,  Mollie  B.  and 
Maggie.  While  in  Tennessee,  tlie  occupation 
of  our  subject  was  that  of  a  farmer.  He  came 
to  Union  County  in  1875.  Here  he  received  a 
comnaon  school  education.  In  1877,  he  was  a 
student  in  the  University  of  Chicago.  In  1879, 
he  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  W.  S.  Day, 
then  State's  Attorney,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  March  1,  1882,  at  Mount  Vernon,  111. 
Since  then  he  has  followed  his  profession  in 
Jonesboro,  111.  He  taught  seven  terms  of 
school  in  Union  County,  111.  Mr.  Maxey  was 
married,  December  25,  1881,  in  Jonesboro,  to 
Miss  Augusta  C.  Miller,  born  February  29, 
1856,  in  this  county.  She  was  formerly  a 
teacher  in  this  county.  She  is  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Mr.  Maxey  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  Jonesboro 
Lodge,  No.  Ill,  and  Egyptian  Chapter,  No.  45, 
Anna,  111.  He  was  formerly  City  Attorney, 
and  was  again  elected  in  1883.  He  is  a  Demo- 
crat. 

CALEB  MILLER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  is  a 
native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  March  1, 
1827,  to  David  and  Catherine  (Kritz)  Miller. 
He  was  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  and  there 
raised  and  educated.  In  1818,  he  came  to 
Union  County,  being  among  its  first  settlers. 
He  was  a  farmer,  merchant  and  tanner.  His 
wife  (subject's  mother)  was  born  in  Rowan 
County,  N.  C,  and  died  in  this  county.  She 
was  the  mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom  four 
are  now  living — Mary,  Peter,  John  and  Caleb, 
our  subject.  He  was  raised  on  a  farm,  and 
educated  in  the  subscription  schools.  At 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  left  home,  and  en- 
gaged in  mining  in  California,  and  returned  to 
Union   County  in  Februar}-,   1851,   where   he 


bought  his  present  farm  of  165  acres,  and  en- 
gaged in  farming,  an  occupation  he  has  since 
followed.  He  resided  on  the  same  farm,  with 
the  exception  of  five  3'ears  spent  in  Alexander 
County.  In  1852,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Stirewalt,  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  They 
are  raising  and  educating  Miss  Rosella  Miller, 
an  adopted  daughter. 

MRS.  JULIETT  A.  MILLER,  Jones- 
boro. This  lady  was  born  September  16,  1833, 
in  this  county,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Charles  A. 
and  Anna  (White)  Rixleben.  Mrs.  Rixleben 
was  born  June  10,  1811,  in  Livingston  County, 
N.  Y.  She  was  married  a  second  time,  to  John 
E.  Nail,  who  died  March  17,  1872.  She  is  yet 
living,  and  is  the  mother  of  three  children  now 
living,  viz.:  Juliett  A.,  Bruno  and  Harriett  M., 
wife  of  John  H.  Span,  of  St.  Louis.  Our  sub- 
ject was  educated  in  this  county,  and  in  the 
Parke  Female  Seminary,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  She 
was  married,  October  17.  1849,  to  Dr.  James 
V.  Brooks,  of  Jonesboro,  who  was  a  graduate 
of  the  McDowell  Medical  College,  St.  Louis, 
having  also  been  a  student  a  Louisville,  Ky. 
He,  as  well  as  his  father.  Dr.  Benjamin 
Brooks,  are  mentioned  in  our  general  history. 
He  was  the  father  of  David  G.,  a  carpenter  by 
occupation.  Dr.  J.  V.  Brooks  died  June  17, 
1872,  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him.  Our  sub- 
ject was  married  a  second  time,  to  N.  G-.  Mil- 
ler, who  is  the  father  of  four  children,  viz.: 
Augusta,  wife  of  N.  B.  Maxey  ;  TuUius  T., 
Otis  W.  and  Ivo  L.  Mrs.  Miller  is  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church.  Mr.  Miller  was  born 
in  North  Carolina ;  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  indepen- 
dent, voting  for  the  best  man. 

COL.  A.  J.  NIMMO,  Jonesboro,  was  born 
September  30,  1822,  in  this  county,  where  the 
town  of  Anna  now  stands.  His  father,  Wesley 
G.  Nimmo,  was  of  Scotch  descent,  and  was 
born  in  Albemarle  County,  Va.,  and  died  in 
this  county  October  17,  1856.  He  was  a  sad- 
dler by    trade,  and  under  the  old  military  law 


108 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


of  the  State  was  Colonel  of  the  militia.  He 
married  Priscilla  Barker,  who  was  born  near 
Hopkinsville,  Ky.,  and  died  in  this  county 
September  13,  1864.  She  was  the  mother  of 
twelve  children,  of  whom  our  subject  was  the 
oldest  but  one.  His  educational  facilities  were 
rather  limited,  and  confined  to  the  subscrip- 
tion schools  of  the  count}-,  and  early  in  life  he 
learned  the  saddler's  trade  with  his  father.  In 
1846,  when  the  war  broke  out  with  Mexico,  he 
enlisted  in  Compan}-  F,  Second  Illinois  Volun- 
teers, Col.  William  H.  Bissell  commanding.  He 
served  one  year,  and  then  returned  home,  and  was 
Constable  for  one  terra.  In  1850,  he  was 
elected  Sheriff  of  Union  County  ;  was  again 
elected  in  1854,  and  a  third  time  elected  in 
1858.  In  the  fall  of  1861,  he  was  elected 
Count}'^ .  Clerk,  and  while  occupying  that 
position  he  recruited  a  regiment  for  the  late 
war,  which  became  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantr}',  and  of  which  he 
was  commissioned  Colonel  by  the  Governor. 
In  Novembei',  1869,  Col.  Nimmo  was  again 
elected  County  Clerk ;  in  November,  1874,  he 
was  again  elected  Sheriff,  and  re-elected  for  the 
fifth  time  in  1876  ;  he  served  as  Deputy  County 
Clerk  from  1879  until  December,  1882  ;  since 
then  the  old  veteran  has  been  out  of  the  har- 
ness, and  is  now  enjoying  a  needed  repose  after 
his  long  and  faithful  public  service.  He  was 
married,  March  9,  1848,  to  Miss  Eliza  J.  Tripp, 
who  was  born  January  3,  1828,  in  this  county. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  William  and  Frances 
(Grammer)  Tripp.  She  is  the  mother  of  seven 
children,  viz.:  Leander  W.,  William  H.  (de- 
ceased), Emily  F.  (wife  of  John  S.  Alexander), 
Mar}'  A.  (deceased),  Charles  F.,  Alexander  J. 
and  Sarah  J.  (deceased).  Col.  Nimmo  is  a 
member  of  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  Ill,  A.,  F. 
&  A.  M.;  Egyptian  Chapter,  No.45,R.  A.  M.  of 
which  bod}'  he  is  High  Pi'iest;  Southern  Lodge, 
No.  241,  of  I.  0.  0.  F.,  of  which  he  is  Noble 
Grand.  He  has  always  been  identified  with 
the   Democratic   party.     The   past  life  of  Col. 


Nimmo  needs  no  comment  ;  the  number  of 
offices  be  has  held  in  the  county  speaks  more 
eloquently  in  his  honor  and  of  his  integrity 
than  volumes  written  in  his  praise. 

J.  OTTMAR,  boot  and  shoe  maker,  Jones- 
boro, was  born  May  5,  1845,  in.  Wurtemberg, 
Germany.  He  is  a  grandson  of  Phillip  Ottmar, 
who  was  a  shoe-maker  by  occupation,  as  was 
also  his  son  Jacob  Frederich,  born  in  1800, 
in  Germany,  where  he  died  in  1880.  He  was 
married  to  Maria  Saeger,  born  1803  ;  she  died 
in  1882.  She  was  the  mother  of  nine  children 
— Justina,  Maria,  Phillip,  Johannes,  Jacob  F., 
Michael,  George,  Godfried  and  Jacob.  Two 
of  the  boys,  Johannes  and  Jacob  F.,  were  in  the 
civil  war.  Johannes  was  killed  at  the  battle 
of  Franklin,  Tenn.;  Jacob  F.  died  in  the  hos- 
pital at  Decatur,  111.  'Our  subject  learned  his 
trade  in  the  old  country.  He  was  a  soldier  in 
the  German  Army.  He  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1867,  landing  in  New  York;  then  went 
to  Delphi,  lud.,  where  he  worked  almost  two 
years,  and  then  went  to  La  Porte,  Ind.,  where 
he  followed  his  trade,  and  was  joined  in  matri- 
mony, April  24,  1869,  to  Mrs.  Mary  P.  Ottmar. 
former  wife  of  Johannes  Ottmar,  who  was 
killed  in  the  war.  She  was  born  September 
15,  1844,  in  Bohemia.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Brochaska.  She  is  the  mother  of  Jacob  F., 
born  March  3,  1863,  and  John  M.,  born  October 
31.  1864  ;  they  were  the  children  of  Johannes 
Ottmar;  Mary,  born  March  30,  1870,  and  Ad- 
die  K.,  deceased.  Mr.  Ottmar  came  to  Jones- 
boro in  1873,  where  he  has  followed  his  trade 
ever  since.  Mrs.  Ottmar  is  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  Mr.  Ottmar  is  a  member 
of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  ;  also  an 
I.  0.  0.  F.,  Southern  Lodge,  No.  241,  and  a 
Knight  of  Honor,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  1891. 
He  has  been  Alderman  of  the  First  Ward  for 
three  years,  and  resigned  after  he  was  re-elect- 
ed. In  politics,  he  is  connected  with  the  Dem- 
ocratic party. 

MRS.     MALINDA     PROVO,     Jonesboro. 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


109 


This  lady  is  the  daughter  of  one  of  our  old  set- 
tlers.    She  was  born  January  9,  1816,  in  Rob- 
ertson County,  Tenn.    Her  grandfather,  Charles 
Mcintosh,  was  born  in   Scotland   and  died  in 
Tennessee.     He  and  his  son  John,  who  is  the 
father  of  our  subject,  were  soldiers  in  the  Rev- 
olutionary war.     John  Mcintosh  married  Mary 
Miller,  who  was  the  mother  of  seven  children 
— Samuel,  Hannah,  Nancy  A.,  Washington  L., 
Mary  J.  and  John  J.,  deceased,  and   Malinda, 
who  went  to  school   in    Jonesboro.     She  was 
married,    March  25,  1834,  to  Mr.  Pipkin,  who 
died  November   20,  1839.     He  is  the  father  of 
■  Andrew  J.  Pipkin.     Our  subject  was  married 
a  second  time,  November  29,  1844,   to  James 
J.  Provo,  a  merchant   of  Jonesboro,  who  died 
in  April,  1864.     He  was  the  father  of  five  chil- 
dren— Jerome,   born  July  16,  1845,  died  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1861,  at  the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson  ; 
Ellen  J.,  born   December  22,  1846,  former  wife 
of  Levi  Davis,  deceased  ;  James  J.,  born  Octo- 
ber 14,  1849,  died  December  12, 1873  ;    Isabel 
born  September  27,  1852,  wife  of  William  H. 
Ballard,    she  is  the  mother  of  Vada,  who  was 
born  September  26,  1873  ;  Byron,  born  July 
16,   1854,   died    September   27,    1855.      Mrs. 
Provo  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

JACOB  RENDLEMAN,  Sr.,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Kaolin,  is  a  grandson  of  John  Rendleman,  who 
was  born  in  Germany,  and  who  on  coming  to 
this  country  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  where 
Jacob  Rendleman,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born.  On  reaching  manhood,  he  settled 
in  Rowan  County,  N.  C.  In  this  State  he  mar- 
ried Betsey  Fullenwater,  who  was  the  mother 
of  nine  children.  Of  this  number  our  subject 
was  the  second,  and  was  born  Max'ch  30,  1808. 
Mr.  Rendleman  came  to  this  county  in  1817, 
with  his  parents,  who  are  mentioned  in  our 
general  history.  The  country  was  a  wilderness, 
and  wild  beasts  and  wilder  men  roamed  through 
the  dark  forests,  which  are  now  converted  into 
fertile  fields  and  blooming  gardens,  where  fruits 
of  almost  every  variet}'    grow.     Our  subject's 


opportunities    for    an    education    were    very 
limited,  as  the  county  had  no  schools   except 
the  subscription  schools  at  that  time,  and  to 
this  school    he  went  but    about  three    months 
From  early  life   until  the  present  time  he   has 
devoted    himself    to    the   cultivation    of   the 
virgin    soil   of   Union    County.     He    has    at 
present  about   1600    acres   of  land,  a   part   of 
which  is  devoted  to  fruit  cultivation,  100  acres 
being  devoted  wholly  to  orchards.     Mr.   Ren- 
dleman is  a  self-made  man  in  ever}'  sense  of  the 
word,  and  is  a  fair  specimen  of  American  grit 
and  perseverance.     He   was   married   in   this 
county  in  the  year  1826,  to  Rachael  Hartline, 
who  was  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  and  died 
in   this   county  in   1860.     Her   parents    were 
among  the  older  settlers  of  this   county.     She 
was  the  mother  of  ten  children — John,  William, 
Greorge,  Maston,  Lucinda,  Lavina,  Jacob,  Jefl', 
Marshal  and  Nancy  K.     Mr.  Rendleman  was 
joined  in  matrimon}'  the  second  time  to  Mrs. 
Mary  E.  Wilson,  daughter  of  John  and   Ellen 
(McKissie)    McCasland,  and   is  the  mother  of 
nine   children,  all   of  whom    are   living,  viz.: 
Nancy    C.   Wilson,  wife    of    John    Hartline  ; 
Sophrina   E.    Wilson,    wife   of    John    Cassel  ; 
Josephina   Wilson,  wife   of  George  W.  HeSs  ; 
John  D.  Wilson,  who  married  Elica  J.  Cassel ; 
David     F.     Rendleman,     Robert     M.,    Ellen, 
Amanda    and    Dora.     Mrs.    Rendleman    is    a 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  Mr.  Rendle- 
man is  a  member  of  the  German    Reformed 
Church.     In  politics,  he  is  identified    with  the 
Democratic   party,  as  were  his  ancestors  years 
ago. 

D.  H.  RENDLEMAN,  Jr.,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Jonesboro,  is  a  native  of  this  county,  and  was 
born  January  10,  1841.  He  is  a  sou  of  D.  H- 
Rendleman,  Sr.,  who  was  born  December  18, 
1801,  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C.  The  father  came 
to  this  county  in  1825,  and  here  married  Catha- 
rine Hunsaker.  who  was  born  in  1812  in  this 
county.  She  is  the  mother  of  twelve  children, 
nine  girls  and  three  boys.     Our  subject,  Drake 


110 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


H.  RenfUeman  went  to  school  in  this  county 
and  at  Lebanon,  111.,  at  the  McKendree  College. 
He  farmed  with  his  father  in  earl}^  life,  and 
taught  school  in  the  winters  for  sixteen  consec- 
utive years,  ten  terms  being  in  his  own  district, 
getting  his  wages  raised  from  $35  to  $60  per 
month  on  account  of  his  proficiency  as  a 
teacher.  He  was  married  in  this  county,  April 
23,  1865,  to  Martha  Jane  Goodman,  who  was 
born  February  10, 1848,  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C. 
She  is  the  mother  of  eight  children — Cora  0., 
born  December  29,  1866  ;  Charles  A.,  born 
September  8,  1868  (deceased)  ;  Daisy  E.,  born 
December  15,  1869  ;  Edith  A.,  born  October  27, 
1871  ;  Clarissa  C,  born  July  17,  1874  ;  Bertha 
A.,  born  October  14,  1877  ;  Wilford  A.,  born 
October  7,  1880,  and  Ivo  Zoe,  born  August  28, 
1882.  Mr.  Rendleman  now  owns  a  farm  of 
190  acres,  and  is  at  present  engaged  somewhat 
in  fruit  raising  also.  Subject  is  a  member  of 
Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  11,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  In 
politics,  Mr.  Rendleman  is  a  Democrat,  and  as 
such  has  been  elected  to  the  office  of  Township 
Treasurer  b}  his  constituents. 

M.  M.  RENDLEMAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro. The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this 
brief  sketch  is  a  son  of  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  well-to-do  families  in  this  county.  Our 
subject  is  a  native  of  this  county,  and  was  born 
January  17,  1847.  His  father,  Jacob  Rendle- 
man, came  to  this  county  before  Illinois  had 
been  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State.  He 
was  then  eight  3'ears  of  age,  and  made  his 
advent  here  with  his  grandfather.  The  father 
married  Miss  Rachael  Hartline  upon  reaching 
manhood.  This  lady,  who  died  May  20,  1860, 
was  the  mother  often  children,  seven  boys  and 
three  girls,  all  of  whom  are  living,  married  and 
have  families  in  this  county.  Mr.  Rendleman 
was  married  the  second  time  to  Mrs.  Mary 
Wilson,  who  is  the  mother  of  nine  children, 
four  by  her  first  husband  and  five  by  the  latter. 
.  Our  subject,  M.  M.  Rendleman,  was  educated 
in  the  schools  of  this  count}-,  and  in  early  life 


he  turned  his  attention  to  the  occupation  of  a 
farmer.  This  he  followed  up  until  1876,  when 
he  turned  his  attention  to  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness, keeping  a  general  store  first  at  Alto  Pass. 
Here  he  remained  one  year,  and  then  went 
to  Makanda,  Johnson  County.  He  engaged  in 
business  at  this  point  until  September,  1882, 
when  he  once  more  returned  to  this  county.  Here 
he  purchased  the  old  Cox  farm  of  210  acres, 
and  on  which  he  now  resides  and  follows  once 
again  the  occupation  of  a  tiller  of  the  soil. 
Our  subject  was  joined  in  matrimony  October 
2,  1877,  to  Miss  Emma  Bean,  who  was  born  in 
this  county  February  18,  185.3.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  George  W.  and  Elizabeth  (Taylor) 
Bean,  the  former  is  a  native  of  Virginia  and 
the  latter  of  Tennessee.  They  have  had  eight 
children,  and  of  this  number  only  four  are  liv- 
ing. Both  are  now  dead  and  their  memories 
are  cherished  very  fondly  and  pleasantly  by 
all  who  knew  them.  Mrs.  Emma  B.  Rendleman 
is  the  mother  of  one  little  girl,  named  Gracie, 
who  was  born  February  15,  1882.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Rendleman  is  identified  with  the  Demo- 
cratic part}'. 

JACOB  R.  RHOADES,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cob- 
den,  was  born  January  22,  1842,  in  this  county. 
His  father,  Mathias  Rhoades,  was  also  born  in 
this  county  in  1818,  and  also  died  here.'  He 
was  married  to  Matilda  DamrotK-  a  native  of 
this  State.  She  was  the  mother  of  seven  chil- 
dren, and  of  this  number  only  our  subject  is 
now  living.  The  grandfather  of  our  subject 
may  be  classed  among  the  old  pioneers  of  this 
county.  He  was  a  farmer  and  blacksmith  bv 
profession,  as  was  also  his  son  Mathias.  Our 
subject  attended  the  schools  of  this  county, 
then  farmed,  and  at  present  he  owns  a  farm  of 
220  acres  in  Jonesboro  Township,  a  fine  stock 
farm  by  the  way,  and  also  300  acres  in  Alto 
Pass  Township.  He  was  married  in  this 
county  to  Margaret  E.  Bittle,  who  was  burn 
September  30,  1846,  in  tl  county  and  is  a 
daughter  of  John  and  E         h  (Kitts)   Bittle. 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


Ill 


She  is  the  mother  of  six  children,  five  of  whom 
are  now  living,  viz.:  Jefferson  J.,  born  July  19, 
1866  ;  Thomas  S.,  born  October  17,  1868  ; 
Willis  J.,  born  September  28,  1870  ;  Charles, 
born  December  30,  1873,  and  Albert,  bornFeb- 
ruar}'  14,  1882.  In  politics,  our  subject  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  part}-. 

LAFAYETTE  RICH,  Deputy  Sheriff,  Jones- 
boro,  is  a  native  of  Union  County,  born  Janu- 
ary 24,  1850.  He  is  a  grandson  of  Thomas  J. 
Rich,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war  ;  his  son,  William  C.  Rich,  Sr.,  was  born  in 
1819,  in  Alabama.  He  emigrated  to  Union 
County,  111.,  with  his  parents,  and  subsequently 
married  Miss  Millie  C.  Guthrie,  the  daughter 
of  Ansel  and  Matilda  (Brock)  Guthrie,  and  is 
the  mother  of  eleven  children,  viz.;  Samantha, 
Catherine,  Matilda,  Eliza,  Maria,  Malcom,  Will- 
iam J.,  Lucy,  Elizabeth,  George  and  our  sub- 
ject, who  was  the  fourth  oldest  child.  His 
early  life  was  spent  at  home,  receiving  such  an 
education  as  the  common  schools  afforded,  and 
assisting  to  till  the  soil  of  his  father  s  farm. 
For  two  years,  in  connection  with  his  farming, 
he  taught  school.  In  Jonesboro,  March  22^ 
1883,  he  married  Miss  Nannie  E.  Lingle,  a 
native  of  Jonesboro,  111.,  born  May  14,  1853. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Nelson  and  Harriet 
(Lamer)  Lingle,  who  are  natives  of  Union 
County.     In  politics,  Mr.  Rich  is  a  Democrat. 

JOHN  A.  ROBERTS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jonesboro, 
born  in  White  Count}-,  Tenn.,  February  8, 1851, 
is  a  son  of  J.  W.  Roberts,  who  was  born  in 
Virginia,  but  moved  to  Tennessee  when  quite 
young,  and  there  he  followed  the  occupation  of 
a  farmer,  raising  a  large  family.  When  he  died 
in  1867,  he  left  the  record  of  a  good  and  exem- 
plary life  behind  him.  In  the  latter  part  of 
his  life,  he  served  this  count}-  as  its  County 
Clerk,  and  then  in  the  spring  of  1867  he  com- 
menced teaching  penmanship,  and  it  was  while 
following  his  profession  in  Arkansas  that  his 
death  occuiTcd.  Hp.  >pas  married  in  Tennessee 
to  Sarah  Underwoo.      ..^o  died  in  1862.     This 


lady  was  the  mother  of  six  children,  now  living 
—-Elizabeth,  wife  of  W.  M.  Mulican  ;  May  J., 
wife  of  M.  C.  Jones  ;  William  C,  George  W., 
John  A.  and  Joseph  H.  Mrs.  Roberts'  grand- 
father, Thomas  Underwood,  was  a  soldier  in 
the  Mexican  war.  Our  subject  had  five 
brothers  in  the  civil  war,  viz.:  Jasper  P.,  who 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Perry ville,  Ky.; 
James  M.,  killed  in  DeKalb  County,  Tenn.; 
William  C,  George  W.,  and  Thomas  N.,  who 
died  in  1879.  Our  subject  received  his  educa- 
tion in  White  and  De  Kalb  Counties,  Tenn., 
and  came  to  this  county  in  December,  1868, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  saw-mill  business. 
When  he  arrived  here,  he  had  only  the  small 
sum  of  75  cents  to  begin  life  with,  but 
with  perseverance  and  good  management 
he  has  bettered  his  condition  so  that  he  now 
has  a  farm  of  200  acres,  purchased  in  1880,  on 
which  he  intends  to  raise  stock.  In  politics, 
he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party.  He 
was  married,  October  9,  1882,  to  Narcissa 
Lumpkin,  born  in  Caldwell  County,  Ky.,  De- 
cember 12,  1855,  and  daughter  of  Charles  A. 
and  Sarah  (Baker)  Lumpkin. 

JOSEPH  H.  SAMSON,  County  Superintend- 
ent, Jonesboro,  was  born  April  30,  1820,  in 
Berkshire,  Franklin  Co.,  Vt.,  and  is  a  grandson 
of  William  Samson,  born  in  1733,  whose  son 
Jonathan  was  born  May  8,  1781,  in  Newberry- 
port,  Mass.,  and  died  in  February,  1870.  He  wa's 
raised  a  farmer,  but  during  the  last  thirty  years 
of  his  life  he  was  a  minister  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  He  was  married  twice,  the  first 
time  in  1800  to  Lucena  Titus  ;  she  was  the 
mother  of  five  children,  of  whom  only  Ozima 
is  now  living.  After  the  death  of  his  first 
wife  he  was  married  a  second  time  to  Sally 
Powell,  born  1782,  in  Manchester,  Vt.;  she  died 
November,  1853,  in  Johnstown,  Licking  Co., 
Ohio.  She  was  the  daughter  of  William 
Powell,  who  was  one  of  the  sharp-shooters 
under  Col.  Stark  at  the  battle  of  Bennington, 
Vt.,  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  while  opposing 


112 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


the  British  Commander  Burgoyne.  Mrs.  S. 
Samson  was  the  mother  of  five  children,  four 
of  whom  arrived  at  maturity  and  had  families. 
Their  names  are  Sarah,  Thomas,  Joseph  H.  and 
Almon.  Our  subject  was  educated  partly  in 
Vermont  and  Oberlin  College,  Ohio.  He  was 
a  tiller  of  the  soil  in  early  life,  and  taught 
school  twenty-five  years.  He  has  followed 
various  occupations  in  his  life.  Has  kept  store 
and  station,  has  been  Deputy  County  Clerk  and 
Deputy  Sheriff.  He  has  been  County  Super- 
intendent for  four  years,  and  was  elected  a  sec- 
ond time  in  November,  1882.  Mr.  Samson  was 
joined  in  matrimony,  March  1,  I860,  in  Jones- 
boro,  to  Miss  Mary  J.  Brown,  born  Februarj- 
21,  1841,  in  this  county.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Francis  H.  and  Abigail  (Meadows)  Brown  ;  she 
is  the  mother  of  three  children — Ed,  born 
August  .3,  1861  ;  Clara,  born  February  13, 
1865,  and  Dona,  born  December  10,  1871.  Mr. 
Samson  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  Ill,  of  ^\hich  he  has 
been  Master  for  man}'  j'ears.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  "  Egyptian  Chapter,  No.  45."  In 
politics,  he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party. 

REV.  D.  B.  SANDERS,  physician,  Jones- 
boro, was  born  July  26,  1844,  in  Benton  Coun- 
ty, Tenn.  His  ancestors  were  prominent  in  the 
Revolutionary  war.  His  great-grandfather  came 
from  England.  His  gi-andfather  was  born  in 
South  Carolina,  where  he  died  on  the  Pedee 
River.  He  married  Sallie  Langum,  born  in 
Virginia  ;  she  died  in  1861,  in  Williamson  Coun- 
ty, 111.  She  was  the  mother  of  seven  children. 
Her  son  Abraham,  was  born  in  South  Carolina, 
and  died  in  Williamson  Count}-,  111.,  in  1867. 
He  married  Jerusha  Hopkins,  born  in  Ken- 
tuck}'  ;  she  died  in  Williamson  County,  in  1868. 
She  had  ten  children,  of  whom  David  R.  is 
next  to  the  youngest.  She  is  a  descendant  of 
the  Hopkins  of  Colonial  fame,  one  of  whom 
served  in  the  Colonial  Congress.  Her  father, 
David  Hopkins,  was  a  Drum  Major  in  the  war 


of  1812,  participating  in  a  volunteer  corps  in 
the  battle  of  Horseshoe  Bend.  Our  subject 
received  a  common  school  education  in  Will- 
iamson County,  111.  In  August,  1862,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  our  subject  enlisted  in  the 
army  and  seryed  as  Second  Lieutenant  in  Com- 
pany E,  of  the  Eighty-first  Regiment  Illinois 
Volunteei*s,  Col.  James  J.  Dollins.  He  served 
till  the  close  of  the  war,  participating  in  the 
battles  of  Thompson's  Hill,  Raymond,  Jackson. 
Champion  Hill,  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Fort  De 
Russy,  Nashville,  Mobile  and  others.  After 
the  war,  he  settled  down  to  farming  and  teach- 
ing. He  commenced  the  study  of  medicine 
under  Dr.  F.  M.  Agnew,  of  Makauda,  111.,  in 
1872.  In  1873,  he  took  a  course  of  lectures  at 
the  Medical  College  of  Ohio,  after  which  he 
practiced  four  years  and  then  graduated  at 
Cincinnati  in  1877.  Returning  to  Williamson 
County,  he  practiced  there  till  1880,  when  he 
came  to  Jonesboro,  where  he  followed  his  pro- 
fession. He  is  also  the  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church  in  Jonesboro,  having  been  ordained  as 
Elder  in  1861.  In  theology,  he  is  self-educated. 
The  Doctor  was  married  in  1866,  to  Delphinia 
E.  Gallegly.  She  is  the  mother  of  Minnie  J. 
Mrs.  D.  E.  Sanders  died  in  1875.  Dr.  Sanders 
was  married  a  second  time  in  1876,  to  Lydia 
E.  Rauch,  of  German  descent,  born  in  1858. 
*She  is  the  mother  of  three  children,  viz.:  Clyde, 
Carl  and  Ora.  The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  also  of  the  I.  0.  of  G.  T., 
and  member  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Medical 
Association.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

MRS.  HELEN  A.  SCHUCHARDT,  Jones- 
boro. This  lady  was  born  March  14,  1846.  in 
Jonesboro,  111.  She  is  the  youngest  daughter 
of  Lieut.  Gov.  John  Dougherty,  who  is  men- 
tioned in  our  general  history.  She  received 
her  early  education  in  Jonesboro,  but  after- 
ward graduated,  in  1864,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
at  the  Female  College  in  Granville,  Ohio. 
Three  years  later,  she  was  joined  in  matrimony, 
in  Jonesboro,  to  Dr.  George  W.  Schuchardt, 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


113 


who  was  born  April  25,  1842.  in  Caldwell 
County.  Ky.  He  lived  in  Kentucky  until  he 
was  seven  j-ears  of  age,  when  his  father  re- 
moved to  Illinois.  He  received  his  early  edu- 
cation in  Golconda,  Pope  Co.,  111.  His  medical 
education  was  received  in  the  cit}-  of  Chicago, 
at  the  Rush  Medical  College,  graduating  Janu- 
ary 27,  1864.  He  commenced  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  Golconda,  with  his  father,  Dr. 
J.  V.  Schuchardt,  but  soon  left  there  to  join 
the  Union  arm}-,  in  which  he  served  his  countr}' 
in  the  capacity  of  Assistant  Surgeon  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  was  on  duty  part  of  the 
time  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  and  afterward  in  General 
Hospital  No.  3,  Lookout  Mountain,  Tenn. 
After  the  war,  he  located  in  Jonesboro,  where 
he  lived  and  labored  in  the  practice  of  his 
noble  profession  until  some  two  years  before 
his  death.  He  died  of  pulmonary  consumption, 
Februar}'  7,  1879,  in  Jonesboro.  He  was  a 
man  of  scrupulous  integrity,  considerable  cult- 
ure, and  of  great  gravity  and  dignit}'  of  man- 
ner. He  arose  to  eminence  in  his  profession, 
and  possessed  to  the  last  the  esteem  and  con- 
fidence of  his  professional  brethren  and  the 
people  generally  as  a  conscientious  man,  and  a 
skillful  and  devoted  practitioner.  He  was  one 
of  the  gentleman  to  move  in  the  organization 
of  the  Southern  Illinois  Medical  Association, 
and  was  elected  its  first  Secretary.  He  gave 
to  this  enterprise  his  whole  heart,  sparing 
neither  time  nor  labor,  until  it  was  established 
on  a  firm  basis.  He  wielded  an  influence  for 
good,  solid  as  granite  itself;  and  when  no 
more  on  earth,  he  left  behind  an  example  of  un- 
tiring zeal,  self-denial,  truth  and  honor  ;  a  care- 
ful, patient,  faithful  worker,  worthy  to  be  cher- 
ished and  followed  by  all  who  come  after  him. 
He  was  the  father  of  four  children,  viz.,  John 
W.,  born  November  15,  1869;  Leilia  C,  born 
July  30,  1872  ;  George  C,  born  February  9, 
1874,  and  Ethel  H.,  born  August  14,  1875. 
Mrs.  Schuchardt  is  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.     She  was  appointed  Master  in 


Chancery  by  Judge  John  Dougherty,  and 
served  two  3'ears,  although  the  office  was  dis- 
puted, and  judgment  rendered  against  her  by 
the  Circuit  and  Appellate  Court ;  but  when 
carried  to  the  Supreme  Court  judgment  was 
rendered  in  her  favor,  making  the  first  prece- 
dent of  its  kind  in  Illinois.  She  is  now  Town- 
ship Treasurer,  filling  the  oflSce  with  tact  and 
ability.  In  society,  her  influence  for  good  is 
felt  by  all  with  whom  she  comes  in  contact. 

R.  T.  SHIPLEY,  manufacturer,  Jonesboro, 
proprietor  of  saw  and  planing  mill,  and  manu- 
facturer of  fruit  and  berr}'  boxes,  was  born 
Januar}'  6,  1826,  in  Granger  County,  East 
Tenn.  His  grandfather,  Thomas  Shiple}',  who 
came  from  Virginia,  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion. His  son,  Edward  T.,  was  born  in  Hawkins 
County,  East  Tenn.;  he  died  in  1876  in  Jones- 
boro. He  was  a  carpenter  by  occupation,  and 
a  soldier  in  the  Seminole  war.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  Elizabeth  Thomas,  who  died  in  1876  in 
Jonesboro.  She  was  the  mother  of  seven  chil- 
dren— Robert  T.,  Wilson  K.,  Labona  Ann, 
Marion  (deceased),  Martha,  Melvina  and  Van 
Buren,  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Mur- 
freesboro.  Our  subject,  Robert  T.,  received 
a  common  school  education  in  East  Tennessee, 
where  he  also  learned  the  carpenter  trade,  and 
was  joined  in  matrimonj'  to  Ann  R.  Gore,  who 
died  in  1859  in  Jonesboro.  She  was  the 
mother  of  James  and  George  W.,  the  former 
married  to  Laura  Bostan.  Mr.  Shipley  was 
married  a  second  time,  to  Mrs.  Catherine  M. 
Donehew,  born  August  1, 1827,  in  East  Tennes- 
see. She  was  a  daughter  of  Abel  and  Eglan- 
tine (Cardwell)  Hill,  and  is  the  mother  of  four 
children — Canada  C.  Donehew,  Almeda  C. 
Donehew,  Francis  M.  Shipley  and  Adeline 
E.  Shipley.  Mrs.  Shipley  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  Mr.  Shipley  is  a  member 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
is  also  an  A..  F.  &  A.  M.,  Jonesboro  Lodge, 
No.  Ill,  and  formerly  an  L  O.  0.  F.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  a  Democrat.     He  was  a  soldier  in 


114 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


our  late  war.  He  came  to  this  county  in  1854. 
DAVID  SOWERS,  farmer  and  blacksmith, 
Jonesboro,  was  born  in  Davison  County,  N.  C, 
October  11,  1820.  He  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county,  which 
were  very  limited  in  his  day.  When  a  young 
man,  he  was  apprenticed  to  the  blacksmith 
trade  with  Mike  Lefler,  and  worked  at  the  same 
until  November,  1845,  when  he  went  to  Little 
Rock,  Ark.,  and  in  the  spring  of  the  next  year 
came  to  Union  County,  111.,  where  he  engaged 
in  farming  and  working  at  his  trade  for  about 
two  years.  In  1849,  he  married  and  removed  to 
Jonesboro,  where  he  has  since  remained.  He 
was  married,  September  23,  1849,  to  Miss 
Mary  Cruse,  who  was  born  in  Jonesboro  April 
1,  1829,  where  she  has  always  resided.  She  is 
a  daughter  of  Peter  and  Sophia  (Hess)  Cruse, 
who  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Union 
County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sowers  have  been 
blessed  with  four  children — Walter  W.,  born 
September  19,  1850,  and  died  October  16, 
1850 ;  Mary  Ann,  born  December  10, 
1851;  Sarah  Jane,  born  October  20,  1853; 
and  James  C,  born  August  25,  1856  ; 
Sarah  Jane  is  married  to  John  W.  Grear,  ed- 
itor of  the  Murfreesboro  Independent.  They 
have  two  children — Charles  D.  and  Frederick. 
Mary  A.  was  educated  at  the  Jackson  Female 
College,  and  at  the  Normal  University  at  Car- 
bondale.  111.,  of  which  she  is  a  graduate  and  at 
present  a  teacher.  James  E.  is  foreman  of  the 
Murfreesboro  Independent.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Sowers  are  connected  with  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  He  is  the  owner  of  eighty-seven 
acres  of  land  in  the  corporation  of  Jonesboro. 
In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

0.  P.  STORM,  merchant,  Jonesboro,  was 
born  March  2,  1827,  in  Perry  (now  Decatur) 
County,  Teun.  He  is  of  German  ^scent.  His 
father,  Jacob  Storm,  was  born  in  Maryland, 
and  was  married,  in  Tennessee,  to  Delilah 
Howell,  who  was  the  mother  of  six  children — 
William  H.,  Leonard,  Pleasant,  Susan  E.  (de- 


ceased 1,  Delilah  and  our  subject,  Oliver  P.,  who 
went  to  school  in  Decatur  County,  Tenn.  When 
our  subject  was  ten  years  old,  he  was  taken  to 
Texas  by  his  widowed  mother,  who,  after  the 
death  of  her  first  husband,  had  married  Andrew 
Still,  who  died  in  Tennessee.  Mr.  Storm  herded 
cattle  in  Texas  about  five  years,  after  which  he 
returned  to  Tennessee,  where  he  went  to  school 
again  for  one  3'ear,  and  then  commenced  clerk- 
ing in  a  commission  house  at  Perryville,  Tenn. 
He  clerked  for  diffei-eut  men  and  in  different 
businesses  till  about  1860,  when  he  commenced 
business  for  himself  in  Decatur  County,  Tenn. 
When  the  war  broke  out,  he  voted  against 
secession,  but  after  hostilities  commenced  his 
sympathies  were  with  the  South.  His  life  dur- 
ing the  war  was  full  of  stirring  incidents  too 
numerous  to  mention,  and  after  the  great 
struggle  he  resumed  the  mercantile  business  in 
Decatur  County,  Tenn.,  where  he  also  run  a 
cotton  gin.  In  1877,  Mr.  Storm  came  to  this 
count}-,  where  he  has  a  farm  of  474  acres, 
principallj-  bottom  land.  He,  in  company  with 
his  son  Coleman  H.  keeps  a  general  store.  Mr. 
Storm  was  married,  in  Tennessee,  to  Emma  H. 
Haley,  born  August  5,  1843,  in  Tennessee,  who 
is  the  mother  of  seven  children  now  living — 
Coleman  H.,  Oliver  J.,  Leonard  H.,  Susan  P., 
Bertha  P.,  ^Martha  J,  and  Beulah  W.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Storm  are  members  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Council,  Clif- 
ton, Tenn.,  and  a  dimitted  member  from  the 
Blue  Lodge  and  Chapter,  Lexington,  Tenn.  He 
was  formerly  an  I.  0.  0.  F.  and  K.  of  H.  In 
politics,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

WILLIAM  K.  TRIPP,  farmer,  P.  O.  was 
born  in  this  county  October  31,  1858.  He  is  a 
grandson  of  William  Tripp,  who  came  to  this 
county  when  it  was  quite  new,  and  here  he 
endured  the  privations  of  pioneer  life,  and 
deserves  great  credit  for  his  share  in  the  strug- 
gles in  this  new  country.  His  son,  Thomas 
Tripp,  was  born  April  21,  1830,  in  this  county, 
and  died  here  January  2y,  1871.     He  was  a 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


115 


farmer  b}^  occupation,  and  was  married  in  this 
county  to  Miss  L3-dia  L.  Hargrave,  who  was 
born  here  July  25,  1835.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Kenneth  and  Clara  (Zimmerman)  Hargrave. 
Mrs.  Tripp  is  the  mother  of  three  children  now 
living — Mary  M.,  William  K.  (our  subject)  and 
Erastus  M.  Thomas  Tripp  is  well  remembered 
by  all  of  his  old  neighbors,  and  his  memory  is 
cherished  by  the  many  friends  who  mourn  his 
death.  His  two  sons  have  managed  the  farm 
since  then,  and  now  control  365  acres.  Our 
subject  is  a  member  of  the  Democratic  party, 
as  was  also  his  father. 

MRS.  L.  J.  TUCKER,  Jonesboro.  This  lady 
was  born  March  9,  1839,  in  Anson  County,  N. 
C.  She  is  a  granddaughter  of  James  Watkins, 
who  came  from  Virginia.  He  was  of  Welsh 
descent,  and  married  Phoebe  De  Jarnette,  who 
was  a  descendent  of  the  French  Huguenots. 
She  was  the  mother  of  Christopher  Watkins, 
the  father  of  our  subject,  who  was  a  physician 
and  planter.  He  was  born  1796  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  died  in  1872  in  the  same  place.  He 
married  Jane  E.  Dunlap,  born  in  1812  in  North 
Carolina,  where  she  yet  lives.  She  is  a  great- 
grand-daughter  of  Rev.  Craighead, who  fled  from 
England  during  the  religious  persecution  of  the 
Protestants,  because  the  Crown  had  offered  a 
reward  of  £25  for  his  head.  He  was  afterward 
known  as  the  founder  of  schools  and  churches 
in  western  North  and  South  Carolina.  As 
stated  in  the  history  of  Presbj'terianism  of 
North  Carolina.  Mrs.  J.  E.  Watkins  was  a 
daughter  of  George  and  Hannah  T.  (Ingram) 
Dunlap,  and  is  the  mother  of  eight  children,  of 
whom  Louise  J.  (our  subject)  and  her  sister, 
Winnie  W.,  wife  of  William  Redfern,  and  the 
mother  of  Christie,  Jennie  and  Winnie.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  the  Carolina  Female 
College,  and  was  married  to  P.  J.  Lowrie,  who 
died  in  1862  in  Wilmington,  N.  C.  Our  sub- 
ject was  married  again  in  1873  to  Rev\  J.  K. 
Tucker,  of  Anson  County,  N.  C.  They  came 
to  Jonesboro  in  1874,  where  he  was  Principal 


of  schools.  He  died  in  1881  in  Nashville,  HI., 
while  pastor  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  Mrs.  Tucker 
has  one  son  b}-  her  first  husband — Harold  Wat- 
kins Lowrie.  He  was  born  April  19,  1861,  in 
Ansonville,  Anson  Co.,  N.  C,  now  a  student  of 
the  Vanderbilt  Universit}-,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
His  father  was  a  merchant,  a  grandson  of  Judge 
Samuel  Lowrie,  of  North  Carolina,  and  great- 
grandson  of  Mr.  Alexander,  who  was  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of 
Independence.  Mrs.  Tucker  is  a  member  of 
the  M.  E.  Church. 

W.  H.  DRY,  merchant,  Jonesboro,  was  born 
September  10,  1857,  in  Union  County,  111.  He 
is  a  son  of  John  Ury,  born  in  North  Carolina, 
who  came  to  this  count}'  in  1818,  where  he  fol- 
lowed farming,  owning  a  large  tract  of  land 
south  of  Jonesboro.  His  son,  Thomas  Ur}', 
was  born  in  1829  in  this  county,  where  he  died 
in  1878.  He  was  a  farmer  bj-  occupation,  and 
was  married  here  to  Leah  Cruse,  who  was  l)orn 
in  this  count}'.  She  is  the  mother  of  six  l)oys 
— Walter  H.,  John  W..  Warren.  James,  Absa- 
lom and  Sidne}'.  Our  subject.  Walter  H.,  was 
educated  in  this  county,  and  in  early  life  was  a 
tiller  of  the  soil.  In  1880.  he  bought  out  the 
stock  of  A.  H.  Crowell  and  started  a  clothing 
store.  February  25,  1883,  he  was  joined  in 
matrimony,  in  Jonesboro,  111.,  to  Miss  Lena 
Snider,  born  September  4,  1863,  in  Jonesboro. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Charles  and  Theresa  Sni- 
der, who  came  from  Germany.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ury  are  members  of  the  Knights  and  Ladies  of 
Honor,  Flora  Lodge,  No.  596.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Ury  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party. 

JOHN  WAGNER,  liveryman.  Jonesboro, 
was  born  April  26,  1843,  in  Austria.  His 
father,  Jacob  Wagner,  was  born  in  Austria, 
where  he  also  married  and  followed  the  occu- 
pation of  a  weaver.  Our  subject,  John  Wag- 
ner, came  to  this  county  in  1852,  and  has 
made  this  his  home  ever  since.  He  followed 
different  occupations  till  about  1866,  when  he 


116 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


commenced  to  work  in  William  A.  Brown's 
liver}'  stable.  He  worked  there  till  1870,  when 
he  married  the  widow  of  his  former  emplo3'er. 
Her  maiden  name  was  Mary  C.  Marbry.  She 
is  the  mother  of  six  children  now  living — 
Alice  Brown  (wife  of  W.  J.  House),  Arabella 
Brown  (present  wife  of  Z.  McBride),  George 
A.  Brown  fmai-ried  Florence  Corns),  John 
Brown,  Harman  Brown  (married  Cora  C  Ber- 
nard), and  Arthur  Brown.  Mrs.  Wagner  is  a 
member  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  Mr.  Wagner  is 
an  I.  0.  0.  F.,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  24L  In 
politics,  he  votes  for  the  best  man. 

GEORGE  W.  WALBORN,  millwright,  P. 
0.  Jonesboro,  was  born  April  19,  1826,  in 
Dauphin  County,  Penn.,  and  is  a  grandson  of 
George  Walborn,  who  was  of  German  descent, 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  married. 
His  son  Christian  was  born  there  in  1802,  and 
died  in  1870.  He  was  also  married  there  to 
Judy  Hartman,  who  was  born  in  Dauphin 
County,  Penn.,  where  she  died.  She  was  the 
mother  of  ten  children,  of  whom  our  subject  is 
the  oldest.  He  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation in  the  subscription  schools  of  Dauphin 
County,  where  he  also  worked  with  his  father 
on  the  farm  till  his  fifteenth  year,  when  he 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  which  he  fol- 
lowed till  he  was  thirty  years  old,  when  he 
learned  millwrighting,  which  he  has  followed 
till  the  present  day.  Mr.  Walborn  was  joined 
in  matrimony  to  Malinda  Cruse,  born  August 
27,  1827,  in  Union  County,  111.  Her  parents, 
Peter  and  Sophia  (Hess)  Cruse,  came  from 
North  Carolina.  Mrs.  Walborn  is  a  member  of 
the  M.  E.  Church.  Mr.  Walborn  is  a  dimitted 
member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  also  an  I.  0.  0. 
F.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
and  in  politics  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
part}'.  He  has  traveled  over  about  twelve 
States. 

THOMAS  J.  WATKINS,  druggist,  Jones- 
boro, was  born  November  18,  1841,  in  Shrop- 
shire, England.     He  is  a  son  of  John  Watkins, 


born  in  England.     He  died  in  1869,  in  this 
county.     He  married  Mary  Bratton,  born  in 
England,   who  died  in   1854,  in  this   county. 
She  was   the    mother  of  three  children,   viz., 
Sarah,  wife  of  0.  Blevins  ;  Mary  Ann,  wife  of 
James  Lee,  and  Thomas  J.,  who  came  to  this 
county  about  1848,  with  his  parents.     He  went 
to  school  in  Jonesboro,  where  he  also  acquired 
his  profession  with  the  firm  of  Hacker  &  Toler, 
physicians.     In  1860,  he  opened  a  drug  store 
iti  Jonesboro,  in  which  he  continued  till  the 
fall  of  1862,  when  he  enlisted  in  Company  F, 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, commanded  by  Col.  Nimmo.     Mr.  Wat- 
kins  entered  the  regiment  as  Orderly  Sergeant, 
but  was  promoted  to  Second  Lieutenant.     He 
participated  in  the  siege  of  Yicksburg  and  the 
battles  of  Spanish  Fort,  Fort  Blakely  and  other 
engagements.     He  served  till  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  then  returned  to  Jonesboro,  where  he 
engaged  in  the  insurance  business  one  year,  as 
clerk  in  a  drug  store  three  years,  and  then 
kept  a  drug  store  in  Dongola  one  year.     In 
1870,  he  returned  to  Jonesboro,  111.,  where  he 
bought  the  drug  store   of  Thomas  Frick,   in 
which  he  has  done  business  ever  since.     In 
1875,  he  was  elected  Mayor  ;  was  re-elected  in 
1877,    and    again   elected   in    1881.     He    had 
formerly  been  elected  City  Treasurer  for  three 
terms.     Mr.  Watkins   was    married  to  Elvira 
Albright,  who  was  the  mother  of  two  children 
now  living,  viz.,  George  T.  and  Kate  M.     Mrs. 
E.  Watkins  died  in  1867.     In  1869,  our  subject 
was  married  a  second  time  to  Mrs.  Lou  Glas- 
cock, born  in  Jonesboro.     She  was  a  daughter^ 
of  Caleb  and  Rachel  (Baggs)  Frick,  who  came 
here  in  an  early  day.     Mrs.  Watkins  is  the 
mother  of  two  children,  viz..  Homer  G.  Glascock, 
born  January  31,  1860,  and  Thomas  J.  Glas- 
cock, born  March  16,  1862.     Mrs.  Watkins  is 
an  active  and  zealous  member  of  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  she  being  County 
President,  and  President  of  the  Union  in  Jones- 
boro.    Mr.   Watkins   is   a   Knight   of  Honor, 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


117 


Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  1891,  and  in  politics  is 
a  Democrat. 

W.  G.  WHITE,  physician,  Jonesboro.  was 
born  May  21, 1853,  in  Union  Star,  Breckinridge 
Co.,  Ky.  He  is  of  Scotch-German  descent. 
Traits  of  both  nationalities  seem  to  show  them- 
selves in  his  studious  habits  and  close  applica- 
tion to  business.  His  grandfather,  Horatio 
White,  was  born  in  Scotland,  where  he  farmed. 
He  settled  in  Ohio  and  was  also  married  there. 
His  son,  Dr.  Jacob  S.  White,  was  born  in  1824 
near  Steubenville,  Ohio.  He  died  October  17, 
1865,  in  Kokomo,  Ind.,from  disease  contracted 
during  the  war,  where  he  served  his  country 
as  Brigade  Surgeon,  under  Gens.  Pope  and 
Nelson,  having  graduated  at  Philadelphia, 
Penn.  He  was  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 
and  also  a  Royal  Arch  Mason.  He  had  one 
sister  and  two  brothers— Anna,  Horatio  and 
William.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  A.  Grant,  was 
born  July  22,  1842,  in  Union  Star,  Ky.  She 
is  a  distant  relative  of  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant,  and 
the  mother  of  one  son,  W.  G.  White  (our  sub- 
ject), who  received  his  education  in  Indianapo- 
lis, Ind.  He  clerked  some  time  in  a  drug 
store  in  New  York,  where  he  also  studied  med- 
icine, but  graduated  in  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  University  of  Indiana  May  1,  1878,  hav- 
ing formerly  been  an  attendant  in  a  medical 
hospital  in  Indiana.  His  preceptor  was  Dr. 
Evan  Hadley,  with  whom  he  practiced  medi- 
cine after  he  graduated  till  the  spring  of  1882, 
when  he  came  to  Jonesboro,  where  he  has  fol- 
lowed his  chosen  profession,  enjoying  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people  in  the  town  and  country'. 
He  was  joined  in  matrimony,  February  10, 
1876,  in  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  to  Miss  Flora  B. 
Nossaman,  born  March  30,  1859,  in  Marion 
Count}',  Ind.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Adam  and 
Salome  (Catterson)  Nossaman.  Her  grand- 
father Nossaman   was  born   in  Germany,  and 


her  grandfather  Catterson  was  born  in  Ireland. 
Mrs.  White  is  the  mother  of  three  girls — Zer- 
alda  Adeline,  boi-n  June  21,  1877  ;  Gustavia 
E.,  born  March  21,  1879  ;  and  Nellie  S.,  born 
January  20,  1881.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  White  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
and  the  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor.  In  pol- 
itics, he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 
While  a  resident  of  Indianapolis,  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Cit}-  Council,  which  he  filled  to 
the  satisfaction  of  his  constituents. 

W.  J.  WILL ARD,  fruit-grower,  surveyor  and 
apiarian,  P.  0.  Jonesboro,  was  born  August  8, 
1850,  in  Jonesboro.  He  is  a  son  of  Willis 
Willai'd,  whose  history  appears  in  the  general 
history  of  this  work.  Our  subject  inherited 
many  of  his  father's  sterling  qualities.  He  was 
educated  in  Detroit,  Mich.,  and  at  the  Pennsyl- 
vania State  College.  In  early  life  he  followed 
merchandising  in  Jonesboro,  in  his  father's 
store,  till  1872,  when  he  commenced  to  work  on 
his  farm,  where  he  raises  principally  fruit  and 
honey  ;  to  the  latter,  especially,  he  devotes  a 
great  deal  of  his  personal  attention.  His  farm 
consists  of  120  acres.  He  is  a  Knight  of 
Honor,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  1891.  In  1875, 
he  was  appointed  Deput}'  Surveyor,  and  3'et 
devotes  a  great  deal  of  time,  in  the  winter,  to 
surveying.  In  politics,  he  is  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party.  Our  subject  was  joined  in 
matrimony  December  23,  1873,  at  the  Pennsyl- 
vania State  College,  to  Miss  Nannie  A.  Cham- 
bers, who  was  born  August  11,  1851,  near 
Scottsville,  Va.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Elijah 
and  Mariamne  (Staples)  Chambers,  who  were 
of  English  descent.  Elijah  Chambers  was  a 
minister  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Mrs.  Willard  is  the  mother  of  two  children  now 
living,  viz.:  Josephine  C,  born  September  10, 
1880,  and  Willis  W.,  born  December  25,  1882. 


11- 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


eOBDEIS" 

E.  B.  BARKER,  fruit-raisiug,  P.  0.  Cobden, 
was  born  iu  Massachusetts  April  8,  1816,  to 
Jonathan  and  Rebecca  (Hosmer)  Barker.  They 
were  both  natives  of  the  same  State,  their  an- 
cestors being  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Massachusetts,  he  being  of  Welsh  descent,  she 
English.  They  both  died  in  their  native  State. 
They  were  the  parents  of  six  sons  and  one 
daughter,  all  but  two  of  whom  are  now  living. 
When  Lafayette  was  in  Boston,  in  1825,  there 
were  six  of  the  children  there  to  see  him.  In 
1875,  fifty  years  later,  five  of  the  number  again 
met  in  the  same  cit}-.  Both  the  grandfathers 
of  our  subject  were  in  the  battle  of  Concord. 
When  our  subject  was  about  nine  years  old  his 
parents  moved  to  Charleston,  Mass.,  and  it  was 
there  that  he  received  his  education.  In  early 
life,  he  learned  the  trade  of  carriage-making, 
but  did  not  follow  it  after  he  had  grown  up. 
In  1836,  he  came  West,  and  for  eighteen  years 
he  steamboated  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers,  as  engineer.  Most  of  the  time  he  was 
on  a  mail  boat  between  Cincinnati  and  Louis- 
ville, but  took  trips  as  far  as  St.  Louis  and 
New  Orleans.  After  leaving  the  river,  he  be- 
gan farming  and  fruit  growing,  twenty-five 
miles  above  Louisville,  where  he  remained  for 
some  years.  He  then  went  to  Ohio  and  en- 
gaged in  the  same  business,  twelve  miles  north 
of  Cincinnati.  In  1862,  became  to  his  present 
farm  and  has  been  here  since,  engaged  in  fruit 
growing,  peaches  receiving  most  of  his  atten- 
tion. His  farm  was  mostly  in  the  woods  when 
he  first  bought,  but  now  has  fort}'  acres  in 
fruits  and  orchards.  In  Ohio,  1844,  he  was 
first  married  to  Martha  Ann  Robinson,  daugh- 
ter of  James  and  Mary  Robinson,  and  was  born 
in  Ohio.  She  died  in  Ohio,  and  left  our  subject 
four  children — Lucy,  Albina,  Cora  and  Mattie. 


PEEOIKOT. 

\  In  Ohio,  in  1855.  he  was  again  married  to  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  C.  (Humphrey)  Covington.     She  was 

I  born  in  Indiana  to  Holman  S.  and  Mary  Hum- 
phrey. He  was  born  in  Virginia,  she  in  Penn- 
sylvania. He  died  in  Edgar  County,  111.,  but 
she  is  still  living  there.  She  was  mostly  raised 
in  Ohio,  near  Cincinnati.  Mrs.  Barker  was  first 
married  in  Edgar  County,  111.,  to  Edward 
Covington,  and  by  this  marriage  she  has  one 
son  living,  John,  and  one  daughter  dead.  Mr. 
Covington  died  in  Edgar  County.  Mr.  Barker 
has  five  children  by  present  wife — Lizzie,  Mary, 
Cyrus,  Linnie  and  Emery.  In  politics,  he  is  a 
Republican,  but  was  a  Whig  before  the  Repub- 
lican party  started. 

M.  A.  BENHAM,  fruit  and  vegetable  grower, 
Cobden,  was  born  in  Yates  County,  N.  Y.,  Jan- 
uary 18,  1836,  to  Ansel  and  Lucy  A.  (Willard) 
Benham.  Ansel  Benham  was  born  in  New 
York  September  8,  1800,  but  his  ancestors 
were  from  New  England,  and  still  farther  back 
from  England.  He  died  April  24,  1857.  He 
was  one  of  a  family  of  nine  children,  all  of 
whom  lived  till  after  the  youngest  was  forty- 
five  years  of  age  ;  two  brothers  and  one  sister 
now  living.  He  resided  in  New  York  till 
1839,  then  moved  to  Boone  County,  111.,  where 
he  remained  for  seven  years,  then  to  I^ox 
County,  and  died  there.  His  occupation  most 
of  his  life  was  in  the  harness  business.  In 
1833,  in  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  he  was  married  to  Lucy 
Willard.  She  was  born  in  Sterling,  Mass., 
August  26,  1812,  to  Asa  and  Lucy  Willard. 
The  Willards  are  of  English  origin,  and  this 
family  descended  from  Maj.  Josiah  Willard. 
Mrs.  Ansel  Benham  is  still  living.  To  them 
a  son  and  a  daughter  were  born,  both  of  whom 
are  still  living— our  subject  and  his  sister,  Mrs. 
Emma  L.  Henry,  of  Irvington,  111.  Our  subject 


COBDEN    PRECINCT. 


ll'J 


received  most  of  his  education  in  Galesburg, 
III.,  in  the  academj'.  He  entered  college  three 
times,  but  health  failed  and  he  had  to  abandon 
it.  However,  he  completed  a  commercial 
course  at  the  original  Bell's  Commercial  Col- 
lege,  Chicago.  lie  learned  his  father  s  trade 
of  harness-maker,  but  that  has  not  been  his 
life  work.  When  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he 
began  farming,  and  continued  for  six  years  in 
Washington  County,  and,  in  the  fall  of  1863, 
came  to  this  count}^  and  rented  land  for  two 
years.  In  the  spring  of  1866,  he  came  to  his 
present  farm,  and  has  been  here  since  engaged 
in  raising  fruits  and  vegetables,  asparagus  and 
sweet  potatoes  receiving  most  of  his  attention, 
having  about  four  acres  in  the  former  and  from 
twent}'  to  twent}-  five  in  the  latter.  He  has  a 
large  potato  house  in  which  he  can  store  3,000 
bushels.  Just  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  in 
1861,  he  entered  the  service — Company  E, 
Tenth  Missouri — and  was  Sergeant  in  the 
company.  Most  of  his  work  was  scouting,  so  he 
was  not  in  any  of  the  heavy  engagements. 
His  health  was  completely  wrecked,  and  the 
deafness  with  which  he  was  afflicted  before 
entering  the  service  became  woi'se,  and  on  this 
account  he  was  discharged  after  being  in  the 
service  for  about  one  year.  In  the  spring  of 
1864,  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Josephine  (Fos- 
ter) Newton.  She  was  born  in  Erie  County, 
N.  Y.,  May  10,  1835,  to  Joseph  and  Lucinda 
Foster.  Mrs.  Benham  died  November  12, 
1881,  leaving  no  children.  In  politics,  Mr.  B. 
is  Republican. 

B.  F.  BIGGS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was 
born  in  Cobden  Precinct  January  28,  1839,  to 
D.  W.  and  Thisbe  (Anderson)  Biggs.  D.  W. 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  November  21, 1805, 
and  when  five  years  of  age  he  moved  to  Ten- 
nessee with  hip-  parents.  He  remained  in  Ten- 
nessee till  1825  ;  then  moved  to  this  county  and 
settled  near  his  present  home,  and  has  resided 
here  since.  A  short  time  before  coming  to 
this  State,  he  was  married,  in  Tennessee,  to 


Thisbe  Anderson.  She  was  born  in  Tennes- 
see in  1809,  and  died  here  October,  1856.  By 
this  wife  he  had  seven  children,  our  subject 
being  the  youngest — Mary  (now  dead),  William 
J.  (supposed  to  be  dead),  Nancy,  J.  J.,  Sarah, 
Mahala  and  B.  F.  He  was  married  to  his  sec- 
ond wife  in  1857,  Mrs.  Catherine  Burkey.  She 
was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  His  occupation 
has  always  been  that  of  farmer.  Our  subject 
was  educated  in  the  district  schools  of  the 
count}-,  and  his  occupation  has  also  been  that 
of  farmer  and  fruit-raiser.  November  1,  1860, 
he  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Parmly  (see 
sketch  A.  J.  Parmly).  She  died  September  15, 
1861,  leaving  a  child  which  died  in  infancy. 
August  11,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Company  E. 
Eighty-first  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
was  discharged  May  27,  1865,  on  account  of 
disability.  He  remained  with  the  regiment 
till  Ma}',  1864,  rejoicing  in  its  successes  or  suf- 
fering in  its  disasters.  He  was  then  so  crip- 
pled b}'  disease  that  he  could  no  longer  sta}- 
with  the  regiment,  so  was  placed  in  the  hospi- 
tal at  Memphis,  where  he  remained  till  receiv- 
ing his  discharge.  Most  of  the  time  he  was 
clerking  in  the  hospital  office.  Before  leaving 
his  company  he  was  one  of  the  Sergeants.  He 
has  been  receiving  a  pension  of  $64  per  year 
since  his  discharge.  Februar}-  16,  1866,  he 
was  married  to  his  second  vvife,  Eliza  J.  Fe- 
gans.  She  was  a  native  of  Kentucky.  Her 
parents  moved  to  this  State  when  she  was 
young,  and  settled  in  Clark  County,  where  her 
father  died.  In  1859,  her  mother  moved  to 
this  county  and  died  here.  Mrs.  Biggs  died 
in  February,  1877.  By  her  he  has  three  chil- 
dren—Letta  E.,  Beatrice  L.  and  Charles  W. 
After  his  marriage  in  1866,  he  settled  on  his 
present  farm,  and  has  been  engaged  in  general 
farming  and  fruit  raising  since.  May,  1877, 
he  was  married  to  his  third  wife,  Nancy  A. 
Davis.  She  was  born  in  this  county  to  James 
K.  and  Harriet  Davis.  He  died  in  Johnson 
County  in    1877.      She   is   still   living.     Two 


120 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


children  have  been  the  result  of  this  union 
— Benjamin  F.  and  Elmer  J.  Mr.  Biggs  is 
Republican  in  politics,  and  was  once  nominated 
b}'  his  party  as  County  Clerk,  but  was  defeated 
by  the  Democratic  candidate,  and  has  since 
taken  no  active  part  in  political  life. 

A.  H.  BROOKS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was 
born  in  Union  County,  III,  February  18,  1847, 
to  Larkin  F.  and  Martha  R.  (McCaul)  Brooks. 
He  was  born  in  North  Carolina  July  22,  1814  ; 
died  August  14,  1878.  She  was  born  in  Ten- 
nessee June  15,  1820,  and  is  still  living.  They 
were  married  September  22,  1836.  In  the 
spring  of  1842,  they  came  to  Illinois  and  set- 
tled in  Perry  Count}',  where  they  resided  until 

1845,  when  they  moved  to  Union  County.     In 

1846,  they  settled  on  the  old  homestead,  on 
which  he  died.  To  them  eight  children  were 
born  who  reached  maturity.  Three  sons,  M. 
C,  William  T.  and  James  T.,  were  in  the  serv- 
ice during  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  James  T. 
died  in  1870.  He  is  the  onl}'  one  of  the  family 
of  children  deceased.  In  politics,  he  was  Dem- 
ocratic. In  early  life  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  but  after  coming  to  this  coun- 
ty he  joined'  the  Hillerites,  j^nd  to  this  church 
all  his  family  belong.  His  occupation  most  of 
his  life  was  that  of  farmer,  but  had  been  vari- 
ously engaged,  building  flat-boats  and  working 
on  the  river  in  Tennessee,  in  saw  mill  and  flour- 
ing mill  on  his  old  homestead  in  this  count}', 
etc.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  this  county,  and  has  resided  here  all  his 
life.  His  occupation  is  that  of  farmer,  but  for 
nine  years  he  acted  as  engineer,  most  of  the 
time  in  the  mill,  in  which  he  was  interested 
with  his  father  and  brother.  In  1877,  he. be- 
gan farming,  and  in  1878  came  to  his  present 
farm  of  eighty  acres.  This  he  has  improved 
till  now  he  has  good  farm  buildings  and  about 
112  acres  cleared.  May  19,  1877,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Margaret  Johnson.  She  was  born  in 
this  county  to  Frederick  and  Darthula  (Ledger- 
wood)  Johnson.     Her  father  died  previous  to 


her  birth.  Her  mother  was  afterward  married 
to  Abram  Hankley,  who  died  at  Jackson, 
Tenn.,  during  the  war.  She  is  still  living. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brooks  have  two  children  dead 
and  two  living — Arthur  and  Alfred  Ernest. 
In  politics,  Mr.  Brooks  is  Democratic. 

WILSON  BROWN,  physician  and  surgeon, 
Cobden,  is  a  native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born 
December  5,  1845  ;  is  a  son  of  Charles  and 
Elizabeth  (G-rear)  Brown.  Our  subject  is  one 
of  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  survive — Alson, 
Wilson,  Martha  J.,  Andrew,  Amanda  E.,  Laura 
I.,  Augusta  and  John  W.  The  Doctor  attend- 
ed the  pioneer  log  cabin  schools,  and  also  the 
Jonesboro  Seminary.  He  was  brought  up  on 
a  farm.  About  the  age  of  twenty,  he  began 
teaching  school,  and  continued  it  successfully 
for  fifteen  terms,  when  he  withdrew.  He  en- 
tered the  study  of  medicine  actively,  with  Dr. 
G.  W.  Schuchardt,  of  Jonesboro.  He  attended 
lectures  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  in  1871-72,  and  grad- 
uated at  the  Missouri  Medical  College  in  1876. 
Began  the  practice  in  the  spring  of  1872,  at 
Unity,  now  Hodge  Park,  Alexander  County, 
and  afterward  practiced  at  Jonesboi'o  and 
Willard's  Landing.  In  the  fall  of  1878,  he  had 
one  case  of  the  yellow-fever  at  Anna.  In  1878, 
he  located  at  Olmsted,  Pulaski  County,  and  in 
March,  1883,  he  came  to  Cobden,  where  he  is 
doing  a  fine  business.  In  connection  with  his 
professional  duties,  he  attends  to  a  drug  store 
owned  by  C.  L.  Otrich,  at  Cobden.  During 
his  period  of  preparing  for  his  chosen  profes- 
sion, he  clerked  in  drug  stores  at  Marion, 
Sparta  and  Jonesboro,  by  which  he  obtained 
means  to  forward  his  studies.  He  was  married, 
May  18,  1881,  to  M.  Anna  Dodge,  of  New 
Grand  Chain,  Pulaski  County,  and  has  as  a  re- 
sult of  his  union  one  child,  Alice.  His  estima- 
ble lady  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
He  is  an  active  Democrat.  Dr.  Brown  is  a 
specimen  of  a  self-made  man,  possessing  that 
indomitable  characteristic  necessary  to  succeed 


COBDEN  PRECINCT. 


121 


in  ever3'thing  he  undertakes.  He  is  pleasant, 
sociable,  and  merits  the  trust  manj'  people 
have  already  given  him. 

ADAM  BUCK,  retired    merchant,    Cobden. 
Prominent  among  the  leading,  honorable,  up- 
right citizens  of  Cobden  is  Mr.  Adam  Buck,  a 
native   of  Cork,   Ireland,   born    December  24, 
1824.     His   parents,    Frederick    and    Harriet 
(Craig)  Buck,  were  never  residents  of  America, 
as  will  be  noticed'  in  the  sketch  of  John  Buck 
in  another  part  of  this  work.     Adam  emigratQfl 
to  this  country  in  1848,  on  board  the  "  Thomas 
Worthington."     Immediately  on    his  arrival  at 
New  York,  he  began  working  in  the  navy-yard 
at  that  city,  where  he  remained  one  year  and 
then  took  charge  of  the. construction  of  a  plank 
road  connecting  Newberg  and  EUenville,  a  dis- 
tance of  forty  miles.     This  completed,  he  acted 
as  Surveyor  of  a  railroad  from  Chester,  N.  Y., 
to  Delaware  "Water  Gap.     In  1852,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Assistant  Surveyor  on  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad    from   Centralia   to  Cairo.      He 
took  charge  of  the  construction  of  twenty  miles 
of  the   same,  extending   from    Centralia.     In 
1854,  he  was  elected  Surveyor  of  Dallas  Coun- 
ty, Iowa.     He  remained  in  that  borough  until 
1857,    when  he  engaged   in  the  general    dry 
goods  business  at   Cobden,  III,  having  traded 
his  farm  in  Iowa  to  William   H.  H.  Brown  for 
said  stock  of  goods.     From  this  he  withdrew 
in  1880,  and  is  living  somewhat  in  the  quiet 
enjoyment  of  his  little  fortune,  of  which  he  is 
the  artificer.     He,  however,  devotes  some  time 
to  his  farms  in  this  county,  and  orange  groves 
in  Florida.     He  was  married,  August  1,  1852^ 
to  Hannah  E.  Sheppard.     She  died  January  24, 
1865.  being  the  mother  of  Frederick,  IMary  A., 
Harriet,  Hannah  and  Adam.     His  second  union 
was  with  Clara  M.  Griffin,  born  April  25, 1837. 
The  result  of  this  marriage   has  been  Clara, 
Fred,  Harry  and  Walter.     Mr.  Buck  is  serving 
as  Village  Trustee  ;  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F. 
&  A.  M.;  votes  the  Democi'atic   ticket.      He 
takes  a  deep  interest  in  educating  his  children 
in  both  literary  and  musical  lore. 


JOHN  BUCK,  merchant,  Cobden.     In  every 
cit}-,  village  or  neighborhood,  there  are  persons 
whose  names  are  always  at  the  head  of  all  pub- 
lic enterprises,  and   whose  pocket  books  are 
read}'  to  f.ssist  such  efforts.     Prominent  among 
such  whole-souled  inhabitants  of  Cobden,  is 
John   Buck,  a  native  of  Cork,   Ireland,  born 
1827.     He  is  a  son  of  Frederick  and  Harriet 
(Craig)  Buck,  natives  and  always  residents  of 
Cork,  Ireland,  and  the  parents  of  seven  chil- 
dren,   five  of  whom   survive,  viz.,  Frederick, 
Adam,  Alfred,  Sydney  and  John.     The  father 
ranked  among  the  finest  miniature  painters  of 
the  period   in  which    he   lived.     Our   subject 
emigrated  to  America  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years.     He  followed  civil  engineering  for  many 
years,  and  was  among  the  party  who  surveyed 
and  constructed  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad, 
working  on  the  Southern  Division.     He  was 
employed  for  awhile  in  Iowa,  and  on  his  return 
to  Illinois  he  was   appointed  Master  on   the 
Southern  Division  of  said  road.     In  1864,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  his  brother  Adam  in 
a  general  dry  goods  store  ;  and  in  September, 
1879,  he  became  the  owner  of  the  entire  busi- 
ness, which  he  has  increased,  until  he  possesses 
the  largest  and  best  line  of  dry  goods,  together 
with  a  fine  assortment  of  groceries,  etc.     He  is 
also  dealing  largely  in  farming  implements  and 
machinery,  and  small  hardware.     In  fact,  he 
proposes  to  furnish  his  large  class  of  customers 
anything  they  may  desire.     H,e  is  making  a 
specialty  of  buying  and  storing  away  sweet  po- 
tatoes, having  a  large  and  commodious  building 
for  that  purpose.     He  was  married  to  Sarah 
K.  Fulton,  of  Perry  County,  111.,  the  result  of 
which  was  Edgar,  Jessie  H.,  Maggie  H.,  John 
F.,  Lewis  J.,  Bessie  M.  and  Nellie  M.     He  is  a 
member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  votes  the 
Democratic  ticket. 

HENRY  CASPER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden, 
was  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  March  6, 1 815, 
to  Peter  and  Esther  Casper.  She  was  born  in 
Ireland  ;  he  in  New  Jersey  ;  but  his  father 
moved  to  North  Carolina  when  he  was  a  small 


122 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


boy.  He  moved  to  Union  Count}',  111.,  in  1818. 
He  settled  on  a  farm  two  and  a  half  miles  north- 
east of  Jonesboro,  and  died  there.  He  had  a 
family  of  four  sons  and  four  daughters.  Our 
subject  and  three  sisters  are  now  living.  The 
father  died  early  in  the  year  1863,  at  about  the 
age  of  seventy -five  ;  the  mother  about  eight 
years  previous  to  his  death.  Our  subject  was 
raised  on  the  farm,  and  his  early  life  was  spent 
in  improving  it  and  helping  to  develop  the 
country.  He  remained  at  home  till  March  1-1, 
1838,  when  he  was  married  to  Eliza  Rich, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Rich.  (See  sketch  of  J. 
M.  Rich.)  For  about  eight  years  after  mar- 
riage, he  remained  on  a  farm  near  his  father's, 
then  sold  out  and  came  to  his  present  farm, 
and  has  been  engaged  in  farming  and  fruit- 
growing since.  In  this  he  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful, and  at  one  time  had  860  acres  of  land  ; 
but  has  deeded  good  farms  to  his  sons  and  a 
daughter,  and  so  has  but  270  acres  at  present. 
He  has  retired  from  active  life,  and  rents  his 
farm.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Casper  have  seven  chil- 
dren living,  and  three  dead  —  George  W., 
Thomas  P..  John  M.,  Minor  W.,  Susan  (Sifford), 
Mary  (Brower),  and  x\lice.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cas- 
per are  members  of  the  M.  E.  Church  of  Cob- 
den,  and  have  belonged  to  it  for  over  thirty 
years.     In  politics,  he  is  Democratic. 

G.  W.  CASPER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  is  a 
native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  January  18, 
1841,  to  Henry  and  Eliza  (Rich)  Casper.  His 
early  life  was  spent  at  home,  assisting  to  till 
the  soil  of  the  home  farm.  He,  in  the  mean- 
time, received  the  benefit  of  the  common  schools. 
At  twenty  years  of  age,  he  left  his  home  and 
engaged  in  farming  on  his  own  account  on  his 
present  farm,  which  at  the  time  was  unim- 
proved. It  now  contains  124  acres  of  good 
land,  of  which  eighty-five  are  under  a  high  state 
of  cultivation.  He  was  married  January  7, 
1861,  to  Miss  Margaret  Culp,  a  native  of  Ohio, 
and  a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Mary  Culp,  the 
former  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  latter  of  Ohio. 


Mrs.  Casper  died  October  8,  1875,  leaving  five 
children  as  the  result  of  their  union,  viz.,  Quit- 
man S.,  Henry  W.,  Lucinda  A.,  Robert  F., 
Alvan.  In  November,  1879,  he  married  a 
second  time  Mrs.  Marietta  Giflbrd,  daughter  of 
A.  Leroy,  a  resident  of  near  Chicago.  The  re- 
sult of  this  union  is  the  following  two  children 
— Etta  May  and  Eflie  Maud.  Mr.  Casper  com- 
menced life  a  poor  man,  and  by  his  honesty, 
industry  and  economy,  he  has  succeeded  in 
accumulating  a  good  property,  and  a  name  and 
reputation  which  is  beyond  reproach.  He 
served  as  Deputy  Sheriff  under  William  C. 
Rich,  Jacob  Hileman  and  Joseph  McElhany, 
and  was  Constable  over  fourteen  years.  In 
politics,  was  formerly  a  Democrat,  but  now  is 
identified  with  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
party. 

E.  N.  CLARK,  fruit  grower,  P.  0.  Cobden. 
Among  the  fruit-growers  in  this  township  who 
have  been  active  in  developing  the  fruit 
interests  of  the  county,  we  find  Mr.  Clark.  He 
was  born  in  1823,  in  Milford,  Conn.,  six  miles 
from  New  Haven;  both  his  parents,  and  all  their 
children,  were  born  in  the  same  town.  Our 
subject's  father,  Alpheus  Clark,  was  born 
March,  1795,  died  in  New  York,  November, 
1874.  His  mother  is  still  living,  and  is  about 
eighty  years  of  age.  In  1833,  Mr.  Clark's 
parents  moved  to  New  York,  settling  first  in 
Monroe  County,  but  afterward  removed  to 
Lockport,  N.  Y.,  and  there  our  subject  re- 
mained, until  coming  to  this  county,  in  the 
spring  of  1858.  In  early  life  he  followed 
carpentering  and  ship  building,  but  for  two 
years  previous  to  coming  here,  he  was  engaged 
in  the  flour  business  in  Lockport.  When  com- 
ing to  this  county,  Mr.  Clark  brought  several 
varieties  of  strawberry  plants  ;  these  he  set  out, 
also  planted  pears,  peaches,  etc.  In  1859,  he 
made  an  exhibit  of  twelve  varieties  of  straw- 
berries, which  he  had  grown,  at  the  fair  at 
Jonesboro.  He  received  the  first  premium. 
He  has  continued  since  to  be  quite    successful 


COBDEN    PRECINCT. 


12  J 


as  a  strawberry  grower.  '  When  he  first  bought 
his  farm,  the  previous  owner  told  him  that 
grass  would  not  grow  here,  and  in  fact  at 
that  time  there  was  but  little  grass  to  be  found 
in  the  eountr}',  none  along  the  roadsides,  etc. 
However,  between  Cobden  and  Jonesboro,  there 
had  been  a  few  acres  of  clover  sown  by  two 
Korthern  railroad  contractors,  and  this  field 
full}'  proved  that  clover  was  well  adapted  to 
this  soil.  In  New  York,  June,  1854,  our  sub- 
ject was  married  to  Miss  Frances  E.  Goodrich. 
She  was  born  January  31,  1828,  in  New  York, 
to  William  and  Betsie  Ann  (Gibbs)  Goodrich. 
William  Goodrich  was  born  in  New  England 
September  28,  1786,  died  November  9,  1863. 
Betsie  Gibbs  was  born  near  Great  Barrington, 
Mass.,  July  12,  1788,  died  October  22,  1843. 
They  were  the  parents  of  five  sons  and  five 
daughters.  One  son,  I.  G.  Goodrich,  and  four 
daughters  ai'e  now  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clark 
have  two  children — Ed.  S.  and  Kittle.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  a  Republican. 

ED.  S.  CLARK,  druggist.  Prominent 
among  the  leading  business  men  of  Cobden 
is  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  biog- 
raphy. He  was  born  in  the  State  of  New  York; 
is  a  son  of  E.  N.  Clark,  a  prominent  farmer  of 
this  county.  He  attended  the  school  of  Cobden, 
and  two  terms  at  Champaign,  111.  He  was 
brought  up  on  the  farm  ;  he  clerked  for  awhile 
for  Linnell  &  McLoney,  in  this  village;  they 
were  then  the  only  druggists  in  the  place.  In 
September,  1880,  he,  in  partnership  with  H.  C. 
Baboock,  opened  up  a  drug  store  in  Cobden, 
at   which  they   were    successful,     until  June, 

1882,  when   they    located    at  Cairo,    Jul}-  14, 

1883.  Mr.  Clark  having  purchased  Mr. 
Babcock's  interest,  removed  the  entire  stock 
to  his  present  cozy  little  room,  where  he  is 
enjoying  a  lucrative  trade.  He  gives  his  own 
personal  attention  to  the  business.  He  was 
married  in  March,  1881,  to  Elizabeth  C.  Wat- 
kins,  of  this  county. 

J.    B.    COULTER,      farmer      and      fruit- 


grower, P.  0.  Cobden,  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania  March  20,  1820,  and  is  u 
son  of  David  and  Lydia  (Coulter)  Coulter,  both 
natives  of  Pennsylvania  ;  he  was  born  in  1794, 
and  died  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Iowa,  in  1882,  and  she 
born  in  1796,  and  died  in  1881.  They  were 
the  parents  of  five  children,  all  of  whom  are 
living.  The  Coulters  were  originally  from 
Ireland,  but  for  generations  had  lived  in  Penn- 
sylvania. When  our  subject  was  quite  young, 
his  parents  moved  to  Ohio,  where  he  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen,  he  began  teaching,  and  afterward 
attended  Miami  Universit}',  but  did  not  take  a 
full  course.  Most  of  his  time  was  spent  in* 
teaching,  until  he  accompanied  his  parents  to 
Iowa  in  1850.  He  followed  various  pursuits  in 
Iowa,  and  among  others  read  law,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  about  1859-60.  He  continued 
there  until  1 866,  when  he  sold  out  his  business 
and  came  to  this  county,  having  previously  in- 
vested mone}'  here  when  everything  was  very 
high,  and  owing  to  the  depreciation  of  property 
he  incurred  great  loss.  After  losing  nearly' 
everything  he  had,  he  began  over  again,  and 
has  been  reasonably'  successful.  His  farm  is 
now  mostly  in  fruit — apples,  peaches,  cherries, 
plums,  strawberries,  raspberries,  blackberries, 
etc.  He  has  upward  of  fiftj'  acres  in  fruits, 
and  may  be  termed  a  successful  fruit  grower. 
He  was  married  in  Iowa,  in  1851,  to  Miss 
Eunice  Reed.  Her  father  was  a  native  of  Con- 
necticut and  removed  to  Ohio,  and  thence  to 
Iowa.  Both  he  and  his  wife  are  dead.  Mr. 
Coulter  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  has  risen  to  the  degree  of  Royal  Arch 
Mason.  In  politics,  he  was  long  identified 
with  the  Republican  party,  but  for  some  time 
has  claimed  no  particular  party. 

M.  M.  DOUGHERTY,  hardware,  Cobden. 
Among  the  leading  business  men  of  this  village 
is  M.  M.  Dougherty,  who  was  born  August  7, 
1832,  in  Alabama.  His  parents,  Isaac  and 
Rachel  (Slimp)  Dougherty,  were  natives  of  East 


124 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Tennessee,  and  settled  in  Alabama,  and  finally 
in  Mississippi,  where  they  died  after  having 
been  blessed  with  fourteen  children,  viz.,  John, 
Matilda,  Alfred,  William,  Cynthia.  Frances  M., 
Amos.  The  eighth  child  was  killed  when  quite 
young  by  a  limb  falling  on  it.  The  remaining 
children  were  M.  M.,  Elizabeth,  Allen,  Parlee, 
Lafayette  and  Cansaday.  The  father  served 
in  the  war  of  1812,  and  he  and  wife  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  Church  at  the  time  of 
their  decease.  Our  subject  attended  the  log 
cabin  schools  as  much  as  the  circumstances  of 
his  father  would  afford.  His  early  days  were 
spent  on  the  farm,  and,  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
years,  he  began  for  himself  He  was  married 
February  21,  1858,  to  Eliza  J.  Wilcox,  and 
with  her  took  charge  of  a  farm  for  a  land-holder 
in  the  South,  which  he  continued  until  the  war 
pressed  him  from  the  position.  After  having 
engaged  in  the  war,  he  located  at  Anna,  this 
county,  where  he  with  'a  partner  opened  up  a 
barber  shop,  from  which  he  retired,  after  about 
twelve  3'ears,  on  accouut  of  ill  health,  and  en- 
oraged  at  teaming  for  awhile,  afterward  at  rural 
labors,  until  March  10,  1882,  when  he  put  in  a 
full  line  of  hardware  in  Cobden,  to  which  he  is 
giving  his  personal  attention,  and  is  succeeding 
remarkably'  well.  He  has  sustained  several 
downfalls  in  life  ;  but,  through  his  euerg}'  and 
perseverance,  has  as  often  arisen.  His  wife 
died  in  1879,  and  he  subsequent!}'  married 
Maggie  Hail.  He  was  for  many  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  is  now  a  member  of 
the  Knights  of  Honor  of  Jonesboro.  He  votes 
the  Democratic  ticket. 

D.  H.  EYETT,  merchant,  Cobden,  was  born 
January  19,  1835,  in  Henderson  Count}',  Tenn.; 
is  a  son  of  W.  B.  and  Sarah  Williams  Evett, 
natives  of  Tennessee,  and  the  parents  of  eight 
children,  all  of  whom  grew  up.  Our  subject 
only  resides  in  this  county.  He  had  the  chance 
to  attend  school  but  a  few  days,  and  did  not 
then  even  learn  to  read  and  write.  He  was 
brought  up  at  the  duties  of  the  ruralist,  and  at 


the  age  of  nineteen  he  began  carpentering.  At 
that  time  his  only  worldly  possessions  were  a 
suit  of  clothing  and  32.50.  When  about 
twenty-five  years  old,  he  began  clerking  for  the 
firm  of  Crytes  &  Cooper,  of  Bloomfield,  Mo., 
whither  the  family  had  gone  from  Williamson 
County,  111.,  where  they  settled  in  1843.  He 
severed  his  connection  with  the  above  firm,  and 
took  a  position  with  Bartlett  &  Legget,  of 
Piketon,  the  same  State.  Here,  under  the 
instructions  of  Legget,  he  learned  to  read  and 
write,  and  within  two  years  was  able  and  did 
post  the  books  of  his  employer.  He  remained 
with  this  firm,  however,  only  a  few  months  on 
account  of  the  war  oppressing  the  business, 
which  was  finally  closed  up,  and  he  then  went 
to  the  individual  store  of  Bartlett,  of  Bloom- 
field,  where  he  was  engaged  actively  for  some 
time,  and  this  store  was  also  closed  on  account 
of  the 'war.  He  clerked  for  awhile  at  Cape 
Girardeau,  and  from  there  made  preparations 
to  start  for  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  to  take  a  position 
as  a  clerk.  James  Morrison,  an  elderly  man, 
with  wife  and  no  children,  had  for  a  long  time 
clerked  for  an  adjoining  firm  to  Mr.  Evett,  just 
merely  to  have  employment,  and  had  in  the 
meantime  taken  a  deep  interest  in  his  strong 
competitor,  and  without  any  solicitation  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Evett,  Morrison  prevailed  on  him 
to  draw  fi'om  the  account  of  Mr.  M.  $6,000, 
and  go  in  business  for  himself,  which  he  did  at 
Piketon,  where  he  was  very  successful,  and  in 
a  number  of  years  paid  back  to  Mr.  Morrison 
the  $6,000,  together  with  $1,800  interest  that 
had  accrued.  While  at  Piketon,  he  served  as 
Postmaster  for  fifteen  years.  While  here,  he 
lost  his  wife,  Arabell  Spiller,  whom  he  married 
in  1867.  This  union  gave  him'  three  children, 
one  living — Betty.  Soon  after  the  death  of  his 
consort,  he  came  with  his  little  daughter  to  his 
farm  in  Williamson  County,  111.  After  farming 
for  some  time,  he  went  to  Neosho,  Mo.,  where 
he  merchandized  under  the  firm  name  of  Bid- 
die  &  Evett,  at  which  he  was  successful  for 


COBDEN  PRECINCT. 


125 


two  3'ears,  when  he  sold  his  interest  to  Biddle 
and  returned  to  his  farm  in  Illinois,  which  he 
sold  in  1881,  and  in  March  the  following  j'ear 
he  opened  up  at  Cobden  his  present  fine  line  of 
general  merchandise  and  groceries,  and  has 
been  very  successful.  The  onl}-  losses  he  has 
sustained  was  by  robbers.  He  lost  an  entire 
crop  b}'  frost.  He  enlisted  in  1863  in  an  Illi- 
nois infantr}-  company,  and  was  soon  dis- 
charged on  account  of  illness.  He  was  mar- 
ried a  second  time  to  Ray  Rendleman,  daughter 
of  John  Rendleman,  of  Anna,  and  the  result 
has  been  two  children — Olive  M.  and  Clyde. 
He  votes  the  Democratic  ticket.  The  names  of 
his  brothers  and  sisters  were  William,  Ann, 
Elizabeth,  Eveline,  Jane,  Samuel,  Sarah  and 
Mjiry. 

"GEORGE  W.  FERRILL,  farmer,  and  fruit 
raiser,  P.  0.  Cobden.  The  ancestry  of  our 
subject  can  be  traced  back  only  to  John  F. 
Ferrill,  who  was  born  in  North  Carolina  about 
Christmas,  17G7,  and  died  in  October,  1849. 
He  was  an  orphan  child,  and  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary war  lost  sight  of  his  relatives,  so 
knew  nothing  of  his  aucestr}*.  About  1804, 
he  moved  to  Tennessee,  and  died  at  the  old 
homestead  in  Steward  County.  His  son  Thomas, 
the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  June  12,  1795,  and  was  married  in 
Tennessee  to  Elizabeth  Anderson,  who  was 
born  in  that  State  September  28,  1803.  In 
December,  1819,  they  moved  to  this  count}', 
and  settled  on  the  farm  now  owned  b\'  Cor- 
nelius Anderson.  In  the  spring  of  1838,  they 
moved  to  Toledo,  in  this  precinct,  where  he 
kept  the  post  office  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
where  he  died  August  6,  1849.  After  his 
death,  his  widow  was  appointed  Postmistress, 
and  our  subject  attended  to  the  business  for 
her.  His  occupation  was  that  of  farmer,  but 
he  served  as  Constable  for  some  time,  also  as 
Deput}^  Sheriff,  and  was  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  county  for  man}-  j-ears.  Mrs. 
Ferrill   still   lives   on    the   old    homestead   at 


Toledo.  They  were  the  parents  of  eleven 
children,  nine  of  whom  are  still  living.  Our 
subject  is  the  oldest  of  the  family.  His  early 
life  was  spent  in  helping  to  improve  the  farm. 
His  opportunities  for  an  education  were  of  the 
most  limited  kind,  the  schoolhouses  being  of 
the  rudest  sort.  However,  he  continued  to 
apply  himself  till  he  became  an  excellent  pen- 
man, and  till  he  could  teach  school,  which 
occupation  he  followed  for  some  time.  From 
1846  till  1869,  he  was  Elder  of  the  Toledo 
Christian  Church,  but,  in  1869,  his  health 
broke  down  and  he  quit  the  ministry.  His 
support,  however,  he  has  always  obtained  from 
the  farm.  In  1842,  he  settled  on  a  farm  in 
Section  18,  and  remained  there  till  January, 
1857,  when  he  came  to  his  present  home,  and 
has  resided  here  since.  For  three  years  from 
July,  1877,  till  October,  1880,  he  superintended 
the  Grange  mill  at  Cobden.  March  6,  1842, 
he  was  married,  in  this  county,  to  Matilda 
Zimmerman.  She  was  born  in  the  county 
May  6,  1824,  to  Jacob  and  Catherine  (Rhoades) 
Zimmerman.  They  were  both  natives  of  Ken- 
tuck}',  he  born  September  12,  1802,  she  Sep- 
tember 6,  1792.  He  died  February  12,  1859, 
and  she  some  years  afterward.  He  was  one  of 
the  oldest  settlers  in  the  county,  living  here 
almost  all  his  life,  and  for  one  term  was  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  State  Legislature.  Of 
the  family  of  seven  girls  and  two  boys,  only 
two  are  now  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ferrill  have 
six  children,  four  sons  and  two  daughters — 
Lucetta  (Griffith),  Marinda  (Griffith),  John  J., 
Thomas  J.,  Otis  J.  and  Albert  W.  The  two 
daughters  married  brothei-s.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Ferrill  is  Democratic, 

J.  D.  FLY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Makanda,  was  born 
in  Davidson  Count}',  Tenn.,  December  12. 1812, 
to  Jesse  and  Delana  Fly,  both  of  whom  were 
born  in  North  Carolina,  but  when  small  moved 
to  Davidson  County,  Tenn.,  with  parents. 
They  were  married  in  Tennessee  and  resided 
there  till  after  their  children  were  all  born,  but 


126 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


when  our  subject  was  but  a  lad  they  moved  to 
Wayne  Count}',  III.  The}-  were  the  parents  of 
nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  still  living. 
The}'  moved  to  this  county  in  1848,  and  died 
here.  Our  subject  received  his  education  in 
Tennessee  and  Wa3'ne  County,  111.  His  occu- 
pation has  always  been  that  of  ft\rming.  Sep- 
tember 27,  1829,  he  was  married  in  Wayne 
County,  to  Sarah  McCracken.  She  was  born 
in  Kentucky  January  15,  1813,  to  Samuel  and 
Nancy  McCracken.  He  was  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, but  his  parents  moved  from  Pennsylvania 
to  North  Carolina  and  from  North  Craolina  to 
Kentucky.  The}'  were  from  Ireland.  When 
Mrs.  Fly  was  but  a  small  girl  her  parents  moved 
to  Wayne  County,  111.,  and  her  father  took  an 
active  part  in  opposing  slavery  in  this  State. 
Thev  were  the  parents  of  a  large  family  of 
whom  Mrs.  F.  is  the  youngest,  and  the  only  one 
living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  have  three  children 
living — M.  L.,  W.  R.  and  Martha  Jane  ;  also 
seven  dead.  Our  subject  came  to  this  county 
from  Wayne  in  1846.  His  farm  consists  of  160 
acres,  eighty  of  which  he  bought  from  the 
Government.  All  the  farm  was  then  woods  ; 
now  he  has  about  100  acres  in  a  good  state  of 
cultivation  ;  grain  and  stock  receive  most  of 
his  attention,  but  he  also  raises  some  fruits.  In 
religion,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  order. 
In  politics,  Democratic.  The  early  members  of 
our  subject's  family  were  from  England  and 
Wales,  but  several  generations  back.  The 
father  of  our  subject  was  in  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans  with  Gen.  Jackson.  Mi's.  Fly's  father 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  two  of  her 
brothers  were  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  in  the 
Horseshoe  battle. 

V.  M.  FOLEY,  farmer.  P.  0.  Cobden,  was 
born  in  Warren  County,  Ky.,  August  23,  1843, 
to  Leroy  M.  and  Caroline  (Ellis)  Foley.  He 
was  born  in  Warren  County,  Ky.,  May  12, 
1822.  She  was  born  and  raised  in  Virginia. 
They  are  now  living  in  this  county.  When 
our  subject  was  small,  his  parents  moved  to 


Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo.,  and  resided  there 
till  September,  1861.  Then,  on  account  of  the 
war  troubles,  he  had  to  leave,  receiving  such 
notice  from  some  of  the  confederates.  So  he 
moved  to  this  county  with  what  he  could  haul 
in  a  wagon  with  two  horses.  His  occupation 
has  always  been  that  of  farming.  They  are 
the  parents  of  two  children,  our  subject  and  his 
sister,  Eliza  Castleberry,  of  Jackson  County. 
Three  sons,  however,  died  when  young.  Our 
subject  never  had  the  opportunities  of  attend- 
ing the  free  schools,  and  attended  but  poor 
subscription  schools.  Before  leaving  Missouri, 
there  were  great  inducements  offered  him  to 
join  the  Southern  army,  most  of  his  associates 
entering  that  army,  and  perhaps  he  might  have 
done  so,  not  knowing  the  cause  of  the  war  or 
what  secession  was,  but  his  father  was  too 
strong  a  Union  man,  and  influenced  him  in  the 
right  direction.  August  11,  1862,  he  enlisted 
from  this  county  in  Company  E,  Eighty-first 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Capt.  J.  P.  Reese, 
Col.  DoUins.  He  served  till  mustered  out 
August  5,  1865.  He  was  in  many  of  the  lead- 
ing engagements,  such  as  Jackson,  Miss., 
Vicksburg,  where  Col.  Doll  ins  was  killed,  on 
the  Red  River  expedition,  at  Spanish  Fort, 
etc.;  also  at  Guntown,  Miss.,  where  about  one- 
half  the  regiment  was  lost ;  also  at  Nashville, 
where  Hood  and  Thomas  were  engaged.  Mr. 
Foley  is  now  a  pensioner  of  the  Government 
for  injury  sustained  at  Guntown,  Miss.  By 
forced  marches,  he  was  over-heated,  and  after 
going  into  the  engagement  the  heat  overcame 
him  and  he  had  to  be  carried  from  the  field, 
l)ut  not  until  he  had  fired  about  forty  rounds 
of  cartridges.  After  returning  from  the  army, 
he  settled  on  his  present  farm,  and  has  re- 
mained there  since.  September  17,  1885,  he 
was  married  to  Emily  Anderson.  She  was 
born  in  this  county  to  Cornelius  and  Elizabeth 
Anderson.  The  mother  died  during  the  war  ; 
the  father  is  still  living  in  the  county,  and  is 
one  of  the  old  settlers,  coming  from  Tennessee. 


COBDEN    PRECINCT 


127 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Foley  have  seven  children — OUie, 
Ella,  Oran,  Frank,  Charles,  Leroy  and  Harvey. 
For  eight  years  after  coming  from  the  service, 
he  followed  house  carpentering  ;  then  com- 
menced farming,  and  has  been  engaged  in  gen- 
eral farming  and  fruit-raising  s'nce.  He  has 
120  acres  of  land,  about  seventy  being  im- 
proved. He  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Christian  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  Repub- 
lican, and  is  serving  a  term  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace.  Mr.  Foley  has  always  done  all  he  could 
for  the  advancement  of  morals  and  against  the 
liquor  traffic  in  his  vicinity. 

JAMES  FOWLEY,  merchant,  is  the  son  of 
Peter  and  Catharine  Fowley,  and  was  born  in 
Canada  in  1841  ;  was  married  in  1860  to  Mary 
Rendleman.  Several  years  ago  he  entered  the 
mercantile  business  at  Cobden  which  has  in- 
creased from  the  beginning  until  it  ranks 
among  the  best  business  room  in  the  counti-y. 
The  old  days  of  the  plow  and  scythe  have 
passed  away,  the  genius  of  the  inventer  has 
been  at  work,  and  in  no  branch  of  industry 
has  there  been  greater  strides  than  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  agricultural  implements.  Indeed, 
without  them  it  would  be  impossible  to  culti- 
vate the  broad  acres  of  our  Western  prairies, 
and  farming  to  a  profit  would  be  an  utter  fail- 
ure. In  this  particular  line  of  business,  we 
find  in  the  village  of  Cobden,  several  dealers. 
The  leading  man  engaged  in  the  retail  of  farm- 
ing machinery,  however,  is  Mr.  James  Fowley. 
In  addition  to  his  large  stock  of  dry  goods, 
notions  and  farming  implements,  he  is  handling 
Woodsum  Machine'Company  Engines  ;  Minne- 
sota Chief  separator  and  Stillwater  engine ; 
Gaai-,  Scott  &  Co.  engines,  threshers  and  saw 
mills.  Heilman  &  Co.  engines,  threshers  and 
saw  mills  ;  Vinton  Iron  Works  saw  mills  ;  Vic- 
tor clover  huUer ;  Harris  Machine  Company 
engines  and  threshers  ;  Climax  mower,  reaper 
and  self-rake  ;  Reliance  harvester  with  Apple- 
by binder  ;  Thomas  &  Son  sulky  rake  ;  among 
the  many  plows  we  notice  B.  F.  Avery  &  Son's 


sulky  and  walking  plows ;  D.  B.  Buford  & 
Co.'s  sulky  and  walking  plows  and  cultivators  ; 
Heilman  &  Co.,  Sparta  &  Roulker  Plow  Com- 
pany's plows,  and  Oliver  chilled  plows  and 
Cassady  sulky  rake.  He  has  also  in  the 
line  of  sundries,  sorghum  mills  and  evapo- 
rators, Neff  wagons,  grain  drills,  repairs 
for  engines  and  separators,  cylinder  and  concave 
teeth,  belts,  packing  and  oils,  repairs  for  Nichols 
&  Shepard  vibrators,  sewing  machines,  paints, 
and  general  merchandise,  all  of  which  he 
sells  at  small  margins. 

D.  GOW,  fruit  and  vegetable  grower,  P.  0. 
Cobden.  Among  the  many  men  who  have 
done  much  to  develop  the  resources  of  this 
county  in  its  fruit  and  vegetable  industries, 
none  have  done  more  than  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  not  only  in  advancing  uew  theories,  but 
by  putting  these  theories,  which  originated  in 
his  brain,  into  profitable  practice.  He  was 
born  in  the  county  of  Midlothian,  Scotland, 
eleven  miles  east  of  Edinburgh,  February  15. 
1825,  to  D.  and  Margaret  (Black)  Gow.  They 
were  both  born  in  the  near  neighborhood,  and 
died  in  the  same  county.  She  died  in  1832  of 
cholera ;  he  in  1876,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three 
years.  He  was  twice  married.  By  the  first  wife, 
the  mother  of  our  subject,  there  were  three 
sons  and  one  daughter,  and  by  the  second  mar- 
riage two  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  occu- 
pation was  always  that  of  a  fruit-raiser,  and 
till  after  his  family  by  first  wife  was  nearly 
o-rown  he  only  had  ten  acres  of  land  to  culti- 
vate, but  afterward  procured  nine  acres  more, 
and  still  later  twenty-one  acres  additional,  so 
at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  cultivating 
forty  acres.  His  main  crop  was  that  of  straw- 
berries, and  for  years  he  was  the  largest  pro- 
ducer of  strawberries  in  Scotland.  For  sixty 
years  previous  to  his  death,  he  had  lived  on  the 
same  place  as  a  tenant  of  the  Earl  of  Stair. 
So  our  subject  was  reared  in  a  garden,  and 
received  instruction  which  has  not  only  been 
1  useful  to  himself,  but  to  all  who  come  in  con- 


128 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


tact  with  him  who  are  interested  in  the  same  ^ 
business.     He  received  his   education  in   tlie 
common  schools  of  his  native  land,  and  for  one 
year  read  law  in  the  cit}-  of  Edinburgh,  but  not 
liking  the  profession   he  gave  it  up  and  re-  ■ 
turned  to  the  farm.      In  1850,  he  accompanied  i 
his    brother   John   to   America,    but   did    not  i 
expect  to  stay  only  for  a  short  time.     During  : 
the  remainder  of  the  year  1850,  he   worked  at 
the  carpenter's  bench,  and  by    that  time  his 
business  prospects  in  the  old  country  changed, 
so  he  decided  to  remain  in  this  country.     So  he 
and  his  brother  engaged  in  the  fruit  culture  in 
New  Jersey  in  1851.     In  the  winter  of  1855- 
56,  he  came  to  this  county,  but  his  brother  still 
remained  in  New  Jersey  and  bought  a  farm 
near  the  one  they   had  been   renting,   paying 
$3,000  for  it.     In  a  few  years,  he  sold  the  farm 
to   the   railroad  company   for   $40,000  ;   then 
bought   another   near  Wilmington,    Del.,    and 
there  died.     In  1856,  our  subject  embarked  in 
the  vegetable  business  in  Anna.     He  boarded 
in  Jonesboro,  but  had  his  hot-beds  in  Anna, 
near   the   present   residence    of    Mr.    Lufkin. 
These  hot-beds  were,  indeed,  curiosities,  for  the 
like  had  never  been  known  in  Union  County, 
and  to   see  plants   growing  there     when  the 
ground  was  covered  with  snow  was  wonderful. 
That  year  Mr.   Gow  experimented  on  different 
products  to  see  which   was  best  adapted,  and 
which    could    be   grown   to    best   advantage. 
Tomatoes  proved   to  be  the    most  profitable. 
The   first  that  he  shipped,   and  probably  the 
first  ever  sent  from  the  county,  was  June  8, 
1856,  and  sold   at  $1   per  dozen  in  Chicago. 
But  a  difficulty  arose,  for  there  were  no  fruit 
commission  houses  then  in  Chicago  to  ship  to  ; 
but  to  obviate  this  trouble,  Mr.  Grow  taught  his 
men  when  and  how  to  gather,  pack  and  ship, 
and  he  went  to  Chicago  to  attend  to  the  selling 
himself.     Mr.  Drake,  of  the  Grand  Pacific,  was 
then  steward  in  the  Tremont  House,  and  was 
Mr.  G.'s  best  customer.     During  his   second 
year  as  a  shipper  to  Chicago,  a  discussion  arose 


in  some  of  the  papers  about  his  lettuce.     One 
called  it  Democratic  lettuce,  thinking  that  no 
other  kind  could  be  grown  in  Southern  Illinois, 
but  a  friend  of  Mr.  Gow  contradicted  the  state- 
ment in  another  paper,    so   to  settle  it  they 
wrote  to  our  subject  to   find  out  which  was 
right.     Of  course  he  sustained  the  contradic- 
tion.    During  the  shipping  season  of  1857,  he 
had  his  private  express  car  run  from  Anna  to 
Chicago  by  passenger  train,  for  which  he  paid 
$90  per  car,  including  free  pass  for  his  agent  in 
charge   of  it.     He   continued  in   business   at 
Anna  for  three  seasons,  then  came  to  Cobden, 
and,  in  the  fall  of  1858,  was  appointed  express 
agent.     In   1859,  out  of  his   own   means,   he 
built  the  present  freight  house  here,  on  a  guar- 
antee that  the  railroad  would  make  Cobden  a 
regular  station  instead  of  a  flag  station,  and 
that  they  should    pay   him    back  the    money 
expended  in  building  the  depot  in  two  years 
without  interest.     Mr.  Gow  was  the  first  sta- 
tion agent  at  Cobden.     He  continued  for  about 
one  year,  then  bought  his  present  farm  in  1861, 
and  has  made  it  his  home  since.     During  the 
war  of  the  rebellion,  he  was  Deputy  Provost 
Marshal  in  this  district.     Our  subject  not  only 
introduced  vegetable  growing  in  this  county, 
but  was  also  the  first  to  use  fertilizers,  and  did 
the  first  underground  draining  in  the  county. 
In   1856,    he   presented   the   first   car-load  of 
stable  manure  ever  presented  to  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  for  shipment.     Tliis  car-load 
was  taken  up  from  the  mines  at  Duquoin,  and 
dumped  into  a  car  and  brought  to  Anna.     He 
then    procured    manure   from    the   stables    at 
Cairo  till  they  began  in  the  vegetable  business, 
and  kept  it  all  at  home.     He  then  again  re- 
ceived it  from  Duquoin,  but  soon  that  failed 
for  like  reason,  so  he  had  to  think  of  some 
other  plan,  and  that  is  this  :     He   has    made 
arrangements  with  the  railroad  companies  to 
carry  the  manure  at  three-fourths  cents  per  ton 
per  mile,  and  in  this  way  can  procure  an  inex- 
haustible supply  from  St.  Louis,  and  within  the 


COBDEN   PEECINCT. 


129 


past  six  months  has  brought  to  this  station 
about  fifty  car-loads  of  splendid  stable  manure, 
eighteen  of  which  have  been  applied  on  his 
own  farm.  An  ordinance  has  been  passed  by 
the  authorities  of  St.  Louis  to  permit  our  sub- 
ject to  build  a  spur  to  the  railroad  track  of 
sufficient  length  to  hold  five  cars  on  which  he 
can  load  the  manure.  This  ability  to  obtain 
an  abundant  supply  of  stable  manure  from 
highly -fed  animals  at  so  cheap  a  rate,  costing 
only  about  60  cents  per  two-horse  load  at 
Cobden  Station,  may  be  regarded  as  the  crown- 
ing effort  of  his  indefatigable  energy,  and  is 
certainly  the  source  of  greater  prosperit}'  to 
fruit  and  vegetable  growers  than  has  yet  been 
devised.  Mr.  Gow  was  the  originator  of  the 
present  s3-stem  of  shipping  together  at  car-load 
rates  to  Chicago,  and  the  first  rates  of  $50  per 
car  were  made  to  him  individual!}'  on  tomatoes. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  prime  movers  in 
organizing  the  present  system  of  shipping  in 
refrigerator  cars. 

NATHANIEL  GREEN,  merchant,  Cobden, 
was  born  April  8,  1856,  in  Union  County,  111. 
His  father,  David,  was  born  in  North  Carolina, 
and  his  mother,  Elizabeth  (Smith)  Green,  was 
a  native  of  Missouri.  The  parents  settled  in 
what  is  now  Union  County  in  1805,  or  rather 
the  Green  family  settled  then.  The  father 
erected  the  first  store  within  the  neighborhood 
of  Cobden  at  what  was  known  as  Green's  Cross- 
ing. He  afterward,  in  partnership  with  one  of 
his  sons,  transferred  this  store  to  the  limits  of 
Cobden,  where  he  continued  the  business  for 
some  time.  He  died  in  1877.  The  mother 
died  in  1878,  after  having  blessed  Mr.  Green 
with  thirteen  children,  six  of  whom  are  living 
—Francis,  Mary  A.,  S.  R.,  Walter  G.,  Willis 
and  Nathaniel.  Our  subject  attended  school 
at  Cobden  during  his  younger  days,  and  clerked 
in  his  father's  store.  When  reaching  his  ma- 
jority, he  began  for  himself,  taking  charge  of  a 
large  stock  of  goods,  which  he  has  increased, 
making  it  one  of  the   best  lines  in  the  town. 


He  gives  his  personal  attention  to  both  the 
buying  and  selling,  and  consequently  is  suc- 
cessful. He  has  a  general  line  of  dry  goods, 
notions,  etc.  He  was  mari'ied  in  1879  to  Mary 
Barker,  a  daughter  of  E.  B.  Barker,  a  resident 
of  this  precinct.  The  result  of  this  union  is 
two  children — Emery  D.  and  Bertha  E.  He 
owns  a  farm  of  180  acres  in  this  and  Anna 
townships.  He  votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 
HOLLADY  &  DUNCAN,  millers,  Cobden- 
V.  R.  HoUady  was  born  January  20,  1850,  in 
Tennessee  ;  is  a  son  of  J.  J.  and  Nancy  C. 
(Hines)  HoUady,  natives  of  Tennessee  and 
settlers  of  Union  County  in  1 860.  They  were 
the  parents  of  eight  children.  Our  subject  at- 
tended school  in  the  log  cabin.  In  1875,  he 
left  home  and  engaged  in  a  saw  mill  in  Jack- 
son County,  111.  In  1882,  he  engaged  in  the 
present  business.  Was  married  in  1874  to 
Mary  I.  Odum,  a  native  of  Williamson  Count}', 
this  State.  The  result  has  been  Charles  and 
Clint.  He  is  a  member  of  the  A..  F.  &  A.  M. 
and  K.  of  H.;  votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 
R.  B.  Duncan  is  a  native  of  Williamson  Coun- 
t}'.  111.,  where  he  was  born  May  4,  1850.  His 
parents,  Dudley  and  Rebecca  (Spiller)  Duncan, 
were  natives  of  Tennessee,  and  settled  in  Will- 
iamson County  very  early.  The  grandfather 
Duncan  owned  the  land  where  Bainbridge  now 
lies,  in  said  county.  The  parents  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  Church.  Our  subject  had 
but  little  chance  of  school,  his  parents  having 
died  when  he  was  very  small.  When  fourteen 
years  old,  he  went  to  Marshall  County,  Kan.,  to 
live  with  his  oldest  brother,  W.  B.,  who  now 
lives  in  California.  The  home  of  his  brother 
was  then  located  on  the  old  and  well-known 
stage  route,  "  St.  Jo  and  San  Francisco."  This 
route  was  considered  very  dangerous,  as  many 
robbers  and  murderers  occupied  these  wild  re- 
gions. Young  Duncan  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
began  learning  the  milling  and  millwright  bus- 
iness, which  he  mastered  very  quickly,  and 
soon  became  an  expert  as  a  mechanic,  making 


130 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


his  services  desirable  over  a  wide  scope  of 
country.  After  closing  his  labors  with  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Davis,  of  Toronto,  Kan.,  he  at- 
tended a  commercial  school  at  St.  Jo,  Mo., 
where  he  gradnated  in  the  Bryant  &  Stratton 
system.  In  1870,  he  rented  a  mill  at  Spillers- 
town,  III,  for  one  year,  and,  in  partnership  with 
Dorris,  buying  the  mill ;  they  moved  it  to 
Frankfort,  Franklin  Co.,  Ill,  and  operated 
the  same  successfully  for  one  year,  when  Mr. 
Duncan  withdrew  and  traveled  for  awhile  in 
the  Western  country  in  the  interests  of  some 
manufacturing  establishments.  In  1875,  he 
married  Alice,  a  daughter  of  Judge  Prickett, 
of  Carbondale,  and  at  said  village  worked  for 
some  time  in  a  grist  mill,  in  connection  with 
his  trade,  that  of  millwright.  In  1882,  he  and 
Mr.  HoUady  put  up  the  present  mill  at  Cobden. 
They  have  new  machinery,  both  stones  and 
iron  rollers  for  grinding.  They  make  a  special- 
ty of  custom  work,  and  of  course  court  the 
people  by  making  good  flour,  the  best  in  this 
part  of  the  country.  His  wife  died  in  March, 
1880,  leaving  one  child— Ralph.  He  subse- 
quently married  Mollie  Prindle,  of  Indianapolis. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  of  Nashville. 
His  wife  is  a  Baptist.  He  is  a  stanch  Repub- 
lican. 

L.  T.  HARDIN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was 
born  in  Limestone  County,  Ala.,  December  9, 
1828,  to  Erasmus  and  Abashaba  (Hodges) 
Hardin.  Erasmus  Hardin  was  born  near 
Augusta,  Ga.,  in  1785,  died  on  the  present  farm 
of  our  subject  in  1859.  Abashaba  Hodges 
was  born  in  Tennessee,  and  died  in  this  county 
in  1857.  They  were  the  parents  of  ten  children, 
four  of  whom  are  still  living.  By  a  previous 
marriage  he  had  two  children,  one  of  whom  is 
now  living  in  Texas.  His  occupation  was 
that  of  a  farmer.  He  was  engaged  in  the 
Indian  war  in  Florida,  with  the  Seminoles.  In 
1830,  they  moved  to  Union  County,  and  made 
it  their  home  until  time  of  death.  Our  subject 
remained  on  the  farm  until  he  was  twenty-one 


years  of  age,  then  sowed  his  wild  oats.  In 
1853,  he  went  to'California,  where  he  remained 
for  two  years,  then  sold  out  and  went  to  Texas, 
and  began  in  stock-raising  ;  with  the  exception 
of  one  or  two  visits  home,  he  remained  in  Texas 
until  1860,  and  then  war  troubles  began  in 
Texas.  He  and  his  brother  James  had  in 
partnership  a  herd  of  about  300  cattle,  besides 
horses,  but  the3'  lost  all  thi'ough  the  war. 
April  3,  1861,  he  was  married  in  this  county 
to  Elizabeth  Ferrill,  daughter  of  Henry  and 
Polly  Ferrill  ;  they  were  natives  of  Tennessee  ; 
Mr.  Ferrill  died  in  this  count}'  ;  his  widow  is 
still  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hardin  have  ten 
children,  all  living  but  one — Lucetta  (de- 
ceased), Olive,  A.  J.,  Mary,  Charles,  Emma, 
Ellen,  L.  T.,  Laura  and  Herbert  S.  Mr.  Har- 
din's farm  contains  160  acres,  about  100  of 
which  are  in  cultivation  ;  on  this  he  does  general 
farming,  and  meets  with  deserving  success.  He 
and  wife  are  members  of  the  Christian  order. 
In  politics,  he  favors  the  Democratic  party. 

JOHN  F.  HOFFMAN,  farmer  and  fruit- 
grower, was  born  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  December  12, 
1842,  to  Charles  F.  and  Charlotta  (Gunther) 
Hoffman.  Thej-  were  natives  of  Baltimore. 
Our  subject's  grandfather  Hoffman,  however, 
came  from  Hanover  to  America,  and  settled  in 
Baltimore.  Mr.  Charles  F.  Hoffman  was  en- 
gaged in  the  millinery  and  dry  goods  business 
at  Baltimore,  but  his  health  failing,  he  desired 
a  warmer  climate  so  moved  to  Augusta,  Ga., 
where  our  subject  was  born.  In  1849,  he 
moved  to  New  Orleans  and  was  book-keeper 
for  an  English  cotton  commission  house.  He 
only  lived  for  about  eight  3'ears  after  moving 
to  New  Orleans.  His  widow  still  resides  in  the 
suburbs  of  that  city,  and  is  seventy-four  years 
old.  They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children, 
five  of  whom  are  now  living,  tvro  sons  and 
three  daughters,  our  subject  and  Charles  F. 
being  the  sons.  Charles  F.  is  in  the  banking 
business  in  New  Orleans,  also  agent  for  Brown 
Bros.   &  Co.,   of  New    York.     One   daughter, 


COBDEN  PRECINCT. 


131 


Mrs.  Rosalie  Avery,  is  in  Nebraska.  The  other 
two  daughters  are  in  New  Orleans — one  Mrs. 
W.  Bourtlette,  whose  son  is  cashier  in  above 
bank  ;  and  a  maiden  daughter  at  home.  One 
subject  was  educated  in  the  high  schools  of 
the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  after  leaving 
school  he  began  clerking  in  the  house  of  Samuel 
Nicholson  &  Co.  He  afterward  engaged  in 
the  exchange  brokerage  business.  Mr.  Hoff- 
man was  in  the  cit}'  of  New  Orleans  at  the  time 
of  its  capture,  but  left  immediately  after  for 
New  York,  where  he  had  a  position  offered  him 
with  the  same  house  for  which  he  had  been  at 
work  in  New  Orleans.  He  remained  in  New 
York  for  three  3'ears  and  then  returned  to  New 
Orleans  and  remained  there  until  1869,  when, 
his  health  failing,  he  desired  more  of  an  out- 
door life.  A  friend  gave  him  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  Daniel  Davie,  of  this  count}'.  Mr. 
H.  came  here  and  liking  the  country-  decided 
to  remain,  so  the  first  year  he  stayed  with  Mr. 
E.  N.  Clark,  and  learned  more  of  the  fruit  busi- 
ness, and  in  1870  bought  his  present  farm  of 
eighty  acres,  and  has  been  engaged  in  farming 
and  fruit-raising  since.  On  his  farm  he  has  a 
peach  orchard  of  fifteen  acres,  an  apple  or- 
chard of  twelve  acres,  besides  small  fruits,  and 
also  meadow  land.  The  West  Fork  of  Drewer}^ 
Creek  flows  through  his  farm,  and  when  he 
came  to  it  there  were  undrained  flats,  causing 
malaria;  but  these  he  has  drained  and  made  into 
meadow  land,  and  thereb}-  made  them  profita- 
ble and  added  to  the  healthfulness.  He  has 
found  that  the  climate  has  had  the  desired 
effect  on  his  health.  On  his  farm  he  has  splen- 
did springs  of  running  water,  and  also  has 
found  outcroppings  of  black  marble.  In  1874, 
he  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss  Ellen 
Tweedy,  daughter  of  James  M.  Tweedy  (see 
sketch,  Alto  Pass  Precinct).  The  result  of  this 
union  was  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
now  living — Carrie,  Charles  T.  and  Maggie. 
She  died  in  March,  1881,  and  August  31,  1882, 
he  was  again  married  to  Miss  Nora  A.  Smith. 


She  was  born  in  this  county,  on  Hutchins 
Creek,  daughter  of  Alexander  Smith.  He  is 
one  of  the  charter  members  of  Cobden  Lodge, 
Knights  of  Honor,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Cobden.  His  wife  is  a 
member  of  the  Christian  Church.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Democrat,  but  voted  for  (Irant  for  his 
first  term. 

DANIEL  KIMMEL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden, 
was  born  June  7,  1827,  to  George  and  Elizabeth 
(Christy)  Kimmel ;  George  Kimmel  was  l)orn 
in  Somerset  County,  Penn.,  in  1793;  died  in 
Union  County,  M^rch  29,  1868  ;  his  wife  was 
born  in  Darke  County,  Ohio,  in  1803;  she  is  still 
living.  His  occupation  during  life  was  that 
of  a  farmer  and  stock  dealer  ;  they  came  to 
Union  County  when  our  subject  was  but  five 
^•ears  of  age.  He  was  married  three  times, 
and  b}'  his  first  wife  had  two  sons  ;  but  no 
child  by  the  second  ;  by  his  third  wife,  the 
mother  of  our  subject,  seven  sons  and  five 
daughters.  In  religious  belief,  he  and  wife 
were  of  the  Dunkard  faith  ;  with  politics,  he 
had  but  little  to  do,  but  was  a  Douglas  Demo- 
crat, and  strongly  opposed  to  the  war  of  the 
rebellion.  He  was  a  man  successful  in 
business,  and  did  a  good  part  by  his  children, 
giving  to  each  a  farm,  and  about  $1,500  in 
money.  Our  subject's  opportunity  for  an  edu- 
cation was  very  limited,  and  when  he  began 
life  for  himself,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  it 
was  with  nothing  but  a  pair  of  strong  hands, 
and  an  unconquerable  determination  to  make 
a  success.  For  six  years  he  rented  a  farm  and 
kept  bachelor's  hall,  but  at  the  end  of  that 
time  he  had  eight}'  acres  of  land  paid  for,  and 
money  besides.  July  13,  1853,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Ann  Green,  daughter  of  David 
and  Elizabeth  (Smith)  Green.  (See  sketch.) 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kimmel  have  the  following  chil- 
dren, viz.:  Elizabeth  Alice,  Johana,  Eliza, 
Mary  Ann,  Carrie  Belle,  Rolley  D.,  Walter  G., 
David  G.,  Minnie  May  and  Laura  Lee  ;  also 
three  children  who  died  in  infancy.    After  mar- 


133 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


riage.  he  settled  on  his  present  farm  of  225 
acres,  which  is  one  of  the  best  farms  in  Cobden 
Precinct.  His  wife  also  has  seventy-six  acres 
of  laud  in  her  own  right.  Mr.  Kimmel  does 
general  farming — raising  of  grain,  stock  and 
fruits,  and  in  traiding  in  stock.  During  the 
war,  he  enlisted  in  Company  C,  One  Hundred 
and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was 
chosen  Lieutenant ;  he  was  captured  at  Holly 
Springs  by  Van  Dorn's  command,  and  paroled. 
He  then  reported  to  Col.  Fry,  at  Benton  Bar- 
racks. St.  Louis.  While  there  the  One  Hundred 
and  Ninth  was  consolidated  with  the  Eleventh 
and  he  returned  home,  and  again  engaged  in 
farming.  In  politics,  he  is  Republican.  Is  a 
member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  of  Cobden,  be- 
ing one  of  the  charter  members.  Mrs.  K.  is  a 
member  of  the  Cobden  Baptist  Church.  Taken 
from  the  Agricultural  Report  of  Illinois  for 
1856-57,  we  find  that  a  bushel  of  white  wheat, 
raised  by  Mr.  Kimmel  took  the  first  premium 
in  the  Illinois  State  Fair,  held  at  Alton,  and 
again  at  the  Mississippi  Valley  Fair,  held  at  St. 
Louis,  and  the  report  goes  farther  to  state  that 
he  was  considered  the  best  wheat-raiser  in  the 
West,  if  not  in  the  world. 

AUG.  KOHLER,  fruit-grower,  P.  0.  Cob- 
den, was  born  at  Wyhl,  Grand  Duch}-  Baden, 
German}',  August  25,  1833.  From  the  age  of 
six  3-ears  till  he  was  fourteen,  he  attended 
school  without  an  intermission.  He  then  be- 
gan in  the  Government  emplo}'  on  the  River 
Rhine.  There  he  remained  till  1851,  and  then 
learned  the  miller's  trade,  but  on  account  of 
disease  he  had  to  give  up  milling  in  1856. 
December  22  of  the  same  year,  he  started  for 
America  and  landed  in  New  York  Cit\'  March 
18,  1857,  but  went  soon  afterward  to  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  then  to  Freeport,  111.,  June  22 
of  the  same  j'ear,  he  came  to  Jonesboro. 
January  2,  1858,  he  was  married  at  Jones- 
boro. 111.,  by  Judge  Hileman,  to  Karolina 
Retlie.  The}-  remained  at  Jonesboro  until 
1862  :  then  sold  out   and   bought   a  place  in 


Anna,  where  they  lived  till  September.  1866. 
Selling  out  there  they  bought  a  little  farn  on 
the  east  of  Cobden.  From  1859  till  1881,  he 
was  employed  at  the  stone-mason's  trade,  but 
since  that  time  has  given  his  entire  attention 
to  the  raising  of  fruit,  i.  e.,  strawberries,  rasp- 
berries, tomatoes,  etc.,  etc.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kohler  have  three  children  living,  viz.:  Henry 
William,  nineteen  years  of  age  ;  Charles 
August,  twelve  years  of  age,  and  Maria  Anna, 
seven  years  of  age.  Our  subject  is  the  son  of 
Anton  and  Maria  Anna  Kohler.  They  were 
born  in  Vogelbach,  Germany.  In  February, 
1858,  they  came  direct  from  the  old  country  to 
Jonesboro,  and  in  1863  to  one  mile  below  Cob- 
den, where  she  died  August  29,  1868,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-six  years,  he  at  the  residence  of 
our  subject  June  20,  1870,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
six  years. 

LOUIS  KOHLER,  liveryman,  Cobden,  was 
born  in  Wyhl,  Baden,  Germany  September  1, 
1845,  brother  of  August  Kohler  (see  sketch). 
He  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  his  native 
country,  attending  until  only  twelve  years  of 
age.  Came  to  this  county  in  1857,  and  this 
has  been  his  home  since,  but  in  early  life  he 
was  for  some  time  in  the  Western  States  and 
Territories.  He  learned  the  trade  of  cooper- 
ing, and  followed  it  for  some  years.  Was 
married,  on  Easter  Sunday,  1871,  to  Elizabeth 
Kerzenmacher  ;  she  was  born  in  the  same  town 
and  street  as  our  subject,  November  19,  1846; 
came  to  America  with  her  sister's  family  about 
a  year  previous  to  marriage.  iMr.  and  Mrs. 
Kohler  have  four  children  living — William, 
born  October  3,  1875  ;  Fanny,  his  twin  sister, 
died  April  27,  1877  ;  Josephine  and  Paulina, 
twins,  born  June  30, 1879  ;  and  Freddie  Anton, 
born  September  2,  1 882.  When  first  married, 
our  subject  kept  toll-gate,  on  the  Jonesboro 
and  Willards  Landing  road,  for  one  year  ;  then 
on  account  of  sickness  he  left  and  came  near 
Cobden,  and  bought  his  father's  old  farm,  but 
after  two   years  sold  out  and  went  to  the  Mis- 


COBDEN  PRECINCT. 


133 


sissippi  River  bottom,  into  farming  and  stock- 
raising.  There  he  lost  everything  by  fire  ;  in 
the  .winter  of  1874-75,  he  moved  to  Cobden, 
and  has  been  here  since.  He  engaged  in  his 
present  business  of  livery  stable,  January  15, 
1879,  buying  out  0.  P.  Hill ;  spring  of  1882, 
he  bought  the  lot  and  built  his  present  stable, 
30x50  feet,  with  shed  twelve  feet  in  width  on 
one  side.  He  keeps  rigs  and  riding  horses  to 
supply  the  demand  of  the  town  ;  also  does 
hauling.  In  religion,  he  and  his  wife  are 
Catholics.     He  is  Democratic  in  politics. 

E.  D.  LAWRENCE,  fruit-grower,  Cobden, 
was  born  in  Bangor,  Me.,  January  4,  1842,  to 
Darius  A.  and  Susan  R.  (Wyatt)  Lawrence. 
He  was  born  in  November,  1808,  in  Castine, 
Me.;  she  in  July,  1810,  at  Newburyport, 
Mass.  She  died  in  April,  1865  ;  he  in  Septem- 
ber, 1882.  By  trade  he  was  a  carpenter,  and 
he  made  that  his  business  till  his  death.  In 
May,  1865,  he  came  to  Cobden,  and  made  this 
his  home  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  The 
Lawrence  family  is  of  English  descent.  The 
first  members  of  the  family  in  this  country  set- 
tled in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  and  from 
there  have  spread  to  diflerent  States  of  the 
Union.  Our  subject  had  only  one  sister  and 
one  brother  who  reached  maturity — Mrs.  Susan 
E.  Weakley,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  Henry 
Lawrence,  now  book-keeper  for  John  Buck,  of 
Cobden.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  the  city 
schools  of  Bangor,  and  in  early  life  learned  the 
carpenter's  trade  of  his  father.  He  followed 
his  trade  till  coming  to  Union  County  in  March, 
1863.  He  then  engaged  in  farming  and  car- 
penter work  till  he  was  married  December  25, 
1865.  He  then  devoted  his  time  almost  ex- 
clusively to  fruit  and  vegetable  raising.  His 
farm  consists  of  sixty-three  acres,  part  of  which 
he  purchased  in  1866,  the  remainder  in  1875. 
Mr.  Lawrence  has  been  making  experiments 
with  marble  which  is  found  on  his  farm,  and 
finds  that  there  are  three  varieties,  all  of  which 
are  susceptible  of  a  high  polish,  and   are   of 


superior  qualit3\  December  25,  1865,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Minnie  Wright,  adopted 
daughter  of  Rev.  Paul  Wright,  now  of  Santa 
Barbara,  Cal.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lawrence  have 
one  son  dead  and  three  daughters  living — Su- 
sie E.,  Grace  and  Kate  L.  In  1878,  he  joined 
the  Cobden  Lodge  of  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is 
now  Master  of  the  lodge.  He  is  also  member 
of  Cobden  Lodge,  Knights  of  Honor,  and  is 
Past  Dictator.  In  politics,  he  is  Democratic. 
A.  W.  LINGLE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was 
born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  January  2, 1810, 
to  Anthony  and  Margaret  (Cauble)  Lingle,  both 
of  whom  were  born  in  North  Carolina.  In  the 
fall  of  1817,  they  emigrated  to  this  State  and 
settled  about  two  miles  and  a  half  south  of 
Cobden,  on  a  farm  now  owned  by  G.  W.  Robin- 
son. They  lived  there  till  the  time  of  death, 
and  raised  their  family,  four  of  whom  lived  to 
have  families  of  their  own — Polly,  Alexander 
W.,  John  A.  and  Peggy.  A.  W.  is  the  only 
one  now  living.  Mr.  Lingle's  occupation  was 
always  that  of  a  farmer,  but  he  understood  the 
coopering  business  sufficiently  to  do  his  own 
work.  For  a  short  time  our  subject  was  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war.  June  19,  1834,  Alexander 
was  married  in  Macon  County,  111.,  to  Leah 
Dillow.  She  was  also  born  in  North  Carolina 
July  26,  1816,  to  Michael  and  Rachael  (Cauble) 
Dillow.  They  were  natives  of  North  Carolina 
but  died  in  Piatt  County,  111.  They  came  to 
Illinois  in  1817,  and  settled  first  seven  miles 
south  of  Jonesboro,  but  in  1833  they  moved 
to  Macon  County,  111.,  settling  first  on  Big 
Creek,  then  on  the  Sangamon  River,  in  what 
is  now  Piatt  County.  They  were  the  parents 
of  five  children,  all  of  whom  lived  to  maturity  ; 
two  daughters  and  one  son  now  living.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Lingle  had  eleven  children,  only  five 
now  living— Margaret,  John  F.,  J.  M.,  Charles 
M.  and  Matilda  Alice.  Six  deceased— James 
M.,  Henry  W.,  Rachael  Elizabeth,  Thomas  J. 
and  two  infants.  All  the  living  are  married 
except  J.  M.,  who  stays  at  home  and  runs  the 


134 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


farm.  When  our  subject  was  first  married,  he 
settled  on  Sangamon  River,  Piatt  Count}', 
where  he  remained  till  1837,  then  came  again  to 
Union  Count}-,  and  in  1839  settled  on  present 
farm,  which  he  entered  from  the  Government. 
His  farm  consists  of  120  acres,  most  all  in 
cultivation.  In  politics,  he  has  ever  been 
Democratic,  and  is  a  member  of  the  German 
Reform  Church  ;  Mrs.  Lingle,  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  Mr.  J.  M.  Lingle  was  born  January 
12,  1852,  and  has  resided  on  the  present  farm 
of  his  father  all  his  life.  He  was  educated  in 
the  Cobden  schools,  and  has  made  farming  his 
occupation,  now  having  charge  of  his  father's 
farm.  He  gives  most  of  his  attention  to  grain 
and  small  fruits.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Lutherian  Church. 

L.  T.  LINXELL,  banker,  real  estate,  etc., 
Cobden.  Among  the  live,  wide-awake  business 
men  of  the  county  ma}-  be  classed  the  subject 
of  this  sketch.  He  was  born  in  the  State  of 
New  York  February  1-3.  1839,  and  is  a  son  of 
Samuel  and  Mahala  (Mitchell)  Linnell,  also  na- 
tives of  New  York,  who  emigrated  to  Illinois 
in  1848.  locating  at  Rockford,  where  Mrs. 
Linnell  died  the  next  year.  She  was  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  but  three  of  whom  ai'C  now 
living,  viz.:  Levi  and  our  subject,  and  one 
daughter,  Laura,  the  wife  of  Joel  Campbell,  a 
prominent  grain  dealer  of  Monticello,  Iowa. 
After  the  death  of  his  wife  some  years,  Mr. 
Linnell  married  Caroline  Thorn.  He  was  a  Whig; 
is  a  Republican.  Subject  received  his  education 
in  the  common  schools  of  the  country,  and  in 
the  Academy  at  Delton,  Wis.,  where  his  parents 
had  removed  from  Rockford,  111.,  and  where  he 
remained  four  years,  finishing  up  with  one  year 
at  Wayland  University,  at  Beaver  Dam,  Wis. 
He  commenced  teaching  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  years,  a  profession  in  which  he 
proved  very  successful,  and  which  he  continued 
to  follow  until  the  storm  of  war  burst  upon  us 
in  the  spring  of  18G1,  when  he  enlisted  in 
Company  E,  Twelfth  Wisconsin  Volunteer  In- 


fantry, as  Second  Lieutenant.  He  was  subse- 
quently promoted  to  First  Lieutenant,  and 
assigned  as  Ordnance  officer,  and  as  Assistant 
Quartermaster  of  the  Third  Division  of  the 
Seventeenth  Array  Corps,  which  position  he 
filled  until  mustered  out  of  the  service,  in  De- 
cember, 1864.  He  came  to  Cobden  the  next 
year  and  bought  a  small  farm  near  town,  which 
he  cultivated  for  two  years,  and  then  went  to 
Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  for  his  health,  but  returned 
here  in  a  short  time  and  bought  a  drug  store  in 
Cobden.  '  Soon  after  he  took  in  as  a  partner 
Dr.  J.  F.  McLoney  ;  he  withdrew  in  1877,  and 
the  next  year  our  subject  sold  out  and  tui-ned 
his  attention  exclusively  to  banking  and  real 
estate,  in  which  he  had  been  more  or  less  en- 
gaged for  some  time.  He  now  carries  on  a 
large  banking  and  real  estate  business,  and  may 
very  justly  be  ranked  among  the  solid  men  of 
the  community.  In  March,  1873,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Postmaster  of  Cobden,  and  still  holds 
the  position  ;  is  also  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Town  Trustees  ;  he  was  married  in  1864  to  Miss 
Isabel  A.  Lougley.  The  result  of  this  union 
was  six  children,  viz.:  B.  McPhersou,  Lewis 
M.,  Grace,  Florence,  Gertrude  and  Raymond  ; 
the  two  latter  deceased.  Mr.  Linnell  served  in 
Gen.  McPherson's  Corps  during  the  war,  and 
was  in  the  battle  of  Atlanta,  when  this  officer 
was  killed  ;  was  a  great  admirer  of  the  brave 
and  gallant  General.  He  cast  his  first  Presi- 
dential ballot  for  Abi'aham  Lincoln,  in  I860, 
also  1864,  while  in  the  field — his  entire  com- 
pany voting  the  Republican  ticket. 

JOHN  LOCKARD,  farmer,  P.  0.  Makanda, 
was  born  in  La\^-ence  County,  Tenn.,  June  20, 
1823,  to  William  and  Mary  (Ayres)  Lockard. 
She  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  but  he  in  Ten- 
nessee. October.  1837,  they  came  to  this 
county.  They  remained  here  till  1844,  when 
they  moved  to  Missouri.  In  1846,  they  moved 
to  Arkansas,  and  she  died  there  in  1854.  He 
died  in  1865.  To  them  six  sons  and  three 
daughters  were  born.      Our  subject  is  the  old- 


COBDEN   PRECINCT. 


135 


€st  of  the  family.  He  and  two  brothers  are 
all  of  the  family  now  living.  They  are  still 
living  in  Arkansas.  Our  subject's  parents  liv- 
ing on  the  frontier  all  the  time,  and  continu- 
ally moving,  his  .  earl}-  life  was  full  of  depri- 
vations. November  14,  IS-i-i,  he  was  married 
to  Sarah  Hagler.  She  was  born  in  this  State 
to  Paul  and  Betsie  (Clutts)  Hagler.  They 
were  both  earl}-  settlers  in  this  county  from 
North  Carolina,  and  died  here.  To  Mr.  and. 
Mrs.  Lockard  the  following  children  have  been 
born  :  Alfred,  Mary,  William.  Adam,  James^ 
Catherine,  John,  Sarah  Ann  (deceased),  George 
and  Lilly  Melvina.  Our  subject  also  moved  to 
Missouri,  but  in  1847  came  back  to  Illinois 
and  settled  on  his  present  farm,  and  has  been 
actively  engaged  in  farming  and  fruit-raising 
since.  In  his  farm  there  are  220  acres,  120  of 
which  are  in  cultivation.  He  and  wife  are 
members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  His  first 
vote  was  cast  for  James  K.  Polk.  Since  voted 
for  Lincoln,  etc..  but  now  has  adopted  the 
Greenback  platform. 

WILLIAM  F.  LONGLEY,  retired  farmer, 
P.  0.  Cobden,  was  born  in  Hawley,  Mass., 
August  6,  1814,  and  is  a  son  of  Edmond  and 
Olive  (Field)  Longley.  He  was  one  of  three 
brothers,  all  of  whom  served  in  the  war  of 
1812,  and  their  father,  Edmond  Longley,  was 
a  Revolutionary  soldier.  He  moved  to  Haw- 
ley, Mass.,  when  a  young  man,  and  lived 
there  until  his  death,  which  occurred  at  the 
age  of  ninety-six  years.  He  raised  a  family,  all 
of  whom  settled  within  a  mile  of  the  old  home- 
stead. They  were  of  the  old  Plymouth  stock 
of  Longleys.  Our  subject  r^plftined  in  Massa- 
chusetts until  twenty-one  years  of  age,  receiv- 
ing his  education  there  mostly,  and  in  1835 
going  to  Ohio  for  the  purpose  of  taking  a  full 
course  at  Oberlin  College  ;  but  his  eyesight 
failed  and  he  was  compelled  to  forego  it,  and 
after  teaching  a  couple  of  terms  in  Ohio  he  re- 
turned to  Massachusetts  and  taught  there  for 
a  term.    Engaged  in  the  fall  of  1837  in  general 


merchandising  in  the  town  of  Hawley,  in  part- 
nership with  his  brother  Freeman.  He  was 
appointed  Postmaster  at  Hawley,  Mass.,  March 
3,  1838,  an  office  he  held  about  six  years,  be- 
ing all  the  time  in  business  there.  He  sold 
out  and  removed  to  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  three 
or  four  years  later  to  Sterling,  N.  Y.,  and  after 
several  changes  of  business  he  was  again  ap- 
pointed as  Postmaster,  April  27,  1849,  at 
Sterling,  N.  Y.,  which  he  held  for  four  years. 
His  father's  age  and  feebleness  called  him  home, 
and  he  sold  out  his  mercantile  business  and 
returned,  where,  for  one  and  a  half  years  he 
carried  on  the  farm.  His  father  dying,  he  went 
to  Wisconsin  and  there  bought  a  farm,  remain- 
ing on  it  for  eleven  years.  In  January,  1866, 
he  came  to  this  county  and  settled  on  a  farm. 
He  and  Mr.  Linnell  went  into  partnership  in 
fruit-raising.  -This  was  continued,  with  some 
changes,  until  1879,  when  Mr.  L.'s  health 
failed,  and  he  took  his  present  place  as  Assist- 
ant Cashier  in  the  bank  of  Mr.  Linnell,  and 
Assistant  Postmaster  of  Cobden.  Mr.  Longley 
was  married  in  Massachusetts,  December  5, 
1838,  to  Miss  Lydia  S.  Bassett,  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  Bassett.  She  vvas  born  in  Ashfield, 
Mass.,  October  19,  1820.  She  is  the  mother 
of  four  children,  all  of  whom  are  living — Julia 
Ellen,  now  Mrs.  David  D.  Lee,  in  Pawnee 
City,  Neb.  ;  Isabella,  now  Mrs.  L.  T.  Linnell, 
of  Cobden  ;  Fannie  S.,  now  Mrs.  Herbert 
Dwinnell,  of  Wisconsin,  and  William  E.,  living 
in  Chicago.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  L.  are  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cobden.  In  poli- 
tics, he  was  a  Whig,  but  is  now  identified  with 
the  Republican  party. 

W.  P.  MESLER,  box  mill,  Cobden,  was  born 
in  Western  New  York  in  September,  1842.  In 
1862,  he  came  to  Pulaski  County,  and  was  in 
the  employ  of  James  Bell  at  UUin  until  1870  ; 
then  was  in  the  West  for  two  years.  In  1872, 
he  went  into  the  Cairo  Box  Mill ;  was  Superin- 
tendent and  also  partner  in  the  mill.  In  1876, 
became  to  Cobden,  and  in  1877  started  in  the 


136 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


present  box  factory  three  and  a  half  miles  west 
of  Cobden,  and,  as  he  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  business  and  the  consumers,  W.  P.  Mesler 
&  Co.  have  been  doing  a  good  business  since, 
and  one  which  has  rapidly  increased.  He  and 
his  partner,  James  Bell,  also  have  a  box  mill  in 
the  south  part  of  the  county,  started  in  1882. 
They  manufacture  all  kinds  of  fruit  and  vege- 
table boxes  and  baskets  not  patented.  The 
number  of  employes  of  course  varies  at  differ- 
ent seasons  of  the  year,  but  through  the  straw- 
berry season  they  require  about  fifty  persons 
in  the  mills  and  in  Cobden  ;  also  keep  from  fif- 
teen to  twenty  teams  at  work  all  the  time. 
When  first  starting  in  business  here  they  could 
sell  the  green  material,  but  now  all  want  the 
seasoned  material,  so  they  have  to  keep  a  large 
supply  on  hand.  "They  ship  to  all  States  west 
of  Pennsylvania,  except  on  the  Pacific  Slope, 
and  have  the  largest  trade  of  any  other  com- 
pany in  the  same  line  in  the  West.  Supply  all 
the  largest  fruit-growers  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley— Parker  Earle,  of  Cobden,  B.  F.  Baker 
&  Co.,  of  Chicago,  the  Drs.  McKay,  of  Madison, 
Miss.,  etc.  In  their  work  annually  they  use 
3,000  pounds  of  two-ounce  tacks,  about  200 
kegs  of  three-penny  fine  nails,  etc.  They  make 
material  up  ready  for  using  when  desired,  and 
ship  it  so.  One  day's  orders  for  immediate 
shipment  amounted  to  275,000  quart  boxes, 
and  the  sales  of  quart  boxes  for  1883  will  ex- 
ceed 4,000,000  boxes,  about  1,000,000  being 
for  use  in  the  county.  Previous  years  the 
sales  have  been  over  3,000,000  quart  boxes. 
This  one  industry  has  been  a  source  of  great 
profit  to  Cobden  and  Union  County,  making  a 
demand  for  all  timber  fit  for  boxing  material, 
and  o-iving  employment  to  so  many  persons. 

A.  J.  MILLER,  merchant,  Cobden,  was  born 
January  8,  18-15,  in  Jonesboro,  111.  His  par- 
ents, Henry  Miller,  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  Catharine  (Cover)  Miller,  a  native  of 
Maryland,  were  in  comfortable  circumstances, 
and  his  educational  advantages  were  as  good 


as  could  be  furnished  in  the  schools  of  Jones- 
boro. At  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  he  be- 
gan clerking  for  Adam  Buck,  then  a  merchant 
of  Cobden.  From  the  day  of  his  taking  serv- 
ice to  the  final  withdrawal,  he  enjoyed  the  con- 
fidence of  his  employers,  and  to  a  large  extent 
participated  with  them  in  the  management  of 
their  aflTairs,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years 
he  was  taken  as  a  partner  and  thus  did  busi- 
ness for  five  years.  In  1878,  he  formed  a 
partnership  under  the  firm  name  of  Miller  & 
Loomis,  which  is  now  recognized  as  one  of 
the  leading  enterprises  of  Cobden.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1880,  he  married  Allie,  a  daughter  of 
Capt.  L  N.  Phillips,  the  result  of  which  is  two 
children,  viz.:  Henry  and  Nettie  A.  He  is 
proprietor  of  Miller's  Opera  House  ;  owns  his 
present  business  room  and  the  adjoining  one  in 
which  Mr.  L.  T.  Linnell  is  doing  a  banking 
business  and  keeps  the  post  office.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  Chapter,  of 
Anna,  and  of  the  K.  of  H.  fraternities.  His 
efforts,  politically,  is  with  the  Democrats.  His 
estimable  lady  is  a  member  of'  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  The  father  of  our  subject  is 
deceased,  while  the  mother  survives  in  a  very 
pleasant  home  in  Anna,  blessed  with  plenty  of 
this  world's  goods  to  make  her  comfortable  the 
remainder  of  life.  She  blessed  her  husband 
with  eleven  children,  nine  of  whom  are  living, 
viz.:  George  N.,  A.  J.,  Alice  S.  the  (wife  of 
Arthur  Moss),  John  C,  Frank  P.,  David  W., 
Mary  M.  (the  wife  of  James  Dickerson),  Caleb 
and  Kittie.  The  parents  were  early  identified 
with  the  German  Reform  Church. 

WILLIAM  E.  MOBERLY,  retired  attorney 
and  real  estate,  Cobden,  was  born  in  Garrard 
County,  Ky.,  near  Lexington,  in  1822,  to 
John  and  Mahal  a  Moberly,  He  was  from 
Maryland,  and  died  when  our  subject  was 
young.  She  afterward  married.  By  first  hus- 
band she  had  two  sons — our  subject,  and  John 
Moberly,  who  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Georgia  Senate  for   some  time.     The  complete 


COBDEN  FRECIXCT. 


137 


history  of  William  E.  Moberly  would  occupy  a 
volume  in  itself,  but  a  few  of  the  leading  facts 
in  his  life  will  be  given.     He  was  raised  on  a 
farm,  and  when  a  young  man  went  to  Missouri 
to   seek    his   fortune  ;  he  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  Kentuck}',  and  after  going 
to  Missouri  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1849,  and  in  1850  commenced  the 
practice  of  his  profession  at   Brunswick,  Mo.; 
he  ver}^  soon  stood  at  the  head,  and  for  several 
3'ears  had  one  side  of  ever}-  important  case  in 
the  county.     He  continued  in  his  practice  until 
1860,  when  he  was  elected    President  of  the 
North  Missouri  Railroad,  a  road  in  which  he 
was  largely  interested.    He  continued  President 
for  over  three  years,  and  owned  the  controlling 
interest    in    the    road     before    selling     out ; 
during    the     time,    he      platted     the     town 
of    Moberly,    Mo.,     and    it    was     named     in 
his     honor.     In     1846,     he     was    elected    to 
the   Missouri  State   Legislature,   from  Macon 
County,  as  a  Whig ;  he  served  for  two  terms, 
then  declined  to  run  for   any  office   afterward 
if  he  thought   he   could   be   elected,  but  sev- 
eral times  was  a  candidate  for  the  sake  of  keep- 
ing party  alive,  although  he  knew  he  could  not 
be  elected.     For  three  years  during  the  war,  he 
was  Colonel  of  a   regiment  in  Missouri.    They 
were  located  around  the    old    home  of    Gren. 
Price,  and  their  work  was  to  keep  down  the  bush- 
whackers.    Previous  to  the  war,  he  was  a  large 
slave-holder,  and  although  his  friends  protested, 
he  was  ready  to   uphold    his   nation,  although 
he     knew     that   in     its     success      he     would 
lose    his    slaves.      Among   the  slaves  in    his 
house  was  a  sister  of  Senator  Bruce,  of  Mis- 
sissippi, and   it  was   in    his    kitchen  that  the 
future  Senator  received  his  first  lessons  in  read- 
ing ;  for  two  years,  he  was  the  body-guard  of 
our  subject.     In  the  latter  days  of  1864,   after 
quiet  had  been  restored  in  Missouri,  Mr.  Mo- 
berly moved  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  engaged  in 
the  real  estate  business,  and  has  had  his  office 
there  since.     By  his  keen  business  faculties,  he 


added   to   his  already  large  property.     Before 
the   war,  he    had   about   twenty-five  or  thirty 
thousand  acres  of  laud,  but  when  locating  in 
St.    Louis   he   transferred  it  mostly  into  city 
property  ;  at  one  time,  it  was  estimated  that  he 
was  worth   half  a  million  dollars,  but  he  sold 
his  railroad  stocks  and  invested  over  $300,000 
in    the    North  Missouri   Insurance    Company) 
thinking   that   it   was   in   good  hands  ;  he  did 
not  give  the    insurance  business  the  attention 
that  he  should,  and  before  he  was  awai-e  of  it 
the  officers  had  made  a  blunder,  and  the  credit 
of  the  company  was  lost.     He  put  in  $40,000 
more  to  try  saving  the  compan}',  but  to  no  pur- 
pose, its  credit  was  destro^-ed,  and  all  was  lost; 
about  the  same  time,  other  property  declined  in 
value,  so  his  losses  were  great,  outside  of  the 
insurance.     Although  Mr.  M.  had  made  a  suc- 
cess which  but  few  attain,  he  lost  most  of  it, 
but  tlu'ough  no  fault  of  his  own.     In  1880,  he 
bought  his  present  beautiful  residence  north  of 
Cobden,  and  will  here  end  his  days  in  quiet, 
awa}'  from  the   excitement   of  a  busy  city  life. 
In  1840,  in  Missouri,  he  was  married  to  Martha 
A.  Collins  ;  she  was  also  a  Kentuckian  b}'  birth 
and  education  ;  daughter  of  Joseph  and    Mary 
(Woolfork)  Collins,  an  old  and  wealthy  family 
of    Kentuckj'.     Mr.  and    Mi's.  Moberl}'  never 
had  children  of  their  own,  but  have   adopted 
and  raised  a  large  family,  and  have  well  edu- 
cated them.     This    is,  they   consider,  the   best 
investment   they    ever  made,  for  it  cannot  be 
taken  awa}'.     Mr.  Moberl}'  is  a  member  of  the 
I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  in  early  life  was  Deputy  Grand 
Master   of  the    State   of  Missouri,    and  repre- 
sented the  State  Lodge  in  the  National  Lodge. 
From  early  life    he  and    his  wife   have    been 
members  of  the  Christian  Church,  but  are  also 
Spirtiialists  ;  not  those,  however,  that  believe  in 
mediums.     He  now   takes  no  part  in  political 
life. 

A.  J.  PARMLY,  farmer  and  fruit-grower, 
P.  0.  Cobden.  John  Parmly,  the  father  of 
our  subject,   was   born  on  the  present  farm  of 


138 


BIOGRAPHICAJ. 


N.    B.    Collins,  Alto  Pass  Precinct,  November  | 
22,  1816.      He   was   the   son  of  Giles  Parmly 
(see  sketch  N.  B.  Collins),  who  was  one  of  the 
earliest  settlers  in  the  county.      John  Parmly 
resided  in  this  county  all  his  life,  except  one 
year  he  lived  in  Stoddard  County,  Mo.     In  the 
latter  part   of    1835,   he   was   married   when 
about   nineteen  years  of  age,  to  Bernice  Hen- 
son.     She  was  also  born  in  this  State,  and  was 
but  fourteen  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her 
marriage.      She    was    the    daughter   of  Jesse 
Henson,  who  was  an  early  settler  in  Jackson 
County,  and    who  made  quite  a  good  property 
by  stock-raising  near  Grand   Tower,  Jackson 
County.      For  some  years  after  marriage,  Mr. 
Parmly    would   buy  and  sell  farms,  so  he  did 
considerable  moving  from  place  to  place.      In 
1841.   he  sold  out  and  went  to  Missouri,  where 
he   remained    for   one  year  ;  then  returned  to 
this  county,  and  settled  on  the  Mississippi  River 
bottom,  and  lived  there  till  1858  ;  he  bought 
the  present   farm  owned  by   his  widow  as  her 
dowry.       At    time   of   his   death,   October   6, 
1878,  he  had   a  landed  property  of  about  900 
acres.      His   first   wife  died  either  in  the  last 
days  of  1859  or  first  of  1860.     By  her  he  had 
five  children  who  reached  maturity — Martha  J. 
(Seely),  Elizabeth  (Biggs),  deceased,  A.  J.,  W. 
L.  and  N.  B.      June,  1860,  he  was  married  to 
Mrs.    Sarah  (Biggs)  Freeman,    daughter  of  J). 
W.  Biggs,  an    old  resident  of  this  county  (see 
sketch   of  B.   F.    Biggs).      She   still  survives. 
She  was  the  widow  of  James  H.  Freeman.    B}' 
this  wife,  there  are  four  children  living — Olive 
M.    (Tweedy),    W.  D.,  Sarah  E.  and  Thisbe  E. 
Mr.   Parmly  never  had  the  opportunities  of  an 
education,  but  was  a  man  who  did  a  good  deal 
qf  reading  and  studying,  and  when  undertak- 
ing anything   he  made    it    a   study  till  it  was 
fully    understood.      He  did   not  make   up  his 
raind  hastily,  but   when    convinced   that  any- 
thing was   right,  he  could   not  ver}'  easily  be 
changed.     In  early  life,  he  was  rather  wild  and 
reckless,   but  in  later  years  professed  religion. 


and  for  some  years  before  death  was  a  min- 
ister in  the  Baptist  Church.  His  occupation 
was  that  of  farmer  and  fruit-raiser,  and  he 
was  eminentl}'  successful  because  he  made  it  a 
study.  His  home  farm  in  Section  6  was  one  of 
the  best  in  the  north  part  of  the  count}'.  .  He 
was  a  man  with  a  great  influence  in  any  direc- 
tion in  which  he  was  willing  to  lead,  in  politics 
or  in  agriculture.  Often  his  advice  was  asked 
with  regard  to  kinds  of  fruits  best  to  cultivate, 
etc.  Till  after  Lincoln's  first  election,  he  had 
been  a  Democrat,  but  he  then  changed  and  was 
so  outspoken  in  regard  to  the  war  that  he  made 
many  enemies,  and  it  was  threatened  to  burn 
him  out,  but  none  dared  to  make  the  venture. 
His  family  seem  to  have  imbibed  the  same 
spirit  of  thrift  and  attention  to  business,  and 
we  find  his  sons  among  the  successful  farmers 
and  fruit-raisers  of  the  precinct.  Our  subject,  the 
eldest  son  of  John  Parmly,  was  born  November 

4,  1846.  His  early  education  was  obtained  in 
the  district  schools  of  the  count}'.  He  afterward 
attended  one  term  at  McKendree  College,  Leb- 
anon, 111.,  and  his  father  offered  to  furnish 
money  for  him  to  complete  the  course  and  take 
a  profession,  but  he  preferred  the  farm,  and  re- 
mained at  home  till  he  was  twenty-nine  years 
of  age.  He  was  married,  March  5,  1875,  to 
Miss  Gertie  A.  Freeman,  daughter  of  James 
H.  and  Sarah  (Biggs)  Freeman.  Here  we  find 
a  peculiar  relationship.  Elizabeth  Parmly, 
daughter  of  John  Parmly,  first  married  B.  F. 
Biggs.  John  Parmly  married  for  his  second 
wife  Mrs.  Sarah  Freeman,  who  is  a  sister  of 
B.  F.  Biggs.  Then  our  subject  married  his 
stepmother's  daughter.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Parmly 
have  two  children — Sarah  Nellie,  born  August 

5,  1878,  and  Bernice  Alice,  born  February  14, 
1881.  Since  his  marriage,  Mr.  Parmly  has  been 
on  his  present  farm,  which  consists  in  all  of 
490  acres,  his  wife  also  having  an  undivided 
half  of  248  acres.  About  112  acres  of  his 
land  is  in  cultivation,  with  about  seventy  acres 
of  that  in  fruits  ;  thirty  acx'es  in  apples,   large 


COBDEN    PRECIXCT. 


13'j 


peach  and  pear  orchards,  also  strawberries. 
In  politics,  he  is  Republican,  but  never  took 
any  active  part  in  polities  till  the  fall  of  1882, 
when  he  was  persuaded  to  take  the  field  as  a 
candidate  -for  Assessor  and  Treasurer  of  the 
countj-.  He  was  elected  b}'  a  good  majority. 
Mr.  Parml}'  is  not  a  member  of  any  church  or 
society,  but  is  free  to  give  his  support  to  any- 
thing that  will  advance  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual standard  in  his  count3-. 

W.  L.  PARMLY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was 
born  December  18,  1852,  in  this  county,  on 
Running  Lake,  son  of  John  Parmlv.  (See 
sketch  of  A.  J.  Parmly.)  He  was  educated  in 
the  schools  of  this  county,  and  has  always 
been  engaged  in  farming  and  fruit-raising.  He 
was  married,  August  3,  1872,  to  Frances 
Winstead.  She  was  born  in  Missouri  Decem- 
ber 13, 1857,  to  William  and  Barbara  Winstead. 
Mrs.  Winstead  was  born  in  Missouri.  Mr. 
Winstead  either  in  Missouri  or  Tennessee.  He 
was  killed  by  accident  about  1864,  in  the  mill  of 
Charles  LeBarr,  Cobden,  the  saw  severing 
his  head  from  his  body.  He  left  a  widow  and 
five  small  children,  three  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. His  widow  married  Samuel  Ferrill,  Au- 
gust, 1874.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Parmly  have  three 
children  living  and  two  dead — Ernest,  Herbert, 
and  DeVere  (Lena  May  and  Lola),  deceased. 
Mr.  Parmly  bought  his  present  home  place  in 
1872,  and  settled  on  it  when  married  ;  he  af- 
terward bought  sixty  acres  more.  His  farm 
now  consists  of  120  acres,  about  seventy  im- 
proved, but  little  had  been  improved  when  he 
first  purchased.  Grain  and  fruit  receive  his 
attention.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

N.  B.  PARMLY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  son 
of  John  Parmly  and  brother  of  A.  J.  (see  sketch 
of  A.  J.),  was  born  in  Mississippi  River  bottom, 
October  11,  1856,  and  was  raised  and  educated 
in  this  county.  His  occupation  has  been  that 
of  his  fathers — farmer  and  fruit-gi'ower.  He 
was  married,  August  20,  1879,  to  Lucy  E 
Anderson.     She  was  also  born  in  this   county, 


March  5,  1862,  to  E.  J.  and  Poll}'  Ann  Ander- 
son. The\'  are  both  still  living  in  this  count}'. 
She  was  born  in  Indiana,  he  in  this  county, 
his  parents"  being  early  settlers  here.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Parmh'  have  two  children,  John  Garfield 
and  Ervin  Jackson.  Since  marriage,  he  has 
been  living  on  his  present  farm  of  137  acres. 
He  bought  it  January,  1877,  and  rented  it  till 
marriage,  living  at  home  and  running  his 
father's  farm  till  that  time.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Parml}'  is  Republican. 

COL.  F.  E.  PEEBLES,  fruit-grower,  hotel, 
etc.,  was  born  May  8,  1833,  in  Yandalia.  111.;  is 
a  son  of  Robert  H.  and  x\ugusta  (Ernst)  Pee- 
bles, natives,  the  former  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  latter  of  German  parentage  ;  was  born  on  an 
ocean  vessel.  The  father  was  of  Scotch  descent, 
and  settled  at  Yandalia  when  it  was  the  capital 
of  the  State.  He  was  an  early  physician  of 
that  city,  and  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war. 
He  made  his  advent  into  the  State  of  Illinois 
in  1818.  The  parents  wei-e  Presbyterians.  Our 
subject  had  good  common  school  advantages 
and  an  academic  course  at  Chicago.  He  first 
began  business  for  himself  in  1855,  in  Chicago, 
where  he  continued  for  two  years,  and  then 
transferred  to  Winona,  Wis.,  where  he  remained 
until  the  war,  at  the  breaking  out  of  which  he 
enlisted  in  a  Wisconsin  B.  L.  R.,  as  First  Lieu- 
tenant, which  position  he  held  for  two  years, 
and  was  then  promoted  to  the  command  of  the 
Forty-seventh  U.  S.  C.  T.,  and  was  mustered 
out  as  such  in  two  and  one-half  years.  Soon 
after  returning  from  the  war,  he  bought  a  farm 
near  Mobile,  Ala.,  and  in  one  year  came  to 
Cobden,  where  he  yet  resides.  Reengaged  for 
four  years  in  the  manufacturing  of  fruit  boxes, 
and  later  engaged  in  the  growing  of  fruits.  For 
the  last  seven  years,  until  lately,  he  has  been 
actively  engaged  in  traveling  for  Hager  & 
Spies'  fruit  house,  of  Chicago,  which  position 
he  resigned  to  accept  the  management,  as  gen- 
eral consignee,  of  the  Cobden  Fruit-Growers' 
Association,  a   situation    he   now   holds.     He 


140 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  married,  1864,  to  Mary  Stone,  one  of  two 
children,  as  the  result  of  the  union  of  Isaac 
and  R.  C.  Stone.  Mr.  Peebles'  marriage  has 
given  him  four  children,  viz.:  Gertrude,  Au- 
gusta, Elizabeth  and  Robert.  He  was  an  active 
worker  in  establishing  a  first-class  library  at 
Cobden,  a  history'  of  which  is  given  elsewhere. 
His  daughter,  Gertrude,  is  the  efficient  librari- 
an. In  addition  to  his  above  mentioned  ])usi- 
ness,  he  has  been  running  the  Phillips  Hotel,  to 
remunerative  advantage,  and  satisfaction  of 
many  guests,  but  the  Colonel  recentl}-  gave  up 
the  hotel  business,  and  is  giving  his  entire  time 
to  his  farm  in  Cobden  Precinct.  He  has  held 
some  small  offices,  and  is  a  stanch  Republican. 
AMOS  POOLE,  fruit-raiser,  P.  0.  Cobden. 
Some  time  in  the  seventeenth  century,  one  by 
the  name  of  John  Poole  was  born,  either  on  the 
Isle  of  Man  or  Taunton,  England.  Early 
in  life,  he  came  to  America,  and  for  some  years 
resided  at  Beverly,  Mass.,  working  with  one 
Richard  Woodbury,  who  died  in  1690,  leaving 
a  widow  whom  Poole  afterward  married.  In 
April,  1700,  he  bought  of  John  Emerson,  Jr..  a 
tract  of  land  at  "3'e  Cape,"  and  moved  to  it, 
finding  but  one  famil}'  on  Sandy  Bay,  now 
Rockport,  Mass.,  that  of  Richard  Tarr,  who 
had  settled  there  a  short  time  before.  Poole 
became  a  large  land-owner,  and  died  in  1727, 
quite  wealth}'.  He  had  been  married  four  times 
and  had  seven  children.  One  son,  Ebenezer, 
was  born  in  1699.  He  also  had  quite  a  large 
famil}-,  and  one,  Francis,  was  the  grandfather  of 
our  subject.  His  son,  Aaron  Poole,  the  father 
of  Amos,  was  born  November  12,  1767,  and 
lived  to  the  age  of  sevent3'-six  years.  His 
wife,  Sarah  (Batman)  Poole,  was  born  May 
10,  1770,  and  reached  the  advanced  age  of 
eightj'-seven  5'ears.  The}'  were  the  parents  of 
nine  children,  only  four  of  whom  reached  ma- 
turit3\  There  are  onl}'  two  now  living,  the 
oldest  son,  Aaron,  born  October,  1798,  and  our 
subject,  who  was  born  September  8,  1814,  in 
Rockport,  Mass.     Aaron  still  lives  on  the  old 


homestead,  where  his  father  lived  and  died.  By 
trade,  the  father  of  our  subject  was  a  cooper, 
but  most  of  his  life  was  spent  in  farming. 
When  a  boy,  x^mos  learned  his  trade  of  black- 
smith, and  then  began  working  by  the  day. 
This  he  continued  for  six  years,  and  in  that 
time  saved  $2,000;  then  established  a  business 
of  his  own  at  Milton,  Mass.,  six  miles  south  of 
Boston  Court  House.  Here  he  continued  for 
about  twenty-five  years,  till  coming  to  Union 
County,  111.,  February,  1868.  When  coming 
to  this  county,  he  bought  but  forty  acres  of 
his  present  farm,  and  has  since  been  engaged  in 
general  fruit  and  vegetable  growing.  His  farm 
contains  eighty  acres  and  is  well  improved,  but 
contained  few  of  the  present  improvements 
when  he  bought  it.  In  Milton,  Mass.,  October 
6,  1841,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Caroline  C. 
Rand.  She  was  born  in  Bradford,  Vt,  but  her 
parents  moved  to  Milton,  Mass.,  when  she  was 
small,  and  resided  there  until  the  time  of  their 
death.  She  is  the  daughter  of  John  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Babcock)  Rand.  They  were  both  na- 
tives of  Massachusetts.  She  was  born  at  Mil- 
ton. In  early  life,  he  resided  in  Beverly,  Mass., 
where  his  father  was  a  baker,  and  he  Jjearned 
the  trade  of  chaise-maker,  and  was  established 
in  business  at  one  time  in  Boston,  but  sold  out 
and  entered  the  ministry,  being  one  of  the  early 
Christian  ministers.  He  traveled  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  preaching  the  Gospel,  then  settled 
in  Milton,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
four.  She  died  at  the  age  of  sixt3--six.  The 
Rands  formerly  came  from  England.  Mr.  R. 
was  one  of  the  early  workers  in  the  temperance 
cause,  and  also  one  of  the  earliest  Abolition- 
ists. They  were  the  parents  of  eleven  chil- 
dren who  reached  maturity,  six  of  whom  are 
still  living.  Of  Mrs.  Poole's  brothers,  it  is  use- 
less to  speak,  for  their  reputation  is  world- 
wide, one  establishing  the  publishing  house  in 
Boston  of  Rand,  Avery  &  Co.  ;  another  is  the 
senior  member  of  the  Chicago  house  of  Rand, 
McNally   &    Co.  ;  and    still  another,   Franklin 


COBDEX    PRECINCT. 


141 


Rand,  devoted  thirty  j-ears  of  the  best  part  of 
his  life  to  Zions  Herald,  and  it  was  largely  due 
to  his  energy  that  the  paper  made  its  financial 
success.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Poole  have  five  sons 
living,  one  daughter  dead  :  George  A.,  Caroline 
S.  (deceased).  William  H.,  Arthur  B.,  Franklin 
R.  and  Frederick  C.  The  daughter  died  Janu- 
ary 5, 1867.  She  was  the  wife  of  John  Ritchie, 
of  Boston.  The  Poole  Bros.,  George  A.  and 
William  H.,  started  into  the  printing  business 
for  tliemselves  January,  1881,  and  have  in  their 
employ  over  eighty  persons.  Rooms  117-119 
Lake  street,  Chicago.  Entrance  also  on  Clark 
street.  They  were  both  with  Rand,  McNally 
&  Co.  for  quite  a  time,  and  are  still  interested 
in  the  company  as  stock-holders.  George  A. 
had  clerked  for  them,  but  William  H.  learned 
the  printer's  trade.  The  other  three  sons  are 
in  Montana.  In  politics,  Mr.  Poole  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  has  not  been  without  political  honors 
serving  one  term  in  the  Massachusetts  State 
Legislature. 

J.  P.  REESE,  farmer  and  fruit-grower.  P. 
0.  Cobden,  was  born  in  Wilson  County,  Tenn., 
April  7,  1834,  to  William  and  Martha  (Taylor) 
Reese.  The}-  were  both  natives  of  Tennessee. 
He  was  born  1796,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
white  men  born  in  the  State  of  Tennessee.  Died 
February  28,  1883.  She  was  born  1803,  died 
1845  in  Williamson  County,  111.  They  came 
to  Illinois,  1839,  and  settled  in  Williamson 
County.  He  resided  in  Williamson  County 
till  he  was  so  old  that  he  was  almost  helpless, 
then  came  to  our  subject's  and  died  there.  He 
was  the  cousin  of  President  Polk,  and  as  his 
parents  were  wealthy,  he  was  raised  a  typical 
Southern  gentleman.  He  spoke  little  of  his 
early  life,  but  we  know  that  before  leaving 
Tennessee  he  was  Clerk  of  the  Court,  and  after 
settling  in  Marion  he  was  Justice  of  the  Peace 
and  Notary  Public  till  too  old  to  attend  to  busi- 
ness. For  four  years,  his  office  was  in  the  same 
room  as  Col.  Bob  Ingersoll's.  He  was  twice 
married  ;  bv  first  wife  there  were  two  sons  and 


one  daughter,  and  by  the  second,   the   mother 
of  our  subject,  four  sons  and  four  daughters, 
all  of  whom  are   living   except   one   daughter. 
He  was  a  man  of  strongl}'  Southern  principles, 
but    was    opposed    to    slavery.     One   of  his 
oldest  sons  was  in  the  Southern  army,  and  was 
killed  at   Perryville.     Four  sons  were  in   the 
Northern    army  and    all  came  out  but   one. 
J.  P.   received    four   flesh  wounds.     He    was 
Captain   of  Company  E,    Eighty-first    Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  after  first   three  months. 
Enlisted  August  11,  1862,  mustered  out  Aug- 
ust 5,  1865.     Except   for   three   and  one-half 
months  when  he  was  a  prisoner  of  war,  he  was 
with  his  company  during  the  service.     He  was 
captured   at  Guntown,    Miss.,  June    11,  1864, 
and  was  one  of  the  number  put  under   fire   of 
the    Union  troops    at  Charleston.     After   his 
exchange,  September  25,  1864,  he  returned  to 
his  company.     Our    subject    never    attended 
school  but  about  nine   months,  but  since    he 
has  had  a  family  of  his  own  he  has  done  a  great 
deal  of  reading  and  studying.     His  occupation 
has  been  that  of  farming,  since   starting  for 
himself     After  his  mother's  death,   he  worked 
on  farms   from  place   to  place.     January    12, 
1855,  he  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss  A. 
T.   O'Daniell,  daughter   of  John    and    Betsie 
(Penrod)  O'Daniell.     Mr.  O'Daniell  was  born  in 
Tennessee,    his  wife  in  this  count}-   in    1816. 
She  is  probably  the  oldest   person   now   living 
who  was  born  in  this  county.     Mr.    and   Mrs. 
Reese    have    five    children — Willis    A.,    Zeb, 
Louisa,  Lena  and  Ann.     Willis  A.  is  a  lawyer 
by  profession,  but  is  now  farming   at   home. 
Zeb  is  operator  at  Richview,  111.     When  first 
married,  he  settled  on  his  present  farm,  which 
contains  200  acres,  one-half  in  cultivation.  He 
is  engaged  in  general  farming,  but  fruit-raising 
receives  most  of  his  attention,  and  he  is  very 
successful.     He-  hauled  the  first  load  of  wheat 
to  Cobden,  having  to  cut  and  blaze  out  a  road. 
He  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Cobden  Lodge, 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is  Republican  in  politics. 


143 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


W.  0.  RICE,  fruit-raiser,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was 
born  in  Portage  Cit}',  Wis.,  August  8,  1851,  to 
William  and  Miranda  (Winchell)  Rice.  He 
was  born  in  Mt.  Morris,  N.  Y.,  September  20, 
1813.  She  also  in  same  State,  in  Ticonderoga, 
February  16,  18U.  He  died  April  27,  1882. 
When  Mrs.  Rice  was  a  child,  her  parents 
moved  from  New  York  to  Vermont,  and  there 
she  remained  till  twent3'-eight  3'ears  of  age,  re- 
moving thence  to  Wisconsin.  He,  however, 
had  moved  to  Wisconsin  from  New  York,  and 
it  was  there  the}'  were  married.  They  remained 
in  Wisconsin  till  November,  1864,  when  they 
came  to  Union  County  and  settled  on  their 
present  farm.  A  son,  W.  0.,  and  a  daughter. 
Belle,  blessed  this  union  ;  both  are  now  living 
at  home.  Mr.  Rice  was  the  youngest  of  a 
family  of  five  brothers.  By  trade,  he  was  a 
carpenter  and  joiner,  and  had  made  that  his 
occupation  till  coming  to  this  county.  Then 
he  engaged  in  the  fruit  culture.  He  was  in  the 
service  for  six  months  with  Gen.  Butler,  but 
being  too  old  for  active  duty,  he  was 
commissary  clerk.  At  the  time  of  his 
death,  he  was  on  a  prospecting  tour  in 
Kansas.  He  was  taken  suddenly-  sick,  and 
died  and  was  buried  without  his  family  know- 
ing anything  of  it.  Mrs.  Rice  is  one  of  a  family 
of  ten  children,  six  girls  and  four  boj-s.  Seven 
of  the  number  are  still  living  ;  one  died  in  the 
Mexican  army.  Mrs.  Rice  is  a  relative  of  the 
Winchells,  of  ^Michigan,  where  all  her  father's 
family  now  live,  except  one  of  her  sisters,  who 
resides  in  Wisconsin.  Mrs.  Rice's  mother,  with 
a  number  of  other  women,  were  in  the  battle  of 
Plattslnirg,  during  the  war  of  1812.  Her  hus- 
band was  taking  part  in  the  engagement,  and 
as  the  men  would  fire  and  retire  to  load,  the 
women  would  give  them  water,  and  watch  to 
see  if  some  dear  one  was  missing.  Both  our 
subject  and  his  sister  were  instructed  in  their 
studies  at  homo,  till  they  were  well  advanced  in 
their  studies.  Miss  Belle  afterward  attended  the 
State  Normal,   at    Carbondale,   and  has  made 


teaching  her  profession.  Before  coming  to  the 
State,  our  subject  had  attended  the  German 
school  for  one  year,  then  the  Cobden  schools  in 
this  count}',  and  one  year  at  the  State  Universi- 
t}'  at  Champaign.  He  has  always  been  en- 
gaged in  fruit  farming  since  working  for  him- 
self. Their  farm  consists  of  fortj'-seven  acres, 
and  is  in  a  good  state  of  cultivation.  All  the 
members  of  the  family  are  Presbyterians  in  re- 
ligion, belonging  to  the  Presb^'terian  Church  of 
Cobden.  Our  subject  has  made  quite  a  study 
of  archiieology,  and  has  exhumed  the  remains  of 
several  human  beings,  and  remains  of  an  an- 
cient civilization.  These  have  been  taken  from 
the  deposits  under  overhanging  cliffs.  He  has 
here  found  complete  skeletons,  pieces  of  pottery, 
ashes,  parched  corn,  bones  of  different  smaller 
animals,  and  also  pieces  of  fabrics  showing 
hand-weaving.  The  skeletons  are  l^'ing  on  the 
sides,  knees  to  the  breast,  arms  between  the 
knees,  etc.,  showing  that  such  was  the  custo- 
mar}'  wa}'  for  burial.  He  cannot  yet  determine 
the  exact  age  in  which  they  lived,  but  from  the 
deposits  in  which  they  are  found  knows  they 
are  of  an  ancient  race. 

HON.  WILLIAM  C.  RICH,  Sr.,  capitalist, 
Cobden.  Among  the  few  who  have  been  pre-emi- 
nentl}'  successful  in  this  count}',  we  find  Mr. 
Rich.  He  was  born  on  the  Tennessee  line  in 
Alabama  November  18.  1819,  to  Thomas  and 
Catherine  (Noah)  Rich.  The  ancestors  of  the 
Rich  family  were  Germans,  but  had  been  in 
America  for  generations.  The  grandfather  of 
our  subject  moved  from  N'orth  Carolina  to 
Tennessee,  Franklin  County,  when  his  sou 
Thomas  was  but  a  young  man,  and  resided 
there  until  the  time  of  his  death.  Thomas 
Rich  was  married  in  Tennessee  to  the  mother 
of  our  subject,  and  lived  in  that  State  until 
after  .several  children  were  born  to  them  ;  tiien 
he  moved  to  Alabama  among  the  canebrakes 
and  Indians.  Here  he  remained  till  1834, 
when  he  moved  with  his  family  to  Illinois,  but 
had  started  with  the  intention  of  going  to  Ar- 


COBDEN    PRECINCT. 


143 


kansas.     After  coming  to  this  county,  he  re- 
mained for  a  part  of  a  ^ear  in   what  is  now 
Rich  Precinct,  then    bought    the    farm    now 
owned  by  John  M.  Rich,   his   youngest  son. 
He  resided  then  on  the  old  homestead  till  his 
death    in    1866.     His    wife,  however,  died   in 
1845.     They   were  the   parents  of  three  sons 
and  six  daughters  ;  two  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters are  now  living.     Our  subject  was  educated 
in  the  proverbial  schools  of  the  pioneer — round 
logs  built  up  and  a  rude  cover  over  it,  but  no 
floors  ;  their  seats  were  made  bv  splitting  logs 
and  putting  legs  in  the  pieces  ;  there  was  one 
door,  but  no  window  except  an  opening  left  be- 
tween two  logs  ;  then  the  fire-place  occupied 
one  end  of  the   building,  and   at  noons    the 
boys  would  have  to  cut  down  the  trees  and  get 
in  the    wood  which   they    burned.      Notwith- 
standing such  rude  schoolhouses,  our  subject 
obtained  sufficient  schooling  to  engage  in  teach- 
ing school  for  some  time  in  winters,  farming 
in  the  summer.     He  frequently  indulged  in  the 
sport   of    hunting.     When   about    twentj'-five 
years  of  age,  he  was  married  to  Millie  C.  Guth- 
rie, daughter  of  Ansaleu    Gruthrie,   who    had 
come  to  this  county  from  Kentucky  about  four 
years  after  our  subject.     Mr.  and    Mrs.   Rich 
have  eleven  children  living — Samantha  (Tripp), 
Catherine,  Matilda  (Moreland),  Eliza  (Condon), 
La  Fayette,  Amalphus,  William,  Maria,  Lou, 
Lizzie  and  George.     Mr.  Rich  has  never  given 
up  farming,   although  his  other  business  has 
frequentl}'  taken  nearly  liis    whole  attention. 
When  a  young  man,  he  was  elected  Constable, 
and  from  that  time  on  has  been  in  some  public 
office    most   of    the  time.     Served  as  Deputy 
Sheriff  for  a  number  of  years  ;  afterward  served 
%  for  twelve  years  as  Justice  of  the  Peace.     In 
1861  and   1862,  he  was  School  Commissioner. 
Then  in  1863  was  elected  to  fill  out  a  vagancy 
in  the  Sherifi"s  office  ;  when  the  term  was  up, 
he  was  elected  for  the  ensuing  two  years,  1865 
and  1866.     He  then  retired  for  two  years,  but 
was   again  elected   for  the   term  of  1869  and 


1870.  In  1871  and  1872,  he  was  in  the  State 
Legislature,  and  from  1879  to  1882  he  was  one 
of  the  County  Commissioners.  In  politics,  he 
has  ever  been  Democratic.  About  1861,  he 
joined  the  Jonesboro  Lodge,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 
Is  also  a  member  of  the  Royal  Arch  Chapter  at 
Anna.  Although  Mr.  Rich  has  spent  a  great 
deal  of  his  time  in  public  life,  he  has  not  neg- 
lected his  own  business,  and  has  made  a  large 
property  by  hard  work  and  saving.  His  father 
being  a  man  in  very  moderate  circumstances, 
could  not  help  his  children  to  make  a  start, 
and  so  he  early  formed  the  practice  of  relying 
upon  himself  and  of  taking  but  few  risks.  A 
short  time  before  the  panic  of  1872,  he  had  en- 
gaged in  the  mercantile  business  in  Jonesboro, 
in  partnership  with  Willis  Willard.  The  panic 
soon  following,  they  found  that  they  were  not 
making  anything,  so  they  divided  the  goods 
and  boxed  them  up.  But  Mr.  Rich  did  not 
like  the  idea  of  having  about  S6,000  worth  of 
goods  on  his  hands  and  yielding  him  no  profit, 
so  traded  one  half  and  got  a  half-interest  in  a 
saw  mill  in  Jackson  County.  So  they  ran 
store  and  mill  for  two  years,  running  the  lum- 
ber down  Big  Muddy  and  up  to  St.  Louis. 
They  then  closed  out  business  at  the  end  of 
two  j-ears. 

JOHN  M.  RICH, farmer  and  fruit-grower,P.  0. 
Cobden,  was  born  just  across  the  line  from  Ten- 
I  nessee  in  Alabama  October  4,  1828,  to  Thomas 
and  Catherine  (Noah)  Rich.  The  grandfather 
of  our  subject  moved  to  Tennessee  when  Thomas 
was  a  young  man,  and  he  lived  the  remainder 
of  his  days  near  a  small  town  called  Salem,  in 
Franklin  County.  He  was  of  German  descent, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  left  a  large  family 
who  scattered  to  the  different  States  in  the 
Union,  Thomas  coming  to  this  State  in  1834, 
and  settled  first  in  what  is  Rich  Precinct,  but 
either  in  the  last  of  the  same  year  or  the  first 
days  of  1835,  he  bought  the  present  home- 
stead of  our  subject,  and  resided  there  until 
the  time  of  his  death  in   1866.     His  wife  had 


144 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


died  in  1845.  They  were  the  parents  of  tliree 
sons  and  six  daughters,  two  sons  and  four 
daughters  are  now  living.  Our  subject  is  the 
youngest  child.  He  has  always  resided  on  the 
old  homestead,  and  has  been  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  fruit-raising.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion in  the  subscription  schools  of  the  county, 
and  had  to  go  several  miles  to  attend  them. 
February,  184:7,  he  was  married  in  this  county, 
to  Ann  Uffendill.  She  was  born  in  England, 
1826,  to  Michael  and  Mary  (Robinson)  Uffen- 
dill. They  came  to  America  about  1835.  For 
a  time  they  remained  in  New  York  ;  then  made 
several  moves  before  coming  to  this  State, 
going  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  from  New  York;  then 
to  Troy,  where  they  remained  for  about  one 
year,  and  then  to  Evansville,  Ind.;  from  Evans- 
ville  to  Cairo,  111.,  at  the  time  the  State  first 
projected  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  They 
afterward  moved  to  this  county,  and  she  died  at 
Jonesboro,  soon  after  coming  to  the  county,  he 
in  Anna  May,  1882.  He  had  been  engaged  in 
different  occupations,  keeping  hotel,  butchering, 
etc.,  and  for  some  years  before  his  death  had 
followed  the  family  grocery  business  in  Anna. 
Of  their  family  of  eight  children  that  they 
brought  to  the  United  States,  only  three 
daughters  are  now  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rich 
have  eight  children —Thomas  J.,  William  C, 
Jr.,  M.  M.,  George  D.,  Adelia,  Mary  A.,  Robert 
L.  and  Carry  B.  All  of  the  sons  except  3-oung- 
est  are  in  business  for  themselves — farming, 
fruit-raising,  etc.,  William  C,  Jr.,  is  practicing 
law  at  Jonesboro.  Except  the  youngest,  the 
daughters  are  all  married.  Mr.  R.'s  farm  con- 
sists of  188  acres,  and  on  this  he  is  engaged  in 
general  farming  and  fruit-raising,  especially  of 
the  smaller  varieties.  He  is  also  member  of  the 
mercantile  firm  of  Rendleman  &  Rich,  of  Alto 
Pass,  but  does  not  stay  in  the  store  any  him- 
self. In  1862,  he  entered  the  service  of  his 
country  and  was  chosen  Captain  of  Company 
C  One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,    but   served   only    for    about    seven 


months.  When  at  Memphis,  he  and  seven 
other  officers  of  the  regiment  were  discharged. 
Accusations  had  been  made  against  them,  and 
a  form  of  trial  had  been  gone  through  with, 
but  the  accused  were  not  allowed  to  appear  for 
themselves  nor  had  they  counsel.  Although 
stung  by  this  reproach,  they  had  clear  con- 
sciences, knowing  that  the  accusations  were 
false  and  the  trial  unfair.  In  after  years,  they 
were  reinstated,  however,  and  received  pay  for 
the  time  served.  Mr.  Rich  is  a  member  of  the 
Cobden  Lodge,  A..  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  in  politics 
IS  Democratic.  Mr.  R.  and  his  oldest  son  have 
met  with  quite  heavy  losses,  as  within  six  years 
they  have  paid  about  $8,000  security  debt,  but 
by  perseverance  they  have  come  out  of  it  all 
right. 

M.  F.  ROLENS,  physician  and  surgeon,  Cob- 
den. Prominently  classed  among  the  physi- 
cians of  this  county  is  Dr.  Rolens,  born  Octo- 
ber 15, 1855,  in  G-uernsey  County,  Ohio  ;  is  a 
son  of  W.  F.  and  Elizabeth  (McGowen)  Rolens, 
natives,  the  former  of  Maryland,  and  the  latter 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  parents  of  eight  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  are  living,  viz.  :  Sarah  E. 
(the  wife  of  Robert  Wilson,  a  farmer  and  coal 
miner  of  Jackson  County),  Hugh  H.,  James  M., 
Louisa  M.  (the  wife  of  W.  B.  McClure,  station 
agent  at  Gillsburg,  III),  William  R.,  M.  F., 
George  S.  and  Mary  E.  Our  subject  attended 
the  county  and  select  schools,  and  for  some 
time  at  the  Normal  at  Carbondale.  He  taught 
four  terms.  He  began  reading  medicine  in 
1876,  with  E.  H.  Wheeling,  of  Galesburg,  con- 
tinuing there  some  time,  and  then  with  M.  G. 
Parsons,  of  Murphy sboro,  Jackson  County. 
He  attended  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  and  subsequently  4^ 
completed  his  course  at  the  Hospital  College  of 
Medicine  at  Louisville,  Ky.  He  at  once  began 
practicing  at  Murphy  sboro,  and  in  1882  located 
at  Brazeau,  Perry  Co.,  Mo.  In  December, 
1882,  he  came  to  Cobden,  where  he  has  al- 
ready grown  into  the  good  grace?       Hie  people, 


COBDEN  PRECINCT. 


145 


and  is  doing  a  large  practice.      Was  married, 

February  14,  1881,  to  Ida  E.  Stephens,  of 
Union  County,  the  result  being  one  child,  Louis 
E.  While  in  Missouri,  the  Doctor  was  chosen 
Trustee  of  a  high  school. 

DR.  B.  F.  ROSS,  P.  0.  Cobden,  whose  por- 
trait appears  in  this  work,  was  born  August  10, 
1832,  in  Franklin  County,  Penn.  His  father, 
Samuel  M.  Ross,  was  of  Scotch  descent  and 
probably  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  His 
mother,  Rebecca  (Chilerstone)  Ross,  was  of 
English  parentage  and  was  also  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania. The  father  died  in  the  county  of 
his  birth,  and  the  mother  died  in  Clinton 
County,  111.  The  fruit  of  their  union  was 
several  children.  Our  subject  attended  the 
county  schools  of  Clinton  County,  111.,  as  much 
as  was  convenient,  owing  to  the  amount  of 
farm  labor  devolving  upon  him.  Being  thus 
reared  on  a  farm,  he  was  early  imbued  with 
habits  of  industry  and  self-reliance,  which 
have  been  among  the  leading  characteristics  of 
his  life.  Having  a  decided  literary  taste,  he, 
at  the  age  of  twenty -one  years,  concluded  to 
abandon  farm  labor  and  chose  the  profession  of 
medicine,  and  accoi'dingly  began  the  study  of 
the  same  under  the  tutorship  of  Drs.  Phillips 
and  Henry,  of  Nashville,  111.,  with  whom  he 
remained  for  three  years  actively  engaged  in 
his  studies  and  attending  to  the  drug  store  of 
his  preceptors.  He  then  attended  Rush  Med- 
ical College  of  Chicago,  where  he  graduated 
with  high  honors  in  1858.  He  at  once  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  for  which  he  had 
thus  so  elaborately  prepared  himself  at  Cobden, 
where  he  has  since  remained,  building  up  a 
lucrative  practice.  He  was  married  in  1861,  to 
Elizabeth  Hearns,  a  native  of  New  York,  the 
fruit  of  which  union  is  two  children,  viz.  :  Min- 
nie and  Frank.  He  has  endeavored  to  devote 
his  entire  time  to  his  profession,  but  has  been 
forced  to  find  time  to  attend  to  some  minor 
offices,  where  it  is  really  all  labor  and  no  pay. 


such  as  Township  and  Village  Trustee,  and  was 
for  ten  years  Township  Treasurer.  By  econ- 
omy and  frugality,  he  has  secured  some  good 
property  in  the  village  of  his  adoption,  yet 
with  a  childlike  confidence,  he  has  trusted 
man}',  during  his  long  practice,  only  to  be  the 
loser.  In  the  upbuilding  of  the  beautiful  little 
village  of  Cobden,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  he  has  done  his  full  share,  and  in  its  writ- 
ten history  his  name  occupies  an  honorable 
and  conspicuous  place  upon  its  pages.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  and  K.  of  H. 
fraternities  of  Cobden.  He  is  an  active  Dem- 
ocrat, and  really  the  leader  of  that  organiza- 
tion where  he  resides.  His  estimable  lady  is 
a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Dr. 
Ross  has  successfully  borne  all  the  hardships 
and  privations  incident  to  the  life  of  the  earl}' 
settlers,  and  they  have  developed  in  him,  as  a 
natural  result,  both  physical  vigor  and  the 
sturdy  moral  and  mental  health  which  are  se- 
cured by  the  constant  practice  of  industry  and 
thrift. 

JACKSON  SIFFORD,  farmer  and  fruitgrow- 
er,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was  born  in  this  county  August 
17,  1834,  to  Peter  and  Leah  (Mull)  Siflbrd. 
They  were  both  born  in  North  Carolina,  he 
1795,  she  1805.  They  came  to  this  county 
in  1819  ;  were  married  in  1820.  Their  ances- 
tors were  of  German  origin.  He  died  in  this 
County  in  1853.  She  is  still  living.  They  were 
the  parents  of  twelve  children,  seven  of  whom 
are  still  living,  three  sons  and  four  daughters. 
He  made  no  permanent  settlement  till  1827, 
when  he  settled  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  A. 
L.  Sitter,  and  died  there.  Our  subject's  oppor- 
tunities for  an  education  were  very  limited. 
He  remained  at  home  till  he  was  twenty-three 
years  old,  and  assisted  in  the  support  of 
the  family.  In  1856,  he  was  married  to  Rosena 
Mull,  daughter  of  Martin  and  Catherine  Mull. 
They  were  also  early  settlers  in  this  county, 
coming    from   North  Cai'olina.      She    is  still 


146 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


living,  but  he  died  a  few  years  ago.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Sifford  have  twelve  children,  all  but 
one  living— William,  John,  Sarah,  Tampa, 
Frank,  Louis,  Ida,  Delia,  Edward  (deceased), 
Cora,  Nina  and  Amos.  When  first  married, 
Mr.  S.  settled  on  his  present  farm  of  eighty -five 
acres,  and  is  engaged  in  general  grain,  fruit 
and  vegetable  farming.  He  and  wife  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Lutheran  Church.  In  politics,  he 
is  Democratic. 

DANIEL  SIFFORD,  farmer  and  fruit-grower, 
P.  0.  Cobden,  is  a  native  of  Union  County,  111., 
born  January  5,  1839,  and  is  a  son  of  Peter 
and  Leah  (Mull)  Sifford.  (See  sketch  Jackson 
Sifford.)  His  early  life  was  spent  at  home 
assisting  to  till  the  home  farm,  and  receiving 
such  an  education  as  could  be  obtained  in  the 
schools  of  the  county.  Arriving  at  his  majority, 
he  embarked  on  his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer, 
an  occupation  he  has  since  followed  ;  his  farm 
contains  125  acres  of  good  land,  of  which  100 
are  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  and  a  por- 
tion devoted  to  fruit-growing.  Mr.  Sifford  was 
married  in  1861,  on  the  18th  of  April,  to  Miss 
Susan  C.  Casper,  a  native  of  the  county  ;  born 
November  8,  1842  ;  she  is  a  daughter  of  Henry 
Casper,  whose  history  appears  in  another  part 
of  this  volume.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  have  been 
blessed  with  eight  children,  viz.:  Dora  E.,  W. 
K,  T.  Peter,  Minnie  J.,  Lizzie,  Henry,  Dell  and 
Susie.  Mr.  S.  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  ;  he  is  a  member  of  the  or- 
ders of  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  and  K.  of  H.  Poli- 
tically, he  is  a  Democrat. 

GEORGE  SNYDER,  fruit  and  vegetable 
grower,  Cobden,  was  born  in  Susquehanna 
County,  Penn.,  March  2,  1823,  to  Benjamin 
and  Elizabeth  (Griffin)  Snyder,  both  of  whom 
were  born  in  New  York,  he  in  Columbia 
County,  she  in  Orange  County.  Both  died  in 
Pennsylvania.  They  were  the  parents  of  four 
sons  and  ten  daughters.  Two  sons  and  five 
daughters    now    survive.     Our    subject     was 


raised  on  a  farm  and  educated  in  the  common 

schools  of  his  native  State.  In  1848,  he  began 
the  putting  on  of  composition  roofs,  and  con- 
tinued in  this  employment  in  the  leading  cities 
of  New  York  till  1852,  when  he  removed  to 
New  Orleans,  and  resided  there  for  five  years, 
making  lime  from  oyster  shells.  His  health 
failed,  so  in  the  spring  of  1857  he  came  to  Cob- 
den and  settled  on  his  present  farm.  His  farm  of 
123  acres  he  bought  from  the  railroad  com- 
pany. He  has  been  engaged  in  fruit  and  vege- 
table raising  since.  He  is  one  of  the  largest 
sweet  potato  raisers  in  the  State.  In  1882,  he 
had  out  twenty-eight  acres,  and  in  1883  in- 
creased it  to  thirty  acres.  He  also  has  large 
peach  orchards,  etc.  In  New  York,  in  1852,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Jane  Butler,  daughter  of 
James  and  Lydia  (Reed)  Butler.  James  But- 
ler was  a  native  of  New  York  and  a  cousin  to 
Gen.  B.  F.  Butler.  Mrs.  Butler  was  born  in 
Maine.  They  moved  to  near  Detroit,  Mich., 
and  died  there.  They  were  the  parents  of  six 
girls  and  three  boys — all  living  but  one 
daughter.  Previous  to  marriage,  Mrs.  S.  had 
been  engaged  in  teaching  school.  She  now 
raises  an  abundance  of  beautiful  flowers,  and 
in  1883  shipped  400  boxes  to  Chicago  for  De- 
coration Day.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  have  never 
been  blessed  with  children.  In  politics,  he  is 
Democratic.  His  first  vote  for  President  was 
cast  for  Henry  Clay.  During  the  time  spent  in 
New  Orleans,  Mr.  Snyder  had  the  yellow  fever, 
cholera,  breakbone  fever  and  swamp  fever. 

SAMUEL  SPRING,  merchant,  Cobden,  was 
born  January  15, 1827,  in  Massachusetts,  in  the 
town  of  Newburyport.  His  maternal  ances- 
tors for  several  generations  were  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  Non-Conformists  and  English  Puri- 
tans. In  the  year  1834,  John  Spring,  with  his 
wife  Eliza,  embarked  at  Ipswich,  England,  for 
New  England,  with  four  children.  They  settled 
in  Watei-town,  Mass.,  near  Boston,  where  his 
name  is  on  the  earliest  list  of  Proprietors  in  1836. 


COBDEN  PRECINCT. 


147 


His  decendants    were  John  and   Henry,  from 
whom  a  large  number   have  sprung.     Samuel, 
the   father   of  our   subject,  married   Lydia  M. 
Norton,  the  result  being  nine  children,  four  of 
whom  survive,  viz.:  Mary,  Lucia,  Gardner  and 
Samuel.     The  father  was  an  active  minister  for 
thirty-seven    years,    and    died  at  the   age  of 
eighty-nine,  and  his  consort  at  the  age  of  ninety. 
Mr.  Spring  had  some  advantage  of  the  country 
schools,  until  he  was  sixteen  years  old,  when 
he  went  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  there  engaged  as 
a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store  at  $75  per  month  ; 
one    year    later,  he,    in  partnership    with    his 
brother,    A.    L.,   opened   up   a  wood  yard  and 
grocery  store  at  Union  Point,   this  county,  at 
which  they  continued    until   1867,    when  they 
came  to  Cobden    and  entered  a    general   dry 
goods  and  notion  store.     In  1877,  our   subject 
opened  up  where  he  now  continues,  having  a 
full  line  of  almost  anything  the  geueral  public 
may  be  in    want   of;  in   addition  to  his  lai'ge 
stock  of  goods,  and  some  excellent  propert}'  in 
this  village,  he  has    540    acres  of  land  in  this 
county,  that  ranks  equal  to  any  in  Southern 
Illinois  ;  all  of  which  is  the  result  of  his   own 
labors.     He  was  married,  March  15,   1854,  to 
Martha  J.,  a  daughter  of  C.    D.  and    Margaret 
C.  (Gray)  Henderson,  natives  of  North  Carolina; 
the  former,  born  November  14,   1800,  and  the 
latter,  December   24,  1804  ;  they  emigrated  to 
Missouri  in  1831.     Her    parents  were   blessed 
with    nine   children,    two  of  whom  are  living, 
viz.,  J.  E.    and  Martha  J.     Her  parents   were 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  organization.  Mr. 
Spring  has  served  on  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Cobden,  and  was  for  seven  years  Postmaster  at 
Union  Point.     His  wife,  who  was  born  August 
5,  1838,  in  Missouri,  blessed  her   husband  with 
four  children,  viz.:  Charles,  Gardner,  Lucia  A. 
and  Lillie.     She  and  Mr.  Spring  are  members 
of  the  Presbyterian   Church.     He  is  an  active 
Democrat.     Mr.  S.  is  a  thorough  business  man, 


and  knows  exactl}-  what  class  of  goods  to  keep 
to  please  his  many  customers. 

JOHN  SWEITZER,  fruit  farmer,   Cobden, 
was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  July  17,  1845, 
to  John  and  Rosa  (Dirr)  Sweitzer.     They  were 
both  born,  lived  and  died  in  Baden.     He  died 
at  the  age  of  forty-five  ^^ears,  when  our  subject 
was  but  five  years  old.     She  was  born  in  1811, 
died  in  1879.  His  occupation  was  that  of  farm- 
er.    They  were  the  parents  of  seven  children, 
all    now    living.     Our  subject   is  next  to  the 
youngest  child.     Only  John  and    his  brother 
Frank  are,in  America  ;  both  live  near  Cobden. 
Our  subject  came   to   America   in   1866  ;    re- 
mained at  Cincinnati  for  about   six   months  ; 
then  came  to  Cobden  and  engaged   to   James 
Bell,  and  continued  with  him  for  sixteen  years 
as  foreifian  on  the  farm.     January,    1883,  he 
came  to  his  present  farm,  and  is   engaged  in 
fruit  and  vegetable  raising.     Besides  his  home 
farm  of  ninet}'  acres,  which  is  well  improved, 
he  has  another  farm  of    120   acres.     He  was 
first  married,  January,  1872,  to  Anna   Blsigg. 
She  was  born  in  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  but 
came  to  America  with  her  parents  when  small. 
Her  father  died  in  this  county  in  1881.     Mrs. 
Sweitzer  died  in  April,  1879.     By  her  he  has 
three  children — Edward,  Harry  and    Freddie. 
In  1880,  he  was  married  to  Anna  Bleger.    She 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania  ;  came  to  this  coun- 
ty when  small.     Her  parents  are  both  still  liv- 
ing in-  the  county,  Joseph    and  Mary   (Unto) 
Bleger.     By  this  marriage  there  are  two  chil- 
dren,  Josie  and    Rosa.       He  and  family    are 
members  of  the  Catholic  Church.     In  politics, 
he  is  Democratic. 

JAMES  THOMAS,  fruit-farmer,  P.  0.  Ma- 
kanda,  was  born  in  Manchester,  England,  Jan- 
uary 23,  1838,  to  William  and  Mary  Ann 
(Parr)  Thomas.  These  are  two  old  English 
families,  and  on  the  father's  side  the  ancestry 
traces  back  and  includes.  Gen.  Wolf  as  a  mem- 


M 


148 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


ber  of  the  famil}-.  In  England,  there  is  a  large 
landed  estate,  which  belonged  to  Peter  Walt- 
hall, who  died  in  1743,  and  which  in  its  proper 
descent  would  have  come  to  the  father  of 
our  subject,  and  consequentl}'  to  our  subject. 
The  estate,  however,  is  still  in  question,  and 
all  the  proof  now  lacking  to  give  it  to  its 
rightful  owners  is  the  certificate  of  the  mar- 
riage of  James  Thomas,  the  great-great-grand- 
father of  our  subject,  to  Rebecca  (Walthall) 
Wolf,  the  grand-daughter  of  Peter  Walthall. 
The  father  of  our  subject  was  born  March  8, 
1808,  in  Ormskirk,  England,  and  died  Decem- 
ber 5,  1845,  at  Chester,  England.  The  mother 
was  born  December  12,  1807,  and  died  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo.  His  occupation  was  that  of  attor- 
ney's clerk,  serving  his  apprenticeship.  He 
was  the  father  of  nine  children,  our  subject 
being  the  fifth  and  the  onl}'  one  now  living.  In 
1842,  our  subject  accompanied  his  father  to 
Buenos  Ayres,  South  America.  In  the  latter 
part  of  August,  1842,  when  near  land  near  the 
mouth  of  the  La  Platte  River,  the  vessel — the 
Sea  Gull — was  wrecked  and  went  to  pieces,  all 
but  one  of  the  passengers  and  crew  were  saved, 
but  would  have  been  lost  except  for  aid  from 
the  men  on  land.  They  stayed  in  Buenos 
A3'res  and  Montevideo  for  two  years,  and  then 
returned  to  England.  James  then  attended  the 
Chester  grammar  schools  till  he  was  fourteen 
3'ears  of  age.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1852,  landing  at  New  Orleans  ;  then  coming 
up  the  river  to  St.  Louis.  From  here  he  went 
to  Kansas  City  and  started  to  Salt  Lake  City, 
with  a  cousin,  but  the  Mormon  company  with 
which  they  had  started  had  the  cholera  so 
badly  that  he  and  his  cousin  went  to  the  Mis- 
souri River  and  back  to  St.  Louis.  In  St. 
Louis  his  mother  died  ;  she  was  then  the  wife 
of  John  P.  Bates,  taxidermist  and  naturalist 
in  St.  Louis,  who  mounted  the  heads,  etc.,  of 
the  buffaloes  killed  b}-  Prince  Alexis  on  the 
Western  plains.     In  1853,  our  subject  went  to 


Wisconsin  to  keep  from  going  back  to  England 
with  his  uncle.  There  he  remained  till  1859  ; 
then  he  sold  out  and  started  to  Texas.  He  and 
two  friends  built  a  boat  at  Helena,  Wis.,  espe- 
ciall}'  for  pleasure  and  comfort,  and  so  went 
down  the  river  into  the  Mississippi,  and  stopped 
at  all  the  principal  places,  and  at  the  end 
of  eight  weeks  came  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Red  River.  They  took  steamboat  up  to 
Shreveport,  La.,  and  remained  there  for  a  short 
time  ;  then,  on  account  of  the  war  troubles, 
he  came  North,  and  cast  his  first  vote  for  Lin- 
coln at  Mound  City,  111.  He  has  been  a  Re- 
publican ever  since.  He  afterward  came  to 
Jackson  County,  where  he  remained  for  a  year 
or  so.  April  14,  1864,  he  was  married  in 
Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo.,  to  Susan  A. 
Lumpkin.  She  was  born  near  Princeton,  Ky. 
to  George  W.  and  Jane  (Baker)  Lumpkin  ;  both 
died  in  this  county.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Union  army.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  have  four 
children — Ada,  Ettie,  William  Walter  and 
James  Ed.  Mr.  Thomas  has  been  on  his  pres- 
ent farm  since  the  vear  after  marriage.  He 
raises  fruit  and  vegetables.  He  is  a  member 
of  Makanda  Lodge  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  He  and  wife 
are  members  of  the  Christian  Unitarian 
Church. 

R.  B.  THOMPSON,  farmer  and  fruit-grower, 
P.  0.  Makanda,  was  born  in  Jackson  County, 
111.,  one  mile  south  of  Makanda,  May  22, 
1852,  to  Joshua  and  Maria  A.  (Milner)  Thomp- 
son. The  father  was  born  June  11,  1812,  in 
Jefierson  County,  Ohio.  The  mother  in  Carroll 
County,  Ohio,  July  13,  1815,  and  died  1870. 
The  father  was  born  and  raised  a  Quaker, 
but  when  marrj'ing  it  was  outside  of  the 
church,  so  he  has  never  had  connection  with 
the  church  since,  although  that  is  still  his  be- 
lief In  early  life,  he  learned  the  trade  of  stone- 
cutting  and  brick-laj'ing,  and  for  some  years 
his  trade  called  him  to  diflferent  localities. 
Most   of  the  time  in   Jefferson  and    Belmont 


COBDEN   TEECINCT. 


149 


Counties,  being  in  partnership  in  the  marble 
business  in  Belmont  County  for  nine  3'ears 
with  R.  H.  Evans.  In  1849,  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia in  quite  a  large  company,  and  he  was 
the  commander,  and  so  gained  the  title  of 
Colonel,  which  still  clings  to  him.  They  were 
four  months  on  the  trip.  He  then  followed 
mining  for  sixteen  months,  and  was  about  four 
months  on  the  home  trip.  He  took  passage 
in  a  vessel  and  for  sevent}'  days  was  out  of 
sight  of  land,  twenty  days  was  on  one-half 
rations,  and  for  twenty-five  days  on  one-fourth 
rations.  He  landed  at  Acapulco,  Mex.,  and 
for  750  miles  across  the  country  he  rode  on  a 
wild  mountain  pony.  After  reaching  home,  he 
remained  in  the  marble  business  for  about  one 
year,  then  came  to  Jackson  County,  111.,  in 
1852  ;  about  a  year  later,  he  moved  to  Union 
County,  to  his  present  home.  However  he  has 
retired  from  active  life.  The  farm  is  one  of 
the  highest  points  in  Southern  Illinois  ;  from 
one  side  the  waters  run  into  the  Ohio,  from 
the  other  into  the  Mississippi  River.  When 
the  news  came  that  Fort  Sumter  had  been  fired 
upon  some  of  the  loyal  people  of  the  vicinity, 
made  a  flag  and  hoisted  it  on  "  The  Lone 
Tree,"  a  tall  poplar  tree  on  the  highest  point 
of  the  farm.  The  hill  was  then  called  Banner 
Hill,  and  from  this  the  farm  took  its  name  of  the 
Banner  Farm.  October  25,  1838,  Mr.  Thomp- 
son was  married  to  Maria  A.  Milner.  To  them 
six  children  were  born  ;  one  died  young.  The 
living  are  T.  W.,  A.  S.,  M.  M.,  Mary  Alvira 
(now  Mrs.  James  Fitch),  and  R.  B. ;  T.  W.  and 
M.  M.  live  in  Jackson  County  ;  A.  S.  in  San 
Francisco,  Cal.  ;  Mrs.  Fitch  and  R.  B.  in  this 
county.  Our  subject,  R.  B.,  was  educated 
mostly  in  Carbondale,  111.,  under  Clark  Braden. 
He  was  married,  January  27,  1874,  to  Miss 
Orintha,  oldest  daughter  of  H.  F.  Whitacre, 
now  of  Williamson  County,  and  by  profession 
an  attorney.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thompson  have 
two  sons — George  J.  and  Albert  L.  Oar  subject 


has  charge  of  the  farm  and  owns  most  of  it. 
The  home  farm  consists  of  120  acres,  also  one 
forty  to  the  east  of  it.  Grain  and  stock  re- 
ceive most  of  his  attention,  and  he  has  some 
splendid  stock — high-grade  Jersey  cattle,  full 
blood  Cotswold  sheep,  etc.,  raised  by  William 
Barter,  of  Williamson  County,  the  dam  and 
sire  both  being  imported  from  Canada.  (The 
buck's  yield  of  wool  at  thirteen  months  of  age 
was  sixteen  and  one-half  pounds  of  wool, 
measuring  eleven  inches,  others  yielding  about 
the  same.)  Mr.  Thompson's  energy  and  in- 
dustry toward  the  introduction  and  raising  of 
good  stock  cannot  but  result  in  profit  to  him- 
self and  to  his  neighbors.  In  politics,  both 
our  subject  and  his  father  are  strong  Repub- 
licans. 

J.  F.  TWEEDY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Makanda, 
was  born  in  Union  County,  111.,  February  25, 
1854,  and  is  a  son  of  J.  M.  Tweedy,  whose  his- 
tory appears  in  the  department  devoted  to  Alto 
Pass  Precinct.  He  was  raised  on  the  farm  and 
educated  in  the  common  schools  of  the  count3\ 
In  1877.  he  engaged  in  farming  on  his  own  ac- 
count, on  a  farm  near  his  father's,  in  Alto  Pass 
Precinct.  His  present  farm  contains  seventy 
acres  of  good  land.  He  makes  fruit-growing  a 
specialty.  In  March,  1877,  in  Union  County, 
he  married  Miss  Alice  Freeman,  a  native  of  the 
county,  and  a  daughter  of  J.  H.  and  Sarah 
Freeman.  This  union  has  been  blessed  with 
the  following  children — Walter,  Roy  and  Fred. 
Mr.  Tweedy  is  a  man  of  good  reputation  and 
much  enterprise.  He  has  never  sought  office, 
it  being  more  in  accord  with  his  views  to  stay 
at  home,  and  give  his  time  and  attention  to  his 
famil}  and  the  duties  of  his  farm.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  land  he  owns,  he  is  managing 
a  sixty-acre  farm  for  Mr.  Shelker,  of  Elgin, 
111. 

Y.  J.  VANCIL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was 
born  in  this  county  October  22,  1817,  of  Adam 
and  Catherine  (Penrod)  Yancil.     Adam  Yancil 


150 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


was  born  iu  Virginia  March  6,  1790,  and  was  a 
son  of  John    A'^ancil.     They   were  of  German 
origin.     He  died  March,  1831,  killed  by  a  tree 
falling  on  him.     Catharine  Penrod   was  born 
April  19,  1794  ;  died  November  13,  1853.  The 
two  families  had  settled  in  Kentucky  at  an  early 
date,  and  in  1805  Adam  Yancil  and  his  brother, 
Jonas,  came  to  Union  County,  III.     Adam  af- 
terward returned  to  Kentucky  and  was  married 
there,  then  again  came  to    Union    County   in 
1811,  or  before,  as  they  were  here  at  that  date. 
He  was  principally  engaged  in  hunting,  and  so 
moved  where  game  was  most   plentiful.      In 
1821,  he  killed  two  bears  at  Stone  Fort,  Jackson 
County.     Being  of  this  wandering  disposition, 
he  did  not  remain  in  one  place  long  enough  to  im- 
prove more  than  a  few  acres,  and,  in  fact,  that 
was  about  all  that  was  necessary,  for  they  had 
no  markets  for  the  products  of  the  soil.     They 
were  the  parents  of  six   children,   all    but  the 
youngest  living  to  advanced   ages.     Our   sub- 
ject and  one  sister  now  reside  in  this  county. 
Our  subject's   opportunities  for  an  education 
were  necessarily  very  limited,  but  he  has  con- 
tinued the  improvement  of  his  faculties  since, 
by  reading  and  thinking.     His  occupation  has 
ever  been  that  of  farming  since  working   for 
himself.     At  the  time   of  his    father's   death, 
they  were  living  near  Carbondale,  but  in  the 
fall  of  1831  moved  to  this  county,  and  he  has 
lived  on  his  present  homestead  since.     He  has 
twice  been  married  ;  first,    March  23,  1839,  to 
Elizabeth  Hazlitt.    She  was  born  in  Ohio,  Jul}' 
24,  1811;  died   April  3,    1847.     Two  children 
blessed  this  union,  viz.:    Adam  and   Matilda- 
Matilda  died   when  small ;  Adam    is   now  en- 
gaged in  farming.     The  second   marriage  oc- 
curred December  10,  1848,  to  Mrs.   Prudence 
Elizabeth  Whitacre,  born   February  21,  1818, 
in  Switzerland  Count}',  Ind.,  daughter  of  John 
T.  and  Deborah  Deming.     John   Deming  was 
born   in  Massachusetts    March   9,    1787  ;  his 
wife  in  what  is  now   Ohio,  January    10,    179G, 


and  is  said  to  be  the  second  white  person  born 
in  the  State  of  Ohio.  Tliey  moved  to  Illinois 
in  1818,  and  died  in  this  county.  Mrs.  Vancil 
has  been  married  three  times.  She  had  one 
son  by  her  first  husband — Charles  Vandiver  ; 
by  her  second  husband,  one  daughter — Debo- 
rah Whitacre.  By  the  present  marriage,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Vancil  have  three  children,  viz. :  Mary, 
Algernon  R.  and  Albert  D.  Mr.  Vancil's  farm 
consists  of  280  acres,  120  in  cultivation. 
Gr-ain  raising  receives  most  of  his  attention. 
In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

R.  M.  VANCIL,  fruit-grower,  P.  0.  Cobden, 
was  born  in  this  county  September  13,  1849, 
to  Benjamin  and  Catherine  (Landrith)  Vancil. 
The  father  was  born  in  Ohio  December  25, 
1804,  and  died  in  this  county  March  19,  1883. 
When  small,  his  father,  John  Vancil,  moved  to 
Virginia  from  Ohio,  and  in  1823  they  moved 
to  this  county  ;  then  trying  to  find  a  better 
land,  moved  to  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  but  was 
not  suited,  so  came  back  to  this  count}'.  John 
Vancil  was  the  first  man  to  introduce  the 
Buckingham  apple  in  this  county  ;  he  brought 
it  from  Buckingham  County,  Va.  After  Ben- 
jamin Vancil  settled  on  his  farm  near  Cobden, 
he  began  in  the  nursery,  fruit  and  floral  cult- 
ure, and  as  he  gave  his  whole  thoughts  to  his 
business  he  was  very  successful.  He  shipped 
fruit  trees  and  flowers  to  many  States,  and  took 
many  premiums  at  the  fairs.  He  had  eighty- 
five  varieties  of  apples  and  thirty-two  of  pears, 
but  many  were  not  profitable.  From  1861 
till  the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  so  crippled  by 
rheumatism  that  he  could  not  work,  and  so  had 
to  abandon  his  nursery  and  also  his  flowers, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  choice  varieties. 
His  experience  has  been  of  great  value  to  the 
present  fruit-growers  in  this  vicinity.  He  had 
seven  sons  and  six  daughters  ;  he  survived  all 
of  his  sons  except  our  subject.  Three  daugh- 
ters are  still  living.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Dunkard  religious  society  and  was  a  Jackson 


-^.. 


COBDEN  PRECINCT. 


151 


and  Douglas  Democrat,  but  took  no  part  in 
politics.  In  1872,  January  18,  our  subject 
was  married  to  Mary  J.  Rendleman,  daughter 
of  Samuel  and  Catherine  (Kimrael)  Rendleman. 
The  mother  died  September  29,  1881.  The 
father  is  living  in  Clay  County,  Ark.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Vancil  have  three  children — Notia  Leo- 
nora, Charles  S.  and  Myrtle  Agnes.  He  and 
wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  Cobden. 

N.  B.  WALKER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Makauda, 
was  born  in  Jackson  Count}*,  111.,  May  18, 
1828,  to  Nathan  D.  and  Nancy  (Collins)  Walker. 
The  father  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but  was 
brought  to  this  State  with  his  parents  when  he 
was  quite  young,  settling  near  Grand  Tower. 
The  Walkers  were  originally  from  North  Car- 
olina, and  were  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Jackson  County.  His  wife  was  a  sister  of  N. 
B.  Collins,  of  Alto  Pass  Precinct.  She  was  the 
mother  of  four  children — Benjamin  C.,  N.  B., 
Mark  M.  and  Polly,  of  whom  our  subject  is  the 
only  one  now  living.  The  father  died  in  Jack- 
son Count}',  while  his  children  were  all  small, 
but  his  widow  lived  until  they  were  grown. 
Our  subject  was  mostl}'  raised  in  this  county 
by  his  uncle,  Mr.  N.  B.  Collins.  He  was  mar- 
ried, May  16,  1852,  to  Leah  Hagler,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Paul  and  Elizabeth  (Clutts)  Hagler,  na- 
tives of  North  Carolina.  She  died  October  3, 
1862,  leaving  four  children,  viz.:  Nancy  Eliza- 
beth, Nathan  B.  D.,  Mary  Emaline  and  an  in- 
fant ;  the  latter  lived  but  a  short  time.  Octo- 
ber 8,  1863,  he  was  married  a  second  time  to 
Miss  A.  A.  Sill.  She  was  born  in  Washington 
County,  Ind.,  to  Commodore  Perr}^  and  Sarah 
(Beard)  Sill  ;  he  died  in  Marion  County,  111., 
and  she  is  still  living  in  this  county.  B}*  his 
second  wife,  Mr.  Walker  has  seven  children  liv- 
ing— Sarah  D.,  Laviua  Lucinda,  Alice  Cathe- 
rine, Polly  Isabella,  Huldah  Ellen,  John  Logan 
and  Etta  Araminta,  and  three  dead.  Mr.  W. 
has  lived  on  his  present  farm  about  twenty-five 


years,  and  raises  grain  and  hay  mostly ;  he 
and  his  wife  are  members  of  Shiloh  Baptist 
Church. 

E.  B.  WING,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cobden,  was  born 
in  Missisquoi  County,  Canada,  April  29,  1836, 
to  Turner  and  Julia  Ann  (Barnes)  Wing.  They 
were  both  born  in  Canada,  but  the  parents  of 
each  had  emigrated  from  the  United  States  to 
Canada.  In  1847,  he  moved  to  De  Kalb 
County,  111.,  and  continued  to  follow  his  occu- 
pation of  farmer.  About  1863,  he  moved  to 
the  vicinity  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  and  still  makes 
that  his  home.  She  died  in  Iowa  March,  1883. 
They  were  the  parents  of  six  sons  and  one 
daughter ;  two  sous  and  the  daughter  are  all 
that  are  now  living.  Four  sons  entered  the 
army,  and  our  subject  is  the  only  one  who 
came  out.  He  enlisted  three  days  after  the 
firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  in  Company  E,  Second 
Wisconsin  Volunteer  Infantrj',  as  a  private;  was 
afterward  promoted  to  Sergeant's  position.  He 
served  till  the  battle  of  Antietam  and  was 
there  wounded  and  discharged  on  account  of 
disability.  He  was  in  the  two  battles  of  Bull 
Run,  at  South  Mountain,  and  then  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Antietam  under  Gen.  Hooker,  on  the 
right.  After  he  was  wounded,  he  remained  at 
Keedysville  for  about  two  weeks  ;  then  was 
taken  to  the  hospital  at  Baltimore,  and  there 
remained  until  discharged  November,  1862. 
When  our  subject  was  about  eighteen  years 
old,  he  had  left  his  home  in  Geneva,  111.,  and 
had  gone  to  Oshkosh,  Wis.,  and  it  was  from 
there  that  he  entered  the  arm}',  and  there  he 
returned  when  coming  home.  He  remained  in 
Oshkosh  till  1868,  engaged  in  lumbering.  In 
1868,  he  came  to  this  county  and  settled  on  his 
present  farm,  which  contains  140  acres,  about 
sixty  being  in  cultivation;  when  first  buying  it, 
there  were  but  three  or  four  acres  cleared. 
Grain  and  stock  raising  receive  most  of  his  at- 
tention, but  he  also  raises  some  fruits  in  con- 
nection with  his  other  farming.     July  4,  1860, 


152 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


he  was  married  in  Oshkosh,  Wis.,  to  Sarah  Burn- 
side.  She  was  born  in  Erie  County,  Penn., 
August  2, 1837,  to  John  J.  and  Matilda  (Miles) 
Burnside.  He  is  still  living  in  Erie  Count}*, 
Penn.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wing  have  no  children  of 
their  own,  but  have  adopted  one  little  girl, 
Donna  Inez.  Mrs.  W.  is  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Cobden.  He  is  Demo- 
cratic in  politics,  and  since  his  discharge  from 
the  army  has  been  receiving  a  pension  of  $4 
per  month. 

C.  C.  WRIGHT,  farmer  and  fruit-grower, 
Cobden,  was  born  in  Rome,  N.  Y.,  in  1815.  to 
John  and  Miriam  (Reymond)  Wright.  The}' 
were  both  born  in  Connecticut,  he  in  1772,  she 
in  1780.  He  moved  into  New  York  about 
1790,  and  it  was  there  his  famil}'  was  born. 
In  1836,  he  moved  to  Kendall  Count}-,  111., 
with  his  family,  and  he  and  his  wife  both  died 
there,  in  1851  and  1857  respectively.  They 
were  the  parents  of  eight  children  ;  three  sons 
and  two  daughters  are  now  living.  His  occu- 
pation was  mostly  that  of  farming.  Our  sub- 
ject was  educated  in  New  York,  and  came  West 
with  his  parents.  Chicago  was  their  only 
market,  and  that  was  sixty  miles  distant,  and 
after  hauling  wheat  there  they  would  get  from 
25  to  75  cents  per  bushel,  and  from  $1  to  $3 
per  hundred  for  dressed  pork.  When  the  canal 
was  completed,  they  had  a  mai'ket  within 
twelve  miles  of  their  home.  In  1853,  he  moved 
to  Winnebago  County,  111.,  and  opened  a  farm, 
but  sold  it  in  1862  and  came  to  Cobden.  He 
went  into  the  woods  and  opened  up  the  farm 
now  owned  by  Amas  Poole.  He  sold  that 
in  1864,  and  then  began  to  make  his  present 
farm,  which  had  but  little  impi'ovement  at  the 
time.  His  farm  contains  seventy  acres,  all  im- 
proved. When  first  settling  on  it,  he  began 
the  raising  of  peaches,  apples  and  strawberries. 
In  later  years,  he  has  abandoned  the  peaches 
and  apples,  and  gives  his  attention  more  to 
strawberries,    cherries,    vegetables    and    hay. 


Mr.  Paul  Wright,  the  brother  of  our  subject, 
had  much  the  same  experience  in  early  life, 
but  he  was  educated  for  the  law,  and  he  prac- 
ticed in  Elgin  for  some  time,  and  for  some 
years  previous  to  coming  to  this  county  had 
been  Circuit  Clerk  of  Kane  County.  On  ac- 
count of  ill-health,  he  came  to  this  county  in 
the  spring  of  1862,  and  began  in  the  fruit  bus- 
iness, being  one  among  the  first  from  the  North 
to  go  into  fruit-raising.  Enjoying  the  beauti- 
ful, he  took  pains  to  make  his  home  attractive, 
and  so  improved  the  present  farm  of  Mr.  E.  D. 
Lawrence.  The  last  year  in  this  county,  he 
practiced  law  at  Jonesboro,  in  partnership 
with  Jackson  Frick.  In  1875,  he  again  made 
a  move  on  account  of  ill-health,  going  to  Santa 
Barbara,  Cal.,  where  he  has  since  built  up  a 
good  practice  in  the  law.  In  1843,  our  subject 
was  married  in  Winnebago  County,  111.,  to 
Harriet  M.  Talcott.  She  was  also  born  in 
Rome,  N.  Y.  Her  father,  William  Talcott, 
came  to  Illinois  about  the  same  time  as  Mr. 
Wright,  and  settled  at  Rockton,  on  the  Rock 
River.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wright  have  three  chil- 
dren, only  two  of  whom  are  still  living — Henry 
T.  and  Mary  (Harriet  A.  died  1864).  By  pro- 
fession, Henry  is  a  lawyer,  and  practiced  for 
six  years  at  Carbondale,  111. :  then  taught 
school  near  Chicago  for  some  time,  when 
health  failed,  and  he  went  to  railroading.  He 
is  now  located  at  Minneapolis,  and  is  Paymas- 
ter on  the  Minneapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad. 
Mr.  Wright  in  religious  belief  is  Congi'egation- 
alist,  and  was  a  member  of  that  church  until  the 
organization  was  let  fall  in  Cobden,  and  as  he 
did  not  take  out  any  letters  he  now  has  no 
connection  with  any  church.  By  nature,  our 
subject  is  opposed  to  oppression  in  any  form, 
and  at  an  early  date  he  took  the  side  of  anti- 
slavery,  although  it  was  the  unpopular  party 
at  the  time.  From  1844  till  Lincoln's  election, 
he  had  never  voted  with  the  popular  parties. 
When  the  call  for  men  came,   he  offered   his 


ALTO    PASS   PRECINCT. 


153 


services,  but  bad  to  stand  back  and  allow  the 
younger  and  more  robust  to  answer  the  call. 


But  he  did  all  he  could  at  home  toward  the 
support  of  the  Government. 


ALTO    PASS,    OR    RIDGE    PRECmOT. 


W.  R.  ABEENATHIE,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Alto  Pass,  was  born  in  this  county  April  17, 
1841,  to  James  and  Mary  (Tweedy)  Aber- 
nathie.  They  were  both  natives  of  South 
Carolina,  but  came  here  when  both  were 
yoiing,  their  families  being  among  the  first 
settlers  in  the  county.  He  died  in  this 
county  when  our  subject  was  about  two  years 
old,  and  she  in  1876.  They  were  the  parents 
of  fifteen  children,  of  whom  our  subject  is 
the  youngest.  Of  the  fifteen,  only  three  are 
now  living — Mr.  Abernathie  and  two  sisters. 
Our  subject's  whole  life  has  been  spent  on 
the  farm.  He  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  the  county.  Mr.  Abernathie  has 
resided  on  his  present  farm  for  about  eight- 
een years,  and  most  of  the  time  has  been  en- 
gaged in  fruit-growing.  In  orchards  he  has 
about  sixty-five  acres,  forty  being  in  apples 
and  the  remainder  in  peaches.  March  17, 
1864,  he  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss 
Mary  Croull,  who  was  also  born  in  this 
county,  daughter  of  Louisa  and  John  Croull, 
also  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  the  county. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Abernathie  have  seven  children 
— Mary  Elizabeth,  Emma  Bell,  Hattie 
Josephine,  Cora  Ellen,  John  Howard,  Will- 
iam Bertie  and  Robert  Artie,  twins.  Mr. 
Abernathie  has  always  been  *an  active  mem- 
ber cf  the  Democratic  pai'ty. 

HON.  HOLLY  R.  BUCKINGHAM,  Alto 


Pass,  was  born  in  Clermont  County,  Ohio, 
January  12,  1850,  to  Mark  and  Margaret 
(Hawn)  Buckingham.  They  were  both  born 
in  Ohio,  she  in  Milford,  Clermont  County, 
and  he  just  across  the  line,  in  Hamilton 
County,  December  5,  1808.  His  parents 
had  moved  from  Pennsylvania  to  Ohio  in 
1790,  so  the  Buckingham  family  is  one  of  the 
oldest  in  the  State,  and  also  one  of  the  larg- 
est. The  first  residence  after  coming  to  the 
State  was  a  large,  hollow  tree,  where  Cincin- 
nati now  stands.  Mrs.  Margaret  Buckingham 
was  born  August  11,  1826,  also  of  an  old 
family  of  the  State,  her  grandfather,  Peter 
Bell,  being  the  fii-st  Associate  Judge  in  Cin- 
cinnati. So  the  ancestors  of  our  subject 
have  long  been  identified  with  the  interests 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  with  very  few  ex- 
ceptions have  been  the  strictest  Democrats, 
grandfather,  father  and  son  (our  subject)  hav- 
ing ever  voted  the  Democratic  ticket.  Mr. 
Mark  Buckingham  was  a  successful  business 
man,  at  one  time  having  a  wholesale  pork- 
packing  business,  besides  a  large  flouring  mill 
and  distillery,  also  several  farms  in  Ohio  and 
Illinois,  and  was  well  known  on  'Change  in 
Cincinnati.  He  died  in  Hamilton  County, 
111.,  in  November,  1878,  but  was  bvuried  in 
the  old  bm-ying- ground  in  his  native  State. 
Mrs.  Mark  Buckingham  is  still  living  on  the 
old  homestead  in  Ohio.    Of  their  family,  four 


154 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


sons  and  one  daughter  are  now  living.     Our 
subject's  early  life  was  spent  in  assisting  bis 
father  with  his  business,  but  his  higher  edu- 
cation was  not  neglected.     He  prepared  him- 
self  for    college    in   the   Woodward    High 
School  of  Cincinnati,  and  then  completed  a 
classical  com'se  in  the  Miami  University,  of 
Oxford,    Ohio,  where  he  took  the  degree  of 
B.  A.  in  1873.     He  then  came  to  one  of  his 
father's    farms    in    Hamilton    County,    111., 
■where    he     remained     for    about    eighteen 
months,  during  which  time   he    taught  one 
term   of    school.      After   studying  law  with 
Judge   Crouch,   of   McLainsboro,    for    about 
one  year  and  a  half,  he  went  to  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.,  and   studied  law  for  a    year;  then  he 
returned  to  Illinois,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  at  Mount  Vernon  in  June,  1875.     In  Au- 
gust, 1875,  he  was  man-ied,  in  this   county, 
to  ]\riss  Florence  Tarleton,  who  was  born  on 
the  Teche,   near  New   Orleans,    La.,  to  Leo 
and  G.  Augusta  (Hawkins)  Tarleton.     Mrs. 
Tarleton's  first  husband  was   Geox«ge  Wash- 
ington, a    grand-nephew  of    the   President; 
she   is  still    living,    at   the  age  of    seventy- 
three  years.     Mr.  Buckingham  has  remained 
in  this  county  since  1875,  and  has  been  en- 
gaged in  fruit- farming  during  the  time.     On 
his  present  farm  he  has  about  seventy  acres 
in  orchards,  but  also  has  a  number  of  acres  in 
small    fruits  and   vegetables.      Mr.  and  Mrs. 
B.  have  two  little  girls — Florence  and  Ada. 
Mr.  Buckingham  has  always  taken  an  active 
part  in  politics,  but  has  never  been  an  office- 
seeker;  however,   in    1880  he  was   elected  a 
member  of  the  State  Legislature,  and  served 
through  his  term  with  credit  to  himself  and 
to  his  constituency. 

N.  B.  COLLINS,  farmer,  and  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  P.  O.  Alto  Pass,  was  born  about 
the   year    1813  in  Tennessee,  and  came    to 


this  county  with  his  parents  when  but  a  very 
small    child.      Soon    after   coming   here  his 
parents  both   died,  leaving   no  record  of  his 
birth  or  of  their  histoiy.     After  the  death  of 
his   parents,  he  was  taken  by  strangers  and 
raised  on  a    farm   in    this  county,  and  with 
the  exception  of  three  years  he  has  lived  in 
the  county  ever   since.      Two   years    of    the 
three   he  lived    in   Louisiana,    the   other  in 
Kentucky.     His  only  chances  for  an  educa- 
tion  were    to  attend    a   subscription    school 
when   he  could  not  work  at  anything    else. 
July  20,  1836,  he  was  married,  on  his  present 
homestead,   to    Miss  Keziah  Parmley.     She 
was  born  on  their  present  homestead  October 
22,    1819,    to  Giles    and    Elizabeth    (Craft) 
Parmley.      They  came  from  Kentucky  to  this 
State,   but  he  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  his 
father  being  an  old  Revolutionary  soldier. 
When  Mr.  Parmley  first  came  to  this  county, 
he  settled  in  the    Mississippi    River  bottom, 
but  got  afraid  of  the  Indians,  and  moved  back 
to  Kentucky,  where   he  remained  for  a  year 
or    so,    and  then   retm-ned   to   this    county, 
brincinof  a  number  of  friends  with  him.     He 
then  settled  on  the  present  homestead  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.   Colli  us   in  about  1813.     He  died 
January  8,  1849,  but  she  survived  him  many 
years,  and  died  at  the  age  of    eighty- four. 
When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Parmley  first  settled  in 
this   county,  there  were    scarcely  any  white 
settlers  at  all.  When  they  went  to  mill  at  all 
they  had  to  cross  the  river   to    Whitewater, 
Mo.     INlr.    Parmley  was  a  cooper    by  trade, 
and  made  barrels  to  pay  for  the  fii'st  land  he 
entered.     Mr,  and  Mrs.  Collins   have  raised 
a  family  of  nine  children,  but  four  daughters 
and  one    son  died  after   having    families  of 
their  own.      The   living   children  are    Sarah 
E.,    Lucinda    E.,    Bell    and     John.       The 
daughters   are  all   married.     Mr.    and  Mrs. 
Collins  liave  twentv-thi-ee  motherless  grand- 


ALTO  PASS    PRECINCT. 


155 


children.  In  the  fall  of  1850,  they  moved 
to  their  present  farm,  which  consists  of  360 
acres,  with  200  of  it  improved;  also  another 
farm  of  160  acres,  100  being  in  cultivation. 
Mr.  Collins  has  large  orchards,  having  ap- 
ples, peaches  and  pears.  When  Mr.  Collins 
completes  his  present  term  of  office,  he  will 
have  served  thirty -eight  years  as  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  for  foui-  years  being  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Peace  of  the  county.  He  also 
served  two  years  as  Constable. 

AVILLIA.M  H.  FINCH,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Cobden,  was  born  in  this  county  July  28, 
1840,  to  Richard  M.  and  Sarah  (Smith) 
Finch.  He  was  from  the  West  Indies,  of 
French  desceot,  and  she  from  North  Caro- 
lina, of  German  descent.  They  both  died 
in  this  county,  he  September  16,  1863,  she 
March  3,  1875.  They  were  the  parents  of 
seven  childi-en,  foui'  of  whom  are  now  living, 
our  subject  being  the  oldest.  From  the  time 
our  subject  was  eleven  years  of  age  till  he 
was  twenty-one,  he  worked  on  the  farm  in 
summer,  and  winter  in  his  father's  cooper 
shop.  When  starting  for  himself,  however, 
he  gave  his  attention  to  farming,  and  has 
continued  to  make  that  his  occupation  to  the 
present.  He  has  a  farm  of  252  acres,  and 
makes  corn  and  stock  his  dependence.  When 
starting  in  life  for  himself,  he  had  one  horse, 
and  nothing  else.  August  20,  1862,  he  was 
married  to  Melissa  Catharine  Cauble,  who 
died  May  29,  1863,  leaving  one  child,  which 
also  died,  July  8,  1863.  March  2,  1865,  he 
was  married  to  Mary  Lindsey.  She  was 
born  in  Jackson  County,  111.,  but  mostly 
raised  in  Union  County.  She  is  the  daughter 
of  Reuben  and  Sarah  (Coleman)  Lindsey. 
He  was  born  in  Kentucky  May  24,  1823, 
and  came  to  this  State  in  1829,  and  lived  in 
Jackson  County  till  he  was  about  grown. 
She  was  born  and  raised  in  Jackson  County, 


and  died  August  23,  1882.  He  is  still  liv- 
ing, and  is  engaged  in  farming.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Finch  have  two  children  living,  and  one 
dead — John  Albert,  born  January  2,  1862, 
died  December  1,  1882;  Sarah  Isabella  and 
Mary  Ellen.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Finch  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Free- Will  Baptist  Chm-ch.  He 
is  Democratic  in  politics. 

DR.   J.   GLA.SCO,  physician  andsui-geon, 
Alto  Pass.      The  subject  of    this  sketch  was 
born  in   Union    County,    111.,  February    14, 
1840,    to    William    and    Rhoda    (Strawmat) 
Glasco.     They  were  both  of  North  Carolina, 
but   came  to    this    county    before    marriage 
She  died   in   1843;  he  is  still    living  in  this 
county,  and   with   his  third    wife.     By    the 
three  wives  he  has  nine  children  now  living, 
four  sons  and  five  daughters.    At  the  time  of 
the  Doctor's  birth,  his  parents  were  living  on 
a  farm  where   the  city    of  Anna  now  stands. 
Our  subject   was   raised  on  a   farm,  and   re- 
ceived his  education  in  this  county,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  the  time  spent  in  the  army, 
and  about  six  months  in  Kansas,  he   has  re- 
sided here  during  his  life.     In  1861,  he  en- 
tered the  State  Militia  for  thirty  days;  then 
was  taken  into  the  army.  Company  I,  Eight- 
eenth Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Capt.   S. 
B.   Marks.      He  served   for  three  years  and 
then  re-enlisted,  and  served  till  the  close  of 
the  war,  being  one  of   the    last   discharged. 
While  in  the  service,  he  passed  through  some 
of   the   severest  engagements,  being  in  the 
battles  of  Ft.  Donelson,  Shiloh,  the  taking  of 
Vicksburg,    Little  Rock,    etc.,    in  all  being 
about    sixteen    different    engagements.        At 
Fort   Do  nelson    he  was   severely    wounded, 
being  shot   through  the  right   lung,  and  was 
captured  at  the  time,  but  remained  a  captive 
only  till  the   Fort  was  taken.     He  first  en- 
listed as   a   private,  but  was    afterward   pro- 
moted to    Sergeant,    in    which   capacity  he 


156 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


served  most  of  the  time.  However,  for  two 
years  previous  to  receiving  his  discharge,  he 
was  Hospital  Surgeon,  and  for  six  months  bo- 
fore  that  had  been  Hospital  Dispensing  Clerk. 
For  two  years  previous  to  going  into  the 
army,  the  Doctor  had  studied  medicine  un- 
der Dr.  A.  B.  Agnew,  and  during  the  time 
he  was  in  the  service  he  studied  all  his  spare 
time,  and  especially  while  in  the  hospital, 
under  Dr.  H.  T.  Garnett.  While  in  the  hos- 
pital, he  had  a  great  deal  of  practice  also,  as 
Assistant  Surgeon.  The  Doctor  now  makes 
a  specialty  of  lung  and  female  diseases.  On 
returning  from  the  army,  he  began  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  at  the  store  of  Cyrus  Har- 
rold.  just  across  the  line  in  Jackson  County. 
He  remained  there  for  about  one  year,  and 
then  moved  to  Saratoga,  111.,  where  he  prac- 
ticed for  about  seventeen  years,  except  six 
months  he  was  practicing  in  Topeka,  Kan.  In 
the  spring  of  1880,  he  quit  the  practice  and 
bought  his  present  saw  and  grist  mill  in  Alto 
Pass.  He  gave  his  entire  attention  to  the 
mill  till  the  spring  of  1883,  when  he  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  his  profession,  but 
still  conducts  the  mill.  December  19,  1866, 
in  this  county,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah 
E.  Stevenson,  who  was  born  in  Marion,  Will- 
iamson Co.,  111.,  daughter  of  James  W.  and 
Catharine  Stevenson,  both  of  whom  are  now 
dead.  They  came  from  Indiana  to  Illniois. 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Glasco  have  five  children  liv- 
ing and  one  dead — Emma  C,  James  W., 
George  S.  (deceased),  Jesse,  Eva  Ellen  and 
Amos  Monroe.  In  politics  the  Doctor  is  Repub- 
lican, and  for  three  years  was  Postmaster  at 
Saratoga.  His  wife  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Chxu'ch. 

JOHN  C.  GREGORY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cob- 
den,  was  born  in  Union  County,  111.,  on  his 
present  farm,  September  11,  1836,  to  John 
and   Sarah  (Leonard)  Gregory.      They  were 


natives  of  North  Carolina,  but  came  here  in 
1819,  and  settled  in  the  woods  on  what  is 
now  our  subject's  farm.  They  were  the 
parents  of  twelve  children,  eleven  of  whom 
lived  to  have  families  of  their  own,  the  other 
dying  when  small.  He  died  February  24, 
1866,  and  was  some  months  over  seventy-five 
years  of  age;  Mrs.  Gregory,  however,  lived 
till  December  16,  1882,  and  died  at  the  age 
of  about  eighty  three  years.  When  they  first 
came  to  the  county,  their  neighbors  were  so 
few  that  they  had  to  neighbor  with  all  for 
six  or  seven  miles  around,  going  that  dis- 
tance to  help  a  neighbor  when  he  needed  it. 
Our  subject  received  his  education  in  the 
schools  of  the  county,  and  his  occupation 
has  always  been  that  of  farming  on  the  old 
homestead,  which  he  now  owns.  In  August, 
1862,  he  enlisted  in  Company  E,  Eighty- 
first  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Col.  James 
Dollins,  and  served  till  June,  1865,  when  he 
received  his  discharge.  Soon  after  his  en- 
listment, he  was  taken  with  a  severe  spell  of 
sickness,  and  after  being  in  the  hospital  for 
several  months  he  partially  recovered,  but 
not  so  as  to  continue  with  his  regiment,  so 
he  was  transferred  to  the  Invalid  Corps,  and 
served  his  last  fifteen  months  aroand  Wash- 
ington City.  June  15,  1859,  he  was  mai-ried 
to  Miss  Elizabeth  L.  Anderson.  She  was 
also  born  and  raised  in  this  county,  daughter 
of  Cornelius  and  Susan  (Morris)  Andersoa. 
She  died  in  the  county;  he,  however,  is  still 
living.  Mr.  and  "Mrs.  Gregory  have  three 
childi'en — Andrew  J.,  Emma  F.  and  Willis 
T.  His  farm  consists  of  160  acres,  about 
100  being  in  cultivation,  on  which  he  raises 
mostly  corn,  wheat  and  stock;  however,  he 
gives  some  attention  to  beny-raising.  In 
politics  he  is  a  Republican.  He  is  now  filling 
his  first  term  as  Justice  of  the  Peace.  He  and 
wife  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church. 


ALTO  PASS  PRECINCT. 


157 


CYRUS  HARRELD,  farmer  and  mer- 
chant, P.  O.  Alto  Pas8,  was  born  in  Jackson 
County,  111.,  March  29,  1830.  He  is  the  son 
of  James  Harreld,  who  came  to  Jackson 
County  in  1817  and  entered  land  there,  and 
was  engaged  in  trading,  buying  and  selling 
land,  goods,  etc.,  and  died  in  1844,  while 
building  the  steamboat  Convoy,  on  Big 
Muddy  River.  His  ancestors  were  in  the 
Revolutionary  war,  and  five  of  his  great- 
uncles  were  killed  at  King's  Mountain.  Mr. 
James  Harreld  was  First  Lieutenant  in  Capt. 
Jenkins'  company  of  mounted  volunteers  in 
Black  Hawk  war,  1832.  Our  subject  is  the 
only  son  in  a  family  of  five  children.  His 
opportunities  for  an  education  were  very 
limited — the  windowless  schoolhouse  and 
other  things  in  accordance.  Their  noons 
were  the  time  for  them  to  cut  and  carry  in 
the  wood  for  the  big  fire-place.  When  our 
subject  was  twenty  one  years  of  age,  he  en- 
gaged in  business  for  himself,  and  since  that 
time  he  has  closely  followed  in  the  footsteps 
of  his  father— farming,  buying  and  selling 
land,  in  mercantile  business,  buying  notes, 
lending  money,  etc.  He  has  lived  on  the 
old  homestead,  just  across  the  line  in  Jack- 
son County,  most  all  his  life.  In  1851,  he 
started  into  the  mercantile  business,  having 
a  store  on  the  old  homestead.  Here  he  con- 
tinued until  1860.  He  went  to  Carbondale, 
and  for  eighteen  months  was  in  the  mercan- 
tile business  there,  but  again  returned  to 
the  old  stand,  and  for  some  time  was  selling 
goods  there;  then  sold  the  stock  of  goods, 
but  did  not  remain  long  out  of  the  store.  In 
the  same  place,  in  1872,  he  again  engaged 
in  business,  and  continued  for  six  years,  and 
then  again  sold  out  the  stock,  and  avoided 
mercantile  life  till  May  1,  1883,  he  bought 
his  present  store  at  Alto  Pass.  Here  he  car- 
ries a  general  stock  of  goods,  of  about  $5,000 
value.     Besides  store  and  other  property,  Mr. 


Harreld  has  about  2,000  acres  of  land  in  the 
two  counties  of  Union  and  Jackson.  His 
liffi  has  been  one  of  success,  but  his  own 
energy  has  been  his  best  capital.  His  school 
education,  being  such  as  he  could  obtain  in 
the  subscription  schools  of  the  day,  was  very 
limited,  but  he  has  continued  to  read  and 
study,  and  in  his  studying  he  has  not  neg- 
lected the  I'eading  of  law.  He  was  married, 
in  Carbondale,  111.,  in  1857,  to  Miss  Amelia 
Tuttle,  daughter  of  Nathan  Tuttle,  and  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania  July,  1838.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Harreld  have  three  children  living — 
James,  William  and  Cora.  In  politics,  be 
has  always  been  Democratic,  but  will  not 
vote  for  a  man  until  he  considers  him  worthy. 
Prohibition  is  his  main  standard. 

J.  E.  HENDERSON,  groceries  and  no- 
tions, Alto  Pass,  was  born  in  North  Carolina 
November  3,  1823,  to  Davidson  and  Caroline 
(Gray)  Henderson.  They  were  both  born  and 
raised  in  the  same  county  as  our  subject 
(Mecklenburg  County,  N.  C).  They  were 
the  parents  of  six  children,  of  whom  our  sub- 
ject is  the  oldest  and  only  son,  so  his  chances 
for  an  education  were  very  limited,  as  he  had 
to  do  all  he  could  toward  supporting  the 
family.  Mr.  H.  and  one  sister  are  all  who 
are  left  of  the  family.  His  father  died  in 
Missom'i,  where  they  moved  when  our  sub- 
ject was  but  seven  years  old;  his  mother, 
however,  died  [in  Preston,  this  county.  In 
1846,  ]\[r.  Henderson  left  Missouri,  and  went , 
to  Mississippi,  where  he  remained  till  1851. 
He  then  came  to  this  county,  and  has  re- 
mained here  since.  Up  till  1866,  he  had 
always  followed  farming,  but  since  that  time 
he  has  been  engaged  in  merchandising,  either 
as  proprietor  or  clerk.  In  1866,  he  was  in 
partnership,  at  Preston,  with  Samuel  Spring, 
but  after  about  two  years  they  closed  out, 
and  Spring  went  into  partnership  with  his 
brother   at  Cobden.     Soon    after  this,  how- 


158 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ever,  tlie  Spring  Bros,  engaged  in  the  grain 
and  merchandise  business  at  Preston,  and 
left  their  families  at  Cobden  They  then 
engaged  Mr.  Henderson  to  conduct  their 
business  at  Preston  for  them.  This  con- 
tinued for  about  two  years,  when  the  Spring 
Bros,  dissolved  partnership,  and  Samuel 
Spring  continued  alone  at  Cobden.  Mr.  Hen- 
derson then  clerked  for  him  about  eight 
years,  when  he  commenced  business  for  him- 
self at  Alto  Pass,  in  September,  1880,  and 
now  carries  a  stock  of  about  $900  of  groceries 
and  notions.     He  is  a  Democrat. 

C.  B.  HOLCOMB,  farmer,  P.  O.  Alto 
Pass,  was  born  in  Lockport,  Will  Co.,  111., 
January  13,  1855,  to  C.  D.  Holcomb  and  Ann 
Jeannet  (Butler)  Holcomb.  He  was  born  in 
St.  Lawrence  County,  N.  Y.,  but  he  made 
various  changes  in  life,  living  in  Canada, 
Vermont,  Ohio,  etc.,  till,  about  1850,  he 
settled  in  Lockport,  111.,  where  he  worked 
for  some  time  at  his  trade  of  printer,  when 
he  and  a  friend  bought  out  the  paper  and 
continued  the  publication  of  it  for  some 
years,  and  then  discontinued  it.  During 
Lincoln's  administration,  he  was  Postmaster 
at  Lockport.  In  1866,  he  came  to  this 
county,  and  has  resided  here  since.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Lock- 
port,  and  resided  with  his  father  till  1879, 
when  he  came  to  his  present  home,  where  he 
has  been  engaged  in  general  farming  since. 
He  was  "married,  in  Cobden,  December  15, 
1880,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Kean,  who  was  born 
in  Carlyle,  Clinton  Co.,  111.,  to  James  and 
Mary  Ann  (Ross)  Kean,  both  of  whom  were 
born  in  Pennsylvania.  He  died  in  Nashville, 
111.,  she  in  Richview,  111.,  April  10,  1872. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holcomb  have  one  little  son- — 
Charlie  Rnss  Holcomb.  Mrs.  Holcomb  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cob- 
den. Mr.  Holcomb  is  a  member  of  the  I.  O. 
O.  F.,  and  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 


MONTGOMERY  HUNSAKER,  farmer, 
P.  O.  Cobden,  was  born  in  Union  County, 
111.,  July  7,  1827.  He  is  the  son  of  Nicholas 
and  grandson  of  Abraham  Hunsaker,  who 
came  to  this  county  at  an  early  date  in  its 
settlement.  Abraham  Hunsaker  and  his  wife, 
Mary  Snyder,  were  both  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  resided  there  until  after  they  had 
a  family,  and  then  came  to  this  county,  where 
one  son — George — was  the  first  Sheriff.  Thny 
were  the  parents  of  six  sons  and  three 
daughters.  Nicholas  Hunsaker  was  married, 
in  this  county,  to  Olivia  Montgomery.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  John  Montgouery,  a 
surveyor,  who  surveyed  a  great  part  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  died  there.  His  widow  moved  to 
this  county,  and  settled  near  Saratoga,  when 
Mrs.  Hunsaker  was  but  a  small  girl.  Mrs. 
Hunsaker  died  near  Jonesboro  April  4,  1836, 
and  he  soon  afterward  moved  to  the  present 
homestead  of  our  subject,  on  Hutchins' 
Creek,  and  died  there  October  6, 1860.  They 
were  the  parents  of  five  children,  two  sons 
and  three  daughters.  Two  of  the  daughters 
died  after  having  families  of  their  own. 
Our  subject  is  thp  oldest  of  the  family.  His 
occupation  has  always  been  that  of  farming, 
grain  and  stock-raising  occupying  his  at 
tention.  June  24,  1863,  he  was  married,  in 
Jackson  County,  111.,  to  Emily  R.  Woods, 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Christiana  (Young) 
Woods.  They  were  from  North  Carolina, 
and  settled  in  Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo., 
and  she  died  there.  He,  however,  died  in 
Texas,  March  10,  1883,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hunsaker  have 
eight  childi-en — Beatrice  Christiana,  Mary 
Ellen,  Mortimer,  Florence  M.,  Emily  Belle, 
Olivia  Bernice,  Roxana  Roseland  and  Dana 
G.  In  politics,  Mr.  Hunsaker  has  always 
been  Democratic. 

JOHN  F.  HUNSAKER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cob- 
den, was  born  in  this  county  September  28,. 


ALTO  PASS  PRECIXCT. 


159 


1843,  to  A.  F.  and  Elvina  (Holmes)  Hun- 
saker,  and  is  a  descendant  cf  the  original 
Hunsakers  who  settled  in  this  county  at  an 
early  date.  This  county  has  been  the  home 
of  our  subject  all  his  life,  although  he  was 
in  the  service  during  almost  the  entire  war, 
being  mustered  in  in  September,  1861,  and 
was  not  mustered  out  till  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  enlisted  in  Company  H,  Twenty-ninth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  under  Capt. 
•Tacent  B.  Sprague.  He  entered  as  a  private, 
but,  after  the  engagement  at  Fort  Donelson, 
he  was  made  Corporal,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
war  was  First  Sergeant.  Mr.  Hunsaker  found 
what  active  service  in  the  West  meant,  as  he 
passed  through  all  the  leading  engagements: 
Fort  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Corinth,  Spanish 
Fort,  Mobile,  etc.  He  was  in  the  infantry 
during  all  the  time,  except  about  six  months, 
just  before  and  just  after  the  capture  of 
Vicksburg;  during  that  six  months  he  was  on 
the  Mississippi  River  Squadron,  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Red  Rivers.  IMr.  Hunsaker 
passed  through  the  service  without  being 
captured  or  taken  to  the  hospital.  He  re- 
ceived two  or  three  flesh  wounds,  but  they 
never  were  noticed  when  so  many  others 
were  so  badly  mangled.  Mr.  Hunsaker' s 
opportunities  for  an  education,  before  en- 
tering the  army,  were  quite  limited,  so  he 
and  a  number  of  comrades  put  in  most  of 
their  spare  time  studying.  When  returning 
home,  he  again  went  to  farming,  and  in  1866 
was  married  to  Miss  Martha  Anderson,  who 
was  born  in  this  county  to  C.  Anderson,  who 
is  still  a  resident  of  the  county.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hunsaker  have  five  children— Minnie, 
Edith,  Oscar,  Erwin  and  Andrew.  His  farm- 
ing is  mostly  raising  corn  and  wheat,  but 
raises  some  fruits.  He,  wife  and  oldest 
daughter  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church.  In  politics,  Mr.  Hunsaker  is  Re- 
publican; the  only  one  by  the  name,  to  his 


knowledge,  who  belongs  to  the   Republican 
party. 

G.  W.  JAMES,  P.  O.  Cobden,  was  born 
in  this  county  October  6,  1847,  to  Wilson  J. 
and  Huldah  Ann  (Abernathie)  James,  both 
of  whom  were  born  and  raised  in  this  county. 
Wilson  J.  was  born  March  2,  1816,  just  a 
few  months  after  his  parents  came  to  the 
State  from  South  Carolina.  He  settled  on 
the  present  homestead  of  our  subject  about 
1853,  and  died  there  of  the  small-pox  June 
25,  1866;  his  wife  died  April  8,  1862.  They 
were  the  parents  of  six  children,  all  of  whom 
are  living,  our  subject  being  the  oldest  of 
the  family.  Mr.  James  was  raised  on  his 
parents'  farm,  and  educated  in  the  district 
schools,  but  mathematics  has  always  been  a 
specialty  with  him.  For  some  years  after 
his  father's  death,  life  was  a  struggle  with 
him.  His  father,  having  some  security  debts 
to  pay,  died  and  left  his  farm  of  eighty 
acres  covered  to  its  full  value.  However, 
through  his  uncle,  Gov.  Dougherty,  who 
was  also  his  guardian,  our  subject  leased  the 
old  home  place,  and  so  saved  the  farm,  and 
made  a  start  in  life.  When  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  Constable, 
which  ofiS.ce  he  held  for  eight  years.  He 
would  also  work  at  anything  which  would 
make  him  money;  clerked  in  stores  when  not 
too  busy  on  the  farm,  and  so  struggled  on 
till  he  bought  all  of  the  home  farm,  besides 
adding  another  forty  to  it.  On  this  120  acres 
now  he  has  about  one  hundred  acres  in  fruits 
and  vegetables.  But  he  also  has  two  other 
farms,  of  160  and  135  acres,  near  Alto  Pass,  on 
which  he  raises  more  grain,  but  some  fruits. 
So  in  life  he  has  been  very  successful,  but 
not  wi  thout  hard  work  for  it.  Some  of  his- 
best  fields  he  helped  to  clear  and  put  in  cul- 
tivation when  a  boy.  He  also  has  had  to 
take  his  sack  of  corn,  put  fit  on  a  horse,  and 
start  to  the  horse  mill,  but  frequently  would 


160 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


have  to  wait  all  day  for  his  tm-n  to  come.  In 
politics,  Mr.  James  has  always  been  Temo- 
cratic.  He  is  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F. 
of  Alto  Pass,  and  is  now  Vice  Grand.  As 
most  other  members  of  the  James  family 
have  done  before  him,  so  om-  subject  has  re- 
mained single  till  he  is  almost  of  middle  age. 
C.  JESSEN-TVILSTEDGUARD,  saw 
mill,  Alto  Pass.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Denmark  April  28,  1844,  to  J. 
J.  Tvilstedguard  and  Maiy  (Jessen)  Tvilsted- 
guard.  His  parents,  and  two  sisters  and  a 
brother,  are  still  living  in  their  native  covm- 
try.  Our  subject  was  given  his  mother's 
maiden  name  as  a  given  name,  and  after 
coming  to  America  he  dropped  his  father's 
name,  except  in  deeds  and  private  matters, 
and  is  known  as  _C.  Jessen.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  his  native  land,  attending  the  high 
school,  commercial  school,  and  then  received 
private  instruction  fi'om  his  father.  So  when 
he  came  to  this  country,  he  not  only  was  well 
versed  in  his  o\vn  language,  but  could  speak 
and  write  the  German,  Swedish  and  English 
languages.  Mathematics  were  almost  natural 
to  him,  so  that  he  is  a  rapid  and  accurate  ac- 
countant. When  he  was  thirteen  years^old, 
he  was  put  behind  the  counter  in  a  store,  and 
clerked  for  live  years.  For  the  threej  years 
previous  to  his  coming  to  America,  he  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  Government.  In  1867, 
he  came  to  America,  and  during  the^  next 
three  years  he  traveled  almost  all  over  the 
United  States:  but  part  of  the  time  would 
work  on  railroads,  or  do  farm  work,  and  for 
a  short  time  was  in  the  furniture  business  on 
Clark  street,  Chicago,  but  while  away  for  a 
short  time  his  partner  sold  out  and  took  all 
the  money,  leaving  him  ^with  nothing.  In 
1870,  he  bought  a  team,  and  went  into  the 
pineries  of  Wisconsin,  where  he  remained  for 
four  years,  working  in  summer  farming,  but 
in  the  winter  would  work  in  the  woods.  Most 


of  the  time,  he  would  hire  some  one  to  drive 
his  team,  while  he  would  do  scaling,  ^  etc. 
For  one  season  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the 
Rochester  'Nursery  Company,  selling  and  de- 
livering friiit  trees.  In  1876,  he  came  to 
Cairo,  111.,  and  took  the  position  of  clerk  in 
Halladay  &  Bell's  box  mill,  but  remained 
there  only  for  about  three  months,  when,  in 
the  fall  of  1876,  he,  in  partnership  with  ^\. 
P.  Messier,  engaged  in  the  box  mill  enter- 
prise, 'starting  near  Cobden.  He  remained 
in  partnership  with  Mr.  Messier  for  four 
years,  and  then  sold  his  interest  to  James 
Bell,  of  Cobden,  and  bought  a  store  and  farm 
near  the  box  mill.  These  he  sold  in  1882, 
and  engaged  in  his  present  business  of  saw 
milling,  under  the  firm  name  of  C.  Jessen  & 
Co.  (see  sketch  of  James  Massie).  In  con- 
nection with  their  'saw  mill,  they  have  en- 
gaged in  the  box  manufacturing,  and  dui'ing 
the  season  employ  about  twenty  hands  in  the 
two  box  manufacturing  establishments  at  Alto 
Pass.  October  31,  1877,  in  Cobden,  he  was 
married  to  ^Miss  Mary  Buck,  daughter  of 
Adam  Buck,  of  Cobden.  Mrs.  Jessen  was 
born  February  5,  1856,  and  died  April  6, 
1883.  The  result  of  this  union  was  three 
childi-en — Meta,  Leopold  and  Scott.  Mr. 
Jessen  is  a^member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity 
of  ^Cobden,  also  the  I.  O.  0.  F.,  and  is  Re- 
publican in  politics. 

J.  J.  KEITH,  farmer,  P.  O.  Alto  Pass, 
was  born  in  this  county  February  6,  1840, 
to  Samson  and  Lucinda  (Parmley)  Keith. 
He  came  to  this  county,  while  still  a  boy, 
from  Kentucky,  but  when  his  father  (the 
grandfather  of  our  subject)  came,  he  was 
left  in  Kentucky  as  an  apprentice  to  a  black- 
smith, but  as  soon  as  his  time  was  out  he 
also  came  to  this  county,  but  never  followed 
his  trade  to  any  extent,  but  gave  most  of  his 
attention  to  farming,  he  having  entered  part 
of  the  farm  now  owned  by  our  subject.     He 


ALTO  PASS  PRECINCT. 


161 


died  in  1855,  and  she  in  1869.  They  were 
the  parents  of  ten  children,  live  ol'  whom  are 
still  living.  Our  subject  received  his  edu- 
cation ia  the  schools  of  this  county,  and  has 
always  followed  farming,  and  on  the  farm 
he  now  owns,  it  being  the  oldest  homestead. 
In  March,  1860,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Raiidleman,  a  daughter  of  J.  S.  Rendle 
man  (see  sketch).  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Keith  have  four 
children — Benjamin  Franklin,  Harry  Everett, 
Leroy  Guy  and  Bertha  Elizabeth.  Mr.  Keith 
has  one  of  the  best  improved  farms  in  the 
precinct.  It  consists  of  210  acres,  and  about 
eighty  acres  are  in  apple  and  peach  orchards. 
In  1877,  he  shipped  12,600  boxes  of  peaches, 
grown  on  his  farm  and  from  trees  most  of 
which  he  had  grafted  with  his  own  hands. 
In  politics,  he  has  always'  been  Democratic. 
He  has  served  as  Constable,  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  is  now  one  of  the  County  Com- 
missioners. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  I.  O. 
O.  F. 

MRS.  ELIZABETH  (SUMNER)  LAM- 
ER, P.  O.  Cobden,  was  born  in  Kentucky  No- 
vember 22,  1825,  but  her  parents  moved  to 
Tennessee  when  she  was  very  small,  and 
in  1828  they  came  to  this  county  and  settled 
about  two  miles  northwest  of  Cobden.  From 
this  time  on  she  experienced  the  life  of  the 
frontier  woman.  They  made  their  clothing 
themselves,  from  the  cotton,  flax  and  wool 
that  Ihey  i-aised,  taking  each  through  its 
complete  process  of  manufacture,  and  till  the 
time  she  was  fifteen  years  old  she  had  not 
seen  a  wagon,  only  the  rude  concerns  which 
they  manuf  actui-ed  themselves.  As  they  had 
no  markets,  they  did  not  try  raising  anything 
for  sale,  so  had  no  money  with  which  to  buy 
any  of  the  luxui'ies  of  life.  November  2, 
1847,  she  was  married  to  William  Jackson 
Lamer.  He  was  boi'n  in  Kentucky  April  19, 
1818,  to  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  Lamer.  Mr. 
William  Lamer  died  April  9,  1855.  Mr.    and 


Mrs.  Lamer  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters, 
now  living.  During  the  war,  when  prices 
were  so  high,  Mrs.  Lamer,  having  her  fam- 
ily to  support,  again  resorted  to  her  carding, 
spinning  and  weaving.  Up  to  the  time  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  coming  through 
the  county,  they  did  not  think  of  raising 
fruit  as  a  means  of  money- making,  and  the 
first  apples  that  Mrs.  Lamer  shipped  were 
some  that  she  did  not  consider  worth  any- 
thing, but  some  friend,  seeing  them,  told  her 
where  and  how  to  ship;  so  she  gathered  up 
the  apples  from  under  a  few  trees  and  sent 
them,  and  from  these  she  realized  $25.  The 
next  year,  she  sold  the  chance  of  her  peach 
orchard,  of  150  trees,  for  $125.  So,  fi'om 
this  time  out,  she  increased  the  business,  at 
least,  making  it  her  main  support.  Mrs. 
Lamer  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

WILLIS  LAMER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cobden, 
was  born  in  Union  County.  111.,  August  23, 
18-48,  to  William  Jackson  and  Elizabeth 
(Sumner)  Lamer.  (See  sketch  of  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Lamer).  Our  subject  was  raised  on  a 
farm,  and  received  his  education  in  the  dis- 
trict schools  of  this  county.  Except  one  year, 
when  he  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness in  Alto  Pass,  his  whole  life  has  been 
given  to  fruit  and  vegetable  farming,  and  he 
has  made  a  success  of  it,  as  his  farm  and  im- 
provements show.  In  1882,  he  erected  a 
handsome  residence,  the  main  building  being 
18x40  feet,  an  L  in  fi'ont,  16x1(3,  and  a  T 
behind,  20x24  feet,  costing  $3,200.  April, 
1874,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Ann 
Lovelace,  who  was  born  in  Johnson  County, 
to  R.  Lovelace,  who  died  when  she  was  small. 
She  was  mostly  raised  in  this  county.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Lamer  have  three  children — 
Charles  Roy,  Hewitt  Hugh  and  a  little 
daughter,  Gertie.  In  politics,  Mr.  Lamer 
has  always  been  Democratic.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Cobden  Masonic  fi'atemitv. 


162 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


WALTER  S.  LAMER,  P.  O.  Cobden,  was 
born  in  this  county  January  19,  1854,  to  Will- 
iam J.  and  Elizabeth  (Sumner)  Lamer.  (See 
sketch  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Lamer. )  His  educa- 
tion was  obtained  in  the  district  schools  of  this 
county.  His  life,  so  far,  has  been  spent  on 
the  farm  on  which  he  was  born;  however, 
he  has  a  farm  of  his  own,  which  is  well  im- 
proved. His  attention  has  always  been  given 
to  the  raising  of  fruits,  about  all  kinds  of 
which  he  raises.  October  25,  1877,  he  was 
married,  in  this  county,  to  Miss  Laura  Har- 
baugh,  daughter  of  Frank  Harbaugh.  She 
was  born  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  came  to 
this  county  with  her  parents  in  the  fall  of 
1865.  He  died  in  1876;  Mrs.  Harbaugh, 
however,  is  still  living  in  this  county.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Lamer  have  two  little  boys — Ray- 
mond S.  and  Fred  M.  He  is  Democratic  in 
politics,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  of  Cobden. 

J.  LANDRITH,  farmer  and  mill  owner, 
P.  O.  Cobden,  was  born  in  Union  County, 
111.,  July  15,  1842,  to  McKindley  and 
Eliza  (Stone)  Landrith.  They  both  came  to 
this  county  with  their  parents  when  they  were 
still  small,  and  this  county  has  been  their 
home  ever  since.  He  died  July,  1852 ;  she, 
however,  is  still  living.  They  were  the 
parents  of  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  still 
living.  Our  subject  received  his  early  edu- 
cation in  the  district  schools  of  the  county, 
and  has  always  been  engaged  in  farming. 
He  now  owns  the  farm  which  his  grandfather 
Landrith  settled,  and  which  his  father  also 
owned  before  him.  Of  his  400  acres  of  land, 
about  200  are  in  cultivation.  Grain  and 
stock  are  his  main  dependence,  but  he  is  en- 
gaged in  fruit-raising  to  some  extent.  In 
1882,  Mr  Landrith,  in  partnership  with  Mr. 
B.  F.  Rethey,  started  a  saw  mill,  and  now 
has  it  in  complete  running  order,  and  has 
a  capacity  for   sawing  about   3,500  feet   of 


lumber  daily.  June,  1866,  be  was  married, 
in  this  county,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Lilly, 
daughter  of  Boston  and  Malinda  (Corbitt) 
Lilly.  They  were  both  born  in  Tennessee, 
and  are  still  living,  coming  to  this  county 
when  small.  Mr.  Lilly  is  the  son  of  William 
and  Elizabeth  Lilly,  and  one  of  a  family  of 
seven  children,  only  two  of  whom  are  still 
living.  Mr.  Lilly  has  always  been  engaged 
in  farming.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Landrith  had 
three  children,  to  die  when  young,  but  have 
two  daughters  and  one  son  living — Fannie, 
Minnie  and  John.  In  politics  he  has  always 
voted  with  the  Democratic  party,  and  has 
served  one  term  as  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
His  wife  and  mother  are  members  of  the  New 
Hope  Methodist  Church. 

JOS  HUA  LEWIS, P.  O.  Cobden,  was  born  in 
Dearborn  County,  Ind.,  July  5,  1812,  to 
George  and  Elizabeth  (Johnson)  Lewis.  He 
was  born  one  mile  from  Reading,  Penn., 
1769,  but  when  he  was  ten  years  old,  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Eastern  Tennessee,  where 
his  father  bought  a  mill  site  in  Sullivan 
County.  In  the  then  wilderness  of  Tennessee 
he  was  reared  and  remained  till  1809,  but 
during  that  time  he  had  served  in  two  or 
three  local  campaigns  against  the  Indians. 
Before  moving'  from  Tennessee  to  Dearborn 
County,  Ind.,  in  1809,  he  was  married  to  the 
mother  of  our  subject.  They  were  the  par 
ents  of  seventeen  children,  all  of  whom,  ex- 
cept one,  reached  the  age  of  maturity,  and 
nine  are  now  living,  the  youngest  being  fifty- 
eight  years  of  age.  George  Lewis  died  in  his 
seventy  third  year,  but  his  wife  reached  the 
age  of  eighty-five,  and  retained  all  of  her 
mental  faculties  till  the  last;  she,  however, 
was  of  a  long-lived  family,  her  father  reach- 
ing the  great  age  of  one  hundred  and  nine, 
in  the  mountains  of  Eastern  Tennessee. 
The  grand  father  of  our  subject  came  from 
Wales,  but  his  grandmother  was  an  Engli-sh- 


ALTO  PASS  PKECINCT. 


163 


woman,  both  coming  to   this    country  while 
yoiiag.     Our  subject  was  raised- in  Dearborn 
County,  Ind.  He  had  but  small  opportunities 
to  attend  school,  but  he  applied  himself,  out- 
side of  the  schoolroom,  and  so  qualified  him- 
self that  he  made  a  successful  school  teacher 
for  several  terms.     From   the  time  that  he 
was  eighteen  years  of  age  till  he  was  thirty, 
he  was  mostly  engaged  on  public  works;  first 
on    the    Cincinnati    &   Harrison    Turnpike, 
then  on  the  Cincinnati  &Colerain  Turnpike. 
On  these  he  was  part  of  the  time  Contractor, 
and  part  Superintendent.    He  was  afterward 
Superintendent  of  the  White  Water  Canal, 
in  Indiana,  and  again  of    the    Cincinnati  & 
White  Water  Canal.     In  1844,  he  removed 
to  La  Salle  County,  111.,  where  he  remained 
till  the  spring  of    1859,  when  he  moved  to 
his  present  home,  near  Cobden.     Since  com- 
ing here,  he   has  been   engaged  in   farming 
and  fruit-growing.     February  22,    1844,   he 
was  married  to  Ellen  Kelso,  a  native  of  his 
native   county,  in   Indiana.      She  was  born 
November  29,  1821.     Her  parents  both  came 
from  the  old  country;  he  from   Ireland,  but 
of    Scotch  parents,   and  she   from  Scotland. 
They  were  married  in  New    York,  and  were 
the  parents  of    six   children,  of   whom  Mrs. 
Lewis  was  the  only  daughter.    Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lewis  have  five  children   living — Charlotte, 
Thomas,    John,    George    and    Mary.       Mr. 
Lewis'  life  has  been  far  from  a  failure,  both 
financially  and  in  the  esteem  of  his  fellow- 
men.     He  has  been  a  Republican  in  politics 
since   the    party    was    first   organized,    and 
although    living   in    a  etrongly    Democratic 
county,  he  has  twice  been  elected  as  one  of 
the    County     Commissioners,     because   both 
Democrats    and    Republicans   recognized  in 
him    a   man    whom  they    could  trust.     Mr. 
Lewis    now    possesses    a    cm'iosity,    in    the 
shape  of    an  old   rifle   made     in    Germany, 
and    one   which    has    been    in    the    family 


and  in  use  ever  since.  A  man  by  the 
name  of  Adam  Stump  could  not  shoot  except 
with  what  they  called  a  "  left-handed"  gun, 
so  he  sent  to  his  native  country,  Germany, 
and  had  one  made  for  him;  but  before  the 
gun  ai-rived,  Stump  had  killed  some  Indians 
in  the  colony,  and  had  to  flee  to  escape  ar- 
rest, so  our  subject's  grandfather  bought 
the  gun  when  it  arrived.  It  has  the  same 
lock  and  stock  that  it  first  had,  and  is  in 
good  condition  for  shooting;  the  only  change 
is  that  it  has  been  changed  so  as  to  use  per- 
cussion caps. 

JAMES  MASSIE,  engineer  and  saw  mill- 
er, Alto  Pass,   was  born  in  Forfarshire,  Scot- 
land,   at    the    foot  of    the  Grampian    Hills, 
about  1842.     He  is  the  son  of  Peter  Massie, 
who    was    a  miller.      He   died   about    1874. 
Our  subject's  mother,  however,  is  still  living, 
in  her  native  land.      They  were   the  parents 
of  ten  children,   eight  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters.     Seven  sons  and  one  daughter  are  now 
living,  but  our  subject  is  the  only  one  living 
in  this    country.     Mr.    Massie  received    his 
education  in  his  native  country,  and  served 
an  apprenticeship  of  seven  years  to  learn  his 
trade  of  machinist  and  engineer, getting  only 
25  cents  per  week  during  the  time.     While  re- 
siding in  his  native  country,  his  work  was  on 
steam  engines,  and  he  made  several  sea  voyages 
as  engineer.     It  was  not  until  coming  to  this 
cuuntry  that  he    learned    the  saw    mill  busi- 
ness.    April   20,  1866,  in   Scotland,  he   was 
married  to  Miss  Su.4an  Simpson,  daughter  of 
Geoi-ge  Simpson,  who  died  in  1873,  but  his 
widow    is   still    living.     By  trade,  he  was  a 
stone-mason.     They  were  natives  of  the  same 
county  as  our  subject,  and  were  the  parents 
of    three   sons    and  three    daughters,   all  of 
whom  are  still    living,   Mrs.  Massie  and  her 
eldest  brother   being  the   only  ones  in  this 
country.   He  came  to  New  York  City  in  1878, 
and  for  some  time  clerked  for  A.  T.  Stewart 


164 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


&  Co.,  and  then  was  sent  to  one  of  Stewart's 
woolen  mills  on  the  Hudson  River,  and  at 
last  accounts  he  was  still  there.  In  1869, 
our  subject  came  to  America,  to  Cairo,  111., 
and  for  five  years  worked  in  the  Cairo  Box 
Mill,  and  was  the  first  one  to  successfully 
work  the  "  box  machine. "  After  being  here 
for  five  years,  he  returned  to  the  old  countiy 
for  his  wife,  whom  he  did  not  bring  at  first. 
In  July,  1875,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Massie  again 
came  to  Cairo,  111. ,  where  he  worked  in  the 
box  mill  for  three  years  longer.  They  then 
returned  to  Scotland,  where  he  remained  for 
nearly  eigliteen  months,  and  then  came  to 
Messler's  Box  Mill,  near  Cobden.  Mrs. 
Massie  did  not  return  to  this  country  till 
about  eight  months  later  than  her  husband. 
Mr.  Massie  remained  at  Messler's  Box  Mill 
from  March,  1880,  till  March,  1882,  when 
he  started  into  his  present  mill.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Massie  have  no  child  living,  but  there 
was  one  son,  who  died.  They  are  both  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland. 
While  in  Scotland  the  last  time,  Mr.  Massie 
joined  the  Lour  Lodge  of  Masons.  Our  sub- 
ject is  partner  in  the  saw  mill  firm  of  Jessen 
&  Massie.  The  mill  is  located  on  Section  7, 
Township  11,  Range  2,  and  was  built  in 
1882.  Commencing  in  March,  Messrs.  Jes- 
sen &  Massie  did  the  work  themselves,  but 
the  mill  was  soon  in  running  order.  They 
bought  most  of  the  machinery  of  C.  Harreld. 
After  it  had  passed  through  afire,  Mr.  Massie 
worked  the  machinery  all  over  and  put  it  in 
good  condition.  Their  mill  is  now  complete 
in  all  the  necessary  details,  so  that  they  are 
prepared  to  saw  all  kinds  of  lumber,  baiTel 
heads,  staves,  fruit  boxes,  etc.  When  running 
with  full  force,  they  can  saw  from  6,000  to 
10,000  feet  of  lumber  daily.  They  keep 
four  teams  of  their  own  running  all  the  time. 
They  also  have  a  lumber  yard  in  Alto  Pass. 
JOHN  McCaffrey,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cob- 


den, was  born  in  County  Fermanagh,  Ire- 
land, to  Thomas  and  Bridget  (McMahon) 
McCaffrey.  They  were  natives  of  the  same 
county  as  our  subject,  but  came  to  America 
when  he  was  but  three  years  old,  and  settled 
in  Galena,  111.  In  1856,  Mrs.  McCaffrey 
died  in  Chicago,  of  the  cholera;  Mr.  Mc- 
Cafi^rey,  however,  died  in  Galena  in  1858. 
They  were  the  parents  of  seven  children,  two 
sons  and  five  daughters.  Our  subject  is  the 
only  son  living  now,  but  all  the  daughters 
are  still  alive.  Our  subject  attended  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Galena,  till  he  was  about 
nineteen  years  old,  when  'he  quit  school  and 
went  to  Chicago,  where,  for  five  years,  he 
was  engaged  in  the  drug  business — two  years 
being  in  business  for  himself.  He  sold  oat, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1870  came  to  his  present 
farm,  having  traded  Chicago  real  estate  for 
it  before  coming  here,  His  home  place  con- 
sists of  forty  acres,  on  which  he  is  engaged 
in  fruit  and  vegetable  raising.  But  he  also 
owns  300  acres  in  Jackson  County,  111.,  on 
the  Big  Muddy  River.  He  also  has  property 
in  Alto  Pass  Village.  April  10,  1867,  he 
was  married,  in  this  county,  to  Cora  Wal- 
cott,  daughter  of  George  and  Elizabeth  Wal- 
cott.  Mr.  McCaffrey  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  Cobden  Lodge,  No.  466. 
In  [politics,  he  is  Democrat,  and  was  raised 
up  in  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  but  in  both 
politics  and  religion  he  is  very  liberal. 

J.  S.  RENDLEMAN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Alto 
Pass,  was  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C, 
October  26,  1811.  In  October,  1816,  his 
father,  Jacob  Rendleman,  came  to  this 
county,  and  settled  three  miles  northwest  of 
Jonesboro,  and  was  a  member  of  the  first 
Board  of  County  Commissioners,  with 
George  Hunsaker  and  William  Thornton. 
The  history  of  the  Rendleman  family  would 
include  a  great  many  incidents  of  hardships; 
such  as  going  to  New  Madrid,  Mo.,  for  cot- 


ALTO  PASS  PRECINCT. 


165 


ton,  from  which  they  would  manufacture 
their  own  clothes,  and  of  going  to  Saline, 
111.,  for  salt  and  packing  it  on  horses,  having 
only  an  Indian  trail  to  follow.  At  first,  their 
milling  was  done  by  pounding  corn  in  a  hol- 
lowed stump  or  block,  with  a  wooden  pestle 
attached  to  a  sweep.  Their  sugar  was  made 
from  the  sugar  maple,  and  instead  of  tea  and 
coffee  they  used  sassafras  and  sycamore  chips. 
However,  the  childi-en  of  the  family  grew  up 
strong  and  robust.  Frequently,  while  a 
young  man,  our  subject  has  gone  to  a.house- 
raising  in  the  morning,  where  by  evening 
they  would  have  the  puncheons  split  and  laid 
for  a  floor,  the  roof  on,  and  then  be  ready 
for  a  dance  that  night,  and  in  this  sport  Gov. 
Reynulds  would  frequently  take  a  hand  with 
them.  The  second  school  that  Mr.  Rendle- 
man  attended  was  taught  by  Gov.  Dougherty, 
and  the  last  by  Winston  Davie.  In  1832,  he 
enlisted  and  served  through  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  B.  B.  Craig  being  Captain.  While  out 
on  the  campaign,  he  cast  his  first  Presiden- 
tial vote  for  Jackson,  and  has  been  voting 
for  a  Jackson  man  ever  since.  Of  the  100 
men  who  went  out  under  Capt.  Craig,  only 
six  are  now  living — John  Corgan,  James 
Morgan,  Wilson  Lingle,  H.  E.  Hodges,  Solo- 
mon Miller  and  our  subject.  For  four  years 
after  coming  out  of  the  army,  Mr.  Rendle- 
man  taught  subscription  schools.  In  1838, 
he  was  married,  in  this  county,  to  Margaret 
Hartline,  her  family,  also,  being  one  of  the 
earliest  families  in  the  county,  coming  from 
North  Carolina.  By  this  marriage  Mr.  R. 
had  five  children;  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters now  living.  In  1848,  his  wife  died,  and 
some  time  after  this  he  was  married  to  Eliza- 
beth Donovan,  who  was  born  in  Missouri  but 
came  to  Union  County  when  but  a  small  girl, 
being  here  during  the  flood  of  1844,  and  only 
escaping  by  being  taken  out  of  the  second 
story  winddw  just  as  the   house  was  about  to 


go  to  pieces,  crushed  by  the  flood.  By  this 
wife  Mr.  R.  has  four  children,  two  sons  and 
two  daughters.  In  1838,  he  moved  to  his 
present  farm,  and  in  1840  built  the  house  he 
still  lives  in.  Mr.  R.  is  a  strong  temperance 
man. 

JOHN  RENDLEMAN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Alto 
Pass,  was  born  in  this  county  December  23, 
1844,  to  Henry  and  Mary  (Hess)  Rendleman. 
He  was  born  in  1805,  to  Jacob  Rendleman, 
and  came  to  this  county,  from  North  Carolina, 
in  1818,  and  died  here  in  1873.  She  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  also,  and  came  with 
her  parents  to  this  county  about  the  same 
time  as  the  Rendlemans.  She  is  still  living, 
but  over  seventy  years  of  age.  Our  subject 
is  one  of  a  family  of  seventeen,  eight  of 
whom  died  when  small;  the  remaining  nine 
are  now  living  in  this  county.  He  was  edu: 
cated  in  the  schools  of  this  county,  and  has 
always  been  engaged  in  the  same  occupation 
as  his  father,  that  of  farming;  but  he  has 
not  confined  him  self  to  farming  alone,  but 
has  engaged  in  other  business  in  connection 
with  his  farm.  For  three  years,  he  was  in 
the  mercantile  business,  in  Alto  Pass,  but  in 
1881,  he  sold  his  stock  of  goods  to  James 
Harreld,  but  this  present  year  has  again  put 
in  a  stock  of  groceries,  but  leaves  the  business 
in  the  hands  of  clerks.  For  three  years  Mr. 
Rendleman  has  been  in  the  employ  of  F. 
Nickerson  &  Son,  fruit  commission,  91  South 
Water  street,  Chicago.  December  28,  1865, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Isabel  t  Keith.  She 
was  born  in  this  county,  to  Abner  and  Louisa 
Keith.  He  was  also  a  native  of  this  county, 
and  died  here;  she,  however,  is  still  living. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rendleman  have  five  children 
—William  Arthur,  Herbert,  Maud,  May  and 
Mamie.  In  politics,  he  has  always  been  De- 
mocratic. 

A.    J.  RENDLEMAN,    general   merchan- 
dise, Alto  Pass,  was  born  in  Union   County, 


166 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


111. ,  April  6,  1848,  and  is  the  son  of  J.  S. 
Rendleman  (see  sketch),  his  mother  dying 
during  his  infancy.  Our  subject  attended 
the  schools  of  this  county,  and  remained  on 
the  farm  till  1860,  when  he  went  to  Cobden 
and  clerked  in  the  store  owned  by  his  father 
and  James  Fowley.  Here  he  remained  as 
clerk  till  he  was  about  of  age,  and  then  en- 
gaged in  business  as  Mr.  Fowley's  partner. 
He  continued  in  the  store  till  1875,  when  his 
health  failed  and  he  went  to  California, 
where  he  remained  for  about  eight  months, 
then  returned  to  Cobden,  and  in  1876  sold 
his  interest  in  the  store  and  went  to  Dallas, 
Tex. :  but  losing  a  little  child  by  death,  and 
his  wife's  health  failing,  he  again  returned 
to  Cobden.  Here  his  remaining  child  died, 
April  20,  1877,  and  May  22,  following,  his 
wife,  also,  passed  away.  Mrs.  Emma  M. 
(Stearns)  Rendleman  was  born  in  Bangor, 
Me.,  May  12,  1856,  and  was  married  to  Mr. 
A.  J.  Rendleman  April  15,  1873.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  Osborn  R.  Stearns,  who 
settled  in  Cobden  in  1867,  and  died  Decem- 
ber 22,  1873.  After  the  loss  of  his  family, 
Mr.  R.  went  to  Iowa,  and  engaged  in  the 
commission  business,  but  in  1878,  he  again 
returned  to  Union  County  and  bought  a 
fruit  farm,  which  he  still  owns.  In  1879,  he 
engaged  in  mercantile  business  at  Alto  Pass, 
and  has  continued  here  since,  doing  a  general 
merchandise  business,  his  store  building 
being  48x60  feet.  He  carries  a  stock  of  about 
$10,000,  and  his  annual  sales  amount  to 
about  $35,000.  Mr.  Rendleman  is  a  member 
of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  of  Alto  Pass,  and  is  also 
Democratic  in  politics. 

C.  C.  RENDLEMAN,  general  merchan- 
dise,Alto  Pass,  was  born  in  Union  County,  111. , 
December  18,  1854,  and  is  the  oldest  son  of  J. 
S.  Rendleman,  by  second  marriage  (see 
sketch  of  J.  S.  R.j.  He  remained  on  the 
farm  till   he  was  sixteen  years  old,  when  he 


began  clerking  in  the  store  of  Fowley  & 
Rendleman,  of  Cobden.  He  continued 
in  this  store  till  1879,  when  he  went  into 
partnership  in  general  merchandising,  in 
Alto  Pass,  with  his  brother  A.  J.  His 
health  failing,  in  the  spring  of  1882,  he  sold 
his  interest  in  the  store  to  his  brother,  and 
for  the  succeeding  year  avoided  all  confine- 
ment, and  so  regained  health.  During  the 
year,  he  was  engaged  collecting  and  straight- 
ening up  the  old  store  accounts  of  Rendleman 
Bros.  Now,  however,  he  has  again  opened  a 
$5,000  stock  of  general  merchandise.  In 
October,  1881,  he  was  married,  in  this  coun- 
ty, to  Miss  Adelia  Rich,  who  was  also  born 
and  raised  in  this  county,  daughter  of  John 
M.  Rich.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rendleman  have  two 
little  girls — Ara  and  Villa.  Mr.  R.  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  a  Democrat  in 
politics. 

E.  R.  SKIMLAND,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cob- 
den, was  born  in  Norway  May  16,  1832,  to 
—  Richard  and  Karey  (Knotson)  Skimland. 
They  were  both  natives  of  Norway.  He  was 
a  farmer,  but  through  misfortune  lost  his 
fai-m  when  our  subject  was  but  a  small  boy, 
and  after  that  he  held  a  position  in  Norway 
called  Skafer,  it  being  one  in  which,  if  a 
traveler  came  along,  and  wished  to  be  car- 
ried to  a  certain  point,  he  would  have  to  find 
the  conveyance  for  him,  and  generally,  in 
that  place,  they  traveled  in  row  boats,  so  Mr. 
Skimland  would  have  to  see  to  getting  the 
rowers.  He,  however,  died  when  our  subject 
was  but  sixteen.  His  widow,  the  mother  of  our 
subject,  is  still  living,  and  in  this  countiy 
with  a  daughter,  and  is  eighty-two  years  of 
age.  She  came  to  America  in  1872.  They 
were  the  parents  of  nine  children,  all  but  one 
of  whom  are  still  living,  and  that  one  died 
in  1882,  at  the  age  of  sixty  years.  To  follow 
the  changes,  and  to  give  all  the  incidents  of 
importance    in  the  life  of  our  subject  would 


ALTO  PASS  PRECINCT. 


167 


make  a  volume  in  itself;  so  we  will  mentiou 
but  a  few.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  earn 
his  board,  he  was  taken  on  a  vessel  with  his 
uncle  as  waiter.  He  continued  here  except 
what  time  he  was  compelled,  by  the  laws  of 
Norway,  to  attend  school,  till  he  had  passed 
his  last  examination  at  school.  From  that 
time  till  he  was  twenty-two  years  old,  he  was 
a  sailor  on  a  coasting  vessel,  going  to  the 
German,  English  and  neighboring  coasts. 
In  1856,  he  came  to  America,  and  settled  at 
Ottawa,  111.,  where  he  remained  until  1858, 
when  he  went  to  Texas.  Here  he  was]  at 
work  on  a  railroad,  when  the  war  broke  out, 
and  was  compelled  to  enter  the  Southern 
service;  but  as  soon  as  he  could,  he  deserted 
and  tied  to  Mexico,  where  he  remained  most 
of  the  time  till  he  heard  that  Lincoln  was 
killed,  and  also  that  there  were  Union  troops 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande  River,  to 
whom  he  made  his  way,  and  after  a  great 
deal  of  hardship  he  joined  them,  and  took 
the  oath  of  allegiance.  They  then  started 
for  the  North,  and  while  at  Cairo  the  war 
was  declared  over,  but  Mr.  Skimland  was 
without  transportation  or  money  with  which 
to  reach  his  friends  at  Ottawa;  but  he 
started  out,  and  went  to  Cobden,  and  here  he 
stopped  to  work  for  money  to  carry  him  on, 
not  having  food,  clothing  or  money — his 
only  shirt  was  one  he  had  worn  from  March 
7,  still  he  got  to  Cobden,  June  29  following. 
Going  into  the  store  of  Henry  Blumenthall, 
Mr.  B.  saw  his  need,  and  gave  hira  a  new 
shirt.  By  the  time  Mr.  Skimland  had  made 
money  enough  to  carry  him  on  to  his  friends, 
he  had  decided  that  he  would  try  raising 
strawberries  for  a  year  or  so — and  the  result 
is  that  he  is  still  here,  in  Union  County,  and 
one  of  the  most  successful  fruit-raisers  in  the 
precinct.  From  the  time  of  his  an*ival  hei*e 
till  1873,  he  had  various  reverses  of  fortune. 
After    making  some  money,  he  went   into   a 


mill,  on  which  he  lost  all  that  he  had,  and 
still  found  himself  about  $800  in  debt;  but. 
nothing  daunted,  he  bought  his  present  place 
that  year,  and  paid  $62  down,  but  in  a  few 
years  he  paid  off  all  his  debts  and  built  a 
good  residence,  and  made  other  improve- 
ments. December  18, 1867,  he  was  married, 
in  this  county,  to  Elizabeth  Haup,  of  Balti- 
more, Md.  In  politics,  Mr.  Skimland  is  Re- 
publican. 

S.  H.  SPANN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Alto  Pass, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  August  3.  1811, 
to  William  and  Hannah  (Flack)  Spann.  She 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  and  died  there, 
but  he  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  went 
to  North  Carolina  when  a  young  man,  but 
moved  to  Alabama  and  died  there.  They 
were  the  parents  of  thirteen  children;  three 
sons  and  one  daughter  are  still  living.  Our 
subject  was  raised  and  educated  in  his  na- 
tive State,  and  learned  the  same  trade  as  his 
father — that  of  carpentering.  He  followed 
his  trade  for  several  years,  but  most  of  his 
life  he  has  been  engaged  in  farming.  In 
1851,  he  moved  to  this  State,  and  settled  in 
Jonesboro,  where  he  remained  till  1876, 
when  he  moved  to  his  present  home  at  Alto 
Pass.  Jb'or  some  years,  while  in  Jonesboro, 
and  also  for  three  years  in  Alto  Pass,  he 
was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business. 
He  now,  however,  gives  his  attention  to  his 
farm.  Mr.  Spann  has  always  been  Demo- 
cratic in  politics,  and  while  in  Jonesboro  he 
served  one  term  as  Justice  of  the  Peace.  He 
is  now  Police  Magistrate  of  Alto  Pass.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity;  also 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Mr. 
Spann  is  now  living  with  his  fourth  wife, 
and  is  the  father  of  fifteen  children,  ten  of 
whom  are  still  living,  and  all  are  in  this 
cou.nty,  except  one  son,  who  is  a  lavsyer  in 
Vienna,  111.,  and  one  son  in    St.    Louis,  Mo. 

HENRY  STONE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Alto  Pass, 


168 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  born  in  Kentucky  November  13,  1813,  to 
John  and  Elizabeth  (Williams)  Stone.  They 
were  both  natives  of  North  Carolina,  but 
moved  to  Kentucky  after  they  were  married, 
and  had  one  child.  Soon  after  the  birth  of 
our  subject,  they  moved  to  Alabama,  where 
they  resided  till  moving  to  this  county,  when 
our  subject  was  about  fifteen  years  old.  They 
settled  near  the  present  home  of  our  s abject, 
and  died  on  the  old  homestead.  They  were 
the  parents  of  nine  children,  four  of  whom 
are  still  living.  "When  our  subject  was  first 
married,  which.was  on  his  twenty- third  birth- 
day, he  settled  on  his  present  farm,  and  has 
resided  here  since.  His  first  wife  was  Eliza- 
beth Langley.  She  died  March  7,  1862. 
By  her,  he  had  seven  children,  six  of  ^whom 
ai'e  still  living.  Soon  after  his  wife's  death, 
he  was  again  married,  to  Mrs.  Nancy  Under- 
wood, daughter  of  John  Childress.  By  this 
wife,  he  has  but  one  child — a  son.  Oe  his 
farm,  Mr.  Stone  does  general  farming,  rais- 
ing corn,  wheat,  berries,  etc.  In  politics,  he 
has  always  been  Eepublican. 

J.  M.  TWEEDY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cobden, 
was  born  March  22,  1817,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  in  this  county,  just 
below  Preston.  He  is  one  of  the  oldest  men 
now  living  in  the  county  who  were  born  here. 
He  is  the  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Craft) 
Tweedy.  John  Tweedy  was  born  [in  South 
Carolina,  but  came  to  this  county  when 
young,  coming  with  his  father,  who  built  the 
first  horse  mill  in  the  county.  His  wife,  by 
birth,  was  a  Pennsylvanian,  but  her  parents 
moved  to  Kentucky,  and  from  Kentucky  to 
this  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tweedy  both 
died  in  this  county.  They  were  the  parents 
of  eleven  children,  only  two  of  whom  are 
now  living,  our  subject  and  his  brother,  S. 
P.,  who  is  a  resident  of  Cobden.  Our  sub- 
ject was  quite  a  large  boy  before  he  ever 
heard  of    a  scholar  or  teacher,  but  after  the 


first  school  was  opened  they  had  a  school  of 
about  three  months  every  winter,  and  as 
there  was  quite  a  settlement  near  his  father's 
the  school  was  well  attended.  August  30, 
1838,  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Charlotte  (Biz- 
zel)  Craig,  daughter  of  Isaac  Bizzel,  who  was 
from  Tennessee,  and  lived  near  where  Anna 
now  stands.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tweedy  have 
raised  a  family  of  twelve  children;  one 
daughter,  however,  died  after  she  had  a 
family  of  her  own.  Mr.  Tweedy's  family  has 
been  a  remarkably  healthy  one,  he  himself 
never  having  had  but  one  spell  of  sickness 
in  his  life.  So,  for  forty-three  years,  since 
first  learning  to  swing  the  cradle,  he  has 
never  missed  a  harvest.  His  farm  consists 
of  258  acres,  about  200  being  under  fence. 
His  farming  is  mostly  grain  and  stock-rais- 
ing, but  still  raises  some  fruits,  but  does  not 
make  them  a  specialty.  The  first  farm  Mr. 
Tweedy  opened  up  was  in  the  Mississippi 
River  bottom.  He  had  entered  the  land  be- 
fore his  marriage,  and  lived  on  it  till  the 
flood  of  1844,  when  he  had  to  move  ofi',  and 
never  again  returned  to  make  it  his  home..  In 
politics  Mr.  Tweedy  has  always  been  Demo- 
cratic. 

W.  K.  UNDERWOOD,  farmer,  P.  O.  Alto 
Pass,  WHS  born  in  Tennessee  November  20, 
1841,  to  Jesse  and  Mary  (Ledbetter)  Under- 
wood, Both  were  born  in  North  Carolina, 
and  moved  to  Tennessee  after  their  man-iage, 
and  then  to  this  county  in  1847.  He  died 
here  in  1851 ;  she,  however,  is  still  living, 
and  was  eighty  years  old  her  last  birthday, 
July  23,  1882.  They  were  the  parents  of 
fourteen  children,  seven  sons  and  seven 
daughters,  all  of  whom  lived  to  have  families 
of  their  own,  and  all  were  members  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  their  father  being  a  Baptist 
minister.  Nine  of  the  fourteen  are  still  liv- 
ing. Our  subject  was  raised  on  a  farm,  and 
received  his  education  in  this  county.     Most 


ALTO  PASS  PRECINCT. 


of  his  life  has  been  spent  in  farming.  His 
attention  is  given  now,  almost  exclusively,  to 
the  raising  of  strawberries  and  raspberries. 
He  was  man-ied,  in  this  county,  February  1, 
1863,  to  Caroline  Nipper,  who  was  born  in 
Tennessee  to  James  and  Mary  Ann  (Smith) 
Nipper.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Underwood  have  five 
childi-en  living — Mary  Annabel,  Frank  M., 
Lenora  Alice,  Arthur  Calvin,  Minnie  Effie. 
They  also  have  had  five  sons  who  died  when 
young.  Mr.  Underwood  has  lived  on  his 
present  farm  since  November,  1868.  May  9, 
1871,  he  met  with  quite  a  serious  accident, 
in  which  he  lo»t  his  right  hand,  by  catching 
it  in  the  machinery  of  a  saw  mill.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  of  Alto  Pass 
Lodge.  Is  also  a  Democrat  in  politics,  and 
he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  Ridge  Bap- 
tist Church,  of  Altu  Pass.  Five  of  Mr.  Un- 
derwood's brothers  were  in  the  civil  war,  one 
of  them  dying  in  Andersonville  Prison.  Four 
of  the  five  were  in  the  Federal  army,  but 
one  went  from  Missoui'i  to  the  Confederate 
army. 

DANIEL  WILLIAMS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Alto  Pass,  was  born  in  Lafayette  County, 
Penn.,  June  20,  1800,  to  Charles  and  Mary 
(McLain)  Williams.  He  was  born  in  Goshen, 
N.  Y. ;  she  in  Fredericksbui-g,  Va.  Both 
saw  many  of  the  exciting  times  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary war,  but  were  small  at  the  time. 
In  1817,  they  moved  to  Bracken  County, 
Ky.,    then    to    Ohio,   and    finally   to   Henry 


County,  Ind.,  where  they  died.  They  were 
the  parents  of  thirteen  children,  three  of 
whom  are  still  living.  Our  subject  moved  to 
Ohio  with  [his  parents,  but  from  there  to 
Madison  County,  Ind. ;  then  to  Allen  Coun- 
ty; from  there  to  Miami  County;  thence  to 
Cass;  from  Cass  to  Tippecanoe  County,  and 
then,  again,  to  Madison  County,  where  he 
remained  till  1846,  when  he  came  to  Union 
County,  111.,  and  settled  on  his  present  farm. 
Most  of  the  time  when  in  Indiana,  he  was 
contracting  on  the  Wabash  &  Erie  Canal, 
and  on  the  Indiana  Central  Canal.  By 
trade,  however,  he  is  a  blacksmith,  but 
has  not  followed  it  scarcely  any  since  coming 
to  Illinois,  but  has  followed  farming.  He 
was  married,  in  Indiana,  February  15,  1836, 
to  Rebecca  Peugh,  daughter  of  Even  and 
Sarah  Peugh.  She  was  boru  in  Licking 
County,  Ohio,  January  31,  1811,  and  he  is 
styi  living.  Her  parents  were  from  Virginia. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williams  have  had  seven  chil- 
dren, five  of  whom  are  still  living,  three  in 
this  county,  one  in  California  and  one  in 
Arizona — Lester,  Joseph  A.,  John  A.,  Mary 
E.  and  Caroline  R. ;  Philander  K.  and  Sarah 
J.,  deceased.  Lester  and  Joseph  were  both 
in  the  civil  war;  Lester  for  four  years,  and 
Joseph  for  some  time  over  three  years.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Williams  are  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist Chvirch.  In  politics,  he  has  been  Re- 
publican since  the  party  started,  voting  for 
John  C.  Fremont. 


170 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


DOJ^-GOLA    PREOINOT. 


J.  W.  BAENHART,  farmer,  P.  O.  Spring - 
ville,  was  bm'n  Deceraber  15,  1840,  in  Ca- 
baiTus  County,  N.  C,  son  of  John  Barnhart, 
who  was  also  born  in  North  Carolina,  and 
died  there  in  1869;  his  occupation  was  that 
of  a  farmer.  The  mother  of  oui-  subject  was 
Deliah  Duke,  born  1818,  in  Rowan  County, 
N.  C.  She  died  in  May,  1876.  She  was 
the  mother  of  five  boys  and  two  girls,  of 
whom  only  Cyrus  and  our  subject,  Jacob  V\\, 
are  now  living— the  former  on  the  old  home 
farm  in  Rowan  County.  The  latter  spent  his 
youth  in  CabarruH  and  Rowan  Counties,  N.  C, 
where  he  farmed  and  received  the  rudiments 
of  a  common  school  education.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-two,  he  was  conscripted  for  the 
Southern  army,  as  was  also  his  brother 
Julius,  who  died  about  a  year  afterward. 
He  served  almost  three  years,  of  which  the 
last  three  months  were  spent  at  Point  Look- 
out, as  a  prisoner  of  war.  After  the  war,  he 
worked  one  year  and  a  half  on  the  farm  for 
his  father,  and  then  came  West,  locating  in 
Union  County,  where  he  worked  almost  one 
year  for  M.  A.  Goodman  in  a  saw  mill.  After- 
ward, he  worked  for  different  men  in  this 
county.  He  was  joined  in  matrimony,  April 
27,  1871,  to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Mowery,  born 
November  3,  1850,  in  Union  County,  111. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  George  and  Margaret 
(Dillow)  Mowery.  Mrs.  Barnhart  has  three 
children  now  living,  viz.,  Maggie  Y. ,  born 
November  26,  1872;  Charles  H.,  born  Janu- 
ary 31,  1877,  and  Jennie  J.,  born  November 
10,  1879.  Mr.  Barnhart  is  a  self-made  man. 
When  he  first  commenced  to  farm  for  him- 
self, he  rented  land  for  five  years,  and  then 
bought  160  acres  of  land  for  $3,300;  of    the 


160  acres,  he  partly  sold  and  donated  one 
and  a  half  acres  to  the  St.  John's  Cemetery. 
His  farm  has  good  improvements.  He  has 
served  his  neighbors  in  the  capacity  of 
School  Director.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Demo- 
crat, and  a  thorough,  energetic  prohibition- 
ist. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barnhart  are  members  of 
the  Reformed  Church. 

MOSES  CASPER,  farmer,  P.  O.  W^etaug, 
111.,  is  a  son  of  Peter  and  Catharine  (Frick) 
Casper,  and  was  born  January  5,  1833,  in 
Rowan  County,  N.  C.  His  father  v\as  a 
farmer,  born  also  in  North  Carolina,  January 
12,  1797,  and  died  February  25,  1855.  The 
mother  was  born  February  3,  1804,  and  died 
March  26,  1864.  The  parents'  family  con- 
sisted of  ten  children,  only  two  of  whom  are 
living — Eve  Caroline,  born  June  26,  1841, 
the  wife  of  Nathaniel  Earnhart,  of  this 
county,  and  our  subject.  The  latter  received 
his  early  education  in  the  old  time  schools  of 
his  native  county,  and  he  afterward  attended 
a  little  in  Union  County,  his  parents  remov- 
ing here  in  the  fall  of  1853.  He  started  in 
life  as  a  farm  hand,  assisting  his  father  till 
the  latter's  death.  He  afterward  purchased 
the  home  place  from  the  other  heirs,  and 
now  has  175  acres,  which  is  given  to  general 
farming.  For  a  few  years  past  he  has  run  a 
distillery  on  the  place,  which  turns  out  ap- 
plejack of  an  enviable  quality.  September 
27,  1863,  our  subject  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Anna  Hoffner,  born  December  24,  1845. 
a  daughter  of  Levi  and  Mary  Hofther. 
Seven  children  have  blessed  the  happy  union 
all  of  whom  are  living — Malinda,  born  Sep- 
tember 22,  1864,  wife  of  J.  H.  Beaver; 
Eleanora,   March  6,   1867;  Matilda,    Novem- 


DONGOLA  PRECINCT. 


171 


ber  10,  1869;  Huldab,  March  6,  1872;  Silas 
December  27,  1874;  Laura,  November  21, 
1877,  and  Flora,  August  3,  1880.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Casper  are  members  i)f  the  German  Re- 
formed Church.  In  politics,  he  votes  the 
Democratic  ticket. 

JACOB  M.  COSTLEY,  farmer,  resi- 
dence Dongola,  Avas  born  August  8,  1846,  in 
Union  County,  111.,  a  son  of  Franklin  and 
Catharine  (Davault)  Costley.  His  father 
was  a  general  mechanic,  and  died  when 
Jacob  was  small.  The  parents  were  blessed 
with  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  living 
— Mary  C.  and  our  subject.  The  mother  is 
still  living,  and  was  married  a  second  time, 
to  Frederick  Allbright,  by  whom  she  had 
four  children,  two  living — Malinda  and 
George  W.  The  only  schooling  our  subject 
received  was  in  the  common  schools  of  Union 
County.  Farming  has  always  been  his  occu- 
pation. He  at  present  owns  120  acres  of 
land,  forty  of  which  lie  within  the  corpora- 
tion cf  Dongola.  He  was  first  married,  in 
1868,  to  Sarah  E.  Childers,  a  daughter  of 
George  W.  and  Caroline  Childers.  She  died 
in  1876,  the  mother  uf  two  children,  one  liv- 
ing—Charles, born  February  28,  1871.  He 
was  married  again,  In  3879,  to  Emaline  An- 
drew, a  daughter  of  Jamt^s  Andrew,  of  this 
county.  She  died  shortly  afterward,  the 
mother  of  one  child,  who  died  in  infancy. 
In  politics,  Mr.  Costley  is  a  Democrat. 
•  ANDREW  J.  DALE,  residence  Dongola, 
was  born  in  Wilson  County,  Tenn. ,  July  14, 
I8y2,  a  son  of  James  P.  and  Nancy  (Avant) 
Dale.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Maryland, 
born  July  15,  1804,  a  son  of  William  Dale. 
The  mother  was  born  in  North  Carolina  Jan- 
uary 7,  1811.  Both  of  the  parents  are  living, 
and  have  been  blessed  with  eleven  children, 
nine  of  whom  are  living.  The  early  educa- 
tion of  our  subject  was  received  in  his  native 
county.     At  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  came  to 


Illinois,  locating  in  Jeffersun  County,  and 
was  variously  engaged  up  to  the  opening  of 
the  war.  In  July,  1861,  he  enlisted  for  three 
years  in  the  Second  Illinois  Cavalry,  Col. 
Noble,  which,  during  the  term  of  its  enlist- 
ment, did  mostly  detached  service,  scenting 
up  and  down  the  Mississippi.  They  were 
engaged  in  several  hot  skirmishes,  and  at 
Hudson,  Miss.,  our  subject  was  taken 
prisoner  and  sent  to  Oxford,  and  thence  to 
Cahaba,  Ala.  He  was  -  successively  removed 
to  Andersonville,  Milan  and  Savannah,  at 
which  latter  place  he  remained  until  Febru- 
ary, 1865.  He  was  first  married,  December 
1,  1867,  to  Eliza  J.  Riddle,  widow  of  David 
Riddle.  She  died  March  12,  1874,  leaving 
two  children — James  H.,  born  September  6, 
1868,  and  Ida  May,  March  17,  1873.  He  was 
married  a  second  time,  February  24,  1876,  to 
Charlotte  F.  Davis,  born  July  27,  1844,  a 
daughter  of  Solomon  and  Nancy  Davis.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Dale  are  the  parents  of  four  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom  are  living — Alonzo  S., 
born  March  1,  1877;  Luella,  August  25, 
1878;  Charles  A.,  deceased;  and  Arley,  July 
9,  1882.  Mr.  Dale  is  a  member  of  the  L  O. 
O.  F.,  Dongola  Lodge,  No.  343.  Politically, 
he  is  a  Republican. 

GEORGE  W.  EDIE,  saloon,  Dongola,  is 
a  native  of  Hancock  County,  W.  Va.,  born 
September  2, 1844,  the  eldest  child  of  Samuel 
and  Elizabeth  L.  (Pugh)  Edie,  both  natives 
of  the  same  county.  The  father  was  a  car- 
penter, and  died  in  1863,  aged  fifty-four 
years.  The  mother  is  btill  living  at  the  old 
home  in  West  Virginia,  aged  seventy-two 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  eight  chil- 
dren, five  of  wliom  are  living.  The  early 
schooling  of  our  subject  was  obtained  in  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county,  and  in 
later  years  he  attended  the  Iron  j\Iountain 
Commercial  College  of  Pittsburgh,  Penn. 
April  16,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  First  Vir- 


173 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ginia  Infantry,  Col.  Kelley,  and  was  engaged 
in  several  active  skirmishes.  In  the  follow- 
ing August,  he  re-enlisted  in  the  same  regi- 
ment. Col.  Thoburn,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  the  principal  battles  of  the  Virginia  cam- 
paign. Before  his  three  years  of  enlistment 
had  expired,  the  First  and  Fourth  Virginia 
were  consolidated,  and  named  the  Second 
West  Virginia  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry, 
Col.  Thoburn.  Oui-  subject  re-enlisted  in 
this  regiment,  which,,  till  the  close  of  the  war,  • 
did  valuable  service  in  the  Shenandoah  Val- 
ley, their  brave  Colonel  being  killed  in  the 
engagement  at  Cedar  Creek,  made  memorable 
as  the  point  to  which  Sheridan  made  his 
famous  ride  from  Winchester.  Our  subject 
«vas  mustered  out  in  August,  1865,  at  Wheel- 
ing, W.  Va.  Dm-ing  his  long  service  he  sus- 
tained but  two  wounds,  one  a  saber  cut  in 
the  head,  the  other  caused  by  an  ounce  ball 
passing  through  his  right  thigh.  In  the 
spring  of  1866,  he  went  to  Cairo,  111.,  and 
for  a  short  period  was  engaged  in  boating 
between  that  point  and  St.  Louis.  Since  then 
he  has  worked  in.  owned  and  operated  several 
saw  mills  in  Pulaski  and  Union  Counties, 
III.  He  was  married.  July  5,  1868,  in  Anna, 
Union  County,  to  Emma  P.  Sackett,  and  by 
her  has  two  children — Lillie  May,  born  July 
19,  1870,  and  Arthur  Hugh,  November  1, 
1872.  August  1,  1882,  our  subject  opened  a 
saloon  in  Dongola,  which  he  has  since  run. 
He  belongs  to  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  Dongola 
Lodge,  No.  343,  and  is  a  Kepublican  in  poli- 
tics. 

SAMUEL  J.  FITE,  cooper,  Dongola,  is  a 
native  of  Rowan  County,  N.  C.  He  was  born 
in  September,  1840,  a  son  of  Henry  and 
Susan  (Lemly)  Fite,  both  natives  of  Rowan 
County,  and  both  died  when  Samuel  was 
small.  The  father  was  a  farmer,  and  had 
been  twice  married,  his  first  wife  being  a 
Miss  Fraley,  by  whom  he  had  three  children, 


all  deceased.  The  parents  of  our  subject 
were  blessed  with  six  children,  three  of 
whom  are  living.  Mary  Ann,  Henry  and 
Samuel.  Being  deprived  of  parental  care  at 
an  early  age,  a  Mr.  Solomon  Peeler  was  ap- 
pointed his  guardian,  but  Sam-iel  preferred 
going  to  his  uncle,  who  kindly  permitted  him 
to  attend  school  every  winter  for  a  period  of 
about  four  years.  He  afterward  lived,  for 
about  seven  yoars,  with  Samuel  Rothrock,  a 
Lutheran  minister.  In  the  meantime,  his 
guardian,  to  whom  was  intrusted  a  large 
amount  of  property,  invested  the  same  in 
Confederate  bonds,  etc.,  and  becoming  finally 
embarrassed  fled  the  country,  thereby  causing 
a  total  loss  to  Samuel  of  over  $8,000,  which 
was  the  latter's  share  of  his  father's  estate. 
In  July,  1861,  our  subject  enlisted  in  the 
Fifth  North  Carolina  Volunteer  Infantry, 
Col.  McRae.  The  regiment  participated  in 
the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  went 
through  the  entire  war.  At  Gettysburg,  Mr 
Fite  was  taken  prisoner,  and  held  as  such  un 
til  released  some  eighteen  months  later.  He 
sustained  several  slicrht  wounds  during  his 
long  service.  He  had  been  promoted  from 
private  to  Second  Lieutenant.  In  the  fall  of 
1866,  he  came  West,  and  located  in  Dongola 
two  years  later.  Here  he  was  married,  Octo- 
ber 11,  1868,  to  Malinda  Peeler,  born  April 
28,  1849,  a  daughter  of  Alexander  and 
Melissa  (Freeze)  Peeler,  and  by  her  has  five 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living — Nelli^ 
born  Jime  15,  1870;  Albion,  March  21, 1872; 
Wendon,  January  25,  1 874,  and  Alexander, 
October  7,  1882.  Mr.  Fite  picked  up  the 
cooper's  trade  himself,  and  ran  a  shop  in 
Dongola  for  about  eight  years.  He  is  at  pres- 
ent employed  in  the  shop  of  Frank  Neibauer. 
He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Lutheran 
Chiu'ch.  and  in  politics  he  votes  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket. 

HENRY    HARMES,   physician  and   sur- 


DOXGOLA  PRECINCT. 


173 


geoB,  Dongola,  was  born  September  12,  1825, 
in  Berlin,  Germany.  He  is  of  Greek  descent, 
his  great-grandfather  being  a  native  of 
Athens.  His  father,  Christopher  Harmes, 
■was  for  many  years  in  the  German  army,  and 
in  that  country's  war  with  Napoleon  I,  which 
lasted  from  1806  to  1815,  he  was  engaged  in 
nearly  every  battle,  receiving  eight  wounds, 
from  the  effects  of  which  he  died  in  1838  or 
1839,  at  an  early  age.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  Louisa  Linden,  who  died  when 
he  was  small.  The  parents  were  blessed 
with  seven  children,  'our  subject  being  the 
fifth  child  of  the  family.  He  received  his 
education  in  his  native  city,  attending  the 
Gymnasium  and  the  University,  at  which 
latter  institution  he  studied  medicine  three 
years,  and  for  eight  years  was  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Berlin, 
being  two  years  a  practitioner  in  the  Charity 
Hospital.  In  the  fall  of  1858,  he  sailed  from 
Hamburg  for  America,  and  for  a  year 
traveled  throughout  the  Union  for  recrea- 
tion and  pleasm'e,  and  in  August,  1859,  he 
located  at  Jonesboro,  Union  Co.,  111.,  where 
he  was  married,  on  the  27th  of  the  same 
month,  to  Alice  Duschel,  a  lady  of  French 
descent.  In  the  spring  of  1860,  he  removed 
to  Dongola,  where  he  has  since  enjoyed  a 
liberal  practice.     He  is  a  member  of  the  A., 

F.  &.  A.  M.,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  K.  &  L.  of  H.  and 

G.  T. .  and  is  the  medical  examiner  to  the  first 
three  named  and  also  to  three  insurance 
companies.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Anna  Encampment,  No.  91.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Harmes  are  the  parents  of  nine  childi'en, 
eight  of  whom  are  living — Mollie  T. ,  Dora 
A..  Henry,  Otto,  Albert,  Nettie,  Frank  (de- 
ceased), Cornwell  J.  and  Louisa.  Subject 
and  wife  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church.      He  is  Republican  iu  politics. 

JACOB    M.*   HILEMAN,     farmer,  P.    O. 
Jonesboro,  was  born  July  30,  1833,  in  Union 


County,  111.,  son  of  Peter  Hileman,  born  in 
February,  1795,  and  died  December  5,  1875. 
His  father,  Jacob  Hileman,  born  July  20, 
1762,  died  August  *25,  1828,  came  to  this 
county  at  an  early  day.  His  children  have 
seen  the  country,  which  was  then  a  wilder- 
ness, turned  to  a  productive  and  prosperous 
land.  Peter  Hileman  married  Susan  Miller, 
born  February  19,  1801.  Her  father  was 
an  old  pioneer  named  John  JMi  Her.  She  is 
yet  living,  with  our  subject,  and  is  the 
mother  of  twelve  children,  of  whom  nine  are 
now  living.  Our  subject,  Jacob  M.  Hileman, 
had  but  few  chances  to  acquire  even  the  rudi- 
ments of  an  education,  as  his  services  were 
needed  on  the  farm,  where  he  assisted  his 
aged  parent  to  provide  for  the  family  wants. 
He  was  joined  in  matrimony,  September  23, 
1865,  in  this  county,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Kim- 
mel,  born  June  22,  18-49,  daughter  of  George 
W.  Kimmel,  an  old  pioneer.  She  is  the 
mother  of  six  sons,  viz.,  Geoi'ge  W. ,  born 
September  1,  1866;  Thomas  J.,  born  Decem- 
ber 13.  1869,  died  August  11,  1873;  Bruno, 
born  November  30,  1873;  William,  born 
September  10,  1875;  Oliver,  December  16, 
1878,  and  Walter,  born  May  10,  1882.  Our 
subject,  Jacob  M.  Hileman,  although  no 
scholai',  is  a  splendid  farmer,  and  owns  382 
acres  of  land.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Demo- 
crat. 

FREDERICK  JOHNSON,  blacksmith. 
Dongola,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany, 
November  12,  1822,  a  son  of  Henry  and 
Hemke  (Fredericks)  Johnson,  both  Germans 
by  birth.  The  parents  were  blessed  with 
eleven  children,  live  of  whom  were  living  at 
last  accounts.  Oiu*  subject  received  his  early 
education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  prov- 
ince, and  in  1837  he  commenced  a  four  years' 
apprenticeship  to  the  blacksmith  trade.  In 
1851,  he  sailed  from  Bremen  for  New  Or- 
leans.      He  came  up  to   Caledonia,    on  the 


174 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Ohio  River,  where  he  worked  for  two  years 
at  his  trade.  He  removed  to  Dongola 
Precinct  in  1854,  bringing  his  smithing 
outfit  with  him,  and  has  since  run  a  shop  in 
this  place,  where  he  does  all  kinds  of  black- 
smith work.  He  is  recognized  as  being  a 
very  skillful  mechanic  '  in  all  kinds  of  iron 
and  steel  work.  When  he  first  came  here, 
he  piu'chased  forty  acres  of  land,  which  he 
has  since  increased  to  133^  acres,  which  is 
partly  operated  by  a  renter.  Mr.  Johnson 
was  united  in  marriage,  November  3,  1856, 
to  Margaret  R.  Meisenheimer,  born  October 
26,  1840,  a  daughter  of  Elias  and  Nancy 
(Davault)  Meisenheimer.  This  union  has  been 
blessed  with  eight  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
living— Martha  N..  born  August  21,  1857: 
James  H., November  31,1859;  Mary  E.,  August 
25,1860;  John  W., deceased;  Margaret E., No- 
vember 23.  1867;  Nancy  J.,  Februaiy  12, 
1869;  William  F.,  May  6,  1872;  and  Fred- 
erick L. ,  September  25, 1875.  Mr.  and  :Mrs. 
Johnson  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
He  is  an  I.  O.  O.  F. ,  Dongola  Lodge,  No. 
843.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat 

NATHAN  KARRAKER,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Dongola.  Among  the  substantial  farmers  of 
Dongola  Precinct  is  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch.  He  was  born  in 
this  county  January  12,  1827.  a  son  of  Dan- 
iel and  Rachel  (Blackwelder)  Karraker.  The 
father  was  born  February  8,  1793,  in  Cabarrus 
County,  N.  C.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  died 
July  30,  1861.  The  mother  was  also  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina,  born  October  1, 
1794,  and  died  August  10,  1881.  Ten  chil- 
dren were  born  to  them,  six  of  whom  are  liv- 
iuo',  four  boys  and  two  girls.  "What  little 
schooling  our  subject  received  in  early  life 
was  gained  from  a  limited  attendance  in  the 
old  subscription  schools  of  Union  County 
He  worked  for  his  father  on  the  home  farm 
imtil  his  marriage,   which  occurred  May  25, 


1854.  He  wedded  Sarah  Knightt.  born 
March  31,  1834,  in  Montgomery  Chanty, 
Ind.,  daughter  of  John  and  Polly  (F  elley) 
Knight.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Karraker  ar^  he 
parents  of  eleven  children,  seven  uf  vvhom 
are   living — William  J.,  born   September  1, 

1855,  and   died   January    3,    1883;  he  had 
graduated  in  medicine  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  and 
at  the  time  of  his  death  was  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession;  he  married  Min- 
nie L.  Montgomery.  box*n  January  20,  1859, 
a  daughter  of  E.  L.  and  Elizabeth  Montgom- 
ery, and  by  her,  who  now  survives  him,  had 
three    children,    two   of     whom    are  living, 
Owen  O.,  born  January  6,  1877,  and  William 
C,  born   July  26,    1881.     Harriet   A.,   born 
June   9,    1857,     died    February    24,  '  1859. 
Joseph    F.,     September    5,    1859;    married, 
February  26,  1880,  Georgiana  Montgomery; 
has  two  children — Ella  Yiola,  born  December 
18,  1881,  and  Earl,  October  1,  1882.     James 
A.,  born  October  30,  1861;  married,  Novem- 
ber 26,  1882,  Melissa  A.  Corzine,  born  Jan- 
uary   14,    1864,  a    daughter    of    R.  B.    and 
Sarah    Corzine.     Mary  E.,   born    March  10, 
1864;  married,  September  11,  1881,  to  J.W\ 
Keller,   and  has   one   child — Sarah  A. .  born 
August  7,  1882.   John  W.,  February  14, 1866 ; 
Daniel    W'.,   deceased;    Francis  M.,    July   1. 
1869;  liaura  J.,  October  10,  1871;  an  infant; 
and  Nathan  T.,  born  February,  1875.     Mr. 
Karraker  has  farm  property  to  the  extent  of 
700   acres,  besides  property   in  the  town  of 
Dongola.      He    engages  in  general  fcirming. 
He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Chui-ch.     He  has  been   Township  Treasurer 
for  twenty-two  years  of  Township  13   south, 
and    Range   1    east,  and  has    settled    many 
estates.     Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

DENNIS  KARRAKER,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Dongola,  was  born  in  Union  County,  111., 
July  19,  1830,  a  son  of  Danief  Karraker  (see 
sketch  of  Nathan  Karraker,  of  this  precinct). 


DONGOLA  PRECINCT, 


175 


His  ep  ly  education  was  meager,  a  limited 
attendance  in  the  subscription  schools  of  the 
count;/  having  to  suffice  in  that  direction. 
H'  >rked  on  the  home  farm  for  his  father, 
witii  whom  [he  remained  until  he  married. 
February  19,  1851,  he  wedded  Nancy  Hinkle, 
bom  April  10,  1830,  a  daughter  of  Philip 
and   Sarah   Hinkle.     She  died  October    18, 

1880.  By  her  our  subject  had  eleven  chil- 
dren, eight  of  whom  are  .living — Amanda  J., 
born  December  6,  1851,  deceased;  Wilbern, 
August  7,  1853;  Cornelia.  October  15.  1854; 
Marinda,  April  19,  1856;  Thomas  J.,  No- 
vember, 27,  1857;  Sandy,  September  14, 
1859;  Isadora,  June  15,  1861,  deceased;  El- 
bert J.,  December  15,  1862;  Randolph, 
May  30,  1865;  Harvey,  October  5,  1867,  and 
Jsora.  April  9,  1871,  deceased.  Our  subject 
was   married  a    second    time,    February  18, 

1881,  to  Keziah  Goodman,  born  May  8,  1832, 
a  daughter  of  Nicholas  and  Margaret  Jeffords, 
and  widow  of  Henry  Goodman.  Mr.  Kar- 
raker  has  a  farm  of  253  acres,  which  is  given 
to  general  farming.  He  and  wife  are  mem- 
bees  of  the  Christian  Church.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  Directors  under  the  free  school 
law,  and  served  many  years.  In  politics,  he 
is  a  Democrat. 

JOSEPH  H.  KUEGLER,  restaurant,  Don- 
gola,  was  born  in  the  city  of  Hof,  Kingdom  of 
Bavaria,  Germany,  March  2,  1853,  a  son  of 
Joseph  and  Barbara  (Trampler)  Kuegler, 
both  of  whom  are  natives  of  the  same  king- 
dom, where  they  are  at  present  living,  the 
father  being  engaged  as  Superintendent  of 
a  Government  "railroad.  The  parents  were 
blessed  with  nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are 
living,  six  sons  and  two  daughters,  our  sub- 
ject being  the  oldest  of  the  family  and  the 
only  representative  in  America.  He  received 
a  good  education  during  his  six  years'  at- 
tendance in  the  common  schools  of  liis  native 
place,    which  he  supplemented    by  a    three 


years'  course  in  the  Mercantile  College  at 
Beyrouth,  Germany,  where  he  acquired  a 
thorough  knowldege  of  book-keeping  and 
the  various  business  branches.  For  a  period 
of  three  years,  he  was  employed  by  a  whole- 
sale dry  goods  house  at  Muenchberg,  Ger- 
many, and  was  afterward  for  a  year  a  clerk 
in  a  cotton  mill  in  his  native  town.  He  then 
worked  in  his  father's  office  until  he  em- 
barked for  America,  October  3,  1872.  He 
landed  at  New  York,  and  for  several  months 
was  engaged  in  farming  in  various  States. 
In  June,  1874,  he  removed  to  Pulaski  County, 
111.,  and  worked  in  the  lime  kiln  of  J.  A.  De 
Baun,  and  afterward  in  Morris,  Root  &  Co.'s 
saw  mill.  [He  was  afterward,  for  several 
years,  variously  engaged,  both  in  Cairo  and 
Dongola,  until  April  11,  1883,  when  he 
opened  a  restaurant  in  the  latter  place,  which 
he  now  runs,  with  the  intention  of  increasing 
his  storeroom  and  carrying  a  general  line  of 
groceries,  etc.  He  was  united  in  marriage, 
August  16,  1876,  in  Pulaski  County,  111.,  to 
Louisa  N.  Sexton,  born  September  24,  1857, 
widow  of  William  D.  Sexton  (by  whom  she 
had  one  child —Archibald,  born  October  22, 
1875),  and  daughter  of  William  G.  and 
Mary  Elizabeth  (Wilson)  Carter.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kuegler  are  the  parents  of  three  chil- 
dren— Charlie,  born  ]VIarch  12,  1878;  Agnes, 
November  16,  1880,  and  Henry,  February  12, 
1883.  Mr.  Kuegler  is  a  member  of  the  I.  O. 
O.  F.,  Dongola  Lodge,  No.  343.  Politically, 
he  is  a  Democrat. 
^  EBENI  LEAVENWORTH,  deceased,  was 
born  in  Camden,  N.  Y.,  October  16,  1811, 
a  son  of  E.  I.  Leavenworth,  a  Presbyterian 
missionary,  who  died  at  Brownhelm,  Ohio. 
Our  subject  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and 
was  engaged  in  practice  in  Chester  and 
Sparta,  111.,  having  removed  from  Ohio  in 
1841.  Finding  that  his  profession  was  un- 
congenial to  his  nature,  he   turned  his  atten- 


176 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


tion  in  another  direction.  He  studied  sur- 
veving,  and  came  to  Union  County  as  assist- 
ant in  running  the  line  for  the  prospective  I. 
C.  R.  R.  While  here,  he  purchased  a  tract 
of  land,  and  laid  out  the  town  of  Dongola. 
He  was  the  founder  of  the  old  Novelty 
Works,  and  during  his  life  was  engaged  in 
milling  and  merchandising,  and  was  prom- 
inently identified  with  many  popular  and 
noble  enterprises.  He  was  married,  in  1847, 
to  Eliza  S.  Henderson,  a  daughter  of  John 
Henderson,  a  resident  of  Randolph  County, 
111.  She  died  in  Chester,  111.,  December  21, 
1850,  leaving  one  son — Charles.  He  was 
married  a  second  time,  January  1,  1856,  to 
Alice  M.  Little,  a  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Lit- 
tle, of  La  Salle  County,  111.  She  died  in 
Dongola  July  4,  1865.  She  was  the  mother 
of  four  children,  all  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 
Our  subject's  third  marriage  occurred  in 
1866.  He  wedded  S.  Jane  Galbraith,  who  sur- 
vives him.  She  was  the  widow  of  John  Gal- 
braith, who  was  Sheriff  of  St.  Clair  County, 
111.,  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Her  father, 
C.  S.  Burr,  was  a  resident  of  the  same 
county.  He  moved  from  Connecticut  to 
Kaskaskia  in  1817,  bringing  his  bride  with 
him  to  the  wilderness.  He  afterward  moved 
to  St.  Clair  County,  where  he  died.  Ebeni 
Leavenworth  died  of  pneumonia  in  April, 
1877,  leaving  a  widow  and  one  child — 
Charles — who  reside  in  Dongola.  He  was 
truly  a  self-made  man,  wide-awake  in  busi- 
ness matters,  and  full  of  enterprise  and 
energy  to  the  last.  He  was  a  man  who  did 
his  own  thinking,  who  governed  his  actions 
by  a  sense  of  right  and  justice,  and  who  at- 
tained all  his  ends  by  high-minded  and 
honorable  means.  Whatever  he  did  was  done 
with  deliberation,  and  a  consciousness  that 
he  was  doing  right.  His  hand  was  at  all 
times  extended  to  those  in  need,  and  the 
alacrity  with  which  he  rendered    assistance 


in  all  enterprises  calculated  for  the  public 
good  are  lasting  monuments  to  his  memory. 
Upon  his  tombstone  is  inscribed:  "  One  who 
lived  and  died  with  an  abiding  faith  in  God 
and  his  fellow-men." 

CALEB  LINGLE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Dongola, 
was  a  native  of  Pulaski  County,  111.,  born 
October  15,  1820,  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Mar- 
garet (Cell)  Lingle,  natives  of  North  Caro- 
lina; he  of  CabaiTus  and  she  of  Rowan 
County.  The  father  was  a  farmer,  and  died 
in  1862,  aged  seventy-three  years.  The 
mother  died  March  5,  1880,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  eighty-nine  years.  The  parents  had 
nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  living — 
James,  Nancy,  Caleb,  Betsey  and  Sally. 
Caleb's  early  education  was  received  in  the 
old  schools  of  Union  County,  his  parents 
having  removed  from  North  Carolina  about 
1816.  He  took  up  farming  for  an  occupa- 
tion, and  remained  with  his  father  until  he 
married.  March  9,  1843,  he  wedded  Eliza- 
beth Keller,  born  August  2,  1827,  a  daughter 
of  Absalom  and  Mary  (Beggs)  Keller.  In 
August,  1862,  our  subject  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany G,  One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  Col.  Jackson  Nimmo. 
The  regiment  went  into  camp  at  Jonesboro 
and  Anna,  and  were  afterward  sent  to  Co- 
lumbus, Ky.,  and  were  consolidated  with  the 
old  Eleventh.  They  fought  under  Grant  at 
Vicksburg,  and  were  engaged  toward  the 
last  in  nearly  an  every-day  fight.  At  Jack- 
son, Miss.,  our  subject  was  seriously 
wounded,  and  was  taken  to  the  hospital  at 
Vicksburg.  He  was  mustered  out  at  Mem- 
phis May  31,  1865.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lingle 
are  the  parents  of  fifteen  children,  twelve  of 
whom  are  living — Francis  M. ,  born  January 
2,  1846;  John  W.,  December  24,  1849; 
Daniel  K.,  April  12,  1851;  Leonora,  May 
14,  1854;  Alexander,  April  6,  1856;  Mere- 
dith,   February  13,   1858;    Caleb,  February 


DONGOLA  Jr'RECINCT. 


177 


27,  1860;  Amanda  E.,  April  5,  1862; 
James  F.,  July  19,  1864;  Mary  L.,  Septem- 
ber 14,  1866;  Paul,  February  22,  1869,  and 
William  A.,  April  5,  1872.  Mr.  Lingle  first 
purchased  forty  acres  of  land,  which  subse- 
quent additions  have  increased  to  283  acres, 
which  are  given  to  general  farming.  He  and 
wife  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  B.  McCALLEN,  bookseller  and 
gardener,  Dongola,  was  boi'n  in  Hillsboro, 
Orange  Co.,  N.  C,  May  17,  1812,  the  young- 
est son  of  James  and  Jane  (Turner)  Mc- 
Callen.  The  father  was  a  native  of  the  same 
county,  born  August  19,  1770,  and  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  He  died  at  the  age 
of  seventy-five  years.  The  mother  died  in 
Kentucky,  aged  seventy-nine.  Six  childi-en 
blessed  the  married  life  of  the  old  folks,  two 
of  whom  are  living — John  E.,  who  resides 
near  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  the  subject  of 
these  lines.  The  latter  received  but  a  limited 
subscription  school  education,  in  Robertson 
County,  Tenn.,  whence  his  parents  had  re- 
moved when  he  was  about  six  years  old.  He 
assisted  his  father  on  the  home  place  up  to 
the  time  of  his  marriage,  which  occurred 
August  20,  1829.  He  wedded  Lucinda 
Thompson,  born  March  3,  1813,  in  Robert- 
son County,  Tenn.,  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Nancy  (Walker)  Thompson,  natives  of  North 
Carolina.  Shortly  after  his  marriage,  our 
subject  moved  to  Grant  County,  Ky.,  where 
be  purchased  a  farm  of  eighty  acres.  He 
sold  in  1843  and  came  to  Illinois,  locating 
about  three  and  a  half  miles  from  DongoJa, 
on  the  old  Metropolis  road.  With  another 
man  he  entered  eighty  aci-es  of  land,  and 
farmed  his  forty  until  1851,  when  he  dis- 
posed of  it,  and,  with  his  family,  removed  to 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  for  the  benefit 
of  his  own  health  and  the  education  of  his 
children.      Here  he  remained  for  about  three 


years,  and  after  a  residence  of  several  years 
in  Pennsylvfinia  and  Tennessee,  he  returned 
to  Dongola  by  way  of  water,  late  in  1864, 
and  purchased  a  lot  in  the  town,  on  which 
he  at  present  resides.  He  also  has  other 
town  property.  He  keeps  a  little  nursery 
garden  and  also  many  swarms  of  bees,  which 
contrive  to  give  him  sufficient  trouble  to 
keep  him  busily  engaged  in  his  old  age. 
Adjoining  his  residence  he  has  a  store, 
where  he  carries  a  general  line  of  books  and 
stationery  goods.  In  early  years,  IVIi-.  Mc- 
Calleu  was  actively  interested  in  religious 
matters,  and  hw  first  came  to  this  country  as 
a  home  missionary,  establishing  religious 
organizations  throughout  the  then  wilderness 
of  Southern  Illinois.  Many  churches  to-day, 
whose  members  exceed  a  hundred  in  number, 
owe  their  present  prosperous  condition  to  his 
indefatigable  laboi's  in  the  days  of  their  in- 
fancy. In  later  yeai-s,  he  has  been  an  or- 
dained minister  in  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  his  earnest  sermons  have 
been  the  means  of  guiding  many  a  waywai'd 
traveler  into  the  narrow  path  which  leadeth 
to  life  everlasting.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCallen 
ai'e  the  parents  of  eight  childi'en,  four  of 
whom  are  living — J^'rancis  M.,  born  August 
10,  1830;  George  W.,  October  9,  1832,  died 
November  10,  1880;  Louisa  J.,  April  25, 
1835,  deceased;  John  C,  March  17,  1837, 
deceased;  James  B. ,  December  18,  1839; 
William  M.,  August  5,  1842;  Alexander  F., 
"Februaiy  25,  1846,  deceased;  and  Freeman 
W.,  July  5,  1848.  Our  subject  had  five  sons 
in  the  late  war,  and  he  himself  served  a  year 
as  Clerk  to  the  Fifty-second  Kentucky 
Mounted  Infantry,  Col.  Grider.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  McCallen  have  been  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  for  over  sixty  years. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Good  Templars' 
Lodge,  and  in  polities  has  been  a  Repub- 
lican since  the  organization  of  the  party.    In 


178 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


August,  1879,  upon  the  occasion  of  the 
golden  anniversaiy  of  the  happy  union  of 
Mr.  McCallen  and  his  noble  wife,  a  large 
concourse  of  friends  gathered  together  to  do 
honor  to  the  venerable  couple. 

A.  MEISENHEIMER,  retired,  Dongola, 
is  a  native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1828,  the  youngest  son  of  Moses 
and  Christina  (Fisher)  Meisenheimer.  The 
father  was  one  of  the  worthy  pioneers  of 
Union  County,  having  settled  here  in  the 
year  1816.  He  came  from  Cabarrus  County, 
N.  C,  where  he  was  born  December  7, 1795, 
a  son  of  Abraham  Meisenheimer,  a  native  of 
Germany.  He  was  a  man  that  was  univer- 
sally esteemed,  and  he  served  the  people  as 
Justice  of  the  Peace  and  County  Commis- 
sioner for  many  years.  He  lived  here  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  June  2,  1857.  His 
noble  wife  survived  him  many  years.  She 
was  also  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  born 
May  22,  1797,  and  departed  this  life  May  4, 
1876.  The  happy  union  of  the  old  couple 
was  blessed  with  ten  children,  five  of  whom 
still  remain — Henry,  Nancy,  Malinda,  Sally 
and  Abraham,  the  subject  of  these  lines. 
The  latter  received  what  little  education  the 
old  subscription  schools  of  this  county 
afforded.  His  father  needed  his  assistance 
on  the  home  farm,  and  he  remained  with  him 
up  to  the  time  of  his  marriage,  which  oc- 
curred Marcb  2,  1854.  He  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Jane  Sethman,  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania June  20, 1836,  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and 
Rachel  (Cotrell)  Sethman,  both  of  whom  died 
when  she  was  small.  Shortly  after  his  mar- 
riage, our  subject  went  to  merchandising  in 
earnest,  having  previously  in  1849  been  en- 
gaged in  that  business  on  a  small  scale.  For 
a  few  years  he  kept  a  small  store  a  few  miles 
northeast  of  Dongola,  and  in  1858  removed 
to  the  latter  place,  where  be  met  with  success. 
His  business  steadily  enlarged  and   he  was 


actively  engaged  prosecuting  its  affairs  up 
to  the  time  of  his  retirement  in  April,  1882. 
At  the  latter  date  he  turned  his  business  in- 
terests over  to  his  sons,  and  the  present  firm 
of  Meisenheimer  Bx'os.  ranks  among  the 
leading  merchants  of  Dongola.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Meisenheimer  are  the  parents  of  six 
children,  five  of  whom  are  living — William 
S.,  born  November  26,  1854;  Mary  I.,  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1858,  and  died  December  28.  1880; 
Frank  W.,  March  9,  1862;  George  A.,  March 
23,  1865;  Charles R.,  October  23,  1871.  and 
Birdie  B.,  January  9,  1874.  Our  subject 
has  a  good  residence  in  Dongola,  and  also 
about  fifty  acres  of  land  and  twenty-four 
lots,  all  of  which  lie  in  the  corporation. 
Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

SIMEON  D.  MILLER,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Dongola,  was  born  in  Union  County,  III., 
July  15,  1849.  His  father,  Dewalt  Miller, 
was  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  He  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  and  was  twice  mar- 
ried, Sallie  (Beaver)  Miller,  the  mother  of 
Simeon  D.,  being  his  second  wife.  He  died 
about  1868,  and  his  wife  in  1875.  They  were 
parents  of  fifteen  children,  eleven  of  whom 
are  living.  His  parents  removing  to  Pulaski 
County,  111.,  when  he  was  about  five  years 
old  our  subjpict  obtained  his  early  s(!hooling 
in  that  county.  He  took  up  farming  for  an 
occupation,  and  has  always  been  'thus  en- 
gaged. He  has  a  good  farm  of  142  acres, 
forty-two  of  which  lie  in  Pulaski  County. 
He  was  united  in  marriage,  September  16, 
1869.  to  Susan  Mowery,  born  August  1, 
1850,  a  daugnter  of  Adam  and  Elizabeth 
(Hartline)  Mowery.  He  has  a  family  of  three 
children — Turner  L.,  born  December  11. 
1870;  Jasper  N.,  September  18,  1873,  and 
Olie  I.,  August  27,  1875.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Miller  are  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Politically,  he  is  a  Republican. 

FRANK    NEIBAUER,    miller,    Dongola, 


DONGOLA  PRECINCT. 


179 


was  bom  in  Furstenthum,  North  Germany, 
October  9,  1834,  the  eldest  son  of  Nicholas 
and  Johanna  (Franke)  Neibauer,  Germans  by- 
birth.  The  father  was  a  stone  mason  and 
cutter  by  trade,  and  died  in  his  native  coun- 
try at  the  age  of  about  sixty -five  >ear8.  The 
mother  is  still  living  in  the  old  country.  The 
parents  were  blessed  with  eight  children, 
three  sons  and  five  daughters,  all  of  whom 
are  living  excepting  the  youngest  son.  The 
early  schooling  of  our  subject  was  obtained 
in  the  common  schools  of  his  native  place. 
At  the  age  of  fourteeo,  he  commenced  an  ap- 
prenticeship to  his  father's  trade,  at  which 
he  worked  until  coming  to  America  in  1854. 
He  landed  in  New  York  June  22  of  that  year, 
and  for  several  years  following  was  engaged 
at  his  trade  and  other  work  in  various  parts 
of  the  country.  In  1858,  he  came  to  Don- 
gola,  and  worked  at  his  trade,  off  and  on,  for 
a  few  years.  He  was  married,  in  November, 
1859,  to  Rachel  Keller,  who  died  December 
28,  1875,  the  mother  of  seven  children,  five 
of  whom  are  living — Jane,  Henry,  Sarah  J., 
Lucinda  and  Frederick  W.  He  was  married 
a  second  time,  in  March,  1877,  to  Mary 
Graver,  by  whom  he  has  one  child — Dolly  E. 
Shortly  after  his  first  marriage,  Mr.  Neibauer 
engaged  in  farming,  and  he  still  has  a  farm 
of  300  acres  in  Dongola  Precinct,  which  is 
operated  by  renters,  and  on  which  he  has 
one  of  the  finest  sandstone  quarries  in  this 
section  of  the  country.  In  1874,  in  partner- 
ship with  Joseph  Schlegel,  he  purchased  a 
mill  in  Dongola,  which  was  run  nine  months 
when  it  burned.  He  purchased  the  interest 
of  his  partner,  and  shortly  afterward  built 
his  present  mill",  which  he  has  since  operated 
It  has  a  run  of  four  buhrs,  which  turn  out 
from  75  to  150  barrels  per  day.  Mr.  Nei- 
bauer is  an  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  K. 
of  H.,  K.  &  L.  of  H. ,  and  is  also  a  member 
of  the  Anna  Encampment,   I.  O.  O.  F.     He 


and  wife  are  members  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  He  is  one  of  the  present  (1883) 
County  Commissioners  of  Union  County,  and 
in  politics  votes  the  Republican  ticket. 

JOHN  OVERBAY,  teamster  and  farmer, 
P.  O.  Dongola.  Nicholas  Overbay,  the 
father,  was  born  in  Virginia,  lived  there  until 
his  marriage,  and  then  moved  to  Tennessee, 
where  his  first  wife  died.  He  then  married 
Miss  Mary  Campbell,  the  mother  of  John. 
Our  subject  was  born  in  Tennessee  July  18, 
1827. '  His  parents  left  Tennessee  when  he 
was  about  five  years  old,  and  came  to  this 
State,  settling  first  in  Williamson  County. 
Remaining  there  three  years,  the  father  then 
went  to  Saline  County,  where,  iu  about  a 
year  from  the  time  he  moved,  he  was  killed 
by  falling  through  a  hatchway.  His  mother 
then  married  a  Mr.  Pistol,  and  our  subject 
was  soon  put  to  work  by  his  step-  father,  and 
although  he  remained  there  until  he  was  six- 
teen, he  was  only  permitted  to  go  to  school 
about  three  months.  Then,  starting  out  in 
life,  he  first  went  to  Hardin  County,  and 
worked  three  years  for  a  man  there.  The 
next  two  years  he  worked  for  diflfereut  par- 
ties, and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  came 
back  to  Gallatin  County,  and  remained  there 
about  eight  years.  In  1868,  he  came  to 
Dongola,  Union  County,  where  he  has  since 
resided,  and  now  follows  teaming  and  gar- 
dening; was  a  soldier  in  both  the  Mexican 
and  civil  wars,  enlisting  in  the  former  in 
1847,  in  an  independent  company  commanded 
by  Col.  Lawler;  enlisted  in  the  latter;  was 
in  the  One  Hundred  and  Twentieth  Regi- 
ment Illinois  Volunteer  I  uf  an  try.  Col.  Mc- 
Kaig,  Company  D.  Capt.  Pillar,  August  16, 
1862,  and  remained  out  three  years  and  four 
months;  was  married,  in  1844,  to  Martha 
Jane  Gates,  daughter  of  Esquire  Gates,  of 
Gallatin  County.  She  is  the  mother  of 
eight  children,  seven  of   whom  are  living  — 


180 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


Sarah  Jane,  wife  of  Thomas  Douglas,  of  Mill 
Creek;  Loiiisa  E.,  wife  of  George  Freeze,  of 
Elco  Precinct,  Alexander  County;  Cynthia 
A.,  wife  of  William  Harrison,  of  Union 
County;  Hester,  wife  of  Donald  McKenzie, 
of  Ullin;  Melvina,  wife  of  Pickney  Rush  in, 
of  Union  County;  Ann  Eliza,  wife  of  Joseph 
Getlinger,  of  Dongola;  and  Katie.  In  poli- 
tics, our  subject  is  a  Republican. 

WILLIAM  PENROD,  saloon,  Dongola, 
was  born  October  26,  18-44,  in  Union  County, 
111.,  a  son  of  James  A.  and  Unity  (Smith) 
Penrod.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky. He  died  December  24,  1874,  aged 
about  sixty-five  years.  He  was  married  four 
times.  The  mother  died  November  8,  1844, 
our  siibject  being  only  a  few  days  old.  The 
parents  were  blessed  with  eight  children,  four 
of  whom  are  living.  The  early  education  of 
our  subject  was  very  limited,  being  received  in 
the  common  schools  of  Union  County.  He 
started  in  life  as  a  farm  hand,  and  was  thus  en- 
gaged up  to  the  opening  of  the  war.  In  Au- 
gust, 1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and 
Twentieth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Col. 
Hardy,  and  for  several  months  lay  in  the 
hospital  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  and  was  finally 
discharged  for  disability  in  February,  1863. 
He  re-enlisted  in  January  of  the  following 
year  in  the  Fifty-sixth  Illinois  Volunteer  Id- 
fantry.  Col.  Green  B.  Raum.  This  regiment 
was  with  Sherman  in  his  famous  march  to 
the  sea,  and  was  hotly  engaged  at  Resaca 
and  other  points  along  the  route.  They  were 
mustered  out  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  August  27, 
1S65.  Our  subject  was  united  in  marriage, 
January  4,  1866,  in  Johnson  County,  111.,  to 
Sarah  Morgan,  born  April  24,  1848,  a 
daughter  of  John  Morgan.  Her  mother,  nee  a 
Miss  Wise,  died  when  Sarah  was  small.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Penrod  are  the  parents  of  six  chil- 
dren, fonr  of  whom  are  living — William  Tell, 
born  Julv  27,  1868;  Lillie  Belle,  October  20, 


1871;  Stephen  S.,  August  11,  1874,  and 
Dora,  October  22,  1877.  Politically  Mr. 
Penrod  is  a  Republican. 

FRIEDERICH  SCHLUTER, farmer,  P.  O. 
Dongola,  was  born  in  Prussia,  Germany, 
March  29,  1824,  the  eldest  son  of  Christian 
and  Louisa  (Gerlink)  Schliiter,  natives  also 
of  Germany.  The  father  was  a  carpenter  by 
trade,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  fi-om 
1807  to  1815.  He  died  when  Frederick  was 
eleven  years  old,  which  left  the  latter  an  or- 
phan, his  mother  having  died  when  he  was 
only  seven  The  parents  had  seven  children, 
our  subject  being,  so  far  as  is  known,  the 
only  one  living.  He  received  a  common  edu- 
cation in  his  native  place  and  learned  the 
carpenter's  trade,  at  which  he  worked  for  a 
few  years,  afterward  turning  his  attention  to 
farming.  In  1854,  he  embarked  for  America, 
landing  in  New  Orleans.  He  came  up  the 
river  to  Cairo,  and  from  there  went  to  St. 
Louis,  where  he  remained  a  short  time,  after- 
ward coming  to  Dongola.  In  1859,  he  pur- 
chased thirty  acres  of  land,  and  has  made 
several  subsequent  additions,  having  now 
180  acres,  after  giving  one  son  120  and  an- 
other 76  acres.  In  1849,  in  Germany,  he 
was  married  to  Louisa  Tote,  born  in  1830,  a 
daughter  of  Christian  and  Caroline  (Fondera) 
Tote.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schliiter  are  the  parents 
of  eleven  children,  seven  of  ,whom  are  living 
— Frederick,  born  September  1,  1851;  Mary, 
December  27,  1853;  Henry,  November  19, 
1856;  Caroline,  May  19,  1864;  Charlie,  June 
9,  1866;  Alice,  April  10.  1868,  and  Emma, 
March  19,  1870.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schliiter  are 
members  of  the  Lutheran  Chm'ch.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  Republican.  • 

ALBERT  S.  WILBER,  farmer  and  stock- 
dealer,  residence,  Dongola,  is  a  native  of 
Onondaga  County,  N.  Y.,  born  February  25, 
1845,  the  eldest  child  of  Simon  and  Melissa 
(Welsh)  Wilber,  both  of  whom  were  natives 


DONGOLA  PRECINCT. 


181 


of  Ireland,  where  tbey'were  married.  They 
immigrated  to  America  and  settled  in  Onon- 
daga County,  N.  Y.,  where  the  father  pur- 
chased 120  acres  of  land,  and  engaged  in 
farming.  He  was  a  son  of  John  Samson 
Wilber,  who  was  a  son  of  Milton  AVilber,  a 
native  of  England.  The  father  enlisted  in 
the  New  York  Militia  and  served  five  years, 
and  afterward  eight  years  in  the  regular 
army.  He  was  all  through  the  Mexican  war, 
in  which  he  was  Colonel  of  a  regiment.  He 
was  shot  seventeen  times,  and  yet  his  life 
was  prolonged  for  several  years.  He  re-en- 
listed in  the  regular  service,  and  was  active- 
ly engaged  in  the  civil  war.  His  battle 
career  finally  ended,  a  few  days  after  the  en- 
gagement at  New  Berne,  N.  C,  having  suc- 
cumbed to  a  severe  attack  of  inflammation  of 
the  brain.  The  mother  of  our  subject  is  still 
living  in  Traverse  City,  Mich.  The  parents 
were  blessed  with  foux  children,  all  of  whom 
are  living— Albert  S.,  Olive  D.,  William  H. 
H.  and  Louisa  A.  Mr.  Wilber  received  a 
fair  education,  his  circumstances,  fortunately, 
permitting  several  years'  attendance  in  the 
common  and  select  schools  of  his  nat  i ve  county. 
About  1862,  he  anticipated  Greeley's  advice, 
and  "went  West."  For  nearly  two  years,  he 
was  engaged  in  herding,  driving  and  other- 
wise roughing  it  in  Wyoming  Territory.  He 
returned  East,  as  far  as  Villa  Ridge,  111., 
where  he  took  a  contract  with  the  I.  C.  R. 
R.  Company  for  50,000  railroad  ties.  He  was 
afterward  engaged,  for  one  year,  in  making 
charcoal  for  the  Cairo  market,  since  which 
he  has  given  his  attention  to  farming  pur- 
suits. In  1870,  he  made  a  purchase  of  120 
acres  in  Pulaski  County,  and  has  since  made 
several  additional  purchases,  having  at  pres- 
ent 972|  acres,  in  Alexander,  Union  and  Pu- 
laski Counties.  Most  of  this  land  is  operated 
by  renters.  He  also  owns  160  acres  of  tim- 
bered land  in  Stoddard  County,   Mo.,  off   of 


which  he  has  cut  120,000  feet  of  black  wal- 
nut logs,  which  was  recently  purchased  by 
an  Indianapolis  firm.  He  also  takes  an  in- 
terest in  the  raising  of  fast  stock.  The 
official  records  indicate  that  he  carried  the 
first  blue  ribbon  out  of  the  Anna  Fair  Asso- 
ciation, and  also  the  last  one  (1882).  He 
raised  the  "  Belle  of  St.  Louis,  record  2:38; 
also  Ponchartrain,  pacer,  2:22;  also  the  cele- 
brated pacing  stallion  "  Glencoe  Chief," 
time  2:20.  He  is  the  present  owner  of 
"  Flitter  Foot  Frank. "  Mr.  Wilber  is  also 
versed  in  veterinary  surgery,  and  is  often 
called  upon  to  perform  operations  in  this 
line.  Our  subject  was  united  in  marriage, 
April  18,  1874,  in  Anna,  111.,  to  Louisa  M. 
Meisenheimer,  widow  of  Lewis  Meisenhei- 
mer,  by  whom  she  had  two  children — Allen 
H,  born  June  18,  1870,  and  Louie  E.,  De- 
cember 6,  1873.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Jacob 
and  Nancy  Peeler.  She  was  born  August  31, 
1840,  in  Wetaug.  HI.,  and  died  April  ;26, 
1882,  in  Dongola.  By  her  our  subject  had 
two  children — Albert  A.,  born  June  10,  1876, 
and  Oliver  A.,  born  March  26,  1880,  and 
died  July  15,  1881.  Politically,  Mr.  Wilber 
is  a  Democrat. 

ALBERT  G.  WILLIAMS,  physician  and 
surgeon,  Dongola,  is  a  native  of  Henry 
County,  Tenn.,  born  July  21,  1831,  the 
eldest  child  of  Henry  L.  and  Elizabeth  A. 
(Holmes)  Williams.  The  father  was  born  in 
Rowan  County,  N.  C,  April  22,  1805,  a  son 
of  Joseph  Williams,  of  Welsh  descent.  He 
was  a  carpenter  by  trade  and  moved,  in  1826, 
to  Tennessee,  where  he  died  September  9, 
1869,  from  the  effects  of  injuries  received  by 
beinsr  thrown  from  a  mule.  The  mother  of 
our  subject  was  born  January  10,  180S,  in 
Sumner  County,  Tenn.,  a  daughter  of  Albert 
and  Jane  Holmes.  The  parents  were  married 
January  3,  1830,  and  were  blessed  with  seven 
children,   two  of    whom  are  living — Frances 


182 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


I.  and  our  subject.  The  latter  received  a 
common  school  education  in  his  native  State, 
and  started  in  life  as  a  trader  in  general 
merchandise  on  the  Mississippi  River,  in 
which  occupation  he  was  eagaged  up  to  the 
time  of  his  marriage,  which  occurred  March 
21,  1850,  in  his  native  county.  He  wedded 
Susan  R.  Lowry,  bom  September  30,  1833, 
in  the  same  county,  a  daughter  of  William 
and  Jane  (Wyott)  Lowiy.  In  1854,  our  sub- 
ject commenced  the  study  of  medicine,  under 
the  instruction  of  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Travis,  of 
Paris,  Tenn.,  with  whom  he  continued  his 
studies  until  the  opening  of  the  war  of  the 
rebellion.  In  the  meantime,  he  was  the 
owner  of  a  little  farm  in  Henry  County,  and 
from  its  soil  he  himself  wi'ought  the  money 
necessary  to  defi'ay  the  expenses  of  these 
years  of  study.  In  1863,  he  removed  to 
Illinois,  and  located  at  Lincoln  Green  P.  O., 
Johnson  County,  where  he  remained  until 
June,  1865,  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  At  the  latter  date,  he  removed 
near  the  I.  C.  R.  R.  at  Wetaug,  and  shortly 
afterward  to  Dongola,  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained, the  people  having  recognized  and 
appreciated  his  skill  as  a  physician  and  sur- 


geon. In  1870,  he  entered  the  St.  Louis 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  from 
which  institution  he  graduated  the  following 
year,  having  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  a  term  of 
medical  lectures.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williams 
are  the  parents  of  nine  children,  five  of  whom 
are  living — Georgiana  C,  born  June  19, 
1852,  the  wife  of  Prof.  A.  B.  Garrett,  of 
Murphysboro,  III.;  Aquilla  J.,  born  June  4, 
1855,  wife  of  Henry  E.  Eddleman,  of  Don- 
gola; Alice,  born  July  22,  1858,  wife  of 
Frank  Brevard,  of  Knoxville,  Tenn.;  Albert 
H. ,  born  January  20,  1865,  and  Mollie,  born 
October  30.  1868.  Our  subject  has,  since 
1867,  been  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F., 
Dongola  Lodge,  No.  34:3,  and  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Anna  Encampment.  He  belongs 
to  the  Knights  of  Honor,  and  is  the  Medical 
Examiner  of  that  body,  which  he  has  repre- 
sented, as  well  as  the  I.  O.  O.  F. ,  in  the 
Grand  Lodge.  He  is  the  local  surgeon  for 
the  I.  C.  R.  R.,  and  was  also  one  of  the  thir- 
teen institutors  of  the  Southern  Illinois 
Medical  Association,  and  has  held  offices  of 
distinction  in  that  body.  In  politics,  he  has 
been  a  Republican  since  the  organization  of 
that  party. 


MEISENHEIMER    PRECIII^OT. 


CHARLES  BROWN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Jones- 
boro,  is  a  native  of  Rowan  County,  N.  C. 
born  December  15,  1814.  He  is  a  son  of 
Abraham  Brown,  who  came  from  North  Car- 
olina in  1816  and  settled  in  the  southern  part 
of  what  is  now  Union  County,  111.,  and  here 
raised  a  large  family  of  boys  and  girls.  He 
was  married  in  North  Carolina  to  Catherine 
Hess,  whose  father  came  to  Union  County 
with   his    family    with  Mr.  Brown  in  1816. 


Our  subject  was  raised  in  this  county,  and 
has  since  made  it  his  home.  He  commenced 
life  a  poor  man,  and  by  his  honesty,  industry 
and  economy  has  succeeded  in  accumulating 
a  good  property,  and  is  now  the  owner  of  a 
good  farm.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Grear,  a  daughter  of  George  Grear.  They 
have  been  blessed  with  eight  children,  viz. : 
Alson,  Wilson,  Martha  J.,  Emelihe,  Laura  I., 
Augusta,    John   W.    and   Andrew    J.       Mr. 


MEISEXHEIMER  PRECINCT. 


183 


Brown  is  a  man  of  good  standing  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lives,  and  a  Democrat  in 
politics. 

PETER  DILLOW,  farmer,  P.  O.  Spring- 
ville,  was  born  April  11,  1831,  in  this  coun- 
ty. He  is  a  son  of  Peter  Dillow,  Sr.,  who 
was  born  May  1,  1797,  in  North  Carolina. 
He  came  to  this  county  with  his  parents  in 
1818,  and  here  he  endured  with  others  the 
privations  of  early  pioneer  life.  Here  he  was 
also  married  to  Polly  Leuce,  who  is  yet  liv- 
ing, and  who  bore  him  fourteen  children,  of 
whom  three  girls  and  live  boys  are  now  liv- 
ing. They  have  numerous  descendants  in 
this  and  adjoining  counties.  Peter  Dillow, 
Sr.,  lived  to  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-three 
years,  dying  July  1,  1880.  He  was  a  man 
of  the  old  pioneer  type  and  liked  by  all  who 
knew  him,  making  few  or  no  enemies  and 
making  and  keeping  many  friends.  When 
oiu'  subject,  Peter  DiUow,  Jr.,  was  a  boy,  and 
even  when  he  was  a  young  man,  the  chances 
for  an  education  were  very  limited.  A  few 
subscription  schools  existed,  in  which  were 
taught  the  common  branches.  Most  of  his 
time  was  spent  on  the  farm,  helping  his 
father.  He  was  joined  in  matrimony,  De- 
cember 17,  1856,  in  this  county  to  Miss  Mary 
Poole,  born  February  23,  1840,  in  this  coun- 
ty. She  is  a  daughter  of  John  and  Susan 
(Mowery)  Poole,  who  are  also  North  Caro- 
linians. Mrs.  Dillow  is  the  mother  of  six  chil- 
dren, viz. :  George  W.,  born  March  16, 
1858;  Eli  A.,  born  October  4,  1859;  Flu- 
anna,  deceased;  Caleb  E.,  born  October  12, 
1864;  Luvina,  born  September  21,  1866; 
and  Eliza  A.,  born  June  15,  1873.  George 
W.  and  Eli  A.  are  married.  The  former 
married  Isidora  Davis  and  the  latter  married 
Emily  I.  Brown,  who  is  the  mother  of  Essie 
Dillcw.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dillow  and  their  chil- 
ren  are  members  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church.     He  has  a  good  farm  of  160   acres. 


which  he  keeps  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
and  is  considered  one  of  the  best  farmers  in 
his  neighborhood.  Mr.  Dillow  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party,  as  were  also  his 
ancestors. 

LEVI  A.  DILLOW,  farmer  and  mechanic, 
P.  O.  Spriugville.    His  father,  Charles  Dillow, 
was  born  in  Union  County  in  1820.  During  his 
life,  he  engaged  in  farming.     He  died  August 
30,  1876.      His    father  was  Peter  Dillow,  a 
native   of   North    Carolina.     The  mother  of 
our  subject  was  Elizabeth  Light,    who   was 
born  in   1818,    and  is  stifl  living.      She  is  a 
daughter  of  John   Light,   a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  but  of  German  descent.     The  par- 
ents   of  oui-  subject  had  two    children,  viz., 
Melvina,  wife  of  Daniel   Hurst,   who  is   the 
mother   of  three  children,   viz.,  Hattie.    Ida 
and    Mary.       Levi   A.    was    born    in    Union 
County   111.,    October  11,     1843.      He    was 
raised  on  the  farm  and  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools.      In  July,  1862,  he  enlisted  in 
Company  A  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth 
Illinois  Volunteers,  and  served   to  the   close 
of  the    war.     He    was    in    the  following  en- 
gagements:    Siege  of  Vicksburg,  Fort  Blake - 
ly,     Ala.,     and    many    others.       After    the 
close  of    the    war,  he  returned   home    and 
worked   with   his  father  in  the  wagon   shop, 
where  he  remained   for  several    years.     He 
afterward  worked  at  cai'pentering  and  subse- 
quently  engaged    in    farming,    at  which  he 
still  continues.     He  was  married,  Mai*ch  23, 
1867,  to  Miss  Lavina  Poole,  who  was  born 
December  3,   1849.      She    is    a   daughter  of 
John  and  Susan  (Mowery)   Poole.      She   is 
the  mother  of  the  following  children:    Dora, 
born  October  19,  1868;  Emma,  born  Novem- 
ber 20.    1869;    Mianie,   born  September  11, 
1878;    Elizabeth,  born  November  11,  1876; 
Coby,  born  September  23,  1880;    and  Clara, 
born  November   10,    1881.      Mr.    and   Mrs. 
Dillow  are  members  of  the  Reformed  Church. 


184 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


He  13  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 
Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  111.  He  has  served 
the  township  as  Trustee  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  is  now  Township  Treasurer.  He 
is  the  owner  of  330  acres  of  land. 

PAUL  DILLOW,  farmer,  P.  O.  Spring- 
ville.  This  gentleman  is  a  son  of  one  of  our 
old  pioneers  who  deserve  so  much  credit  for 
what  they  endured  in  those  early  days  pre- 
paring the  way  for  others.  He  was  born 
July  17,  1845,  in  Union  County,  111.  His 
father,  Peter  Dillow,  Sr.,  was  born  May  1, 
1797,  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C. ;  he  died  June 
29,  1880,  in  Union  County,  to  which  he  had 
removed  from  North  Carolina,  October  23, 
1818,  with  a  number  of  other  families  who 
had  to  travel  together  for  mutual  aid  and 
protection.  He  was  married  here  to  Mary 
Lence,  who  was  born  March  15,  1802.  She 
is  yet  living  with  her  son,  our  subject,  and 
is  the  mother  of  foui-teen  childi-en,  of  whom 
eight  are  now  living,  mostly  in  this  county. 
Paul  was  principally  educated  in  this  coun- 
ty. He  tilled  the  soil  in  early  life,  and  was 
joined  in  matrimony  in  Cape  Girardeau 
County,  Mo.,  December  16,  1866,  to  Mary 
Z.  Sheppard,  bora  March  19,  1842,  in  Cape 
Girardeau  County.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Elisha  and  Melinda  Sheppard.  She  died 
October  22,  1882,  in  Union  County.  Two 
children,  Anna  Lee,  born  May  31,  1868,  and 
John  E.,  born  September  2,  1870,  mourned 
her  death.  They  yet  by  their  deportment 
and  kindness  to  each  other  show  that  de- 
parted mother's  guiding  hand.  Mr.  Dillow, 
as  was  also  his  wife,  is  a  member  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  at  St.  John's. 
He  served  his  neighbors  in  the  capacitv  of 
School  Director,  and  was  once  elected  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  but  did  not  qualify  on  account 
of  an  elderly  gentleman  having  been  elected 
to  the  other  office  of  Justice.  He  has  a  good 
farm    of    130    acres   of   land    with  good  im- 


provements.     In    politics,    he    is    identified 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

JOHN  A.  DILLOW,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mill 
Creek,  was  born  in  Union  County,  III.,  Jan- 
uary 15,  1845,  and  is  a  son  of  Paul  and 
Catherine  (Mowery)  Dillow,  both  natives  of 
Noi'th  Carolina.  John  A.  Dillow  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
county,  and  early  learned  the  art  of  farming, 
an  occupation  he  has  been  engaged  in  prin- 
cipally during  his  life.  He  commenced  life 
a  poor  man,  and  by  his  honesty,  industry  and 
economy  has  succeeded  in  gaining  a  good 
property  and  a  name  and  reputation  which 
are  beyond  reproach.  His  farm  is  located 
in  Meisenheimer  Precinct  and  contains  200 
acres  of  good  land.  In  Union  County,  on 
the  5th  of  February,  1869,  he  married  Miss 
Eveline  S.  Brown,  who  was  born  July  9,  1850 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Abraham  Brown.  They 
are  the  parents  of  six  children,  viz.,  Olive 
J.,  born  December  3,  1869;  James  A.,  born 
December  17,  1S71;  Robert  0.,  born  August 
17,  1874;  Effie  F..  born  August  20,  1876; 
Octavia  L.,  born  March  30,  1878,  and 
Franklin  B.,  born  January  16,  1880.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Dillow  are  religiously  connected 
with  the  Reformed  Church.  Ha  is  a  Demo 
crat  in  politics,  and  in  his  quiet  ways  and 
good  habits  is  an  example  to  his  fellow- men. 

JOHN  M.  HILEMAN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Springville.  The  grandfather  of  this  gen- 
tleman was  Jacob  Hileman,  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Union  County;  he  was  an  emi- 
grant from  North  Carol inan.  His  son,  Peter 
Hiieman  (subject's  father),  was  born  in 
North  Carolina,  and  in  Union  County  mar- 
ried Susannah  Miller,  who  bore  him  twelve 
children,  of  whom  nine  are  now  living. 
Eight  of  them  are  residents  of  Union  Coun- 
ty. John  M.  Hileman  was  born  in  Union 
County,  September  5,  1824.  He  has  experi- 
enced the   many  hardships  and  deprivations 


MEISENHEIMER  PRECINCT. 


185 


common  to  the  pioneer,  and  in  consequence 
of  the  same  was  deprived  of  the  advantages 
of  receiving  an  education.  He  had  three 
brothers  who  served  in  the  late  war,  viz. , 
Samuel,  Edward  H.  and  Peter  F. ,  who  died 
after  he  reached  home,  though  he  was  al- 
ready speechless.  These  brothers  were  in 
many  hard-fougbt  battles,  yet  not  one  of 
them  was  wounded.  John  M.  Hileman  was 
married  to  Miss  Caroline  E.  Cruse,  who  was 
born  March  26,  1831.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Henry  and  Elizabeth  (Leopard)  Cruse,  who 
were  old  settlers  in  the  county.  Mrs.  Hile 
man  is  the  mother  oP  eleven  children,  of 
whom  six  are  now  living,  viz.:  Alfred  F., 
born  October  23,  1855;  Scott  J.,  born  April 
1,  1861;  Martha  A.,  born  November  29,  1862; 
Nancy  C,  born  21,  1865;  Henry  W.,  born 
December  21,  1868;  and  Charley  W.,  born 
March  9,  1872.  IVIr.  and  Mrs.  Hileman  are 
members  of  the  St.  John's  Lutheran  Church. 
He  is  tne  owner  of  520  acres  of  good  land; 
besides,  his  son,  Alfred  F. ,  has  a  farm  of  hi  s 
own.  He  was  the  first  Director  of  the  first 
fi-ee  school  in  Union  County,  111.,  and  served 
about  eighteen  years.  It  was  a  log  school- 
house  in  Section  23  of  Meisenheimer  Town- 
ship. 

ALFRED  F.  HILEMAN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Springville.  This  gentleman  is  a  son  of  one 
of  our  old  and  most  respectable  citizens,  who 
although  no  scholar  himself,  has  yet  done  a 
great  deal  for  the  common  schools  in  his 
township;  we  speak  of  John  M.  Hileman. 
Our  subject  was  born  October  23,  1855,  in 
this  county,  where  he  was  also  educated  and 
afterward  taught  school,  and  is  now  Town- 
ship Trustee.  He  has  eighty  acres  of  land 
besides  having  an  interest  in  some  of  his 
father's  land.  He  was  joined  in  matrimony 
September  11,  1879,  to  Miss  Rosa  Meisen- 
heimer, who  was  born  September  13,  1862, 
in  this  county.     She  is  a  daughter  of  Eli  A. 


and  Susan  (Poole)  Meisenheimer,  and  is  the 
mother  of  two  children,  viz.,  Oliver  E.,  born 
July  8,  1880,  and  Jennie  E.,  born  October 
12,  1881.  Mr.  and  Mrs,  Hileman  are  mem- 
bers of  the  German  Reformed  Church.  He 
is  a  wide-awake  business  man  and  a  Demo- 
crat. 

CHRISTOPHER  W.  KELLER,  farmer, 
P.  O.  Jouesboro,  was  born  March  5,  1810,  in 
Rowan  County,  N.  C.  He,  like  many  people 
who  were  raised  where  the  schools  of  the 
country  were  conducted  on  the  old-fashioned 
subscription  plan,  never  enjoyed  the  privi- 
lege of  a  good  education.  A  great  part  of 
his  youth  was  spent  in  supporting  his  aged 
mother.  When  quite  young,  he  came  to  this 
country,  where  he  was  married  to  Nancy 
Lence,  who  bore  him  six  children,  of  whom 
Lucinda  Meisenheimer,  Tempa  Meisenhei- 
mer, Matilda  Knupp,  Jackson  Keller  and 
Eli  Keller  are  now  living.  The  two  last 
children  are  both  married  and  living  on  their 
father's  larm  of  160  acres.  Our  subject's 
oldest  boy,  named  Willis,  was  killed  by  the 
accidental  discharge  of  his  gun,  while  sitting 
on  a  fence.  Our  subject's  first  wife  died, 
and  he  was  married  a  second  time,  to  Mrs. 
Sophia  Laws,  daughter  of  Moses  M.  Meisen- 
heimer. After  her  death,  he  married  Mrs. 
Mary  Raster,  whose  maiden  name  was  Lence. 
Mr.  Keller  is  a  Democrat.  His  son,  Jack- 
son, married  Tena  Knupp,  who  is  the 
mother  of  six  children,  viz. :  Fannie, 
Phoena,  Ida,  Bell,  Joseph  and  John  F. 
His  other  son,  named  Eli,  was  joined  in  mat- 
rimony to  Ellen  Brown,  who  is  the  mother  of 
three  children,  viz.,  Eva,  Henry  W.  and 
Thomas  J. 

SAMUEL  KNUPP,  cooper  and  farmer,  P. 
O.  Springville,  was  born  in  Union  County,  111. , 
January  19,  1840.  His  father,  John  Knupp, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1788,  and  emi- 
gi-ated  to  Union  County,  111. ,  in  1820  and  soon 


18($ 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


after  married  Miss  Susan  Smith,  daughter 
of  Andrew  and  Catherine  (Halterman)  Smith. 
She  was  the  mother  of  nine  children,  of 
whom  eiorht  are  now  living.  She  was  born 
in  North  Carolina  in  1801,  and  died  Novem- 
ber 23,  1882.  Her  husband,  John  Knupp, 
died  August  12,  I8t51.  Our  subject  received 
such  an  education  as  the  common  schools  of 
his  native  county  afforded,  and  when  quite 
young  learned  the  coopers  trade  of  his 
father.  In  the  fall  of  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany A,  One  Himdi-ed  and  Ninth  Regiment 
Illinois  Volunteers,  of  the  late  civil  war,  and 
was  thus  engaged  for  three  years,  after  which 
he  retm'ned  to  Union  County  and  engaged  in 
farming,  at  which  he  has  since  continued. 
He  is  the  owner  of  180  acres  of  land.  In 
Union  County,  April  26,  1867,  tie  married 
Miss  Matilda  Keller,  who  was  born  July  27, 
1888.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Christopherjand 
Nancy  (Lence)  Keller.  She  has  borne  him 
the  follovN  ing  children,  viz. :  Laura,  Walter, 
Washington  W.,  Mary  S.,  Martha  E.,  liosa 
L.,  Charles  H. ,  John  A.  and  James  A.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Keller  are  members  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church. 

JOSEPH  KOLLEHNER,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Jonesboro,  a  leader  among  the  German  ele- 
ment in'Union  County,  was  born  December  18, 
1823,  in  Wels,  Upper  Austria.  He  is  a  grand- 
son of  Johau  Kollehuer,  a  farmer  and  nursery- 
man, whose  son.  .Johan  Koliehner,  Jr.,  was  also 
born  in  Austria,  where  he  died.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  Kathariua  Gattermeier,  a 
native  of  Austria,  where  she  died,  who  was  the 
mother  of  three  children  now  living,  viz.: 
Johan  and  Peter,  yet  living  in  the  old  countr}-, 
and  Joseph,  our  subject,  who  was  educated  in 
the  old  countr}',  where  he  was  also  married  in 
1848,  to  Theresa  Haberfellner,  born  in  1830, 
daughter  of  Philipp  and  Josepha  (Starzinger) 
Haberfellner.  and  the  mother  of  four  children 
now    living,  viz.:  Johau.  Joseph,  Josepha  T. 


and  Earnest,  who  do  credit  and  honor  to  their 
parents.  Our  subject  came  to  the  United 
States  in  June,  1853,  settling  in  Kornthal, 
Union  Co.,  111.,  where  he  bought  160  acres  of 
land  at  $5  per  acre  ;  by  way  of  improvement  it 
had  one  block-house,  a  cooper  shant}-  and  fif- 
teen acres  in  cultivation.  He  now  owns  225 
acres  of  good  land  with  splendid  improvements. 
Mr.  Kollehuer  takes  quite  an  interest  in  every- 
thing that  pertains  to  the  development  and  in- 
terest of  the  communit}'  in  which  he  lives,  and 
which  shows  him  the  respect  due  a  man  of  his 
standing.  In  1848,  while  yet  in  the  old  country, 
he  took  quite  an  active  part  in  the  Revolution, 
favoring  the  liberal  party.  He  is  now  identified 
with  the  Democratic  part}'. 

ALFRED  LINGLE,  faimer,  P.  O.  Mill 
Creek,  was  born  in  Union  County  June  25, 
1832.  His  grandfather,  Jacob  Lingle,  was 
a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  Union  County,  111.  His  son 
(subject's  father)  was  Peter  Lingle,  also  a 
native  of  North  Carolina.  He  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  Cruse,  a  native  of  the  same  State. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Peter  Cruse,  and  the 
mother  of  a  large  family  of  children, of  whom 
Alfred,  our  subject,  is  now  living.  His 
early  life  was  spent  at  home  receiving  the 
benefit  of  the  subscription  schools  of  the 
period,  and  assisting  to  till  the  soil  of  his 
father's  farm.  Arriving  at  his  majority,  he 
embarked  on  his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer, 
an  occupation  he  still  follows.  He  was 
joined  in  matrimony,  June  25,  1857,  to  Eliza 
Poole,  daughter  of  John  and  Susan  (Mow- 
ery)  Poole.  She  was  born  May  6,  1841, 
and  is  the  mother  of  sixteen  childi'en,  of 
whom  fourteen  are  now  living,  viz. :  John 
C,  who  married  Ellen  Brown,  Henry  M., 
Isabella,  Sarah  J.,  William  J.,  Adam  J., 
Alfred  W.,  Dora  L.,  Ellen  S.,  Bertha.  Mary 
A.,  George  \V.,  Charley  E.  and  Lily  I.;  the 
two  deceased  are  Alice  and  Olla.     Mr.  and 


MEISENHEIMER  PRECIXCT. 


187 


Mrs.  Lingle  with  their  four  oldest  children 
united  with  the  German  Reformed  Church  at 
St.  Johns.  He  is  the  owner  of  a  farm  of 
105  acres.  He  has  served  the  people  of  his 
neighborhood  in  the  capacity  of  School 
Director  and  Trustee. 

J.  N.  MEISENHEIMER,    farmer,   P.   O. 
Springville,    was    born    August    29,    1818. 
Jacob  Meisenheimer   (subject's  father)  was  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation.     He  emigrated  from  his  native  State 
to  Indiana   in   1817,    and  the  following  year 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Union   Coun- 
ty.     He  married  Sarah  Peck  in  North   Car- 
olina, who  bore  him  seven  children,  of  whom 
three  are  now  living.      Our  subject  received 
such  an  education  as  the  subscription  schools 
of  his  day  afforded,  and  when  quite  young 
learned  the  cooper's  trade  and  worked  at  the 
same  until  about  the  time   of  the  last  war, 
when  he  engaged  in  agricultui'al  pursuits,  at 
which  he  has  since  been  engaged.     He  is 
now  the  owner  of  220  acres  of  land.    He  was 
married,  February  3,1842,  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Penninger,  who  was  born  in  Rowan  County, 
N.  C. ,  December  26,  1820.     She  is  a  daugh  - 
ter  of  Mathias   and  Margaret    (Rendleman) 
Penninger.       Mr.     and   Mrs.    Meisenheimer 
have  nine  children,    viz.:     Giles  M.,  Sarah 
U.,  Margaret  A.,  Jacob  T.,  Laura  J.,  Martha 
E.,MaryM.,  Julia  and   Ellen  C, who  mar- 
ried Joseph  C.  Fulenwider,  a  native  of  Rowan 
County,  N.  C.      He  was  born  May  22,    1858, 
and  was  married   in  1878.     He  is  the  owner 
of  tifty-five  acres  of  good  land.    He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  she  of  the 
German  Reformed.     They  have  two  children, 
viz.,  Bessie  J.  and  Josie  Ann.    Mr.  and  Mrs 
Meisenheimer  are  members  of  the  St.   Johns 
Church.     In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat. 

ALFRED  MEISENHEIMER,  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  Jonesboro,  was  born  October  20, 
1820,  in  the  township  of  Union  County  that 


bears  his  name,  and  it  may  be  said  that  it 
was  named  in  honor  of  the  Meisenheimer 
family,  who  were  among  the  fiist  settlers  of 
that  part  of  the  county.  He  is  a  son  of 
David  Meisenheimer,  who  emigrated  from 
Cabarrus  County,  N.  C,  in  1819.  He  was  a 
native  of  the  same    county,    born  March  1, 

1791,  and  died  in  1871.  He  came  to  this 
county  with  his  father  (subject's  grand- 
father), Peter  Meisenheimer,  a  soldier  of  the 
Revolutionary  war.  Rosana  (Hollocher) 
Meisenheimer,  the  mother  of  our  subject,  was 
born    in    Cabarrus   County,    N.  C,    June  ^, 

1792,  and  died  in  1868.     She  was  the  mother 
of  six  children,  three  boys  and  three  girls,  of 
whom  the  following  are  now  living:     Mary, 
wife     of    A.    Brown  ;     Lucinda,      wife      of 
John     Brown,     and    Alfred,     our     subject, 
who  was  the  oldest  child.      His    education 
was    limited   to   such    as    could  be  obtained 
from  the  subscription  schools  common  in  his 
day.     fiiS  occupation  has   been  principally 
that  of  a  farmer;  he  does,  however,   work   at 
the  carpenter's  and  blacksmith's  trade  some. 
He  has  been  twice  jnarried;    his    first   wife 
was  Anna  E.  Weaver,  who  was  born  in   Un- 
ion County,    November    22,    1822,  and  died 
August    3,    1859.     She   was    a    daughter  of 
John  and  Sarah  (Lyerle)  Weaver,   who   were 
early  settlers  of  Union  County.    She  was  the 
mother  of  three  children,  viz.,  Mary  E.,  born 
January  15,  1845,  now  the  wife  of  Caleb  M. 
Lyerle  and  the  mother  of  three  children,  viz., 
Martha  J.,  Ann  and  Alfred  M.;  J.   Monroe, 
born   April   3,    1849,    married  Miss  Mary  J. 
Dillow,  who  is  the  mother  of  the  following 
children:     Alfred  H.,  Etta  and  William  C, ; 
Hemy   J.    L.    was   born   January    2,    1857. 
Mr.  Meisenheimer   married  a    second   time, 
Miss  Lucinda  Keller,  who  was  born  in  Union 
County  April  5,  1832.    She  is  a    daughter  of 
Christopher  W.  and  Nancy    (Lence)    Keller. 
This  union  has  been  blessed  with  one  child, 


188 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


Joseph  E.  J.,  who  was  born  December  15, 
1864.  Mr.  Meisenheimer  is  a  member  of  the 
order  A.,  F.  &  A  .M.,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No. 
Ill  He  has  held  several  offices,  that  of  Con- 
stable, Township  Treasurer  for  about  four- 
teen years  and  Justice  of  the  Peace,  the  most 
of  the  time  since  he  was  twenty-eight  years 
of  age;  he  is  now  holding  that  office.  Dur- 
ing the  life  of  our  subject,  he  has  been  fort- 
unate in  obtaining  asufficiency  of  the  world's 
goods  to  enjoy  a  life  of  ease  in  his  old  age. 
He  is  DOW  the  owner  of  623  acres  of  land,  of 
which  360  belong  to  the  homestead  farm. 

GILES  M.  MEISENHEIMER,  farmer, 
P.  O.  Springville,  was  born  January  27, 
1843,  in  this  county,  and  is  a  son  of  John 
N.  and  Elizabeth  (Penninger)  Meisenheimer. 
He  was  born  in  Indiana,  where  his  father, 
Jacob  Meisenheimer,  had  moved  to  from 
Rowan  County,  N.  C.  In  1818,  they  came  to 
this  county  and  settled  five  miles  southwest  of 
Jonesboro.  The  parents  of  our  subject 
raised  a  family  of  nine  children,  of  whom  he 
is  the  oldest.  He  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  the  county,  and  September 
9.  1869,  was  married  in  Anna,  to  Miss  Ma- 
tilda Ann  Dougherty.  She  was  born  No- 
vember 25,  1848;  is  a  daughter  of  William 
Dougherty  and  a  grand -daughter  of  Elijah 
Dougherty.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Meisenheimer 
have  four  children,  viz.  Edna  E.,  born  May 
23,  1872;  Emily  E.,  born  April  15,  1874; 
Birdie  A.,  born  October  21,  1876;  and  Will- 
iam Pearl,  October  4,  1879.  He  has  a  farm 
of  222  acres,  well  improved,  including  the 
old  homestead,  and  is  a  prosperous  farmer. 
Elijah  Dougherty,  the  grandfather  of  Mrs. 
Meisenheimer,  was  born  in  Virginia,  Decem- 
ber 20,  1777,  and  emigrated  to  Missouri  in 
1800  and  died  in  1855.  He  married  Martha 
Hand,  who  was  born  July  2,  1784,  and  died 
in  1840.  Mrs.  Meisenheimer' s  father,  Will- 
iam  Dougherty,    was    born    June  17,    1804, 


and  died  April  21,  1873.  His  wife  was  born 
July  8,  1804,  and  died  July  28,  1859.  in 
Scott  County,  Mo. 

J.  M.  MEISENHEIMER,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Jonesboro,  son  of  J.  N.  Meisenheimer,  and  a 
native  of  Union  County,  HI.,  was  born  A.pril 
3,  1849.  In  Union  County,  December  18, 
1873,  he  married  Miss  Mary  J.  Dillow,  who 
was  born  in  Union  County  August  26,  1856. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Sophia  (Lin- 
gle)  Dillow.  She  is  the  mother  of  three 
children,  viz.,  Henry  A.,  born  September  12, 
1874;  Etta,  born  November  1,  1877,  and 
William  C,  born  June  16,  1880.  Mr.  Meis- 
enheimer is  a  member  of  the  order  A.,  F.  & 
A,  M. ,  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  111.  He  is 
the  owner  of  140  acres  of  land.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Democrat.  He  is  a  wide-awake  bus- 
iness man  and  capable  of  discharging  the 
duties  of  any  position  in  the  township  or 
county. 

.J.  H.  POOLE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mill  Creek, 
is  a  son  of  John  and  Susanah  (Mowery) 
Poole,  who  were  immigrants  to  this  county 
from  North  Carolina.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  nine  children,  of  whom  eight  are 
now  living.  Our  subject  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky November  20,  1838.  He  spent  his 
early  life  at  home,  receiving  such  an  educa- 
tion as  the  common  schools  of  Union  County 
afforded,  and  assisting  to  till  the  soil  of  his 
father's  farm.  Arriving  at  his  majority,  he 
embarked  on  his  life  career  as  a  farmer,  an 
occupation  he  is  at  present  engaged  in.  In 
the  fall  of  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  war, 
serving  first  in  Company  A,  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  was  afterward  transferred  to  the  Eleventh 
Dlinois  Regiment,  in  which  he  served  to  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  has  been  married 
three  times;  first  to  Elizabeth  Mowery, 
who  died,  leaving  one  child,  J.  P.  Poole. 
He   married    for  hie  second  wife   Mary    L. 


MEISENHEIMER  PRECINCT. 


189 


Peeler,  who  bore  him  one  child,  Arelis. 
He  was  married  a  third  time,  to  Martha 
L.  Brown,  daughter  of  Abraham  Brown. 
She  is  the  mother  of  the  following  chil- 
dren: Ella,  Abbey  L.,  Laura  E.,  Albert, 
Willie,  Lucy  and  Jennie.  Mr.  Poole  and 
wife  are  religiously  connected  with  the  Ger- 
man Reform  Church.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  orders  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  and  K.  of  H.  He 
is  the  owner  of  375  acres  of  land.  In  poli- 
tics he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party.  For  several  years  ho  has  served  his 
neighbors  in  the  capacity  of  School  Director 
and  Trustee. 

G.  W.  POOLE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mill  Creek. 
This  gentleman  is  a  grandson  of  Jacob  Poole, 
of  North  Carolina.  He  is  a  native  of  Union 
County,  111.,  born  January  26,  1843.  Ho  is 
a  son  of  John  and  Susana  (Mowery)  Poole, 
both  natives  of  North  Carolina.  He  was 
born  Januury  7,  1815;  she  was  born  Febru- 
ary 14,  1817,  and  is  now  living  with  our 
subject;  they  are  the  parents  of  nine  chil- 
dren. George  W,  Poole,  om'  subject,  was 
raised  on  the  farm  and  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native  county.  He  is  a 
farmer  and  owns  a  farm  of  165  acres.  In 
June,  1864,  in  Union  County,  he  married 
Miss?  Margaret  N.  Meisenheimer,  who  was 
born  February  8,  1846.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  John  N.  Meisenheimer,  and  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  of  whom  the  following  are 
now  living:  Berdelia,  born  July  11,  1867; 
Oliver  E.,  born  May  25,  1869;  Sidney  C, 
born  January  29,  1873;  Cora  A.,   born   Jan- 


uary 20,  1875;  and  Lilly  1.,  born  January 
17,  1877.  Mr.  Poole  is  a  member  of  the 
Reform  Church  and  his  wife  of  the  Luther- 
an Chu'rch.  He  .is  a  member  of  the  order 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  at  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  111. 
Politically  he  is  a  stanch  Democrat.  Al- 
though he  is  slow  to  make  up  his  mind  in 
regard  to  any  new  thing  which  will  come  un- 
der his  observation,  yet  when  it  is  once  made 
up  he  will  seldom  swerve  from  it  and  will 
come  up  to  his  agreements. 

THOMAS  A.  SAUERBRUNN,  farmer, 
P.  O.  Anna,  was  born  February  9,  1847,  in 
Weingarten,  Bavaria.  He  is  a  son  of  Jacob 
Sauerbrunn,  born  1816,  in  Bavaria,  where  he 
married  Anna  M.  Andres,  who  bore  him  four 
children,  viz.,  Peter,  Eva,  Thomas  A.  and 
Frederick.  Jacob  Sauerbrunn  came  here  in 
1860,  settling  in  Union  County,  111.  Our 
subject,  Thomas  A.  Sauerbrunn,  attended 
school  in  Germany.  He  came  to  this  coun- 
try with  his  father,  and  was  married  here 
April  26,  1875,  to  Louisa  Worstman,  born 
September  24,  1857,  in  Groszleppin,  Prus- 
sia. She  is  a  daughter  of  William  and 
Maria  (Coym)  Worstman,  who  are  living  in 
this  county.  Mrs.  Louisa  Sauerbrunn  is  the 
mother  of  two  children,  viz.,  William,  born 
June  28,  1876,  and  Emma  H.,  born  Septem- 
ber 19,  1877.  Mr.  Sauerbrimn  is  considered 
a  good  farmer  and  has  a  farm  of  130  acres, 
which  he  keeps  in  a  good  state  of  cultivation. 
He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics.  Mr.  and  IMrs. 
Sauerbrunn  are  religiously  connected  with 
the  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 


190 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


STOKES    PEEOIFOT. 


JOHN  H.  BOSWELL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mount 
Pleasant,  was  born  November  4, 1839,  in  Union 
County,  111.;  is  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Percy 
(Cox)  Boswell,  natives  of  North  Carolina,  and 
early  residents  of  this  count}-.  The  father  is 
living,  and  seven  of  his  eight  children  survive 
— Mary  (the  wife  of  George  W.  Cook),  Zilpha, 
Carrie  C.  (the  wife  of  F.  McGinnis),  Jane, 
John  H.,  William  T.  and  Thomas.  The  father 
was  married  a  second  time,  to  Mrs.  Mary 
Stroller,  and  a  third  time,  to  Mar}-  McGinnis. 
Further  mention  of  the  original  Boswell  famil}- 
is  made  in  another  part  of  this  work.  John  H. 
attended  the  country  schools  and  nine  months 
at  the  Shurtleff  College.  He  afterward  taught 
two  terms,  at  $35  per  month.  He  fulfilled  a 
contract  to  carr}-  mail  from  Vienna  to  Golcpn- 
da,  Rendlesburg,  Metropolis  City,  and  return 
from  1866  to  1870.  In  1878,  he  bought  his 
present  farm  of  160  acres,  where  he  has  since 
remained.  He  owns  320  acres  of  fine  land, 
the  result  of  his  own  efforts.  He  is  making 
some  specialt}'  of  raising  cattle,  having  at 
present  a  fine-blooded  Durham  bull.  Was 
married  in  1861  to  Lizzie  A.  Major,  a  daughter 
of  James  M.  iMajor,  of  Missouri,  and  has  b}- 
her  four  children — Edgar,  Charles  L.,  Thomas 
(deceased)  and  Laura  J.  (deceased).  He  served 
for  a  few  months  in  defense  of  his  country. 
He  has  been  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  is  serv- 
ing his  second  term  as  Township  Treasurer. 
He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church  of  Vienna.  He  is  a  Democrat.  His 
farm  is  so  arranged  that  stock  can  get  water 
from  each  field. 

G.  W.  CLINE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  was  born 
August  7,  1835,  in  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C.  ; 
is  a  son  of  James  and  Matilda  (Barnhart)  Cline. 
natives  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  parents  of 


six  children — Mar}',  Maggie,  G.  W.,  Adam^^ 
Sarah  and  Thomas.  The  father  survives  in 
North  Carolina  among  the  wealthy  merchants. 
Our  subject  attended  the  country  schools  of 
his  native  county,  and  was  brought  up  on  a 
farm.  In  1858,  he  came  to  Illinois  and  rented 
land  of  Davidson,  near  Jonesboro.  At  the 
breaking-out  of  the  war,  he  enlisted  in  the 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  was  transferred  to  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Eleventh,  in  which  he  remained  for 
about  three  years,  and  was  with  the  regiment 
at  each  engagement  ;  was  struck  with  a  spent 
ball,  making  a  slight  wound  on  the  neck.  In 
1865,  he  bought  forty  acres,  where  he  now 
lives,  to  which  he  has  added  until  he  owns 
over  200  acres,  the  result  of  his  own  efforts. 
The  farm  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  precinct. 
He  is  a  thoi'ough  agriculturist,  having  informed 
himself  by  perusing  agricultural  journals. 
He  clovers  the  land  and  keeps  every  portion  of 
it  tillable  and  productive.  From  elevated  por- 
tions, one  can  see  Cobden  and  other  places  for 
many  miles  around.  He  was  mai'ried,  1S61, 
to  Elizabeth  C.  Lyerle,  the  result  being  Jane, 
Catharine,  M.  Mary,  Amanda,  Maggie.  James 
J.,  "John,  Minnie  and  Ida.  He  is  now  serving 
as  Township  Trustee.  He  devotes  considerable 
time  in  the  interest  of  the  education  of  his 
children  and  furnishes  them  with  several  news- 
papers. He  gives  his  personal  attention  to  his 
farm,  which  is  the  secret  of  his  success.  He 
votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 

W.  H.  CORBIT,  farmer,  P.  0.  Lick  Creek, 
was  born  November  13,  1827,  in  Johnson 
County,  III.  Is  the  son  of  Philip  and  Margaret 
(Keen)  Corbit,  natives  of  North  Carolina,  and 
residents  of  Illinois  since  about  the  year  1820. 
In  1830,  the  familv  came  to  Union  Countv  and 


STOKES   PRECINCT. 


191 


rented  a  farm  for  some  time.  Four  of  Philip's 
and  Martha's  children  survive  the  other  three. 
Those  living  are  W.  H.,  Civil,  Calvin  and 
James.  The  mother  died  in  1839,  and  the 
father  subsequentl}'  married  Susannah,  the 
widow  of  Massack  Stokes.  The  father  died  in 
18G2.  The  mother  was  an  earh'  and  always  an 
active  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  W.  H.  had  but  little  school  advan- 
tages; such  as  he  did  get,  wei'e  at  the  log-cabin 
man}-  of  which  are  elaborately  described  in  this 
volume.  After  the  death  of  his  mother,  he 
lived  with  Caleb  Musgraves,  then  a  resident  on 
the  present  site  of  Mt.  Pleasant.  He  tilled  the 
soil  where  Morgan  Stokes'  residence  now  stands. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  was  found  .work- 
ing by  the  month  at  $10.  In  18-49,  he  took 
the  gold  fever,  and  drove  a  four-horse  team  to 
California,  where  he  mined  successfull}'  for 
nearh-  three  years,  and  afterward  returned  b}" 
water.  He  started  from  the  shores  of  Cali- 
fornia March  30,  1851,  and  after  a  long,  tire- 
some voyage  of  thirty- five  days,  he  landed  from 
the  Pacific  waters  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
which  neck  of  land  he  walked  across  during 
the  night  following  his  landing.  He  was  com- 
pelled to  wait  ten  days  for  a  boat,  and  was 
finalh'  transported  across  the  Caribbean  Sea  to 
the  Island  of  Cuba,  thence  to  New  Orleans  and 
from  there  to  Willard's  Landing,  in  this  county, 
on  the  Mississippi  River.  When  arriving  at 
the  above  landing,  the  river  was  on  a  terrible 
spree  and  he  had  to  find  his  way  to  the  shore  by 
means  of  a  canoe,  a  distance  of  six  miles.  He 
was  in  compan}^  with  John  ^Iclntosh  and  Dan 
Craver.  On  arriving  home,  he  bought  eighty 
acres  where  he  now  lives,  of  Thomas  Boswell, 
and  here  he  has  resided  most  of  his  time  since. 
He  is  the  artificer  of  his  own  fortune  of  160 
acres  of  as  fine  land  as  there  is  in  Stokes  Pre- 
cinct. He  is  making  some  specialt}-  of  stock- 
raising.  Was  married,  1854,  to  Catharine,  a 
daughter  of  James  and  Clarissa  Bishop.  They 
have  no  children  of  their  own.     He   had   the 


misfortune  in  1862  to  get  a  thumb  torn  off  by 
a  threshing  machine.  He  is  raising  a  boy  by 
the  name  of  Charles  Walker,  who  was  found 
when  quite  small,  at  the  State  Fair,  at  Duquoin. 
Mr.  Corbit  and  consort  had  retired  from  farm 
labor  for  awhile  to  that  city,  and  as  an  act  of 
charity  took  the  boy,  who  said  his  name  was 
Charles  Walker,  and  who  had  been  set  off  from 
a  train.  He  has  never  been  identified  by  any 
parents  or  relatives.  He  is  a  very  sprightl}- 
boy,  smart  and  intelligent,  and  will  alwaj'S 
cherish  a  bright  memoiy  of  those  exemplary 
persons  who  have  so  kindl3'  cared  for  him. 
Mr.  C.  has  served  as  Trustee  for  five  3-ears,  and 
from  1863  to  1865  as  Constable.  He  is  an 
active  advocate  of  the  principles  of  the  Repub- 
lican party. 

J.  C.  EMERSON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  was 
born  December  25, 1834,  in  North  Carolina  ;  is 
a  son  of  Silas  and  Sarah  (Cartner)  Emerson, 
natives  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  parents  of 
six  children,  viz.:  Gr.  W.,  J.  C,  Mary  C,  Sam- 
uel B.,  Bichard  J.,  Ruth  E.  The  father  died 
in  his  native  State  and  the  mother  came  with 
our  subject  to  this  county  in  1855,  where  she 
died  in  1867.  The  parents*  were  members  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  organization, 
Mr.  E.  settled  where  he  now  resides  as  soon  as 
entering  the  count}-.  He  possesses  160  acres 
of  well  improved  land,  the  result  of  his  own 
efforts  and  frugal  management.  He  was  mar- 
ried, 1855,  to  Mary  E.  Stroud  of  North  Caro- 
lina, the  result  being  Sarah  and  Richard  T.  He 
was  married  a  second  time  to  Rebecca  J.  Da- 
vis ;  no  children.  His  third  and  last  union 
was  with  Elizabeth  C.  Dill,  the  result  of  which 
is  .six  children,  viz.:  George  M.,  Melinda  E., 
Silas  M.,  Melissa  A.,  Eli  T.  and  one  deceased. 
He  has  served  the  precinct  with  credit  for 
three  3'ears  as  Trustee  ;  enlisted  in  Company 
E,  Thirty-first  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  and 
served  eight  months ;  is  a  member  of  the 
County  Fair  As.sociation.  Himself  and  wife 
are  Presbyterians.     He  is  an  active  and  ear- 


192 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


nest  laborer  in  the  interests  of  the  Republican 
party. 

J.  L.  HALTAMAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  was 
born  March  17,  1839,  in  North  Carolina,  is  a 
son  of  Abram  and  Anna  (Stavolt)  Haltaman, 
natives^of  North  Carolina,  and  the  parents  of 
the  following  children,  viz.:  Easter,  Monroe, 
Mar}',  Noah,  Irene.  Lena.  Marqnis,  J.  L., 
Michael,  Jacob,  Thomas  and  John.  The 
parents  came  here  in  1849.  They  were  Lu- 
therans.  J.  L.  received  such  school  advan- 
tages as  the  country  afforded  during  his 
30unger  days.  His  parents  having  died,  he 
engaged  for  himself  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years  ;  was  married,  1861,  to  Miss  T.  A.  Toler,  a 
daughter  of  William  Toler,  and  has  by  her 
nine,  of  eleven  children,  living-7-Easter  E. 
Jacob  A.,  Miles,  Andrew  J.,  Sarah  E.,  Martha 
A..  George  E.,  Ora  A.,  Giles.  He  settled  at 
marriage  where  he  now  lives,  having  then 
eighty  acres,  to  which  he  has  added  until  he 
possesses  260  acres,  of  finely  improved  qual- 
iiies.  He  served  three  years  in  the  defense  of 
his  country.  He  has  been  willing  to  serve  his 
share  of  the  small  offices  where  it  is  all  labor 
and  no  pay.     ^^otes  the  Democratic  ticket. 

F.  M.  HENARD,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mt.  Pleas- 
ant. The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch  was  born  June  7,  1835,  in  Hawkins 
County,  Tenn.  He  is  a  son  of  Jones  and  Ro- 
sannah  (Cooper)  Henard,  both  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  parents  of  nine  children,  six  of 
whom  are  living — William,  F.  M.,  Nancy,  Polly, 
Stephen  and  Elizabeth  J.  Subject  attended 
school  about  two  months  a  year  at  the  old  sub- 
scription schools.  He  resided  on  the  home 
farm  until  1854,  when  he  came  to  Illinois,  first 
settling  in  Johnson  Count}',  and  for  the  first 
six  months  worked  out  at  $8  per  month,  and 
out  of  this  paid  about  75  cents  for  washing.  He 
worked  out  for  about  five  years,  and  finally 
had  his  wages  increased  to  §14  per  month. 
Upon  his  maiTiage,  he  received  300  acres  as 
his  wife's   dowry;  this  has  since  been  increased 


to  a  farm  of  800  acres,  most  of  which  is  now 
improved.  He  has  also  erected  a  saw  mill  on 
his  farm,  and  there  does  custom  sawing,  and 
has  lately  finished  the  erection  of  a  store  room 
on  his  farm,  where  he  keeps  a  general  stock  of 
goods.  He  was  married,  December  8,  1859, 
to  Miss  Lucretia  A.  Bridges,  a  native  of  John- 
son County.  The  result  of  this  union  was 
thirteen  children,  nine  of  whom  are  living  : 
John  W.,  Mary  A..  Ellen,  James,  George, 
Carrie,  Abbie  J.,  Luly  and  Everett  C.  He 
has  been  School  Trustee  several  years,  Over- 
seer of  the  Poor.  Road  Supervisor  and  School 
Director.  He  and  wife  are  both  members  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  he  has  been  connected 
with  that  denomination  for  many  years.  Has 
helped  to  erect  several  churches,  one  at 
Cairo,  another  at  Vienna,  and  others  at  many 
other  places.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Democi-at. 

E.  H.  HILEMAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna,  was 
born  May  21,  1838,  in  Union  County,  111.;  is  a 
son  of  Peter  aud  Susannah  (Miller)  Hileman, 
natives  of  North  Carolina,  and  residents  of  this 
county  in  1819,  where  Mrs.  M.  Goodman  now 
i-esides,  in  Dongola  Precinct.  Jacob,  the 
father  of  Peter,  had  a  large  family — Jacob, 
John,  Peter,  Adam.  Henry,  Christian,  George, 
Christina  and  Elizabeth,  all  of  whom  came  to 
this  county  save  Jacob.  The  father  of  our  sub- 
ject had  twelve  children—  Catharine,  Elizabeth, 
John,  Samuel,  Adam,  Christina,  Sarah,  Jacob, 
William,  E.  H.,  Caleb  aud  M.  Franklin.  The 
parents  were  members  of  the  St.  John's  Church. 
Our  subject  attended  school  in  a  log  cabin,  lo- 
cated near  where  the  Cope  I'oads  now  cross. 
His  specialty  in  life  has  been  that  of  a  ruralist. 
He  was  married,  September  8,  1867,  to  Mar- 
tha, a  daughter  of  George  and  Eliza  (Smith) 
Kimbel,  the  result  being  eight  children — 
Charles  E.,  Ira  J.,  Loueva  J.,  Edward  H.,  Nora 
E.,  Flora  E.,  Cyrus  C.  and  Fannie  B.  At  mar- 
riage, he  settled  his  present  farm  of  287  acres, 
where  he  has  since  remained,  improving  the 
same  and  makina:  it  one  of  the  best  farms  in 


STOKES  PEECINCT. 


193 


the  precinct.     He  also  owns  175  acres  in  the 

neighborhood,  all  of  which  is  the  result  of  his 
own  labors.  He  enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred 
and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  as  Cor- 
poral, and  served  nearh'  three  years.  Was  in 
the  siege  of  Vicksbure,  Yazoo  City.  Spanish 
Fort,  Fort  Blakely,  and  others.  On  his  farm 
are  the  remains  of  some  ancient  mounds,  and 
it  is  probable  the  Indians  had  their  camping 
grounds  here.  He  votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 
Is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  while  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Bap- 
tist organization. 

ARCHIBALD  MILES,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mount 
Pleasant,  was  born  December  16,  1833,  in 
Union  County,  111.  Is  a  son  of  James  and 
Elizabeth  (Brazel)  Miles,  natives  of  Caro- 
lina. The  parents  came  here  when  single. 
They  were  blessed  with  eleven  children  by  their 
union,  ten  of  whom  grew  up,  namely,  Nancy, 
John,  Mary,  Archibald,  Kimon,  James,  Clark, 
Elizabeth,  Samuel,  William  and  Talton.  Our 
subject  attended  the  log-cabin  schools  during 
his  young  days,  in  all  about  three  months.  He 
has  experienced  the  scenes  that  make  up  the 
life  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  county,  such  as 
going  to  mill  on  horseback,  plowing  with  the 
wooden  mold-board  plow  with  ox  teams,  etc. 
He  was  married,  1852,  to  Bernetty  Cochran, 
and  has  three  children  living,  viz. :  George  M., 
James  A.  and  W.  D.,  and  five  deceased,  viz.  : 
Nancy  J.,  John  C,  Emeline,  infant,  Frances 
E.  Mr.  Miles  settled  on  his  present  farm  in 
1853,  buying  at  that  time  forty  acres,  with  but 
little  improvement.  By  industry  and  frugal 
dealing,  he  has  added  until  he  possesses  336 
acres,  the  result  of  his  own  labors.  The  only 
means  he  could  call  his  own  at  the  beginning 
of  his  matrimonial  career,  was  one  yearling 
calf,  the  gift  of  her  mother,  and  one  yearling 
colt,  the  gift  of  his  father,  and  one  bedstead, 
the  entire  amount  worth  about  $100.  He  is  a 
member  of  Evergreen  Lodge,  I.  0.  0.  F.  ;  votes 


the  Democratic  ticket ;  ranks  among  the   best 
farmers  in  the  county,  and  is  strictly  honest. 

ISAAC  M.  NEWTON,  farmer,   P.   0.  Lick 
Creek,  was  born  November  1, 1841,  in  William- 
son County,  111.  ;  is  a  son  of  James  and  Mary 
Newton.     The  mother,  Mary  Diarman  Newton, 
was  born  November   28,   1803,    in  Rockcastle 
County,  Ky.     She   is  a   daughter  of  William 
and  Esther  (Trapp)  Diarman,  the  father,  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina,  and  of  Irish   descent, 
and  the  mother  a   native  of  Virginia,  and  of 
English  descent      Her  parents  came  to   Pike 
County,  111.,  1820,  and  there  died,    the  father 
in  1822,  and  the  mother   in    1832.     They    had 
five  children,  two  of  whom  survive,  viz.,    Jona- 
than and   Mary.     The  mother   of  our  subject 
was  married  in  1820  to  Leonard  Buckner,  who 
died  in  1835,  being  the  father  of  seven  children 
by    his    union   with    her,  viz.,  David  M.  and 
Martha  C.     The  remaining   five   are  deceased. 
She  again  married  in  1837,  James  Newton,  of 
Pope  County,  111.,  by  whom  she  was  blessed  with 
six  children,  viz.  :  Sarah  J.,  Isaac  M.,    James 
D.,  William  W.,  John  T.,  and  infant,  deceased. 
Her  last  husband,  Mr.  N.,  died  April  17,  1866. 
She  came  with  him  to  this  county  in  1852,  set- 
tling on  the  farm  now  owned  by    Isaac  M.  and 
William  W.  Newton.     James  Newton  was  mar- 
ried to  Susan  Damron,  prior  to  that  with  Mary, 
the  result  being  no  children.     Mrs.  IMary  New- 
ton is   surviving  with  her   children,  in   Stokes 
Precinct ;  has  been  for  sixty-five  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Protestant  M.  E.  Church,  to  which 
her  last  consort  belonged.  She  has  labored  hard 
with  her  famil3^  experiencing  all  the  scenes  of 
the  pioneer  life.     The  grandfather  Newton  was 
a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812  ;  laid  a  land  war- 
rant in  Florida,  but  accidentally  lost  his   title 
papers.     Isaac,  our  subject,  attended  the  cabin 
schools.    He  enlisted  in  Company  E.  One  Hun- 
dred   and    Ninth  Illinois    Volunteer  Infantry 
and   was    transferred  to    Company     C,    Elev- 
enth    Illinois     Volunteer     Infantry,     serving 
I  with  the   company    in  all    engagements     for 


194 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


about  three  years.  He  was  wounded  in  the 
left  forearm  at  Yazoo  City.  Was  married,  De- 
cember 26,  1861,  to  Clark  Miles,  the  result  be- 
ing seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  living, 
viz. :  James  M.,  John  F.,  Mary  E.,  William  E. 
and  Lulu  M.  His  wife  died  April  10,  1883. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Evergreen  Lodge,  I.  0. 
0.  F.,  of  Lick  Creek,  and  is  also  a  member  of  K. 
of  H.,  Jonesboro  ;  votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 
His  brother,  William  W.,  married  Amanda 
Tharp,  the  result  being  six  children  ;  four  sur- 
vive, viz.  :  Laura  E.,  Leva  A.,  Frances  E.  and 
Oliver  E.  Those  deceased  were  Sarah  E.  and 
Mary  L.  His  wife  died  March  31, 1883.  These 
two  brothers  have  282  acres  of  fine  land,  which 
they  are  cultivating,  making  some  specialty  of 
stock-raising.     They  are  Democrats. 

WILLIAM  P.  PENNINGER,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Anna,  was  born  December  16,  1829,  inllowan 
County,  N.  C.  He  is  a  son  of  William  and 
Elizabeth  (Lock)  Penninger,  natives  of  North 
Carolina,  and  the  parents  of  Alexander  L., 
Eliza,  George  W.,  John  William,  Sarah  A. 
and  Mary  J.  The  father  was  married  a  second 
time  to  Mary  Lynch,  the  result  being  Mary  J., 
Daniel  F.,  Margaret  S.,  Levi  C,  Laura  M., 
Mahala  C,  Martha,  Minerva,  Melinda  A.,  Miles 
G.  and  Morgan  J.  Our  subject  had  the  advan- 
tages of  the  pioneer  log-cabin  schools.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  years,  he  began  for  himself,  by 
buying  a  farm  of  ninety-six  acres  in  the  thick 
forests.  Here  he  devoted  his  entire  time  to 
clearing.  He  possesses,  at  this  writing,  180 
acres  of  fine  land,  the  result  of  his  own  labors. 
He  has  used  ox  teams,  and  the  wooden  mold- 
board  plows  ;  gone  to  mill  on  horseback,  and 
experienced  all  the  scenes  that  go  to  make  up 
the  life  of  the  early  pioneer.  He  was  married, 
in  1850,  to  Susan  Kisler,  a  native  of  Illinois, 
which  union  gave  him  one  child.  She  died  in 
less  than  a  year,  and  Mr.  P.  was  subsequently 
married  to  Ellen  Hunsuckle,  the  result  being 
Samantha  and  Isophene.  The  strong  hand  of 
death  again  visited  his  family,  and  he  again 


sought  a  third  marriage,  and  united  with  Eliza- 
beth Worley,  and  has  been  blessed  by  her  with 
Idelle,  Dora,  Almina,  Lafa3'ette,  Maggie,  Carrie,. 
Benton  and  William.  Mrs.  P.  was  born  April 
3,  1844,  in  Tennessee  ;  is  a  daughter  of  Elisha 
and  Elizabeth  (Farris)  Worley,  natives  of  South 
Carolina,  and  the  parents  of  twelve  children, 
five  of  whom  survive,  viz.,  Henry,  J.  M.,  Cas- 
sandra, Mary  and  Elizabeth.  Her  parents  came 
to  Illinois  in  1855,  and  are  now  residents  of 
Clay  County,  Tex. 

W.  J.  STANDARD,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mt.  Pleas- 
ant, was  born  in  this  county  March  3,  1833, 
and  received  his  education  at  the  old  subscrip- 
tion schools,  with  the  old  slab  seats  and  writing 
desks,  puncheon  floors  and  stick  and  clay 
chimneys,  only  attending  from  forty  to  sixty 
dajs  in  the  course  of  a  year.  He  worked  on 
the  farm  until  he  was  about  nineteen  years  old, 
and  then  for  four  years  he  clerked  in  the  dry 
goods  store  of  C.  D.  Finch,  of  Jonesboro. 
When  twenty-three,  he  commenced  the  profes- 
sion of  teaching,  and  followed  it  until  the  year 
1880.  He  taught  about  seventeen  terms,  earn- 
ing first  $35,  and  having  increased  gradually 
to  $50.  He  settled  on  his  present  farm  in  1863, 
and  now  owns  200  acres,  mostly  improved  ;  has 
some  nice  stock  and  a  fine  orchard.  He  was 
married  November  5,  1863,  to  Elizabeth  J. 
Sitter,  daughter  of  Solomon  H.  and  Hannah 
(Oiler)  Sitter.  The  result  of  this  union  is  one 
son,  Warren,  who  is  at  home.  Our  subject  is 
no  office  seeker,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  casting  his  first  vote  for  Bu- 
chanan. 

MORGAN  STOKES,  farmer  and  merchant, 
P.  0.  Mount  Pleasant.  When  we  trace  the 
history  of  our  leading  men,  and  search  for  the 
secret  of  their  success,  we  find,  as  a  rule,  they 
were  men  who  were  early  thrown  upon  their 
own  resources,  and  whose  first  experiences 
were  in  the  face  of  adversity  and  oppression. 
Such  was  the  case  with  Morgan  Stokes,  an  out- 
line of  whose  life  may  he  found  in  what  follows. 


STOKES  PRECINCT. 


195 


He  is  a  native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  June 
21,  1831,  and  is  the  oldest  living  native  citizen 
of  Stokes  Precinct.  The  original  Stokes  family 
came  to  this  borough  from  Kentucky,  and  set- 
tled near  where  is  now  the  present  site  of  Mount 
Pleasant,  in  1811.  Jones  Stokes,  one  of  these 
pioneers, .  married  Minerva  Davidson,  a  native 
of  Kentucky.  The  result  of  which  was  five 
children,  four  of  whom  survive,  viz.  :  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  John  Sivia  ;  Morgan  (subject)  ;  Sarah, 
the  wife  of  H.  N.  Halterman  ;  Nancy,  the  wife 
of  Giles  Toler,  and  Evans.  She  died,  and  Mr. 
Stokes  subsequently  married  Elizabeth,  a  sis- 
ter of  his  first  consort,  which  union  gave  him 
Jones,  Piety  and  Matthew.  Morgan,  whose 
portrait  appears  in  this  volume,  from  his  early 
boyhood,  assisted  in  the  labors  of  the  farm. 
His  educational  advantages  were  such  as  the 
subscription  schools  of  the  country  afforded. 
In  those  days,  schoolhouses  of  any  kind  were 
few,  and  Mr.  S.  was  compelled  to  walk  five  miles 
to  obtain  such  meager  educational  facilities  as  it 
was  his  fortune  to  treasure.  No  time  was  lost 
in  truancy,  but  his  business  was  the  improve- 
ment of  his  mind,  and  the  duties  of  the  ruralist. 
He  never,  as  he  grew  older,  learned  that  a  sea- 
son of  "  sowing  wild  oats  "  was  necessar}-  or 
essential  to  make  a  man  ;  so,  by  perseverance, 
he  has  arisen,  step  b\-  step,  and  now  ranks 
among  the  wealthiest  men  of  the  count}',  hav- 
ing at  this  writing  about  900  acres  of  fineh'-im- 
proved  land.  A  portion  of  his  possessions  is 
the  old  homestead,  which  he  obtained  bv  pur- 
chasing the  heirs'  part,  and  inheriting  his 
equal  share.  His  first  farming  for  himself  was 
on  railroad  land.  During  the  late  civil  war,  he 
enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regi- 
ment Illinois  Volunteer  Infantr}- ;  was  elected, 
commissioned,  served  and  was  mustered  out  as 
First  Lieutenant.  About  three  months  before 
his  regiment  was  consolidated,  he  was  elected 
and  served  as  Captain,  but  did  not  receive  his 
commission.  In  18(35,  he  bought  out  Leaven- 
worth &  Little,  who  kept   a   general    store   at 


Mount  Pleasant.  This  business  he  continued 
with  marked  success  for  eight  years,  when  he 
sold  to  a  Mr.  Brown.  In  a  short  time,  the 
building  and  entire  contents  were  destroyed  by 
fire,  and  Mr.  Stokes  was  the  loser  of  the  former. 
He  subsequently  erected  a  handsome  two-story 
brick  building,  and,  in  partnership  with  J.  W. 
Ramse}'.  he  carries  on  a  general  line  of  mer- 
chandising, Mr.  l\.  taking  charge  of  the  same. 
He  has  on  his  farm  a  blacksmith  shop,  which 
does  the  work  of  the  neighborhood.  He  believes 
in  improvement,  and  has  lately  erected  a  fine 
barn  at  an  expense  of  several  hundred  dollars. 
He  was  married  in  1855  to  Margaret  Halter- 
man, the  result  being  nine  childi'en,  eight  of 
whom  are  living,  viz.  :  Martha,  the  wife  of 
George  Otrich,  Henr}',  John,  Daniel,  Laura, 
Flora  B.,  Piet}'  E.  and  George  E.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Stokes  is  a  Democrat  of  the  old  Jetterson 
school,  and  wields  a  large  influence  in  his  town- 
ship upon  all  questions  coming  to  a  vote.  In- 
deed, the  saying,  "  as  votes  Morgan  Stokes,  so 
votes  Stokes  Precinct,"  has  become  proverbial. 
Although  Mr.  Stokes'  tastes  and  inclinations 
would  incline  him  stricth'  and  exclusively  to 
the  cares  of  his  farm,  his  neighbors'  apprecia- 
tion of  his  business  ability  and  judgment  have 
called  him  to  serve  them  for  several  years 
in  succession  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  which 
position  he  now  holds.  He  is  a  member  of 
Moscow  Lodge,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  He  is  a  man  of 
mild  disposition,  careful  and  cautious  in  all  his 
movements,  and  conscientious  in  all  that  he 
says  or  does.  He  is  at  the  same  time  firm 
and  decided,  and  adheres  with  rigid  tenacity  to 
every  principle  of  justice  and  right.  l*olite  in 
manners,  genial  and  social  in  his  habits,  he  has 
made  for  himself  a  large  circle  of  devoted 
friends,  and  by  his  upright  life,  has  not  failed 
to  leave  upon  all  with  whom  he  has  mingled 
the  impress  of  his  genuine  manhood. 

J.  B.  STOKES,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mt.  Pleasant, 
was  born  February  19,  1838,  in  Union  County, 
and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Gwin)  Stokes, 


196 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


who  came  to  this  county  before  marriage.  The 
parents  had  ten  children,  viz.:  Jones,  Martha, 
Alfred,  William,  Calvin,  James,  J.  B.,  Mary, 
Elizabeth,  Preecly.  Our  subject  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  country  log  cabin  schools.  He 
was  married  March  30,  1859,  to  Mary  A.  Mc- 
Tntire,  native  of  Kentucky,  and  daughter  of 
John  and  Nancy  Mclntire,  also  natives  of 
Kentucky,  and  the  parents  of  seven  children — 
John,  Nancy  J.,  Mary.  A.,  Dallas,  Elizabeth, 
Kufus.  Julia  A.  By  his  union,  Mr.  Stokes  has 
eight  children,  three  of  whom  survive,  namely  : 
Richard,  James  and  Dennis.  He  settled  at  his 
marriage  where  William  Holmes  now  lives,  and 
in  1876  he  bought  his  present  farm  of  ninety 
acres  of  James  Miles.  He  now  possesses  130 
acres  of  good  land.  Enlisted  in  Company  E. 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regiment  Illinois 
Infantry,  and  was  in  the  service  nearly  three 
3'ears.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Evergreen 
Lodge,  No.  581,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  of  Lick  Creek.  He 
votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 

MRS.  ZILPHA  H.  STOKES,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Mt.  Pleasant,  is  a  native  of  this  county,  and 
was  born  March  10,  1841.  She  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  and  'Percy  (Cox)  Boswell.  Tliey 
were  natives  of  North  Carolina,  and  came  to 
this  county  when  quite  young,  and  after  mar- 
riage they  raised  a  family  of  eight  children — 
Eleanor  J.,  John  H.,  Zilpha,  Mary  C,  Sarah  E., 
William  T.,  Thomas  J.  and  Percy  C.  The 
parents  were  both  members  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  The  father  is  still  living,  but  the 
mother  has  passed  awa}^  to  her  reward.  The 
educational  advantages  of  our  subject  were  but 
limited,  her  schooling  being  obtained  almost 
entirely  at  the  subscription  schools  of  that  day. 
As  a  maiden,  most  of  her  time  was  spent  at 
home  helping  her  mother  spin,  weave,  and  in 
doing  tlie  general  work  of  the  household,  until 
April  16,  1857,  when  she  was  united  in  mat- 
rimony to  G-eorge  E.  Stokes,  who  was  born 
November  24,  1834,  and  is  a  brother  of  Mor- 
gan   Stokes.      By  this  union,  there   were   six 


children,  two  of  whom  are  living — Thomas  J. 
and  Percy  M.  The  names  of  the  dead  ones 
are  W.  D.,  Daniel  J.,  an  infant  unnamed,  and 
Sarah  F.  Mr.  Stokes  was  a  member  of  the  A., 
F.  &  A.  M.,  and  I.  0.  0.  F.,  which  meet  at 
Dongola.  He  died  January  15,  1870.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Stokes,  when  they  commenced  life, 
settled  on  a  farm  of  1 60  acres,  which  was  then 
mostly  in  woods,  but  is  now  nearly  all  improved. 
On  this  old  homestead,  located  in  Section  33, 
southeast  quarter,  she  now  resides,  and,  assist- 
ed by  her  son,  Thomas  J.,  is  running  the  farm. 
Mrs.  Stokes  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church. 

PETER  YERBLE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Dongola, 
among  the  leading  farmers  of  this  county,  is 
Mr.  Peter  Verble,  born  here  in  1816.  His 
parents  removed  from  North  Carolina  to  this 
borough  in  about  the  year  1815  or  1816,  set- 
tling in  Dongola  Precinct,  on  the  land  now 
owned  by  the  Washington  Brown  heirs.  The 
father  erected  a  water-power  grist  mill  at  an 
eai'ly  date  on  Big  Creek,  where  many  of  the 
early  settlers  got  their  corn  and  wheat  ground. 
The  father  was  blessed  with  twenty-nine  chil- 
dren by  his  four  unions.  The  parents  were 
members  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Peter  at- 
tended school,  as  did  the  other  members  of 
the  family,  in  the  log  cabin.  He  was  married, 
in  1840,  to  Margaret  Correll,  the  result  being 
fourteen  children,  viz.:  Eli,  Susan,  Betsey, 
Nancy,  William,  Peter,  Ollie,  Jane,  Hiram, 
Daniel,  Greorge,  John,  Jackson  and  Phoebe. 
His  wife  died  and  he  was  subsequently  mar- 
ried to  Mary  (Penninger),  the  widow  of  George 
Otrich.  By  economy  and  hard  labor,  he  has 
secured  210  acres  of  fine  land.  He  has  owned 
at  one  time  700  acres,  which  he  has  divided 
among  his  children.  He  votes  the  Democratic 
ticket. 

RICHARD  WIGGS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mt.  Pleas- 
ant, was  born  December  16,  1825,  in  North 
Carolina,  is  a  son  of  Needham  and  A.  (Dixon) 
Wiggs.     The    family  came  to    Mt.    Pleasant, 


SARATOGA  PRECI:N^CT. 


197 


this  county,  in  1839,  by  means  of  a  three- 
horse  wagon  and  cart,  their  journey  was  long 
and  tedious,  they  being  six  weeks  aud  three 
days  on  the  wa^-.  Soon  after  arriving  in  this, 
then  wild  and  almost  unbroken  countr}',  the 
father  bought  120  acres  of  Grovernment  land, 
where  he  at  once  settled.  The  mother  died  in 
1841.  They  had  five  children,  three  of  whom 
are  living,  viz.:  Richard,  Caroline  E.,  the  wife 
of  Miles  L.  Pender,  Hannah,  the  wife  of  John 
Pickrell,  of  Anna.  The  father  married  subse- 
quently thtee  times,  the  latter  two  proving 
fruitless,  and  those  of  the  second  union  are  de- 
ceased.    Richard  was    educated    in    the    log 


cabin,  and  was  brought  up  on  the  farm.  Was 
married,  1849,  to  Mary  F.  Greer,  and  has  been 
blessed  with  three  children,  two  of  whom  are 
living — Sarah,  the  wife  of  Thomas  H.  McLane 
born  October  6,  1849,  is  the  son  of  John  and 
J.  P.  (Standard)  McLane,  the  parents  of 
Thomas  H.,  F.  E.,  the  (wife  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald), 
Alexander,  A.  H.,  Viola  C,  and  one  deceased. 
The  last  child  of  our  subject  is  Martha  C. 
Mr.  Wiggs  has  120  acres  of  well  improved 
land.  He  enlisted  in  Company  E,  One  Hun- 
dred and  Ninth  Infantry,  and  was  soon  after 
transferred,  where  he  remained  for  nearlj'  three 
years  ;  was  a  sharpshooter  ;  is  a  Democrat. 


SAEATOGA  PEEOINOT. 


JOHN  W.  BOSTIAN.  P.  O.  Anna,  is  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina.  Andrew  Bostian,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a  Captain  in 
the  Revolutionary  war,  and  moved  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  North  Carolina  when  quite  young. 
Here  the  father  of  our  subject,  John  Bostian, 
was  born  in  1797  ;  he  was  the  youngest  of  six 
children,  and  was  married,  upon  reaching  man- 
hood, to  Mary  Duke.  By  this  marriage,  there 
were  six  children,  of  whom  our  subject  was  the 
oldest,  and  he  was  born  April  26, 1821.  His 
education  was  received  in  the  old  subscription 
school,  and  after'  finishing  his  schooling  he 
commenced  farming  in  that  State.  Mr.  Bostian 
remained  here  until  1850,  when  he  removed  to 
this  county,  where  he  settled  first  on  a  farm, 
about  seven  miles  south  of  Jonesboro. 
Here  he  remained  until  the  fall  of  1853,  when 
he  removed  to  his  present  location,  about  five 
miles  from  Anna  ;  where  he  devotes  most  of 
his  attention  to  farming.  He  also  makes  a 
special t^^  of  fine  cattle,  dealing  mostly  in  Dur- 
ham short-horn,  and  has  about  twenty  head. 
Mr.  Bostian  has  been  married  twice,  and  both 


of  his  wives  are  now  dead.  He  was  married 
first  in  North  Carolina  to  Miss  Margaret  Good- 
man, daughter  of  John  Goodman.  She  was 
the  mother  of  seven  children,  of  whom  five  are 
living,  namely,  Julius  M.,  Susan  S.,  William 
Waltei',  Charlotte  E.  and  Laura  A.;  of  these  all 
but  one  are  married,  and  have  started  out  in 
life  for  themselves.  Miss  Susan  now  remains 
at  home,  and  keeps  house  for  her  father,  the 
first  Mrs.  Bostian  having  died  November  30, 
1869,  he  was  married  tlie  second  time  in  this 
count}-,  to  Mrs.  Lucinda  J.  Crane,  November 
9,  1869.  This  lady,  who  was  the  daughter  of 
Judge  William  Eaves,  of  Anna  Precinct,  was 
the  mother  of  four  childi-en,  three  of  whom  are 
living,  namely,  Jennie,  George  and  Charles; 
she  died  April  6,  1879.  Our  subject  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Anna,  and  is 
now  acting  as  Elder  in  this  demonination.  In 
politics,  Mr.  Bostian  is  a  Democrat. 

MATHIAS  CARAKER,  farmer  and  fruit- 
grower, P.  0.  Western  Saratoga.  Jacob  Car- 
aker,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  born 
in  North  Carolina,  and  was  married  upon  reach- 


198 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


ing  manhood's  estate  to  Phoebie  Verble,  and 
here  Daniel  Caraker,  the  father,  was  born  in 
North  Carolina,  and  came  with  his  father,  when 
quite  young,  to  this  county.     He  married  Miss 
Nancy  Hair,  and  the  young  couple  first  settled 
in  Township  2.     There  were  ten  children,  and  of  ! 
these    subject  was  the  oldest,   and   was  born 
April  5,  1850.     He  attended  school  mainly   in  | 
Saratoga  Precinct,  and  took  one  term  in  Jones-  j 
boro.      Following   this,   subject   taught   three   i 
winter  schools  in  the  Bromet  School  house,  in  the 
Jonesboro  Precinct,  and  one  school  in  the  Cob- 
den  Precinct.     He  commenced  the  occupation 
of  farming  on  a  farm  in  Cobden   Precinct  in 
1876,  and  bought  his  present  location  in  March, 
1881,  a  farm  of  about   120  acres,  and  of  this 
about  100  acres  are  under  cultivation.  There  is 
also  about  ten  acres  in  apple  trees.     Subject 
was  married,  September  19,  1878,  to  Miss  V.  G. 
Stout,    daughter     of    William    and    Minerva 
(Clutts)    Stout.     She   is  the   mother   of  three 
children,  two  of  whom  are  living — Oscar  and 
Melvin.     In   politics,   Mr.  Caraker  is  a  Demo- 
crat. 

JAMES  CORBIT,  farmer  and  fruit-grower, 
P.  0.  Lick  Creek.  Samuel  Corbit,  the  grand- 
father of  our  subject,  lived  in  North  Carolina^ 
and  here  Phillip  Corbit,  the  father,  was  born, 
attained  manhood's  estate  and  married  Mar- 
garet Kean.  They  came  to  this  State  about 
1823,  and  first  settled  in  Johnson  County. 
From  that  place,  the  father  came  to  this  county 
about  the  time  of  the  birth  of  our  subject,  which 
occurred  October  8,  1835.  The  father  dying 
soon  after  this,  the  education  of  our  subject  was 
but  limited,  and  what  there  was  of  it  was  ob- 
tained at  the  subscription  schools  of  his  day.  He 
assisted  the  surrounding  farmers  in  their  work 
until  he  was  about  nineteen.  During  the  fol- 
lowing two  years  or  more,  he  worked  on  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  which  was  then  in 
progress  of  construction.  About  1845,  Mr. 
Corbit  apprenticed  himself  to  a  cooper  by  the 
name  of  John  C.  Lee,  whose  shop  was   near 


Anna.  After  learning  his  trade,  subject  opened 
a  shop  for  himself  at  Anna,  and  here  he  worked 
until  the  breaking-out  of  the  war.  Li  1863. 
subject  purchased  a  farm  of  forty  acres  near 
the  place  where  his  mother  had  lived  before 
him.  It  was  a  tract  of  fort}^  acres,  and  but 
little  improved.  This  the  subject  has,  by 
patient  industry,  now  increased  to  a  farm  of 
164  acres,  and  of  this  about  100  acres  are  im- 
proved, he  also  has  about  six  acres  in  fruit 
trees.  Subject  enlisted  in  One  Hundred  and 
Ninth  Illinois  Infantry,  Col.  Nimm^.  Company 
H,  Capt  J.  A.  McElhany,  on  August  15,  1861, 
and  remained  in  service  about  fifteen  months, 
being  honorably  discharged  on  account  of  dis- 
ability, he  having  lost  an  eye  in  the  service- 
during  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  Mr.  Corbit 
was  married  in  August.  1858,  to  Lucinda  M. 
Brown,  daughter  of  John  T.  and  Hannah 
(Krethers)  Brown.  The  result  of  this  was  six 
children,  three  of  whom  are  living — Emma  E., 
Mary  J.  and  Anna  I.  Subject  is  a  member  of 
the  Pleasant  Ridge  Baptist  Church,  and  in 
politics  Mr.  Corbit  is  a  Democrat. 

ABRAHxlM  COVER,  farmer,  merchant,  etc.. 
Western  Saratoga.  One  of  the  most  influential 
and  worthy  people  of  this  precinct  is  the  gen- 
tleman whose  name  heads  this  brief  biography. 
Abraham  Cover,  the  subject  of  our  sketch, 
was  born  in  Carroll  County,  Md.,  about  two 
miles  from  Westminster,  on  the  29th  day  of 
September,  1825.  His  grandfather  on  his  fa- 
ther's side  was  among  the  earliest  English  set- 
tlers in  that  section  of  the  country.  His  father, 
Daniel  Cover,  married  Susannah  Hahn,  whose 
parents  were  native  Germans.  She  was  the 
mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom  Abraham  was 
the  fifth.  ^  He  started  to  school  when  he  was 
about  seven  years  of  age,  in  Carroll  County. 
He  continued  attending  school  here  until  he 
was  about  sixteen  j-ears  old,  when  his  mother 
(his  father  having  died  some  years  before  that) 
moved  to  Jonesboro,  this  county.  Here  he 
again  entered  school,  and  continued  there   uu- 


SARATOCxA  PRECINCT. 


199 


til  he  was  about  twenty-one.  During  the  sum- 
mer of  his  eighteenth  year,  howevex-,  he  appren- 
ticed himself  to  a  tanner,  and  during  the  springs, 
summers  and  falls  of  the  succeeding  three  or 
four  years  he  worked  at  the  trade  most  of  the 
time,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  his  schooling,  he 
devoted  his  whole  time  to  it,  until  he  was  mas- 
ter of  his  vocation.  In  1848,  he  opened  a  tan- 
nery of  his  own  nearly  opposite  what  is  called 
the  Grand  Chain,  on  the  Ohio  River,  in  Pulaski 
County.  He  staid  there  about  two  years,  then 
moved  to  a  farm  about  a  mile  from  West  Sar- 
atoga, this  county,  where  he  has  kept  his  resi- 
idence  most  of  the  time  since.  Farming  was 
the  first  vocation  that  he  followed  after  his  ar- 
rival in  this  county,  and  he  has  now  a  very 
large  farm  to  show  as  the  result  of  his  labors 
here.  In  1856,  he  built  a  steam  flour  and  lum- 
ber mill  combined,  just  on  the  southern  edge  of 
the  village  of  Saratoga,  and  here  Mr.  Cover 
continued  in  business  until  1875.  In  1862,  in 
connection  with  his  other  aftairs,  Mr.  Cover 
opened  a  grocer}^  and  notion  store,  in  the  limits 
of  Saratoga  Village,  and  here  he  also  continued 
in  business  until  1875,  in  which  year  he  moved 
both  his  mill  and  store  to  Tunnell  Hill,  John- 
son County,  but  still  kept  his  residence  in  this 
county.  The  mill  still  remains  in  Johnson 
■County,  under  the  title  of  A.  Cover  &  Sons, 
but  the  store  was  transferred  to  this  county  in 
1881,  and  he  now  does  business  in  the  house 
built  for  that  purpose  on  his  place.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  has  been  married  twice.  He 
was  wedded  to  his  first  wife.  Miss  Sophia  Mil- 
ler, whose  parents  came  from  North  Carolina,  in 
1849.  Bj'  this  union  he  had  nine  children, 
seven  of  whom  are  living  :  William,  Mary  Isa- 
bella (deceased),  Albert  (deceased),  David  M., 
Caleb  W.,  Olie,  Katie,  Jeanette  and  Effie 
Ma}-.  The  lady  who  had  been  the  companion 
of  his  joys  and  sorrows  for  so  man}'  years,  de- 
parted this  life,  and  after  this  great  bereavement, 
Mr.  Cover  remained  single  until  December  14, 
1879,  when  he  married  Miss  Emeline  Grimes,  a 


native  of  Tennessee.  The  result  of  this  union 
is  one  bright-eyed  little  girl,  who  is  the  joy  of 
the  home.  Of  these  children,  all  but  the  three 
youngest  have  left  the  parental  roof,  and  have 
started  out  on  life's  voyage  for  themselves.  But 
few  men  were  more  faithful  soldiers  in  the 
Mexican  and  the  civil  wars  than  the  man 
whose  life  we  are  now  attempting  to  sketch.  In 
the  first  war,  he  was  among  the  very  first  to  vol- 
unteer, and  started  out  with  the  rank  of  Corpo- 
ral in  Company  F,  of  the  Second  Illinois  Infan- 
try, Col.  Bissel  commanding,  Capt.  J.  S.  Hacker, 
commander  of  company.  From  this  service 
he  was  honorably  discharged  in  July,  1847.  In 
the  civil  war  he  started  out  in  October,  1861, 
as  First  Lieutenant  in  the  Sixth  Illinois  Cav- 
alry, and  served  until  January,  1863,  when  he 
was  discharged,  by  order  of  the  medical  board, 
on  account  of  disability  from  rheumatism.  Dur- 
ing his  service  in  this  war,  Mr.  Cover  acted  as 
scout  in  Kentucky,  Missouri  and  Tennessee,  but 
was  in  no  general  battle.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  a  member  in  good  standing  of  Union 
Lodge,  No.  627,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  which  meets 
at  Union  Hall,  about  six  miles  northeast  of 
Saratoga;  is  also  a  member  of  the  Saratoga  M. 
E.  Church.  During  the  history  of  this  church, 
Mr.  Cover  has  been  one  of  its  most  earnest  sup- 
porters and  helpers,  and  is  at  present  one  of 
the  trustees,  and  exhorter.  (A  full  history  of 
this  church  will  be  found  in  another  part  of 
this  work.)  In  politics,  Mr.  Cover  was  an  ante- 
bellum Democrat,  but  his  experience  in  the 
war  changed  him  into  a  Republican,  and  he 
has  served  his  country  faithfully  and  true  most 
of  the  time  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  at 
Saratoga  as  Postmaster. 

SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  farmer  and  fruit- 
grower, P.  0.  Cobden.  Frederick  Johnson,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Tennessee, 
lived  there  until  manhood,  and  was  married  to 
Darthula  Ledgerwood.  From  Tennessee,  the 
father  went  first  to  Missouri,  from  there  to  In- 
diana, and  finally  came  to  this  count}'  in  1844. 


200 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


He  located  on  the  farm  now  occupied  b\'  the 
son,  in  Saratoga  Precinct,  about  five  miles  from 
Cobden,  and  here  subject  was  born,  January 
24,  1847.  In  childhood  and  youth,  subject  at- 
tended the  common  schools  of  his  county, 
goingmost  of  the  time  to  the  Hair  Schoolhouse. 
He  assisted  on  the  home  place  until  the  death 
of  his  father,  and  then  finally  took  charge  of 
the  farm  in  1871,  which  now  numbers  about 
150  acres,  and  of  this  about  ninety  acres  are 
under  cultivation.  Mr.  Johnson  was  married 
July  24,  1872,  to  Leslie  Highland,  daughter  of 
John  and  Mary  (Liebarger)  Highland.  By  this 
union  there  were  four  children,  three  of  whom 
are  living — Idella,  Oliver  M.  and  Jeanette.  In 
politics,  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  Democrat. 

J.  A.  MUSGRAVE,  plasterer  and  farmer, 
P.  0.  Cobden.  Joshua  Musgrave,  the  grand- 
father, came  from  North  Carolina  and  settled 
in  Bedford  County,  Tenn.  James  Musgrave, 
the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  August  12,  1806,  and  came  to  Ten- 
nessee, when  he  was  about  eighteen  years  of 
age,  and  here  he  married  Minerva  Anderson, 
daughter  of  Livingston  Anderson,  of  Bedford 
County,  Tenn.  By  this  union  there  were  eleven 
children,  and  of  these  the  subject  was  the  sixth, 
and  was  born  September  5,  1843.  His  parents 
moved  to  this  county  when  subject  was  about 
six  years  of  age.  They  first  settled  in  Stokes 
Precinct,  about  twelve  miles  from  Anna,  and 
from  there  the  father  moved  to  Anna  in  1857. 
Our  subject  received  most  of  his  education  in 
the  schools  of  Anna,  and  started  out  in  life 
as  a  clerk  in  Busbin's  grocery.  He  then 
learned  the  trade  of  a  plasterer,  which  vocation 
he  followed  for  a  number  of  years  extensively, 
and  one  that  he  still  works  at  in  the  fall.  He 
entered  the  ranks  of  the  farmers  by  renting  a 
farm  from  Mi*.  Gillette,  located  about  four  miles 
east  of  Anna,  and  November  14,  1880,  he  came 
to  his  present  location,  where  he  now  has  a 
farm  of  sixty-three  acres,  and  of  this  about 
forty  acres  are  under  cultivation.     Subject  en- 


listed in  the  One  Hundred  and  Forty-third  Illi- 
nois Infantry,  Col.  Smith,  Company  B,  Capt. 
Bourn,  in  the  spring  of  1865,  and  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  Mr.  Musgrave  was 
married  to  Victoria  Baker,  daughter  of  Jackson 
and  Caroline  (Saunders)  Baker.  She  is  the 
mother  of  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  living 
— Dora,  John  and  Freddie.  Subject  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  which 
meets  at  the  Hair  Schoolhouse,  and  is  at  pres- 
ent one  of  the  Deacons  in  that  denomination. 
In  politics,  Mr.  Musgrave  is  a  Democrat 

ISAAC  N.  PHILLIPS,  P.  0.  Lick  Creek. 
Of  all  the  men  now  living,  perhaps  no  other 
man  has  done  so  much  for  the  early  prosper- 
ity and  growth  of  this  county  as  the  man 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  Samuel  Phil- 
lips, the  great-great-grandfather  of  our  sub- 
ject, came  from  Wales  some  time  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  settled  in  Massachusetts, 
probably  near  Plymouth  Rock.  Here  Samuel 
Phillips,  the  grand-father  of  our  subject, 
was  born,  and  upon  reaching  manhood  went 
to  Virginia,  married  and  settled.  In  this 
State  John  Phillips,  the  father  of  our  subject 
was  born  in  1775.  Upon  reaching  his  majority, 
this  man  removed  to  Ohio  and  settled  near 
Chillicothe.  At  this  town,  he  married  and  set- 
tled down,  and  had  one  son,  but  his  wife  djing 
soon  after  the  birth  of  this  boy,  he  left  that 
place  and  after  some  years  spent  in  roving  life, 
he  came  back  to  Tennessee,  and  from  that 
State  he  removed  to  what  was  then  known  as 
Franklin  County,  111.,  but  now  known  as  Will- 
iamson County.  This  was  about  the  year 
1810.  In  this  county,  in  the  year  1812.  Mr. 
Phillips  married  Leanna  Tippy,  daughter  of 
Abraham  Tippy.  This  woman  was  the  mother 
of  thirteen  children,  of  whom  subject  was  the 
seventh.  The  father  died  when  subject  was 
about  sixteen  years  old,  and  left  the  latter  the 
sole  support  of  the  mother  and  the  younger 
children.  The  family  was  poor,  and  Isaac  was 
compelled   to   commence   teaming.     Soon,  as- 


SARATOGA  PRECINCT. 


201 


sisted  b}'  some  of  the  old  pioneers  of  that 
section,  he  procured  enough  horses  to  run  a 
number  of  wagons  from  his  home  in  Franklin 
Count}'  to  the  ferry  opposite  St.  Louis.  He 
continued  this  some  3'ears  and  was  en- 
abled to  give  his  younger  brothers  and  sisters 
an  education  at  the  subscription  schools  of 
that  period.  Reverses  came,  though,  and  some 
of  his  horses  having  died.  Mr.  Phillips  re- 
ceived the  appointment  as  one  of  the  toil-gate 
keepers  on  the  toll  road  that  was  just  then  be- 
ing established  from  Belleville,  St.  Clair 
County,  to  St.  Louis.  His  companion  at  this 
toll-gate  was  a  half-breed  Indian,  and  here  at 
this  toll-gate,  when  nothing  else  claimed  their 
attention,  the  Indian  taught  Mr.  Phillips,  then 
a  young  man  of  twenty-four,  to  read  and  write. 
Our  subject  remained  at  this  point  until  No- 
vember, 1854,  when  he  came  to  Jonesboro, 
this  county,  where  his  elder  brother  was  acting 
as  land  agent  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company.  The  town  of  Anna  was  just  then 
being  established,  and  here,  in  the  fall  of  1854, 
the  elder  brother  and  our  subject  commenced 
the  erection  of  what  is  now  the  European 
Hotel  at  Anna.  In  the  earl}'  part  of  the  win- 
ter of  1855,  the  elder  Phillips  was  compelled 
to  go  out  West,  and  in  his  absence  our  subject 
superintended  the  erection  and  the  completion 
of  this  hotel.  It  was  finished  and  occupied 
in  the  spring  of  the  same  year,  and  Mr.  Phil- 
lips acted  as  landlord  until  the  return  of  his 
brother  in  July  ;  he  then  started  out  West  and 
remained  there  until  1858,  when  he  returned 
to  this  county.  From  Jonesboro  he  went 
out  to  what  is  now  Cobden.  as  agent  for  Phil- 
lips, Ashley  &  Company,  who  were  the  agents 
for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
Here  he  built  the  first  log  house  in  what  is 
now  Cobden,  and  remained  here  with  a  com- 
panion until  the  spring  of  1859,  before  any 
other  settlers  joined  them.  As  the  town  com- 
menced to  grow  he  helped  each  and  every  un- 
dertakino;  that  came  there.     He  assisted    the 


County  Surveyor  in  making  the  original  plats 
for  the  town,  and  finally  purchased  all  the  un- 
sold interests  of  the  firm  of  Phillips,  Ashley 
&  Company  in  the  town  of  Cobden.  He  was 
one  of  the  contractors  for  the  railroad  com- 
pany at  this  point,  for  ties.  He  managed  and 
controlled  a  grain  elevator,  and  also  ran  a 
general  mercantile  store.  As  he  became  pros- 
perous, he  purchased  and  cultivated  a  fruit 
farm  just  north  of  the  town  plat  of  Cobden,  and 
in  time  owned  four  other  farms,  one  of  400 
acres  in  Marion  County,  another  of  340  acres 
known  as  the  "  forty-five  farm,"  about  two  miles 
above  Cobden,  and  two  others  of  smaller  di- 
mensions in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  that  vil- 
lage. About  the  close  of  the  war,  he  accepted 
the  position  of  general  agent  for  the  Belleville 
&  Southern  Illinois  Railroad  Company,  which 
was  being  built  from  Duquoin  to  St.  Louis, 
and  as  such  officer  he  purchased  the  right  of 
way,  contracted  for  the  ties  and  paid  from 
funds  in  his  hands  for  the  labor  and  work  on 
the  whole  road.  He  next  accepted  the  agency 
for  this  State  for  the  Safety  Deposit  Life  In- 
surance Company  of  Chicago.  He  continued 
as  agent  for  the  company  for  about  a  year, 
and  then  immediately  after  the  great  fire  in 
Chicago  he  went  to  that  city  and  engaged  in 
business  there.  After  two  years  spent  at  that 
point,  he  returned  to  this  vicinity  and  spent 
the  following  years,  until  1880,  settling  up  his 
affairs  and  divided  his  time  among  the  counties 
of  Marion,  Jackson  and  Johnson,  and  in  the 
year  1880  he  returned  to  this  county  and  now 
resides  upon  a  pleasant  little  farm  about  four 
miles  from  Saratoga.  Mr.  Phillips  was  first 
married  in  Marion  County,  on  May  6,  1858, 
to  Nancy  E.  Phillips,  daughter  of  Jonathan 
and  Sarah  Phillips.  By  this  Union,  there  was 
one  child,  Alice,  now  the  wife  of  A.  J.  Miller, 
of  Cobden.  He  was  married  the  second  time 
to  P^lizabeth  Lance,  daughter  of  Henry  Lance, 
a  former  resident  of  Franklin  County,  on 
December  7,  1875.     Subject  has  played  an  im- 


203 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


portant  role  in  otlicial  life  in  this  vicinity. 
He  was  the  first  police  magistrate  for  the 
town  of  Cobden,  also  acted  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  the  early  days  there  ;  was  appointed 
Postmaster  for  that  point  in  1858,  and  held 
that  office  until  1872.  In  1861,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Deputy  United  States  Marshal,  which 
position  he  occupied  seven  3'ears.  In  1863, 
he  was,  in  connection  with  his  other  office, 
appointed  "  Provost  Marshal  under  the  En- 
rolling Act.'  and  he  served  faithfully  and 
well  in  this  arduous  position  for  two  years 
and  five  months.  In  politics,  Mr.  Phillips  is 
a  Republican,  also  a  member  of  Cobden  Lodge, 
No.  464,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Anna  Royal  Arch 
Chapter  Masons  and  Cobden  Odd  Fellows 
Lodge. 

DR.  THOMAS  J.  RICH,  West  Sara- 
toga. Among  the  people  who  were  born  and 
raised  in  this  county,  none  bear  any  better  rep- 
utation or  are  more  widely  thought  of  than 
this  rising  young  physician  of  Saratoga.  The 
birth  of  our  subject  took  place  on  his  father's 
farm,  in  Rich  Precinct,  about  four  miles  north- 
east of  Saratoga,  on  March  20,  1845.  Thomas 
J.  Rich,  the  grandfather  of  the  Doctor,  and  his 
namesake,  was  of  English  descent,  and  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  in  1781.  His  boyhood 
was  spent  here,  and  upon  reaching  manliood  he 
moved  to  Georgia.  From  there  he  moved  to 
Jonesboro,  this  count}^  reaching  here  about 
1840.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this 
county,  and  died  at  a  ripe  old  age  only  a  few 
years  ago.  Our  subject's  father  was  born  in 
Georgia,  about  1820,  and  lived  there  until  he 
reached  manhood,  and  it  was  here  that  he  mar- 
ried Sarah  Owen,  daughter  of  William  and 
Susan  Owen.  From  there  George  Rich  moved 
to  Tennessee  and  thence  to  this  count}-,  reach- 
ing here  about  1840.  He  settled  on  a  farm 
about  four  miles  north  of  Saratoga,  in  the  Rich 
Precinct.  Here  he  died  December  3,  1882. 
His  wife  still  survives  him  and  lives  upon  the 
home  place.     The  Doctor  was   the  seventh   of 


ten  children,  six  of  whom  are  still  living.    The 
Doctor  received  his  first  education  at  the  Pleas- 
ant Ridge  School,  in  this  precinct.     He  attend- 
ed school  here  most  of  the  time  until   he   was 
twenty -one,    and  then    taught  two    terms    of 
school  at  the  Elmore  School  in  Rich  Precinct. 
While  he  was  teaching  his  last  term  of  school 
at  this  point,   he   began  studN'ing  during    his 
spare  time  at  the  office  of  Dr.  F.  M.  Agnew,  of 
Makanda,    Johnson   Count}'.     At  the  close  of 
his  school,  he  still  continued  his  studies  at  the 
office,  I'emaining  at  the  office    until  October, 
1870.     Dr.  Rich  then  went  to  Cincinnati,  where 
he  entered  the  Miami  Medical  College.     Here 
he  attended  lectures  two  years,  graduating  from 
the  school  with    honor   in  the   class   of   1873. 
After  leaving  Cincinnati,  the  Doctor  located  at 
Western  Saratoga,  and  entered  in   partnership 
with  Dr.  J.  A.  C.  Allan,  now  at   Grand    Chain, 
Pulaski  County.     His  partnership  remained  in- 
tact one  year,  when  it  was  dissolved  by  mutual 
consent,  the  Doctor  continuing  in  business  for 
himself  at  this  point.     Here  he  has  since  resid- 
ed, and  at  present  has  all  that  he  has  time  to 
attend  to,  as  he  is  the  only   physician    in  this 
part  of  the  precinct.     Dr.  Rich  was  married  on 
November  18,  1876,  to    Mary   Cladora  Miller, 
daughter  of  Moses  (a  sketch   of    whose    life 
appears   in  this   volume)  and    Mary    (Miller) 
Miller.     By  this  union  there  were  four  children, 
two  of  whom    are    living,  namely,    Lela   and 
Dennis,    ages,    respectively    three   years    and 
seventeen  months.     Our  subject  was  a  faithful 
soldier  in  the  war,  enlisting  in   the  Thirteenth 
Illinois  Cavalry,  in  December,  1863,  and   con- 
tinuing in  this  regiment  until  the   close   of  the 
war.     The  Doctor  was  in  no  regular  battle,  but 
his  services  and  those  of  his    regiment   were 
spent  in  scouting,  principally  in  Missouri  and 
Arkansas.     The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  Union 
Lodge,    No.    627,  A.,    F.  &   A.    M.      Also  a 
meiiber  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
Western  Saratoga,  he  is  Trustee  of  this  denom- 
ination,   and  Superintendent     of  the   Sunday 


SARATOGA  PKECINCT. 


203 


school.     In    politics,    the  Doctor  is   a  strong 
Republican. 

DR.  FRANK  E.  SCARSDALE,  physician,  P. 
O.  Lick  Creek  ;  born  in  Ashtabula,  Ashtabula 
€o.,  Ohio,  April  9,  1838.  William  Edward 
Scarsdale,  his  father,  born  in  Stafford,  Stafford- 
shire, England,  in  1807  ;  came  to  this  country 
in  1829,  settling  first  in  Maryland,  then  moving 
to  Kentuck}-,  sta3'ed  there  about  a  year,  and 
then  moved  to  Ashtabula,  Ohio,  about  1832. 
Here  he  married  Amanda,  daughter  of  Erastus 
and  Jerusha  Cook,  of  Ashtabula  County.  By 
this  union,  there  were  two  children  ;  of  these, 
the  elder  is  Mrs.  Lilly  Pierce,  living  at  Ells- 
worth, Pierce  Co.,  Wis.,  and  the  younger,  our 
subject.  The  Doctor  was  educated  at  Kings- 
ville  Academj',  remaining  there  until  he  was 
sixteen  years  of  age  ;  from  there  he  went  to 
Minnesota,  and  remained  there  one  summer 
and  then  came  to  Marion  County,  IlL.  about 
the  year  1858,  where  he  taught  in  the  country 
schools  for  three  years  ;  from  there,  he  next  went 
to  Johnson  Count}-,  where  he  again  taught  school 
for  a  year.  It  was  here  that  he  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine  in  1860,  in  the  office  of  Dr. 
C.  L.  \\^hitnel;  after  completing  here,  he  at- 
tended lectures  in  1862  and  1863,  at  the  Rush 
Medical  College,  Chicago.  Doctor  Scarsdale 
then  came  back  and  entered  into  partnership 
with  his  old  precepter,  and  remained  in  John- 
son Count}'  for  about  two  j-ears  ;  in  January, 
1865,  he  came  to  Union  County,  111.,  where  he 
located  about  three  miles  from  Saratoga,  at 
what  was  then  Bradshaw  Post  Office.  Here  he 
has  remained  all  of  the  time  since,  except 
when    he  attended  medical  lectures,  at  Pope's 


Medical  College,  St.  Louis,  in  1870-71,  and 
also  a  post-graduate  course  in  tiie  spring  of 
1882.  He  was  married,  April  9,  1865,  in 
Union  County,  to  a  Miss  Louisa  P.  Hastings, 
daughter  of  Westle^-  and  3Iary  Leadbetter 
Hastings.  B}*  this  union,  he  has  had  nine  chil- 
dren, six  of  whom  are  living. 

J.  a.  TYEGET,  P.  0.  Cobden.  Among  the 
oldest  settlers  in  this  part  of  the  section,  is  the 
man  whose  name  heads  this  biograph3^  Mr.  Tye- 
get  was  born  in  Amherst  Count}^  Va.,  December 
17,  1817.  His  father,  Hugh  Tyeget,  came  from 
Ireland,  and  landed  at  Philadelphia  in  1801. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  in  this  countrv,  he  went  to 
Virginia,  and  here  he  married  Nancy  Sands,  the 
mother  of  our  subject.  Hugh  Tyeget  moved 
from  Virginia  to  Tennessee  when  our  subject  was 
about  nine  years  old,  and  in  this  State  it  was 
that  the  latter  received  his  education.  Mr.  Tye- 
get came  to  Illinois  in  1839,  and  settled  first  in 
Williamson  County,  and  in  the  spring  of  1853 
he  came  to  this  county,  settling  about  five 
miles  east  of  Cobden,  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. Our  subject  has  been  married  twice. 
He  was  married  first  to  Astina  Grutherie, 
daughter  of  Anslom  Gutherie,  who  lives  near 
Cobden.  She  was  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  are  living.  His  lady 
died  November  24,  1862,  and  he  was  married 
a  second  time  to  Mrs.  Jane  Culp,  on  January  13, 
1864.  She  is  the  mother  of  six  children,  five 
of  whom  are  living.  The  names  of  Mr.  Tye- 
get's  living  children  are:  William,  Hugh,  Mary, 
Lucy,  John,  Ida  and  Cora.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Tyeget  is  a  Democrat. 


204 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


EICH    PEECmOT. 


J.  C.  BEADING,  farmer,  P.  0.  Lick  Creek, 
was  born  in  Davidson  Count}-,  Tenn.,  January 
13,  1729,  to  E.  M.  and  Nancy  (Stuart)  Brading. 
She  was  born  in  Tennessee  of  Scotch  parents, 
he  in  Georgia,  of  English  parents.  They 
were  married  in  Tennessee.  In  1850,  came 
to  Illinois,  settled  in  Johnson  County  and  died 
there,  he  in  1857,  Oct.  3,  she  died  in  187-1,  in 
her  seventy-ninth  year.  The}-  were  the  par- 
ents of  seven  children,  all  but  two  cf  whom  are 
now  living.  His  occupation  was  always  that 
of  farming.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  Tennessee,  and  came  to 
this  State  with  his  parents  in  1850,  and  has 
been  engaged  in  farming  since.  In  1853,  he 
was  married  in  Johnson  County,  111.,  to  Eliza 
Scott.  She  was  born  in  Kentucky.  She  died 
in  1855.  The  result  of  this  union  was  two 
children,  both  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  In 
1857,  he  was  again  married,  in  Johnson  Coun- 
ty, to  Miss  D.  31.  Harreld.  She  was  born  in 
Johnson  County  to  John  and  Patient  (John- 
son) Harreld.  By  this  marriage,  thei'e  are  five 
childi-en  dead  and  four  living — Sarah  L.,  Will- 
iam, Ann  and  Finis.  Mr.  Brading  is  a  member 
of  the  Evergreen  Lodge  of  I.  0.  0.  F.  at  Lick 
Creek.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church  since  he  was  twenty- 
four  years  of  age  ;  she,  since  she  was  sixteen. 
In  politics,  he  is  Republican.  His  farm,  which 
consists  of  280  acres,  with  175  in  cultivation, 
is  one  of  the  best  in  this  section  of  the  county. 

C.  M.  GOURLEY,  merchant  and  farmer,  P. 
0.  Lick  Creek,  was  born  in  Saratoga,  Union 
County,  111.,  January  14,  1849,  to  Thomas 
and  Nancy  A.  (Simons)  Gourley.  When  our 
subject  was  three  years  old,  his  parents  moved 
to  Lick  Creek,  and  this  has  been  his  home  ever 
since.     He  received  his  education  in  the  district 


schools  of  this  county,  and  remained  on  his 
father's  farm  till  he  was  twenty-four  years  of 
age,  and  then  entered  the  mercantile  business 
at  Lick  Creek,  buying  out  Casper,  of  the  firm 
of  Mangum  &  Casper.  He  and  Mangum  con- 
tinued in  partnership  for  about  two  years 
when  Mangum  sold  his  interest  to  Thomas 
Gourley,  the  father  of  our  subject.  After  the 
new  firm  had  been  in  business  for  only  four 
months,  the  entire  stock  and  building  was 
burned,  making  a  total  loss  to  them  of  about 
$5,000.  Our  subject  then  engaged  in  farming 
for  two  years,  but  again  began  in  business  at 
the  same  stand  with  his  father  in  1877,  and  has 
continued  since.  They  carry  a  general  stock, 
averaging  about  $4,000  and  including  every- 
thing needed  by  the  farmers.  Their  annual 
sales  average  about  $12,000.  Mr.  Gourley 
also  has  a  farm  which  he  oversees.  In  No- 
vember, 1873,  in  Tennessee,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Nannie  C.  Haggard.  She  was  born  in 
Tennessee  in  1853,  to  James  and  Naomi 
Haggard.  Mrs.  Haggard  is  dead,  but  he  is  still 
living  in  Tennessee.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gourley 
have  two  sons  living — Ira  Andrew  and  James 
Thomas,  also  three  children  dead — Rosetta  D., 
Walter  R.  and  an  infant.  Mr.  Gourley  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  Union  Lodge, 
No.  627.  In  politics,  he  is  Republican.  He  is 
also  Notary  Public.  Thomas  Gourley,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Carter 
County,  Tenn.,  January  11,  1822,  to  Samuel 
and  Dorothy  (Wiseman)  Gourley.  Samuel 
was  born  in  Carter  County,  Tenn.,  and  his  wife 
in  Burk  County,  N.  C.  She  died  in  Tennessee 
in  1831,  and  in  1840  he  moved  to  Arkansas, 
and  died  there  in  1859.  In  Tennessee  in  March, 
1841,  our  subject's  father  was  manned  to 
Nancv  A.   Simons,   who  was  born   in  Monroe 


RICH  PRECINCT. 


205 


Count}',  Tenn.,  to  John  and  Ruth  (Carson) 
Simons.  She  died  about  1831.  In  18-14,  lie 
moved  to  Arkansas  in  the  spring,  and  died  in  the 
fall  of  same  year,  Thomas  and  his  family  also 
moved  to  Arkansas  in  1844,  and  remained  there 
till  1847,  and  then  came  to  this  count}',  and  has 
made  this  his  home  since,  and  has  been  ver}' 
successful  in  his  occupation  of  farmer.  They 
are  the  parents  of  seven  children,  the  oldest  of 
■whom,  Mary,  died  in  April  1877.  Charles  M., 
Lucinda,  Elizabeth,  John  L.,  William  T.  and 
Andrew  J.  are  the  living.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Gourle}'  is  Republican. 

WALTER  HUNSAKER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Lick 
Creek,  was  born  in  this  precinct  August  5, 
1 858,  son  of  J.  Z.  and  Polly  Ann  (Treese) 
Hunsaker  ;  he  born  near  Cobden  September  15, 
1836  ;  she  also  in  this  county  February  16, 
1840.  She  died  here  November  8,  1881.  He 
died  Februajy  8,  1883.  He  was  the  son  of 
Andrew  Hunsaker  and  Nancy  (Cruthers)  Hun- 
saker. He  was  of  the  family  of  Hunsakers 
who  settled  in  this  county  at  an  early  date. 
She  was  born  in  Tennessee,  and  is  still  living 
at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years.  Mrs.  J.  Z. 
Hunsaker's  parents  were  also  early  settlers  in 
the  county.  Her  father,  David  Treese,  was  a 
native  of  South  Carolina,  and  was  a  minister  in 
the  Christian  order.  When  he  first  came  hei'e, 
he  was  very  poor.  His  first  tax  receipt,  which 
was  for  25  cents,  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
our  subject.  Mr.  Treese  was  quite  successful 
in  business,  and  left  quite  a  property  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  but  had  given  a  good  farm 
previous  to  each  of  his  five  children.  The 
father  of  our  subject  was  alwa^'s  engaged  in 
farming.  He  was  married  October,  8,  1857, 
and  moved  on  to  a  farm  one  and  a  half  miles 
north  of  the  present  homestead  of  the  family, 
and  in  1871  to  the  home  at  which  he  died.  He 
left  a  farm  of  about  400  acres,  and  personal 
propert}'  to  the  amount  of  over  82,000.  Our  sub- 
ject being  the  only  child  of  age,  was  appointed 
administrator,  and  now  has  charge  ot  the  farm. 


In  the  family,  there  were  eight  children,  five  of 
whom  are  still  living — Walter,  David,  Joanna, 
William  F.  and  Charles  A.  Our  subject  was 
educated  first  in  the  district  schools  of  this 
count}',  but  afterward  he  attended  a  term  of 
eight  months  in  Anna  ;  then  three  months  at 
the  State  Normal  at  Carbondale,  111.  His  oc- 
cupation has  been  that  of  a  farmer  and  teacher. 
When  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  he  began 
teaching  in  this  county,  and  for  the  winters 
since  he  has  taught  in  the  same  school.  In 
politics,  he  is  Democratic.  February  13,  1881, 
he  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss  Mary  J, 
Watson  ;  she  was  born  in  this  county  Septem- 
ber 13,  1860,  and  is  daughter  of  Jesse  Watson. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  have  one  little  daughter, 
Annie  L. 

THOMAS  J.  JOLLY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Lick 
Creek,  was  born  in  Wilson  County,  Tenn., 
November  18,  1826,  to  Frederick  and  Nicy 
(Ames)  Jolly.  He  was  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina. She  died  when  our  subject  was  small,  so 
he  knows  but  little  of  her  or  her  ancestry.  He 
came  to  Union  County,  in  1856,  and  died  here 
in  1871.  Our  subject  was  raised  on  a  farm, 
and  was  educated  in  his  native  county,  in  the 
subscription  schools.  June  8,  1847,  he  was 
married  in  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  to  Mary  C. 
McCulloch  ;  she  was  born  within  seven  miles 
of  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  to  William  and  Cass- 
andra McCulloch.  They  were  both  born  and 
raised  and  be  died  near  Murfreesboro,  Tenn. 
She  however,  died  in  Pulaski  County,  111.  In 
1854,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jolly  came  to  Union  Coun- 
ty, 111.,  and  settled  at  Saratoga,  where  he  had  a 
JDrother.  Until  this  time,  our  subject  had  fol- 
lowed his  trade  of  carpenter,  but  after  coming 
to  this  county,  he  began  farming  and  trading. 
He,  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  John  W., 
run  farm,  tavern,  store  and  blacksmith  shop  at 
Saratoga,  and  bought  and  shipped  horses  and 
mules  to  the  South,  our  subject  tending  to 
the  farm,  buying  stock,  and  helping  to  get  it 
shipped,    while  his   brother  would  tend  to  the 


2C6 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


store,  etc.,  and  selling  of  stock,  each  then  re- 
ceiving such  a  part  of  the   profits,  or  suffering  I 
the  losses  proportionately.     Their  last  venture 
was  the  building  of  a  boat,  at  the  mouth  of 
Big  Muddy  River,  loading  it  with  4,500  bushels 
of  corn;  this  they  had  engaged  in  Louisiana  at 
SI   per  bushel,  but  the  troubles  between  the 
North   and   South  had   begun,  and  when  they 
got  to  Vicksburg,  the  Confederates  captured  the 
boat  and  cargo,  allowed  them  40  cents  per  bushel 
for  corn,  nothing  for  boat,  and  gave  them  ten 
days  notice  to  leave  the  city;  this  they  did,  but 
it  took  about  all  they  had  to  meet  their  losses. 
March,  1861,  they  returned  home,  and  August 
26,  following,  our  subject  enlisted  in  the  service 
of  his  country,  in     Company   E,    Thirty-First 
Illinois  Infantry.    Col.    John   A.    Logan,    and 
served  till  August  2,   1865,  when  he  returned 
home.     During   his  service,  he  again  saw  the 
Mayor  of  Yicksbarg,  who  had  read  the  orders 
for  them  to  leave  the  city  in  ten  days,  but  this 
time  the  Mayor  was  a  captive,  and  they  had 
entered   Vicksburg  to  stay  as  long  as  they  de- 
sired.    Mr.  Jolly  was  in    the    engagement   at 
Bellraont,  Mo.,  siege  of  Corinth,  Vicksburg,  Ft. 
Dounelson,  Atlanta   and  was  with  Sherman  on 
his  march  to  the  sea,  and  to  Richmond.     Dur- 
ing the  first  day's  fight  before   Atlanta,  he  was 
seriously  wounded  by  a  ball  striking  him  on 
the  top  of  the  head  and  injuring  the    skull. 
This,  together  with  what  they  call  the  break- 
bone  fever,  which  he  had,  has  injured  his  eyes 
and  constitution,  until  he  is  unable  to  do  work 
requiring  much  physical  exertion.     Mr.  Jolly's 
experience  in  the  army  was  dearly  bought,  but 
his  wife  at  home,  with  a  family  of  eight  small 
children  had  to  endure  almost  as  much  ;  they 
had  a  farm  with   only  fort3'-five  acres  in  culti- 
vation, and  considerable  indebtedness,  but  she 
supported  the  family  and  paid  off  the  debt.  He, 
of  course,  sending  her  all  his  money  as  he  drew 
it.     Their   farm  now   consists   of  200    acres  ; 
wheat-raising   receiving     the   most    attention. 
They  also   have  a  house  and  lot  in  Lick  Creek. 


Mr.  Jolly  deals  in  stock  to  some  extent.  In 
politics,  he  is  Republican.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jolly 
are  the  parents  of  thirteen  children,  eleven  of 
whom  are  now  living,  and  five  are  at  home  ;  of 
the  remaining  six,  three  are  in  this  county  ;  one 
over  in  Johnson  County  ;  one  in  Missouri  and 
one  in  Arkansas. 

LUKE      M.      JONES,      physician.      Lick 
Creek.     There  are  few  men  of  the  present  day, 
whom  the  world    acknowledge  as  successful, 
more  worthy  of    honorable  mention    in    this 
volume  or  whose  life  history  affords  a  better 
example  of    what    may  be  accomplished    by 
steady  perseverance,  in  spite  of  the  most  dis- 
couraging circumstances,  than  he  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch.     He  is  a  native  of  Tennes- 
see, born  April  15,  1827,  in  Jackson  County. 
His  father,  Samuel,  was  born  in  1791,  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  his  mother,  Eleanor  (Mathena)  Jones, 
was  born   in    1796,  in  the  same^  State.     The 
parents  settled    in    Tennessee,   in    1824,  and 
finally  in  Arkansas,  where  they  died.     Eleven 
children  was    the  fruit  of    their  union,   viz.: 
Nancy,  Elizabeth,  Thomas,  Samuel,  Permela, 
John,  Luke    M.,  Larkin,  Eleanor,  Sarah  and 
Arminta.      Our   subject's    paternal    ancestors 
were  of  Irish  origin,  while  his  maternal  ances- 
tors were  of  English  parentage.     His   grand- 
father, Luke  M.  Mathena,  served  seven  years 
in  the  Revolutionary  wartmd  drew  a  pension 
from  the  close  of  this  great  struggle  until  death 
at  the  age  of  one  hundred    and  four  years  six 
months  and  four  days  ;    he   was  elected  and 
served  as   Sheriff  of  Monroe  County,  Ky.,  in 
1830,  and    was    for    awhile   Probate    Judge. 
Our  subject  treasures  a  set  of  coat  buttons  as  a 
namesake  gift  from  the  above  named  ancestor, 
which  were  carried    through  the  war.     Luke 
M.  Jones  was  brought  up  on  the  farm  and  re- 
ceived   but    three  months'  education    in    the 
country  schools.     At  the  age  of  twelve  years 
he  decided  upon  the  practice  of  medicine,  as 
his  future  occupation,  and  concentrated  every 
thing  in  his  power  toward  such  an  end.     He 


RICH  PRECINCT. 


•207 


earl}'  engaged  as  a  laborer  at  S8  per  month, 
and  in  that  wa}'  saved  means  b}'  which  he  could  j 
advance  his  future  plans.     At  the  age  of  nine- 
teen years,  he  began  the  study  of  his  chosen  pro- 
fession under  the  tutorship  of  Dr.   S.  Lee,  of 
Wayne  County,  Tenn.     One  N-ear  later,  he  pur- 
sued the  same  with  E.  L.  Duncan,  of  Jackson 
County,  Tenn.     In  less  than  two  3-ears,  or  in 
1853,  he  came  to  Moscow,  Union  County,  111., 
and  entered  the  office  of  Dr.  D.  M.  Jones  (no 
relative),  where    he  remained    five  years.     In 
1858,  he  began  the  practice  in  Rich  Precinct, 
where  he  met  with  good  success  for  two  years, 
and  then  located  in  Stokes  Precinct,  where  he 
remained  Tor  eighteen  years,  after  which  he  re- 
turned to  Rich  Precinct.     He  will  shortly  lo- 
cate at  Lick  Creek.     He  was  married,  July  13, 
1847,  to    Sarah,  born    February  25,   1827,  a 
daughter  of  Joshua  Hall,  a  native  of  Virginia. 
She  died  June  14,  1883,  in  Johnson  County, 
after  having  blessed  her  husband  with  James 
I.,  John   H.,  W.   L.,  Ruth   A.  and  Lovena  R. 
She  was  a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church.     The  Doctor    belongs    to  no  church 
organization,    yet    has  alwa3's   given     liberal 
financial  support  to  the  ministry,  having  for 
many  consecutive  3'ears  given  $50,  and  for  the 
last   fifteen  j-ears,  he  has  donated    $100  per 
year  to  various  churches.     He  began  his  career 
on  the  battle-field  of  life  with  really  nothing, 
and  b}'  frugal    dealings    he    has  accumulated 
a  nice  little  fortune.     In  his  pi'ofessional  labors, 
he  has  been  very  successful,  mostly  due  to  his 
ambition      and     venturesomeness.       He     has 
often  been  consulted  by  physicians  who  live 
many  miles    from    him    relative   to  cases  of 
dropsy,  and  has  ventured  to  perform  an  opera- 
tion and    thereby  save  the  patient,  when   all 
other  consulting  physicians  declined.     He  is  a 
mamber  of  Jonesboro  Lodge,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.; 
is    an  energetic   worker    in    the    Democratic 
party. 

REV.  J.  L.  MILLER,  minister  and  phj^si- 
cian,  Makanda,  was  Ijorn  in  Tuscarawas  Coun- 


ty, Ohio,  September  17,  1839,  to  John  D.  and 
Jane  (Lashley)  Miller.     He  was  born  in  Mar}-- 
land,  in  1800,  just  after  his  parents  had  arrived 
in  America   from  the  German  fatherland.     She 
was  born  in  Ohio  in  1813.     Her  parents  were 
also   German  ;    they  had  come  to   America  at 
the  same  time  as  her  husband's.     His  occupa- 
tion has  always  been  that  of  farming,    but   is 
also  a  minister  of  the  United  Brethren  ftiitli. 
Our  subject  remained  at  home  till  he  was  fifteen 
years  of  age.     He  then  began    his   studies  for 
medicine,  and  also  began  to  exhort  and  preach. 
About  two  years  later,  he  was  licensed  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  at  3Iarietta,  Ohio.     He  continued 
his  studies  at  Cincinnati  for  three  3'ears,   also 
studied  the  sciences  at  Westville,  Ohio.     Since 
about  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  has  been  engaged 
in   the   ministry  and  the  practice  of  medicine, 
practicing  his  profession  as   physician  onl}'  in 
connection  with  the  rainistr}-.     Until  1877,  his 
field  of  labor  la}- in  Ohio.     He   then   came    to 
Illinois,  and  for  the  last  three  years  has  had  his 
present  charge  of  the  United  Brethren  Church 
in  this  precinct.     He  also  has  the  Worthington 
appointment,  in  Jackson  County,  and  preaches 
at  each  appointment  alternate  Sundays.     Our 
subject  has  purchased  for  himself  a  farm  in  this 
township,  and  for  the   future    will   give  more 
attention  to  the  practice  of  medicine  and  over- 
seeing his  farm.     In  politics,  he  is  Republican. 
F.  H.  RAUCH,  farmer,  P.  0.  Makanda,  was 
born    in    Lebanon     County,  Penn.,  June    15, 
1828,    to    Jacob    and    Catherine    (Boeshore) 
Ranch.     They    were    both    born    and    raised 
in    the    same     county   as    our     subject,    and 
she     died     there      in     1879.      He,     however, 
died  in  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  in  April,  1883.     His 
occupation    was    that  of  farmer.     They  were 
the  parents  of  eight  children,  our  subject  being 
the  oldest.     Six  of  the  number  are  still  living. 
Our  subject  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  county.    At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he 
,   began  driving   a  team    hauling  iron  ore  from 
the  mines  to  the  furnace,   and  continued  at  the- 


208 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


same  employment  almost  all  the  time  till  he 
was  about  thirty  years  of  age.  He  then  began 
farming,  and  has  continued  in  his  present  occu- 
pation since.  In  1856,  he  moved  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  Ohio,  and  in  the  spring  of  1865,  to 
his  present  farm  in  Rich  Precinct,  where  he  is 
engaged  in  farming,  fruit  and  vegetable-raising. 
In  1849,  he  was  married  in  Pennsylvania  to  Sa- 
rah Artz.  She  was  also  born  in  Lebanon  Coun- 
ty, Penn.,  to  John  and  Sarah  Artz.  They  were 
also  natives  of  the  same  county  as  our  subject, 
but  moved  to  Richland  County,  Ohio,  1856,  and 
died  there.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ranch  have  nine 
children,  all  of  whom  are  now  living — Amanda, 
Aaron,  Rosa,  Lydia,  Frank,  Laura,  Clara,  Will- 
iam and  Morton.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rauch  are  mem- 
bers of  the  United  Brethren  Church.  In  poli- 
tics, he  has  always  been  Republican. 

EDWIN  WIGGS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Lick  Creek, 
was  born  in  Wayne  County,  N.  C,  July  18, 
1826,  to  Lazarus  and  Sarah  (Brewer)  Wiggs. 
The}-  were  both  born  and  raised  in  the  same 
county  as  our  subject  ;  he  June  10,  1802,  she 
January  8,  1802  ;  he  died  in  this  county  Ma}' 
13,1865;  she  is  still  living.  They  moved  from 
Wayne  Count}',  N.  C,  to  Union  County,  111., 
in  1841,  where  he  continued  his  occupation  of 
farming.  They  were  the  parents  of  thirteen 
children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living — our 
subject,  who  is  the  oldest  ;  William,  now  of 
Franklin  County,  111.;  Mary  (Penninger)  and 
Martha  (Menees).  Our  subject  never  had  the 
opportunities  of  a  school  education,  never  at- 
tending but  three  months,  but  has  studied  and 
taught  himself  He  has  always  been  engaged 
in  farming;,  and  from   1862   to  1866   he  ran  a 


cotton-gin  which  he  put  up  on  his  farm,  and 
obtained  cotton  from  the  surrounding  country. 
His  best  year's  work  he  put  up  111  bales  o 
cotton  that  averaged  400  pounds  lint  cotton. 
As  soon  as  peace  had  come  and  cotton-raising 
resumed  in  the  South,  he  quit  the  business. 
His  farm  consists  of  300  acres,  240  of  which 
are  in  cultivation  and  well  improved,  with  good 
farm  buildings,  etc.  The  clearing  and  improv- 
ing on  the  farm  he  has  done  since  coming  to  it 
in  1849.  He  was  married  in  Johnson  County, 
111.,  April  5,  1849,  to  Rhoda  Bird.  She  was 
born  August  25,  1828,  in  Washington  County, 
111.,  to  John  and  Tabitha  Bird.  They  were 
from  South  Carolina,  he  born  March  30,  1780, 
she  Oct^er  1,  1795  ;  he  died  September  5, 
1863,  she  March  2,  1870.  He  was  with  Gen. 
Jackson  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  two  of  his 
sons,  Thomas  and  William,  were  in  the  Mexi- 
can war,  and  were  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Buena  Vista.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wiggs  have  never 
been  blest  with  a  child  of  their  own,  but  raised 
a  son  of  her  brothers,  Christopher  Columbus 
Bird.  He  is  now  married  and  lives  near  them, 
having  a  family  of  three  children.  Mr.  W.  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  Union 
Lodge,  No.  627,  and  has  held  all  the  offices  in 
the  lodge,  and  has  been  Master  for  ten  years. 
He  first  joined  a  lodge  in  Johnson  County  in 
1863,  and  was  a  charter  member  in  Union 
Lodge.  In  politics,  he  has  always  been  Dem- 
ocratic. With  the  exception  of  a  five  months' 
trip  through  the  Southwest  to  San  Antonio, 
Texas.,  etc.,  he  has  remained  on  his  present 
farm  since  first  settling-  there. 


UNION   PRECINCT. 


209 


uis'ioi^  preci:n'Ot. 


ROBERT  B.  GOODMAN,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser,  P.  0.  Anna,  was  born  in  Wayne  County, 
111.,  October  24, 1832,  and  is  a  son  of  Robert  and 
Mary  (Lacy)  Goodman.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  nine  children,  of  whom  our  subject  is 
the  youngest.  He  went  to  school  but  a  few 
days,  his  father  having  died  when  he  was  only 
five  years  of  age,  leaving  his  mother  in  lim- 
ited circumstances.  In  1837,  he  came  with  his 
mother  to  Union  County,  where  he  worked  for 
different  people  as  he  could  obtain  employ- 
ment, and  has  plowed  many  a  day  where  the 
flourishing  town  of  Anna  now  stands.  He 
married  Miss  Malinda  Anderson,  by  whom  he 
had  six  children.  After  the  death  of  his  wife, 
he  married  a  second  time  to  Miss  Martha 
Johnson,  a  native  of  North  Carolina  and  a 
daughter  of  William  H.  and  Sarah  (Patrick) 
Johnson.  She  is  the  mother  of  six  children,  of 
whom  there  are  now  three  living,  viz. :  Robert 
N.,  born  September  15,  1869  ;  Martha  E.,  born 
December  25,  1876,  and  Lula  M.,  born  Septem- 
ber 2,  1882.  Mr.  Goodman  is  a  self-made 
man.  He  has  now  a  farm  of  about  500  acres, 
in  a  good  state  of  cultivation  and  well  im- 
proved. He  is  a  Democrat,  but  always  votes 
for  the  best  man. 

A.  LENCE,  merchant,  Willard's  Landing, 
was  born  in  this  county,  December  1,  1835, 
and  is  a  grandson  of  Peter  Lence,  who  was  born 
in  North  Carolina.  Jacob  Lence,  the  father, 
was  also  born  there,  and  came  to  this  county  in 
1818.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Barbara  Klutts, 
also  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  She  was  the 
mother  of  six  children,  of  whom  Alfred  Lence, 
our  subject,  was  the  youngest.  Mr.  Lence  re- 
ceived his  education  from  the  schools  of  his 
county,  and  in  early  life  farmed  some.  In  1862, 
he  commenced  clerking  in  a  general   store    at 


Vancils  Landing,  Mo.  He  remained  at  that 
place  for  about  one  year,  and  then  commenced 
running  the  ferry  at  Green's  old  ferry,  and  fol- 
lowed his  vocation  for  about  seven  years.  In 
1871 ,  he  opened  a  general  store  at  Willard's  Land- 
ing, which  he  still  continues  in  operation.  He  is 
at  present  also  acting  as  Postmaster  at  that  point. 
He  has  quite  a  farm  of  560  acres,  that  claims 
part  of  his  attention,  too.  He  first  married  So- 
phia Rheinhart,  who  died  in  1864,  and  he  was 
married  the  second  time  to  Martha  Hardin,  a 
native  of  Missouri,  born  January  30,  1849.  She 
is  the  mother  of  four  children,  all  of  whom  are 
living — Anna,  born  March  13,  1870;  Emma, 
born  February  12,  1872  ;  Birda,  born  Septem- 
ber 14,  1874  ;  Effie,  born  July  27, 1876.  Sub- 
ject is  a  member  of  Jonesboro  Lodge  A.,  F.  and 
A.  M.,  and  of  the  Jonesboro  K.  of  P.  fraternity. 
In  politics,  Mr.  Lence  is  a  Democrat,  and  as 
such  has  been  elected  to  the  otflce  of  County 
Commissioner  for  six  years. 

CALEB  M.  LYERLE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Jones- 
boro, was  born  in  North  Carolina,  July  17, 
1820,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Susanna  (Walk- 
er) Lyerle.  His  father  was  Christopher  Ly- 
erle,  who  came  from  North  Carolina  in  1821, 
in  company  with  him.  John  was  married  twice 
while  he  lived  in  North  Carolina,  and  before 
emigrating  to  this  county.  His  first  wife  was 
Miss  Lence,  who  died  after  giving  birth  to  four 
children — three  boys,  now  deceased,  and  one 
girl  named  Nancy.  He  was  married  a  second 
time  to  Miss  Susanna  Walker,  who  is  the  mother 
of  five  children,  viz.  :  Caleb  (our  subject),  Dan- 
iel, John,  Isaac  and  Polly  Ann,  the  latter,  de- 
ceased. Our  subject  went  to  school  in  the  pio- 
neer schoolhouse,  and  to  the  old-fashioned  sub- 
scription school.  He  has  paid  considerable  at- 
tention to  farming,  and  bought  out  the  interests 

N 


210 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


of  the  heirs  in  his  father's  farm.  He  married 
Miss  Catherine  Hileman,  born  Ma}'  10,  1821. 
She  died  in  December,  1875.  She  was  the 
mother  of  six  children  now  living — Elizabeth, 
Louisa,  Sarah,  Malinda.  Lucinda  and  Matilda. 
Mr.  L.  was  married  a  second  time  to  Mrs. 
Mary  E.  Humphries,  a  daughter  of  Alfred  and 
Betsey  (Weaver)  Meisenheimer.  She  is  the 
mother  of  three  children— Martha  Humphries. 
Cynthia  Ann  Humphries,  and  Alfred  M.  Ly- 
erle.  Mr.  and  IMrs.  L.  are  both  members  of  St. 
John's  Lutheran  Church.  He  was  originally  a 
Democrat,  but  since  the  firing  upon  Fort  Sum- 
ter has  been  a  Republican. 

R.  S.  REYNOLDS,  farmer.  P.  0.  Cape  Girar- 
deau, Mo.,  was  born  in  Hagerstown,  Washington 
Co.,  Md.,  December  15,  1815,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  hnd  Mary  (Woltz)  Reynolds,  both  natives 
of  Maryland.  The  grandfather  of  subject  was 
John  Reynolds,  Sr.,  who  was  a  Captain  in  the 
Maryland  Line,  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 
He  was  on  his  way  to  Kentucky  with  his  fam- 
ily, where  he  designed  making  his  future  home, 
when  he  was  killed  by  the  Indians  and  his  fam- 
ily captured.  They  were  held  as  prisoners  and 
then  liberated.  John  (subject's  father)  was  a 
jeweller  in  Hagerstown,  Md.,  and  served  as 
Major  in  the  war  of  1812.  Both  he  and  his 
wife  died  in  Maryland,  she  on  the  battle-field  of 
Antietam.  She  was  a  daughter  of  George  and 
Charity  (Shugart)  Woltz,  of  Holland  descent. 
She  was  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  of  whom 
only  our  subject  and  his  sister,  Elizabeth  Clark, 


mother  of  Samuel  Clark,  the  editor  of  the  Gate 
City,  Keokuk,  Iowa,  are  living.  Subject  was 
educated  in  Hagerstown  and  in  Chambersburg, 
Penn.,  and  early  in  life  studied  law  with  Hon. 
Samson  Mason.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  at  Xenia,  in  the 
spring  of  1838,  and  practiced  there  for  two 
years,  when  he  went  to  Iowa  and  practiced  in 
that  State  for  two  years.  After  this,  he  came  to 
Union  County,  III,  and  engaged  in  business. 
He  farmed  about  five  years  south  of  Jonesboro. 
In  18-19,  he  came  to  the  Mississippi  bottoms, 
in  Union  Precinct,  this  county,  where  he  has 
farmed  ever  since,  and  now  owns  1,600  acres, 
of  land  in  this  county,  but  lives  in  Cape  Girar- 
deau, Mo.  He  was  married,  April  19,  1861.  in 
Alexander  County,  111.,  to  Miss  Amanda 
Greenl}',  born  in  Kentucky,  and  a  daughter  of 
James  Greenl}-.  She  is  the  mother  of  five 
children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz.: 
Robert  S.,  William  R.  S.,  James  G.  and  Joseph 
LeRoy.  His  eldest  son  (John)  died  in  1882. 
Mr.  Re3'nolds  has  never  been  an  office  seeker. 
He  is  wholl}'  a  self-made  man,  beginning  in  the 
world  with  but  little,  and  winning  his  way  by 
his  own  energy  and  industr}'.  He  was  identi- 
fied with  the  old  Whig  party,  and  afterward 
became  a  Free-Soiler.  In  1860,  he  was  almost 
mobbed,  because  he  wished  to  vote  for  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  Since  then  he  has  been  some- 
thing of  an  Independent,  voting  for  the  candi- 
dates he  deems  best  qualified  for  the  positions 
to  be  filled. 


PRESTON  PRECINCT. 


211 


PEESTOlsr    PRECIISrOT. 


THOMAS  L.    ALDRIDGE,   tanner,  P.    0. 
Grand  Tower.      Those   of  the  Aldridge  name 
now  living  in  this  County  are  descendants  of 
Isaac  Aldridge,  who  was  a  German  who  settled 
in  North  Carolina.     From  North  Carolina  the}- 
moved  to  Kentuck}-,  and  then  to  this  State,  at 
an  early   date  ;  but  when   first  coming,    their 
thoughts    were    not   of  selecting  a  good  place 
for  a  future    home,  but  the  place  where  game 
was  the  most  plentiful,  so  they  made  numerous 
moves,  and  it  was  not  till  1825  that  James  Al- 
dridge made    a    permanent  settlement  on  Sec- 
tion   20,    Town  11   south,  Range  3  west.     He 
died  in  1855,  near  the  bluffs.    In  1826,  Joseph, 
Elizabeth   and  William  Aldridge  all  settled  in 
the  bottom  on  the  Big  Muddy  River,   and  had 
permanent  homes  from  this  time  on  till  their 
death.    Although  the  descendants  of  these  early 
members   of  the  family  were  quite   numerous, 
there  are  now   but  very  few  left  to  claim  the 
name,   James   and    Thomas  L.  being  the  only 
males  now  in  maturity,  and  they  reside  in  this 
precinct.     William  Aldridge,  the  father  of  our 
subject,  died  October  8, 1877,  at  the  age  of  about 
sixty -eight  years.       He  was  married   in  'this 
county  to  Adaline  Johnson,  daughter  of  James 
Johnson  ;  she  was  born  in  Alabama,  but  moved 
with   her  father  to  Tennessee,  and  then  to  Illi- 
nois.    He  died  in  this  county.     Our  subject  is 
the  only  son  now  living,  but  has  three  sisters. 
He  was  born  February  28,  1850,  in  this  pre- 
cinct, and  has  made  it  his  home  ever  since,  and 
in  early  life  attended   such  schools  as  were  in 
reach.     His  occupation  has  always  been  that  of 
farming,   and  in  this  he  has  been  ver^-  success- 
ful.     He  started  in  life  for  himself  when  only 
sixteen  years   of  age,    having  a   two-year  old 
colt  and   forty  acres  of  heavy  timbered  land. 
He  now    owns  over  1,300  acres,  about  250  be- 


ing in  cultivation.  His  attention  is  given  to 
corn,  cattle  and  hogs.  April  12,  1874,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Nancy  Lyerle  ;  she  was  born 
in  this  county,  daughter  of  Zachariah  Lyerle, 
also  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  count}', 
coming  from  North  Carolina.  Both  her  par- 
ents are  dead,  he  dying  in  1874.  Mr.  and  Mrs 
Aldridge  have  two  children  dead  and  three  liv- 
ing— Permelia  Belle,  Thomas  Franklin  and 
James  Monroe.  In  politics,  our  subject  is  Dem- 
ocratic, but  was  a  Republican  during  the  war. 
On  his  farm  is  an  old  Indian  burying-ground, 
and  often  his  plow  turns  up  skulls  and  other 
bones,  some  of  great  size. 

GEORGE  BARRINGER,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Union  Point,  was  born  in  Union  County.  111., 
January  2,  1849,  to  Charles  and  Matilda  (Hile- 
man)  Barringer,  both  of  whom  were  born  in 
this  county,  and  are  still  living  (see  sketch  of 
Charles  Barringer).  Our  subject  was  educated 
in  the  Jonesboro  schools,  and  when  seventeen 
years  old,  he  began  teaching  school  and  con- 
tinued for  five  years  in  Union  County,  and  one 
year  in  Alexander  County.  Then,  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  he  held  different  offices  of  trust, 
being  Deputy  SheriflT,  Deputy  Circuit  Clerk,  etc., 
and  took  an  active  part  in  local  politics.  In 
1878,- he  was  elected  Sheriff  of  Union  County, 
but  when  his  term  expired  he  retired  to  his 
farm  on  account  of  ill  health,  and  has  since 
avoided  politics.  His  home  farm  consists  of 
300  acres  of  splendid  bottom  land  lying  along 
the  Mississippi  River,  most  all  of  which  is  in 
cultivation.  He  also  owns  another  200  acre 
farm  farther  down  the  river.  He  is  engaged  in 
grain  and  stock-raising,  and  experimenting  on 
clover-raising.  In  Missouri,  November  21, 1877, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Belle  Byrd.  She  was 
born   and   raised  in    Cape  Girardeau   County, 


212 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Mo.,  daughter  of  Stephen  Byrd ;  both  of  her 
parents  dying  when  she  was  small.  The}'  were 
both  born  in  the  same  county  as  their  daughter, 
the  Byrd  homestead  having  been  in  the  family 
for  100  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barringer  have 
two  children— Georgia  Belle  and  Byrd  Polk. 
Maj  8,  1879,  the  Hileman  family  had  a  family 
reunion,  the  grandmother  of  our  subject,  her 
eight  children,  their  husbands  and  wives,  her 
grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren  all 
were  numbered,  and  made  eighty-five  ;  since  that 
time  her  descendents  have  increased  till  they 
now  will  number  about  100.  Mr.  Barringer 
has  always  been  Democratic  in  politics,  and  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor.  Jones- 
boro  Lodge,  No.  1891,  and  has  represented  the 
lodge  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State. 

GEORGE  W.  BEAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Union 
Point,  was  boi'n  in  Union  County,  near  Cobden, 
March  28.  1852,  to  T.  H.  and  Mary  (Brown) 
Bean.  He  was  born  in  Tennessee,  about  1827, 
she  in  this  county,  about  1835.  He  came  to 
this  count}',  when  but  a  bo}'.  and  the}'  have 
made  it  their  home  up  to  the  present.  They 
are  now  residing  on  their  farm  near  Cobden. 
^They  are  the  parents  often  children,  only  four 


of  whom  are  now  living,  our  subject  is  the  old- 
est of  the  family.  He  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  this  county,  first  in  the  country 
schools  but  afterward  attended  the  schools  of 
Anna,  Jonesboro  and  Cobden.  His  occupation 
is  that  of  a  farmer,  but  has  taught  three  terms 
of  school.  In  1875,  he  came  to  the  Mississippi 
River  bottom  with  nothing,  but  has  since 
bought  and  paid  for  a  farm  of  200  acres,  125 
of  which  are  in  cultivation.  Stock  and  grain 
ai*e  his  main  dependance.  So  successful  has 
he  been  in  farming,  that  in  1882  his  gross  re- 
ceipts from  his  farm  were  $3,500,  having  raised 
about  2,000  bushels  of  wheat,  3,000  of  corn  and 
900  of  oats,  besides  stock,  etc.  For  two  sea- 
sons past,  he  and  Mr.  R.  E.  Seeley  have  run  a 
threshing  machine  during  the  season  and  made 
it  another  source  of  income.  Mr.  Bean's  farm  is 
well  situated  for  stock-raising,  and  he  is 
turning  his  attention  toward  stock  more  all 
the  time-  September  2,  1880,  he  was  married 
in  this  county  to  Miss  Bernice  Caroline  Wilkins, 
daughter  of  Jerre  and  Martha  Jane  (Parmley) 
Wilkins.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bean  had  one  child — 
Elmer  Bernard,  who  died  in  1882.  In  politics, 
he  is  Democrat. 


MILL    OEEEK    PEEOIIN'CT. 


JOHN  CRUSE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mill  Creek, 
was  born  February  16,  1827,  in  Union  County, 
111.  His  grandfather,  Peter  Cruse,  was  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina,  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, who  emigrated  to  Illinois  and  settled  in 
Mill  Creek  Township,  Union  County,  in  1819  ; 
here  he  and  his  faithful  wife  died  after  experi- 
encing the  hardships  of  the  pioneers'  life,  and 
seeing  the  country  where  they  settled  turned 
from  a  wilderness  to  productive  gardens.  They 
raised  eight  children  whose  descendants  are  nu- 
merous in  Southern  Illinois.    Their  son,  Henry 


Cruse,  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  where  he 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Lippard,  who  was  born 
in  North  Carolina,  and  died  in  1863  in  Union 
County.  Henry  Cruse,  who  came  to  the  county 
with  his  parents,  and  with  them  experienced 
the  hardships  of  life  in  a  new  country,  died  in 
1868,  leaving  many  friends  to  mourn  his  death. 
Our  subject  was  raised  on  the  farm,  and  re- 
ceived such  an  education  as  the  subscription 
schools  of  the  period  aftbrded.  He  began  life 
for  himself  as  a  farmer,  an  occupation  he  has 
since   been    engaged  in,  with  the  exception  of 


MILL  CREEK  PRECINCT. 


■J  13 


about  five  jears  spent  in  mercantile  pursuits. 
On  the  9th  of  February,  1851,  he  married  Miss 
Maria  Smith,  a  daughter  of  James  and  Hariiet 
(Weaver)  Smith,  early  settlers  of  southern 
Illinois.  Mi's.  Cruse  was  born  in  Pulaski 
County,  111.,  March  16,  1833.  She  is  the 
mother  of  the  following  children  :  James  H., 
born  December  15,  1854;  Martha  J.,  wife  of 
John  Miller,  born  April  8,  1853  ;  Laura,  born 
December  27,  1862,  and  Henry  S.,  born  April 
15,  1869.  Mr.  Cruse  is  the  owner  of  an  eighty- 
one-acre  farm  ;  he  was  formerly  a  Democrat, 
but  is  now  identified  with  the  principles  of  the 
Eepublican  party.  Mrs.  Cruse  is  a  member  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  Mr.  Cruse  is  a  reading 
man,  and  has  filled  school  offices. 

PETER  CRUSE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mill  Creek, 
is  a  native  of  this  count}'  ;  was  born  October 
20,  1829,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth 
(Lippard)  Cruse  ;  he  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  died  here.  He  was  the  son  of  Peter 
Cruse,  Sr.,  who  was  of  German  descent,  and 
came  to  this  State  several  years  in  advance  of 
Henr}',  probably  about  1815-16,  and  is  dead, 
but  has  man}'  descendants  living  here.  The 
parents  of  our  subject  had  nine  children,  of  whom 
he  was  the  fifth.  His  education  was  limited  to 
the  common  schools  of  this  communit}'.  In 
early  life,  he  embarked  in  farming,  and,  in  the 
spring  of  1854,  he,  in  company  with  Solomon 
Lingle,  crossed  the  plains  to  California  with 
cattle.  While  there,  he  mined  with  varied  suc- 
cess, and  returned  home  in  1856,  via  Panama. 
He  was  married  in  1858  to  Miss  Catherine 
Poole,  daughter  of  Jacob  Poole,  also  a  North 
Carolinian.  They  have  three  children  now 
living — Elizabeth,  Minta  and  Dacota.     Mr.  C. 


has  a  farm  of  200  acres  ;  in  politics,  he  is  a 
Democrat ;  is  a  liberal-minded,  wide-awake  man, 
and  favors  prohibition. 

T.  LAWRENCE,  physician,  Mill  Creek,  was 
born  July  17,  1830,  in  Swedesboro,  Gloucester 
Co.,  N.  J.,  and  is  a  son  of  Job  and  Elizabeth 
(Tallman)  Lawrence.  He  was  born  April  3, 
1803,  and  received  his  medical  education  in 
the  Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia. 
He  is  yet  living,  but  has  not  practiced  since 
1862,  owing  to  an  injury  received  by  a  fall 
from  his  horse  while  going  on  a  visit  to  a 
patient.  His  wife  was  born  in  1803,  and  was 
the  mother  of  six  children — all  boys — of  whom 
Charles,  Edward  and  Thomas  (our  subject), 
are  now  living,  and  all  are  physicians.  Charles 
is  located  at  Neola,  Iowa,  and  Edward  at 
Osceola,  Iowa.  She  died  in  December,  1879, 
in  Randolph  County,  111.  Oar  subject  was 
educated  principally  at  the  Medical  College  at 
St.  Louis,  where  he  graduated  iii  March,  1856. 
He  was  married  in  April  of  the  same  year  in 
St.  Genevieve,  Mo.,  to  Miss  Mildred  W.  Eades, 
born  in  xllbemarle  County,  Va.  She  is  the 
mother  of  five  children  now  living  :  George  T.  ^ 
Joseph  M.,  Samuel  S.,  Arthur  W.  and  Albert  S. 
J.  Dr.  Lawrence,  prior  to  his  marriage,  moved  to 
Bollinger  County,  Mo.,  where  he  remained  un- 
til August,  1861,  when  he  entered  the  United 
States  Army  as  Assistant  Surgeon,  serving  un- 
til May,  1865.  He  then  located  in  Alexander 
Count}',  111.,  following  his  profession  there  for 
about  ten  years.  He  came  to  Union  County 
and  settled  in  Mill  Creek  in  1875,  soon  after 
the  building  of  the  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Railroad. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and 
politically  is  a  Democrat. 


214 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Biographies  Received  too  late  forlnsertion  in  Proper  Place. 

a^:n^a  peeoinct. 


D.  W.  BROWN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Anna. 
Prominent  among  the  leading  farmers  of  this 
count}-  is  D.  W.  Brown,  born  July  15,  1841,  in 
Alexander  Count}',  111.  His  father,  Daniel 
Brown,  was  born  Januar}-  26,  1797,  in  Pan  ton, 
Vt.,  and  was  a  son  of  Warhem  Brown,  a  native 
of  Ireland.  Daniel  removed  from  his  native 
heath  to  xllexander  County,  111.,  in  1832,  and 
entered  forty  acres  of  land  along  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  which  tract  has  never  been  trans- 
ferred from  the  Brown  family,  and  is  the 
property  of  our  subject.  Daniel  was  married 
in  Alexander  County  to  Elizabeth  P.  IIoop- 
paw.  and  born  in  1803,  in  Charleston,  S.  C. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Ralph  Hooppaw,  a  na- 
tive of  Ireland.  She  removed  with  her  parents 
to  Tennessee  some  time  prior  to  the  year  1817, 
where  her  father  died  and  her  mother  subse- 
quently married  Absalom  Headj^,  and  with 
whom  she  came  with  her  famil}-  to  Alexander 
County,  111.,  in  1817.  The  Union  of  Daniel 
and  Elizabeth  (Hooppaw)  Bi'own  resulted  in 
four  children,  viz.  :  Mary  A.,  deceased  ;  Eliza- 
beth, the  wife  of  M.  J.  Inscore  ;  D.  W. ;  and 
William  M.,  a  grocer  of  Murphysboro,  111. 
The  father  of  our  subject  died  on  January  16, 
1845,  having,  at  his  decease,  about  400  acres 
of  land  as  a  result  of  his  industr}'^  and  frugal 
dealings.  The  mother  was  afterward  married 
to  Dr.  E.  N.  Edwards,  of  Kentucky,  the  result 
of  which  was  one  child,  viz.  :  James  E.  N. 
She  died  January  9,  1879,  in  Anna,  fifteen 
years  after  her  second  husband  departed  this 
life.  We  clip  the  following  from  an  obituary 
of  her,  published  in  the  Mound  Cit}'  Journal: 
"  At  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  she  united  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  for  fifty- 


seven  years  had  lived  as  she  has  died,  a  con- 
sistent Christian.  She  was  ever  a  fond,  in- 
dulgent mother,  obliging  neighbor  and  true 
friend,  full  of  charit}'  with  her  fellows,  with 
which  greatest  of  all  good  gifts  her  pathway  of 
life  was  ever  strewn.  Although  she  had  lived 
be3'ond  the  allotted  age,  she  retained  her  men- 
tal and  physical  faculties  to  a  remarkable  de- 
gree, when  she  was  attacked  with  that  dread 
disease,  pneumonia,  and  died  after  an  illness  of 
a  few  da^'s.  She  w'as  taken  while  attending 
the  sick  bed  of  one  of  her  family.  Thus  fell 
one  of  the  real  mothers  of  Israel,  with  her  har- 
ness on,  fulfilling  the  injunction,  '  Do  good  and 
not  evil  all  the  days  of  your  life.'  It  is  meet 
that  when  a  person  passes  away  so  ripe  in 
years,  full  of  usefulness,  that  they  deserve  more 
than  a  passing  notice.  The  old  pioneers  of 
this  comparatively  new  land  are  nearly  all 
gone,  and  when  they  take  a  farewell  look 
around  upon  the  great  advancement  and 
progress  of  their  adopted  homes  in  so  few 
short  years,  how  truly  they  can  say,  '  We 
have  not  lived  in  vain.'  D.  W.,  of  whom  we 
write,  received  such  an  education  as  the  sub- 
scription schools  of  the  country  afforded,  withrn 
the  time  he  could  be  spared  from  the  duties 
devolving  upon  him  on  his  father's  farm.  In 
1851,  he  engaged  in  a  telegraph  office  under 
the  management  of  Thomas  Ellis,  at  Caledonia, 
where  he  remained  two  j'ears  and  became 
pretty  well  acquainted  with  the  art  of  teleg- 
raphy. About  the  year  1863,  he  engaged 
with  S.  Fenton  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  as  gen- 
eral agent  at  Cairo,  buying  grain  and  cotton, 
and  cultivating  the  latter  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley.     This  he  continued  for  two  years  at 


ANNA    PRECINCT. 


215 


Cairo,  and  then  located  at  Anna,  Union  County, 
where,  in  one  3'ear,  he  withdrew  from  said  firm 
and  entered  the  store  of  Winstead  Davie  as  a 
clerk,  continuing  about  one  year.  October  10, 
1867,  he  was  married  to  Nancy  Davie,  who  has 
blessed  him  with  six  children,  viz.  :  Warren  T., 
William  H.,  Nancy  A.,  Mary  A.,  Anna  S.  and 
Zury,  deceased.  He  settled  at  marriage  in  Anna, 
where  he  has  since  remained.  Soon  after 
leaving  Mr.  Davie's  store,  Mr.  Brown  engaged 
in  a  grist  mill  in  Anna,  as  sole  proprietor, 
which  he  followed  for  two  years  with  good  suc- 
cess. He  then  farmed  for  some  time.  In  1876, 
he  entered  the  general  mercantile  business  in 
the  room  now  occupied  by  Green  &  Brooks, 
grocers,  of  Anna,  and  continued  the  same  for 
two  years  with  his  usual  good  luck.  Since 
closing  his  merchandise  business,  he  has  given 
his  attention  to  rural  pursuits  on  his  2,120 
acres  of  land  in  this  and  Alexander  Counties, 
and  like  all  who  love  their  avocation,  is  sue 
cessful.  He  is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F., 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  K.  of  H.  fraternities  of 
Anna.  He  was  elected  Count}'  Commissioner 
ot  Union  County  in  1866.  and  served  the  peo- 
ple of  his  adopted  borough  with  credit  for  one 
term.  He  is  now  in  his  second  term  as  Road 
Commissioner,  and  is  an  Alderman  of  this 
city.  Was  Vice  President  of  the  Jonesboro 
Fair  Association  for  two  years,  and  has  held  all 
other  offices  of  the  same,  save  that  of  Presi- 
dent. He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

JOHN  W.  HESS,  clerk,  Anna.  One  of 
the  most  distinguished  and  successful  young 
business  men  in  this  part  of  the  county  is  the 
gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  biography. 


He  descended  from  a  long  line  of  ancestors, 
all  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  is  the  son  of  John 
Hess,  whose  portrait  appears  in  this  volume. 
He  was  born  December  28,  1857.  His  earl}' 
days  were  spent  on  his  father's  farm.  His 
parents  being  in  affluent  circumstances,  he  was 
allowed  to  attend  the  countr}-  schools  at  Anna, 
and  Ewing  College  in  Franklin  County,  this 
State.  At  an  earl}'  period  of  his  life,  he 
planned  his  future  as  that  of  a  pedagogue. 
From  this  time  his  ambition  did  not  slumber, 
and  his  zeal  for  his  anticipated  profession  did  not 
abate,  and,  of  course,  prosperity  crowned  his 
efforts.  At  the  earl}-  age  of  seventeen  j'ears, 
he  was  awarded  a  certificate,  and  at  once  he 
began  teaching  in  the  common  schools,  at  $40 
per  month.  His  reputation  soon  became  wide- 
spread, and  every  3'ear  increased  the  demand 
for  his  services,  and  added  laurels  to  his  pi'o- 
fessional  career,  and,  consequent!}',  his  wages 
grew  with  his  labors.  In  1882,  he  withdrew 
from  the  duties  he  loved  so  well,  and  engaged 
as  a  clerk  for  Mr.  William  Rhodes,  a  hardware 
merchant  of  Anna,  and  has  since  remained, 
doing  good  service.  He  was  married,  April  27 
1881,  to  Eliza  Emory,  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Mary  F.  (Landrith)  Emory,  natives  of  Union 
County.  Her  father  enlisted  in  Company  K, 
Eleventh  Illinois  Infantry,  and  was  killed  in 
the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson.  The  mother 
died  three  years  later,  mostly  from  grief  for 
her  unfortunate  consort.  Mrs.  Hess  was  the 
only  child  ;  was  well  educated,  and  is  worthy 
the  subject  of  her  choice  for  a  life-long  com- 
panion in  the  person  of  Mr.  Hess.  He  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Democratic  party. 


216 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


JONESBOEO    PEEOINCT. 


WINSTEAD  DAVIE,*  retired  merchant, 
Jonesboro.  As  the  subject  of  this  biography- 
is  prominently  mentioned  in  various  parts  of 
this  volume,  the  writer  will  onlj^  present  a  brief 
outline  of  his  useful  life  in  the  present  writing. 
He  was  born  January  3,  1797,  in  Preston 
County,  N.  C.  His  parents,  John  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Winstead)  Davie,  were  natives  of 
North  Carolina  and  removed  to  Tennessee, 
where  the  fiither  died.  The  mother  came  to 
Jonesboro,  111.,  on  horseback,  after  she  was 
over  eighty  years  old,  and  subsequently  died 
at  the  residence  of  her  son,  Winstead.  She 
was  the  mother  of  four  children,  all  of  whom 
are  dead  save  our  subject — Ashborn,  Winstead, 
James  and  John.  The  former  was  a  teacher 
while  in  this  count}-,  the  latter  was  married 
and  has  two  childi*en  living — Napoleon,  in 
Jackson  County,  this  State,  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Hughes,  of  Jonesboro.  Winstead  Davie  was 
unfortunate  in  being  born  badly  deformed  in 
th£  lower  extremities,  consequently  could  not 
attend  school  as  much  as  even  the  meager 
chances  for  obtaining  an  education  in  those 
days  afforded.  However,  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
3-ears,  he  became  qualified  to  teach  school,  and 
so  applied  himself  in  Tennessee  until  1820, 
when  he  came  on  horseback  to  Jonesboro,  this 
count}',  and  soon  entered  upon  the  dut}-  of  a 
pedagogue.  Later,  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk 
by  the  firm  of  Davidson  &  Outlaw,  general 
merchants  of  that  village.  Here  he  progressed 
rapidly,  and  laid  the  foundation  for  his  future 
prosperity.  He  afterward  gathered  together 
what  means  he  could,  and  entered  the  general 
mercantile  business,  forming  a  partnership- 
His  business  included  general  dry  goods,  etc., 
tailor  shop,  shoe   shop,  tan-yard,  saddler  and 

♦This  sketch  is  inserted  by  J.  K.  Walton  and  D.  W.  Brown. 


harness  shop,  and  a  travelers'  hotel.  In  a  re- 
cent period,  he  transferred  his  business  of  mer- 
chandising to  Anna,  and  there  had  his  usual 
success.  He  and  son  Daniel  were  for  awhile 
engaged  in  operating  a  grist  mill  in  Anna.  ^Ir. 
Davie  put  up  some  of  the  best  buildings  of 
Anna,  among  which  we  mention  the  Otrich 
Hotel,  and  the  brick  in  which  Brooks  &  Grreen 
are  engaged.  In  1878,  or  about  that  time,  he 
withdrew  entirelj^  from  all  business  and  con- 
signed to  his  children  and  relatives  about 
$200,000.  Since  then,  he  has  been  cared  for 
and  sustained  by  J.  K.  Walton  and  D.  W. 
Brown  and  families,  and  through  the  generosi- 
ty of  the  above  two  families,  was  his  portrait 
inserted  in  this  work,  the  other  son-in-law.  a 
merchant  of  Anna,  being  too  ungrateful  to 
assist.  Mr.  Davie  is  the  father  of  ten  children, 
by  his  union  with  Anna  Willard,  born  Novem- 
ber 28,  1809,  in  Windsor,  Vt.  Mrs.  Davie's 
mother,  Nancy  (Atkins)  Willard,  was  born 
March,  1777,  in  Boston  County,  Mass..  and 
died  January  12,  1874.  We  clip  the  follow- 
ing from  an  obituary  notice,  published  in  the 
Jonesboro  Gazette  :  "  Died,  Anna  Davie,  wife 
of  Winstead  Davie,  at  her  residence  in  Jones- 
boro, 111.,  December  5,  1880.  Her  parents, 
Jonathan  W.  and  Nancy  Willard,  removed  from 
Vermont,  West,  when  she  was  a  mere  girl,  and 
lived  for  awhile  in  Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.,  where 
her  father  died.  Her  mother  being  left  alone 
with  her  four  children,  moved  to  Jonesboro, 
then  a  village  of  not  more  than  a  half  dozen 
houses,  where  she  resided  till  her  death.  Mrs. 
Davie,  her  only  daughter  was  married  to  Win- 
stead Davie  in  1824.  She  was  the  mother  of 
ten  children — Daniel  F.,  born  October  5,  1827  ; 
Emily,  born  March  6,  1830 ;  Serena,  born 
June  24,  1833  ;  William,  born  June  12,  1836 ; 


JONESBORO  PRECINCT. 


217 


Mary  A.,  born  October  18,  1838  ;  Nancy  A., 
born  April  18,  IS-i-i:  Thomas,  born  April, 
1841  ;  Amanda  and  Elizabeth  twins,  born  Au- 
gust 1-1,  1846;  John,  born  September,  1847. 
She  professed  hope  in  Christ  some  thirty  years 
ago,  but  for  reasons  best  known  to  herself 
never  united  with  an}'  church,  though  in  sen- 
timent was  a  Baptist,  her  mother  having  be- 
longed to  that  church  for  more  than  half  a 
centur}'.  As  a  lady,  she  was  absolutely  with- 
out fault,  as  a  mother,  kind  and  indulgent,  yet 
possessing  those  rare  qualities  that  enabled  her 
to  command  from  her  children  obedience,  rev- 
erence, confidence  and  love.  As  a  wife,  she 
was  a  helpmate  indeed  ;  standing  by  her  com- 
panion in  adversity  as  well  as  in  prosperity', 
ever  filling  the  family  circle  with  light,  joy  and 
hope.  To  know  her  was  to  love  her,  and  no 
citizen  of  Jonesboro  ever  had  a  larger  circle  of 
friends."  The  subject  of  these*  notes  is  now 
living  in  Jonesboro.  He  has  served  the  people 
faithfully  as  Count}'  Clerk,  and  Probate  Jus- 
tice ;  was  for  a  long  time  a  Notar\^  Public  and 
a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  The  one  prominent  ele- 
ment in  the  character  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
that  is  above  the  rest,  where  there  are  man}' 
prominent  ones,  is  his  kindness  and  goodness  in 
caring  for  and  rendering  assistance  to  the  suf- 
fering. No  trouble  too  irksome,  no  undertak- 
ing too  severe,  where  the  suffering  of  a  fellow- 
mortal  was  to  be  alleviated  or  in  any  w  ay  ben- 
efited. He  always  had  time  for  these  duties, 
and  duties  he  regarded  them,  and  with  him 
duty  was  law.  In  his  intercourse  with  his  fel- 
low-man, he  has  always  been  dignified  and  cour- 


teous, never  turning  his  back  on  a  friend  or 
avoiding  an  enemy.  He  would  always  help 
those  in  need  if  they  were  willing  when  in 
health  to  help  themselves.  On  one  occasion,  a 
certain  man  called  on  Mr.  D.  for  assistance, 
saying  his  family  was  in  need,  and  suffering  for 
the  bi-ead  of  life.  With  a  childlike  attentive- 
ness,  he  listened  to  the  man's  story,  and  then 
said  to  one  of  the  boys,  "  Go  to  the  meat  house, 
and  get  this  man  a  ham."  It  was  quickly 
brought.  The  begger  remarked  :  "  Now  Mr. 
Davie,  I  am  as  bad  off  as  ever,  for  I  don't  know 
how  to  get  this  home."  Mr.  D.  looked  at  the 
fine  physical  features  of  the  man,  and  then  said 
to  the  son  :  •'  Take  that  ham  and  hang  it  again 
in  our  meat  house."  The  begger  went  home 
without  any  meat.  Mr.  Davie  realized  the  mis- 
fortune of  being  born  a  cripple,  yet  rejoiced  in 
the  fact  that  the  deficiency  in  the  lower  extrem- 
ities was  fully  made  up  in  mental  powers. 
As  an  illustration  of  his  own  self-confidence,  we 
mention  that,  on  a  time  a  fine  foppish  looking 
gentleman  called  on  him,  with  the  view  of  pub- 
lishing a  little  notice  of  this  wonderful  man 
among  men.  The  said  gentleman  in  his  con- 
versation remarked:  "  It  is  very  sad,  Mr.  Davie, 
that  you  were  so  unfortunately  constituted." 
Mr.  D.  was  not  at  all  favorably  impressed  with 
the  fellow,  and  in  a  quick,  emphatic  tone,  said  : 
"Why,  sii',  you  are  greater  deformed  than  I." 
"How,"  interrogated  the  stranger.  Says  Mr.  D., 
"  I  am  crippled  in  the  legs,  while  you  are  serious- 
ly deformed  in  the  head."  No  report  was  pub- 
lished of  the  interview.  Mr.  D.  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party. 


■218 


BIOGRAPHICxVL: 


ALEXANDER   COUNTY. 


ELCO    PEECIllTOT. 


MARSHALL  AUGUSTINE,  general  store- 
keeper, P.  0.  Elco.  John  Augustine,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Ohio 
and  there  followed  the  occupation  of  drover 
and  farmer.  In  that  State,  also,  George 
Augustine,  the  father  of  Marshall,  was  born 
in  1811.  When  about  twenty  years  of  age, 
the  father  went  to  Missouri  and  from  there  he 
soon  after  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  this 
count}',  where  he  married  Rachel  Cauble 
daughter  of  Jacob  Cauble.  Soon  after  his 
marriage,  he  moved  to  Dongola,  Union  County, 
and  there  our  subject  was  born  December  11, 
1840,  and  was  the  second  of  four  children. 
The  father,  who  was  a  physician,  soon  after 
subject  was  born,  came  to  Wetaug,  Pulaski 
Count}',  and  again  soon  after  moved  to  a  farm 
near  Ullin,  in  the  same  county  where  he 
both  farmed  and  followed  his  profession.  Our 
subject  attended  the  schools  of  Pulaski  Count}' 
until  about  twenty  years  old  and  then  attended 
McKendree  College  in  St.  Clair  County.  After 
he  had  returned  home,  he  sp^'nt  the  next  four 
or  five  years  partly  at  home,  and  in  teaching 
schools,  following  the  latter  for  about  five 
terms.  In  1866,  he  commenced  life  for  himself 
on  a  rented  farm  near  Ullin,  where  he  re- 
mained for  only  two  years.  He  next  com- 
menced working  at  the  saw  mill  of  Morris, 
Rood  &  Company,  acting  as  lumber  clerk. 
There  he  remained  for  about  twelve  years.  In 
1881,  he  came  to  Elco  and,  purchasing  the 
stock  of  dry  goods  and  groceries  then  owned 
by  a  Dr.  Gibbs,  at  this  place,  he  now   keeps  a 


general  store.  Subject  was  married,  May  6, 
1866,  to  Susan  Norman,  daughter  of  Richard 
and  Elizabeth  (Short)  Norman.  She  is  the 
mother  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing—Alice and  Lena.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican and  is  at  present  serving  as  Town- 
ship Treasurer.  Subject  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Elco  Lodge,  No.  643,  I.  0.  0.  F. 

SAMUEL  BRILEY,  insurance  agent. 
Elco.  Dempsey  Briley,  the  grandfather  of 
Samuel,  came  trom  France  about  1810,  and 
settled  in  the  State  of  Mississippi,  near  Jack- 
son, on  the  Pearl  River.  Here  John  Briley, 
the  father  of  subject,  was  born  in  1811,  and 
soon  after  came  with  his  father  to  West  Ten- 
nessee. When  the  war  of  1812  broke  out,  the 
grandfather  enlisted  in  the  army,  and  was  one 
of  the  soldiers  wounded  in  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  being  shot  through  the  lungs.  From 
the  effects  of  that  wound,  he  died  a  few  years 
later.  The  father  was  raised  in  Tennessee,  and 
after  his  father's  death  he  was  taken  by  the 
noted  David  Crocket,  who  was  living  there 
then,  with  whom  he  remained  until  a  young 
man.  When  about  twenty,  he  came  to  Ken- 
tucky, and  there  married  Lavina  Anderson, 
daughter  of  James  M.  and  Mary  (Carter)  An- 
derson. There  were  four  children  born  to  bless 
that  home,  and  of  that  number  our  subject  was 
the  oldest,  and  was  born  September  21,  1831, 
at  Mayfield,  Ky.  His  father  came  to  Illinois 
in  1833,  settling  in  Massac  County,  and  there 
the  education  of  our  subject  was  received,  most- 
ly at  the  old  su4>scription  schools  of  the   day. 


ELCO  PRECINCT. 


!iy 


In  his  seventeenth  j'ear,  he  commenced  learning 
the  trade  of  a  house  carpenter.     He   came  to 
Jonesboro  in  1852,  and  in  that  and  other  towns 
he  followed  his  trade  until  the  breaking-out  of 
the  war.     In  1864,  he  returned  to  this  county, 
and  settled    near   Dongola,  where   he  worked 
at  his  trade  for  a  short  time,  and  then  opened 
a  general  store,  and  remained  there  until  1872, 
when  he  came  to  the  new  town  of  Elco,  which 
was  then    being  founded.     He  built   the  first 
store  in  the  place,  and  there  carried  on  a  general 
store.     From  that  time,  he  engaged  in  several 
enterprises  of  public  utility,  building  a  large 
number  of  different  buildings,  and  carried  on 
the  grocer}',  dry  goods,  drugs  and  cabinet  busi- 
ness in  turn.     At  present  he  is  acting  as  agent 
for  the  Racine  School  Furniture  Company  and 
the  Burlington  (Iowa)  Life  Insurance  Company. 
He  was  married,  April   13,  1851,  to  Charlotte 
Allen,  daughter  of  James  M.  and  Minerva  Al- 
len of  Johnson  County,  111.     She  is  the  mother 
of  five  children,  two  of  whom  are  living — Ele- 
nora  (wife  of  William  H.  Ralls  of  Thebes)  and 
Laiira  (wife  of  F.  M.  Carter).     He  enlisted  in 
the  Eighty-first  Illinois  Infantry,  Col.  DoUans, 
Company  F,  Capt.   Campbell,  in  August,  1862. 
Remained  out  seventeen  months  ;  was  wounded 
at  the  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.,  and  was 
honorabh'  discharged  in  December,   1863.     In 
politics,  he  is  a   Republican,    and  has  served 
three  terms  as  Postmaster.     He  was    elected 
Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the  fall  of  1872,  and 
has  served  in  that  capacity-  since,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  term.     He  was  elected    Count}- 
Commissioner  in  1878,    and  served  there   one 
term.     Subject  is  a  member  of  the   Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South,  but  is  connected  now 
with  the  church  at  Elco. 

HENRY  BUTTS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Elco,  is  a 
native  of  Gallatin  County,  111.  His  grandfather, 
John  H.  Butts,  was  a  native  of  Geoi'gia.  and 
there,  also,  James  Butts,  the  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born,  and  came  with  his  parents 
when  quite  small  to  Gallatin  County,  111.     In 


that  county  the  father  lived  until  manhood, 
and  married  a  Miss  Julia  Ann  Webb.  By  this 
union  there  were  eleven  children,  and  of  this 
number  our  subject  was  the  third,  and  was 
born  April  8,  1837.  His  father  died  when  he 
was  about  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  he  had  to 
assume  the  cares  of  the  farm,  he  being  the 
eldest  son  ;  but  during  the  falls  and  winters  he 
was  permitted  to  go  to  school  some,  and  ob- 
tained a  fair  education.  He  remained  at  home 
with  his  mother  until  1864,  when,  having  mar- 
ried, he  started  out  in  life  for  himself,  first 
renting  a  farm  of  fort}'  acres.  He  next  pur- 
chased a  farm  of  130  acres  in  that  same  county. 
He  came  to  this  county  in  1879,  and  settled 
first  near  Goose  Island.  In  October,  1882,  he 
purchased  his  present  location,  a  farm  of  eighty 
acres,  of  which  forty  acres  are  cleared.  Mr. 
Butts  was  married  in  Gallatin  County,  October 
4,  1864,  to  Mary  Catherine  Holt,  who  was  born 
January  8. 1844,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Artemesia  (Goldsmith)  Holt.  She  is  the 
mother  of  seven  children,  four  of  whom  are 
living — Margaret  Ann,  born  December  23, 1866; 
William  Edgar,  born  February  20,  1874  ; 
Walter  Henry,  born  April  14,  1876  ;  Charles 
Pickney,  born  June  27,  1878.  Our  subject  en- 
listed in  the  Twenty-ninth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  Col.  Ferril,  Capt.  Stone,  in  August, 
1862,  and  remained  out  until  April  21,  1863, 
when  he  was  honorably  discharged  on  account 
of  disability.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Butts  are 
members  of  the  M.  E.  Church  at  Elco.  In 
politics,  subject  is  a  Democrat. 

MILES  CAUBLE,  farmer  and  stock-raiser, 
P.  0.  Elco,  is  a  grandson  of  Jacob  Cauble,  who 
was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  as  was  also  his 
son,  Peter  Cauble,  the  father  of  subject.  The 
grandfather  came  to  Union  County  when  the 
father  was  about  twenty-one,  but  remained 
there  only  a  short  time  and  then  moved  to  Al- 
exander County,  where  he  settled  near  Mill 
Creek.  Peter  married  a  Miss  Catherine  Cau- 
ble, a  cousin  of  his.     She   was  the  mother  of 


220 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


nine  children,  and  of  that  number  subject  was 
the  oldest,  and  was  born  October  4,  1842.  He 
attended  the  subscription  schools  of  liis  county 
until  he  was  about  seventeen,  and  then  bought 
a  farm  of  fort}-  acres  about  one-half  a  mile 
from  Elco,  near  his  present  location.  This 
piece  has  now  been  increased  to  a  farm  of  367 
acres,  located  in  Sections  12,  13  and  18  ;  also 
107  acres  in  Section  1.  Has  abou*-  300  acres 
in  cultivation,  and  about,  fifteen  acres  in  or- 
chard. Also  follows  the  raising  of  cattle  and 
hogs,  for  market,  quite  extensivel}".  Subject 
was  married.  December  4,  1859,  to  Frances 
Hazlewood,  born  October  12,  1843.  She  is  the 
daughter  of  Joshua  and  Harriet  Hazlewood, 
and  is  the  mother  of  nine  children,  seven  of 
whom  are  living — Ezekial,  born  December  8, 
1800  ;  Evelena,  April  3,  1863  ;  Robert,  Sep- 
tembers, 1868  ;  Benjamin,  December  25, 1870  ; 
Fredoline,  December  6,  1873  ;  Hattie,  March 
16,  1878  ;  Dellie,  June  25,  1882.  Mr.  Cauble 
enlisted  in  the  Sixtieth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, Col.  Owens,  Company  E,  Capt.  Foggarty, 
in  August,  1862,  remaining  out  three  years,  and 
was  honorabl}^  discharged  in  Juh',  1865.  Is  a 
member  of  the  Elco  Methodist  Church.  Also 
of  Elco  Lodge,  No.  643, 1.  0.  O.  F.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Republican. 

JAMES  CRUSE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mill  Creek, 
ITnion  County.  Glrandfather  Cruse  came  from 
Ireland  and  located  in  Georgia,  where  Moses 
Cruse,  the  father  of  subject,  was  born.  The  lat- 
ter remained  there  until  a  3'oung  man,  and  then 
came  to  what  was  then  Johnson  County,  now 
Union  County.  There  he  married  a  Miss  Rebecca 
Miller,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  some  of 
whose  ancestors  came  from  German}'.  She 
was  the  mother  of  seven  children,  four  of  whom 
are  living,  and  of  that  number  subject  was  the 
third,  and  was  born  February  7,  1846.  When 
subject  was  about  five  years  old,  his  father 
moved  to  a  farm  about  a  mile  and  a  half  east 
of  Mill  Creek,  in  Union  County,  where  he  re- 
sided until  his  death.     Our   subject   attended 


the  subscription  schools  but  little,  and  received 
but  a  slight  education.  When  he  was  about 
eighteen  years  of  age,  he  went  to  Jonesboro 
and  apprenticed  himself  to  learn  the  blacksmith 
trade.  He  worked  for  about  a  year  and  a  half, 
when,  finding  that  the  trade  did  not  agree  with 
him,  he  came  back  to  the  home  farm  and  helped 
his  father  there  until  he  was  about  twenty-five 
years  of  age.  At  that  age,  he  purchased  his  first 
farm,  a  tract  of  forty  acres  situated  about  a 
mile  from  Mill  Creek,  in  Section  5,  Township 
14  south,  Range  1  west,  Alexander  County. 
This  place  has  since  been  increased  to  a  farm 
of  116  acres,  which  he  devotes  chiefly  to  farm- 
ing. Our  subject  was  married  in  1826  to  Mary 
Freeze,  daughter  of  Daniel  aud  Elizabeth 
Freeze,  both  natives  of  North  Carolina.  She 
was  the  mother  of  one  child,  Peter,  born  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1859.  This  lady  died  in  1861.  aud 
Mr.  Cruse  was  married  th^e  second  time,  to 
Lydia  0.  Freeze,  a  sister  of  his  first  wife.  This 
lady  is  the  mother  of  five  children — Josephine. 
James  J.,  Norwood,  Melissa  and  Mattie.  In 
politics,  Mr.  Cruse  is  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  DEXTER,  farmer,  P.  0.  UUiu, 
Pulaski  County.  Silas  Dexter,  the  father  of 
James  Dexter,  was  born  in  Pulaski  County  and 
resided  there  until  manhood  and  then  married 
Miss  Sallie  Rhodes.  The  twain  then  settled  in 
Alexander  County,  about  three  miles  from 
Sandusky,  and  there  our  subject,  the  youngest 
of  tfiu  children,  was  born,  February  6,  1852. 
His  father  died  when  he  was  about  six  years 
of  age,  and  his  mother  there  married  a  Mr. 
Holmes,  but  she  only  lived  about  a  year  after 
her  second  marriage.  Mr.  Jefferson  Holmes 
then  took  our  subject  and  raised  him  and 
young  Dexter  remained  with  Mr.  Holmes  until 
the  latter  died  in  the  army,  and  during  that 
time  was  probably  permitted  to  go  to  school 
about  three  months.  Subject  next  went  to 
live  with  a  brother  of  his  former  foster  father, 
and  remained  there  about  three  years.  Dur- 
ing the  next  eight  or  nine  years,  he  worked  for 


ELCO  PREClxNCT. 


221 


different  farmers,  and  when  he  was  twenty-four 
years  of  age  made  his  first  purchase  of  land,  a 
farm  of  eight}-  acres  in  Section  15,  Township  i 
14,  Range  1  west.  Of  the  original  place,  about 
forty  acres  were  cleared  ;  his  farm  has  since 
been  increased  to  one  of  130  acres,  seven t}-  of 
which  are  cultivated.  Subject  was  married, 
August  0,  1874,  to  Malinda  J.  Mowry,  daugh- 
ter of  David  and  Betsey  (Dillow)  Mowry.  She 
is  the  mother  of  five  children,  four  of  whom 
are  living — Silas  Edward,  born  March  2,  1877  ; 
Sarah  Jane,  born  March  2. 1879  ;  Cora  Levina, 
born  January  22,  1881,  and  a  baby  boy  No- 
vember 26.  1882.  Mr.  Dexter  is  a  member  of 
the  German  Reformed  Church,  and  in  politics 
is  a  Democrat. 

ELI  DOUGLAS,  farmer.  P.  0.  Clear 
Creek  Landing,  is  a  son  of  Alexander  Doug- 
las, who  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  in  1811, 
and  came  to  Union  County  when  quite  young, 
and  with  a  family  by  the  name  of  Yost.  He 
attended  the  subscription  schools  of  his  count}- 
in  his  youth,  and  married  Margaret  Hinkle,  of 
Dongola  Township.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Henry  Hinkle,  also  a  native  of  North  Carolina 
and  the  mother  of  eleven  children.  Of  that 
number,  subject  was  the  fourth,  and  was  born 
April  21,  1831.  His  father  was  then  living 
in  Jonesboro  Precinct,  and  there  our  subject 
remained  until  he  was  seventeen,  attending 
the  schools  of  his  township.  He  then  left 
home,  when  he  came  to  Jonesboro,  where 
he  learned  the  blacksmith  trade  under  a  Mr. 
Win^rate.  and  then  after  an  apprenticeship  of 
two  years  and  eleven  months  he  opened  a  shop 
of  his  own  on  the  home  place.  In  January.  1855, 
he  went  to  California,  where  he  carried  on  his 
ti-ade  in  one  of  the  mining  districts  there.  In 
1859.  he  returned  to  Union  County  and  again 
followed  blacksmithing  at  Jonesboro.  In 
'  1871,  he  retired  to  the  life  of  a  farmer,  and 
came  to  his  present  location  in  Alexander 
County,  in  Section  19,  Township  14,  Range  3 
west.     He  first  purchased  360  acres,  of  which 


about  100  were  cultivated.  He  has  since  pur- 
chased eighty  acres  more,  and  now  has  about 
125  acres  improved.  Mr.  Douglas  was  married 
January  31,  1863,  to  Mary  DeWitt,  born  Octo- 
ber 24,  1844.  She  is  the  daughter  of  John, 
and  Margaret  (Cruse)  DeWitt,  and  is  the 
mother  of  two  children — Fred,  born  Februar}- 
10,  1865,  and  Stanley,  born  December  8,  1866. 
Subject  was  a  soldier  in  the  One  Hundred  and 
Ninth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantr}- 
and  in  politics  is  a  Democrat. 

J.  WARREN  DURHAM,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Elco,  Alexander  County.  The  ancestors  of 
the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  this  county. 
The  grandfather,  William  Durham,  who  was  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  came  to  this  county 
in  1830,  and  resided  there  until  his  death  in 
1847.  Thomas  Durham,  the  father  of  subject, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1800,  remained 
there  until  manhood,  and  then  went  to  Todd 
County,  Ky.,  where  he  married  Mary  Brizen- 
dine,  daughter  of  William  Brizendine.  Came 
from  there  to  Union  County  in  1831,  settling 
near  Mill  Creek,  where  subject  was  born 
December  24,  1838,  the  fourth  of  seven  chil- 
dren. Warren  received  his  education  in  the 
subscription  schools  of  his  county,  attending 
there  until  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  and 
then  worked  on  the  home  place.  In  November, 
1805,  he  purchased  a  farm  of  eighty  acres, 
where  he  now  resides,  in  Section  12,  Town  14, 
Range  2  west.  Twenty  acres  of  the  farm  were 
cultivated  when  he  bought  it,  and  he  now  owns 
a  farm  of  120  acres,  of  which  about  sixty  acres 
are  cultivated.  Subject  was  married,  January 
22,  1860,  to  Sarah  Bass,  born  in  November, 
1842,  and  daughter  of  3Iatthew  and  Zeolody  • 
(Hutson)  Bass.  Mr.  Durham  enlisted  in  the 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regiment  Illinois 
Infantry  August  15,  1862,  but  was  transferred 
to  the  Eleventh,  and  was  discharged  at  Baton 
Rouge,  La.,  August  15,  1865.     Is  a  member  of 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Elco  Lodge,  No.  643, 1.  O.  0.  F.,  and  in  poli- 
tics is  a  Democrat. 

PETER  N.  GOLDEN,  farmer,  P.  0.   Elco. 
Thomas   Golden,   the   grandfather  of  subject, 
was  a  native  of  France,  and  came  to  this  coun- 
try when  his  son  Stephen  Golden  was  about 
twelve  years  old.     He  settled  in  Virginia,  and 
there  the  father  of  our  subject,  Stephen,  re- 
mained until  he  was  eighteen,  then   came  to 
Indiana  and  settled  in  Leavenworth.     Here  he 
studied   for   a   physician,    and    at  the  age  of 
twenty-four  married  Ann  Newton,  daughter  of 
Peter    and    Hannah    Newton.     She    was   the 
mother  of  nine  children,  Peter  N.  being  the 
!ifth,  and  was  born  November  11,  1848.    When 
he  was  about  two  years  old,  his  father  moved  to 
St.  Louis,  and  there  subject  received  his  educa- 
tion, and  in  his  eleventh  year  he  started  out 
for  himself,  and  went  first  to  Georgetown,  Ky., 
where  he  worked  in  a  distillery.     At  the  age  of 
fifteen,   he  went  to    Perry    County,    Ind.,   and 
there  learned  the  cooper's  trade,  and  followed 
it   for   a   number   of  years.     At    the    age   of 
twenty -two,  he  commenced  farming,  and  located 
first  in  Hamilton  County.     After  residing  on 
several    different    farms    in    this  and    Union 
County,    he   came   to  his  present  location  in 
Elco.  wliere  he  now  owns  a  farm  of  fifty-three 
acres,  twenty  of  which  are  cultivated.     He  was 
man-ied,  in  1869,  to  Sarah  P.  Gohlson,  daugh- 
ter of  Edward  and  Elizabeth  Gholson.  of  Padu- 
cah.  Ky.     She  is  the  mother  of  three  children, 
all    living — Halla,    born   November   9,    1871  ; 
William,  born  January   4.   1874  ;  Belle,  born 
June  8.  1879.     Mr.  Golden  was  elected  Justice 
of  the  Peace  for  Elco  Precinct  April  17,  1873, 
and  is  now  serving  his  first  term.     He  is  a 
member  of  the  Elco  Lodge,  No.  643,  I.  0.  0. 
F.,  and  in  politics  is  a  Democrat. 

MOSES  GOODMAN,  blacksmith,  Elco. 
Grandfather  Goodman  lived  in  North  Carolina, 
and  there  Paul  Goodman,  the  father  of  our 
subject,  was  born  in  1813  ;  lived  there  until  he 
reached    manhood,  and   then   married   a  Miss 


Williams.     The   twain,  soon    after   they    were 
made  one,  came  West  and   settled  near  Jones- 
boro.  Union  Co.,  Ill,  where  the  ftither  soon  after 
his  arrival   began  running   a  saw  mill.     Mrs. 
Goodman  died  soon  after  her  arrival  at  that 
place,  and  the  father  was   married  the  second 
time  to  Chrissie  Earnhart,  daughter  of  Phillip 
Earnhart.     She  was  the  mother  of  five  children, 
and  of  that  number  subject  was  the  second  and 
was   born  January  25,  1855.     When   he  was 
about  eight  yeai's  of  age,  his  father  moved  to 
Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo.     Here  he  received 
his  first  education  in  a  German  school  at  that 
point.     After  about   a  year's  residence  there, 
his  father  died,  and  our  subject,  accompanied 
by  his  mother,  came  back  to  Alexander  County 
and  settled  near  Mill  Creek.     He  early  com- 
menced to  carry  on  affairs  on  the  home  place, 
but   although  having  to    take   care  of  things 
generally,  he  managed  to  attend  school   somc- 
and  obtained  a  fair  education.     He   remained 
at  home  until  his  mother's    death,  which   oc- 
curred in  1874.     After  that  he  rented  the  farm 
and  hired  out  himself  the  following  summer. 
The  next  fall,  having  married,  he  took  charge 
again  of  the  home  place  and  remained   there 
about  one  year.     He  next  moved  to  a  farm  on 
Sandy  Creek  and  there  he  remained  until  the 
year  1879,  when  he  also  sold  out  that  farm  and 
came  to  his  present  location  at  Elco.     On  this 
place  he  first  obtained  a  livelihood  by  working 
at  the  saw  mill  of  Durham  &  Cauble.  and  also 
followed  teaming.     In  1880.  he  purchased  his 
present  shop  from  Warren  Durham.     At   this 
place  he  now  does  blacksmith  work,  and  alsc 
does  a  general  wagon  repairing  business.     Mr. 
Goodman  was  married,  December  18,  1874.  to 
Rosana   E.    Dills,    daughter  of    Wiley    Dills, 
of    Union    County.     She    is    the    mother    of 
five     children  —  Henry    C,    Laura    J.,    Dora 
E.,   Earnest   L.    and  Lloyd  E.     Subject    is   a 
member   of  Elco   Lodge,  No.  643, 1.  0.  0.  F.. 
and    of    the   Methodist  Episcopal    Church   of 
Elco.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat. 


ELCO  PRECINCT. 


223 


JOHN  Z.  J.  N.  HAIL,  millwright  and 
farmer,  P.  0.  Mill  Creek,  Union  County. 
Elias  Hail,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
Ijorn  in  North  Carolina  in  1791  ;  reached 
manhood  and  married  Nanc}*  Strand,  daugh- 
ter of  A.  Strand.  She  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children.  Of  that  number,  our  subject  is 
the  youngest,  and  was  born  July  3,  1851.  The 
father,  when  subject  was  about  four  j-ears  of 
age,  left  North  Carolina  and  came  •  to  Newton 
County,  Ga.,  where  he  died  the  next  year.  Our 
subject  attended  school  but  three  months,  and 
obtained  most  of  his  education  in  after  life,  by 
the  light  of  the  back-log.  As  soon  as  he  was 
old  enough,  he  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter 
and  millwright,  under  a  man  by  the  name  of 
James  Ke}',  of  Jonesboro,  Ga.  When  he 
reached  manhood,  he  married,  August  20,  1856, 
Margaret  Ann  Hurdle,  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina. She  was  the  mother  of  four  children, 
all  of  whom  are  dead.  Our  subject  moved  to 
Montgomer}',  Ala.,  in  the  fall  of  1856,  and  there 
commenced  operations  b}'  working  at  the  ti'ade 
of  a  journeyman  carpenter  for  about  a  year 
and  a  half  In  the  fall  of  1857,  he  again  moved, 
this  time  to  Marion  County,  in  the  same  State, 
where,  under  the  homestead  law,  he  entered  a 
farm  of  320  acres.  At  this  point,  he  had  hardly 
become  settled,  when  the  troubles  of  the  war 
commenced  to  make  things  verj'  unpleasant. 
Although  born  in  the  South,  and  at  that  time 
living  in  the  heart  of  the  Southern  Confederacy, 
he  did  not  believe  that  secession  was  right, 
and  wonld  not  enlist  on  that  side.  He  was 
compelled,  finall}-,  to  fly  for  safety,  and  so  one 
night  he  and  his  Union  neighbors  formed  them- 
selves into  a  body  and  started  north  toward 
the  Union  lines.  There  were  108  men  in  the 
company  when  it  left  Marion  County,  but  their 
journey  was  beset  everywhere  b}'  difficulties. 
The  exact  position  of  the  Union  forces  could 
not  be  ascertained,  and  guerrillas  and  rebels 
fought  them  on  ever}-  hand,  and  when  at  last, 
on  September  7,  1862,   the   company  reached 


the  Union  lines,  at  Tunnel  Creek  Bridge,  on  the 
Memphis  &  Charleston  Railroad,  in  Tennessee, 
where  the  Seventh  Illinois  Cavalry  was  sta- 
tioned, there  were  but  eight  men  left.  Among 
that  number  was  our  subject,  and  he  immedi- 
ately enlisted  in  that  regiment,  and  remained 
there  until  Januar}-,  1864,  when  he  was  honor- 
ably discharged  on  account  of  disability.  When 
Mr.  Hail  went  awa}'  from  his  Southern  home, 
he  left  his  wife  on  the  old  place  to  take  care  of 
the  propert}-,  and  one  night,  after  the  husband 
had  been  gone  about  nine  months,  she  received 
news  that  a  band  of  rebels  were  coming  to  burn 
down  the  property.  She  and  her  mother,  gath- 
ering together  a  little  clothing,  fled  the  same 
night,  to  Tuscumbia,  Ala.,  where  a  brother  of 
Mr.  Hail  was  engaged  in  running  a  baker}-,  and 
the  next  night  the  house  and  outbuildings  were 
burned  to  the  ground.  At  that  town,  Mrs. 
Hail  remained  until  some  time  in  June,  1863, 
when  Gen.  Dodge,  at  the  head  of  a  large  body 
of  Union  cavalry,  made  a  raid  through  that 
section,  and  routed  the  Southern  forces  in  and 
around  Tuscumbia.  When  the  victorious  force 
came  North  again,  Mrs.  Hail  placed  herself 
under  the  soldiers'  care  and  came  North,  as  far 
as  Corinth  with  the  soldiers,  and  from  there  she 
was  sent  to  Jackson,  Tenn.,  where  3Ir.  Hail 
came  to  see  her,  he  having  obtained  a  seven 
da3-s'  leave  of  absence  from  LaGrange,  Tenn., 
where  the  soldiers  were  then  stationed.  When 
the  husband  parted  from  his  wife  at  the  end  of 
his  furlough,  it  was  their  last  parting.  Mrs. 
Hail,  from  that  place  came  to  Richview,  Wash- 
ington Co.,  111.,  and  there  she  died,  Jul}-  7, 
1863.  When  "Mr.  Hail  came  North  the  next 
January,  he  came  to  that  town,  but  there  only 
found  the  silent  tomb  as  a  remembrance  of  his 
wife.  He  had  been  discharged  from  a  hospital, 
and  he  remained  in  that  town  until  he  had  par- 
tially recovered  his  health,  and  then  came  to 
UUin,  Pulaski  County,  where  he  hired  to  a  Mr. 
Bell,  who  was  then  repairing  his  flouring  mill 
at  that  point.     Here  our  subject  remained  till 


224 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


March,  1865  ;  then  moved  to  a  farm  near  Don- 
gola,  Union  County.  In  1872,  he  purchased  his 
present  location,  a  farm  of  100  acres  in  Section 
5,  Township  14  south,  Range  1  west ;  also  owns 
a  half  interest  in  the  Hail's  point  water  mill, 
on  Mill  Creek.  Our  subject  was  married  the 
second  time,  February  20,  1 867,  to  Mrs.  Isa- 
bella Anna  Woodley.  a  daughter  of  Diewault 
and  Sallie  Miller.  By  this  union  there  have 
been  eight  children,  four  of  whom  are  living — 
Elmira,  John,  Calvin  and  Fleta  May.  In  poli- 
tics, Mr.  Hail  is  a  Republican,  and  is  a  member 
of  Elco  Lodge,  No.  643. 

SALMON  HAZLEWOOD,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Elco.  Cliff  Hazlewood,  the  grandfather  of  our 
subject,  was  a  native  of  England.  He  came  to 
America  and  first  settled  in  Virginia,  about 
1758.  Here  he  lived  to  manhood,  and  married 
Nancy  Axley,  and  to  them  was  born  in  1801 
Joshua  Hazlewood.  The  grandfather  then  re- 
moved to  Kentucky,  where  he  lived  a  number 
of  years,  and  about  1812  he  came  to  what  is 
now  Union  County,  111.,  then  a  vast  wilderness, 
and  located  where  Springville  now  stands. 
The  father  of  our  subject,  Joshua,  married 
Harriet  Standard,  a  daughter  of  William  and 
Sarah  (Carter)  Standard,  shortly  after  his 
marriage  he  moved  to  Alexander  Count}',  lo- 
cating near  what  is  now  the  site  of  Elco.  The 
parents  were  blessed  with  four  children,  of 
whom  the  subject  of  these  lines  was  the  third, 
and  was  born  April  8,  1833.  He  received  his 
education  mostly  in  the  old  subscription 
schools,  attending  one  that  stood  near  the 
present  location  of  his  own  house.  He  re- 
mained with  his  father  until  the  latter  died,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-three  years,  when  our  subject 
being  about  twent}'  years  of  age,  took  charge 
of  the  home  place.  He  followed  stock-dealing 
for  about  five  years,  when,  with  his  hard-earned 
savings,  he  purchased  a  farm  of  forty  acres 
l^'ing  in  Section  24.  He  has  made  subsequent 
additions,  having  now  100  acres  in  cultivation, 
besides    five  acres  of    orchard.     August    20, 


1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  Sixtieth  Illinois  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  Col.  Toler,  Com  pan}'  E,  Capt. 
G.  W.  Evans.  He  took  part  in  many  hot  en- 
gagements, and  was  mustered  out  of  service 
June  5,  1865.  In  1870,  a  post  office  was  es- 
tablished in  what  was  then  called  the  Hazle- 
wood settlement,  and  was  named  Hazlewood 
Post  Office,  in  honor  of  our  subject's  grand- 
father. Salmon  Hazlewood  was  appointed  the 
first  Postmaster.  He  was  united  in  marriage 
Jul}'  24,  1856,  to  Louisa  Ann  McRaven,  born 
September  16,  1837,  a  daughter  of  Louis  and 
Nancy  (White)  McRaven.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hazlewood  are  the  parents  of  twelve  children 
— Francis  J.,  born  June  20,  1857  ;  Louis  P., 
November  22,  1858 ;  Levi  S.,  March  18,  1860  ; 
James  A.,  August  11,  1866  ;  Mahuldah,  Febru- 
ary 18,  1868;  Charles  F.,  March  4,  1872; 
Minnie  L.,  September  20,  1873  ;  Samuel  R., 
February  16,  1876;  Rollie  F.,  November  21, 
1877,  and  Thomas,  September  1,  1880.  Mr. 
Hazlewood  is  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church 
of  Elco. 

A.  J.  LOLLESS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Elco.  Ben- 
jamin Lolless,  the  grandfather  of  subject,  was 
born  in  Virginia,  and  his  son,  Benjamin  Lolless. 
Jr.,  the  father  of  A.  J.  Lolless,  was  also  born 
there,  and  went  to  Tennessee  when  a  3'oung 
man,  where  he  married  Betsey  Ann  Berndrum, 
daughter  of  Clayborn  Berndrum,  also  a  native 
of  Virginia.  She  was  the  mother  of  sixteen 
children,  and  of  that  number,  subject  was  the 
ninth,  and  was  born  March  30,  1833.  When 
subject  was  seven  years  old,  he  moved  with  his 
father  to  Alabama,  where  he  remained  until  he 
was  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  he  left  that 
State  and  went  to  Western  Tennessee,  having 
in  the  meantime  attended  school  but  slightly. 
Here  he  remained  until  about  twent}',  and 
then  came  with  his  father  to  this  State,  settling 
first  in  Williamson  Count}-,  where  the  father 
died  in  1875,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two. 
Our  subject  remained  in  Williamson  County 
the  first  year  he  was  in  the  State,  and  then  came 


ELCO  PRECINCT. 


225 


to  this  count}',  where  he  worked  for  numer- 
ous farmers  in  Clear  Creek  Precinct.  After  his 
maiTiage,  he  commenced  life  on  his  own  account 
on  a  rented  farm  near  Clear  Creek.  He  rented 
one  or  two  other  farms  in  succession,  and  in 
1876  he  purchased  his  present  location  of  160 
acres,  in  Section  20,  Town  l-i,  Range  1  west, 
of  which  about  seventy'  are  now  in  cultivation. 
Mr.  Lolless  was  married  the  first  time  to  Fan- 
nie Walker,  daughter  of  John  Walker,  of  Clear 
Creek  Precinct.  This  lady  died  one  j'ear 
after  her  marriage,  leaving  a  little  one,  who, 
too,  soon  followed  her  to  the  other  shore.  The 
second  time,  he  was  married  to  Amanda  Lang- 
ley,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Phillips,  nee 
Langley.  She  is  the  mother  of  ten  childi'en,  all 
living — Mary  Alice,  Franklin,  V^irginia,  Craig, 
Edward,  William,  Ulysses,  Florence,  Thomas 
and  Luella.  Was  a  soldier  in  the  One  Hundred 
and  Thirtieth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
in  politics  is  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  E.  McCRITE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Elco. 
James  McCrite,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject, 
came  from  Ireland,  and  located  in  South  Caro- 
lina, where  he  married  Margaret  Anderson, 
also  a  native  of  Ireland,  coming  to  this  country 
Avhen  a  little  girl.  There  John  McCrite,  the 
father  of  James  E.,  was  born  June  17,  1778. 
This  gentleman  lived  in  that  State  some  years, 
and  then  removed  with  his  parents  to  Georgia, 
where  he  married  a  Miss  Jane  Callahon,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Edward  and  Polly  Callahon  ;  the  father 
was  a  native  of  Ireland,  coming  to  this  country 
when  a  young  man,  and  the  mother  was  a  na- 
tive of  New  Jei'sey.  By  this  union,  there  were 
seven  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living, 
and  of  this  number  our  subject  was  the  eldest, 
and  was  born  March  22,  1813,  in  Jackson 
Count}',  Ga.  In  1814,  his  father  moved  to 
Murray  County,  Tenn.,  where  he  remained 
until  October,  1829,  when  he  came  to  Union 
County,  settling  near  what  is  now  Mt.  Pleas- 
ant ;  at  that  place,  he  only  remained  a  year, 
and  came  to  Alexander  County,  where  he  set- 


tled on  Sandy  Creek,  about  seven  miles  from 
what  is  now  Elco  Station.  Our  subject  was  now 
about  seventeen  years  old,  and  had,  until  this 
time,  probably  attended  school  at  the  old  sub- 
scription schools,  altogether,  about  five  months. 
After  his  arrival  in  this  county,  he  attended 
school  exactly  eleven  days.  This  was  the  ex- 
tent of  his  learning  in  the  schoolhouse,  and  he 
is  truly  what  can  be  called  a  self-made  man. 
Most  of  his  learning  was  obtained  after  he  had 
reached  manhood,  by  the  light  of  the  fire- 
place, after  night.  He  remained  most  of  the 
time  at  the  home  place  until  1836.  working  at 
odd  jobs  for  the  neighbors  at  wood-chopping, 
rail- splitting,  etc.  In  the  fall  of  1837,  he  lo- 
cated on  his  first  farm.  It  was  a  forty-acre 
tract  of  Government  land,  and  was  entirely  in 
timber.  This  has  been  increased,  by  patient 
toil  and  industry,  to  a  farm  of  480  acres,  of 
which  eighty  acres  are  improved.  Mr.  McCrite 
was  married,  September  29,  1836,  to  Miss 
Edna  Baughn,  daughter  of  Reuben  and  Nancy 
Baughn,  both  natives  of  Tennessee.  She  was 
born  September  15,  1815,  and  was  the  mother 
of  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing— Reuben  V.,  Joseph  L.,  Robert  W.,  Nancy 
J.  (wife  of  John  A.  Morris),  Polly  I.  (wife  of 
R.  B.  Wilson),  Margaret  A.  (wife  of  George 
W.  Vick)  and  Martha  J.  (wife  of  Jesse  G.  Wil- 
son). This  lady  died  April  15,  1872,  and  sub- 
ject was  married,  April  8,  1874,  to  Mrs.  Mary 
E.  Miles,  who  was  born  May  12,  1829,  and  is  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Nancy  Jones,  both  na- 
tives of  North  Carolina,  but  raised  in  Ken- 
tucky. In  politics,  our  subject  is  a  Democrat, 
and  he  has  served  his  county  faithfully  in  nu- 
merous capacities.  In  his  time,  he  has  been 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  being  elected  to  this  of- 
fice first  in  1841  and  serving  continually  until 
November,  1881.  He  was  appointed  Township 
Treasurer  in  1846,  and  served  in  that  office  for 
a  number  of  years.  He  was  elected  Asso- 
ciate Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1852,  first  to  fill 
the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Silas 

0 


226 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


Dexter  ;  was  elected  the  next  term,  and  served 
for  sixteen  consecutive  years,  retiring  in  1873. 
and  he  has  also  served  his  district  as  School 
Commissioner  for  a  number  of  years.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  McCrite  are  both  members  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Baptist  Church  that  holds  its  services 
on  Sandy  Creek.  Mr.  McCrite  is  a  member  of 
the  Jonesboro  Lodge. 

RICHARD    PALMER,  farmer,  P.    0.  Elco. 
William     Palmer,     the    grand-father    of    our 
subject,    was    probably    born    and   raised    in 
North    Carolina,     and    there     John    Palmer, 
his    son,    the    fother    of  Richard,   was   born. 
The    former    came    to    Tennessee    when    the 
latter  was  a  young  man.     There  John  married, 
in  Smith  County,  Miss  Piety  Vick,  daughter  of 
Joshua  Vick.     She   was  the   mother  of  nine 
children,  and  of  this  number  our   subject   was 
the    third,    and   was  born   October    8,    1817. 
When  our  subject  was  about  twelve  years  of 
age,  his  parents  came  to  this  county  and  settled 
about   three  miles  northwest    of  Elco,  where 
they  resided  until  their  demise,  the  father  dying 
August  7,  1850,  and  the  mother  July  2,  1852. 
In  this  county  subject  received  his  education, 
attending  mostly  the  old  Hazlewood    subscrip- 
tion school.     After  his  schooling,  he  helped  his 
father   on  the  old  home   place  until   he   was 
twenty- four,  when    he   started  out  in  life  for 
himself,  first  settling  about   five  miles  south- 
west of  Elco,  on  a  tract  of  eighty  acres.     Here 
he    remained    about  twelve    years,  and    then 
moved  to  his   present  location  in   Section  16, 
Town  14,  Range  2  west.     His  first  purchase 
was  a  farm  of  120  acres,  of  which  about  twelve 
acres  were  in  cultivation.     This  has  since  been 
increased  to  a  farm  of  240  acres,  of  which  about 
100  acres  is  in  cultivation.     Subject  was  mar- 
ried   August    19.    1841,    to    Irena    Vaughn, 
daughter  of  Reuben  and  Nancy  Vaughn  of  this 
county.     She  was  born  December  27,  1821,  in 
Perry  County,  Tenn.,  and  the  mother  of  nine 
children,  six  of  whom  are  living— Louis,  born 
February  16,  1844  :  Piety,  born  July  2,  1849  ; 


James  R.,  born  September  2,  1851;  Elizabeth, 
born  November  21,  1855,  wife  of  Jacob 
Mitchell  ;  Enda,  born  June  27,  1858,  wife  of 
James  Harrell  ;  John,  born  July  22,  1863. 
The  three  dead  children  are  Nathaniel,  born 
November  16,  1842,  died  April  22,  1844; 
Nancy,  born  October  8,  1845,  died  September 
20,  1846  ;  Reuben,  born  September  10,  1847, 
died  October  6.  1848.  This  lady  died  October 
30,  1881.  Subject  is  a  Democrat  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Southern  Methodist  Church. 

HIRAM    F.    PUTNAM,     merchant,    Elco. 
The  grandfather    of   Mr.    Putnam   emigrated 
from  England  and  located  in  Vermont,  where 
to  him  was  born  a  son,  whom  he  named   Hiram, 
who  married  Sallie  Black,  the  result  being  our 
subject.      The   parents   of    Hiram    settled    in 
Otsego   County,  N.   Y.,   where  their  son   was 
born  May  12,  1825.     He  attended  the  country 
schools  as  much  as  was  convenient,  and  be- 
came qualified  to  teach,  at  which  he  applied 
himself  for  a  few^  terms.     He  went  to  Cattar- 
augus County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  carpentered  for 
three  years.      After  having  spent  some  time  at 
different  places,  he,  in  1854,  came  to  Illinois 
and  clerked  in  a  store  in  the  town  of  Warren. 
In  two  years,  he  went  to  Howard  County,  Iowa, 
and   at  once   entered   upon    a   traveling  tour 
which  lasted  six  years,   and  finally  decided  to 
locate  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  but,  on  account  of 
the  breaking-out  of  the  war,  he  only  remained 
I  six   months.     He    then   came   to    Anna,    this 
county,  and  in  one  vear  he  went  to  Charleston, 
Mo.,  following  all  the  time  the  trade  of  a  car- 
penter.    In  1862,  he  made  his  final  settlement 
in  Alexander  County,   at  the  present  site  of 
Elco.     Here   he   farmed   for  awhile   on   some 
rented  patches,  after  which  he  clerked  and  kept 
books  for  A.  A.  Soule  &  Co.,  of  Pulaski  County. 
In   1866,  he   returned  to   Alexander  County, 
where    he  purchased  a   farm  of   forty    acres, 
where  he  remained   about   six  years.     When 
the  town  of  Elco  was  laid  out  he  clerked  for 
Leavenworth    &     Duncan,    subsequently    foi' 


ELCO  PKECINCT. 


227 


Durham  &  Cauble,  the  successors  to  the  above 
finii.  Ill  Febi'uaiy,  1878,  he  was  appointed 
agent  for  the  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Raih-oad  at 
Elco,  which  position  he  held  for  five  years.  In 
1880,  he  formed  a  partnership  under  the  firm 
name  of  Putnam  &  Standard,  general  druggists 
and  grocers.  He  was  elected  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  1869  ;  re-elected  in  1877,  serving  in 
all  two  terms.  Was  married,  April  6,  1865,  to 
Elizabeth  Stace}',  the  result  being  five  children, 
two  of  whom  survive — Flora  A.  and  Maiy  F. 
She  died  Februar}',  1875,  and  he  subsequently 
married  Mrs.  Ellen  Barnett,  a  daughter  of  Dr. 
Victor,  of  Ulliu,  Pulaski  County.  She  died  in 
November,  1877,  and  he  was  married  the  third 
time,  to  Mrs.  B.  J.  Standard,  May  27,  1880. 
Her  maiden  name  was  Henderson.  He  is  a 
Methodist,  and  an  Elder  of  that  organization 
at  Elco. 

JOHN  J.  REAMS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Clear 
Creek  Landing,  is  a  grandson  of  Edward 
Reams,  who  was  born  in  Virginia  and  settled 
in  North  Carolina,  where  Jesse  Reams,  the 
father  of  our  subject  was  born.  The  father 
remained  there  until  a  young  man,  and  then 
went  to  Tennessee,  settling  in  Stewart  Count}', 
where  he  married  Anna  McGee,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Betsey  (Whiteside)  McGee.  This 
lad}'  was  the  mother  of  nine  children,  and  of 
that  number  subject  was  the  third  and  was 
born  August  15,  1833.  His  parents  came  to 
Illinois  when  he  was  about  ten  years  old,  set- 
tling in  Pope  County,  where  they  remained 
until  their  death.  Subject  received  his  educa- 
tion entirely  in  the  subscription  schools,  and 
went  to  them  but  little.  He  remained  at  home 
until  he  was  about  twenty-one,  and  then 
bought  a  farm  in  that  county.  There  he  re- 
mained until  1870,  when  he  came  to  this 
county  and  first  rented  a  farm  of  Washing- 
ton McRavens.  He  is  now  living  on  a  farm 
belonging  to  Pilgrim  McRavens,  about  five 
miles  east  of  Clear  Creek.  He  was  married 
December  10,  185-1,  to  Mary  Jane  Jaco,  daugh- 


ter of  John  and  Polly  Jaco,  of  Pope  County. 
This  lady  was  born  in  Tennessee  in  1836,  and 
was  the  mother  of  four  children,  two  of  whom 
are  living — Polly  Ann  (wife  of  James  Wood- 
ward, of  Clear  Creek),  and  Washington  Reams. 
She  died  in  July,  1861,  and  December  12, 
1863,  Mr.  Reams  married  the  second  time, 
Matilda  Caroline  Castleman,  daughter  of  Will- 
iam and  Maria  (Bush)  Castleman.  She  is  the 
mother  of  five  children,  three  of  whom  are 
living — Mary  Jane  (wife  of  James  Hill),  Char- 
ity and  William  J.  Subject  is  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  which  meets  at  Clear 
Creek.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  L.  SACKETT,  farmer,  P.  0.  Elco. 
Isaac  Sacket,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  England  and  came  to  this  country 
some  time  before  the  Revolutionary  war.  He 
settled  in  Connecticut,  and  was  a  soldier  in 
that  war.  In  the  same  State,  Isaac  Sacket.  Jr., 
the  father  of  James  L.,  was  born  in  1808.  lived 
there  until  he  reached  manhood,  and  then  mar- 
ried, in  1827,  Sophronia  Richards,  daughter  of 
Charles  Richards,  whose  forefathers  were  also 
of  English  descent.  She  was  the  mother  of 
ten  children,  and  of  that  number  subject  was 
the  youngest,  and  was  born  December  20, 1831. 
When  he  was  about  nine  years  of  age,  his  par- 
ents moved  with  him  to  Illinois  and  settled  in 
Marine,  Madison  County.  Subject  received 
his  education  partially  in  the  schools  of  Con- 
necticut, and  also  in  the  schools  of  Illinois. 
When  about  fifteen  years  old,  he  commenced 
working  at  the  carpenter's  trade,  and  followed 
that  vocation  until  about  nineteen.  At  that 
age,  he  undertook  business  for  himself,  and 
commenced  contracting  for  jobs.  This  voca- 
tion he  followed  for  about  six  years,  working 
at  it  in  St.  Louis,  also  in  Monroe  and  St.  Clair 
Counties.  In  1860,  he  came  to  Alexander 
County,  and  first  settled  on  Sandy  Creek,  but 
only  remained  there  about  three  j^ears,  and 
then  came  to  his  present  location  in  1863.  He 
first  purchased  a  farm  of  fift}'  acres,  and  now 


328 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


owns  aboift  118  acres  in  Sections  18  and  19, 
Township  14,  Range  1  west.  He  was  married, 
Marcli  24,  1858,  in  Belleville,  III,  to  Eliza  An- 
son, daughter  of  Fred  and  Lucinda  Anson. 
She  is  the  mother  of  ten  children,  seven  of 
whom  are  now  living — Rosala,  Montie,  George 
R.,  Minnie,  Clara,  Mattie  and  Louis.  He  en- 
listed in  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-third  Illi- 
nois Infantry,  Col.  Bronson,  Company  F,  Capt. 
Johnson,  February  12,  1865,  and  was  dis- 
charged May  29,  1865,  on  account  of  disability. 
In  politics,  Mr.  Sacket  is  a  Republican. 

WILLIAM  SKILES,  farmer,  P.  0.  Elco,  is 
a  grandson  of  William  Skiles,  who  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  having  come  to  this 
countr}'  some  time  before  that  conflict,  and 
settled  in  Maryland.  Soon  after  the  war  ended, 
he  went  to  what  is  now  Green  County,  Tenn., 
and  there  Henry  Skiles,  the  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born.  He  remained  there  until  man- 
hood and  then  married  Margaret  Bunch,  a 
daughter  of  Jonas  Bunch,  who  was  also  a  soldier 
in  the  Revolution,  having  come  from  England 
and  settled  in  Virginia,  and  there  the   gentle- 


man whose  name  heads  this,  was  born  October 
20,  1835,  being  the  third  of  eight  children. 
He  received  his  education  in  the  schools  of  his 
county,  then  worked  on  the  home  place  until 
1858,  when  he  went  to  Western  Missouri, 
settling  near  Springfield.  In  that  State,  he 
farmed  until  April,  1865,  when  he  came  to 
Union  County,  where  he  settled  about  six 
miles  east  of  Jonesboro.  In  1870,  he  pur- 
chased forty  acres  in  Section  8,  Town  14,  Range 
2  west,  in  Alexander  Count}-.  He  now  owns  a 
farm  of  eighty  acres,  of  which  about  half  is 
improved.  Subject  was  married,  April  7,  1858, 
to  Mary  Ann  Gann,  daughter  of  Allan  and 
Sarah  (Myers)  Gann.  .  The  result  of  this  union 
was  thirteen  children,  seven  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing— William,  born  February  28, 1859;  Amanda 
J.,  born  March  18,  1862  ;  James,  born  Janu- 
ary 4,  1864  ;  Henry,  born  Januar}'  22,  1867  ; 
Mary  Ann,  born  August  20,  1871  ;  Thomas  J., 
born  February  20,  1872  ;  Benjamin  F.,  born 
February  28,  1874.  Mr.  Skiles  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  south,  and  in 
politics  is  a  Democrat. 


THEBES    PEEOINOT. 


DR.  H.  C.  BARKHAUSEN,  physician, 
Thebes.  Prominently  identified  among  the  old 
physicians  of  this  count}'  is  Dr.  H.  C.  Bark- 
hausen,  born  April  1,  1819,  in  Prussia,  and  ed- 
ucated in  his  native  country.  In  1835,  he  came 
with  his  parents  to  this  country,  where  the  fa- 
ther, H.  A.,  engaged  in  farming  in  Pulaski 
Countv.  This  was  a  new  business  for  the  elder 
B..  as  he  had  always  been  an  ai-chitect.  In  one 
vearthe  family  removed  to  Jonesboro  precinct, 
Union  County,  where  they  continued  rural  pur- 
suits until  1845,  when  they  went  to  Thebes 
Precinct,  Alexander  County.  Soon  after,  the 
father  took  a  contract  to  construct  the  x\lexan- 
der  County  Court  House  at  Thebes,    then  the 


count}^  seat  of  said  County.  This  structure 
he  completed  in  1848.  The  subject,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-six  years,  began  the  study  of  medi- 
cine with  Dr.  Fisher,  of  Thebes,  with  whom  he 
remained  two  j'ears,  and  began  practice  in 
Stoddard  County,  Mo.,  and  in  two  years  he  re- 
turned to  Thebes,  where  he  enjoyed  a  lucrative 
practice  until  1875,  when  he  retired  to  his 
countr}-  residence  about  one-half  mile  from 
town,  where  he  resides.  He  was  manned  June 
18, 1844,  to  Catherine  Hunsaker,  daughter  of 
John  and  Annie  (Shaw)  Hunsaker,  the  result  of 
which  union  being  three  children — Adeline, 
wife  of  Henry  A.  Phanert,  of  New  Mexico  ; 
Louise,  wife  of  Dr.  J.  A.  M.  Gibbs.     She  is  Su- 


THEBES    PRECINCT. 


229 


perintendent  of  Alexander  County  Public 
Schools.  The  third  child  is  dead.  Our  sub- 
ject is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is  a 
stanch  Democrat. 

WILLIAM  BRACKEN,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Thebes,  was  born  December  2,  1853,  in  Alex- 
ander County.  111.  He  is  a  son  of  William  and 
Martha  (Witt)  Bracken,  natives  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and  early  settlers  in  this  county.  Our 
subject  received  his  educational  advantages  at 
the  country  schools.  His  time,  aside  from  that 
consumed  in  the  school  room,  was  devoted  to 
the  farm.  .When  he  was  about  twenty-four 
years  old,  his  father  died,  and  he  inherited  a 
small  piece  of  land.  He  subsequently  pur- 
chased the  rest  of  the  heirs'  part,  and  now  pos- 
sesses the  entire  home  place  of  240  acres  in 
Section  15,  Range  16,  3  west.  He  was  married 
August  13,  1878,  toMattie,  a  daughter  of  Mar- 
tin Brown.  He  is  a  Republican.  On  the  farm 
an  iron  mine  exists  which  has  been  noticed  in 
the  township  history. 

MARTIN  BROWN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes. 
Probably  the  oldest  native  born  resident  in 
Thebes  Precinct  is  the  gentleman  of  whom  this 
is  a  brief  sketch,  and  who  was  born  September 
9,  1834,  in  this  county,  the  fourth  of  thirteen 
children.  He  is  a  son  of  David  and  Rebecca 
Brown,  who  were  among  the  earliest  settlers  in 
that  section  of  the  county,  coming  to  Alexander 
County  about  1830.  The  father  died  in  1865, 
at  an  advanced  age.  Mr.  Brown  received  his 
education  in  the  schools  of  this  county.  He 
helped  his  father  at  home  until  his  twentieth 
birthday,  and  then  commenced  life  on  a  tract 
of  Congress  land  in  Section  7,  Township  15, 
Range  2.  On  that  farm  he  lived  until  1876, 
and  then  came .  to  his  present  location  of  160 
acres  in  Section  15,  Range  15,  Township  3. 
Besides  the  home  farm,  he  also  owns  140  acres 
in  Section  14  and  11,  Township  15,  Range  3; 
forty  acres  in  Section  15,  Township  15,  Range 
3  ;  200  acres  in  Section  2,  Township  15,  Range 
3;  and  320  acres  in  Section   27,  Township  15, 


Range  3.  He  has  about  350  acres  in  cultiva- 
tion. Besides  his  large  farms,  he  is  also  asso- 
ciated with  his  son  Alfred,  in  a  large  saw  mill 
about  four  miles  from  Thebes,  and  with  his  son 
William  in  a  steam  flouring  mill  in  Thebes. 
Mr.  Brown  was  inarried,  April  30,  1851,  to 
Elizabeth  Durham,  a  native  of  this  county,  and 
a  daughter  of  John  Durham,  also  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  that  section.  This  lady  was  born 
Februaiy  22,  1834,  and  is  the  mother  of  Al- 
fred, William,  Martha  (wife  of  William  Bracken, 
of  Thebes  Precinct),  Henry,  LHysses  S.,  Martin 
and  Thomas  L.  Mr.  Brown  was  County  Com- 
missioner from  1876  to  1879,  and  has  also 
served  as  Township  Treasurer  and  Trustee,  and 
School  Director.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

WILLIAM  BROWN,  miller,  Thebes.  This 
gentleman  is  a  son  of  Martin  Brown  (whose 
sketch  appears  in  this  volume),  and  was  born 
in  this  county  September  10,  1856.  He  at- 
tended school  until  about  nineteen  years  old, 
and  then,  after  farming  for  about  two  years, 
came  to  Thebes  and  with  his  father  commenced 
the  erection  of  a  large  steam  flouring  mill,  at  a 
cost  of  $8,000,  which  is  now  in  operation  under 
the  flrm  name  of  M.  &  W.  Brown.  June  14, 
1883,  our  subject  was  married  to  Miss  Ella 
Walcott,  an  orphan  girl  raised  by  Mrs.  S. 
Marchildon.  In  politics,  Mr.  Brown  is  a  Re- 
publican, and  is  at  present  acting  as  School 
Trustee. 

THOMAS  A.  BROWN,  druggist,  Thebes. 
David  Brown,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject 
was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  came  to 
Union  County,  111.,  where  Calvin  Brown,  the 
father,  was  born.  The  latter  lived  there  until 
manhood,  and  then  married  Caroline  Ury,  of 
Jonesboro.  The  father,  after  a  short  residence 
in  Jonesboro  Precinct,  came  to  Alexander 
County  and  settled  in  Thebes  Precinct,  where 
our  subject  was  born,  November  29,  1841,  and 
was  the  second  of  four  children.  After  attend- 
ing school  until  about  twentj^,    he  farmed  for 


230 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


eight  3'ears  ;  then  moved  to  Thebes  in  1867. 
His  first  venture  was  in  a  saloon,  where  he  re- 
mained about  two  years,  and  was  then  ap- 
pointed keeper  of  the  Alexander  County  In- 
firmary, which  he  held  for  three  years.  He 
then  returned  to  Thebes,  and  opened  his  pres- 
ent drug  store.  In  that  line  he  now  carries  a 
stock  of  about  $1,000.  In  December,  1882,  he 
was  again  appointed  to  his  former  position,  j 
Subject  was  married,  April  22,  1866,  to  Sarah 
E.  DoUraan,  a  daughter  of  John  Dollman,  a 
native  of  Holland.  This  lady  was  born  De-  1 
cember  16,  18-16,  and  is  the  mother  of  four 
children,  two  of  whom  are  living— Thomas  A., 
born  September  27,  1871,  and  Pruella  Ettie, 
born  August  29,  1876.  In  politics,  Mr.  Brown 
is  a  Republican. 

A.  CORZINE,    farmer    and    hotel,  Thebes, 
was  born  in  Dongola  Precinct,  Union    County, 
111.,  November  19, 1837  ;  is  a  son  of  Evans  and 
Margaret  Corzine,  natives  of  North   Carolina. 
The  father  died  when   the  subject   was  small, 
and  he  with  his  mother  removed-  to   Alexander 
County,    where   young   Corzine    attended  the 
country  schools,  aside  from  the  duties  of  a  farm 
life,  that  he  was  compelled  to  attend  to.    Upon 
reaching  his  majority,  he  improved  eighty  acres 
of  land  on  Section  11,  where  he  resided  until 
October,  1882,  when   he   bought   property  at 
Thebes  and  opened  a  hotel,    which  he  contin- 
ues at  this  writing.     He  was  married,   October 
25,  1856,    to  Caroline,    a  daughter  of  James 
and  Nancy  C.   Miller,  of  Union   County.     The 
following  children  have  been  born  to  him  :  Mar- 
garet, Wesley,  Nora,  Amy.  Mr.  C.  enlisted  in  the 
One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  served  till  the  close  of  the   war. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  is 
a  stanch  Republican. 

0.  G.  FORD,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes,  was  born 
in  Randolph  County,  III,  August  8,  1850,  and 
is  a  son  of  Benjamin  and  Julia  Ford,  natives, 
the  former  of  Ohio,  and  the  latter  of  Kentucky. 
Our  subject  attended   school    in   the  country. 


When  eighteen  years  old,  he  went  to  Idaho 
Territory,  where  he  farmed  for  fourteen  years, 
and  then  returned  to  his  native  heath,  where  he 
remained  some  time  and  then  located  wdiere  he 
now  resides,  purchasing  a  small  farm  at  that 
time.  He  now  possesses  eighty  acres  in  Sec- 
tion 16,  Township  13,  Range  3  west.  Was  mar- 
ried, August  8,  1872,  to  Rosa,  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Matilda  Pettitt.  The  result  of  this 
union  is  five  children,  four  living,  viz.  :  Hattie 
M.,  Amzi,  Walter  and  Mary  E.  Mrs.  Ford  is 
a  Methodist.     He  is  a  Republican. 

DR.  J.    A.    M.   GIBBS,   physician,   Thebes. 
One  of  the  best-known  practitioners  of  Alexan- 
der County  is  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads 
this  sketch.     He  is  a  native  of  Vienna,*  Johnson 
County  ;  was  born  June  23,  1843,  and  is  a  son 
of  Dr.  W.  J.  and  Caroline  Gibbs,  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia.    Our  subject  attended  the  schools  of  his 
native    town    until    nineteen,   and    then    com- 
menced reading  medicine  in   the   office   of  his 
father,  and  then  in  the  office  of  Dr.  George  Brat- 
ton,  also  of  Vienna.  In  1866,  '67  and  '68,  he  at- 
tended lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chi- 
cago, and  in  the  last  named  year,  graduated  from 
that    institution   and    immediately    settled    in 
Thebes,  where  he  has  since  become  a  leading 
physician  of  that  section.     In  1868,  the  Doctor 
was  married  to  Miss  L.  C.  Barkhausen,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  Barkhausen,  of  Thebes  Precinct.  She 
was  born  May  23,  1845,  and  is  the   mother  of 
one  child— Harry,  born  October  5,  1869.     Our 
subject    enlisted    in    the    One     Hundred   and 
Twentieth  Illinois  A^olunteer  Infantry,   August 
13,  1862,  and  remained   out   until   September, 
1865,  having  been  promoted  to  a  Captaincy  for 
gallant  service.     In  politics,  our  subject   is    a 
Republican.     Mrs.  Gibbs  was  elected  Novem- 
ber, 1882,  to  the  office  of  County  School  Su- 
perintendent.   The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  Elco 
Lodge,  No.   643,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  served   his 
county  as  Commissioner   from    1878  to   1882. 
Is  now  living  on  a  farm  of  twenty  acres  in  Sec- 
tion 9,  Township  15,  Range  9. 


TIIEBES    PEECINCT. 


231 


JUDGE  LEVI  L.  LIGHTNER,  deceased. 
Probably  no  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Alex- 
ander County  has  done  more  for  the  good  of 
the  count}-  or  taken  a  deeper  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  this  section  than  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch.  Judge  Lightner  was 
born  in  Lancaster,  Penn.,  December  15,  1793, 
and  received  his  education  in  the  schools  of 
that  city.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  left 
the  parental  roof,  and  came  down  the  Ohio  on 
the  first  steamboat  that  ever  came  to  Cairo. 
He  landed  in  that  town,  and  described  it  as 
"  one  log  house  filled  with  about  five  hundred 
negroes."  The  looks  of  the  place  not  striking 
him  very  favorably,  he  went  in  a  short  time  to 
Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business,  and  there  remained  until 
about  1835,  when  he  came  to  Clear  Creek,  Al- 
exander County,  where  he  ran  a  saw  mill  and 
was  engaged  extensively  in  farming.  In  184-4, 
when  the  county  of  Pulaski  was  taken  off  and 
the  capital  moved  to  Thebes,  our  subject  moved 
to  that  place  also,  and  was  elected  the  first 
County  Judge  after  the  new  county  was  made. 
In  the  following  ten  years  or  more,  he  served 
his  county  in  various  positions,  such  as  Justice' 
of  the  Peace,  School  Commissioner,  County 
Clerk  and  Probsj-te  Judge.  When  in  1859  the 
seat  of  justice  was  moved  to  Cairo,  the  Judge, 
not  liking  the  change,  resigned  his  numerous 
offices  and  decided  to  give  his  help  to  the  town 
that  he  had  chosen  for  his  residence.  In  1860, 
he  was,  however,  appointed  to  the  oflSce  of  Re- 
ceiver of  Public  Entry  for  Cairo,  and  went 
there  to  assume  his  position.  This  he  held 
until  1862,  when,  his  health  failing,  he  returned 
to  his  former  home  in  Thebes.  Judge  Light- 
ner  was  married  three  times.  First,  to  a  Miss 
Lizzie  Goodouer,  of  Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.,  who 
was  the  mother  of  five  children,  one  only  of 
whom  is  living — Louise,  wife  of  Washington 
McRaven,  of  Clear  Creek  Precinct.  His  second 
wife  was  a  Mrs.  Eleanor  DeShay,  the  former 
wife  of   ex-Gov.  DeShay,  of  Ky.     This   lady 


was  the  mother  of  two  children,  one  only, 
Shelby,  now  living,  who  is  engaged  in  business 
in  Cairo.  He  was  married  the  third  time  to 
Mrs.  Susan  E.  Wilkinson,  November  2,  1848. 
She  was  born  in  Todd  County,  Ky.,  and 
is  a  daughter  of  James  and  Mary  Mansfield. 
This  lady  is  the  mother  of  five  living  children 
— Julia,  wife  of  Morrison  Breeze,  of  Pinckney- 
ville.  Perry  County  ;  James,  now  in  business 
in  Barnard,  Alexander  County  ;  Eugenia,  wife 
of  Albert  Brown,  of  Thebes  Precinct ;  William, 
now  farming  in  same  Precinct ;  and  Lilly  L., 
at  home  with  her  mother,  and  now  one  of  the 
most  successful  teachers  in  the  count}-.  Judge 
Lightner  was  a  member  of  the  Cape  Girardeau, 
Mo.,  A.,F.&A.  M.  Lodge,  and  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  After  his  return  to  Thebes,  the 
Judge's  health  continued  to  fail  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  November  17,  1869.  His 
widow  is  now  living  at  home  in  Thebes,  and 
owns  an  excellent  farm  of  320  acres  in  Section 
12,  Township  15,  Range  3. 

JACOB  LIGHT,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes,  is  a 
native  of  Union  County,  and  was  born  March 
10,  1827.  He  is  a  son  of  John  and  Leah 
(Meisenheimer)  Light,  both  are  natives  of 
Rowan  County,  N.  C.  Subject  received  his 
education  in  the  schools  of  his  township,  and 
when  he  reached  his  majority  he  purchased  a 
farm  of  120  acres  in  Meisenheimer  Precinct. 
At  his  father's  death,  some  years  afterward,  he 
inherited  the  home  farm,  and  there  he  resided 
until  1868,  when  he  came  to  Alexander  County, 
and  purchased  his  present  home  in  Section  14, 
Township  15,  Range  3.  It  is  a  piece 
of  160,  and  was  entirely  in  the  woods 
when  he  came.  He  now  has  about  sixt}-- 
five  acres  in  cultivation,  and  about  seven 
acres  in  orchard.  He  was  married  November 
1,  1846,  in  Union  County,  to  Sophia  Weaver,  a 
native  of  Union  County,  and  a  daughter  of 
John  and  Sarah  V/eaver  of  Meisenheimer  Pre- 
cinct, Union  County.  This  lady  was  the  mother 
of  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  rtving — Sarah, 


232 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


wife  of  Heniy  Weibking,  of  Thebes  Precinct ; 
Amanda,  wife  of  Andrew  Hone}-,  of  Saute  Fe 
Precinct,  and  Adam,  a  farmer  of  Sante  Fe  Pre- 
cinct. Mrs.  Light  sank  to  rest  in  Novem- 
ber, 1859,  and  Mr.  Light  was  married  the 
second  time,  February  27,  1866,  to  Sarah  Dur- 
ham, a  daughter  of  Thomas  Durham,  of  Union 
County  ;  she  was  also  the  mother  of  six  chil- 
dren, and  of  this  number  five  are  living-^- 
Henry,  Alfred,  Wilson,  George  and  Mary. 
This  iady  died  February  29, 1880.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Light  is  a  Democrat. 

S.  MARCHILDON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes, 
was  born  August  4,  1816,  in  Canada  East, 
about  sixty  miles  from  Quebec,  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  River.  His  parents  were  of 
French  descent,  and  his  early  education  was 
in  that  language.  When  subject  was  about 
fourteen,  he  went  to  Quebec,  where,  after  a 
clerkship  of  five  years,  he  became  partner  in 
one  of  the  largest  stores,  and  remained  until 
1859,  when  he  came  to  Thebes,  where  he 
opened  a  general  store.  This  he  carried  on  for 
about  four  j'^rs,  and  has  since  then  devoted 
most  of  his  attention  to  farming,  and  as  a  land 
agent.  He  now  owns  about  1.250  acres,  situ- 
ated in  the  following  sections  :  4,  17,  2  ;  33, 
34,  27  ;  14,  3,  and  4,  5,  24,  28,  30  and  35  ;  15, 
2.  He  has  about  400  acres  in  cultivation. 
May  10,  1842,  Mr.  Marchildon  married  a  Miss 
Emille  Tessie,  a  native  of  Quebec,  but  of  French 
descent.  She  was  the  mother  of  seven  chil- 
dren, five  of  whom  are  living — Mar\'  I.,  wife  of 
J.  G.  Rolwing,  of  Thebes  ;  Eugenie,  wife  of  J. 
Culley,  of  Clear  Creek;  Mary  J.,  wife  of  J. 
Marchildon,  of  Canada  East  ;  Cyrille,  now  in 
business  in  Thebes  ;  Annie,  wife  of  Mr.  Mor- 
row, of  Quebec.  This  lady  died  December  18, 
1854,  and  he  was  married  the  second  time.  Octo- 
ber 2, 1862,  to  Miss  Miranda  Massey,  a  daughter 
of  Benjamin  and  Elizabeth  Dexter.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Democrat.  He  has  served  his  township  in 
various  ways  having  been  Justice  of  the  Peace 
ten  vears,  School  Director  eighteen  years,  and 


as  an  Associate  Justice  four  3'ears.      He  is  a 
member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

JOHN  MILLER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes,  was 
born  in  Alexander  County  August  5, 1839  ;  is 
a  son  of  Peter  and  Catharine  Miller,  who  died 
when  he  was  nine  years  old.  Young  Miller 
was  therefore  thrown  out  on  life's  sea  to  battle 
for  himself.  He  applied  himself  at"  anything 
he  could  get  to  do,  for  different  persons.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen  years,  he  began  learning  the 
trade  of  a  lumber  sawyer,  with  H.  S.  &  E.  E. 
Walbridge.  with  whom  he  remained  until  reach- 
ing his  majority.  In  1876,  he  begap  merchan- 
dising in  the  country,  and  subsequently  re- 
moved to  Oran,  Scott  Co.,  Mo.,  following  the 
same  business,  where  he  remained  until  1877, 
when  he  went  to  Butler  County,  Mo.,  where  he 
continued  the  mercantile  business  and  also  en- 
gaged in  a  saw  mill,  and  in  a  short  time  lost 
both  enterprises  by  fire.  Mr.  Miller  then  went 
to  Dallas,  Texas,  but  not  liking  the  country  he 
returned  to  St.  Louis,  and  thence  to  Cairo, 
where  he  acted  as  lumber  agent  for  some  time. 
He  subsequently  located  in  Jefferson  County, 
Mb.,  and  in  1881  he  came  to  Thebes  Precinct, 
Alexander  County,  where  he  purchased  ten 
lots,  which  he  cultivates.  He  is  head  sawyer 
for  M.  &  A.  Brown.  He  was  married,  March 
1,  1866,  at  Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.,  to  Miss  S.  S. 
Hancock,  a  daughter  of  Henderson  and  Rebec- 
ca Hancock,  natives  of  Kentucky.  She  was 
born  September  29,  1846.  She  is  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church  at  Thebes.  He  is  a  Re- 
publican and  a  member  of  the  Villa  Ridge 
Lodge,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 

JAMES  MILLER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes, 
was  born  February  2,  1843,  in  Alexander 
County  ;  is  a  son  of  Moses  and  Matilda  Miller, 
who  were  among  the  earliest  settlers  in  this 
county,  coming  from  North  Carolina.  Our 
subject's  education  was  but  slight,  and  was  re- 
ceived in  the  county  schools.  His  father  hav- 
ing died  when  he  was  ten  years  of  age,  he  was 
early  compelled  to  lend  a  helping  hand  on   the 


THEBES    PRECINCT. 


233 


farm.  Upon  reaching  manhood,  he  inherited  his 
share  of  the  home  farm,  and  has  since  then 
purchased  the  remainder,  and  now  owns  a  tract 
of  200  acres  in  Section  14,  Township  15,  Range 
3.  He  has  about  ninety-&ve  acres  in  cultiva- 
tion, and  about  five  acres  in  orchard.  Mr.  Miller 
was  married  in  January,  1867,  to  Mary  Clutts, 
a  daughter  of  John  Clutts,  whose  sketch  ap- 
pears elsewhere  in  this  work,  and  Eliza  Clutts. 
As  yet  no  children  have  come  to  bless  their 
union.  Our  subject  enlisted  in  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
Col.  Rareden,  Company  B,  Capt.  G.  B.  Mc- 
Kinsey,  on  August  12, 1861,  and  was  discharged 
in  September,  1865.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican. His  mother  is  still  living,  and  is 
staying  at  the  old  homestead. 

WILLIAM  L.  PETITT,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Thebes.  The  gentleman  whose  name  heads 
this  sketch  is  a  native  of  Randolph  County, 
111.,  and  was  born  March  20,  1843.  He  is  a 
son  of  Richard  C.  and  Catharine  Petitt,  both  na- 
tives of  Tennessee.  Our  subject  attended 
school  in  his  native  county,  but  left  home  when 
sixteen  years  old,  with  his  father,  and  came  to 
Alexander  County  in  1857,  and  settled  near 
where  the  son  now  lives.  After  remaining  at 
home  with  his  father  for  a  number  of  years, 
Mr.  Petitt  made  a  start  in  life  on  a  rented 
farm  of  sixty  acres.  He  only  remained  there 
one  year.  When  his  father  died,  he  bought 
out  the  remaining  heirs,  and  came  back  to  the 
home  farm.  He  now  owns  eighty  acres  in  Sec- 
tion 16,  Town  15,  Range  3,  of  which  forty 
acres  are  in  cultivation.  Subject  married  Miss 
Melissa  Moore,  daughter  of  Preston  and  Sallie 
(Overton)  Moore,  on  March  25,  1866.  This 
lady  is  the  mother  of  eight  children,  five  of 
whom  are  living— Richard,  Hiram,  Sarah,  Levy 
and  Zola.  In  politics,  Mr.  Petitt  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church  at  Thebes. 

W.  H.  RALLS,  undertaker  and  wagon-maker, 
Thebes,     is     a     native    of     Henry    County, 


Tenn.,  and  was  born  June  27,  1847,  a  son  of 
James  and  Nancy  Ralls,  natives  of  Illinois. 
In  that  county,  subject  received  the  rudiments 
of  his  education,  but  when  ten  years  of 
age,  moved  with  his  parents  to  Johnson  County, 
111.,  where  the  father  settled  near  Vienna,  and 
there  the  son  attended  school  until  seventeen. 
He  started  out  in  life  as  a  farmer  and  followed 
it  until  he  was  twenty-one,  and  then  com- 
menced work  in  a  saw  mill,  in  Union  County, 
owned  by  B.  F.  Livingston  and  H.  B.  Hubbard  ; 
here  he  remained  for  about  eight  years  and 
then  went  to  Elco,  Alexander  County,  where  he 
opened  a  carpenter  shop.  Soon  after  his  arrival 
in  this  place,  he  commenced  to  learn  the  trade 
of  a  wagon-maker  under  Samuel  Briley.  He 
remained  in  that  town  until  1882,  when  he 
came  to  Thebes,  where  he  has  since  carried  on 
the  trade  of  a  wagon-maker.  About  a  year 
ago,  he  also  opened  an  undertaker's  shop. 
Subject  was  married,  December  3,  1871,  to  Miss 
Elenora  Briley,  daughter  of  Samuel  Briley 
(whose  sketch  appears  elsewhere  in  this  work). 
She  is  the  mother  of  six  children,  three  of 
whom  are  living — Oscar  Francis,  Olive  lonie, 
and  William  Henry.  He  enlisted  in  the  One 
Hundred  and  Twentieth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, Col.  McCabe,  Company  H,  Capt.  Porter, 
November  15,  1864,  and  was  honorably  dis- 
charged December  16,  1865.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Ralls  is  a  Republican.  Is  a  member  of  Elco 
Lodge,  No.  643,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Thebes  M.  E.  Church. 

J.  a.  ROLWING,  merchant,  Thebes.  The 
gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch  is  a 
native  of  Prussia.  The  family  name  is  the 
one  borne  by  his  mother,  who  was  of  a  family 
standing  high  in  that  country.  The  father, 
Kutine,  was  compelled  to  change  his  name, 
according  to  the  existing  laws  of  that  country'. 
The  parents  came  with  subject  to  this  country, 
when  the  latter  was  about  ten  years  of  age. 
The  father  first  settled  at  Evansville,  Ind.,  but 
only  remained  about  three  years,  when  he  moved 


234 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


to   Texas    Bend,  Mo.,    where    he  commenced 
farming.     The  education  of  our   subject   was 
principally  German,  having  opportunity  only  to 
attend  an  English  school  one  month.     He  has 
since,  however,  obtained  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 
English  language.     Mr.  Rolwing  made  his  start 
in  life  in  1850,  at  Hunt's  Landing,  Mo.,  where 
he  clerked  at  the  leading  store  there.     In  two 
years  he  left  that  place,  and  come  to  Charleston, 
Mo.,  where  he  only  remained  a  short  time,  and 
then  came  to  Thebes.     At  this  point  he  first 
clerked  for  McClure  &  Overby,  who  were  then 
(1854)  doing  business  at  that   point.     After  a 
two  years'  stand  at  this  point,  he  again  sought 
a  new  place  to  make  a   fortune.     In   the  next 
four  years  he  clerked  at  different  points,  with 
varying  success,  but  by  1860  he  had  accumu- 
lated enough  to  return  to  Thebes  and  purchase 
an  interest  in  the  store  of  T.  J.  McClure  at  that 
point.     The  firm  became  known   as  McClure  & 
Rolwing.     This  partnership  existed  until  1863, 
when  the  head  of  the  firm  retired,  and  our  sub- 
ject has  since  carried  on  the    business   alone. 
He  now  carries  a  stock  of  about  $3,000.     Mr. 
Rolwing  was  married,  May  25,  1864,  to  Mary  I. 
Marchildon.-  She  is'a  native  of  Canada  East, 
and  is  the  mother   of  seven  children,  five  of 
whom  are  living — Emma  M.,    born   April  20, 
1865  ;  Henry  S.,  born  January  27, 1867  ;  Eddie 
G.,    born  March    10,  1874 ;    Jennie   E.,    born 
July  31,    1876  ;  Myrta  J.,  born  June  2,  1880. 
The  departed   ones  are  C.    A.,  born  July   30, 
1871,  died  August   17,  1872  ;    Zelia  E.,  born 
August  15,  1869,    died   December,    1876.     In 
politics,  Mr.  Rolwing  is  a  Democrat.    In  church 
atfiliations  he    holds  to  the  Roman    Catholic 
Church. 

GEORGE  SAMMONS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes, 
was  born  in  Jonesboro,  Union  Co.,  111.,  March 
10,  1826  ;  is  a  son  of  John  and  Dicy  (White- 
lock)  Sammons.  He  attended  school  at  his 
native  village,  and  labored  for  awhile  with  Seth 
Chandler  in  making  fanning  mills.  At  the 
ao-e  of  twenty  years,  he  left   Jonesljoro   and 


went  to  Marion  County.  Ark.,  where  he  re- 
mained but  a  short  time.  In  1848,  he  settled 
at  Goose  Island,  Alexander  County,  where  he 
remained  until  1865,  and  then  located  where 
he  now  resides,  in  Section  10.  He  was  married, 
January  12,  1844,  to  Susan  James,  born  in  Oc- 
tober, 1829,  which  union  has  resulted  in  four 
children,  one  only  of  whom  survives — D.  W. 
His  wife  died  December  2,  1858,  and  he  was 
subsequently  married  to  Mrs.  Emily  Durham, 
the  result  being  two  children — Joel  D.,  born 
September  18,  1868,  and  Emma,  born  August 
6,  1870.  In  1876,  he  was  elected  County  Com- 
missioner. He  has  served  as  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace  at  Thebes  for  twenty-four  years.  Is  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  is  a  Dem- 
ocrat. 

JOHN  R.  WALLACE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes, 
was  born  January  19,  1830,  in  Hardin  County, 
111.,  son  of  Oliver  and  Elizabeth  (Winchester) 
Wallace.  His  parents  removed  to  •^Vayne 
County,  Mo.,  when  he  was  small.  In  1847. 
they  came  to  Jonesboro  Precinct,  Union  Coun- 
ty, 111.  Here  he  attended  the  country  schools. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  he  engaged  in 
farming  in  Clear  Creek  Precinct.  He  contin- 
ued farming  in  said  precinct  until  1881,  when 
he  came  to  Thebes,  where  he  now  resides.  He 
was  married,  January  20,  1860,  to  Mary  Par- 
rett,  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Parrett. 
His  union  has  given  him  eight  children,  six  of 
whom  survive — Barsheba  A.,  Logan,  Harriet 
E.,  Samuel  W.,  Sarah  J.,  Olive  E.  and  Mary  E. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  He  enlisted  September  7,  1864,  in 
Company  I  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Forty- 
sixth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  and  was  dis- 
charged July  7,  1865. 

HENRY  WEIMANN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Thebes, 
was  born  November  4,  1857,  in  Alexander 
County,  111.  His  father,  Henry  Weimann,  emi- 
grated from  Germany  to  this  country  in  1830,  set- 
tling at  Baltimore,  and  later  at  St.  Louis  and  Cin- 
cinnati, and  in  1844  finally  in  Thebes  Precinct, 


EAST  CAPE  GIRARDEAU  PRECINCT. 


235 


and  was  known  as  one  of  the  leading  farmers 
of  his  section.  He  was  one  of  the  masons 
who  constructed  the  stone  court  house  at 
Thebes.  Henry  Weimann,  Jr.,  was  educated  in 
the  county  schools.  His  father  having  died 
when  he  was  small,  he  helped  his  mother  to 
obtain  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  upon  i^each- 
ing  his  majority,  he  inherited  the  home  place, 
being  the  only  child.  He  has  100  acres  of 
good  land  in  Sections  9,  10  and  11.  He  is  un- 
married and  is  a  Democrat. 

CAPT.  JOHN  WHITE,  steamboat  pilot, 
P.  0.  Thebes,  was  borti  in  Paducah,  McCracken 
Co..  Ky.,  August  12, 1832,  a  son  of  William  and 
Martha  White,  both  of  whom  died  when  our 
subject  was  quite  young,  probably  about 
seven  years  of  age.  From  his  birthplace,  he 
made  his  way  to  Bayou  Sara,  La.,  and  worked 
around  for  different  people.  He  was  also  per- 
mitted to  attend  the  poor-school  for  aboi^:  a 
year.  'After  living  in  that  place  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  he  returned  to  his  birthplace, 
where   he   had   a   sister  living.     When  about 


eighteen  years  of  age,  he  commenced  follow- 
ing his  profession,  first  piloting  boats  on  the 
Tennessee  River  as  early  as  1853.  Next  he 
piloted  on  the  Ohio,  from  Cincinnnti  to  the 
mouth  of  Tennessee  River,  and  afterward  was 
transferred  to  the  Mississippi,  and  ran  between 
New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis,  over  which  waste 
of  waters  he  still  directs  the  course  of  his 
vessel.  His  residence,  until  1876,  was  at 
Cairo,  but  in  that  year  he  came  to  Thebes, 
where  he  has  since  purchased  a  tract  of  fort}- 
acres  in  Section  4.  Town  15,  and  now  gives  his 
spare  attention  to  farming.  The  Captain  was 
married  in  January,  1858,  to  Miss  Sallie  Clutch- 
field.  This  lady  died  in  1868.  The  second 
time,  he  was  married  to  Rosa  Kalesy.  in  1876, 
who  died  in  1877.  His  third  marriage  was 
solemnized  August  2,  1880,  to  Miss  Eugenia 
Wagner.  He  enlisted  in  a  Kentucky  regiment 
enrolled  at  Paducah  by  Capt.  King  in  1861. 
and  served  three  years.  In  politics,  he  is  a 
Democrat. 


EAST    CAPE    GIRAEDEAU    PRECINCT. 


GEORGE  CHERRY,  farmer,  P.  0.  East 
Cape  Girardeau.  The  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  Bedfordshire, 
England,  and  was  born  October  29,  1821.  He 
is  the  son  of  Charles  and  Sophia  Cherry,  the 
second  of  eight  children,  and  the  only  one  that 
came  to  this  country.  When  sixteen  years  of 
ase  he  landed  at  New  Orleans  and  made  his 
way  to  St.  Louis,  and  from  there  to  Quincy, 
111.  At  the  latter  place  he  only  remained  one 
week  and  then  went  back  to  St.  Louis.  Here 
he  apprenticed  himself  to  a  plumber,  and  after 
he  had  learned  his  trade  he  followed  it  for 
about  three  years.  He  remained  about  four- 
teen years  in  that  city,  and  part  of  the  time 
superintended  the  building  of  a  college.     In 


1857,  he  went  to  California,  where  he  followed 
mining  for  three  years.  Returning  to  St. 
Louis  he  remained  only  about  a  year,  and  then 
came  to  Alexander  County.  He  first  rented  a 
tract  of  twenty  acres,  but  in  1864,  he  purchased 
forty  acres,  part  of  which  was  improved  ;  since 
then  he  has  bought  forty  acres  more,  all  of 
which  lies  in  Section  12,  Town  16,  Range  3 
west.  He  was  married  March  18,  1845,  to 
Elizabeth  Frances  Saunders,  daughter  of  John 
Saunders,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  The  result 
of  this  union  was  two  children,  one  of  whom, 
Charles,  born  November  7,  1873.  is  now  living. 
Subject  enlisted  in  the  Second  Illinois  Light 
Artillery.  Company  F,  October  13,  1861,  and 
remained  out  until  August,  1865.     In  politics, 


236 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Mr.  Cherry  is  a  Republican,  and  is  now  acting 
as  Scliool  Trustee. 

JOHN  COTNER.  farmer,  P.  O.  Clear  Creek 
Lauding.  His  grandparents  were  natives  of 
Missouri,  and  there  David  Cotner,  the  father 
of  our  subject,  was  born.  From  there  he  came 
to  Alexander  County  when  a  young  man,  and 
married  Mary  Clapp,  a  daughter  of  Audey 
Clapp,  and  settled  down  in  the  south  part 
of  the  count}',  from  which  place  he  soon 
went  to  Jouesboro  Precinct,  Union  Count}-, 
where  he  carried  on  the  trade  of  a  hatter,  and 
also  farmed.  Here  subject  was  born  in  June 
1815,  and  was  the  third  of  seven  children.  He 
received  his  education  in  the  old  subscription 
schools,  walking  backward  and  forward  three 
miles  a  day.  His  father  died  when  he  was 
about  ten  years  old,  and  his  mother,  soon  after 
her  husband's  death,  came  to  Alexander 
County,  and  settled  in  North  Cairo  Precinct. 
There  she  died  when  subject  was  about  sixteen 
3^ears  old,  and  after  that  the  latter  commenced 
working  out.  After  six  years'  experience  as  a 
farm  hand,  he  commenced  life  for  himself  on  a 
rented  farm,  in  North  Cairo  Precinct.  After- 
ward he  rented,  at  different  times,  other  farms 
until  1860,  when  he  purchased  his  present 
farm,  a  tract  of  100  acres,  in  Sections  8  and  5, 
Town  16,  Range  3  west.  Mr.  Cotner  was  mar- 
ried March  11,  1833,  to  Rosanna  Gattling,  who 
died  in  1838.  His  second  marriage  was  to  a 
Miss  Rachael  Thompson,  in  1840.  This  lady 
also  died  in  184:6.  He  was  married  the  third 
time  to  Eliza  Wright,  who  was  born  April  8, 
1829.  This  lady  is  the  mother  of  ten  children 
six  of  whom  are  living,  viz.:  William,  born 
November  9,  1849  ;  David,  born  December  23, 
1854;  John,  born  September  8,  1860;  Louis, 
born  February  25,  1864  ;  Edward,  born  Sep- 
tember 14,  1868;  and  Charles,  born  October 
14,  1870.  Mrs.  Cotner  died  July  14,  1879. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Missionary  Baptist 
Church,  and  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  and 
has  served  his  township  as  School  Director  for 
twelve  years. 


R.  M.  EDMUNDSON,  farmer,  P.  0.  East  Cape 
Grirardeau.  The  father  of  the  gentleman  of 
whose  life  this  is  a  Ijrief  sketch,  William  Ed- 
mundson,  was  born  in  Buncombe  County,  N.  C. 
Remained  there  until  manhood,  and  then  went 
to  Gibson  County.  Tenn.,  where  he  married 
Sallie  Redgeway,  a  native  of  Virginia.  There 
were  eight  children,  and  of  that  number  sub- 
ject was  the  sixth,  and  was  born  February  14, 
1836.  When  he  was  twelve  years  old,  his 
parents  removed  to  Island  No.  Eight,  in  the 
Mississippi  River,  opposite  Fulton  County,  Ky., 
where  they  remained  abaut  four  years.  In  the 
fall  of  1848,  his  parents  moved  to  Alexander 
County,  and  settled  near  where  our  subject  now 
resides.  Mr.  Edmundson,  when  a  youth,  did 
not  have  a  chance  to  attend  school,  but  was 
compelled  to  work  on  the  home  place.  When 
he  reached  his  majority,  he  purchased  a  farm 
of  160  acres  in  Section  30,  now  occupied  by  A. 
C.  Jaynes,  but  only  kept  it  until  1858:  From 
that  time  until  1873,  he  lived  on  a  number  of 
rented  farms,  in  both  this  county  and  across 
the  river  in  Missouri.  In  that  year,  however, ' 
he  purchased  his  present  farm,  a  tract  of  eighty 
acres  in  Section  18,  Township  14,  Range  3 
west.  Our  subject  was  married  in  April,  1868, 
to  Cassandra  Dameron.  The  result  of  this 
union  was  eight  children,  three  of  whom  are 
living — Edward,  born  September  20,  1869  ; 
and  a  pair  of  twin  brothers,  Richard  Allan  and 
John  Alexander,  born  August  15,  1875.  This  la- 
dy died  in  January,  1878.  He  was  married  next 
to  Mrs.  Sarah  Dameron,  nee  Jordan,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Alexander  Jordan,  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  late  war, 
having  enlisted  December  10,  1862,  in  the  Illi- 
nois Volunteer  Cavalry,  Sixth  Regiment,  Col. 
Grrierson,  Company  M,  Capt.  Sperry.  Remained 
out  until  August  30,  1864.  In  politics,  he  is 
a  Republican. 

GALE  BROTHERS,  farmers,  P.  0.  Thebes. 
Among  the  better  class  of  farmers  of  Alexan- 
der County,  none  stand  higher  than  the  gentle- 
men whose  names  head  this  sketch.     They  are 


EAST  CAPE  GIRARDEAU  PRECINCT. 


237 


four  in  number,  G.  W.,  Lawrence,  Bernard  and 

G.  N.,  sons  of  James  and  Mar}-  Gale,  and  were  ; 
born  in  Lincoln  County,  ^lo.:    George  in  1826, 
Lawrence  in  1831,  Bernard  in  1835,  and  Nor- 
man in  1837.     All  received  the  education  their  | 
native  county  afforded,    and    when   manhood's 
estate  was  reached,  the  bi-others  took  different 
directions  and  vocations  in  life.     The  two  older 
went  to  California  in  1850,  and  there  followed 
mining.     Bernard  remained  at  home  upon  the 
farm,  and  Norman,  the   youngest  of  them  all, 
followed    different  vocations  ;   first   sold   mer- 
chandise at  Charleston,  Mo.,  and  also  ran  a  saw- 
mill near  that  town.  In  1867,  he  purchased  part 
of  the  present  farm — a  tract   of   200   acres   in 
Section  34.     His  brother,  Bernard,  joined  him 
a  year  or  two  after,  and  in  1878  the  two  older 
brothers    returned   from    California,    and    the 
four  together  undertook  the  management  of  the 
place.     They  have  since  purchased    300    acres 
in  Sections  32  and   33,   and   now   have   about 
250  acres  in  cultivation.     All  still   remain    in 
the  state  of  single  blessedness.    A  sister,  Leah, 
acts  as   housekeeper.     All  are  members  of  St. 
Vincent  Catholic  Church  at   Cape   Girardeau, 
and  in  politics,  are  true  to  the  Democratic  part}'. 
E.  B.  GARAGHTY,  farmer  and  grocer,  East 
Cape  Girardeau.     The  father  of  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch  is  a  son  of  Eu- 
gene Garaghty,a  native  of  Westmeath,  Ireland. 
He  came  to  this  countr}*   when  a  young  man, 
settled  in  Ohio  and  there  married  Louisiana 
Burke,  a  daughter  of  Col.  William  Burke,  a  sol- 
dier under  Gen.  Harrison   in  the  Indian  wars. 
The  twain  came  to  Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.,  where 
the  father  carried  on  a  dry  goods  store.     There 
our  subject  was  born  Februar}-  18,  1840,  and 
was  the  third  of  six  children.     His  education 
was  received  in  St.  Vincent's   College,  and  at 
its  conclusion  he  clerked  in  his  father's  store. 
He  next  went  to  St.  Louis,  where    he  clerked 
for  White,  Billingsley  &  Co.,  and  Adamantine, 
Johnson  &  Co.     From  there  he  came  to  Alex- 
ander Countv,  and  there  commenced  the  life 


of  a  farmer  on  a  tract  of  land  given  him  by  his 
father  in  Sections  32  and  33,  Town  14,  Range  3 
west.  It  was  originally  900  acres,  but  he  now 
owns  about  700  acres,  150  of  which  are  in  culti- 
vation. In  1882,  he  commenced  running  a 
grocer}'  and  saloon  at  East  Cape  Girardeau, 
and  now  carries  a  stock  of  about  $400.  Mr! 
Garaghty  was  married,  February  22,  1873,  to 
Josephine  Hutchinson,  daughter  of  Vachael 
Hutchinson.  She  was  the  mother  of  five  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  are  living — Laura,  born 
April  27,  1876,  and  Alice,  born  October  29, 
1879.  Mrs.  Garaghty  died  December  18,  1881. 
He  entered  the  service  of  the  Missouri  Volun- 
teer Infantr}-,  Twenty-ninth  Regiment,  in  the 
fall  of  1862,  as  Captain  of  Companj-  B.  Re- 
signed in  1863  on  account  of  sickness.  He  is 
a  member  of  St.  Vincent  Catholic  Church. 

A.  C.  J  AYNES,  farmer,  P.  0.  East  Cape  Girar- 
deau. One  of  the  most  prosperous  young  fjirm- 
ers  of  Alexander  County  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  brief  sketch.  Valentine 
Jaynes.  his  father,  was  born  in  Madison,  Ind., 
and  came  to  Massac  County,  111.,  when  a  3'oung 
man.  He  there  married  Hester  Parker,  the  re- 
sult of  which  marriage  was  five  children.  Of 
this  number,  subject  was  the  oldest,  and  was 
born  December  3,  1853.  His  education  was 
but  limited,  and  he  only  attended  a  public 
school  about  four  months.  His  father  died 
when  he  was  about  fourteen,  and  he  was  sent 
to  Decatur,  111.,  where  he  remained  for  seven 
years,  working  around  at  different  farms. 
From  there,  he  returned  to  his  native  county, 
but  only  remained  a  year.  He  came  to  Alex- 
ander Count}'  in  1878,  and  first  farmed  on  a 
tract  that  he  rented  from  the  widow  Shrieber. 
There  he  remained  for  one  year,  and  then 
came  to  his  present  location.  He  now  owns 
160  acres  in  Section  30,  Town  14,  Range  3 
west,  of  which  about  130  acres  are  cultivated. 
Subject  was  married,  September  17,  1877,  to 
AUie  Rice,  daughter  of  John  and  Nancy  Rice, 
of  Metropolis,   Massac   County.      She   is   the 


2  38 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


mother  of  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing—Mahala  J.,  born  March  6,  1879,  and  Al- 
vin,  born  October  24,  1882.  In  politics,  he  is 
a  Republican. 

S.   A.   McGEE,  farmer.  P.   0.   Clear  Creek 
Landing.     The  father  of  our  subject  was  A.  N. 
McGee,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  born  in  1822. 
He  came  with  his  parents  when  young  to  Pu- 
laski County,  this  State.     In   that  county  the 
father  remained  until  sixteen.     Being  of  a  rov- 
ing disposition,  he  started  out  in   life,  and  fol- 
lowed for  some  time  whatever  his   inclination 
led  him.     He  finally  drifted  into  the  practice 
of  medicine,   and    settled    down    in    Mexico, 
Adrian   Co.,  Mo.,  where   he  married  Sarah   J. 
Burns,  a  daughter  of  Ptichard  Burns,  a  native 
of  Virginia.     Here  subject  was  born  March  9, 
1847.     The  father,  soon  after  our  subject  was 
born,  w^ent  to  Putnam  County,  Mo.,  and  he  rep- 
resented that  county  two  terms  in  the  Missouri 
Legislature.     Our  subject  received  his  educa- 
tion from  the  schools  of  Unionville,  that  coun- 
ty.    When  about  fifteen,    his  mother    having 
died,  he  commenced  working  out  by  the    day 
for  farmers.     In  1864,  he  began  life  for  him- 
self in  this  county,  on  a  farm  which  he  rented 
from  Pilgrim  McRaven.     In  1872,  he  purchased 
his  present  place,  a  farm  of  eighty  acres,  in 
Section  7.  Town  14,  Range  3  west.     Mr.  McGee 
was  married,  August  10,  1868.  to  Eliza  Giles, 
daughter  of  Alfred  Giles,  of  Clear  Creek  Pre- 
cinct.    She  is  the  mother  of  one  child,  Alfred 
W.,  born  December  6,  1870.     He  enlisted  in 
the  Fifteenth  Illinois  Cavalry,  Maj.  Carmichael, 
Company  H,  Capt.  Ezra  King,  on  December  6, 
1863,  and  was  honorably  discharged  in  June. 
1864. 

J.  H.  SAMS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Clear  Creek 
Landing.  One  of  the  oldest  families  that  set- 
tled in  Union  County  was  that  from  which  our 
subject  springs.  His  grandfather,  Thomas 
Sams,  emigrated  from  Kentucky  in  an  early 
day.  and  settled  near  Jonesboro,  Union  County, 
and   there  Nathan  Sams,  the  father  of  J.  H., 


was  born  in  1813.  The  father  resided  in  that 
county  until  a  young  man,  and  then  went  to 
Butler  County,  Ky.,  where  he  married  Melinda 
Elliott.  In  that  State  he  did  not  remain  long, 
but  came  from  there  to  Union  County,  and 
settled  about  three  miles  from  what  is  now 
Jonesboro.     There  subject  was  born  November 

7,  1844,  the  fifth  of  six  children.  His  parents 
came  to  Alexander  County  when  he  was  about 
two  years  old,  and  settled  about  two  miles 
northeast  of  Clear  Creek.  Subject's  education 
was  received  in  this  county,  and  he  early  com- 
menced working  on  the  home  place.  When 
twenty-one,  he  started  out  in  life  on  a  farm  be- 
longing to  his  father,  in  Union  Precinct,  Union 
County.  There  he  resided  only  two  years,  and 
then  came  to  his  present  residence.  Here  he 
first  bought  a  farm  of  eighty   acres  in  Section 

8,  Town  14,  Range  3  west.  He  now  has  eighty 
acres  more  in  same  section,  and  twenty-three 
acres  in  Section  5,  also  forty  acres  in  Section 
35,  Town  13,  Range  3  west,  of  Union  County. 
Has  200  acres  in  cultivation.  He  was  married, 
May  8,  1866,  to  Eliza  A.  McClure,  a  daughter 
of  Matthew  and  Eliza  McClure.  This  lady 
was  born  September  28,  1847,  and  was  the 
mother  of  two  children— Clara,  born  September 
15,  1869,  and  Clarence,  born  November  29, 
1871.     Mrs.  Sams  died  March  13,  1883. 

JAMES  L.  SANDERS,  farmer,  P.  0.  East 
Cape  Girardeau.  One  of  the  most  extensive 
farmers  of  Alexander  County  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  brief  sketch.  His 
grandfather,  John  Sanders,  was  a  native  of 
Jefferson  County,  Tenn.,  and  there  William 
Sanders,  the  father  of  subject,  was  born,  grew 
to  manhood's  estate,  and  there  married  Maria 
Jane  Thompson,  daughter  of  Ephraim  Thomp- 
son. The  twain  remained  in  their  native  State 
for  a  few  years,  and  then  moved  to  Jeflerson 
County,  Mo.,  where  our  suliject  was  born  No- 
vember 13,  1834,  the  fifth  of  eleven  children. 
The  father,  when  subject  was  about  twelve 
years  old,  came  to  this  county  and   settled    on 


UXITY  PRECINCT. 


239 


the  farm  now  owned  b}'  his  son.  The  educa- 
tional advantages  of  our  subject  w^ere  but  lim- 
ited, but  he  made  the  best  of  these.  When  his 
father  died  in  1860.  Mr.  Sanders,  then  in  his 
twentj'-sixth  3"ear,  assumed  charge  of  the  place, 
and  now  has  a  farm  of  560  acres,  situated  in 
Section  19,  Range  3  west.  Of  the  whole  tract, 
about  530.  acres  are  improved.  There  are  also 
about  five  acres  in  orchard.  Mr.  Sanders 
w^as  married  the  first  time.  March  4,  1869,  to 
Miss  Hattie  B.  Steward,  daughter  of  Chester 
Steward,  of  Cobden.  One  child,  Albert  Stew- 
ard Sanders,  who  was  born  November  3, 1870, 
was  the  result  of  this  union.  This  lady  died 
November  14,  1870.  He  was  married  the  sec- 
ond time,  April  1,  1881,  to  Miss  Virginia  B. 
Tibbetts,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Martha  Tibbetts. 
She  is  the  mother  of  one  child,  Helen,  born 
February  20,  1883.  In  politics,  Mr.  Sanders 
is  a  Republican.  Has  served  one  term  as 
Count}-  Commissioner  ;  has  also  been  Justice 
of  the  Peace. 

W.  0.  SANDERS,  farmer,  P.  0.  East  Cape 
Girardeau.  John  Sanders,  the  grandfather 
of  the  gentleman  who^e  name  heads  this  brief 
sketch,  was  a  native  of  Jefferson  County,  East 
Tenu.,  and  there  William  Sanders,  the  father, 
was  bof  ,  grew  to  manhood  and  married  Miss 
Jane     Thompson,    a    daughter    of     Ephraim 


Thompson.  The  father  followed  farming  in 
that  State  until  he  was  thirty  years  of  age, 
and  then  moved  to  Jeflferson  County,  Mo.,  and 
remained  there  about  twelve  years,  and  then 
came  to  Alexander  County,  and  settled  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  J.  S.  Sanders.  There 
our  subject  was  born  July  17,1849,  attended 
school  in  his  native  county  until  he  was  sev- 
enteen, and  then,  his  father  having  died,  he 
farmed  the  old  homestead  in  connection  with 
his  brother  James.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one. 
having  married,  he  took  part  of  the  home 
place,  and  farmed  it  himself  There  he  re- 
mained until  1880,  when  he  came  to  his  pres- 
ent farm,  a  tract  of  fifty-two  acres  in  Section 
12,  Town  14,  Range  4  west.  Mr.  Sanders 
was  married,  August  22,  1870,  to  Amanda  J. 
West,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Nancy  West.  Mrs. 
Sanders  was  the  mother  of  two  children,  Wil- 
burn  West,  born  January  12, 1872,  and  Clar- 
ence E.,  born  September  2,  1871.  This  lad\- 
died  February  6,  1876.  He  was  married  the 
second  time,  August  17,  1876,  to  Mrs.  Ellen 
DeWitt,  nee  King,  daughter  ot  Capt.  Ezra 
King.  The  result  of  this  union  was  three  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  is  living — Gertrude,  born 
January-  13,  1882.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  is  now  serving  as  Deputy  Sheriti 
and  Collector. 


UE^ITY    PEEOINCT. 


ASA  C.  ATHERTON,  saw  milling  and  mer- 
chant. Hodge's  Park.  One  of  the  leading  business 
men  in  this  precinct  is  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch.  He  was  born  in  what  is 
now  Pulaski  County,  November  21,  1832.  He 
was  the  second  of  six  children,  and  the  son  of 
Aaron  and  Elizabeth  (Atherton)  Atherton,  both 
natives  of  Kentucky.  His  scholastic  education 
was  but  slight,  his  father,  who  was  a  soldier  in 
the  Mexican  war,  being  killed  in  the  battle  of 


Buena  Vista.  February-  27,  1847.  After  his 
father's  death,  our  subject  carried  on  the  home 
until  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  then  embarked 
in  the  mercantile  trade,  in  what  was  then  known 
as  Valley  Forge,  Pulaski  Count}-,  and  acted  as 
Postmaster  at  what  is  now  known  as  Villa 
Ridge,  before  the  Illinois  Central  grading  was 
done.  In  that  business  he  remained  about  six 
years,  and  then  went  back  to  the  old  home 
farm,  where  he  remained  content  with  his  hon- 


240 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


est  lot  for  upward  of  twent}-  years.  Soon  af- 
ter Hodge's  Park  was  started,  he  came  to  his 
present  location,  where  he  erected  a  steam  saw 
mill  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  town,  at  a 
cost  of  $2,000.  The  engine  used  is  about 
thirty  horse-power,  and  the  mill  gives  employ- 
ment to  about  ten  hands.  About  a  year  after 
he  came  to  Hodge's  Park,  he  opened  a  store 
adjoining  the  mill,  and  there  carried  a  stock  of 
about  $1,000.  In  the  spring  of  1883,  he  moved 
the  store  to  Hodges  Park,  and  now  carries  a 
stock  of  $2,500.  He  also  owns  a  farm  of  100 
acres  in  Unity  Precinct,  situated  mostly  in  Sec- 
tion 35,  Town  15,  Range  2  west.  The  farm 
is  mostly  under  cultivation.  Mr.  Atherton  was 
married.  December  16,  1856,  to  Elizabeth  Jane 
Kelly.  This  lady  was  born  in  February,  1841, 
and  is  a  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (An- 
yon)  Kelly,  natives  of  Missouri.  She  was  the 
mother  of  six  living  children — John  H.,  a 
farmer  in  Pulaski  County  ;  Ellen  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  James  P.  Matthas,  of  Johnson  County  ; 
Edward  J.,  Grade,  Fannie  and  Vida.  This 
lady  died  March  22,  1883.  He  was  married  the 
second  time  to  Mrs.  Emily  Brown,  nee  Musie, 
June  27,  1883.  This  lady  is  the  daughter  of 
Samuel  Musie,  of  Missouri,  and  the  mother  of 
one  living  child,  \yilliam  Harrison  Brown.  Our 
subject,  is  a  member  of  the  Shiloh  Baptist 
Church,  and  is  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

JOSEPH  BUNDSCHUH.  farmer,  P.  0. 
Hodge's  Park,  is  a  native  of  Baden,  Germany, 
where  he  was  born  January  4,  1833.  He  at- 
tended the  schools  of  his  fatherland,  and  re- 
ceived a  liberal  education  there,  and  has,  since 
his  residence  in  this  country,  obtained  a  fair 
knowledge  of  the  English  language.  He  land- 
ed in  New  York  when  twenty-one  years  old, 
and  came  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  worked  on 
one  of  the  suburban  farms,  and  also  acted  as  a 
hotel  porter.  In  1857,  he  came  to  Mound 
City,  when  the  town  was  just  being  started,  and 
remained  until  he  saw  the  city  assume  its  pres- 
ent stand.     Talcing  a   humble  position  in  the 


place,  he  lent  a  helping  hand  to  many  of  the 
undertakings.  He  left  the  city  in  1871,  and 
came  to  his  present  farm,  a  farm  of  forty  acres 
in  Section  32,  Town  15.  Range  2  west.  Mr. 
Bundschuh  was  married,  in  1861,  to  Theresa 
Painter,  a  daughter  of  Alban  Painter,  of  Mound 
City.  She  is  the  mother  of  four  children,  two 
of  whom  are  now  living — Oderwalder  and  "Will- 
iam Alban.     In  politics,  he  is  Republican. 

W.  N.  EMERSON,  merchant  and  express 
agent,  Hodge's  Park,  was  born  in  Delaware 
County,  Ohio,  June  25,  1843.  He  is  a  son  of 
Benjamin  and  Mary  (Allan)  Emerson.  The 
former  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
the  latter  of  Pennsylvania.  He  received  his 
education  partiall}-  in  Ohio,  and  in  1852  came 
with  his  father  to  Massac  County,  111.,  where  he 
followed  farming.  The  son  helped  his  father 
on  the  farm  until  about  twent3'-two,  and  then 
commenced  learning  a  trade  of  A.  C.  Atherton. 
He  soon  commenced  in  a  mill  of  his  own  in 
Pulaski  County,  and  remained  there  until  1880, 
when  he  came  to  this  county  and  worked  in 
the  saw  mill  of  A.  C.  Atherton  until  July, 
1882.  His  health  failing,  he  opened  a  store  at 
Hodge's  Park.  He  is  also  acting  as  Express 
Agent  for  the  Adams  Express  Company.  Our 
subject  was  married,  Februar}-  15,  1872,  in 
America,  Pulaski  Count}^,  to  Melinda  Combey, 
a  daughter  of  James  and  Jane  (Granton)  Com- 
be}-,  natives  of  Tennessee.  She  is  the  mother 
of  three  living  children — Lucie  Ma}-,  Crowie 
Neilson  and  EfBe  Eudora.  He  enlisted  in  the 
Twenty-ninth  Illinois  Yolunteeis,  Company  H, 
on  August  17,  1861,  and  was  out  until  August 
27,  1864.  He  was  shot  in  the  left  arm  and 
left  leg  in  the  battle  o?  Fort  Donelson.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  I.  0.  G.  T.,  and  in  politics  is 
a  Republican. 

F.  M.  HARGROYES,  merchant,  Hodge's 
Park,  was  born  in  Pulaski  County  July  29, 
1845.  He  is  a  son  of  John  and  Luciuda  (Pal- 
mer) Hargroves,  and  is  the  youngest  of  six 
children.     He  received  a  fair  education  in  the 


UNITY    PRECINCT. 


241 


schools  of  his  native  county,  and  then  helped 
on  his  lather's  farnci  until  he  was  twent3--eight. 
He  then  settled  on  a  farm  in  Caledonia  Pre- 
cinct, and  there  remained  until  about  1880, 
when  he  came  to  Hodge's  Park  and  opened  a 
general  store.  He  now  carries  a  stock  of 
about  $500.  Mr.  Hargroves  was  married  Ma}' 
1.  1873,  to  Elizabeth  Lynch.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Mary  Lynch,  natives  of 
Ireland.  This  lady  was  the  mother  of  four 
children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living — ^Effle 
May,  Mary  Alma  and  Oscar.  Besides  his  store, 
he  also  owns  a  farm  of  forty  acres  in  Pulaski 
County,  situated  in  Section  12,  Town  15,  Range 
1  east.     He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

WILLIAM  IRELAND,  carpenter  and  hotel 
keeper,  Hodge's  Park,  was  born  in  Western 
Virginia  April  10,  1815,  and  is  a  son  of  Alex- 
ander and  Betsey  (Ragin)  Ireland.  He  at- 
tended the  schools  of  his  native  State,  and  at 
the  age  of  nineteen  went  to  Guernse\'  County, 
Ohio,  where  he  followed  farming.  In  1848,  he 
went  to  Missouri  and  settled  in  West  Prairie, 
Stoddard  County,  but  onlj-  remained  there  one 
year,  and  then  came  to  Alexander  County.  He 
settled  first  at  Clear  Creek,  but  only  remained 
there  a  few  months,  when  he  came  to  Santa  Fe 
and  there  followed  the  trade  of  a  carpenter, 
also  bought  and  sold  lumber.  At  this  point,  he 
remained  twenty-seven  years,  and  in  1877  he 
came  to  Hodge's  Pai'k,  where  he  has  since  run 
a  hotel.  He  also  has  an  undertaking  estab- 
lishment. Our  subject  was  married  February 
5.  1835.  in  Guernsey  County,  Ohio,  to  Minnie 
Hutton.  a  daughter  of  William  and  Catharine 
(Peters)  Hutton.  She  is  the  mother  of  ten 
children,  eight  of  whom  are  living,  viz,  :  Jesse 
and  John  F.  (both  following  the  carpenter's 
trade  in  Hodge's  Park),  Sarah  (wife  of  William 
B.  Anderson,  St.  Louis),  Amanda  (wife  of  Eli 
Sowei'S,  of  Pulaski  County),  Nancy  (wife  of 
John  Cook,  Hodge's  Park),  x\lexander  (now  in 
business  in  Santa  F^),  W,  W,  and  Alonzo 
(now  in    Commerce,    Mo.).     Mr.  Ireland    is  a 


member  of  the  Olive  Branch  Methodist  Church. 
He  has  acted  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  most  of 
the  time  since  1851.  and  is  at  present  serving 
in  that  capacity.  He  was  Postmaster  for  fif- 
teen years  at  Santa  Fe.  In  politics,  he  is  a 
Republican. 

W.  J.  MILFORD.  farmer,  P.  0.  Hodge's 
Park,  was  born  in  Steward  County,  Tenu., 
September  25,  1821.  He  is  a  son  of  William 
and  Elizabeth  (Lumous)  Milford,  and  was  the 
fifth  of  seven  children.  When  eight  years  old, 
his  father  came  with  him  to  Clinton  County. 
111.,  and  there  the  father  lived  until  1838,  when 
he  went  back  to  Alabama.  The  education  of 
subject  was  received  mainly  by  his  own  eflbrts, 
his  first  schooling  being  obtained  when  he  was 
seventeen  years  of  age,  when  he  paid  his  way 
to  the  subscription  schools.  He  worked  around 
on  different  farms  of  Clinton  County  until 
1844,  and  then  came  to  Franklin  County  and 
remained  there  until  February,  1845,  wheu  he 
came  to  this  county  and  first  worked  on  the  farm 
of  William  Clapp,  of  Sandusky  Precinct,  and 
then  for  Jack  Hodges,  Sr.,  of  Unity  Precinct. 
In  1852,  he  settled  on  his  present  farm,  then 
Congress  land  ;  it  contained  eighty  acres,  and 
was  situated  in  Section  35,  Town  15,  Range  2. 
He  now  has  the  place  in  cultivation.  Subject 
was  married,  August  5,  1847,  to  Eliza  Caro- 
line Howard,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Howard,  Pulaski  County.  She  was  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  three  of  whom  are  now 
living,  viz.  :  Sai'ah  Elizabeth  (wife  of  John  S. 
Rj'al,  of  Dogtooth  Precinct),  Martha  Ann 
(wife  of  William  Minton,  of  Unity  Precinct), 
and  Frances  Decatur.  His  wife  died  Septem- 
ber 16,  1861,  and  he  was  married  the  second 
time,  October  7,  1861,  to  Mrs.  Martha  Caro- 
line Atherton,  nee  Childers.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  James  Childers,  and  was  the 
mother  of  three  children — John  A.  (now  in 
Davenport,  Iowa),  Eliza  Melvina  and  Willie. 
This  lady  died  January  29,  1875,  and  a  third 
time  he  wedded  Mary  F.  Kelsey,  a  daughter 

p 


243 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


of  Naman  and   Sarah  Jane  (Barber)  Kelsey  ; 
she    is  also    the   mother   of  three  children  — 
Laura    lone,    George    Edward   and    Jefferson 
Eugene.     Mr.  Milford    is   a  Democrat  in  pol- 
itics, and  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
DR.   JOHN  I.  NOWOTNY,  physician  and 
druggist,     podge's    Park,    was    born    in  the 
city  of  New  York    July  -i,  1833,  and  is  a  son 
of    John    I.    and    Eliza   (Haskett)   Nowotny. 
The  father  was  a  native  of  Prague,  and  the 
mother  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  but  of 
Irish  descent.     The  father  died  when  subject 
was  but  six  years  old,   and   he  early  became 
able  to  take  care  of  himself     He   followed  a 
roving    disposition.     When    quite  a    boy,  he 
came  West  and  worked  on  a  farm  in  Warren 
County,  Ohio.     In    1847,    however,    he  went 
back  to  New  York  and  entered  a  drug  store, 
where  he  soon  learned  the  trade  of  a  prescrip- 
tion clerk.    He  followed  that  vocation  in  several 
States,  and  finally,  in  1857,  he  graduated  from 
the  Keokuk  (Iowa)  Medical  College,  and  com- 
menced his  practice  in  Southern  Illinois.     In 
1871,  he  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  at  what  is 
now  known  as  Beech  Ridge,  Alexander  County. 
He  cut  the  first  stick  of  timber  in  that  section 
of  the  country,  and  besides  following  his  pro- 
fession, farming  occupied  a  good  deal  of  his 
attention.     In  this  region,  he  practiced  medi- 
cine until  1880,  and  then  went  to  Minnesota, 
where  he  intended  to  settle  down  as  a  farmer. 
Becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  climate,  he  took 
a  trip  West  and  finally  in  June,  1883,  he  came 
to  Illinois  again  and  settled  at  Hodges  Park, 
where  he  purchased  the  drug  store  of  W.  W. 
Ireland.     He  will  also  practice  his  profession 
there.     Mr.   Nowotny  was    married  in  Brown 
County,  Ohio,  May  22,  1856.  to  Miss  Harriet 
Wall,  a  daughter  of  Maj.  William  Wall  (a  sol- 


dier of  the  Mexican  war),  and  Elizabeth 
(Thompson)  Wall,  a  native  of  New  Jersey. 
She  was  the  mother  of  four  sons — William  W- 
(now  in  Cairo  with  the  Express  Company), 
Charles  (now  a  farmer  in  Dakota),  John 
(working  for  the  Commercial  Electric  Light 
Company  of  Cincinnati),  and  Harry  (now  as- 
sisting his  father  in  the  drug  store).  This 
lady  died  April  17,  1876,  and  he  was  married 
on  February  U,  1880,  to  Miss  Mary  Hodges, 
a  daughter  of  John  Hodges,  of  Unity  Precinct. 
He  enlisted  in  the  Thirty-seventh  Indiana  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  in  September,  1861,  and  was 
out  six  mouths.  He  is  a  member  of  AUens- 
ville  Lodge,  No.  81,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  a 
Democrat  in  politics. 

CREDELLAS  STEWART,  merchant, 
Hodge's  Park.  One  of  the  3-oungest  merchants 
in  Alexander  County  is  the  gentleman  of 
whom  this  is  a  brief  sketch.  He  was  born  in 
Choctaw  County,  Miss.,  March  2,  1857  ;  he  is  a 
son  of  W.  W.  Stewart,  who  is  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.  When  our  subject  was  about  seven 
years  of  age,  his  father  came  with  him  to  Illi- 
nois, where  he  settled  in  Thebes  Precinct. 
Here  he  farmed  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
then  came  to  Unity  Precinct,  where  he  is  at 
present  farming.  Our  subject  attended  school 
at  Thebes  until  he  was  about  eighteen,  and 
then  commenced  clerking  for  B.  F.  Brown  & 
Co.  In  1880,  he  came  to  Hodge's  Park,  and 
opened  a  store  with  B.  F.  Brown,  under  the 
title  of  Brown  &  Stewart.  They  now  carry 
a  stock  of  about  $2,500.  Mr.  Stewart  was 
married,  May  28,  1882.  to  Miss  Nancy  Ziegler, 
a  daughter  of  Willard  and  Kate  (Yount)  Zieg- 
ler, natives  of  Pennsj'lvania.  He  is  now  serv- 
ing as  Postmaster  at  Hodge's T?*ark  ;  in  politics, 
he  is  a  Republican. 


CLEAR  CREEK  PRECINCT. 


243 


OLEAE   CHEEK   PEECiNOT. 


A.  J.  BUNCH,   farmer,  P.  0.  Clear  Creek 
Lauding.     The    grandparents    of  our  subject 
were  natives    of  Christian    County,  Ky.,  and 
there  Cater  Bunch,  the  fathtr,  was  born.     His 
father  having  died  soon  after  he  was  born,  his 
mother  came  with  him  and  his  brothers  and 
sisters    to  this    county,  and    settled  close   to 
where  Elco  now  stands.     There  the  father  grew 
to    manhood    and  married  Maria    Landers,  of 
that  precinct.     There  also  our  subject,  the  sixth 
of  seven  children,  was  born  January  31,  1837. 
His  pai-ents  died  when  he  was  young,  and  he 
was  taken  to  Jonesboro  Precinct,  Union  Coun- 
ty, where  he  was  raised.     At  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, he  commenced   learning  the   trade  of  a 
blacksmith,  under  Adam  Cruse,  of  Jonesboro. 
He  next  worked   for  a  man   by  the  name  of 
Matthew    Stokes.     In  time,  Mr.  Stokes    took 
our  subject  in  as  a  partner,  and  they  continued 
in  business  for  some  time.     The   latter,  how- 
ever, finally    purchased    his  partner's    interest 
and  continued  hy  himself.     After  working  for 
several  years  there,  our  subject  came  to  Clear 
Creek  and    erected  a  blacksmith  shop  on  the 
McClure  place.     He  remained  there  four  years, 
and  then  embarked  on  the  life  of  a  farmer,  and 
purchased  a  farm  of  sixty  acres  in  Section  9, 
Town   14.  Range  3  west.     He  also  owns  fifty 
acres  in  Meisenheimer  Precinct,  Union  County. 
Our   subject  was  married,  March  12,  1862,  to 
Minerva  I.  Sams,  a  daughter  of  Nathan  Sams. 
She  is  the   mother  of  five   children— Joseph, 
born  December  24, 1863  ;  Norma,  born  October 
29.    1874;    Eunice,    born    Octobers,    1876; 
Herman,    born    January    25,  1879  ;    Rodney, 
born  December  30.  1880.     In  politics,  he  was 
a  Democrat  until  the   breaking-out  of  the  war, 
but  since  that  time  he  has  been  a  Republican. 
He  has  served  in  numerous  township   offices, 


and  is  a  member  of  Jonesboro  Lodge,  No.  241, 
L  O.  0.  F. 

MRS.  SARAH  J.  CRAIG,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Clear  Creek  Landing.  The  husband  of  this  lady 
was  John  Craig,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  He 
was  born  July  29,  1828,  and  was  a  son  of  Leon 
and  Letitia  Craig.  From  that  State  he  came 
to  this  county  when  he  was  about  seventeen, 
and  commenced  life  as  a  farm  hand  for  Wash- 
ington McRaven.  Our  subject's  maiden  name 
was  Sarah  J.  Palmer,  and  is  a  native  of  Bun- 
combe County,  N.  C.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
John  Palmer,  and  was  born  January  14,  1833. 
When  young  her  parents  brought  her  to  Illi- 
nois and  first  settled  in  Alton.  From  there 
they  came  to  this  county  and  settled  near 
Clear  Creek.  Mr.  Craig,  in  1854,  on  his  twen- 
ty-fourth birthday,  was  united  in  marriage  to 
our  subject,  and  the  next  year  after  they  came 
to  the  farm  upon  which  Mrs.  Craig  now  resides. 
The  original  purchase  was  forty  acres  in  Sec- 
tion 16,  Town  14,  Range  3  west.  This  has 
since  been  increased  to  360  acres,  of  which  185 
acres  are  in  cultivation.  To  the  twain  were  born 
four  cliildren  ;  one  only,  W.  S.,  is  now  living. 
He  was  born  June  12.  1864.  Mr.  Craig  died 
March  13,  1877,  and  our  subject  now  carries 
on  the  farm,  assisted  by  her  son.  She  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
North. 

JASPER  CULLEY,  merchant,  Clear  Creek 
Landing.  Among  the  stores  scattered  over 
Alexander  County  at  the  different  cross  roads 
and  in  the  many  country  towns,  none  are  pre- 
sided over  by  a  more  genial  man,  and  none  of 
better  business  qualities,  than  the  one  at  Clear 
Creek,  to  which  the  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch  presides.  His  grandparents 
,  were  natives  of  Massachusetts,  and   there  the 


244 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


father,  M.  M.  CuUey,  was  born  in  1796.  From 
that  State  he  came  to  McCracken  County,  Ky., 
when  a  young  man,  and  there  married  Huldah 
J.  :Moore.  In  that  county  our  subject  was  born 
August  24, 1833,  the  seventh  of  eight  children. 
His  parents  moved  to  Franklin  County,  111., 
when  subject  was  about  ten  years  old,  and  from 
there  soon  after  to  Thebes,  this  county.  In 
this  town  Mr.  Culley  received  his  education, 
and  commenced  doing  for  himself  at  the  car- 
penters  bench.  He  worked  at  that  for  about 
six  years,  and  then,  in  1859.  he  embarked  in 
the  grocery  business  at  Thebes.  There  he  re- 
mained eight  years,  and  then  came  to  Clear 
Creek  Landing,  where  he  now  has  a  general 
store  and  carries  a  stock  of  about  $5,000.  He 
has  associated  with  him  C.  A.  Marchildon,  of 
Thebes,  under  the  firm  name  of  Jasper  Culley 
&  Co.  He  was  married,  May  1.  1863,  to 
Eugenie  Marchildon,  a  daughter  of  S.  M. 
Marchildon,  of  Thebes,  but  a  native  of  Canada. 
She  is  the  mother  of  eight  children,  six  of  whom 
are  living — Alice,  Marian,  Henry,  Leon,  Mat- 
^  tie  and  Beulah.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  is  now  serving  as  Postmaster. 

MR8.  CAROLINE  V.  M'cCLURE,  farmer, 
P.  0.  Clear  Creek  Landing.  Our  subject  was 
a  daughter  of  A.  H.  and  Susan  Overbay,  and 
was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  Va.,  July 
29,1833.  Her  parents  came  to  this  county 
when  she  was  about  eight  years  of  age,  and 
settled  at  Cairo,  where  the  father  carried  on  a 
general  store.  Here  she  received  the  rudi- 
ments of  her  education,  going  until  she  was 
sixteen  years  of  age.  Thomas  J.  McClure  was 
born  in  Boonville,  Mo.,  September  8,  1823,  a 
son  of  James  McClure,  a  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  of  that  county.  In  his  youth,  he  attended 
school  some,  but  left  his  father  when  about  six- 
teen to  start  for  himself,  and  went  to  New  Or- 
leans, where  he  remained  about  two  years,  as 
wharf  clerk.  He  then  came  to  this  county, 
and  worked  tirst  for  Matthew  McClure,  his  un- 
cle.    After  working  there  for  about  three  years 


he  started  for   himself,  and  rented  a  farm  of 
twenty  acres,  and  there  "  bached  it"  for  about 
two    years.       Improving     his     circumstances 
slightly,  he  wedded  Mis.s  Polly  Phillips  in  the 
spring  of  1847.     This  lady  was  the  mother  of 
two  children,  both  of  whom  are  dead  ;  the  eld- 
est, Mary,  was  born  October  24,  1851,  and  was 
the  wife  of  Mr.  C.    L.    Otrich,   of  Anna.      She 
died  March  11,  1880.     Mr.  McClure  was  mar- 
ried the  second  time,  to  our  subject,    February 
24,  1853.     The  farm  then  contained  about  300 
acres,  and  the  homestead  was  about  seven  miles 
from  the  present  location,  to    which   they   re- 
moved in  June,  1853.     That  farm   originally 
contained  120  acres,  which  has  since  been   in- 
creased to  1,700  acres,  most   of  which  lies   in 
Sections  10,  14  and  15,   Town   14,   Range   3 
west.     There  are  at   present  about  1,100  acres 
under  cultivation.    Mrs.  McClure  is  the  mother 
six  of  children— Logan,  born    September   27, 
1854,  died  November  19,  1854;  Virginia,  born 
February  23,   1856,  wife  of  A.    J.  Findley,   of 
Clear  Creek  ;  Henry  C,  born  April  28,  1858, 
and  drowned  in  Clear  Creek,  August  30,  1879  ; 
Caroline,  born   October    18,  1861  ;  James  T., 
born  November  8,  1864,  and  Claude,  born  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1871.     In  1854,  Mr.  McClure  went  to 
Thebes,    where  he  devoted  his  attention  to  the 
mercantile  business  in  connection  with  Mr.   A. 
H.  Overbey.     He  remained  there  about  twelve 
years,  and  then  returned  to  his  farm  at  Thebes. 
He  was  a  member  of  the    Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church.     He  died   Wednesday,    x\ugust 
23,  1882,  and  was  buried  in  the  cemetery    near 
his  home.      Since   her   husband's  death,  Mrs. 
McClure  has  carried  on  the  farm,    assisted   by 
her  son,  James  T. 

PILGRIM  McRAVEN,  farmer.  P.  0.  Clear 
Creek  Landing.  One  of  the  leading  farmers  in 
Clear  Creek  Precinct  is  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch.  Benjamin  McRaven, 
the  father,  avlis  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
lived  there  until  he  reached  manhood,  and  then 
came  to  Tennessee,  where  he  married  Millie 


CLEAE    CREEK    PRECINCT. 


245 


Vick.  Soon  after  Lis  marriage,  Lie  came  to  Il- 
linois and  settled  in  Dougola  Precinct,  Union 
County,  being  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in 
that  section.  There  subject  was  born  October 
15,  1830.  His  father  came  to  Alexander  Coun- 
ty when  subject  was  about  seven  years  old, 
first  settling  about  four  miles  northeast  of  Clear 
Creek  ;  then,  four  years  after,  he  came  to  the 
farm  now  occupied  by  subject,  where  he  lived 
until  his  death  in  1845.  Subject  received  his 
education  in  the  subscription  schools  of  his 
count}-.  After  his  fathers  death,  he  remained 
on  the  farm  with  his  mother  until  184:9,  when 
she  died.  "  He  then  took  charge  of  the  place 
himself  It  was  first  a  farm  of  sixty-six  acres 
in  Section  9.  This  has  been  increased  since 
by  ninety-four  acres  in  same  section,  120  acres 
in  Section  IG,  320  acres  in  Section  15,  165 
acres  in  Section  25,  and  fort}-  acres  in  Section 
26.  Of  this  about  350  are  cleared.  He  also 
pays  some  attention  to  the  raising  of  fine  stock. 
Subject  was  married,  in  1851,  to  Elizabeth  N. 
Phillips,  of  Alexander  County.  She  is  the 
mother  of  eight  living  children — P.  H.,  J.  S., 
Thomas  W.,  Nellie  Jane,  Luella,  Benjamin,  El- 
mer E.  and  Mary.  In  politics,  Mr.  McRaven 
is  a  Republican^  voting  that  ticket  first  in  1865. 
J.  P.  WALKER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Clear  Creek 
Landing.  Probably  the  oldest  native  resident 
of  this  precinct  is  the  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch.  The  grandpijrents  of  our 
subject  were  natives  of  Tennessee,  and  there 
William  Walker,  his  son,  was  born,  grew  to 
manhood,  and  married  Priscilla  Hannah,  also  a 
native  of  Tennessee.  The  twain  immediately 
after  marriage  came  to  Missouri,  where  the}'  re- 
mained for  some  years.  They  came  to  this 
county  some  time  before  the  year  1811,  and  lo- 
cated in  the  bottom  land  near  Clear  Creek. 
In  the  earthquake  of  that  year,  the  land  Mr. 
Walker  was  living  on  sunk,  and  he  took  his 
family   to  the  hills   near  Rifle  Creek,  in    the 


northern  part  of  the  county.  From  there  _the 
family  came  to  part  of  the  farm  now  owned  by 
subject.  There  subject  was  born  February  22, 
1818,  and  was  the  youngest  of  a  large  family 
of  children.  His  father  died  in  1823,  when  he 
was  but  five  years  old.  But  he  was  permitted 
to  attend  the  subscription  schools  of  his  county 
some.  Being  the  only  boy  at  home,  he  early 
commenced  the  life  of  a  farmer  and  helped 
support  his  mother  and  sisters.  As  soon  as  he 
reached  his  majority,  he  took  entire  charge  of 
the  place,  his  mother  having  died  in  1844:.  On 
this  place  he  has  since  lived.  The  piece  in- 
herited from  his  father,  was  a  farm  of  sixty 
acres  in  Section  9.  He  has  since  purchased 
sixty  acres  more  in  same  Section,  and  eighty 
acres  in  Section  16.  He  has  about  140  acres 
under  cultivation.  Mr.  Walker  was  married 
in  1840  to  Miss  Sabra  Hall,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Hall.  She  was  the  mother  of  eight 
children,  three  of  whom  are  living — Samuel  E., 
born  January  29,  1849.  now  assisting  his 
father  on  the  home  place  ;  Sallie  Ann  Priscilla, 
born  March  7,  1853,  the  wife  of  Riley  Price,  of 
Duncan  County,  Mo. ;  and  Sabra,  born  April 
28,  1856,  married  to  Edward  Perry,  of  Cape 
Grirardeau  County.  Mrs.  Walker  died  August 
16,  1857.  He  was  married  the  second  time  to 
Mrs.  Louisa  Oiles.  who  was  the  mother  of 
three  children,  two  of  whom  are  living :  Mary 
A.,  born  January  1,  1859,  and  G-eorge  W.,  born 
November  18,  1861.  This  wife  died  tVovem- 
ber  1,  1864.  The  third  time  he  was  married. 
May  15,  1865,  to  Eliza  Pucket,  daughter  of 
Asa  Pucket ;  one  child  of  this  union  now  lives, 
Asa,  born  February  23,  1870.  This  wife  died 
in  April,  1874.  He  was  married  the  fourth 
time,  June  3, 1878,  to  Mrs.  Caroline  E.  Bracken, 
nee  Kennel,  who  died  May  17,  1883,  without 
issue.  He  is  a  member,  as  was  also  his  wife, 
of  the  Clear  Creek  Baptist  Church,  and  in 
politics  Mr.  Walker  is  a  Republican. 


346 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


SANDUSKY   PKEOINCT. 


CAPT.  B.  S.  CRANE,  stearaboat  pilot  and  far- 
mer. P.  0.  Sandusky,  was  born  in  Louisville,  K}'., 
July  24, 1824,  and  is  a  son  of  William  and  Han- 
nah (Johnson)  Crane,  both  natives  of  Virginia, 
from  which  State  they  emigrated  to  Kentucky 
about  1795.  His  school  days  were  but  few, 
but  since  manhood  he  has  taught  himself.  At 
the  age  of  twelve,  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  rope- 
maker,  and  remained  with  him  four  years.  He 
then  went  on  to  the  river,  first  as  a  knife- 
scourer,  and  has  since  become  one  of  the  fore- 
most pilots  of  the  Mississippi.  He  commenced 
piloting  about  1840,  and  ran  first  from  Louis- 
ville to  New  Orleans.  Over  that  route,  he  di- 
rected vessels  until  after  the  war,  and  has  since 
ran  over  the  same  course,  and  also  taken  in  St. 
Louis.  For  several  years  past,  he  has  been 
acting  as  pilot  on  the  Government  boat  "Will- 
iam Stone."  While  at  home  for  a  number  of 
years,  he  stopped  at  Cairo,  but  in  March,  1883, 
he  purchased  a  farm  in  Sandusk}'  Precinct, 
which  his  wife  now  directs.  It  is  situated  in 
Section  13,  Town  15,  Range  2  west.  It  is  a 
farm  of  120  acres,  of  which  about  thirty  acres 
are  in  cultivation.  In  the  war,  he  rendered  good 
service  as  pilot  on  Admiral  Porter's  flag-ship, 
and  was  all  through  the  siege  and  fall  of  Vicks- 
burg.  Mr.  Crane  was  married,  April  8,  1871. 
to  Mrs.  M3'ra  Josephine  Ken3-on,  nee  Nathans. 
This  lady  is  the  daughter  of  William  and  Re- 
becca (Boliet)  Nathans.  The  father  was  one 
of  the  leading  lawyers  in  Richmond,  Va.,  and 
the  mother  was  a  native  of  Port  Canton,  in  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  France.  Mrs.  Crane  was  born 
April  16,  1836,  at  Laporte,  R.  I.,  and  is  the 
mother  of  one  child,  Ralph  M.  Kenyon,  now  in 
business  in  Custer  City,  D.  T.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Crane  is  a  Democrat. 

D.  D.  C.  HARaiS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Sandusky, 


was  born  in  Pike  County,  Tenn.,  Jul}-  29,  1829^ 
and  is  a  son  of  Dennis  and  Drucilla  Ann  (Shaw) 
Hargis.  Our  subject  received  his  education 
in  the  old  subscription  schools,  and  when 
twenty,  he  and  his  father  moved  to  Alexander 
Count}-,  where  the  father  lived  until  his  death, 
in  1858.  The  son  settled  down  on  a  tract 
of  land  in  Section  19,  Town  15,  Range  2 
west.  He  now  owns  about  300  acres,  of 
which  ninety  are  in  cultivation.  Mr.  Hargis 
was  married  on  June  10.  1849,  to  Ann  Eliza- 
beth Lancaster,  a  daughter  of  William  Lancas- 
ter, who  was  a  native  of  Virginia.  She  was  the 
mother  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now 
living — Loniel  D.  and  Francis  M.  This  lady 
died  in  1857,  and  he  was  married  the  second 
time,  in  March,  1858,  to  Arzilla  Nelson,  a 
daughter  of  James  and  Susan  Nelson.  She  is 
the  mother  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are 
living — Sydney  S.  and  Webster.  Our  subject 
enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninth  Regi- 
ment, Company  B,  Capt.  McClure,  but  was 
transferred  to  the  Eleventh,  where  he  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  In  politics,  3Ir. 
Hargis  is  a  Democrat. 

GEORGE  McLEAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  San- 
dusky, was  born  in  Wilkesbarre,  Penn.,  March 
19,  1839.  He  was  a  son  of  Alexander  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Swan)  McLean.  Our  subject  received 
a  liberal  education,  and  when  old  enough  to 
work,  assisted  his  father,  who  was  a  coal  oper- 
ator. In  the  fall  of  1859,  he  crossed  the  coun- 
try- to  Colorado,  and  worked  for  two  years  in 
the  mines  there.  When  the  war  broke  out,  he 
enlisted  September  19, 1861,  in  what  was  known 
as  the  Nebraska  Battalion  of  the  Fifth  Iowa 
Volunteer  Infantry.  During  the  service,  he 
served  as  Orderly  Sergeant.  He  was  honoi'a- 
h\y  discharged  November  19,    1864.     He  was 


SANTxV    FE    PRECINCT. 


•J47 


wounded  in  both  arms,  and  also  lost  the  hear- 
ing in  his  left  ear  b)'  being  dragged  some  dis- 
tance through  some  iron  filings  that  had  been 
thrown  on  the  road  bed.  Immediately  after 
the  close  of  the  war,  he  was  tendered  and  ac- 
cepted the  position  of  United  States  Land  Of- 
fice Receiver  and  Disbursing  Agent  for  Mon- 
tana, with  headquarters  at  Helena.  He  remained 
at  his  post  of  duty  until  1871,  and  then  went 
to  Nevada,  where  he  engaged  in  ranching  and 
mining  for  one  year.  His  health  failing,  he 
came  to  Cairo,  111.  In  1877,  desiring  a  West- 
ern trip  again,  he  went  to  the  Black  Hills, 
where  he  again  mined  for  a  season.  In  1878, 
he  returned  to  his  old  home  in  Wilkesbarre, 
Luzerne  Co.,  Penn.  In  1880,  he  returned  to 
Illinois,  and  purchased  his  present  farm  in  Al- 
exander County.  It  is  situated  in  Section  13, 
Town  15,  Range  2  west,  and  contains  160  acres, 
of  which  about  110  are  in  cultivation,  and  about 
three  and  one-half  acres  in  orchard.  Mr.  Mc- 
Lean was  married  on  December  24, 1873,  to  Mng. 
Clementine  McGee.  a  daughter  of  Luther  Sten- 
cil, of  Cairo.  She  is  the  mother  of  one  child, 
William  Q.  McGee.  Our  subject  is  a  member 
of  Morning  Star  Lodge,  No  5,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of 


Helena,  M.  T.,  and  also  of  Eli  Post,  No.  97,  G. 
A.  R.     In  politics,  he  is  an  Independent. 

WILLIAM  POWLES,  farmer,  P.  O.  San- 
dusk}',  was  born  August  26,  1839,  in  Union 
Count}'.  111.,  and  is  a  son  of  Peter  and  Amelia 
(Holtzhouser)  Powles,  natives  of  North  Caro- 
lina. The}-  both  lived  until  a  good  old  age, 
and  died  about  eight  years  ago  in  Mill  Creek 
Precinct,  Union  County.  Our  subject  received 
his  education  in  the  schools  of  bis  native  coun- 
ty, and  at  the  age  of  twenty  he  came  to  his 
present  location.  He  first  purchased  120  acres 
in  Section  5,  Town  15,  Range  2  west,  and  has 
snice  added  to  that  eighty  acres  in  same  sec- 
tion. He  has  about  seventy -five  acres  in  cul- 
tivation, and  about  two  acres  in  orchard.  Mr. 
Powles  was  married  in  1859  to  Eliza  Jane 
Miller,  a  daughter  of  Charles  Miller,  of  Union 
County.  She  is  the  mother  of  ten  children, 
nine  of  whom  are  now  living — David,  Henry. 
Adeline,  Amanda.  Alice,  Mattie  Ann,  Viola. 
Leola  and  Hollie.  Our  subject  has  served  in 
many  petty  olfices,  and  is  now  serving  as 
Township  Trustee.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Demo- 
crat, and  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church. 


SA^TA    FE    PREOINOT. 


FRENCH  JONES,  farmer,  P.  0.  Santa  Fe,  , 
was  born  in  Scott  County,  Mo.,  October  28, 
1832,  and  is  a  son  of  Washington  and  Sophia  , 
(Overton)  Jones.  The  father  was  a  native  of 
Illinois,  the  mother  of  Orange  County.  Va.  j 
Our  subject's  education  was  received  in  the  \ 
old  subscription  schools  of  his  native  county,  i 
and  he  then  helped  his  father  on  the  home  j 
farm  until  about  twent}',  when  he  commenced  j 
life  as  a  farmer.  In  1869,  he  came  to  his  j 
present  farm  in  Sante  Fe  Precinct.  It  is  a  , 
tract  of  400  acres,  situated  mostly  in  Sections  ; 


35  and  36  south,  Town  15.  Range  3  west,  and 
now  there  are  about  150  acres  in  cultivation. 
Mr.  Jones  was  married  in  Scott  County,  Mo., 
on  January  25,  1862,  to  Telitha  J.  Evans,  a 
daughter  of  Rollie  E.  and  Sarah  G.  (Barnes) 
Evans  ;  the  former  was  born  in  Missouri,  and 
the  latter  in  Kentucky.  She  is  the  mother  of 
eight  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living — 
Amos  W.,  born  January  9,  1863  ;  Sarah  S., 
March  17,  1866  ;  Margaret  A.,  January  3, 
1871  ;  Telitha  Alice,  April;  11,  1874;  Lindsy 
F.,  August  23,    1876  ;  Earnest  W.,  November 


248 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


2,  1881.  Of  the  two  departed  ones,  Mary  A. 
was  born  October  24,  1868,  and  died  October 
10.  1872  ;  the  other  was  born  September  18, 
1879.  and  died  the  same  day.  Our  subject  en- 
listed in  the  late  rebellion  in  a  Missouri  regi- 
ment, commanded  by  Gen.  Watkins.  Went 
out  in  1861,  and  only  served  six  months.  Has 
served  his  township  as  School  Trustee  and 
Director.  In  politics,  he  generally  votes  the 
Democratic  ticket. 

RANSOM  THOMPSON,  hotel  landlord, 
Santa  Fe.  One  of  the  oldest  settlers  in  Alex- 
ander County  is  the  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch.  He  was  born  January  16, 
1815,  in  Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo.,  and  was 
a  son  of  Isaac  and  Mary  (Patterson)  Thomp- 
son. The  former  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  latter  of  Georgia.  Our  subject  attended 
the  Cape  Girardeau  schools  until  fourteen,  and 
then  came  with  his  uncle  to  this  county  in  1829, 
where  the  latter  settled  in  what  is  now  Clear 
Creek  Precinct.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  our 
subject  went  on  the  Mississippi  River,  as  clerk 
on  a  store  boat,  but  still  considered  his  uncle's 
house  his  home  until  that  gentleman  died  in 
1835.  Subject  remained  on  the  Mississippi 
until  twenty-four,  and  then  settled  down  as  a 
farmer,  on  land  about  a  mile  south  of  what  is 
now  East  Cape  Girardeau.  On  that  farm  he  only 
remained  three  years,  and  then  removed  to 
Thebes  Precinct,  where  he  settled  on  a  farm  of 
sixty-five  acres.  In  that  precinct  he  lived  un- 
til September,  1882,  when  he  came  to  Santa 
Fe.  he  having  become  too  old  to  farm.  There 
he  purchased  property,  and  runs  the  hotel  of 
the  place.  He  also  spends  quite  a  good  deal 
of  time  on  bee  culture.  Mr.  Thompson  was 
married  the  first  time,  in  1841,  to  Sarah  Witt. 
This  lady  was  the  mother  of  three  children  ; 
one  only.  Martha,  wife  of  James  Bracken,  is 
now  living.  She  died  in  the  fall  of  1847.  In 
the  spring  of  1848.  our  subject  wedded  Rachel 
Austin  as  his  second  wife.  This  lady  was  the 
daughter  of    Joseph   and    Serena  (Baldwing) 


Austin,  and  was  the  mother  of  five  children, 
three  of  whom  are  now  living — Thomas,  J.,  now 
in  Scott  County,  Mo.;  Rachel,  wife  of  James 
Johnson,  of  Duncan  County,  Mo.;  and  Benja- 
min R.,  now  in  business  in  Hickman,  Ky. 
This  lady  died  in  1860,  and  he  was  united  in 
marriage  to  his  present  wife  in  February,  1861. 
She  was  a  Mrs.  Sarah  Kelly,  nee  Moody,  and  a 
native  of  Tennessee.  To  her  were  born  two 
children,  both  of  whom  are  now  dead.  <.)ur 
subject  has  been  Justice  of  the  Peace  almost 
continuously  since  1856,  and  is  now  serving  in 
that  capacity.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Thebes 
Baptist  Church,  and  generally  votes  the  Re- 
publican ticket. 

W.  E.  WOODS,  farming  and  milling.  P.  0. 
Santa  Fe,  was  born  in  Sabine  County,  Texas, 
May  24,  1835,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Pauline 
(De  Wild)  Woods.  When  our  subject  was 
ten  years  old,  his  father  came  to  Cape  Girar- 
deau County,  Mo.,  where  the  former  attended 
school  at  the  St.  Vincent  College.  Finishing 
his  education,  he  began  helping  his  father 
around  the  saw  mill,  and  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen was  taken  in  as  a  partner.  They  ran  a 
mill  for  a  number  of  years  in  Misssourl,  and 
then  came  to  Thebes  Precinct,  this  county, 
where  they  put  up  a  saw  and  shingle  mill,  and 
also  ran  a  store  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
people  in  that  vicinity  ;  next  ran  one  on  what  is 
known  as  Rock  Island,  in  the  3Iississippi.  In 
1875,  the  firm  of  Woods  &  Son,  purchased 
about  700  acres  of  a  special  claim  in  Santa  Fe 
Precinct,  lying  in  Town  16,  Range  3  west,  and 
established  a  saw  mill.  This  mill  was  in  oper- 
ation until  1879.  when  the  mill  was  removed 
and  the  partnership  dissolved.  Our  subject 
retained  320  acres,  and  has  since  put  over 
100  into  cultivation.  His  next  venture  was  in 
Scott  County,  Mo.,  where  he  ran  a  saw  mill. 
In  May,  1883,  he  sold  out  ttat  mill  and  re- 
turned to  Santa  Fe  Precinct,  where  he  has 
since  given  his  attention.  Before  January, 
1884,  however,  he  expects    to    have   another 


BEECH    RIDGE    PRECINCT. 


245) 


mill  in  operation  near  where  the  one  owned  by 
himself  and  his  father  stood.  Mr.  Woods  was 
married,  May  21,  1866,  to  Lina  H.  Johnson,  a 
daughter  of  G.  M.  and  Harriet  (Glower)  John- 
son. This  lady  is  the  mother  of  eight  children, 
six  of  whom  are  now  living — Drucilla  H.,  Gus- 


sie,  Will  E.,  Jr.,  Olive,  Beatrice  and  Carl.  He 
enlisted  in  1861,  in  the  Marble  City  Guards  of 
Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.,  but  was  only  out  about 
one  year.  In  his  regiment  he  served  mostl}- 
in  the  Quartermaster"  s  Department.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  a  Democrat. 


BEECH   RIDGE  PREOmCT. 


H.  M.  MoKEMIE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Beech 
Ridge,  is  a  native  of  Perry  County,  Tenn.,  ahd 
was  born  May  17,  1840.  His  father's  name  was 
Ryal  McKemie,  and  he  was  born  in  1814. 
The  mother  was  Mary  Skaggs,  and  was  born  in 
1815.  The  father  moved  to  Alexander  County, 
and  settled  in  Section  28,  Town  16,  Range  2, 
when  our  subject  was  only  eleven  years  old, 
and  there  the  father  resided  until  his  death  in 
1861.  The  mother  lived  until  a  ripe  old  age, 
and  died  at  the  residence  of  her  son  in  Febru- 
ary, 1882.  Our  subject  received  his  education 
partially  in  the  schools  of  this  county,  and  par- 
tially in  Tennessee.  He  remained  at  home  with 
his  father  until  his  death,  and  then  went  into  the 
army,  enlisting  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Thir- 
tieth Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,Col.  Niles,  Com- 
any  C,  Capt.  John  H.  Robinson  ;  Temained  out 
three  years,  and  was  then  honorably  discharged 
as  First  Sergeant.  In  the  service  he  contracted 
the  erysipelas,  which  eventually  cost  him  his 


hearing.  Returning  from  the  war,  he  took 
charge  of  the  home  place,  but  did  not  feel  sat- 
isfied with  it.  Becoming  tired  of  the  farm,  he 
bought  another  one,  and  again  sold  that  for  a 
better  one.  Finally,  in  1870,  he  went  to  Texas, 
where  he  remained  only  a  year.  Returning,  he 
purchased  a  farm  of  forty  acres  in  Section  32, 
Township  16,  Range  2.  He  is  now  renting 
ninety  acres  in  Section  25,  Township  16,  Range 
2.  He  was  married  June  30, 1867,  to  Mrs.  Mary 
E.  Journigan,  a  daughter  of  Siforous  and  Jane 
Delaney.  This  lady  lived  only  about  seven 
months  after  her  marriage,  and  Mr.  McKemie 
was  married  the  second  time  to  Mrs.  Mary  E. 
Berry,  nee  Phillips,  on  August  16, 1878.  She  is 
the  daughter  of  James  and  Martha  Phillips, 
was  born  March  27,  1851,  and  is  the  mother  of 
one  child,  Charles  Berry,  who  was  born  Febru- 
ary 6.  1873.  In  politics,  Mr.  McKemie  is  a 
Republican.  His  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church. 


250 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


LAKE  MILLIKllSr   PREOmCT. 


NICHOLAS  HUXSAKER,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Commercial  Point.  Tiie  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch  was  born  in  Union 
Count}-,  111.,  two  miles  southwest  of  Jonesboro, 
on  August  15,  1826.  He  was  a  son  of  Abner 
and  Rachel  (Montgomery)  Hunsaker.  The 
father  was  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  of  Union 
County,  was  born  on  Green  River,  Ky.,  1801, 
and  died  at  his  farm  in  Jonesboro  Precinct 
in  Union  County,  July  11,  18-49.  The  mother 
was  born  near  the  same  place  as  her  husband, 
in  the  year  1802,  and  died  two  days  after  her 
husband.  The  death  of  both  parents  was  from 
cholera,  which  was  then  epidemic  in  that  section 
of  the  country.  Our  subject  had  seven 
brothers  and  three  sisters,  and  consequently  as 
he  was  compelled  to  assist  at  home  his  educa- 
tion was  obtained  in  the  subscription  schools 


of  his  county.  Soon  after  his  marriage  our 
subject  came  to  Alexander  County,  and  has 
since  become  one  of  the  foremost  citizens  of 
that  county.  He  has  served  his  county  in 
numerous  capacities,  was  elected  Sheriff  in 
1858,  and  served  two  years,  and  in  1863.  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  County  Treasurer,  and 
served  in  that  capacity  two  terms  and  a  half. 
Mr.  Hunsaker  was  married  in  Union  County, 
on  March  22,  1849,  to  Adelia  Worthington, 
who  was  born  in  the  southwest  part  of  Union 
County,  Pecember  12,  1824,  and  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Benjamin  and  Nancy  Worthington. 
This  lady  is  the  mother  of  eight  children,  viz.: 
Henry  Harrison,  Laura  Catharine,  John 
Hodges.  Julia  Alice,  William  Charles,  Ro- 
sanna  May.  Florence  and  Dora.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Hunsaker  is  a  Democrat. 


MOUND  CITY  PRECINCT. 


251 


PULASKI   COUNTY. 


MOUIS^D    CITY  PREGIIsrGT. 


GEORGE  W.  ARMSTRONG,  first  mate  of 
"  H.  G.  Wright,"  Mound  Cit\'.  This  gentleman 
is  a  native  of  New  Albany,  Ind.,  born  Februar}' 
17.  1844.  His  father,  John  Armstrong,  was 
born  in  Shelbvville,  K3'..  in  1807,  and  died  in 
New  Albany,  Tnd.,  October  3,  1863.  During 
his  life  was  principally  engaged  as  a  ship  car- 
penter. His  wife  and  subject's  mother  was 
Ann  (Want)  Armstrong,  a  native  of  London, 
England,  born  in  1812.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
John  T.  Want,  who  was  an  otHcer  in  the 
construction  department  of  the  British  Navy, 
principally  located  in  Canada;  when  she  was 
twelve  years  of  age  she  was  brought  to  Amer- 
ica by  her  parents,  who  settled  near  Louisville, 
Ky.,  where  he  had  bought  land.  She  was  mar- 
ried in  New  Albany,  the  result  of  the  marriage 
being  thirteen  children,  of  whom  six  are  now 
iving.  viz.  :  James,  John  W.,  Mary,  Susan^ 
George  W.,  the  subject  of  this  biography,  and 
Mrs.  Henrietta  Colesta.  Our  subject  was  edu- 
cated and  reared  at  New  Albany,  Ind.,  and  in 
early  life  was  apprenticed  at  the  carpenter  and 
ship-builder's  trade  for  a  term  of  four  years, 
but.  becoming  an  efficient  workman,  he  was 
allowed  journeyman's  wages  after  the  third 
vear.  In  March,  1862,  he  removed  from  New 
Albany  to  Mound  City,  and  here  engaged  work- 
ing at  his  trade  until  February,  1882,  wjien 
he  was  appointed  first  mate  of  the  United 
States  Snag  Boat  "  H.  G.  Wright,"  a  position 
he  at  present  fills  with  tact  and  abilitj'.  Tn 
Caledonia,  111.,  on  the  1st  of  November,  1863, 
he  married   Miss  Louisa   Conway,  a  native   of 


Union  County,  111.,  born  March  20,  1842  :  she 
is  a  daughter  of  Charles  and  Sarah  (Auberts) 
Conway.  This  union  has  been  blessed  with 
the  following  children :  Ida  R.,  born  February 
17.  1865  ;  John  T.,  born  December  15,  1867; 
Georgia,  born  October  6,  1870,  who  died  Octo- 
ber 14.  1872  ;  Charles,  born  September  30, 
1874.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Armstrong  are  religously 
connected  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  ;  he  is  an  active  member  of  the  order  of 
K.  of  H.,  Mound  City  Lodge,  No.  1847,  and  a 
self-made  man  in  every  respect. 

SAMUEL  BACK,  merchant,  Mound  City, 
born  November  8, 1838,  in  Obernitzka,  Prussia, 
Germany.  Son  of  Isi-ael  Back,  a  native  of 
Germany,  where  he  was  a  baker  by  occupation. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Hanna  (Saul) 
Back,  also  a  native  of  Germany.  Our  subject 
was  educated  in  Germany,  where  he  studied 
the  mercantile  business,  and  was  engaged  in 
business  there  till  1866,  when  he  came  to  the 
United  States,  landing  in  New  York  City. 
From  there  he  went  to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  and 
after  six  months  went  to  Nebraska  City  ;  and, 
finally,  m  1870  he  came  to  Mound  City,  where 
he  opened  a  dry  goods  stoi-e  in  partnership 
with  his  brother-in-law.  After  one  year,  they 
dissolved  partnership,  and  our  subject  went  to 
Anna,  111.,  where  he  kept  a  dry  goods  store,  re- 
turning to  this  place  in  1874,  when  he  opened 
a  dry  goods  store,  in  which  he  has  continued 
till  the  present  time,  carrying  also  a  stock  of 
hats,  caps,  boots  and  shoes,  and  a  stock  worth 
from    $8,000   to   $10,000.     He  was  married  in 


253 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


St.  Louis  to  Miss  Fannie  Blum,  who  is  a  native 
of  Aufliauseu,  Wurtemberg,  Germany.  She  is 
the  mother  of  Gabriel  Back,  who  was  born 
December  3.  1873.  Mr.  Back  is  a  wide-awake 
business  man.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Honor,  Mound  City  Lodge,  No. 
18-47.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

C.  N.  BELL,  merchant.  Mound  City,  was 
born  April  19,  1825,  in  Virginia  ;  sou  of  Jacob 
and  Martha  (Talliafero)  Bell.  Jacob  Bell  emi- 
grated from  Virginia  to  Todd  County,  Ky.,but 
died  in  Graves  Count}-,  aged  sixty-six  years. 
He  was  a  teacher  and  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  by  profession,  follow- 
ing the  ministry  exclusively  in  Virginia.  In 
Kentucky,  he  followed  teaching  mainly,  al- 
though he  acted  as  local  minister,  following  the 
ministr}-  for  fortv  years.  His  whole  life  was 
worthy  of  imitation.  At  an  earh-  date,  three 
brothers  came  to  the  United  States  from  Italy, 
and  the  Talliaferos  now  residing  in  this  coun- 
try are  their  descendants.  Mrs.  Martha  Bell 
died  aged  sixty-six  ^-ears  ;  she  was  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  of  whom  our  subject  and  two 
sisters  are  now  living.  Our  subject,  C.  N.  Bell, 
received  his  education  from  his  father,  whose 
occupation  he  chose,  teaching  several  years  in 
Massac  and  Pope  Counties.  111.  Our  subject 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  in  Au- 
gust, 1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  Fifteenth  Reg- 
iment Kentuck}-  Volunteer  Cavalry,  of  which 
he  was  made  Quartermaster  Sergeant.  While 
out  on  a  scout,  he  was  captured  by  Forrest  s  men, 
near  Spring  Creek  College,  Tenn.,  aud  was  taken 
to  the  Libb}'  Prison  pen,  where  he  was  one  of  the 
last  exchanged  prisoners,  his  regiment  having 
been  mustered  out  before  his  release.  His  oc- 
cupation since  the  war  has  '  been  varied  : 
teaching,  farming,  photographing,  etc.  In 
1872,  he  came  to  Mound  City,  and  in  the  fall 
of  1882  he  became  engaged  in  the  family 
grocery  business.  Before  the  war,  he  was  a 
Whig  in  politics,  but  since  then  he  has  been  a 
Republican.     He  is  now  a  member  of  the  City 


Council  in  Mound  City.  Our  subject  was  mar- 
ried twice  ;  his  first  wife  was  Jane  Crotchett, 
who  died  in  1867.  The  following  year,  he  was 
married  to  Henrietta  C.  Stall,  a  native  of 
Ohio.  She  is  the  mother  of  four  children,  viz.  : 
Susan  T.,  Sallie  A.,  Nellie  E.  and  Ida  K. 

LOUIS  BLUM,  dry  goods  merchant,  Mound 
Cit}'.  Of  the  energetic  business  men  of  Mound 
Cit}'  who  have  the  interest  of  the  town  as  well 
as  their  own  at  heart,  is  he  whose  name  heads 
this  sketch.  He  was  born  August  25,  1835.  in 
Wurtemberg,  Germany.  His  father,  also  a  na- 
tive of  Wurtemberg,  wasboi-n  1803,  and  is  yet 
living.  He  was  a  stock-dealer,  and  a  man 
whose  reputation  for  honesty  and  square  deal- 
ing was  well  known.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject was  Ida  (Neuburger)  Blum.  She  was  the 
mother  of  five  children,  of  whom  Abraham  and 
Sarah  Kohn  are  now  living  in  the  old  country, 
and  Fannie  Back,  Joe  Blum,  of  St.  Louis,  and 
Louis,  our  subject,  are  living  in  this  county. 
Our  subject  was  educated  in  Germany,  where 
he  engaged  in  the  stock  business  with  his  fa- 
ther till  1854,  when  he  came  to  the  United 
States,  landing  in  New  York  City.  He  mer- 
chandized in  Lebanon,  N.  J.,  till  1863,  when  he 
came  to  Cairo,  where  he  commenced  to  mer- 
chandise on  a  small  scale,  two  horses  hauling 
all  the  goods  with  which  he  opened  his  store. 
But  with  that  indomitable  perseverance  com- 
mon to  the  race  from  which  he  sprung,  and 
through  his  honesty  and  energy,  he  enjoyed  in 
1865  the  best  retail  trade  in  Cairo,  employing 
eight  clerks.  He  continued  to  do  business  there 
till  1870,  when  he  came  to  Mound  City,  where 
he  has  been  mostly  a  general  merchant.  He 
now  carries  principally  a  stock  of  dry  goods 
and  clothing,  including  boots,  shoes,  hats,  caps, 
carpets,  oil  cloth,  wall  paper,  etc.  Our  subject 
was  joined  in  matrimony  July  12,  1868,  in 
New  York,  and  took  a  wedding  trip  to  Europe, 
returning  the  same  year.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  "  Sons  of  the  Hebrew  Brotherhood,  "  Egypt 
Lodge,  Cairo,  111.      He  is   also    a  Knight  of 


MOUND   CITY  PRECINCT. 


253 


Honor,  Mound  City  Lodge.  No.  1847.  In  pol- 
itics, tie  is  a  Democrat.  Mrs.  Blum  is  a  native 
of  Wurtemberg,  German}-,  where  she  was  born 
April  13,  1845.  Her  maiden  name  was  Sophia 
Hirsh.  of  a  prominent  famil\-  in  Germany.  She 
is  the  mother  of  six  children  now  living,  viz.  : 
Clara,  born  November  30, 1870;  Jacob,  born  Sep- 
tember 14,1872  ;  Samuel,  born  July  24,  1874; 
Zilli,  born  September  17,  1877  ;  Benjamin,  No- 
vember 12,  1879,  and  Ida,  born  May  13,  1883. 

C.  L.   BOEKEXKAMP,  merchant,    Mound 
City.     This  enterprising  business  man  was  born 
Ma}'  16,  1853,  in  Petershagen,  Westphalia,  Ger- 
manv.     He  is  a  son  of  Prof.  Herman  Boeken- 
kamp,  who  was  Superintendent  of  a  deaf  and 
dumb  as3'lum  in   Minden,  Germany.     He  was 
born  in  Brackwede,  German}-,  and  died  Octo- 
ber 10,  1881.     The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Emilie  (Hoepke)  Boekenkamp,  born  Ma}-  21, 
1812.  in  Minden,  Germany.     She  is  yet  living 
where  our  subject  was  born,  and  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  large  and  well-known  grain  buyer  in  Ger- 
many.    She  was  the  mother  of  two  boys — Au. 
gust  F.  and  Charles  L.,  our  subject.  The  former 
was  born  Mai'ch  6.  1848  ;  he  was  Lieutenant  in 
the  Prussian  army,  and  died  1870  from  wounds 
received  in  the  war  between   Prussia  and  Aus- 
tria.    At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  acting  as 
Mayor  of  Ibbenbueren,  Germany.     Our  subject 
was  educated  at  Minden,  Germany.    In  1869  he 
left  his  native  country  and  emigrated  to  the  Unit- 
ed States,  landing  in  New  York.     After  roam- 
ing one  year  he  clerked  in  Chicago  ;  from  there 
he  went  to  St.  Louis,  and  after  one  year's  stay 
came  to  Mound  City.  Here  he  worked  one  year 
and  then  returned  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  worked 
for  the  old  tirm  of  Herman  Koste  till  1872,  when 
he  again  returned  to  this  place,  where  he  clerked 
for  G.  F.  Meyer  till  1874,  when  he  again  went  to 
St.  Louis,  where,  after  clerking  one  year  in  a 
brewery,  he  entered  E.  Hilger&  Co.'s  wholesale 
hardware  business,  where  he  clerked  two  years. 
In  1878  he  once  more  returned  to  Mound  City, 
where  he  worked  for  Mever  till  1881.  when  he 


went  into  business  for  himself  in  partnership 
with  Ed.  Schuler,  keeping  a  general  store.  He 
was  joined  in  matrimony  January  14,  1879,  in 
this  place,  to  Miss  Mary  Schuler,  who  was  born 
December  23.  1856.  in  Paducah,  Ky.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  George  Schuler,  and  is  the  mother 
of  one  boy — Herman,  born  December  23,  1880. 
Mr.  Boekenkamp  is  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Honor,  and  in  politics  is  a  Democrat. 

C.  BOREN,  pilot.  Mound  City,  is  a  native 
of  Pulaski  County.  111.,  born  February  28. 1828. 
near  Fort  Wilkinson,  and  a  son  of  Morgan  and 
Anna  (Lathum)    Boren,  he  born  in  Tennessee 
in  1795.  and  died  in  Pulaski  County,  III.  in 
January,  1851.     He  was  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers   of   the    county,  having  emigrated  from 
his  native  State  in  1827,  and   settled   in  this 
county  near   Fort  Wilkinson,    where   he   had 
been    stationed   as    a    soldier    in    the    Black 
Hawk   war,    and    engaged    in    farming  to  the 
time  of  his  death.     His  wife  (subject's  mother) 
was  also  a  native  of  Tennessee.     She  died  in 
this  county,  leaving  twelve  children,  of  whom 
but  three  are  now  living,  viz.  :  Lewis  W..  Mrs. 
Mary  L.  Collins   and    Coleman,    our   subject. 
His  early  life  was  spent  at  home  on  the  farm, 
and    at    such  time  as   the  work  of  the  farm 
would    permit,    he  attended   the   subscription 
schools,    common    in   his  day.       At    nineteen 
years  of   age,  he   left  his  home  and  engaged 
in  boating    on  the  rivers  ;    he    has  since  fol- 
lowed   this    for    a    livelihood,    and  has    been 
principally  engaged  as  Captain  and  pilot,  hav- 
ing been  Captain  of  the  following  well  known 
steamers  :  Pocahontas.  Ohio  Belle,  Alexander 
Scott.    Cumberland,    Catawba   and  St.    Louis. 
At  present  he   is  acting  as  pilot  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, from  St.  Louis  to  New  Orleans,    up 
the    Red    River    to  Shreeveport,  and  on    the 
Ohio  from  Cairo  to  Paducah.  In  Vienna,  John- 
son   Co.,  111.,  on   the   8th    of    August,   1852, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Caroline  F.  McDon- 
ald, who  was  born  June    12,  1834,  in    Ohio. 
She  is  a    daughter    of  Richard  and    Mary  J. 


254 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


(Craven)  McDonald.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boren  have 
been  blessed  with  six  children,  of  whom  five 
are  now  living,  viz.  :  Lady  A.,  born  January  29, 
185-i  ;  Mary  A.,  born  November  16.  1856  , 
Carrie  F.,  born  December  17,  1858  ;  Georgia 
Anna,  November  3,  1861  ;  she  died  March  22, 
1862  ;  Richard  M.,  born  May  30,  1868.  and 
Henrietta  B..  September  7,  1870.  Mr.  Boren  is 
an  active  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  in 
politics  he  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party. 

THOMAS  BOYD,  attorney   at  law.  Mound 
City.     The  Boyd  family  on  the  paternal  side  is 
of  Scotch  ancestry,  and  on  the  maternal  En- 
glish.    William  Boyd,  the  great-grandfather  of 
Thomas,  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  emigrat- 
ed to  America  during  the  Revolutionary    was 
es^joused  the  cause  of  the  patriots,  joined  the 
army  under  Washington  and  fought  for  the  in- 
dependence of  his  adopted  country.     After  the 
close  of  the  war.  he  married   and   settled  in 
Georgia,  where  his  son  John,  the  grandfather 
of  the  present  family,  was  born  in  1818.     John 
Boyd   moved   to    North    Carolina,    and    from 
thence  to  Tennessee,  and  in  1823  came  to  B- 
linois  and   settled  in  Washington  County,  but 
soon  after  removed  to  Randolph  County,  to  a 
point  then  known  as  Heacock's  Prairie,  now 
known  as  Dutch   Hill  Prairie,   and  there  re- 
mained till    his   death,  which  occurred   about 
1837.     During  the  war  of  1812,  he  enlisted  and 
was  a  soldier  under  Jackson  in  the  Southern 
army.     His  son   William,   father   of  Thomas, 
was  born  in  Georgia  in   1806,  and   came  with 
his  father  to  Illinois,  and  here  married  Isabel 
Douglass,  daugliter  of  Isaac  L.  Douglass.     She 
was  a   native   of    Scotland,   though    partially 
roared  in  Illinois.     She  survived  her  husband, 
who  died  in  1854,  and  she  in  1880.     By   this 
union  there  were  eight  children,  five  of  whom 
are  living.     Thomas,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  born  in    Randolph   County  September  6, 
1847.     He  was  reai'ed  upon  his  father's  farm, 
and   received    his     education    in    the   district 


schools  of  his  neighborhood.     At  the  age  of 
nineteen,  he  left  home  and  worked  at  his  trade 
of    carpenter ;    subsequently    taught    school, 
which  he  continued  till  1870,  when   he  entered 
the  law  office  of  Murphy  &  Boyd,  at  Pinkney- 
ville,  and  commenced  the  study  of  law.     He, 
however,  continued  to  follow    teaching  in  the 
winter  months,  returning  to  his  studies  during 
vacation.     At  the  January  term  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  held  at  Springfield  in  1875,  he  passed  a 
successful    examination  and   was  admitted  to 
the  bar  ;  he  then  formed  a   law    partnership 
with  his  preceptors,  and  became  a  member  of  the 
well-known  law  firm  of  Murphy  &  Boyd  Bros., 
which  continued  until  July,  1882,  when  John 
Boyd  withdrew,  and  Thomas  Boyd  remained  a 
law  partner  with   Mr.  Murphy   until    the  latter 
part  of  November,  1882,  when  the   dissolution 
of  the  firm  took  place  by  mutual  consent.     Our 
subject   was  joined  in  matrimony,  March   13, 
1878,    to    Mrs.   Sarah  J.    Hight,   nee   Hughes, 
daughter  of    William   A.  and   Sarah    (Moore) 
Hughes,  who  were  counted    among  our   most 
esteemed  citizens.     Mrs.   Sarah  J.  Boyd,  born 
August   8,   1852,  in  this  county,  at  Old  Cale- 
donia, is  the  mother  of  three  children — Maud 
S.,  deceased  ;  LorenH.,  born  August  15,  1880  ; 
and  Pearl  Hope,  born  February  7,  l-'83.     Our 
subject  was  always  a  reliable  Democrat,  true 
to  his  principles,  and  without  doubt  or  shadow 
of  turning.     He  is  an  honored  member  of  the 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  also  of  the  high  degree  of 
R.  A.  M.     x\s  a  practitioner,  he  has  had  reason 
to  be  gratified   with   his  success.     He  brought 
to  the  profession  studious  habits,  industry  and 
an   earnest  desire   to   excel.     While  compara- 
tively on  the  threshold  of  his  professional  life, 
he  has  given  undoubted  evidence  of  his  fitness 
and  ability  to  cope  with  the  subtle  intricacies 
of  the  law,  and  in  good  time,  we  hope,  will  be- 
come eminent  and  learned  in   his  chosen    pro- 
fession. 

L.  M.  BRADLEY,  attorney  at    law.  Mound 
Citv,  was  born  October  14,  1852.  in    Jackson 


MOUND    CITY  PRECINCT. 


255 


County,  111.  ;  grandson  of  James  H.  Brad- 
les',  Sr.,  whose  son,  James  H.,  was  born 
August  21,  1821,  in  Jackson  County,  111. 
He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  He  was  joined 
in  matrimony  to  Rutha  Culley,  born  February 
28.  1828,  in  Mount  Vernon,  Ind.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Josiah  and  Martha  (Hogue)  Culle}^ 
and  is  the  mother  of  a  large  family,  of  whom 
seven  children  are  now  living — Harriet  E. 
Carter,  Cynthia  C.  Davis,  Charles  M.,  Lewis 
M.  (our  subject),  Samuel  U.,  George  B.  and 
OUey.  Our  subject  received  a  common  school 
education  in  Jackson  County,  111.,  and  in  De 
Sota,  111.  In  1873,  he  opened  a  general  store 
in  the  latter  place  with  a  partner,  and  con- 
tinued in  the  business  till  1880,  hiring  a  clerk 
in  his  place  when  he  was  at  school.  The 
store  paid  his  expenses  while  fitting  him- 
self for  his  profession.  After  attending 
the  State  Normal  School  at  Carbondale  for 
almost  two  years,  he  commenced  the  study 
of  law  with  A.  R.  Pugh,  of  Murphysboro,  as  his 
preceptor.  In  1878,  he  entered  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  Washington  University,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  never  missing  a  lesson  during  two  3ears, 
graduating  in  1880.  Since  then  he  has  followed 
his  profession  one  year  at  Murphysboro,  and, 
since  the  fall  of  1881  in  Mound  City,  where  he 
is  also  Notary  Public,  one  of  the  publishers  of 
the  Pulaski  Patriot^  and  since  April  7,  1883, 
State's  Attorney.  He  is  a  member  of  the  A., 
F.  &  A.  M.,  De  Soto  Lodge,  No.  287.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  a  Republican. 

DANIEL  J.  BRITT,  farmer,  P.  0.  America, 
was  born  February  18,  183G.  in  Chatham 
Count}-,  N.  C  Son  of  Green  Britt,  born  in 
Chatham  County,  N.  C,  a  tanner  b}-  occupa- 
tion. He  went  to  Arkansas,  where  he  lived  till 
the  fall  of  1863,  when  he  came  to  Pulaski 
County,  111.,  where  he  now  resides.  The  moth- 
er was  a  native  of  Chatham  County,  N.  C. 
Her  maiden  name  was  Martha  Martin,  daughter 
of  Henrj-  and  Mary  Martin,  natives  of  Paducah, 
Ky.     She  died  in    Pulaski  County.  K}-..  leav- 


ing three  children,  of  whom  Daniel  was  the 
youngest.  The  names  of  the  children  were 
Julia  A.  Sanders  (deceased),  and  William  A., 
now  living  in  this  county.  Daniel  enjoyed 
onl}'  about  six  months  of  schooling,  but 
through  reading  and  observation  he  has  ac- 
quired a  fund  of  knowledge.  In  early  life  he 
learned  the  shoe-maker's  trade,  following  it  and 
farming  till  the  spring  of  1862,  when  he  en- 
listed in  the  Fourth  Regiment  of  Arkansas 
Volunteers,  Company'  K.  He  was  promoted  a 
few  daj^s  before  the  battle  of  Cain  Hill,  to 
Captain  of  the  Infirmar\-  Corps.  Surrendering 
at  Helena,  Ai'k.,  he  came  North  and  settled  in 
Pulaski  Count}'.  He  has  been  married  twice, 
and  is  the  father  of  four  boys — William  R., 
born  June  15,  1862;  Middleton  H.,  born  Oc- 
tober, 1866;  Grant,  born  1868;  George  W., 
born  August,  1872.  Mr.  Britt  is  a  member  of 
the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  fraternit}',  Caledonia  Lodge, 
No.  47.  He  has  been  County  Treasurer  and 
Assessor  for  two  3'ears,  has  filled  school  offices, 
and  has  been  Township  Trustee  for  sixteen 
years.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican.  The 
past  life  of  our  subject  needs  no  comment,  as 
the  confidence  the  people  put  in  him  speaks 
highly   in  his  favor. 

PETER  BURGESS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mound 
City,  was  born  April  6,  1843,  in  Cheshire,  Eng- 
land, son  of  Peter  Burgess,  born  July  14,  1803, 
in  England,  where  he  died  June  6,  1846,  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject was  Hannah  (Reade)  Burgess,  born  Sep- 
tember 20,  1809,  in  England,  where  she  died 
April  7,  1852,  daughter  of  Joseph  Reade,  a 
farmer  b}'  occupation  ;  she  was  the  mother  of 
eight  children,  of  whom  Maria,  Samuel,  Ann 
and  Peter  are  now  living.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  England,  where  he  worked  in  a  silk 
factor}-  till  1863,  when  he  came  to  the  United 
States,  landing  in  N  e\v  York  June  1 2.  From  New 
York  he  went  to  Connecticut,  where  he  farmed 
till  the  fall  of  1863.  He  then  went  to  Mound 
City,  where  he  worked  in  the  ship-yards,  and 


256 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


then  settled  down  on  a  farm  in  Pulaski  County. 
He  has  now  a  farm  of  about  300  acres.  He 
was  joined  in  matrimony  May  17,  1865,  in  this 
county,  to  Miss  Christina  E.  Storm,  born  in 
Pulaski  County.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Dr. 
Lawrence  F.  and  Elizabeth  (Cook)  Storm,  and  is 
the  mother  of  two  children,  viz.  :  Hannah  E., 
born  March  25,  1866  ;  Samuel  L.,  infant,  de- 
ceased. Mrs.  Burgess  died  October,  1869,  in 
this  county.  Mr.  Burgess  is  religiously  con- 
nected with  the  Episcopalian  Church,  was  for- 
merly a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Fores- 
ters of  England.  In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat. 
HENRY  G.  CARTER,  lawyer.  Mound  City, 
■was  born  March  24, 1840,  in  Versailles,  Wood- 
ford Co.,  Ky.  His  father,  George  W.  Carter,  was 
born  at  Versailles,  Ky.,  January  19,  1819,  and 
died  March  2, 1877,  in  Mound  City,  HI.  In  early 
life,  he  was  a  merchant  in  Versailles  ;  was  Sher- 
iff of  Woodford  County,  Ky.,  for  twelve  years, 
and  during  that  time  hung  five  men  of  whom 
three  were  colored.  In  June,  1856,  he  came  to 
Mound  City,  and  invested  largely  in  stock  of  the 
old  "  Emporium  "  Real  Estate  and  Manufactur- 
ing Compan}-.  The  same  year  he  removed  to 
Champaign  County,  and  there  bought  640  acres 
of  land  and  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-rais- 
ing, stocking  his  farm  with  fine  Durham 
cattle  from  Kentucky.  In  1858,  he  returned 
to  Mound  City,  111,  and  engaged  in  running  the 
Mound  City  Hotel,  and  was  also  President  of 
the  Emporium  Real  Estate  Company.  About 
this  time,  he  was  a  member  of  the  City  Council 
and  County  Commissioner.  He  met  many  ups 
and  downs  during  his  career,  and  at  one  time 
lost  by  security  $22,000.  His  wife,  and  mother 
of  our  subject,  was  Rosana  (Wallace)  Carter,  a 
native  of  Kentucky,  and  the  mother  of  ten 
children,  of  whom  five  are  now  living.  Henry 
G.  Carter,  our  subject,  was  educated  in  Ken- 
tucky ;  in  early  life,  was  Deputy  Sheriff  of 
Woodford  County,  Ky.,  and  taught  school, 
and  in  the  meantime  studied  law  ;  he  gradu- 
ated in  Louisville.  Ky.,  in  1860.    In  the  spring 


of  1861,  he  located  permanently  at  Mound 
City,  and  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business, 
and  was  manager  of  the  Mound  City  Railroad 
for  two  years,  and  at  the  same  time  continued 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1863,  he  was 
elected  City  Attorney,  an  office  he  still  retains. 
He  was  the  last  President  of  Emporium  Com- 
pany. In  St.  Louis,  in  1871,  he  married  Miss 
Maggie  Brown,  a  native  of  Kentuck}-.  She 
died  in  1880,  leaving  the  following  children  as 
the  result  of  their  union — Charlotte,  born  Feb- 
ruary, 1872  ;  Harry,  born  December,  1874,  and 
Frederick,  born  in  August,  1 875.  He  is  a  Knight 
of  Honor  and  a  Democrat. 

DR.  N.  R.  CASEY,  physician  and  sui-geon. 
Mound  Cit}',  whose  portrait  appears  in  this 
volume,  was  born  in  Jefferson  County,  111., 
Januar}-  27,  1826.  His  father.  Gov.  Zadok 
Casey,  was  a  native  of  Georgia  ;  when  quite  a 
youth  he  moved  to  Tennessee  ;  there  he  was 
married  to  ^Kachel  King,  and  in  1817,  with  his 
wife  and  one  child  six  months  old,  the  late 
Hon.  S.  K.  Casey,  moved  to  what  is  now 
Jefferson  County,  111.  N.  R.  Casey's  first 
school  teacher  was  Uncle  Neddy  Maxey,  as  he 
was  familiarl}-  called  ;  he  was  not  a  man  of 
much  learning,  having  obtained  what  he  had 
without  a  teacher.  There  were  no  schools  or 
schoolhouses  in  that  immediate  neighborhood. 
Consequently  a  room  of  small  dimensions  was 
set  apart  in  his  father's  house,  where  the  old 
man  taught  his  two  older  brothers,  and  an 
older  sister,  with  himself  In  a  few  years 
afterward,  a  log  school  house  was  built ;  one  end 
of  the  building  was  taken  up  by  the  fire-place, 
while  the  floor  was  the  original  mother  earth. 
The  seats  were  made  of  split  and  hewed  timber, 
their  ends  resting  on  blocks.  The  teacher's 
name  was  Tally  ;  he  was  a  large  stout  man  ;  his 
own  education  was  limited  to  spelling,  reading 
and  writing.  His  armory,  of  which  he  kept  a 
good  supply,  consisted  of  long  strips  of  tan 
oak  bark,  that  had  been  peeled  from  oak  trees 
near  by,  to  be  used  for  tanning  animals'  hides 


MOUND    CITY  PRECIXCT. 


257 


(not  human's)  ;  it  was  neatly  corded  up  near 
the  schoolhouse,  and  every  morning  the 
teacher  brought  and  laid  an  arm  full  of  it  near 
where  he  sat.  The  bark  was  not  dry,  hence 
each  strip,  about  three  feet  long  and  six  inches 
wide,  made  a  formidable  weapon,  and  in  the 
hands  of  an  able-bodied  man,  did  a  wonderful 
amount  of  execution  before  it  broke  up  in 
small  peices  over  a  bo3-'s  back.  After  this 
academic  course,  his  father,  in  1838,  sent  him 
to  the  Hillsboro  Academy,  at  Hillsboro,  111. 
In  1840,  he  attended  the  Mount  Vernon  A(^ad- 
emy,  that  had  just  been  built ;  while  it  was  of 
no  great  proportions  for  that  day  and  time,  it 
was  considered  quite  an  institution.  In  1842, 
his  father  sent  him  to  the  Ohio  University,  at 
Athens,  Ohio,  where  McGuffy,  the  great  school 
book  author,  was  President.  He  remained 
there  until  1845,  when  he  returned  to  Mount 
Vernon,  and  commenced  the  stud}'  of  medicine 
with  Dr.  John  W.  Grathrum,  a  gentleman  of 
fine  acquirements,  both  as  a  surgeon  and  phy- 
sician. He  had  come  a  few  years  before  from 
Baltimore,  Md.,  after  one  year's  study,  he  at- 
tended, in  1846,  a  course  of  lectures  at  the 
Louisville  Medical  Institute.  It  was  in  the 
days  of  Gross,  Professor  of  Surgery,  Drake,  of 
Practice,  Colt, of  Anatomy,  Yondell,  Chemistry, 
Charlie  Colwell,  etc.  He  continued  his  studies 
after  his  return  from  the  lectures,  and  at  the 
same  time  doing  some  practice  under  the 
supervision  of  his  preceptor,  until  the  summer 
of  1847,  when  he  moved  to  Benton,  111.,  and 
became  a  partner  in  the  practice  of  medicine 
with  Dr.  Towns,  of  that  place.  Dr.  Towns 
was  an  educated  ph3'sician,  some  j-ears  before 
he  had  emigrated  from  Virginia  to  Franklin 
Count}',  111.;  his  bearing  and  manners  were 
that  of  the  old-time  Virginia  gentleman.  He 
had  an  extensive  practice.  Benton  was 
the  county  seat  of  Franklin  Count}'. 
On  the  4th  of  December,  1847,  he  married 
Miss  Florida  Rawlings,  of  Louisville,  Ky., 
daughter   of  Gen.    M.    M.  Rawlings,  a  young 


lady  of  education  and  superior  accomplish- 
ments. She  had  but  reeentl}'  graduated  with 
honors  at  the  Nazareth  Academ}',  near  Bards- 
town,  Ky.,  a  Catholic  school  then,  and  still 
maintaining  a  high  reputation.  He  returned 
from  Louisville  to  "Benton  with  his  bride,  and 
continued  the  practice  of  medicine  until  1848, 
when  he  moved  back  to  Mount  Vernon,  111.,  his 
native  place,  and  there  continuing  the  practice. 
The  winter  of  1856-57  he  attended  his  second 
course  of  lectures  at  the  Missouri  Medical 
College,  at  St.  Louis,  receiving  his  diploma  . 
The  late  Dr.  McDowell  at  that  time  was  the 
leadingspirit  of  the  institution.  In  June,  1857, 
he  moved  to  Mound  City,  111.,  at  the  earnest 
request  of  his  father-in-law.  Gen.  Rawlings, 
who  had  in  1854  laid  out  Mound  City.  In  1858, 
he  was  elected  one  of  the  City  Councilmen.  In 
1859,  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  the  city,  and  was 
elected  Mayor  annually  until  1874,  a  period  of 
fifteen  years.  At  the  end  of  which  time,  he  de- 
clined to  be  a  candidate  again.  In  1860,  he  was  a 
delegate  to  the  National  Convention  at  Charles- 
ton, and  was  an  ardent  admirer  and  supporter 
of  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  When  the  U.  S.  G. 
Hospital  was  established  in  1861,  at  Mound 
Cit}',  he  volunteered  his  services  for  quite 
awhile,  and  aided  in  treating  the  sick  and 
wounded.  Afterward  he  was  appointed  assist- 
ant Surgeon  ;  and  for  a  long  time  occupied 
that  position  in  the  hospital.  In  1866,  Union, 
Alexander  and  Pulaski  Counties  were  entitled 
to  one  member  in  the  State  Legislature.  There 
was  an  understanding  that  Pulaski  should  name 
the  candidate,  Union  and  Alexander  Counties, 
having  had  the  member  for  some  3'ears.  N.  R. 
Casey  and  the  late  Col.  E.B.  Watkins  were  the 
Democrat  candidates  for  the  nomhiation  both 
of  Pulaski  County.  The  contest  in  Pulaski 
County,  between  Casey  and  Watkins,  was  an 
active  one.  An  unpleasant  state  of  affairs  ex- 
isted in  the  count}',  resulting  from  the  removal 
of  the  county  seat  from  Caledonia  to  Mound 
Cjty.     Casey  had  taken  an  active  part  in  favor 

o 


258 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


of  the  removal,  while  Watkins  had  taken  an 
active  part  against  the  removal.  The  result 
was  two  sets  of  delegates  were  sent  to  the  Dis- 
trict Convention,  which  met  in  Jonesboro. 
After  two  da^'s  spent  by  the  convention  in  try- 
ing to  determine  the  claims  of  the  contending 
delegates  from  Pulaski,  they  referred  the  matter 
back  to  the  people  of  the  district,  and  adjourned. 
New  count}'  conventions  were  held,  new  dele- 
gates appointed,  but  the  same  difflculty  pre- 
sented itself  in  Pulaski  County,  there  being  a 
Casey,  and  a  Watkin's  delegation,  but  with  con- 
vincing evidence,  that  Casey's  delegation  repre- 
sented a  majority  of  the  Democrats  of  the  county 
•  The  district  convention  met  in  Cairo,  and  after 
two  more  days  spent  without  making  a  nomina- 
tion, the  convention  adjourned  for  one  week. 
Union  County  had  seven  delegates,  Alexander 
four,  and  Pulaski  three  delegates.  Before  the 
convention  adjourned,  Watkins  withdrew  from 
the  contest.  When  Union  County  cast  her  seven 
votes  for  Judge  Naill,  of  Union,  Alexander  and 
Pulaski,  having  seven  votes  between  them, 
cast  their  votes  for  Case}-,  which  made  a  tie. 
Upon  re-assembling,  after  the  expiration  of  the 
week,  balloting  commenced  and  continued  until 
late  in  the  da}-,  seven  votes  being  cast  for  Naill, 
and  seven  for  Casey,  when  Casey  requested 
his  name  withdrawn  from  the  Convention, 
which  was  done,  when  Judge  Naill's  name 
was  also  withdrawn,  and  Union  County  placed 
N.  R.  Case}'  again  in  nomination,  when  he  re- 
ceived the  unanimous  vote  of  the  convention, 
and  thus  ended  one  of  the  hottest  contested 
scrambles  for  the  Legislature  that  ever  occurred 
in  the  State.  Casey  was  elected  by  some 
1,500  majority,  his  Republican  opponent  being 
a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Cleser.  When 
the  Legislature  met  the  following  winter,  it  con- 
tained only  twenty-four  Democratic  members, 
but  going  upon  that  promise,  "  Where  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together,"  etc.,  they  met  be- 
fore the  organization  of  the  house  and  nominat- 
ed N.  R.  Casey,  of  Pulaski   County,    as   the 


Democratic  candidate  for  Speaker.  He  received 
twenty-four  votes  and  Franklin  Cronin,  the 
Republican  candidate,  forty-eight,  Casey  voting 
for  Cronin  and  Cronin  for  Casey.  In  the  forma- 
tion of  the  committees,  Casey  was  placed  upon 
the  most  important  ones.  In  1868,  he  was 
nominated  by  the  Democratic  Convention, 
without  opposition,  his  Republican  opponent 
being  Dr.  Taggert,  of  Cairo,  but  he  was  elected 
by  a  large  majority.  When  the  Legislature 
met  in  the  winter  of  1868-69,  the  Democratic 
members  again  nominated  him  for  Speaker  of 
the  House ;  but  he  was  again  defeated  by 
Franklin  Cronin,  the  Republican  candidate. 
The  redistrictinii  of  the  State  and  the  new 
Constitution  of  1870,  giving  each  Representa- 
tive District  three  members,  of  which  the  mi- 
nority would  be  entitled  to  one,  placed  Pulaski 
County  with  Johnson,  Massac,  Pope  and  Har- 
din Counties.  The  district  in  1873  was  thought 
to  be  in  some  doubt  as  to  its  political  character, 
and  when  the  Democratic  Convention  met  at 
Golconda,  they  nominated  two  candidates  for 
the  Lower  House,  N.  R.  Casey  and  Dr.  Low, 
both  from  Pulaski  County.  Casey  was  elected 
and  two  Republicans.  When  the  General  As- 
sembly met,  the  Republicans  nominated  Shelby 
M.  Cullum,  of  Sangamon,  for  Speaker  of  the 
House,  since  Governor  and  now  United  States 
Senator.  The  Democrats  nominated  N.  R. 
Casey,  of  Pulaski,  for  Speaker.  Each  candi- 
date received  the  full  vote  of  his  party,  Cul- 
lum's  majority  being  twenty.  N.  R.  Casey 
made  an  active  and  an  influential  member,  and 
enjoyed  the  confidence  and  good  will  not  only 
of  the  Democratic  members  but  the  Repub- 
licans. During  each  term  of  the  Legislature  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  he  served  upon  the 
most  important  committees  of  the  House.  He 
made  but  few  speeches,  was  not  addicted  to 
much  talking  when  his  constituents  were  not 
interested.  He  introduced  but  few  bills,  but 
passed  those  he  did  introduce.  Among  them, 
during  his  last  term  in  the  Legislature,  was  the 


MOUND    CITY  PRECINCT. 


259 


one  appropriating  $25,000  to  build   a   monu- 
ment at  the  national  cemeterj-  at  Mound  City. 
When  introduced,  the  idea  of  passing  it  was 
scouted  pretty  generally  among  the  members, 
but  it  became  a  law.     The  subject  of  this  brief 
sketch  has  been  frequently  spoken  of  as  a  fit  i 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor.     Pulaski 
and  other  southern  counties  have,  upon  several 
occasions,  instructed  their  delegates   to   State 
Conventions,  to  vote  for  him.     His   name  has 
often    been    used    in   connection    with    other 
Democrats   as   a    proper    candidate  for    Con- 
gress.    While  he  is  not  a  politician,   still  he 
keeps  himself  posted  upon  the  politics  of  the 
countr}-,  and  never  swerves   from   the  Demo- 
cratic  teaching  of    the  fathers.      In  August, 
1878,  his  wife  died,  having  been  stricken  with 
paralysis  more  than  two  years  before.    This  was 
a  great  loss  to  him.    Five  years  have  elapsed 
since    her    death,    and     he    still    keenly    feels 
her  loss.     He  has  three  children.     His  oldest, 
Ida  M.,  married,  in  1870,  Col.  D.  B.  Dyer,  of 
Baxter   Springs,  Kan.;  Dyer   is   now    United 
States  Indian  Agent   at  the  Quapaw  Agency, 
Indian  Territory,  and  they  reside  at  the  Agency ; 
Frank    R.,  a    young    man,  who    has    reached 
his  majority,  and  is  now  City  Clerk  of  Mound 
City  ;  and  Maude  H.  Casey,  who  will  finish  her 
education  m  another  year.     For  more  than  a 
quarter   of  a   century    that   he    has    lived    in 
Mound  City,    he  has  taken    and   occupied    a 
prominent  position  in  everything  that  had  for 
its  object  the  interest    of    the    place.      Since 
1874,  the  Doctor  has  been  in  the  active  practice 
of  his  profession,  ignoring  offers  of  offices. 

L.  F.  CRAIN,  Sheriff,  Mound  City,  was  born 
May  18,  1839,  in  Clark  County,  Ohio,  near 
Springfield.  His  father  Joseph  M.  Crain,  a  native 
ofthesame  county, was  born  September  2, 1807. 
He  was  a  farmer,  came  to  Pulaski  County,  111., 
in  1870,  and  died  in  1876.  He  was  a  son  of 
John  Crain,  a  native  of  Ireland,  born  in  1774, 
and  died  in  Ohio  in  1848,  where  he  had  settled 
in  an  early  da}-.     He  was  a  participant   in    the 


war  of  1812.     The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Delcenia  A.  (Donovan)  Crain,  a  native  of  Clark 
County,  Ohio,  born   1812,   and   died    in    1853. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  William   Donovan,  and 
the  mother  of  seven  children,  of  whom  six   are 
now  living.     Our  subject  spent  his  early  life  at 
home,  assisting  to  till  the   soil  of  his  father's 
farm,  and  receiving  such  an  education  as  could 
be  obtained  in  the  common  schools  of  his  na- 
tive county  ;  arriving  at  his   majority',   he  em- 
barked on  his  career  in   life  as  a  farmer  and 
fruit-grower,  and  continued  the  same    uninter- 
ruptedl}'   until  May,   1861,  when  he  enlisted  in 
the  late  war,   serving   in    Company    I,  of  the 
Eleventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.     He  was 
appointed  recruiting  officer   after   serving    his 
term  of  enlistment.     He  was  wounded    in    the 
arm,  and  from  its  cause    was    honorably    dis- 
charged from  the  service,  and  returned    to  his 
home  in  Pulaski  County,  and  again  engaged  in 
farming,  continuing  the  same  until  1880,  when 
he  was  elected  Sheriff  of  the  county,  which  he  is 
now  filling.     Mr.    Crain  has    been    twice   mar- 
ried ;  first  in  1870,   to    Miss    Annis  Murphy, 
who  died  in  1875,  leaving  one  child,  viz.:  Nel- 
lie, born  April  6, 1872.     He  married  a  second 
time  Miss  Dora   Kennedy,    who   was    born   in 
1853,  in  Pulaski  County,  111.     This  union  has 
been  blessed    with   one   child,   viz.  :    Earnest, 
born    September,    20,   1880.      Mr.   Crain   has 
served  the  county  in  many  of  its  offices  ;  among 
them  may  be  mentioned  County  Assessor  and 
Treasurer.     He  is  an  active  member  of  the  or- 
der A..  F.  &  A.  M.,  Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  No.  562, 
and  a  Republican  in  politics. 

JAMES  B.  CRANDALL,  attorney  at  law. 
Mound  Cit}-,  is  a  grandson  of  Ezekiel  Crandall. 
a  native  of  New  York,  who  died  in  Ohio,  aged 
almost  one  hundred  and  two  years.  He  was  of 
a  long-lived  race,  and  his  eight  children  are  yet 
living — Horace  (aged  one  hundred  and  two 
years),  Russell.  James,  Asief  (the  father  of  our 
subject),  Saphrona,  Lyman,  Fannie  and  John. 
They  have  all  been   married,  and  have  numer- 


2G0 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ous  descendants.  Ezekiel  Crandall  cut  bis  way 
with  an  ax  from  Cleveland,  Ohio,  to  a  place  in 
Lorain  County,  a  distance  of  twenty-four  miles, 
through  a  dense  forest.  He  settled  on  the  land 
which  was  afterward  occupied  by  Elyria,  the 
county  seat  of  Lorain  County,  where  our  sub- 
ject, James  B.  Crandall,  was  born  April  10,1 837. 
His  father,  Asief  Crandall,  was  born  September 
30,  179(j,  in  New  York.  His  wife,  Eliza  Ferris, 
was  the  mother  of  seven  children — Edwin,  De- 
villow.  LucretiaC,  James  B.  our  subject,  Lu- 
sella  C,  Lorenzo  and  Frank,  a  merchant  in 
Chicago.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  Ober- 
lin.  Ohio.  In  early  life,  he  taught  school 
for  many  j-ears  in  Ohio  and  Illinois.  In  1856, 
he  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  Clark-  & 
Burk.  of  Elyria,  as  his  preceptors.  After  two 
years  of  study,  he  returned  to  Illinois,  where  he 
had  previously  taught  school  in  1855.  July  3, 
1858,  he  came  to  Pulaski  County,  where  he 
taught  in  Grand  Chain  and  Caledonia.  In  1860, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Mount  Vei-non, 
and  commenced  to  practice  in  Caledonia.  He 
came  to  Mound  Citj'  in  1863  ;  here  he  followed 
the  mercantile  business  till  1865,  when  he  once 
more  took  up  his  profession.  The  following 
5-ear,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  D.  W.  Munn. 
now  of  Chicago.  In  1871,  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  John  Linegar,  which  continues  to 
the  present  day.     Mr.  C.  was  married  March  5, 

1861,  to  A^ictoria  Bigby,  daughter  of  Capt.  John 
W.  Bigb}^  of  Caledonia.  She  died  November  29, 

1862,  leaving  two  boys— Bolo  A.,  born  May  5. 
1862.  and  Ernest  A.,  born  March  5,  1865  ;  he 
died  August  23,  1882,  at  Gray's  Bidge,  Mo., 
where  he  was  a  telegraph' operator.  Mr.  Cran- 
dall was  married  a  second  time,  March  5,  1869, 
in  Delaware  Count^^,  Penn.,  to  Eebecca  J.  Craig, 
born  July  29,  1840,  in  Pennsylvania,  daughter 
of  James  Craig,  and  is  the  mother  of  Bobert 
L.,  born  July  29,  1870  ;  Alpha  B.,born  Novem- 
ber 23,  1872,  and  Bell  P.,  born  February  27, 
1876.  Mrs.  Crandall  is  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.    Mr.  Crandall  is  an  A., 


F.  &  A.  M.,  Cairo  Lodge,  No.  237.  Has  been 
Count}'  Treasurer  of  Pulaski  County  from 
1865  to  1868  ;  and  for  several  j'ears  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  City  Council.  Has  also  been  City  At- 
torney.    In  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

MBS.  SABAH  J.  DEAHL,  P.  0.  America, 
born  July  17,  18^3,  at  America,  Pulaski 
County.  She  is  a  daughter  of  William  and 
Catherine  (French)  Wilson.  The  former  was 
born  1789  in  Harrisburg,  Penn.,  and  died  De- 
cember 29,  1856.  The  latter  was  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  born  March  9,  1777  ;  she  died 
March  7,  1877.  They  are  mentioned  in  our 
general  history.  She  was  the  mother  of  seven 
children,  of  whom  four  are  living — Sarah  J. 
(our  subject),  Elery  P.,  William  K.  and  Wash- 
ington B.  ;  the  other  three  died  in  infancy. 
Our  subject  is  the  only  one  living.  She  went 
to  the  old  subscription  schools  in  this  county. 
Here  she  was  married,  January  30,  1845,  to 
Jacob  Deahl,  a  native  of  Prussia,  German}', 
born  February  20,  1809  ;  he  died  in  America 
June  2,  1876.  He  was  a  farmer  and  the  father 
of  seven  children,  viz.  :  Winifred  (deceased), 
William  B.  (deceased),  Washington  L.,  Julia 
A.  (deceased),  Mary  Jane  (wife  of  John  W. 
Boren,  of  Cairo),  Catherine  and  Martha  M. 
Mrs.  Deahl  and  two  of  her  daughters  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  was  also 
her  husband.  Mr.  Deahl  was  a  man  that  stood 
high  in  the  estimation  of  his  fellow-men. 
Mrs.  Deahl  has  a  farm  of  1 20  acres,  provided 
b}'  her  exemplary  husband. 

W.  L.  DEAHL,  farmer,  P.  0.  America, 
was  born  February  9,  1850,  in  Pulaski  Count}'. 
He  is  a  son  of  Jacob  Deahl,  born  February  20, 
1809,  in  Germany,  a  farmer  by  occupation. 
He  came  to  the  United  States  when  a  young 
man.  He  worked  a  few  years  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  then  settled  in  this  county,  following 
farming.  Here  he  married  and  was  identified 
with  the  county  more  or  less  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  June  2,  1876.  The  mother  of 
our  subject  was  Sarah  J.  (Wilson)  Deahl.  born 


MOUND    CITY  PKECINCT. 


•261 


Jul}'  17, 1823,  in  this  count}'.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  William  and  Catharine  (French)  Wilson,  who 
may  be  classed  among  our  old  pioneers.  The}' 
are  mentioned  in  our  general  history.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
of  this  county.  He  has  made  farming  his  vo- 
cation. He  was  joined  in  matrimony  here, 
June  28,  1877,  to  Miss  Anna  Dunn,  born 
June  28,  1848,  in  this  county,  daughter  of 
Benjamin  F.  aud  Jane  (Bowman)  Dunn.  Mrs- 
Anna  Deahl  is  the  mother  of  one  child  now 
living,  Lafayette  Deahl,  born  September  10, 
1881.  Mr.  Deahl  has  been  Constable  in  this 
precinct  for  four  years,  aud  is  one  of  our  wide- 
awake young  farmers. 

JOHN  DISHINGER,  mechanic.  Mound 
City,  was  born  May  5,  1830,  in  Strasbourg, 
France.  His  grandfather,  John  Dishinger, 
was  a  native  of  Baden,  Germany,  born  in  1798. 
He  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native 
place,  and  there  learned  the  wagon- maker's 
trade  and  worked  at  the  same  until  1843,  when 
he  emigrated  to  America,  and  settled  in  Jas- 
per, Dubois  Co.,  Ind.,  and  there  died  in  1858. 
His  wife,  our  subject's  mother,  was  a  native  of 
France.  She  was  burned  to  death  in  a  house, 
at  the  age  of  ninety-five  years,  in  Indiana. 
John  Dishinger,  our  subject,  was  educated  in 
Baden-Baden,  Germany,  and  Louisville,  Ky. 
and  at  the  latter  place  learned  the  wagon-mak- 
er's and  blacksmith's  trades,  and  worked  there 
until  1853,  when  he  removed  to  Jasper,  Ind., 
and  there  remained  three  years.  In  1857,  he 
came  to  Mound  City,  111.,  where  he  has  since 
conducted  a  carpenter,  wagon  and  blacksmith 
shop.  In  Jasper,  Ind.,  in  1853,  he  married 
Miss  Frederika  Bachtel,  a  native  of  Wurtem- 
berg,  Germany,  born  in  1830.  They  have  five 
children — Joseph,  Lizzie,  John,  3Iary  and 
Charley.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dishinger  are  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church. 

A.  J.  DOUGHERTY,  manufacturer,  Mound 
City,  is  a  native  of  Trinity,  111.,  born  Septem- 
ber 4,  1843,  and  a  son  of  James  Dougherty,  a 


native   of  the  East.     Our  subject  was  reared 
and   educated    in  Mound  City,  and  after  com- 
pleting  his  education  engaged  in  merchandis- 
ing business  from  1860  until    1869,  the  first 
four  years  as  clerk  and  afterward  on  his  own 
account.     In    1869,  in    partnership    witii    his 
uncle,  William    Dougherty,  he  engaged  in  the 
saw  mill  business,  and  in  1870  began  the  manu- 
facture of  staves,  in  which  he  has  since  continued. 
Mr.    Dougherty  has   been   twice  married  ;    in 
1867,  to  Miss  Albertine  Hurd,   who  died  the 
following  year,    leaving  one  son,  William  A., 
who  was  born  June  8,  1868.     In  1873,  he  mar- 
ried  Miss    Fannie  Cheek,    born    January  12, 
1852,   in   Aurora,  Ind.,  a  daughter  of    George 
and  Alta  (Bailey)   Cheek.     She  is  the  mother 
of    the    following    children  :  Andrew  J.,  born 
April  28,   1874  ;  Fannie   M.,  born    March  10, 
1879;    and  Ethel,   born   September    9.    1881. 
Mr.  Dougherty  and   wife  are  exemplary  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.     He 
is  a  member   of  the  orders  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  K. 
of  H.  and  Good    Templars.     In  politics,  he  is 
Democratic.     He  is  an  enterprising,  industri- 
ous man,  who  is  honored  and  respected  by  all, 
and  who  is  never  laggard  in  promoting  good  caus- 
es and  general  enterprises.  In  1870,  he  employed 
about  ten  men.     Since  then  he  has  developed 
the  business  to  such  an  extent  that  at  present, 
under  the  head  of  the  Mound  City  Stave  Fac- 
tory, he  employs  about   100  men  in  the  woods 
and  factory,  adding    machinery  from  time  to 
time  till  at  present  it  is  one  of  the  largest  fac- 
tories of  its  kind  in   Southern    Illinois.     Mr. 
Dougherty  was  one  of  the  first  to  introduce  the 
building  of  gravel  roads,  and  for  the  last  three 
years  has  been  instrumental  in  building  them 
by  subscription.     He  is  a  strong  Prohibitionist, 
and  an  active  worker  in  the  public  and  Sunday 
Schools,  of  which  latter  he  is  a  faithful  Superin- 
tendent. 

F.  A.  FAIR,  Mound  City,  contractor  and 
builder,  was  born  June  13,  1823,  on  Ches- 
apeake    Bay,     Maryland,     son     of      Charles 


262 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Fair,  born  1787,  in  Taney  town,  Md.  When 
quite  3'oung,  he  removed  to  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  stayed  with  his  parents,  who  were 
natives  of  Germany,  till  he  was  sixteen  years 
old.  He  then  went  to  Baltimore,  where  he 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  following  it  ten 
years.  Since  then  he  has  been  engaged  mostly 
in  farming  and  stock-raising  in  Maryland  and 
Ohio.  He  died  in  1838.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  Elizabeth  (Marr)  Fair,  born  1790 
in  Baltimore.  She  died  1854  in  Dayton.  Ohio. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Walter  Alarr.  grandson 
of  the  Earl  of  Marr,  of  Scotland.  John  Marn 
father  of  Walter  Marr,  was  captured  while 
crossing  the  ocean,  and  was  put  to  death,  to- 
gether with  the  crew.  The  heirs  of  the  Marr 
family  for  the  last  forty  years  have  made 
researches  for  the  old  Earl's  will  and  testament- 
al  papers.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  3Iarr  was  the  mother 
of  thirteen  children,  of  whom  six  are  now  liv- 
ino-.  Our  subject  onl}^  enjoyed  one  winter  term 
of  school.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  began  to 
learn  the  mason  trade  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  which 
he  has  followed  most  of  his  life.  He  has  worked 
at  his  trade  in  New  Orleans,  Madison,  Indiana 
and  Missouri.  In  1856,  he  settled  in  Mound 
City,  where  he  followed  his  occupation  most  of 
his  time.  He  was  also  owner  and  keeper  of 
wharf  and  steamboats,  and  during  the  war  sur- 
veyor of  the  port.  His  last  wharf  boat  burned 
in  1875.  He  kept  hotel  for  two  years,  and  since 
then  has  followed  his  trade.  Mr.  Fair  was  mar- 
ried, January  4,  1853,  in  New  Albany,  lud.,  to 
Miss  Sophia  Kopp,  born  December  4,  1832,  in 
Steubenville,  Ohio,  daughter  of  George  and  Bar- 
bara (Genther)  Kopp.  The  result  of  this  union 
was  five  children,  now  living,  viz.  :  Anna  E., 
wife  of  Loren  D.  Stophlet ;  DoraF.,  wife  of  Will- 
iam BiggerstaflF;  Katie,  wife  L.  J.  Mall  ;  Frank 
A.  and  Eddie.  Mr.  Fair  has  been  a  Democrat 
since  Horace  Greeley  ran  for  President. 

W.  T.  FREEZE,  lawyer.  Mound  City,  is 
one  of  the  most  prominent  of  his  profession  in 
Pulaski  County.     He  is  of  German   descent,  a 


native  of  Tennessee,  born  December  1,  1844. 
His  father,  John  L.  Freeze,  is  a  native  of  same 
State,  born  in  January,  1824,  he  came  to 
Illinois  in  1848,  and  settled  in  Union  Count}-, 
and  was  engaged  as  contractor  for  the  stone 
work  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company 
for  five  3-ears.  In  1870,  he  removed  to  Howell 
Count}-,  Mo.,  where  he  now  resides.  His  wife, 
and  mother  of  our  subject,  Mar}-  E.  (Campliell) 
Freeze,  was  also  a  native  of  Tennessee,  slie  was 
born  February  27,  1824  ;  she  was  a  daughter 
of  William  and  Mary  (Stone)  Campbell,  and 
was  the  mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom  five 
are  now  living.  She  died  January  10,  1865. 
Our  subject  was  raised  on  a  farm  and  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  Union  County  ;  when 
a  young  man  learned  the  carpenter  trade  of  his 
father.  August  19,  1862,  at  seventeen 
years  of  age,  he  enlisted  in  the  late  war,  serv- 
ing in  Company  H,  of  the  Eighteenth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  mustered  out  of 
the  service  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  July  10,  1865, 
at  the  time  was  Hospital  Steward,  a  position  he 
had  held  for  thirteen  months.  He  was  in  the 
following  battles  :  Parker's  Cross  Roads,  where 
he  was  wounded  in  the  leg,  and  still  carries  the 
bullet,  was  also  in  the  battles  of  Mount  Elbe 
and  siege  of  Yicksburg.  After  the  war.  he 
attended  for  a  short  time  the  University  of 
Michigan,  and  then  engaged  in  farming  in  Union 
County  on  the  old  home  farm.  In  1870,  he 
gave  up  farming,  and  began  teaching  schools 
during  the  winter  seasons,  and  working  at  his 
trade  in  the  summer.  In  1866,  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  and  in  August,  1881,  passed  his 
examination  before  the  Appellate  Court  of 
Mount  Vernon,  111.,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  He  had  previously  been  Police  Magis- 
trate of  Dongola,  111.,  but  resigned  the  office 
on  being  admitted  to  the  bar.  In  September, 
1881,  he  came  to  Mound  City,  and  entered 
upon  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he 
has  followed  in  connection  with  duties  as 
Deputy  County    Clerk.     In  1867,  on  the    22d 


MOUND  CITY   PRECINCT. 


263 


of  October,  he  married  Emma  Hoffner,  a  native 
of  Pulaski  County,  born  Jul}'  26,  1845  ;  she  is 
a  daughter  of  Judge  Caleb  and  Melia  (Knupp) 
Hoffner.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  she  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  ;  he  is  an  active  member  of  Masons, 
Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  No.  250,  and  in  politics  is 
a  Republican. 

F.  G.  FRICKE,  druggist,  Mound  City,  born 
April  6,  1846,  in  Brunswick,  Germany,  son  of 
August  F.  G.  Fricke,  born  1812,  in  Hanover. 
He  is  yet  living  in  Brunswick,  where  he  was  a 
custom  house  officer ;  he  is  now  retired  from 
active  service  and  receives  a  pension.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Caroline  Buchring  ; 
she  was  born  February  23,  1820,  in  Germany, 
where  she  j'et  resides,  being  the  mother  of  ten 
children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living,  viz.: 
Louis,  George,  Albert,  Dora,  Newkirch,  Her- 
raine  and  Frederick  G.,  our  subject,  who  is  the 
oldest.  He  was  educated  in  Germany,  where 
he  also  learned  the  drug  business.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1866,  he  emigrated  to  the  United  States, 
landing  in  New  York.  From  thei'e  he  went  to 
Richmond,  Va.,  where  he  clerked  in  a  drug 
store,  until  the  fall  of  1867,  when  he  left  for 
St.  Louis,  where  he  clerked  till  April,  1869. 
He  then  came  to  Mound  City,  where  he  bought 
Frank  Tourelle's  drug  store.  In  1880,  he 
built  a  two-story  brick  building,  in  which  he 
keeps  the  only  drug  store  in  town.  He  was 
joined  in  matrimony-,  in  Williamsport,  Penn., 
September  3,  1871,  to  Miss  Emma  Niemeyer, 
born  February  22,  1849,  in  Gr.  Schwuelper, 
Hanover,  Germany.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Charles  Niemeyer,  a  former  pastor  of  a  Lu- 
theran Church,  but  now  retired,  living  in 
Brunswick.  Her  mother  was  Sophia  Gade, 
who  died  in  April,  1883.  Mrs.  Emma  Fricke 
is  the  mother  of  four  children,  viz.:  Dora,  born 
October  2,  1872  ;  Carl,  born  October  2,  1875  ; 
Albert,  born  November  12,  1878,  and  Fred- 
erick, born  June  20,  1881.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Fricke  are  religiously  connected  with  the  Lu- 


therian  Church.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
the  school  board,  is  a  wide-awake,  free  minded 
man,  and  in  politics  is  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party. 

ROMEO  FRIGANZA,  merchant.  Mound 
City,  was  born  October  17,  1815,  on  Minocar 
Island,  one  of  the  Balearic  group,  in  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea,  subject  to  Spain.  His  life  has 
been  a  checkered  one,  almost  romantic.  His 
father,  Salvador  Friganza,  was  a  native  of  Mal- 
ta, in  the  Mediterranean.  He  died  in  Minocar, 
where  he  had  been  married  to  Juanna  Pons,  a 
descendant  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  re- 
nowned families  on  the  island,  members  of 
which  occupy  positions  of  the  highest  trust.  She 
died  on  the  island  after  giving  birth  to  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  onl}'  two  sons  are  now  liv- 
ing— Joseph,  who  never  left  his  native  island, 
and  is  now  living  on  the  estate  of  his  parents, 
and  Romeo,  our  subject,  who  was  partly  educat- 
ed on  his  native  island,  but  received  most  of 
his  education  on  board  the  United  States  man- 
of-war,  "Constitution,"  the  commodore  ship  of 
the  Mediterranean  squadron,  on  which  he  had 
embarked  vvithout  the  knowledge  of  his  parents, 
and  on  which  he  stayed  two  years,  when  he  was 
transferred  to  the  "  North  Carolinian,"  who  re- 
lieved the  old  "  Constitution."  He  stayed  on 
her  till  1827,  when  he  was  transferred  with  the 
Paymaster,  N.  H.  Perry,  to  the  United  States 
sloop-of-war,  "Lexington,"  on  which  he  remained 
till  his  arrival  in  New  York  in  1830.  He  was 
then  transferred  by  Commodore  Isaac  Chauncy, 
to  the  New  York  navy  yard,  for  the  purpose  of 
learning  the  trade  of  ship  joiner,  there  to  re- 
main till  the  age  of  twenty-one.  Through  his 
industry  and  efficiency,  he  was,  at  the  breaking- 
out  of  the  Mexican  war,  made  foreman  of  the 
joiners  in  the  navy  j'ard,  continuing  as  such  till 
1856,  when  he  was  promoted  to  master  joiner 
a  position  of  high  trust,  which  he  held  till  the 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  when  he  was  or- 
dered to  St.  Louis,  there  to  aid  Admiral  Foote 
in  building  and  equipping  gun-boats  for  the  Mis- 


}64 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


sissippi  Squadron.  He  remained  in  the  service 
till  July  1,  1874,  which  was  after  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  naval  service  at  Mound  Cit}'.  After 
a  continual  service  of  fortj'-six  years,  he  retired 
from  the  public  service,  and  for  the  last  two 
years  has  been  keeping  a  book  store.  His  rec- 
cord  in  the  navy  is  one  of  the  very  best,  and 
should  deserve  a  better  reward.  During  the 
3'ears  from  1861  to  1865,  while  acting  as 
Naval  Constructor,  $3,000,000  passed  though 
his  hands,  yet  no  questions  were  asked  at  "Wash- 
ington. His  was  the  only  office  of  that  kind  that 
was  not  investigated  after  the  war.  Admiral 
Porter  in  a  letter,  says  :  "  You  ought  to  feel 
highly  honored,  as  yours  is  the  only  office  that 
does  not  need  investigation."  He  is  also  hon- 
orably mentioned  in  naval  histories.  Our  sub- 
ject has  been  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was 
Delilah  Boardman,  who  died  in  1856,  leaving 
eight  children — Joseph,  Henry,  Romeo,  John 
Margaret,  Eliza,  Sarah  and  Charles  (deceased). 
Joseph  was  in  ',the  navy  during  the  war,  and 
Henry  and  Romeo  were  in  the  army.  His  sec- 
ond wife,  Mrs.  Anna  Huckleberry,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Harrington,  is  the  mother  of  six 
children — Allen,  Ira,  Ida  and  Charles  Huckle- 
berry, from  her  first  husband,  and  Archy  and 
Willie  Friganza,  with  our  subject.  Mr.  Friganza 
is  Democratic  in  politics.  He  has  been  Mayor 
of  Mound  City  for  the  last  ten  years,  also  County 
Commissioner  for  two  years.  Is  now  President 
of  the  School  Board,  in  which  he  served  twelve 
years.  He  is  also  an  active  member  of  the  A., 
F.  &  A.  M. 

S.  H.  GRAVES,  County  Coroner.  Mound  City, 
was  born  November  22,  1837,  in  Alexander 
County,  111.,  son  of  Edward  Graves,  a  native  of 
Tennessee,  who  died  July  6, 1851,  of  the  Asiatic 
cholera.  He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Elizabeth  (Mirron) 
Graves,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  She  died  in 
Scott  County,  Mo.  She  was  the  mother  of  four 
children,  of  whom  two,  the  oldest  and  3^oungest, 
are  now  living,  viz.  :  Samuel  H.,    our   subject, 


and  his  sister,  Amanda  M.  Devouch.  Samuel 
H.  is  mainl}' self-educated.  In  early  life  he 
followed  farming.  He  enlisted  August  22, 1861, 
in  the  Thirty-first  Illinois  Regiment  Volunteers, 
Companj'  F,  and  was  promoted  to  Orderly  Ser- 
geant. He  served  three  years  under  the  stars 
and  stripes,  and  was  then  honorably  discharged 
in  East  Point,  Ga.,  having  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Belmont,  Mo.,  Fort  Donelson,  battle 
and  siege  of  A^icksburg,  and  others.  He  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson  by  a 
minnie  ball  shattering  his  right  hand.  He 
draws  a  pension  now.  After  the  war,  he  re- 
turned to  Pulaski  County,  where  he  was  joined 
in  matrimony,  October  20,  1864,  at  old  Amer- 
ica, to  Miss  Mary  C.  Littlejohn,  born  May  22, 
1839,  in  Mason  County,  Ky.,  daughter  of  Daniel 
and  Cynthia  A.  Thompson.  Mrs.  Graves  is 
the  mother  of  six  children,  now  living,  viz.  : 
Minnie,  born  January  27,  1866  ;  Edward  F., 
born  January  27,  1868  ;  Lilie  D.,  born  Decem- 
ber 2,  1869  ;  Nettie  B.,  born  October  9,  1871  ; 
Flora,  born  April  13,  1876  ;  and  William  0., 
born  October  13,  1878.  After  marriage 
Mr.  Graves  engaged  in  the  lumber  business 
for  two  years,  when  he  turned  his  attention  to 
farming.  He  has  filled  school  offices,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1882,  was  elected  Coroner  of  Pulaski 
County.  He  is  a  member  of  the  A..  F.  &  A. 
M.  fraternity,  Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  No.  562.  In 
politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

WILLIAM  L.  HAMBLETON,  deceased. 
In  writing  the  history  of  this  County,  and 
especially  that  of  Mound  City,  the  writers 
have  endeavored  to  preserve  the  history 
of  some  deserving  men — men  who  have  done 
something  for  the  people,  perhaps  done  more 
for  the  people  than  for  themselves  ;  self-made 
men,  who  practicall}'  commenced  life  with  their 
own  resources,  with  less  than  a  limited  educa- 
tion, with  no  long  list  of  crowned  ancestry, 
but  who  were  endowed  with  pluck,  persever- 
ance, a  vitality  and  nerve  which  overcomes  all 
obstacles,  that  break  down  the  weak  but   that 


MOUND    CITY  PRECINCT. 


265 


aid  in  strengtheniug  tlie  will  and  character  of 
the  self-made  man.  Many  of  our  successful 
business  men  have  accumulated  fortunes,  while 
others  that  toiled  just  as  hard,  bore  the  same 
or  more  hardships,  have  not  been  as  successful, 
owing  to  their  large  hearted ness.  their  I'eadi- 
ness  to  aid  those  in  trouble  or  distress,  whose 
heart  and  purse  were  open  to  all,  regardless  of 
color,  isms,  or  politics.  To  the  latter  class  be- 
longs the  subject  of  this  sketch,  whose  portrait 
appears  in  this  work.  He  was  known  onl}-  to 
be  loved  and  respected.  His  name  is  spoken 
by  the  rough-and-ready  river  or  railroad  men, 
as  one  would  speak  of  a  friend  that  sticks 
closer  than  a  brother.  He  has  reared  for  him- 
self a  monument  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-men, 
that  rivals  the  one  in  the  National  Cemetery, 
in  whose  construction  he  was  instrumental, 
being  one  of  the  Commissioners.  His  whole 
life  has  been  more  devoted  to  the  interest  and 
happiness  of  others  than  his  own.  In  the  simple, 
but  expressive  language  of  the  people  who 
knew  him,  he  was  called  a  •'  man  "  in  every 
sense  of  the  word.  He  was  born  November 
15,  1825,  in  Maryland.  His  father,  Thomas 
Hambleton,  was  a  ship-carpenter  by  occupa- 
tion. He  was  of  Scotch  descent,  the  old  famil}- 
name  being  Hambledown.  William  L.  Hamble- 
ton served  his  apprenticeship  as  ship-carpenter 
in  Cincinnati,  where  he  afterward,  in  company 
with  his  brother,  Samuel  T.,  started  a  ship- 
3'ard.  In  1860,  he  permanentl}-  located  in 
Mound  City,  where  he  and  his  brother  operated 
a  ship-yard,  better  known  as  the  "  marine 
ways."  Here  he  was  joined  in  matrimony, 
December  31,  1863,  to  Sarah  E.  Kain,  born 
April  1,  1840,  in  Clermont  County,  Ohio 
Her  father,  Daniel  Kain,  a  farmer  in  Clermont 
County,  was  of  German  descent.  Her  mother, 
Jane  Tate,  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  was  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  Tate,  a  native  of  Scotland, 
and  a  cooper  by  occupfition.  Jane  Tate  was 
the  mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom  the  last 
seven  were  children  b}'  her   second   husband, 


Nelson  Applegate.  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Hambleton 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Her  life  is  devoted  to  the  interest  of  her 
interesting  family,  which  consists  of  six  children 
now  living,  of  whom  the  three  oldest  are 
children  from  her  late  husband's  first  wife, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Sarah  Tate,  who  died 
June  9,  1862.  The  children  are  Adaline  F.. 
the  wife  of  G.  T.  Whitlock  ;  Thomas  H.,  born 
October  7,  1858  ;  Sarah  E.,  born  November 
11,  I860  ;  Lilie,  born  August  13,  1868  ;  Jessie 
H.,  born  March  31,  1870,  and  Alfred  S.,  born 
August  15,  1873.  William  L.  Hambleton  was  a 
man  whose  place  has  not  been  filled  since  his 
demise,  which  occurred  January  29,  1883,  in 
Mound  City,  which  place  he  had  also  served  as 
City  Treasurer,  member  of  the  City  Council, 
and  was  also  appointed  one  of  the  Commission- 
ers for  the  building  of  the  State  House  of 
Springfield.  111.  His  memory  will  be  cherished 
by  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

DAVID  D.  HARRIS,  carpenter  and  builder, 
Mound  City,  is  a  native  of  A^ersailles,  Wood- 
ford Co.,  *Ky  ,  born  September  8,  1831,  to  Da- 
vid H.  and  Margaret  (Peters)  Harris.  He 
was  born  in  Orange  Count}',  Va.,  in  1785,  and 
died  in  Versailles,  Ky.,  in  1847  ;  he  was  a  car- 
penter by  occupation,  a  son  of  Linsey  Harris, 
a  native  of  Virginia  and  a  soldier  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary war.  Subject's  mother  was  born  in 
Franklin  County,  Va.,  in  1789,  and  died  in 
Lexington,  Ky.,  in  1856  ;  she  was  the  mother 
of  five  children,  of  whom  the  following  are 
now  living  :  William  P.,  Mrs.  Frances  Hartje, 
Mrs.  Ann  Foushee,  and  David  D.,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch.  He  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  his  native  county,  and,  when  quite 
young,  apprenticed  himself  at  the  carpenter's 
trade,  with  his  brother,  William  P.  Harris,  and 
worked  at  his  trade  there  until  1857,  when  he 
removed  to  Jackson  County,  Mo.,  and  there  en- 
gaged in  farming  until  1863,  when  he  came  to 
Mound  City,  111.,  and  has  since  been  engaged 
at   his   trade.      In   Danville,  Ky.,  October  13, 


206 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


1857,  he  married  Mary  E.  Fletcher,  a  native  of 
Lincoln  County,  K}.,  born  September  8,^  1839. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  John  and  Mary  E.  (Quin- 
ton)  Fletcher  and  the  mother  of  the  following 
children  :  William  B.,  born  February  15, 
1859;  David  D.,  born  March  9,  1862,  and 
Maggie  P.,  born  September  2,  1864.  Mr.  Har- 
ris is  an  active  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. ;  is  a 
Democrat  in  politics,  and  has  served  the  city 
as  Alderman. 

EDWARD  A.  HAY,  mechanic,  Mound  City, 
was  born  July   31,  1839,    in  Baltimore,    Md., 
son  of  William  H.  Hay,  born    in   1800   in  St. 
Mary's   County,   Md.,   a   butcher   by   occupa- 
tion.    He  died    in   Baltimore  in  June,  1844. 
He  married  Jane  Moran,  born  1798  in  Mary 
land  ;  she  died,  1862   in  Athens.  Menard   Co.; 
111.     She    was    of    French    descent,    and    the 
mother  of  five  boys  and  four  girls,  of  whom  four 
boys  and  three  girls  are  now  living.     Our  sub- 
ject was  educated  in  Baltimore.     In  1854,  he 
came  West,  settling  in  Athens.  Menard  Co.,  111., 
where   he  learned  his  trade  with   his  brother 
James  C     In  the  fall  of  1861,  he  enlil^ied  in  the 
Twenty-eighth    Illinois    Volunteers,    Company 
F,  serving  till  close  of  war.     He  was  a  drum- 
mer most  of  the  time.     He  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Fort  Henry,  Shiloh  Corinth,  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  Hatchee  River,  Jackson,  Miss.,  and 
Spanish      Fort,     Ala.       In     February,    1865, 
he  crossed  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  with  his  regi- 
ment.    After  the  war,  he  came  to  Mound  Cit^^, 
where  he  has  followed  his  trade.     He  was  mar- 
ried here  to  Caroline  W  ilson,  born  December  7 
1  846,  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio.     She  is  a  daughter 
of  Jacob  and  Am  erica  (Murphy)  Wilson.     3Irs. 
C  aroline  Hay  is  the  mother  of  three  children, 
viz.  :  Estella,  deceased  ;  Willie,  born  June  14, 
1870,  and    Pearl    May,  born    May  28,  1877. 
M  r.  Hay   is  a  Republican,  also  a  member  of 
th  e  I.  0.  O.  F.,  and  a  Knight  of  Honor.     He 
h  as  been  School  Director,  and  also  a  member 
of  the  City  Council  for  two  terms. 

WILLIAM    T.    HAYDEN,    farmer,    P.  0. 


Mound  City,  was  born  November  1,  1839,  in 
Montgomery  Count}^  Ind.,  son  of  Jonah  T. 
Hayden,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  He  died 
in  Champaign  County.  111.;  he  was  a  farmer- 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Mary  (Peters) 
Hayden,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  She  was 
the  mother  of  nine  childi'en,  of  whom  five  ai'e 
now  living,  viz.:  Rebecca,  Sarah  A.,  James, 
Samuel  and  William  T.,  our  subject,  who  went 
to  school  in  Champaign  County,  111.  He  de- 
voted himself  to  farming.  He  was  married, 
September  20,  1860,  to  Miss  Maria  James, 
born  February,  1842.  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Elizabeth  (Durham)  James  ;  she  is  the  mother 
of  nine  children,  viz.:  Douglas  A.,  born  No- 
vember 24,  1862  ;  George  W.,  born  October  15, 
1864  ;  Mary  E.,  born  March  21,  1867  ;  William 
T.,  born  October  24,  1869  ;  Maria  C.  born 
October  27,  1871  ;  John  T.,  born  November  2, 
1873;  Romantha  A.,  born  December  10.  1875  ; 
Ida  M.,  born  Jul}'  21,  1878,  and  Samuel  J., 
born  December  11,  1882.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hay- 
den are  religioush'  connected  with  the  Southern 
M.  E.  Church.  He_  has  a  farm  of  110  acres. 
He  has  served  the  people  in  his  neighborhood 
in  the  capacity  of  School  Director.  In  politics, 
he  is  Democratic,  but  votes  for  the  best  man. 

HON.  DANIEL  HOGAN,  Mound  City,  was 
born  in  the  count}'  of  Kilkenny,  Ireland,  July  4, 
1849.  His  father  was  a  respected  and  well-to- 
do  farmer,  whose  ancestors  had  for  generations 
been  land-owners.  His  mother,  a  descendant 
of  the  O'Mahers,  a  family  of  title  and  distinc- 
tion, famous  in  the  early  and  present  history 
of  Ireland.  In  1852,  when  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  but  an  infant,  his  father  brought 
his  family  to  x\merica,  and  became  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Pulaski  County,  111.  The  early 
days  of  Daniel  were  spent  on  a  farm,  and  in  at- 
tending the  public  schools  of  the  district,  finally 
taking  the  high  school  coui'se  at  Cairo,  111., 
and  studying  the  various  branches  of  telegra- 
phy at  night.  This  latter  acquirement  was  of 
great  benefit  to  him  during  the  war.     The  first 


MOUND    CITY  Jr'RECINCT. 


£67 


signal  for  the  great  civil  conflict  found  him  too 
young  to  enlist,  but  he    was   smuggled    b}'  an 
elder  brother  into  the  camp  of  the   Thirty-first 
Illinois  Volunteers,   commanded   by  Col.   John 
A.  Logan.     Some  months  later,    he  was  regu- 
larly enrolled    in   the  telegraph   corps   of  the 
United    States    Army,  and  attached  to  the  bri- 
gade serving  under  Gren.  U.  S.   Grant,  as  confi- 
dential cipher  clerk,  with  the  rank  of  Lieuten- 
ant, and  afterward  of  Captain.     He  was  present 
at  the  capture  of  Fort  Henry,  and   Clarksville 
and  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  was  under  fire  at  Fort 
Donelson,  Corinth,  and  luka,  Miss. ;  was  with 
Gens.  Hatch  and  Grierson,  in  their  various  caval- 
ry raids  and  fights  in  Tennessee,  Mississippi  and 
Alabama.  He  was  frequently  stationed  at  impor- 
tant and  exposed  posts  in  the  enemy's  country, 
and  engaged  in   tapping   his   telegraph    wires, 
many  times   narrowly  escaping  capture.      He 
accompanied  Gen.  W.  T.  Sherman  and  staff  to 
Chattanooga,    Tenn.,    before   starting   on     his 
"  march  to   the  sea,  "  as  his  confidential  cipher 
clerk   and    telegrapher,    but    being    urgently 
wanted  in  Memphis,  Tenn,  was   sent  there   as 
chief  of  the  military  lines.     At  the  close  of  the 
war,  Capt.  Hogan  was  honorably  mustered  out 
for  '•  faithful  and  important  military  services." 
He  then  entered  and  graduated  from  Bryant  & 
Stratton's  Business  College,  and  took    service 
under  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company, 
in  the   principal   cities   of  the  United  States. 
He  came  to  Mound  City.  111.,  in  1869,  in  order 
to  be  near  his  aged  parents,  who  both  died  at 
an  advanced  age,  the   father   at   seventy-four, 
and  the   mother  seventy-two,    being   aftection- 
ately  attended  by  their  dutiful  son.     The  ability 
and  business  integrity  of  Mr.  Hogan  soon  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  his  neighbors,  and  al- 
though very  young  for  the  office,   he   was  in 
1873  elected   County  Clerk,   and  re-elected  at 
every  ensuing  election  until  1882,  when  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate  from  the   Fifty-first 
Senatorial  District,  comprising  the  counties  of 
Franklin,   Williams,  Johnson  and  Pulaski,  .de- 


feating Mr.  Youngblood,  the  Democratic  candi- 
date, by  nearly  1,000  votes.  He  at  once  took 
an  active  part  in  all  important  legislation,  and 
was  placed  on  many  important  committees, 
and  proved  himself  a  keen  financier,  and  in  the 
protracted  legislative  dead-lock  of  January, 
1883,  and  that  finally  elected  Gov.  S.  M.  Cul- 
lom  to  the  United  States  Senate,  Mr.  Hogan 
contributed  no  small  part  of  the  result,  and 
showed  himself  one  of  the  shrewdest  young  pol- 
iticians and  caucus  managers  in  the  State,  and 
his  friends  predict  for  him  a  brilliant  future. 
In  1876,  Mr.  Hogan  married  the  daughter  of 
the  late  Judge  G.  W.  Carter,  one  of  the  wealthy 
and  original  founders  of  Mound  City,  and  for 
many  years  President  of  the  Mound  City  Rail- 
road Company,  and  of  the  Emporium  Real  Es- 
tate and  Manufacturing  Company.  The  suc- 
cessful manner  in  which  Mr.  Hogan  has  man- 
aged his  own  and  his  wife's  large  interests 
proves  him  to  be  an  able  and  safe  man. 

A.  HUTTON,  farmer  and  mechanic,  P.  0. 
Mound  City,  was  born  December  28,  1833,  in 
Bannockburn,  Scotland,  son  of  David  Hutton, 
born  1798  in  Bannockburn,  Scotland,  where  he 
was  a  merchant,  but  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
he  was  a  Jacquard  machine-maker.  He  died 
there.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Anna 
Garow,  born  in  Oswego,  N.  Y.  She  died  in  Scot- 
land. Our  subject  was  the  only  child.  He  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education  in  Scotland, 
where  he  also  learned  tlie  boiler  maker's  trade, 
which  he  followed  for  three  years  in  Egypt.  In 
1856,  became  to  the  United  States,  having  pre- 
viously been  one  year  in  Quebec.  Canada.  He 
worked  at  his  trade  in  many  of  the  principal 
cities  of  that  day,  including  St.  Louis,  Cincin- 
nati and  New  Orleans.  In  1858,  he  came  to 
Mound  City,  where  he  worked  at  his  trade  for 
James  Goodlow,  in  the  foundry  for  two  years. 
He  finally  settled  on  a  farm  in  1860,  still  work- 
ing at  his  trade  until  1875.  Since  then,  he  has 
farmed  exclusively.  Our  subject  was  married 
in  Mound  City,  June  10,  1851),  to  Miss  Martha 


2C,S 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


Boothb}',  born  January  10,  1841,  in  Philadel- 
phia, Penn.,  daughter  of  William  and  Mary 
(Gibson)  Boothb}',  natives  of  England.  3Irs. 
Button  is  the  mother  of  Anna,  born  September 
7,  1861,  wife  of  William  Parker.  She  is  the 
mother  of  Pearl  Parker,  born  February  5,  1881. 
Our  subject  has  been  identified  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party. 

W.  H.  JACKSON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mound  City, 
was  born  February  22,  1829,  in  Henderson 
County,  Tenn.,  son  of  Jesse  Jackson,  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  where  he  learned  the  car- 
penter's trade  ;  followed  it  and  farming  through 
life.  He  lived  one  j^ear  where  our  subject  was 
born,  and  then  removed  to  Graves  County,  Ky., 
where  he  followed  carpentering  till  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1834,  being  taken  sick  while 
building  a  house  in  Columbus,  K3".  He  was  a 
quiet  man,  who  never  sought  notoriety  or  office. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Elizabeth  (Ri- 
ley) Jackson,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
yet  living.  She  was  the  mother  of  six  children, 
of  whom  four  are  now  living — Clark,  Rebecca 
Atwood,  Julia  Duffel  and  William  H.,  our  sub- 
ject, who  was  educated  in  Graves  County,  Ky., 
where  he  taught  school  for  three  years,  and 
then  turned  his  attention  to  farming,  which  has 
been  his  occupation  through  life.  He  left  Ken- 
tuck3'in  the  spring  of  1867,  settling  in  Pulaski 
Count}',  where  he  bought  tliirtj'-one  and  one- 
third  acres  of  Lots  No.  1  and  2,  of  the  old  town 
of  ximei'ica.  which  once  had  about  1,600  in- 
habitants, but  which  is  now  only  a  field.  Our 
subject  was  joined  in  matrimony  twice.  His 
first  wife  was  liucy  E.  Keeling,  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky. She  died  in  November,  1866.  She  left 
two  children — Thomas  F.,  born  November  23, 
1857  ;  (he  is  now  at  the  Pagosa  Springs,  Colo.), 
and  Nancy  E.,  wife  of  B.  W.  Jackson,  born 
June  2,  1860,  in  White  County,  111.,  son  of 
Isaac  and  Rh  oda  (Storm)  Jackson,  the  former 
a  native  of  Kentuck}*,  and  the  latter  a  native 
of  Illinois.  Our  subject  was  married  a  second 
time  to   Mrs.    Missouri    Adams,   daughter  of 


George  Mason,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  a 
blacksmith  doing  the  first  iron  work  on  the  first 
jail  house  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Mrs.  Jackson  is 
a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In 
1868,  our  subject  was  elected  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  serving  four  years.*  He  served  the  peo- 
ple with  ability,  and  was  elected  for  another 
term  in  the  fall  of  1881.  He  is  now  Deputy 
Assessor.  In  politics,  he  has  been  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

WALTER  JACKSON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mound 
City,  was  born  on  June  6,  1857,  in  London, 
England,  son  of  Henry  Jackson,  a  native 
of  London,  England,  where  he  yet  resides. 
He  is  a  compositor  by  occupation.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  Maria  Keeble,  a  native  of 
England,  deceased.  She  was  the  mother  of 
eleven  children,  of  whom  three  are  now  living 
— William,  a  machinist  in  San  Francisco : 
Henry,  a  printer  in  Sati  Francisco;  and  Walter. 
our  subject,  who  was  educated  in  England. 
He  came  to  the  United  States  in  June,  1874, 
settling  in  Pulaski  County,  where  he  has  been 
farming  since.  He  has  a  farm  of  330  acres. 
He  was  married  here  to  Miss  Fannie  J.  Peeler, 
born  November  9,  1850,  in  Cairo.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Lindsey  and  Emilie  (Cook)  Peeler. 
The  former  is  a  native  of  the  United  States, 
the  latter  of  England.  Mrs.  Fannie  Jackson  is 
the  mother  of  two  children  now  living — Horace, 
born  July  6,  1880,  and  Walter  S.,  born  Septem- 
ber 6,  1882.  Mr.  Jackson  is  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Honor,  Mound  City  Lodge,  No. 
1847.  In  politics,  he  is  identified  with  the 
Democratic  part}-. 

CHRISTIAN  KELLER,  barber.  Mound 
City,  was  born  near  Worms,  in  Osthofen,  Hes- 
se-Darmstadt, Germany,  April  1,  1843.  His 
father,  Peter  Keller,  is  a  native  of  Germany, 
and  a  cooper  by  occupation.  His  wife,  mother 
of  our  subject,  was  Kate  (Ratmacher)  Keller, 
who  died  in  Germany,  her  native  State.  Of 
the  children  born  to  her,  five  are  now  living. 
Christian  Keller   received  a  limited  education 


MOUND    CITY    PRECINCT. 


269 


in  Germany,  but  b}'  observation  and  business 
experience  in   America  has  become  master  of 
the  English  language.     When   he  was  fourteen 
3'ears  of  age,  he  bade  home  and  friends  fare- 
well and  sailed  for  America,  landing  at  New 
Orleans,  and  located  at  St.  Louis,  where  he  ap- 
prenticed himself  af  the  barber's  trade.     At 
the  breaking-out  of  the  late  civil  war,  he  en- 
listed in  Company  B  of  the  Forty-third  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantr}-,  and  was  wounded  at  the 
battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing,  which  made  the 
amputation  of  a  limb  necessary  to  save  his 
life.     He  was  honorably  discharged  in  Jackson, 
Tenn.,  in  the  spring  of  1863.     He  then  went  to 
his  home  in  St.  Clair   County,  111.,  from   where 
he  had  enlisted  and  where  his  relatives  resid- 
ed.    In  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  he  went  to 
Cincinnati  and  again  resumed  working  at  his 
trade.     In  the  fall  of  1865.  he  came  to  Mound 
City.  Ill,  where  he  has  since   remained.     In 
1867,  on  the  27th  of  October,  he  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  Revingtou,  a  native  of  Pulaski  Coun- 
ty. 111.,  born  September  2,  1849,  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  Peter  and  Sarah  (Thomson)  Revington, 
the  former  a  native  of  Ireland  and  the  latter  of 
Pulaski    County,  111.      This  union    has    been 
blessed   with  the   following  children :  Greorge 
William,   born  March  23,    1869;    Edward  J., 
born  November  12, 1871;  Lucy  A.  F.,  born  March 
26.  1876.     Mr.   Keller    is  a  member    of   the 
Lutheran  Chui'ch,  and  a  Republican  in  politics. 
E.  R.  LEWIS,    farmer,    P.  0.  Mound  City, 
was  born  August  2,  1847,  in  Warren,  Trumbull 
Co..    Ohio,    son   of  Benjamin   Lewis,  born  in 
Warren,  Ohio.      The  father  was  a  hotel  keeper 
in  early  life.      In    1857,  he  went  to  Arkansas, 
where  he  farmed  till  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  1864.     The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Bet- 
sey (Rappert)  Lewis,  born  in  Erie.  Penn.     She 
died  in  Pulaski  County,  111.,  in  1864.     She  was 
the    mother  of  six  children,  of  whom  four  are 
now  living,  viz.:  Mar}-  F.  Yessey,  Emelia  Jones, 
Matilda   and   Elisha   R.,    who    was    educated 
partly  in  Ohio  and  partly  in  Illinois.     In  early 


life,  he  took  to  farming,  which  he  has  kept  up 
ever  since.  He  was  joined  in  matrimou}-, 
April  29,  1870,  in  this  county,  to  Miss  Alice 
Beaver,  born  February  19,  1853,  on  the  farm 
where  she  now  resides.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Abraham  and  Malinda  (Rhoden)  Beaver,  who 
are  old  settlers,  and  is  the  mother  of  five  chil- 
dren, viz.:  Pearl,  born  October  22,  1871  ; 
George,  born  March  29,  1873  ;  Leona,  born 
July  3,  1875 ;  Mary  A.,  born  January  27, 
1878;  Minnie,  born  August  24,  1882.  Mr. 
Lewis  has  a  farm  of  106  acres.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Honor  fi'aternity  ;  he 
came  to  this  count}-  in  1863 ;  has  been  a 
School  Director  for  about  seven  years.  In 
politics,  he  has  been  identified  with  the  Demo- 
cratic part}'. 

J.  M.  LEWIS,  station  agent  and  operator. 
Mound  City,  was  born  January  2,  1850,  in  Law- 
rence County,  111.  ;  son  of  W.  M.  and  Martha 
(Craven)  Lewis,  the  former  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
He  and  wife  died  in  Lawrence  County,  111.  He, 
the  father  of  our  subject,  was  a  millwright  by 
occupation,  but  followed  farming  mostly  ;  he 
was  the  father  of  eight  children,  of  whom  six 
are  now  living,  the  youngest  being  our  subject, 
who  was  educated  in  Lawrence  County.  In 
1871,  he  learned  telegraphy  at  Lawrenceville, 
where  he  took  the  office  of  agent  and  operator 
the  latter  part  of  the  same  year.  After  six 
months,  he  took  the  office  at  Bridgeport,  where 
he  stayed  four  years  and  three  months.  In 
August,  1876,  he  went  on  a  farm  near  Bridge- 
port. He  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil  for  two  years, 
when  he  once  more  turned  to  his  profession-,  re- 
maining six  months  on  the  Hannibal  &  St.  Joe 
Railroad.  In  the  spring  of  1879,  he  moved 
back  to  Lawrenceville,  III.  In  the  fall  of  the 
same  year,  he  went  to  Viucennes,  Ind.,  where 
he  worked  one  year  for  the  C.  &  V.  and  I.  &  V. 
Railroad  Companies,  after  which  he  was  sta- 
tioned one  year  in  Grand  Chain  and  then,  in 
September,  1881,  he  came  to  Mound  City, 
where  he  holds  the  position  of  station  agent, 


270 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


operator  and  express  agent  for  the  Adams  & 
Pacific  Express  Compan}-.  He  was  joined  in 
matrimon}',  in  November,  1872,  in  Lawrence 
Count}',  to  Eliza  J.  Smith,  a  native  of  Lawrence 
County,  111.,  and  a  daughter  of  Robert  Smith. 
She  is  the  mother  of  two  children  now  living, 
viz.,  Floj'd  Lee  and  Carrie  May.  Mr.  Lewis  is 
an  A.,F.  &  A.  M.,  and  in  politics  he  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

ANTON  LUTZ,  butcher,  Mound  City. 
Among  the  many  enterprising  Germans  who 
have  made  Mound  City  their  permanent  home, 
we  class  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  was 
born  January  23,  1833,  in  Rulfingen,  Hohen- 
zollern,  Germany.  His  father,  Anton  Lutz,  Sr., 
was  also  a  native  of  Germany,  where  he  died. 
He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  also  a 
soldier  fighting  against  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Maria  Stark, 
a  native  of  Germany,  where  she  died.  Her 
father,  Joseph  Stark,  was  a  miller  in  the  old 
countr}-.  She  was  the  mother  of  seven  chil- 
dren, viz. :  Anna  M.  Goobs,  Kresenzia  Messer- 
schmit,  Mathias,  Albert,  Johan,  Anton,  our 
subject,  and  Carl.  Mr.  Lutz  went  to  school  in 
Germany,  where  he  also  learned  his  trade.  He 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1854,  and  lived 
in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  till  1860,  when  he  came  to 
Mound  City,  where  he  has  followed  his  trade 
ever  since.  He  was  joined  in  matrimony  in 
Cincinnati,  in  1858.  to  Miss  Kresenzia  Moser, 
born  March  19,  1834,  in  Baden,  Germany.  She 
is  a  daughter  of  Mathias  Moser,  and  is  the 
mother  of  three  children  novv  living,  viz.,  Bri- 
ma  M.,  born  November  11,  1864  ;  Louisa,  born 
October  21,  1868,  and  Joseph,  born  September 
27,  1870.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lutz  are  religiously 
connected  with  the  Catholic  Church.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  City  Council.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  famous  order  of  "  Druids." 
Ill  politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

W.  A.  LYERLY,  farmer,  P.  0.  America,  was 
born  November  17,  1823,  in  Jonesboro,  Union 
Co.,  111.     He  is  a  son  of  Jonathan  Lyerly,  who 


was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1795,  and  died  in 
America,  Pulaski  Co.,  111.,  in  about  1853.  He 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Illinois  ;  he  made 
his  original  settlement  near  Jonesboro,  where 
he  worked  at  the  tanner's  trade.  In  about  1830 
he  removed  to  near  Caledonia,  111.,  where  he 
remained  several  years,  and  during  his  stay 
served  the  people  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  ;  he 
subsequently  removed  to  America  and  there 
engaged  in  farming  and  reared  a  large  family 
of  children,  consisting  of  nine  boys  and  two 
girls,  of  whom  five  are  now  living,  viz.  :  Will- 
iam A.,  James  B.,  Robert  J.,  Ellen  N.  Rooyak- 
kers  and  Jane  A.  Hutchens.  Our  subject  re- 
ceived a  limited  education  near  Caledonia,  and 
in  earl}'  life  followed  farming,  working  seven 
years  for  Henry  L.  Webb.  In  1846,  he  came 
to  Pulaski  County,  where  he  farmed  on  the 
same  ground  where  the  old  town  of  America 
had  once  flourished.  Here  he  has  lived  ever 
since,  and  is  now,  through  his  industry  and 
perseverance,  in  the  possession  of  one  of  the 
best  farms  in  the  township.  He  is  a  Democrat 
in  politics,  casting  his  first  vote  for  James  K. 
Polk,  and  has  served  the  people  in  the  capacity 
of  school  oflftcer.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  Nancy  C.  Lyerly,  who  died  August  4, 1867. 
Our  subject  was  joined  in  matrimony,  January 
23, 1845,  at  America,  to  Ann  E.  Cloud,  daugh- 
ter of  George  and  Jemima  (Bowman)  Cloud, 
born  September  20,  1828.  She  is  the  mother 
often  children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living 
viz.,  James  P.,  Juliet  A.,  born  July  29,  1849 
wife  of  Alexander  Lawrence  ;  Jemimah,  born 
April  22,  1851 ;  Eliza  E.,  born  January  3, 1866, 
George  A.,  born  January  2, 1869,  and  Cornelia, 
born  August  27,  1873.  Maria  A.,  William  A., 
Harvey  C.  and  Barton  A.  are  deceased. 

J.  F.  LYERLY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mound  City, 
was  born  February  2,  1847,  in  Pulaski  County, 
where  he  received  his  education,  also  attending 
the  Commercial  College  at  Springfield.  111.,  for 
several  months.  He  clerked  some  in  early  life, 
but   followed  farming  principally,   identifying 


MOUND   CITY   PRECINCT. 


271 


himself  with  the  interest  of  his  neighborhood, 
especiall}'  Sunday  school  work,  having  been 
Superintendent  for  the  last  five  yeai-s.  He  has 
been  married  twice  ;  his  first  wife  was  iNIiss  Pet 
Thompson,  who  died  August  4,  1867,  leaving 
one  daughter,  Katie,  born  July  14,  1867.  He 
was  married  a  second  time  to  Mrs.  Nannie 
Minnich,  born  December  31,  1846,  daughter  of 
Daniel  and  Cynthia  (Thompson)  Littlejohn, 
natives  of  Northern  Kentucky.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lyeriy  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  "  Grange,"  and  a 
member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  fraternity.  Hav- 
ing represented  his  lodge  twice  at  Chicago  as 
Master.  In  politics  he  is  Democratic.  Has 
been  Township  Treasurer  for  twelve  years. 

J.  B.  MATHIS,  physician,  P.  0.  America^ 
was  born  January  5,  1840,  in  Trigg  County, 
Ky.,  son  of  William  Mathis,  born  1814, 
in  Trigg  County,  Ky.,  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, and  died  1860,  in  Johnson  County, 
111.  His  mother  was  Cynthia  (Scott)  Mathis, 
born  1818,  in  Trigg  County,  Ky.  She  is  now 
living  in  Johnson  Count}',  111.  Dr.  Mathis  was 
educated  in  Vienna,  Johnson  Count}',  111.  He 
received  his  medicial  education  in  the  Eclectric 
Medical  College,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  graduating 
in  March,  1866.  Having  previous  to  this  read 
medicine  for  about  three  years  with  Dr.  A.  B. 
Moore,  of  New  Columbia,  111.,  as  preceptor. 
After  receiving  his  diploma,  he  settled  in  Mas- 
sac County,  111.,  where  he  followed  his  profes- 
sion about  one  year,  when  he  removed  to  John- 
son Count}',  111.  Here  he  practiced  from  1867 
to  1873,  when  he  came  to  Pulaski  County  He 
has  tilled  the  soil  for  the  last  three  years,  be- 
sides following  his  profession.  He  was  joined 
in  matrimony,  July  23, 1865,  in  Johnson  County, 
111.,  to  Miss, Mary  S.  Mason,  born  September 
22,  1846,  in  Trigg  County,  JCy.  She  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  James  and  x\nna  (Hester)  Mason,  and 
is  the  mother  of  six-  children  now  living,  viz.  : 
James  William,  born  September  2,  1868  ;  John 
B.,  September  24,  1871  ;  Morse    P.,  April  20, 


1873  ;  Robert  D.,  March  14;  1877  ;  Archy,  July 
13,  1880  ;  and  Nellie,  October  10,  1877.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Mathis  are  members  of  the  United 
Brethren  Church.  He  has  a  farm  of  90  aci^es  ; 
has  held  school  office.  In  politics,  he  is  identi- 
fied with  the  Democratic  party,  all  his  life  ;  is  a 
member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 

W.  T.  McCOY,  merchant.  Mound  City,  is  a 
son  of  Elisha  and  Mary  E.  (Bibb)  McCoy. 
He  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and  came  to 
Mound  City  from  Marshall  County,  Ky.,  in 
March,  1872,  and  is  now  engaged  at  the  car- 
penter trade.  She  is  the  mother  of  seven 
children,  of  whom  two  are  now  living — Lanzy 
J.,  a  carpenter,  and  William  T.,  our  subject. 
He  was  born  September  12,  1846,  in  North 
Carolina.  He  was  raised  on  the  farm  and  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools  of  Marshall 
County,  Ky.  When  he  became  of  age,  he 
engaged  in  farming,  for  a  time  at  Massac 
County,  111.,  and  there,  on  the  11th  of  July, 
1869,  he  married  Miss  Mary  E.  Murphy,  a 
native  of  near  Paducah,  Ky.,  born  in  January, 
1848  ;  she  is  a  daughter  of  James  H.  and 
Rachel  J.  (Butler)  Murphy.  After  Mr.  McCoy 
came  to  Mound  City  he  worked  at  the  carpenter 
trade  until  August,  1882,  where,  in  copartner- 
ship with  Mr.  C.  N.  Bell,  he  opened  a  grocery 
store,  and  also  carries  a  full  line  of  queens  and 
tin  ware.  Mr.  McCoy  is  a  man  of  good  busi- 
ness qualities,  enjoying  the  highest  esteem  of 
the  community  in  which  he  lives  ;  is  a  Demo- 
crat in  politics,  and  an  active  member  of  the 
I.  0.  0.  F.,  Mound  City  Lodge,  No.  150. 

JOHN  McDowell,  saw  and  planing  mill, 
lumber,  etc..  Mound  City,  was  born  April  4, 
1831,  in  Allegheny  County,  Penn.,  nine  miles 
south  of  Pittsburgh,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and 
Jane  (Coulter)  McDowell.  He  was  born  near 
Steubenville,  Ohio,  and  was  a  farmer  and  manu- 
facturer, the  latter  including  woolen  goods,  lin- 
seed oil,  milling,  etc.  He  was  a  man  of  con- 
siderable prominence,  and  represented  Alle- 
gheny County,  whither  he  had  removed  in  1840, 


272 


BIOGllAPHICAL : 


in  the  Legislature  of  1846  and  1848  ;  was 
County  Commissioner  for  tliree  years,  and  died 
in  Franklin,  Ind.,  in  1850.  His  wife.  Jane 
Coulter,  was  a  native  of  Allegheny  County,  and 
a  daughter  of  Moses  Coulter,  a  farmer  and  mil- 
ler, and  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Allegheny  County. 
He  built  the  first  flouring-mill  in  that  county, 
and  one  of  the  first  west  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains.  Mrs.  McDowell  was  the  mother  of 
four  children,  of  whom  only  Mrs.  Anna  M. 
Alexander,  and  our  subject,  are  now  living. 
The  latter  was  educated  in  his  native  county, 
and  entered  the  mills  early,  where  he  obtained 
a  practical  business  education.  He  remained 
with  his  father  until  he  was  nineteen  yi^ars  of 
age,  when  he  came  West  and  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business  in  Franklin,  Ind.,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1860,  when  he  engaged  in  the 
milling  business  in  Marion  County,  Ind.  After 
one  or  two  other  changes,  he  went  to  Brazil, 
Ind..  and  engaged  in  the  lumber  and  coal  busi- 
ness, having  a  saw  and  planing  mill  and  a  coal 
shaft,  and  still  resides  and  does  business  there. 
In  1877,  he  removed  his  saw-mill  to  Mound  City, 
bringing  several  families  with  him.  The  fol- 
lowing year,  he  removed  his  planing-mill  here- 
He  combined  the  two  mills,  and  employs  thirty- 
three  men  the  year  round.  He  gets  his  logs 
mainly  from  the  Ohio,  Tennessee  and  Cumber- 
land rivers.  They  comprise  poplar,  ash,  oak, 
walnut,  sycamore,  cottonwood,  cypress,  maple, 
gum,  etc.  The  poplar  lumber  is  shipped  to  the 
principal  towns  on  the  Wabash  Kiver,  and  to 
his  yards  in  Brazil ;  the  sycamore  is  shipped 
mostly  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  Detroit,  Mich.; 
the  ash  and  gum  goes  to  Chicago,  Toledo  and 
other  Eastern  cities.  3Ir.  McDowell  has  always 
been  a  live,  wide-awake  citizen,  and  in  Brazil 
was  a  member  of  the  City  Council  four  3'ears, 
in  which  bod}'  he  was  instrumental  in  getting 
water-works  for  the  city,  which  cost,  with  other 
public  and  needed  improvements,  $70,000.  He 
was  married  in  Franklin,  Ind.,  July  7,  1857.  to 
Miss  Eliza  J.  McCracken,  born  in  New  Madrid, 


Mo.,  in  September.  1832.  Her  father,  James 
McCracken,  was  a  pilot  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
She  is  the  mother  of  three  sons  now  living — 
Elmer  C,  born  in  1862  :  John,  born  in  1864  ; 
Robert  H.,  born  in  1866.  Mrs.  McDowell's 
mother  was  Sarah  Allen,  whose  brother,  Gren. 
Robert  Allen,  was  in  the  Mexican  war,  aiid  in 
the  late  civil  war.  Col.  James  Allen,  another 
brother,  made  the  first  improvement  in  the  har- 
bor of  Chicago  ;  both  were  graduates  of  West 
Point.  Mound  City  is  indebted  to  our  subject 
for  promoting  the  business  interest  of  the  place, 
and  for  bringing  other  energetic  business  men 
here. 

GEORGE  MERTZ,  3Iayor  of  Mound  City, 
was  born  in  New  Berlin,  Union  County,  Penn., 
March  20,  1815.  his  father,  Hon.  Isaac  Mertz, 
was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he  died. 
His  occupation  was  that  of  a  farmer,  and  was 
well  worthy  of  the  confidence  of  his  fellow-men 
who  elected  him  to  many  of  the  offices,  as 
Coroner,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Sheriff,  and  Rep- 
resentative of  his  district  in  the  Legislature. 
His  wife,  Susan  (Stahlnecker)  Mertz,  was  also, 
a  native  of  Penns^-lvania.  and  was  of  German 
descent,  and  the  mo'ther  of  eight  children. 
George  Mertz  was  educated  in  the  subscription 
schools  of  Pennsylvania,  common  in  his  day 
and  when  a  young  man  served  an  apprentice- 
ship at  the  carpenter  and  cabinet-maker's 
trades,  and  afterward  worked  at  the  same  for  a 
few  years,  and  gave  up  his  trade  to  engage  as 
contractor  for  public  works,  at  which  he  was 
engaged  for  several  years.  In  about  1835,  he 
was  given  the  position  of  conductor  on  the 
Old  Pennsylvania  R.  R..  which  at  that  time 
was  under  the  superintendenc}'  of"  the  State  ; 
was  also  on  the  Pioneer  line  for  about  two 
yeai's,  and  afterward  engaged  as  contractor  for 
the  Cumberland  Valley  R.  R.,  for  a  period  of 
two  years.  He  then  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.  Company  as  contrac- 
tor and  superintendent  of  bridge  building  for 
three  vears.     In  1842,  he  made  a  general  tour 


MOUND    CITY   PRECINCT. 


273 


through  the  West;  returning  East  the  same  year 
he  located  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  engaged  in 
the  foundry  business,  continuing  in  the  same 
until  1 856,  when  he  came  to  Illinois  and  lo- 
cated in  Mound  City,  and  in  company  with 
Mr.  James  Goodlove  erected  a  foundry  and 
ran  it  successfully  until  1861,  when  the  United 
States  Government  took  possession  of  the 
building,  using  it  for  a  depository  of  supplies. 
In  1861",  he  was  appointed  Postmaster,  and 
still  fills  the  same  position,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  all  Previous  to  the  close  of  the  war,  he 
was  express  agent  at  Mound  City,  a  position 
which  at  that  time  was  of  considerable  impor- 
tance. He  has  been  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business  for  about  twenty  years,  first  carrying 
on  a  drug  store,  and  at  the  present  time  a 
grocer}-  and  general  provision  store.  Mr. 
Mertz  has  been  Police  Magistrate  for  about 
fifteen  years,  and  is  now  Mayor  of  Mound  City, 
and  also  County  Commissioner.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Clear  Spring.  ]Md.,  to  Miss  Mary 
A.  West,  a  native  of  the  same  State,  born 
April  17,  1817  ;  she  is  a  daughter  of  the  late 
Rev.  John  West,  and  is  the  mother  of  the  fol- 
lowing children :  Hemy  C,  who  was  born 
July  1,  1843  ;  he  was  educated  in  Cincinnati 
Ohio,  and  is  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  at 
Carbondale,  111.;  he  was  County  Clerk  of  Pu- 
laski Count}'  from  1865  to  1869;  he  married 
Maria  E.  Boreu,  a  native  of  Pulaski  Count}', 
111.,  born  December  15,  1847  ;  she  is  a  daughter 
of  Hiram  and  Maria  L.  (Chapman)  Boren,  and 
is  the  mother  of  Dora  L.,  George  W.  and  Ber. 
tie  B.  George  E.  Mertz  was  born  August  1, 
1845,  and  was  educated  in  Mound  City,  and 
married  Susan  E.,  daughter  of  Robert  J.  Haw- 
ley.  This  union  has  been  blessed  with  the 
following  children  :  Ida,  Willie  and  Jesse.  He 
is  now  in  the  employ  of  the  United  States 
Mail  Service  on  the  Illinois  Central  R.  R. 
Charles  W.  Mertz  was  born  January  8,  1852, 
and  arriving  at  his  majority  engaged  in  the 
grocery  business  at  Mound  City  in  partnership 


with  Mr.  Carrico,  who  was  bought  out  by 
George  E.  Mertz,  and  he  subsequently  succeed- 
ed by  George  Mertz.  our  subject.  Charles  W. 
Mertz  was  united  in  matrimony  to  Miss  Alice, 
daughter  of  George  W.  and  Martha  (Lusk) 
Streeter  ;  she  was  born  March  17,  1853,  and  is 
the  mother  of  three  children,  viz.:  Albert  C, 
born  April  18, 1874;  Josiah  S.,  born  April  26^ 
1876  ;  Alice  B.,  born  March  18,  1881. 

G.  F.  MEYER.  The  Fatherland  has  con- 
tributed to  American  society  many  of  the  most 
valuable  of  our  people.  The  poor  boy  of 
Germany  listens  at  his  father's  fireside  to  the 
fascinating  stories  of  the  new  world  in  the  United 
States,  and  his  young  soul  is  fired  with  an  un- 
controllable desire  to  go  and  see  that  strange 
land  of  plenty  and  freedom.  In  the  silent 
watches  of  the  night,  as  he  lies  beneath  the 
humble  thatched  roof  of  the  home  of  his  birth, 
his  imagination  calls  up  all  the  endearment  of 
his  home,  of  friends  and  the  little  green  mounds 
that  rest  so  peacefully  upon  the  stilled  bosoms 
of  his  loved  ancestors,  running  back  through 
almost  unnumbered  generations.  Perhaps 
there  comes  to  add  to  this  love  of  home  and  the 
loved  play  ground  of  infancy,  the  blue-eyed 
flaxen  haired  little  German  girl  now  budding 
into  those  sweet  "teens  "  that  send  the  youth's 
blood  throbbing  through  his  veins,  and  then 
the  golden  visions  of  the  New  World  are  gone, 
only  to  return  again  with  greater  force  when  he 
goes  over  the  story  of  poverty,  toil  and  hopeless 
suffering  that  is  the  alloted  place  in  life  if  he 
remains  upon  the  sacred  spot  where  he  was 
bom.  He  re-resolves,  heavy  though  it  may 
make  his  heart,  and  goes  to  sleep,  and  dreams 
of  America,  and  in  the  morning  his  mind  is 
made  up,  and  he  resolves  to  come  to  the  wild 
strange  land,  and  by  hard  work,  economy  and 
plodding  and  ceaseless  energy  to  again  lay  the 
foundations  of  his  family  fortune.  He  lands 
in  a  strange  land, and  hears  astrange  language, 
and  with  a  brave  heart  he  commences  the  work 
of  mastering  a  new  language,  and  at  the  same 


274 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


time  laying  the  foundation  for  a  little  fortune 
that  will  some  day  enable  him  to  return  to 
Fatherland  and  bring  with  him  to  his  new  home 
that  same  flaxen-haired  girl  from  whom  he 
parted  at  the  ship-landing  with  such  a  sad  and 
heavy  heart.  This  imaginar}-  sketch  will  tell 
the  story  of  many  of  the  best  citizens  of  our 
country.  They  came  here  with  a  great  purpose 
of  life  and  win  the  crown  of  success,  by  energy, 
integrity  and  perseverance.  Of  the  many  of 
this  valuable  class  of  citizens,  we  know  of  none 
in  Southern  Illinois  who  desei'ves  more  at  our 
hand  than  does  Gottlieb  F.  Meyer,  merchant 
and  business  man  of  Mound  City,  III.  He  was 
born  in  Bielefeld,  Prussia,  Germany,  October 
26,  1835,  and  is  a  son  ofG.  F.  Meyer,  Sr.,  and 
Caroline  (Homerson)  Me)  er,  both  of  whom  are 
dead,  and  who  were  the  parents  of  four  children. 
Our  subject  was  educated  in  Germany,  and 
graduated  from  an  agricultural  college  at 
Bielefeld,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years.  After 
his  father's  death,  he  managed  his  estate  for 
some  two  and  a  half  3'ears,  and,  in  1858,  came 
to  America.  He  made  his  way  direct  to 
Illinois,  came  to  Mound  Cit}',  where  he 
arrived  on  the  16th  of  April,  and  four  weeks 
later  he,  in  company  with  A.  F.  Hallerberg, 
started  a  grocery  store,  although  he  could  not 
speak  a  word  of  English.  This  business  was 
continued  until  1867,  when  Mr.  Mej-er  bought 
out  Hallerberg.  He  commenced  with  a  capital 
of  $300,  and  now  carries  on  a  mercantile 
business,  with  $40,000  in  stock.  This  serves  as 
an  example  of  what  persevering  industry,  un- 
swerving honor  and  integrity,  coupled  with 
native  business  talent,  will  accomplish  in  this 
free  country.  His  large  and  magnificent  store 
building,  one  of  the  handsomest  in  Southern 
Illinois,  and  which  costs  $40,000,  is  divided 
into  five  different  departments,  viz.  :  First,  gro- 
ceries, queensware ;  second,  hardware  and 
stoves  ;  third,  boots,  shoes,  hals,  caps  etc. ; 
fourth,  furniture,  paints  and  wall  paper  ;  fifth, 
saddlery    and  harness.     In    addition  to   mer- 


chandising, Mr.  Meyer  carries  on  an  extensive 
lumber  business.  In  1859,  he  commenced 
dealing  in  lumber  and  staves,  and  established 
and  set  to  work  several  saw  mills  to  supply- 
the  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans  markets,  and  in 
1865  he  shipped  the  first  barge  load  of  long 
steamboat  lumber  to  New  Orleans,  at  a  time 
when  the  market  was  clean,  realizing  an 
immense  profit  on  it.  During  the  war,  he  was 
Goverment  contractor  for  the  Marine  Corps, 
and  to  a  large  extent  furnished  the  Mississippi 
Squadron  with  stores.  He  lost  about  $12,000 
on  the  first  three  monitors,  which  where  built 
at  Cincinnati,  and  equipped  through  him.  He 
never  received  a  cent  from  the  loss  of  the 
cargoes,  as  the  Government  was  not  responsible 
for  that  character  of  loss.  In  1872,  he  made  a 
specialty  of  furnishing  brewers'  cooper  ma- 
terial in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston 
and  San  Francisco,  and  in  1877  put  in  machin- 
er}^  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,  and  began  dressing 
staves  for  brewers  and  coopers,  taking  in  as  a 
partner  Mr.  F.  Nordman,  from  Indianapolis. 
They  do  a  business  in  lumber  amounting  to 
about  $150,000  annually,  employing  in  the' 
factor}'  and  the  woods  together  from  forty  to 
200  men.  Most  of  their  hauling  is  done  in  the 
fall,  when  the}'  often  employ  100  teams.  They 
get  their  timber  up  the  Ohio,  Cumberland  and 
Tennessee  Rivers,  and  down  the  Mississippi 
as  far  as  Memphis,  and  as  far  up  as  Cape 
Girardeau,  owning  large  tracts  of  timber-land 
in  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  on  the  St.  Louis  & 
Iron  Mountain  Railroad,  and  also  on  the  St. 
Louis  &  Cairo  Narrow  Gauge  Railroad.  Mr. 
Meyer  is  the  owner  of  considerable  real  estate 
in  Mound  City.  He  was  married  in  Bielefeld, 
Germany,  in  October,  1859,  to  Miss  Lena 
Meyer,  born  in  1835,  a  native  of  the  same 
place  of  himself,  and  a  schoolmate.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Florence  Meyer,  and  he  returned 
to  the  old  country,  married  hei",  and  brought 
her  to  his  new  home.  They  have  one  child — 
Charles  F.,  born  December  23,  1862.     Mr.  and 


MOUND    CITY  PRECINCT. 


275 


Mrs.  Mejer  are  Lutherans,  but  attend  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  is  a  Democrat  in 
politics,  but  not  an  office-seeker. 

JAMES  MULRONY,  liveryman,  Mound 
City,  was  born  July  24,  1847,  in  County  Kil- 
kenny, Ireland,  son  of  Lawrence  Mulrony,  also 
a  native  of  Ireland,  where  he  died.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  Catharine  (Noulan)  Mulrony, 
also  a  native  of  Ireland.  She  was  the  mother 
of  eight  children;  six  are  now  living,  of  whom 
two  brothers  and  one  sister  are  living  in  Aus- 
tralia. Our  subject  received  a  common  school 
education  in  the  old  country,  which  he  left  in 
1865  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  new  world, 
which  was  pictured  so  briglitl}'  in  the  old  coun- 
try. He  landed  in  New  York  City.  He  roamed 
for  some  eight  years,  living  most  of  the  time 
in  Kenosha  Count}-,  Wis.;  he  then  came  to 
Caix'O,  111.,  where  he  stayed  almost  six  j-ears, 
and  in  May,  1879,  he  came  to  Mound  City, 
where  he  started  a  livery  stable,  and  now  also 
keeps  wine  and  liquors  of  all  kinds.  He  is  the 
onl}-  liverj'  man  in  the  town,  and  is  accommo- 
dating at  all  times,  and  has  reasonable  rates. 
He  was  married  here  to  Mary  Curren,  a  na^- 
tive  of  Wisconsin.  She  was  born  in  1861,  and 
is  the  daughter  of  Charles  Curren,  a  native  of 
Dublin,  Ireland.  She  is  the  mother  of  two 
children,  viz.,  Maggie  and  Cathax'ine.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Muh'ony  are  religiously  connected  with 
the  Catholic  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Dem- 
ocrat. 

FRED.  NORDMAN,  manufacturer.  Mound 
City,  is  a  native  of  Nienburg,  Hanover,  Ger- 
man)', born  February  16,  1834.  His  father, 
Freiderich  Xordman.  was  born  in  Nienburg  in 
1800  ;  was  a  farmer,  a  soldier  in  the  German 
Arm}'  and  participated  in  the  the  battle  of  Wa- 
terloo. He  died  in  1880  ;  he  married  Sophia 
Smith  (subject's  mother),  who  died  in  Germany, 
her  native  State,  leaving  five  children  as  the 
result  of  their  union,  but  two  of  whom  are 
now  living,  viz.,  Diedrich,  a  farmer,  residing 
in  Germany  on  the  old  home  farm,  and  Fred, 


our  subject,  who  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  his  native   country.      When  he  was  eight- 
een years  of  age,  he  bade  home  and  friends 
farewell,  and  set  forth  to  gain  his  fortune  in 
the  new  world;    he    landed    at    Baltimore  on 
the  1 1th  of  November.  1852.     In  Baltimore,  he 
learned  the  cooper's  trade,  and  worked  at  the 
same  until  1858,  when  the  gold  excitement  at 
that  time  led  him  to  California,  where  he  fol- 
lowed mining  for  eighteen  months,  and  at  the 
expiration  of  that  time  I'eturned  to  Baltimore, 
married    and    resumed   woi'king  at    his  trade 
there  until  January,  1863,  when  he  removed  to 
Indianapolis  and  there  divided  his  time  in  the 
cooper  and  stave  factory  business  conducted  on 
his  own  account.    Having  formed  the  acquaint- 
ance of  some  of  the  substantial  business  men 
of  Mound  City,  111.,  he  was  induced  by  them 
to  sell  his  business  interests  at   Indianapolis, 
and  to  come  to  Mound  City,  which  he  did.  and 
immediately  started  a  white-oak  stave  factory 
in  partnership  with   Mr.  G.  F.   Meyer.     Their 
business  has  steadily  increased  until  it  has  as- 
sumed large  proportions,  doing  at  the  present 
time  business  to  the  amount  of  $150,000  per 
annum.     Mrs.  Nordman  is  a  native  of  Saxony, 
Germany,  born  in  1835  ;  she  came  to  America 
with  her  parents  when  quite  young.     She   is 
the  ^mother  of  the  following  children — Louisa, 
born  July  14,  1860,  the  wife  of  George  Wild  ; 
Katie,    born   November  2,   1862  ;  Fred,    born 
September  12, 1865  ;  Anna,  born  April  5,  1869  ; 
George,  born  November  2,  1871  ;  Earnest,  born 
April  27,  1877  ;    Gotfried,  born  December  31, 
1879.     Mr.  Nordman  is  an   enterprising   man, 
well  worthy  of  the  high  esteem   of  the  com- 
munity  in  which  he  lives.     He  and  wife  are 
religiously     connected     with     the     Lutheran 
Church  :  politically,  he  is  identified  with   prin- 
ciples of  the  Republican  party. 

WILLIAM  PAINTER,  Deputy  Sheritf, 
Mound  City,  is  one  of  our  active,  wide-awake 
young  men.  He  was  born  December  26,  1852, 
in    Clark  Countv,  Ohio,  son  of  Albert  Painter. 


276 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


a  native  of  Baden,  Germany,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation. He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1847, 
settling  in  Clark  County,  Ohio.  He  came  to 
Pulaski  County  in  1856,  was  a  farmer  here 
and  died  in  1861.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  Clara  E.  (Steckle)  Painter,  a  native  of 
Baden,  Germany.  She  is  yet  living  ;  was  born 
in  1813.  She  is  the  mother  of  four  children 
now  living — Clara,  Mary.  Tracy,  William 
(our  subject)  and  of  Henry  Painter,  deceased. 
Our  subject  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion in  Mound  City.  In  early  life,  he  assisted 
his  father  in  gardening  ;  he  then  clerked  for 
Meyer  about  two  years  ;  then  worked  in  the 
handle  factory  for  three  3-earfi ;  then  clerked 
for  Browner  over  two  years  ;  and  then  once 
more  turned  his  attention  to  gardening,  having 
bought  a  piece  of  land  near  Mound  City.  In 
1880,  he  was  appointed  Deputy  Sheriff  and 
Collector  by  Sheriff  L.  F.  Crain,  and  holds  the 
position  to  the  present  time.  Our  subject  was 
married,  October  21,  1877,  near  Villa  Ridge, 
to  Miss  Anna  M.  Kennedy,  born  December  8, 
1852,  in  Pulaski  County,  daughter  of  Bazil 
B.  and  Ruth  (Wright)  Kennedy,  old  pioneers. 
She  is  the  mother  of  three  children  —Ruth  B., 
born  ,lune  21,  1879  ;  Lewis  A.,  born  November 
22,  1881  ;  and  Grace  Pearl,  born  May  8,  1883. 
Mr.  Painter  is  religiously  connected  with  the 
Catholic  Church.  In  politics,  he  has  been 
identified  with  the  Republican  party.  Is  also 
an  active  member  of  the  Knights  and  Ladies 
of  Honor,  Mound  City  Lodge,  No.  587. 

J.  H.  REEL,  Miller,  Mound  City,  is  one  of 
the  enterprising  business  meu  who  have  come 
from  Indiana  and  have  thrown  their  fortunes 
in  with  that  of  Mound  City,  where  their  influ- 
ence in  the  development  of  business  has  been 
felt.  He  was  born  January-  31,  1838,  in  Reels- 
ville,  Putnam  Co.,  Ind.  His  father,  John  Reel, 
born  in  1793,  was  a  native  of  Botetourt  County, 
Va.  He  was  also  a  miller  by  occupation. 
In  early  life  he  had  lived  in  Ohio,  and  from 
there  he  went  to  Reelsville.  Ind.,  which  place 


was  named  in  his  honor,  as  he  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  and  a  ver}'  prominent  man,  repre- 
senting his  count}-  in  the  Legislature  for  two 
terms,  and  serving  as  Magistrate  till  his  death, 
which  occurred  July  2,  1858.  He  was  also  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  Sarah  Beason,  born  in  1794,  in 
North  Carolina.  She  died  in  September,  1859, 
in  Reelsville,  Ind.  She  was  the  mother  of  eight 
children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living — Daniel 
M.,  who  runs  the  old  water  mill  in  Reelsville, 
which  was  built  by  his  father ;  John  A.,  a 
farmer  in  Iowa  ;  Martha  Wilson,  Jane  Hen- 
dricks, Elizabeth  Athey  and  Joseph  H.,  our 
subject,  who  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion in  the  subscription  schools  in  and  around 
Reelsville.  He  learned  his  trade  with  his 
father.  In  1868,  he  worked  for  the  Sioux  City 
&  Pacific  Railroad  Compan}-,  in  Harrison  Coun- 
tj-,  Iowa,  in  the  machine  shop,  till  1871,  when 
he  went  to  Brazil,  Ind.,  where,  for  the  first  two 
3'ears,  he  was  engineer  in  charge  of  the  La 
Fayette  Iron  Company,  and  then  helped  to  con- 
struct the  Brazil  water-works,  of  which  he  was, 
after  its  completion,  made  chief  engineer.  In 
April,  1878,  he  came  to  Mound  City,  where  he 
put  in  mill  machinery  in  one  of  the  Govern- 
ment buildings.  He  operated  the  mill  till  1880, 
when  it  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire.  Shortly 
afterward,  he  put  in  new  machinery  in  an- 
other Government  building,  which  had  former- 
\y  been  used  as  a  machine  shop,  and  continues 
to  do  business  in  that  till  the  present  time. 
The  citizens  of  Mound  Cit}'  have  honored  the 
enterprise  and  integrity  of  our  subject  b}'  twice 
electing  him  to  the  City  Council.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  United  Workmen,  Brazil  Lodge, 
No.  65.  In  political  affairs,  he  is  independent. 
He  was  married,  August  26, 1858,  in  Reelsville, 
Ind.,  to  Mary  McElroy,  who  was  born  Septem- 
ber 3,  1836,  in  Ohio.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
William  and  Martha  (Charlott)  McElroy,  na- 
tives of  Pennsylvania.  Mrs.  Reel  is  the 
mothei-  of  two  children — Dow  L.,  born  Julv  9 


MOUND    CITY   PRECINCT. 


277 


1859,  and  Addie  M.,  born  April  12,  1862. 
The  latter  and  her  mother  are  religiously  con- 
nected with  the  Presb3terian  Church. 

J.  P.  ROBARTS,  editor  and  publisher, 
31ound  Cit}-,  is  of  Welsh  descent,  born  in  Mad- 
ison County,  111,  on  the  2d  of  March,  1850,  in 
the  city^of  Godfrey.  His  father.  Dr.  James 
Robarts,  was  born  in  1814  in  Philadelphia, 
Penn.,  and  graduated  from  the  Jefferson  Medi- 
cal College  of  that  city,  while  in  his  minority  ;  at 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  came  to  Illinois  and 
located  at  Brownsville.  Jackson  Count}',  where 
he  engaged  in  the  practiceof  his  profession.  He 
is  now  located  at  Carbondale.  111.  Our  subject's 
mother  was  Sarah  M.  (Crandall)  Robarts,  a  na- 
tive of  Rochester,  N.  Y.  She  is  the  mother  of 
six  children,  of  whom  subject  is  the  oldest 
child.  He  was  educated  at  Carbondale,  and  the 
Illinois  Military  Academy  at  Fulton,  111.  When 
a  30ung  man,  he  served  an  apprenticeship  as 
"  devil  "  in  a  printing  office  at  Carbondale,  and 
after  completing  his  trade,  worked  as  journey- 
man in  several  of  the  large  cities.  In  1873,  he 
established  a  Republican  paper  at  Murphys- 
boro,  Jackson  Co.,  111.  It  was  the  first  Repub- 
lican paper  of  the  town,  and  is  now  known  as 
the  Jackson  County  Era.  In  1878,  he  be- 
gan the  practice  of  law  in  Murphj'sboro,  and 
the  following  year  removed  to  Mound  Cit}',  and 
followed  the  law  practice.  In  1880,  in  connec- 
tion with  his  law  duties,  he  purchased  the  Pu- 
laski Patriot.  In  1873,  he  was  elected  Assist- 
ant Door-Keeper  of  the  Twenty-eighth  Illinois 
General  Assembly.  In  1881,  he  was  elected 
State's  Attorney  of  Pulaski  County,  filling  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Hon.  James 
Anderson,  and  resigned  the  office  in  February, 
1883.  to  accept  the  office  of  Commissioner 
of  the  Southern  Illinois  Penitentiaiy.  He  was 
married  in  October,  1875,  to  Miss  Lillie  Os- 
born,  who  was  born  in  April,  1858,  in  Mur- 
phj'sboro,  111.  He  is  a  member  of  the  order 
I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  a  Republican  in  politics. 

EDWARD    SCHULER,   merchant,   Mound 


Cit}-.  Among  the  enterprising  joung  business 
men  of  this  place,  we  must  count  him  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch.  He  is  a  native  of  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  was  born  December  22, 
1852.  He  is  a  son  of  George  Schuler,  born  in 
1821,  in  France.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
when  quite  j^oung,  and  here,  after  a  useful  life, 
he  died  June  22,  1875,  in  Mound  City.  He 
had  been  an  active  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 
His  wife  was  the  mother  of  six  children  now 
living — George,  John,  Jacob,  Edward,  our  sub- 
ject, Theodore,  and  Mar}-,  who  is  now  the  wife 
of  C.  L.  Boekenkamp.  Our  subject  was  edu- 
cated in  the  schools  of  this  place,  and  here  he 
learned  the  ship  carpenter's  trade,  or  more 
properl}  speaking,  steamboat  building,  under 
Capt.  William  Hambleton.  and  followed  it  for 
about  eleven  years,  till  1881,  when  he  went 
into  partnership  with  his  brother-in-law,  C.  L. 
Boekenkamp,  and  has  been  engaged  in  the  mer- 
cantile business  ever  since.  Politically,  Mr. 
Schuler  is  identified  with  the  R  publican  party 
SAMUEL  SHEETS,  farmer  and  miller,  P. 
0.  America,  who  is  one  of  our  self-made 
men  in  this  county,  was  born  October  25, 
1834,  in  Philadelphia,  Penn.  His  father,  Jacob 
Sheets,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  and  died 
in  Mobile,  Ala.  He  was  a  ship  carpenter 
and  contractor  by  occupation.  His  father, 
Jacob  Slieets  was  a  native  of  Germany.  The 
mother  of  our  subject,  Mary  (Lusely)  Sheets, 
was  also  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  and  died  in 
Mobile,  Ala.  She  was  of  Scotch  descent, 
and  the  mother  of  a  large  family,  of  whom 
four  are  now  living,  viz. :  Jacob,  Franklin, 
Letitia  and  Samuel ;  Samuel  roamed  for  sev- 
eral years  in  early  life,  and  finally,  while  his 
parents  were  on  their  way  to  Mobile,  Ala., 
in  1848,  he  stopped  in  Pulaski  County.  111., 
working  a  great  many  days  for  25  cents  per 
day,  working  on  the  same  place  that  he  now 
owns.  He  first  bought  one  acre  in  the  old 
town  of  America,  on  which  he  built  a  small 
house  :  since  then  he  has,  bv  his  own  exertion 


278 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


and  perseverance,  acquii'ed  a  farm  of  320  acres 
of  land.  He  was  married  twice,  the  first  time 
January  18, 1857,  in  Rockport,  Ind.,  to  Mai-y 
E.  Stits,  born  October  1,  1837  ;  died  August  2, 

1878.  She  was  the  mother  often  children,  viz.  : 
Sidney,  born  January  11,  1858  ;  Letitia  L.,  de- 
ceased, former  wife  of  Rev.  L.  F.  Lawrence  ; 
Edward  J.,  born  October  20,  1861  ;  Mary  B., 
deceased  ;  William  B.,  born  October  6,  1865  ; 
George  W.  and  Benjamin  F.,  deceased  ;  Harry, 
born  September  5,  1871  :  Charles  G.,  born  May 
9,  1875.  He  married  a  second  time,  February 
4,  1879,  to  Mrs.  Lizzie  Thurtell,  born  February 
16,  1852,  daughter  of  Edward  B.  and  Mary 
(Riddle)  Olmsted,  and  the  mother  of  three  chil- 
dren, viz.  :  Edward  0.  Thurtell,  born  February 
6, 1873  ;  Samuel  Sheets,  Jr.,  born    October  29, 

1879,  and  John  M.,  born  October  5,  1881.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Sheets  are  members  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church.  Mr.  Sheets  has  a  saw-mill  on  his 
farm.  He  has  been  no  office  seeking  man,  but 
rather  attends  to  his  own  business.  He 
serves  the  people  in  the  capacity  of  Township 
Trustee.  In  politics,  he  has  been  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

CESAR  SHELLER,  meat  market,  Mound 
City.  Among  the  more  active,  upright  and 
highly  respected  citizens  of  Mound  City,  who 
have  carved  out  their  success  in  life  b}'  their 
own  indomitable  energy,  is  Mr.  Cesar  Sheller, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  native  of  Germany, 
born  November  11,  1856.  He  is  the  onlj-  one 
of  his  father's  family  now  residing  in  the  United 
States.  He  came  to  this  country  in  the  fall  of 
1873,  and  the  summer  of  the  following  year 
came  West  and  settled  in  Cairo.  In  1880,  by 
his  honesty,  industry,  close  economy,  and  gen- 
iality, he  was  enabled  to  open  his  meat  market 
in  Mound  City,  which  at  the  present  time  is 
doing  a  large  and  increasing  business.  He 
keeps  constantly  on  hand  a  full  supply  of  fresh 
and  salt  meats.  After  coming  to  this  countr}^, 
Mr.  Sheller  spent  several  years  in  looking  over 
the  country,  having  met  many  of  the  substan- 


tial business  men  of  this  city,  he  was  induced 
to  cast  his  foi'tunes  among  them,  and  is  well 
worthy  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held 
by  the  community  at  large. 

LEWIS  C.  SMITH,  deceased.  Among 
the  men  who  have  been  identified  with 
the  business  and  social  circles  of  Mound  City, 
is  he  whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  Although 
not  an  old  settler,  his  memory  is  yet  cherished 
by  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  He  was 
born  September  1,  1851,  in  Caledonia,  Pulaski 
Co.,  111.  His  father  was  Judge  H.  M.  Smith 
of  this  county.  Lewis  C.  Smith  was  educated 
principally  at  Louisville.  He  chose  the  law  as 
his  profession,  and  to  it  he  devoted  his  whole 
attention,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  June 
15,  1874.  He  was  afterward  elected  State's 
Attorney,  which  position  he  occupied  at  the 
time  of  his  demise,  which  occurred  May  7, 
1879.  At  the  residence  of  the  bride's  father, 
he  was  joined  in  matrimonj',  December  31, 
1874,  to  Miss  Hettie  McGee.  born  December 
2,  1852,  in  Pulaski  County.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Judge  Hugh  McGee,  born  July  27,  1817,  in 
Hopkinsville,  K}-.  He  was  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, coming  to  this  county  in  1838,  and  set- 
tling near  Grand  Chain,  where  he  yet  resides. 
The  mother  of  Mrs.  Smith  was  Harriet  S.  (IMet- 
calf)  McGee,  born  December  5,  1824,  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  died  July  4,  1864,  in  this  county. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  Enoch  Metcalf,  a 
farmer  bj'  occupation,  and  is  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  of  whom  three  are  living,  viz.  : 
Eliza  E.,  Hettie  M.  and  Ella  Spence.  Mrs. 
Hettie  M.  Smith  was  educated  mainly  in  Car- 
bondale,  111.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  she  taught 
school  at  the  "  Ohio  School,  "  in  this  county, 
and  continued  to  instruct  the  3'oung  till  she  was 
married.  She  is  the  mother  of  three  children, 
viz.:  Ethel  H.,  born  October  14,  1875  ;  Hugh 
H.,  born  April  22, 1877.  and  Louis  C,  deceased. 
After  the  death  of  her  devoted  husband,  she 
once  more  took  to  the  noble  profession  of  teach- 
ing, being  in  the  schools  of  Mound    City  from 


MOUND   CITY  PEECINCT. 


279 


1880  to  the  preseut  time.  In  1882,  the  people 
of  Pulaski  County  honored  her  by  electing  her 
to  the  office  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools, 
■which  position  she  occupies  with  tact  and  abil- 
ity. 

L.  D.  STOPHLET,  merchant.  Mound  City, 
one  of  the  prominent  business  men  of  Mound 
City,  wa3  born  in  Pulaski  County,  III,  Sep- 
tember 8,  1849,  and  is  a  son  of  P.  W.  and 
Sophia  (Howell)  Stophlet,  the  former  a  native 
of  Ohio,  born  in  1812  and  died  in  January, 
1864  ;  a  mechanic  by  occupation,  who  came  to 
this  count}'  is  1832.  The  latter  was  born  in 
New  York  in  1815,  and  died  in  Mound  City  in 
1869.  She  was  the  mother  of  nine  children,  of 
■whom  the  following  are  now  living  :  Mrs.  Hen- 
riette  Capoot,  Loren  D.,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Hughes, 
Frank  W.  and  Mrs.  Cora  B.  Kittle.  Loren  D. 
Stophlet,  our  subject,  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native  county.  At  fifteen 
years  of  age,  he  engaged  as  clerk  in  a  gen- 
eral merchandising  store  for  J.  J.  Freeman, 
and  remained  with  him  for  about  three  years. 
In  1871,  he  engaged  in  the  grocery  business 
on  his  own  account,  and  continued  the  same 
for  one  year.  In  1872,  he  engaged  in  the 
Mound  City  Stave  Factory  business,  in  partner- 
ship with  other  gentlemen,  for  one  year.  In 
1873,  he  engaged  in  the  present  business,  and 
has  influenced  a  large  and  lucrative  trade  ;  his 
stock  is  complete  in  groceries,  provisions, 
queens  and  glassware  ;  also  a  full  line  of  tin 
and  hardware.  In  1873,  he  married,  in  Mound 
City,  Miss  Anna  Fair,  who  was  born  near 
Charleston,  Mo.,  September  9,  1856.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Frank  A.  and  Sophia  (Copp)  Fair. 
Mr.  Stophlet  is  a  self-made  man  in  every  re- 
spect ;  an  independent  man  in  political  atfairs, 
and  the  Treasurer  of  Mound  City. 

B.  C.  TABER,  M.  D.,  Mound  City.  Among 
the  able  practitioners  of  '•  materia  medica"  of 
Pulaski  County  is  Dr.  Taber,  whose  name  heads 
this  sketch.  He  was  born  in  New  Bedford, 
Mass.,  on  the    3d   of  September,    1813.     His 


father,  Benjamin  Taber,  was  also  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  born  February  2,  1766.  He  was 
of  an  old  and  noted  family  of  his  native  State, 
a   mechanic  by  occupation  ;  he  died  April  2, 
1846.     He   married  Rhoda  Akins,    who  died, 
leaving   one  child,  Henry  Taber,  who  is  now 
ninety  years  of  age.  He  married  a  second  time, 
Merab  Coffin,   who  was  born   August  2,  1782, 
and  died  November  17, 1857.  She  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Bartimas  Coffin,  who  was  a  cousin  of  Sir 
Isaac  Coffin,  Admiral  of  the  British  Navy,  and 
a  founder  of  the  Coffin  school   of  Nantucket, 
where   his  descendants   are  educated   gratuit- 
ously.    She  was  the  mother  of  six  children,  of 
whom  four  are  now  living.     Our  subject  was 
educated   in  the  schools  at  Providence,  R.  I., 
and  after  graduating  and  arriving  at  his  ma- 
jority, embarked  in  the  drug  business  at  New 
Bedford,  Mass.,  and  afterward  engaged  in  the 
stud}'  of  medicine,  attended  lectures  at  the  Har- 
vard University  near  Boston,  and  after  receiv- 
ing  his  diploma  in   1838,  came  West  and  en- 
gaged   in  the  practice  of  his  profession  near 
Peoria,  111.,  and  remained  there  until  1845,  when 
he  removed  to  Hennepin,  Putnam  Co.,  111.,  and 
after  the  close  of  the  war  moved  to  Cairo,  111., 
and  in  1875  removed  to  Bonson,  Fla.,  and  in 
1880  came  to  Mound  City,  where  he  is  at  pres- 
ent engaged  in  his  profession.  In  1850  he  made 
a  dangerous  trip  across  the  countr}'  to  Califor- 
nia, with  an  ox  team,  being  seven  months  en 
route,  and   in   1852  returned  via  Mexico  and 
Central  America.    He  was  married,  January  8, 
1833,    in  Massachusetts,  to  Miss  Caroline  A., 
daughter  of  Rev.  John  Briggs.     She  was  born 
January  14,  1809,  in  New  Bedford,  Mass.  This 
union  has  been  blessed   with  seven  children,  of 
whom  three  are  now  living — John  C.  B.  Taber, 
born   November  27,  1837,  who  married  Julia 
Meary,  of  St.  Louis,  who-  has  borne  him  eight 
children  ;  Simpson  H.,  a  prominent  jeweler,  and 
Elizabeth   B.,  born    April  3,  1835,  the  wife  of 
Joseph   J.  Thomas,  a   photographer   of  Glray- 
ville,  111.     She  is  the  mother  of  the  following 


'jso 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


children — Ellen  P.,  Julian  M.,  Caroline  and 
Simpson.  Dr.  Taber  is  a  member  of  the 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  a  stanch  Republican. 

B.  L.  ULEN,  Circuit  Clerk,  Mound  City, 
born  February  5,  1837,  in  Greenup  City,  Ky., 
son  of  Samuel  Ulen,  of  German  descent,  born 
December  20,  1798,  in  Virginia,  where  he  was 
a  well-to-do  farmer.  He  moved  to  Scotland 
County,  Mo.,  when  our  subject  was  quite 
young.  There  he  lost  everything  by  a  great 
overflow  and  was  compelled  to  encamp  with 
about  300  other  families  in  a  small  gulch 
back  of  the  river.  While  there  the  cholera 
broke  out,  destroying  whole  families.  They 
moved  back  into  the  hills  near  Steward's  mill, 
where  they  worked  for  very  small  wages, 
gathering  property  around  them,  and  finally 
coming  to  Pulaski  County,  111.,  where  he  died 
April  6,  1866.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  a  native  of  Mason  County,  Ky.,  born  No- 
vember 1,  1810.  She  died  July  14,  1866. 
Her  maiden  name  was  Margaret  Thompson, 
and  she  was  the  mother  of  eight  boys  and  four 
girls,  of  whom  only  five  boys  are  now  living, 
viz.,  Hamilton  C.  a  farmer  and  merchant  in 
Dexter,  Mo.;  Frederick  G.,  a  farmer  near 
Ullin,  111.;  Matthew  T.,  of  Fort  Laramie,  Wy. 
Ter.;  Thomas  J.,  in  partnership  with  his 
brother  at  Dexter,  Mo.,  and  Benjamin  L.,  our 
subject,  who  went  to  school  in  this  county  to 
Col.  E.  B.  Watkins,  who  was  afterward  a 
Representative.  He  then  taught  school  two 
winters,  and  finally,  through  the  kindness  of 
Lieut.  Gov.  Dougherty,  obtained  a  scholar- 
ship to  the  Anna  High  School,  where  he  studied 
till  October,  1861,  when  he  enlisted  in 
the  Ninth  Illinois  Infantry  Volunteers,  Com- 
pany K,  as  private  ;  from  that,  through  his 
strict  attention,  ability  and  bravery,  he  was 
promoted  to  Corporal,  Sergeant,  Orderly  Ser- 
geant and  finally  Second  Lieutenant.  He 
participated  in  many  thrilling  scenes ;  was 
wounded  twice,  the  last  time  in  1863,  at  Salem, 
Miss.    He  was  finally  mustered  out  in  August, 


1864,  at  Springfield,  111.  After  the  war,  he 
taught  school  for  several  years,  and  then  in 
1872,  he  was  elected  Circuit  Clerk,  filling  the 
office  with  tact  and  ability  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  was  re-elected  twice.  His  majority  in 
1876  was  1,144  votes.  In  1876,  he  was  also 
appointed  Master  in  Chancery  by  Judge  John 
Dougherty,  and  re-appointed  by  Judge  D.  J. 
Baker.  He  also  holds  the  office  of  Public 
Administrator,  being  appointed  by  Gov.  Cul- 
lom.  He  is  also  Township  Treasurer.  Mr. 
Ulen  was  joined  in  matrimony,  October  26, 
1867,  in  Jonesboro,  Union  County,  111.,  to  Miss 
Ella  Herrick,  born  May  16,  1850,  in  Bangor, 
Me ,  where  she  was  also  educated.  She  is 
the  mother  of  four  children  now  living,  viz., 
George  A.,  born  September  24,  1871  ;  P]va 
Maude,  November  29,  1874 ;  Olive  Grace, 
born  October  25,  1880  ;  Lottie  B.,  born  Sep- 
tember 2,  1882.  In  1863,  she  came  West  to 
join  her  parents,  George  R.  and  Mary  C. 
(Nichols)  Herrick.  He  was  born  May  10, 1812, 
in  Hampden,  Me.  She  was  born  in  Noble- 
boro,  Me.  Although  we  deserve  no  credit 
nor  are  made  better  by  what  our  parents  have 
done,  yet  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  our  an- 
cestors for  centuries  back  have  endeavored  to 
hand  down  to  posterity  an  untarnished  name. 
The  Herrick  family  is  of  English  descent, 
although  its  progenitor  was  one  Henry  Eyryk, 
a  lineal  descendant  of  Eric  the  forester,  a  great 
commander,  who  opposed  William  the  Con- 
queror. His  grandson,  Robert  Eyryk,  died  in 
1385.  He  was  Chaplain  to  Edward,  the  Black 
Prince,  LL.  D.,  and  finally  Lord  Bishop  of 
Litchfield.  The  history  of  the  Herrick  family 
in  the  United  States,  commenced  with  Henerie 
Herrick,  born  in  1604,  in  England.  He  settled 
in  Salem,  June  24,  1629.  The  grandfather  of 
Mrs.  Ulen,  Jedediah  Herrick,  settled  in  Hamp- 
den, Me.,  November  5,  1800,  author  of  the 
Genealogical  Register  of  the  Herrick  family, 
whose  coat  of  arms  is  yet  in  existence.  Mr- 
and  Mrs.  Ulen  are  members  of  the  Methodist 


MOUND    CITY  PRECINCT. 


•281 


Episcopal  Church.  He  is  Chaplin  of  the  T.  0. 
0.  F.,  is  also  a  Grood  Templar  and  in  politics 
a  Republican.  His  office  is  in  the  same  build- 
ing in  which  he  lay  after  he  was  wounded  at 
the  battle  of  Fort  Douelson. 

J.  A.  WAUGH,  County  Clerk,  Mound 
City,  is  a  native  of  Mercer  County,  Penn., 
born  March  30,  1835.  His  father,  Robert 
Waugh,  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  who  married  Elizabeth  Stuart,  a 
native  of  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  both  now  de- 
ceased. They  were  the  parents  of  six  children, 
of  whom  the  following  are  now  living  :  Will- 
iam S.,  Walter  J.  and  John  A.,  our  subject. 
He  was  reared  in  his  native  county.  Being 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  his  early  edu- 
cation was  very  limited  ;  he  has,  however,  by 
observation  and  practical  experience,  gained 
much  more  than  a  common  English  education. 
At  sixteen  ^^ears  of  age,  he  embarked  on  his 
life's  career  as  a  "  devil  "  in  a  printing  office 
in  Mercer,  and,  after  completing  his  trade,  in 
1854  he  went  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  after  a 
short  time  to  Marietta,  Ohio,  and  afterward  to 
Conneautville,  Penn.,  working  at  his  trade  a 
short  time  in  each  place.  In  1856,  he  came  to 
Pulaski  County  and  bought  out  the  interest  of 
the  National  E^njjorhim,  which  had  just  been 
started,  and  continued  as  editor  and  proprietor 
of  this  journal  until  1861,  when  he  entered 
the  United  States  Navy  as  constructor's  clerk, 
and  continued  in  the  same  until  the  fall  of 
1865.  He  then  engaged  as  book-keeper  for  the 
Marine  Ways,  and  remained  thus  engaged  un- 
til the  fall  of  1882,  when  he  was  elected 
County  Clerk  of  Pulaski  County,  which  office 
he  fills  with  credit  to  himself.  He  was  mar- 
ried, in  1863, .  to  Miss  Mary  R.,  daughter  of 
Hon.  J.  R.  Emrie,  formerly'  editor  of  the  Hills- 
boro  Gazette,  who  afterward  was  Judge,  and 
subsequentl}-  represented  his  district  in  Con- 
gress.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  Waugrh  are  members  of 


the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  is  a 
Knight  Templar  and  member  of  the  Masonic 
Lodge   at  Cairo,  No.  237. 

F.  J.  WEHRFRITZ.  furniture  manufacturer. 
Mound  City,  is  a  son  of  Carl  and  Elizabeth 
Wehrfritz,  both  natives  of  Germany  ;  he,  a 
paper  manufacturer,  was  born  in  1808 ;  she 
was  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  of  whom 
six  are  now  living  and  two  resides  in  the 
United  States,  Emil  C.  Wehrfritz,  a  machinist 
of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  and  F.  J.  Wehrfritz, 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  He  was  born- 
September  6,  1845,  in  Bingen  on  the  Rhine' 
and  was  principally  educated  at  the  Commer- 
cial Cbllege,  in  Belgium  ;  he  was  three  years  at 
Bielfeld,  Germany,  learning  the  mercantile 
business.  At  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  sailed 
for  America,  landing  at  Hoboken,  N.  Y.,  on 
the  10th  of  October,  1864.  He  located  at  St. 
Louis,  where  he  began  work  as  a  clerk  ;  after 
four  months  he  came  to  Mound  City,  and  en- 
gaged as  clerk  for  G.  F.  Meyer,  and  remained 
in  his  employ  for  one  year,  when  he  went  to 
East  St.  Louis  and  clerked  for  two  years.  He 
then  returned  to  Mound  City  via  Chicago 
where  he  made  a  stop  of  about  three  months. 
April  9,  1868,  he  engaged  with  G.  F.  Meyer,  as 
chief  clerk  and  buyer,  and  is  at  present  holding 
the  same  position.  He  is  one  of  the  incor- 
porators of  the  Mound  City  Furniture  Com- 
pany, an  enterprise  which  will  give  the  city  a 
boom.  Mr.  Wehrfritz  was  married  in  Mound 
City,  111.,  February  12,  1874,  to  Carolina 
Seidel,  a  native  of  Rock  Island,  111.,  born  April 
2,  1856  ;  she  is  of  German  descent,  and  the 
mother  of  three  children,  viz.:  Olga,  who  was 
born  August  13,  1875  ;  Lena,  who  was  born 
April  6,  1879,  and  Emma,  who  was  born  Janu- 
ary 20,  1881.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wehrfritz  are 
members  of  the  Episcopalian  Church  ;  politi- 
call}',  he  is  Democratic. 


282 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


•VILLA  EIDGE   PRECINOT. 


E.  J.   AYRES,    fruit-grower   and   merchant, 
Villa  Ridge,  was  born  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  October, 
1832.     He  is  the  son  of  E.  J.  and  Mary  Ayres, 
he,  born  in  New  Jersey,  she   in    New  York. 
Both  died  in  New   York.     Up   till    1848,  our 
subject  resided  on  the  ftirm  in    New  York  ;  he 
then    came    West,   first    to   Ohio,    where    he 
clerked  in  his  uncle's  store.     Since  that  time, 
his  life  has  been  spent  most  all  the  time  in  the 
West.     In    1854,  he  went   to   Springfield,  111., 
where  he  remained  till  1860,  when  he  moved  to 
Iowa.     There  he  and  his  brother,  0.  C.  Ayres, 
were  in  the  mercantile  business  in  partnership. 
At  his  country's  call,  0.  C.  entered  the  service, 
while   our  subject  attended  to   the   business. 
At  the  battle  of  AUatoona  Pass  he  was  killed,  j 
In  fall  of  1866,  our  subject   came  to   Illinois, 
and  for  one  3'ear   remained   at   Cairo,    and   in 
1867  bought  his  present  farm  near  Villa  Ridge. 
At  the  time  of  his  purchase,   but  little   of  the 
farm  was  improved,  but  Mr.  Ayres   gave  his 
time  and  energy  to  the  improving  and  develop- 
ing of  the  farm.     He  now  has    170    acres   of 
land,    and  of  this    about  sixty  acres    are    in 
fruits  of  various  kinds.     Previous   to   coming 
to  his  farm,  Mr.  Ayres   had  been  engaged   in 
the  mercantile  business  most  of  his  life,  so  he 
had  to  begin  by    experimenting    in   order   to 
make  fruit-growing  a  success  ;  but  through  his 
close  attention  to  business  he    has   succeeded. 
For  some  years  past  he  has  also  been  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business,  in  partnership  with 
Mr.  E.  M.  Titus,  of  Villa  Ridge,   but  still  gives 
most   of  his  thought   and  care   to    the    fruit 
culture.     In    Springfield,    111.,    December   14, 
1858,    he   was    married   to   Miss    S.    Ardelia 
Wheelock.    She  was  born    in    Grafton,  Mass., 
March   31,  1841.   to   Solomon    B.,    and   Ruth 
(Hall)  Wheelock.     He   was    born    in    Qrafton, 


Mass.,  September  1,  1817,  died  May  3,  1858. 
She  was  born  in  Rhode  Island  ^March  20,  1820, 
and  still  survives.  They  were  married  in 
Grafton,  Mass.,  February  18,  1840.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ayres  have  three  children — Phillip  W., 
Minnie  and  Jennie.  In  religion,  Mr.  Ayres  is 
Baptist,  and  in  politics.  Republican. 

A.  D.  BUTLER,  merchant,  Villa  Ridge,  was 
born  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  June  26,  1842,  to  L- 
D.    and    Penina  (Whidden)   Butler.     She  was 
born  in  Clermont  County,  Ohio  ;  he  in  Maine. 
By  trade  he  was  a  carpenter.     In  the  spring 
of  1861,  they  moved  from  Cincinnati  to  Villa 
Ridge,  and    he  died  here.     She  is  still  living. 
To  them  ten  children  were  born,  seven  of  whom 
are  still  living.     Our  subject  received  his  edu- 
cation  in  Cincinnati.     In  1861,  he  enlisted  in 
the   service.    Company  F,  Eighteenth  Illinois 
Infantry  ;  served  for  three  years  ;  then  re-en- 
listed in  the  Hancock  Veteran    Corps  for  one 
year.     He  was    in  some  of  the  hardest  fought 
battles    during  the  war,  being  at  Fort  Henry, 
Fort   Donelson,  Shiloh,  Vicksburg,  and  many 
others    of  less    importance.     When   returning 
from  the  army,  he   came  to  Villa  Ridge,  and 
began   clerking  in  a  store,   and  continued    as 
clerk  for  some  years  ;  then  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  for  himself,  first  at  Elco,  Alexan- 
der County,  but  soon  moved  his  stock  of  goods 
to  Villa  Ridge,   and   has  been  here  since.     Mr. 
Butler  has  met  with  heavy  losses  since  Novem- 
ber 14.  1881,  lost  his  store  building  and  goods 
from  fire,  and  again  July  8,  1882.     Each  time 
his  actual  losses  were  from  $1,300  to  $1,700. 
April  1,  1883,  he  again   opened    up   business 
with  a  complete  stock  of  general  merchandise, 
which  averages  about  $4,500,and,  since  starting, 
his  daily  sales  have  averaged  about  $80.    May 
28,    1871,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Nannie  J. 


YILLA    RIDGE    PRECINCT. 


283 


Beaty.  She  was  born  in  Pulaski  County,  111., 
May  24,  1846,  daughter  of  David  and  Phoebe 
A.  (Kennedy)  Beaty,  both  of  whom  were  born 
in  Hamilton  Count},  Ohio,  he  in  1812,  she 
October  28,  1815.  They  were  married  July  15, 
1841.  He  died  of  cholera,  in  Cairo,  July  11, 
1849.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Butler  have  two  children 
—Cecil  G.,  born  November  15,  1873,  and  Myr- 
tle May,  born  March  29,  1876.  In  politics,  he 
is  Republican.  Is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  of  G. 
T.;also  of  the  G.  A.  R. 

S.  A.  QOLWELL,  fruit  and  vegetable  grower, 
P.    0.    Mound    City,   was    born   in    Dutchess 
County,  N.  Y.,  November  28,  1842,  to  Archi- 
bald and  Sarah  (Seaman)  Colwell.     Both  were 
born  in  Dutchess  County.  N.  Y..  and  still  reside 
there,  and  he  still  continues  to  follow  his  occu- 
pation of  boot  and  shoe  maker.     They  are  the 
parents  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  still 
living,  S.  A.  being  the  oldest  child.     Our  sub- 
ject received  his  education  in  the  State  Normal 
school  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  completing  with  the 
class  of  1860.     He  began  teaching  during  his 
course  at  school.     After  graduating,  he  was  in 
the  employ  of  the  New  York  &  Erie  R.  R.  Com- 
pany for  about  one   year.     Then  to  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  where  he  was  in  a  railroad  office  for  about 
eighteen  months  in  the  employ  of  the  Govern- 
ment.    He  still  followed  railroading,   and  the 
express  business  till  coming  AVest  in  1866.     In 
1869,  he  settled  in  this  county,  and  commenced 
teaching  and  fruit  farming.     August  1,  1869, 
he  was  married  in  Jackson  County,  111.,  to  Nan- 
nie Norman.     She  was  born  in  Franklin  County, 
111.,  April  1,  1846,  to  John  and   Nancy  (Hall) 
Norman.     She  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  but 
moved  to  Franklin    County  when  only  about 
five  years  old,  and  is  now  about  seventy-nine 
years  of   age.      He   died  when  Mrs.    Colwell 
was  only  about  four  years  of  age.     They  were 
the  parents  of  nine  children,  three  now  living. 
In  politics,  he  is  Republician.    November,  1876, 
he  was  elected  County  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction,  and  served  his  term  with  credit  to 
himself  and  count}'. 


J.  P.  CONYERS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Villa  Ridge, 
was  born  in  Pulaski  County,  III.,  October  10, 
1827.     He  is  the  son   of  John    Conyers,  who 
was  born  in  Tennessee,  1792,  but  who  was  one 
of  the  earliest  settlers  in  Pulaski  County,  com- 
ing when  there  were  but  about  four  families  in 
what  is  now  Alexander  and  Pulaski  Counties. 
The  Conyers  family  settled  about  four  miles 
above  the  mouth  of  Cache  River.     John  Con- 
3'ers  was  one  of  a  famih'  of  five  girls  and  three 
boys  ;  only  one  of  the  family  now  living,  Bart- 
lett  Conyers,  who  was  born  April  14,  1795,  and 
lives  now  near  Springfield,  III.     John  Conyers 
was  married  in  this  county  to  Catherine   Ath- 
erton.     She  was  born  near  Green  River,  Ky., 
and  her  parents  came  to  this   State  in  1816, 
settling  one   and  a  half   miles  west  of  Villa 
Ridge.     Mr.  Conyers  died,  1844,  in  Missouri. 
She  died  about  two  years  previous.    They  were 
the  parents  of  eight  children  ;  but  by  a  previous 
marriage  he  had  three  children  ;  his  first   wife 
died  in  Tennessee,  previous  to  his  removal  to 
Illinois.     His  occupation  was  that  of  farming 
and    stock-raising.      When   our   subject    was 
about  eighteen  months  old  he  moved  to  Mis- 
souri, and  it  was  there  he  died.     In  his  seven- 
teenth year,  our  subject  returned  to  this  county. 
September  12,  1850,  he  was  married  to  Diana 
L.   Atherton.     She  was   born  in  this  county, 
1825,  to  John  and  Eunice  Atherton,  both   of 
whom  are  dead.     Mrs.  C.  is  the  only  one  of  a 
family   of  ten   children  who   are  now  living. 
When  first  married  they  settled  near  Goose  Is- 
land,   Alexander   County,  but  in    1863   came 
to  his  present  farm,  which  contains  1 70  acres- 
He  has  besides  this  two  other  farms,  containing 
respectively    80   and    160    acres.      About  240 
acres  are  in  cultivation;  general  farming  receives 
his  attention.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  Conyers  have  five 
children  dead  ;  and  only  one  soji,  Francis  Marion, 
living.     In  politics,  he  is  Democratic. 

C.  C.  DAVIDSON,  fruit  farmer  and  black- 
smith. Villa  Ridge,  was  born  in  Wyon;ing 
County,  N.  Y.,  October  16,  1852,  to  James  J. 
and  Lucy  (Comstock)  Davidson,  he  a  native  of 


284 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


New  Jersey,  she  of  New  England.  He  is  still 
living  and  in  Cairo,  111.  He  is  a  carpenter. 
To  them  eight  children  were  born,  seven  of 
whom  are  still  living.  Our  subject  was  reared 
in  New  York  and  received  his  education  there, 
and  also  learned  the  trade  of  blacksmith.  Com- 
pleting his  term  as  apprentice,  he  came  to  this 
count}-  in  1870.  and  has  been  in  Southei-n  Illi- 
nois siilce,  working  at  his  trade  in  Cairo  with 
J.  Gamble  for  some  time,  also  at  Villa  Ridge  ; 
then  again  at  Cairo,  where  he  had  a  shop  of 
his  own  for  a  short  time.  In  1873,  he  again 
returned  to  Villa  Ridge  Precinct,  and  worked 
at  fruit  raising.  In  1880,  he  built  a  shop  on 
his  farm,  and  works  at  his  trade  part  of  his 
time,  but  is  also  engaged  in  fruit  and  vegetable 
growing,  and  has  been  quite  successful  in  rais- 
ing strawberries.  October  16,  1878,  he  was 
married  to  Maggie  Scheiriek.  daughter  of  B.  H. 
Scheirick,  whose  sketch  appears  elsewhere. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davidson  have  two  children — Min- 
nie Laura  and  Annie  Elizabeth.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Villa  Ridge  Patrons  of  Husbandry',  also 
I.  0.  G.  T.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Greenbacker. 

W.  B.  EDSON,  druggist.  Villa  Ridge,  was 
born  on  Chautauqua  Lake,  New  York,  Novem- 
ber 16,  1820,  to  Obed  and  Sarah  (Scott)  Edson. 
She  was  born  on  the  east  of  the  Green  Mount- 
ains, Vermont,  and  was  one  of  a  family  of  thir- 
teen children,  all  of  whom  reached  maturity. 
He  was  a  native  of  Madison  Count}-,  N.  Y., 
and  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  three  brothers 
who  came  to  America  previous  to  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edson  lived  to  cel- 
ebrate the  sixtieth  anniversar}'  of  their  mar- 
riage. They  wei'e  the  parents  of  six  sons  and 
four  daughters — two  sons  and  three  daughters 
still  survive.  During  his  life  he  had  been  en- 
gaged in  different  occupations,  and  resided  in 
several  States.  While  in  Pennsylvania  he  rep- 
resented his  district  in  the  State  Legislature 
for  some  time.  Was  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Comity  Commissioners  in  this  (Pulaski)  county. 
He  died  in  his  eightv-second  year,  and  she  in 


her  seventy-eighth.  When  our  subject  was 
seven  years  of  age,  he  moved  with  his  parents 
to  Pennsylvania,  settling  on  the  Conewango 
River.  When  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  he 
began  the  study  of  medicine.  He  attended  one 
course  of  lectures  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  but  did  not 
like  the  profession,  so  never  completed  the 
course,  but  has  been  engaged  in  different  busi- 
ness occupations  since.  In  1843,  he  began 
farming  in  Chautauqua  County,  N.  Y.  In  1852, 
went  to  California  to  mine,  but  remained  only 
for  a  short  time,  and  in  the  spring  of  1853  en- 
gaged in  the  drug  business  at  McHenry,  111., 
also  in  general  mercantile  business,  etc.  March 
10,  1863,  he  enlisted  in  the  army  for  three 
years  or  during  the  war,  and  joined  the  Third  Ill- 
inois Cavalry  at  Germantown,  Tenu,  as  Hospital 
Steward.  He  remained  only  for  about  three 
months,  when  he  was  selected  as  First  Lieuten- 
ant of  a  colored  regiment,  he  being  among  the 
first  to  answer  Gen.  Thomas'  call  for  men  to 
officer  a  colored  regiment.  Mr.  Edson  was  af- 
terward promoted  to  the  captaincy  of  his  com- 
pany, and  all  but  twenty  men  in  his  company 
were  killed  at  Fort  Pillow.  After  coming  from 
the  service  in  1865,  he  located  in  Pulaski 
County,  and  engaged  in  fruit-growing  till  1870, 
when  he  again  embarked  in  the  drug  trade, 
but  still  has  a  fruit  farm  on  the  west  of  the  vil- 
lage. He  was  one  of  the  charter  members  of 
the  McHenry  Lodge,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  one  of  the 
early  lodges  in  the  State,  and  is  Lodge  Deputy 
of  I.  0.  of  G.  T.  In  politics,  is  Republican, 
and  has  held  different  offices  in  the  county,  be- 
ing County  Commissioner,  and  when  his  pres- 
ent term  of  office  shall  have  expired,  he  will 
have  completed  fifteen  years  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace.  In  religion,  he  is  a  member  of  the  M. 
E.  Church.  In  1843,  in  Chautauqua  County, 
N.  Y.,  he  was  married  to  Cordelia  Curtis.  She 
was  born  in  that  county,  daughter  of  Ransom 
Curtis,  a  native  of  New  York.  Mrs.  Edson 
died  in  Pulaski  County,  111.,  August,  1866,  the 
result  of  this  union  being  two  children,  viz.  : 


VILLA    RIDGE   PRECINCT. 


285 


Ransom  Curtis  (deceased),  and  Mary,  now  Mrs. 
Henry  Weaver,  of  Cbautauqua  County,  N.  Y. 
September  11,  1867,  Mr.  Edson  was  married  to 
his  present  wife,  Mrs.  Catherine  (Hosmer)  Stod- 
dard. She  was  born  at  Avon  Springs,  N.  Y., 
daughter  of  George  Hosmer.  (See  sketch  of 
C.  A.  Hosmer.)  By  her  first  husband  she  has 
one  son  and  one  daughter,  viz.  :  Edwin  B. 
Stoddard,  Villa  Ridge  ;  and  Elizabeth,  now 
Mrs.  Charles  Fosdick — "  Harry  Castleman,"  a 
writer  of  note. 

GEORGE  W.  ENDICOTT,  farmer  and  fruit 
grower,  P.  0.  Villa  Ridge,  whose  portrait  ap- 
pears in  this  volume,  was  born  in  Belmont 
County,  Ohio,  July  25,  1839,  and  is  a  son  of 
Charles  and  Lucinda  (Snedeker)  Endicott.  She 
was  born  in  Loudoun  Count}-,  Va.,  August  15, 
1819,  and  he  in  Berks  County,  Penn.,  August  16, 
181,3.  The  Endicott  family  are  all  descended 
from  old  Gov.  Endicott,  of  Massachusetts, 
and  his  brother,  Mark  Endicott.  Many  of 
them  were  soldiers,  and  those  who  were  not 
able  to  bear  arms,  attained  considerable  note 
as  horticulturists.  Mark  Endicott  planted  the 
Endicott  pears  at  Salem,  Mass.,  which  are  still 
fruiting,  after  two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  and  all  his 
brothers,  served  in  the  United  States  Navy^ 
and  he  and  two  brothers  were  in  our  war  with 
Tripoli,  under  Commodore  Decatur.  He  after- 
ward settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and  devoted  his 
attention  to  horticulture,  but  some  years  later 
moved  to  Ohio,  and  was  one  of  the  first  men 
to  plant  out  a  grafted  orchard,  and  to  introduce 
the  science  of  grafting  fruit  in  that  State. 
Charles  Endicott  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
his  father,  and  was  a  farmer  and  fruit-grower  ; 
his  health  being  delicate  he  was  refused  admis- 
sion into  the  army  during  our  war  with  Mexico. 
He  continued  a  resident  of  Ohio  until  1864, 
when  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  died  soon  after 
(September  18,  1864),  at  the  home  of  his  son 
(our  subject)  in  this  county.  His  wife  died 
May  29,  1864.     They  were  the  parents  of  four 


sons  and  two  daughters  ;  two  of  the  sons  and 
one  daughter  died  in  childhood.  The  other 
brother  of  our  subject  served  in  the  late  civil 
war,  and  returned  home  just  in  time  to  die 
from  exposure  while  performing  his  dut}'  as  a 
soldier.  He  was  one  of  the  command  sent  to 
spike  the  enem3's  cannon  at  Island  No.  10, 
and  took  cold  from  which  he  never  recovered. 
Our  subject's  onlj'  living  sister  Mrs.  N.  W- 
Galbraith,  resides  in  Wayne  Count}-.  111.  Mr. 
Endicott  (subject)  had  but  few  educational  ad- 
vantages. At  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  he 
went  on  the  river  for  the  purpose  of  learning 
the  duties  of  a  pilot,  and  was  engaged  on  a 
steamboat  running  between  Cincinnati  and 
Pittsburgh ;  but  disliking  river  life,  he  left  it, 
and  September  15,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany I,  of  the  Forty-eighth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  in  which  he  served  for  two  years  and 
ten  months,  and  then  was  discharged  on  ac- 
count of  wounds  received.  He  was  at  Fort 
Henr}-,  Fort  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Corinth,  Vicks- 
burg,  Arkansas  Post,  Black  River  Bridge, 
Chickamauga,  Lookout  Mountain,  and  with 
Sherman  in  his  "  march  to  the  sea ;"  partici- 
pating in  forty-six  battles  and  skirmishes, 
and  receiving  twelve  wounds  ;  he  still  carries 
rebel  lead  in  his  bod}-.  After  returning  from 
the  army  he  settled  down  to  farming  in  W^ayne 
County,  111.,  and  continued  there  until  Decem- 
ber 25,  1867,  when  he  removed  to  this  county, 
and  began  the  improvement  of  his  present 
farm,  which  was  then  all  in  the  woods.  He 
has  since  been  engaged  extensively  in  horticult- 
ure, and  is  one  of  the  most  successful  fruit- 
growers in  Pulaski  County.  His  farm  consists 
of  140  acres,  in  a  good  state  of  cultivation  and 
with  excellent  farm  buildings  and  improve- 
ments. He  has  fifty-five  acres  in  fruits,  as 
follows  :  Seven  and  a  half  acres  in  vineyard  ; 
twenty-three  acres  in  peaches  ;  thirteen  in 
strawberries  ;  three  in  Bartlett  pears  ;  four  in 
apples,  etc.  He  has  been  very  successful  in 
all  his  fruit-raising,  except  with  apples,  which 


386 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


have  not  paid  in  a  commercial  point  of  view. 
Mr.  Endicott  is  a  good  writer  and  lias  con- 
tributed some  excellent  articles  on  horticult- 
ure, his  best  effort,  perhaps,  being  the  chapter 
in  this  work  devoted  to  agriculture  and  horti- 
culture of  Pulaski  County.  He  was  married 
April  29,  1863,  to  Miss  Martha  Galbraith,  of 
Wayne  County,  111.,  born  April  9,  1841,  and  a 
daughter  of  Wiley  and  Elizabeth  Gralbraith. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Endicott  have  seven  children, 
four  boys  and  three  girls,  viz.:  Ed  C,  Louis 
E..  Charles  W.,  Georgianna,  Maud,  Mary  and 
Robert  B.  Mr.  Endicott  is  a  member  of  the 
Villa  Ridge  Grange,  and  in  politics,  is  perfect- 
ly independent,  supporting  the  men  he  deems 
best  fitted  for  the  offices  they  seek. 

JOSEPH  ESSEX,  farmer,  P.  O.  Villa  Ridge, 
was  born  in  Davidson  County,  N.  C,  March  23, 
1817,  to  Joseph  and  Susan  Essex,  he  born  in 
Kentucky.    His  father  (the  grandfather  of  our 
subject)  was  one  of  the  early  explorers  of  Ken- 
tucky, but  the  Indians  becoming  so  bad,  had  to 
leave  the  State,  and  on  his  return  to  North  Caro- 
lina Joseph  Essex,  Sr.,  was  born.     The  mother 
of  our  subject  died  in  North  Carolina,  but  his 
father   came   to  Illinois,    and  died   in   Union 
County.     They   were  the  parents  of  five  chil- 
dren who  reached  maturity,  our  subject  and 
one  brother  and  sister  now  living.    September, 
1839,    he   came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  We- 
taug    Pulaski    County,    but  in  the  spring   of 
1S47  came  to  his  present  farm,  which  contains 
105  acres,  nearly  all  in  cultivation  ;  on  this  he 
does  general  farming  and  fruit-growing.     By 
trade,    Mr.    Essex  is  a  tanner  and  shoe-maker, 
and  while  at  Wetaug  had  a  small  tannery.     At 
Wetaug,  December  25,  1842,  he  was  married  to 
his    first  wife,  Catherine  Sowers,  daughter  of 
David  and  :Margaret  Sowers.     They  were  from 
North    Carolina,   but  came  to  this  State  at  an 
early  date,  and   died   here.     Mrs.   Essex  died 
January  18,  18G6.      By  her,  he  had  nine  chil- 
dren,   Alexander    (deceased),    Amanda    Jane, 
James  W.,  Mary  E.  (deceased),    Charlotte  L.. 


Madora  Ann,  Emma  Adelia,  Joseph  Warren 
and  Thomas  D.  August,  18(^7,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Jane  Elizabeth  Parker,  widow  of  Will- 
iam Parker.  She  was  born  in  this  count}'  to 
Joseph  and  Lucinda  Lackey.  Four  children 
have  been  the  result  of  this  union — Ida  Lucinda, 
George  Harrison,  Catherine  T.  and  Noah  H. 
(deceased).  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Essex  are  members 
of  the  Baptist  Church. 

H.  C.  FEARNSIDE.  box-manufacturer,  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Wood  County,  Ohio,  No- 
vember  15,    1858,    to  William   and  Elizabeth 
(Grain)  Fearnside  ;  he,  born  in  New  York  ;  she 
in  Ohio.     She  died  in  this  county  in  1879.    He 
is  still  living,  and  by  trade  is  a  carpenter.     To 
them,  two  sons  and  one  daughter  were  born,  who 
are   now  living.     When  our  subject  was  two 
yeai'sof  age,  his  parents  moved  to  New  York, 
and  lived  at  Albany  and  Catskill  on  the  Hud- 
son till  1874,  when  they  removed  to  Delaware, 
but  in  1875  ca'me  to  Villa  Ridge.    Our  subject 
received   his  education  in  the  High  School  of 
Albany,  and  grammar  school  of  Catskill,  N.  Y. 
Since  coming  to  Villa  Ridge  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacturing  of  fruit  boxes.  Up 
till  1880  he  worked  with  his  uncle,  L.  F.  Grain. 
He  then  bought  out  the  establishment.    He  has 
capacity  for  the  daily    manufacture   of  about 
1,000  24-quart  crates,  and  during  the  busiest 
season  employs  about  twenty-four  hands.     He 
buys  the  material  ready  sawed,  then  manufact- 
ures and   sells,  his  sales  for  1883  being  about 
550,000  quart  boxes.  40,000  one-third  bushel 
boxes,  and  5,000  bushel  boxes  ;  the  sales  being 
about   $6,000.      His   building    is    two-stories. 
24x60  feet.     He  also  has  cooling  rooms  ;   main 
building,    24x45    feet ;  loading    room,    10x45 
feet ;  capacity,  twelve  cars  per  day.     He  uses 
the    condensed    steam    ice.     Mr.    Fearnside's 
father  is  also  with  him  in  the  business,  and  they 
are  engaged  in  fruit  raising,  especially  of  straw- 
berries.    As  soon  as  the  fruit  shipping  season 
is  over,  they  engage  in  buying  apples,  poultry, 
etc.,   through    Southern   Illinois,  and   ship  to 


VILLA    KIDGE    PRECINCT. 


287 


northern  markets.  In  politics,  they  are  Repub- 
licans. 

JOSEPH  GAMBLE,  station  agent,  Villa 
Ridge  was  born  in  Perry  County,  111.,  March 
28,  18-14,  to  William  and  Rebecca  (Hood)  Gam- 
ble. They  were  both  born  in  the  north  of  Ire- 
land, and  came  to,  America  in  early  life,  she 
when  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  he  sev- 
enteen. He  died  in  Perry  County,  111.,  August 
19, 1879.  She  is  still  living,  and  in  Tamaroa, 
111.  His  occupation  was  that  of  farmer.  Of 
their  family'  of  three  sons  and  one  daughter, 
onh"  Joseph  and  Robert  now  survive.  Robert 
is  living  at  Tamaroa.  September  3,  1867,  our 
subject  began  learning  telegraphy  in  the  I.  C 
R.  R.  office  at  Tamaroa,  under  Mr.  Holt.  He  re- 
mained there  till  October  2, 1872, when  he  became 
agent  at  Chester,  III.,  for  the  St.  Louis  Coal 
Road.  At  Chester,  he  remained  for  two  years. 
April  5,  1875,  he  took  his  present  position  at 
Villa  Ridge.  He  is  now  station  and  express 
agent  and  operator  at  Tamaroa.  October  24, 
1870,  he  was  married  to  Alice  Price.  She  was 
born  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  daughter  of  Edwin 
and  Sarah  A.  Price.  They  came  to  Perry,  111., 
when  she  was  quite  small.  His  occupation 
was  that  of  druggist.  He  died  at  Tamaroa, 
April  7,  1873  ;  she,  April,  1880.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Gamble  have  one  son — James  C,  living  ;  one 
son  and  one  daughter  dead.  He  and  wife  are 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  Republican. 

W.  H.  GOE,  fruit  and  vegetable  grow-er,  P. 
0.  Villa  Ridge,  was  born  in  Greene  County, 
Ohio,  November,  1840,  to  John  and  Catherine 
(Crawford)  Goe.  He  was  born  in  Virginia,  she 
in  Kentuck}-,  but  both  had  come  to  Illinois  in 
early  life.  She  died  in  Greene  County,  Ohio  ;  he 
in  this  county,  in  1873.  His  occupation  was* 
that  of  a  farmer.  They  were  the  parents  of  ten 
children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living.  Our 
subject  has  devoted  his  time  to  farming  and 
fruit-growing.  August.  1862,  he  enlistetl  in 
Company   H,    Ninetj'-fourth    Ohio     Volunteer 


Infantr}'.  as  non-commissioned  officer.  He 
served  for  nearly  three  years,  being  mustered 
out  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  June,  1865.  He  was 
at  Chickamauga,  Lookout  Mountain,  Stone 
River,  etc.,  and  with  Sherman  on  the  march  to 
the  sea.  September  7,  1870,  he  was  married 
in  Cairo,  111.,  to  Lucinda  Brigham.  She  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  to  George  and  Amy 
Brigham.  He  is  dead,  but  she  is  now  living, 
and  about  seveny-three  years  of  age.  When 
sixty-five  years  of  age,  she  was  married  to  her 
present  husband,  who  then  was  seventj^-five^ 
Mrs.  Goe  came  to  Illinois,  when  about  sixteen 
years  of  age.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Goe  have  three 
children,  viz.  :  Nina,  Reader  and  Julia.  He 
is  Republican  in  politics,  and  a  member  of  the 
order  Patrons  of  Husbandry.  In  1872,  Mr- 
Goe  came  to  Pulaski  Count}',  and  settled  on 
his  present  farm,  which,  at  the  time  was  but 
partiall}-  improved.  Now  he  has  the  farm  in  a 
high  state  of  cultivation. 

GEORGE  GOULD,  fruit  grower,  P.O.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Ireland  Jul}-  8,  1837,  to 
Richard  and  Ann  (Adams)  Gould.  The}'  were 
both  natives  of  Ireland,  but  moved  to  Canada, 
when  our  subject  was  about  seven  years  of  age. 
She  died  in  Canada,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four 
years  ;  he  in  Mississippi,  at  about  the  same  age 
His  trade  was  that  of  miller.  They  were  the 
parents  of  eight  children,  six  of  whom  still 
survive.  Our  subject  received  his  education  in 
the  free  schools  of  Canada.  When  seventeen 
years  of  age,  he  began  learning  the  carpenter 
trade,  and  followed  that  occupation  till  1868, 
when  he  came  to  his  present  farm,  which  was 
then  all  in  the  woods,  but  now  is  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation.  He  gives  most  of  his 
attention  to  the  growing  of  peaches,  grapes  and 
strawberries,  and  itt  this  he  has  been  very 
successful,  but  his  success  has  been  attained 
through  his  own  energy  and  application  to  the 
business  in  hand.  In  1860,  Mr,  Gould  left 
Canada  and  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  and  made  that 
his  home  till  coming  to  the  farm.     November 


288 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


7.  1863,  he  was  mai-ried  in  Canada,  to  Anna 
L.  Clitherow.  She  was  born  in  Canada,  August 
18,  1846,  to  Robert  and  Anna  Clitherow.  He 
died  when  Mrs.  G-ould  was  small,  but  she  is 
still  living  in  Canada.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gould 
have  four  children  living — Wilham  E.,  Lillie 
M..  George  W.  and  Bertha  M.  Mr.  G.  is  a 
member  of  the  Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M.     In  politics,  he  is  Democratic. 

W.  R.  HOOPPAW.  Sr.,  retired,  Villa  Ridge, 
was  born  in  Pulaski  Count}'  June  13,  1830. 
He  is  the  sou  of  M.  R.  Hooppaw,  who  came 
from  South  Carolina  to  this  count}'  about  1820. 
He  was  a  man  who  delighted  in  hunting,  but 
did  not  give  his  whole  time  to  the  sport.  He 
opened  up  a  farm,  and  was  Sheriff  of  Alexander 
County  for  eight  j-ears.  (That  was  before  Pu- 
laski was  cut  off.)  While  Sheriff  of  the  count}', 
he  sold  the  land  on  which  Cairo  now  stands. 
He  was,  in  later  life,  County  Judge  of  Pulaski 
County.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  settlement  in 
this  county,  he  had  followed  steamboatiug. 
Was  married  in  Pulaski  County  to  Malinda 
Kennedy.  She  was  born  in  Ohio,  sister  of  T. 
C.  Kennedy,  an  old  resident  of  the  county. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children,  three 
of  whom  are  still  living — W.  R.,  Thomas  and 
David.  Our  subject  has  resided  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  Villa  Ridge  all  his  life,  and  for 
thirty-two  years  has  been  in  the  mercantile 
business  in  different  towns  in  Southern  Illinois 
—  Pulaski,  Hodge's  Park,  Cairo,  but  most  of 
the  time  at  Villa  Ridge.  In  the  fall  of  1882, 
he  sold  out  his  store  to  Mr.  G.  H.  Lufkin,  and 
so  is  out  of  the  mercantile  business  for  the  pres- 
ent. He  has  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  near  town, 
but  resides  in  Vila  Ridge.  September  19, 
1850,  he  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss  E. 
J.  Lewis.  She  was  born  in  Mississippi,  daugh- 
ter of  A.  E.  Lewis,  deceased.  (See  sketch  of 
A.  W.  Lewis,  Pulaski  Precinct.)  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hooppaw  have  had  twelve  children,  nine  of 
whom  are  living— -M.  L.  (deceased),  Almira  G., 
Lenora  A.,  Marauett  V.,  W.  R..  Warren  C.  Ida 


Belle,  George  W.,  Walter  T.,  Laura  M.  (de- 
ceased), Oscar,  Bartie  C.  (deceased).  He  is  a 
member  of  Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 
He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  Repub- 
lican. 

W.  R.  HOOPPAW,  Jr.,  lumberman,  Villa 
Ridge.  Among  the  energetic  business  men  of 
this  precinct,  we  find  the  gentleman  whose 
name  appears  at  the  head  of  this  sketch.  He 
was  born  in  Pulaski  County  January  7,  1860, 
and  is  the  son  of  W.  R.  Hooppaw,  Sr.,  whose 
sketch  appears  in  this  work.  Our  subject  was 
reared  and  educated  in  this  county.  Most  of 
his  early  life  was  spent  in  his  father's  store. 
In  1881  and  1882,  he  was  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  fruit  boxes  in  Villa  Ridge.  Late 
in  the  summer  of  1882,  his  factory  and  material 
were  all  burned.  In  the  spring  of  1883,  he  en- 
gaged in  his  present  business  of  saw  milling 
with  Mr.  G.  A.  Pavey.  Their  mill  is  located 
about  one  mile  north  of  Villa  Ridge,  and  was 
erected  in  1882  for  the  purpose  of  sawing  gum 
timber.  The  mill  has  a  capacity  of  about 
5,000  feet  daily,  and  Messrs.  Pavey  &  Hooppaw 
have  a  contract  for  furnishing  1,000,000  feet  of 
gum  lumber  to  the  Singer  Sewing  Machine 
Company  of  Cairo,  at  $12  per  1,000  feet,  at  the 
yard  in  Villa  Ridge.  August  28,  1882,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Lucy  Codle.  Mr.  Hooppaw  is 
a  member  of  no  society,  and  takes  but  little 
part  in  politics. 

T.  S.  HOSLER,  horticultnrist,  P.  0.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Penn., 
April  12,  1840,  to  Israel  and  Sarah  (Everet) 
Hosier.  Both  died  in  Pickaway  County,  Ohio, 
where  they  moved  when  our  subject  was  small. 
In  1801,  Mr.  Hosier  enlisted  in  Company  K. 
Fifty-fifth  Ohio  Infantry.  Col.  Lee.  He  went  out 
as  a  private,  but  was  promoted  successively  to 
First  Lieutenantcy.  He  veteranized  and  served 
for  four  years  and  three  months.  He  was  in 
some  of  the  hardest  fights  that  occuri'ed  during 
the  war.     At  the  battles  of  Bull  Run  and  at 


VILLA    RIDGE  PRECINCT. 


389 


Chancellorsville,  Va.,  and  was  there  captured 
and  taken  to  Libby  Prison,  but  after  thirty 
days  got  out  on  an  exchange.  He  was  in  Gen. 
Hooker's  Corps  that  charged  the  summit  of 
Lookout  Mountain  in  the  fog,  and  was  with 
Sherman  on  the  march  to  the  sea,  and  at  the 
grand  review  in  Washington  at  the  close  of  the 
war.  During  a  transfer  from  Louisville  to 
Nashville,  he  was  severely  injured  by  falling 
under  the  cars,  and  the  injury  resulted  in  the 
loss  of  sight  in  the  left  eye.  His  occupa- 
tion since  being  mustered  out  of  the  serv- 
ice has  been  quite  changeable,  for  four 
years  in  the  grocer}'  and  feed  business  at  Up- 
per Sandusk}',  Ohio,  then  as  builder  and  con- 
tractor at  Ft.  'Wayne,  Ohio,  such  being  his 
trade  ;  afterward  doing  carpenter  work  in  the 
car  shops  at  Terre  Haute,  Ind.  and  Mattoon, 
111.  He  then  went  to  Chicago,  where  he  again 
engaged  in  contracting  and  building.  After 
the  last  big  fire  in  Chicago,  he  came  to  this 
count}'  and  bought  his  present  farm,  and  has 
been  engaged  in  fruit  and  vegetable  growing 
since,  and  has  been  ver}'  successful.  He  has 
twice  been  married,  first  in  Upper  Sandusky. 
Ohio,  in  1861,  to  Martha  Midlara.  She  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  near  Harrisburg.  Two 
sons  were  the  result  of  this  union,  viz.,  Har- 
land  and  Pliny.  In  Chicago,  he  was  married 
to  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  F.  W.  Savage.  Mr. 
Savage  was  a  son  of  F.  W.  Savage,  commis- 
sion merchant  of  Chicago.  By  her  first  hus- 
band, she  had  one  daughter,  Lottie  Belle. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hosier  have  four  children — Daisy 
May,  Ernest  Hayes,  Nellie  and  Gracie.  He 
and  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  In  politics,  he  is  Republican, 
casting  his  first  vote  for  A.  Lincoln. 

C.  A.  HOSMER,  retired  attorney  and  coun- 
selor at  law.  Villa  Ridge,  was  born  at  Avon,  N. 
Y.,  June  1-1,  1818,  and  is  the  only  surviving 
son  of  Hon.  George  Hosmer,  who  at  the  time 
of  his  death  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
prominent  members  of  the  bar  in  Western  New 


York.  He  served  for  two  terms  in  the  New 
York  State  Legislature.  Our  subject  is  a  lineal 
descendent  of  Revolutionary  stock — one  of  his 
family  and  name,  Rufus  Hosmer,  being  among 
the  first  whose  blood  was  shed  at  Concord.  In 
Mr.  Hosmer's  parlor  hangs  the  certificate  of  his 
grandfather,  Hon.  Timothy  Hosmer,  who  was 
a  surgeon  in  the  Sixth  Connecticut  Regiment. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  society  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati, a  society  formed  at  the  close  of 
the  Revolution,  by  officers  who  had  served 
during  the  war.  George  Hosmer,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  a  Major  in  the  war  of  1812, 
and  took  part  in  the  defense  at  the  time  Buffalo 
was  burned.  During  the  late  unhappy  rebellion, 
several  of  our  subject's  nearest  kin  shed  their 
blood  on  the  field  of  battle,  in  defense  of  the 
Union,  and  one  brother  was  sacrificed,  being 
made  a  prisoner  at  the  time  of  Wilson's  Cavalry 
Raid  upon  Richmond,  in  18G2.  He  died  after 
months  of  suffering  in  Andersonville  Prison. 
Mr.  Hosmer  studied  law  under  his  father,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  practice  in  the  courts  of 
the  State,  and  also  of  the  United  States.  In 
1855,  he  removed  west  and  located  at  Lock- 
port,  Will  Co.,  111.,  but  soon  found  that  the 
climate  was  too  changeable  and  severe  on  him- 
self and  wife,  so  removed  to  his  present  resi- 
dence in  1856.  They  soon  found  that  the 
genial  climate  of  Southern  Illinois  was  bene- 
ficial, and  they  have  ■  both  entirely  recovered 
from  their  catarrhal  troubles,  with  which  they 
had  been  afflicted  for  years.  Mr.  Hosmer  re- 
sides on  a  farm  one  mile  west  of  Villa  Ridge, 
on  the  place  formerly  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Daniel  Arter,  known  and  distinguished  forty 
years  ago  as  the  house  with  the  "  glass 
windows."  This  place  is  situated  on  the  Thebes 
and  Caledonia  road,  the  finest  continuous  high- 
way north  of  Cairo,  running  across  the  State 
from  river  to  river,  and  is  near  enough  to  each 
river  so  that  the  whistle  can  often  be  heard 
from  the  boats.  Mr.  H.  has  long  since  retired 
from  the  arduous  duties  of  his  profession,  and 


290 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


is  trying  to  enjo}-  the  latter  days  of  an  active 
life  on  a  small  fruit  farm,  where  he  can  better 
rest  from  professional  duties.  He  can  now 
realize  the  words  of  the  poet  as  applying  to  the 
pleasant  clime  he  has  chosen  for  his  home  : 

"  Look  now  abroad,  the  scene  how  changed! 
Where  fifty  fleeting  years  ago, 
Clad  in  their  savage  costumes,  ranged 
The  belted  lords  of  shaft  and  bow. 

"  In  praise  of  pomp  let  fawning  art 
Carve  rocks  to  triumph  over  years, 
The  grateful  incense  of  the  heart 
"We  give  our  living  pioneers. 

"  For  our  undaunted  pioneers, 

Have  conquest  most  enduring  won, 
In  scattering  the  night  of  years. 
And  opening  forests  to  the  sun." 

HALLECK  JOHNSON/ fruit-grower,  P.O. 
Villa  Ridge.    Among  the  young  men  in  this  pre- 
cinct who  have  engaged  in  fruit-growing,  and 
have  made  a  success  of  it.  we  find  the  gentleman 
whose  name  appears  at  the  head  of  this  sketch. 
He  was  born  in  Wayne   County,   III,   October 
28,  1861.  to  Dr.  William  M.  and  Mary  A.  (Gal- 
braith)  Johnson.     She  was  born  in  Illinois  ;  he 
in   Tennessee,    but    when    about   five    years 
old  he  left  Tennessee   and  came  to  Jefferson 
County,  III,  where  he  resided  till   the  fall   of 
1861,  thence  to  Wayne  County,  and  has  made 
that  his  home  since.     He  has  been  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  medicine  for  about  twenty-eight 
years.     They  are  the  parents  of  nine  children, 
eight  of  whom   are  now  living.     Our  subject 
was  educated  in  the  graded  schools  of  Johnson- 
ville,  and  remained  at  home  till  March,  1880, 
when  he  came  to  Villa  Ridge,  and  stayed  with 
his  uncle,  G.  W.  Endicott,  the  first  year,  learn- 
ing all    he   could   of  the  fruit  business.     Al- 
though starting  with  nothing,  he  now  has  a 
nice  farm  in  a  good  state   of  cultivation.     He 
is  member  of  the  Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  Patrons 
of  Husbandry,  also  Meridian  Lodge  I.  0.  G.  T. 
and  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Johnsonville.    In 
politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 


I.  H.  KELLY,  physician.  Villa  Ridge,  was 
born  in  Ohio  in  1853,  to  H.  S.  and  Gemima  M. 
(Moore)  Kelly.  They  were  both  natives  of 
Ohio,  she  born  in  Portsmouth,  he  in  Scioto 
County.  He  died  in  Pope  County.  Ill,  in 
1869  ;  she,  however,  still  survives.  To  them 
eight  children  were  born,  seven  of  whom  are 
still  living,  our  subject  being  the  youngest  of 
the  family.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  re- 
ceived his  common  school  education  in  Pope 
County,  III,  and  at  Duquoin.  In  1873.  he 
began  the  study  of  medicine,  and  completed 
the  medical  course  in  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  in  1880.  In 
1878,  he  began  practicing  his  profession  in 
Pope  County,  III,  under  Dr.  Le,wis,  and  after 
graduation  continued  in  the  practice  in  Pope 
County  till  November,  1882,  when  he  came  to 
Villa  Ridge,  where  he  has  begun  to  build  up  a 
practice,  and  meets  with  encouraging  success 
in  his  chosen  school,  that  of  the  Regular. 
The  Doctor  resides  about  one  mile  east 
of  the  village,  where  he  is  also  engaged  in 
the  fruit  and  vegetable  business.  Previ- 
ous to  beginning  the  practice  of  medicine,  the 
Doctor  had  been  engaged  in  teaching  and 
clerking.  April,  1878,  he  was  married  in  Sa- 
line, III,  to  Henrietta  Lewis.  She  was  born  in 
Saline,  daughter  of  Robert  Lewis,  farmer  and 
school  teacher.  She  has  also  engaged  in  teach- 
ing. Dr.  Kelly  is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  G.  T 
He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Churcli.  The  fathers  of  each  were  ministers  in 
the  same  church.  He  takes  but  little  part  in 
politics,  but  is  Independent. 

J.  H.  KINKER,  fruit  grower,  P.  0.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Ind.,  Oct. 
23,  1836,  to  J.  H.  and  Mary  Ann  (Boehmer) 
Kinker.  They  were  both  born  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Hanover,  came  to  America  in  1832,  and  both 
died  in  Indiana.  To  them  seven  children  were 
born,  five  of  whom  are  still  living.  Our  sub- 
ject was  reared  in  a  small  village,  where  his 
father  kept  a  family  grocery  store  and  was  also 


VILLA    RIDGE  PRECINCT. 


291 


engaged  in  farming.  Our  subject  received 
most  of  his  education  in  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  village,  then  attended  college  for  one 
year  at  Vincennes,  Ind.  In  earl}-  life,  he  began 
school  teaching,  and  followed  that  for  three 
years,  when  he  engaged  in  farming  and  contin- 
ued till  1868,  when  he  sold  his  farm  and  re- 
moved to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  family  grocery  business  for  six 
years.  In  1874,  he  came  to  Illinois  and  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  fruit  growing.  His  farm 
contains  120  acres,  in  good  state  of  cultivation. 
November  23,  1858,  he  was  married  in  Indiana 
to  Catherine  Walker.  She  was  born  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Hanover,  but  came  to  the  United 
States  of  America  when  she  was  small.  She  is 
daughter  of  Anthony  Walker.  Mr.  Kinker  is 
a  member  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry-,  also  of 
Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  In  politics, 
he  is  Independent. 

N.  N.  KOONCE,  farmer  and  fruit  grower, 
P.  0.  Villa  Ridge,  was  born  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
Va.,October  24,  1830,  to  Nicholas  and  Elizabeth 
(Shriver)  Koonce.  Both  were  born  in  Loudoun 
County,  Yn..  he  in  1788,  she,  in  1792.  He 
died  in  1859,  she,  May  7,  1883,  at  the  age  of 
ninety  3-ears  and  six  months.  They  were  the 
parents  of  ten  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
living.  The  oldest  son  is  conductor  on  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  and  has  been  for 
over  fort}- years.  In  the  fail  of  1840,  part  of 
the  family  moved  to  Bond  County,  111.,  and  the 
remainder  in  1841.  Our  subject  was  educated 
in  Bond  Count}'.  His  occupation  has  most  of 
his  life  been  that  of  farming.  September,  1804, 
he  moved  to  Pulaski  County,  111.,  and  settled 
on  his  present  farm  then  in  the  woods.  His  farm 
contains  eighty  acres  all  in  cultivation.  He 
gives  his  attention  to  fruit  and  vegetable  grow- 
ing. When  first  coming  here,  he  engaged  the 
lumber  business,  and  continued  in  that  for  six 
years,  doing  considerable  shipping.  He  was 
married  November  20,  1854,  to  Margaret 
Phillips.     She  was  born  in  Uniontown,  Penn., 


to  D.  H.  and  Elizabeth  Phillips,  who  moved 
to  Bond  County,  111.,  in  1852,  the  mother  died 
there  soon  afterwards.  The  father  died  in  Vir- 
ginia, while  on  a  visit  there.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Koonce  have  seven  children,  Eliza,  L.  H.,  Ida 
N.,  Dasie,  Harry  E.,  AUie  E.  and  J.  Elmer. 
Mr.  Koonce  is  member  of  the  Pations  of  Hus- 
bandry, and  is  greenback  in  politics. 

JOSEPH  LUFKIN,  fruit  grower,  P.  O.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  North  Yarmouth,  Cumber- 
land County,  Me.,  1805,  to  Jacob  B.  and  Hetsie 
(Ludden)  Lufkin.  The}-  both  died  in  Maine. 
They  were  the  parents  of  twelve  children,  eight 
of  whom  are  still  living,  the  youngest  being 
sixty-four  years  of  age.  Our  subject  remembers 
many  incidents  of  the  war  of  1812.  He  was 
reared  on  a  farm,  farming  being  his  father's  occu- 
pation. He  remained  at  home  till  1825,  and 
during  that  year  he  was  present  at  the  laying  of 
the  cornerstone  of  Bunker  Hill  monument,  and 
saw  Lafayette  there.  For  three  years  thjii  he 
worked  at  ship  carpentering.  In  1828.  was 
married  to  Mary  C.  Merrill.  She  was  born  in 
Falmouth,  Me.  After  marriage,  he  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business  at  Auburn,  Me.,  and 
continued  for  about  seventeen  years.  In  1860, 
he  came  to  Union  County,  111.,  where  he  re- 
mained till  November,  18G3,  when  he  came  to 
Pulaski  County,  and  for  two  years  was  station 
agent  at  Villa  Ridge,  he  then  moved  on  to  his 
farm,  and  has  been  engaged  in  fruit  and  vege- 
table growing  since.  In  politics,  he  is  Repub- 
lican, but  was  Democratic  till  after  moving  to 
Union  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lufkin  have  five 
children,  viz.  :  John  E.,  Joseph  H.,  Mary,  0.  A. 
and  G.  H.  The  daughter  now  resides  at  La 
Grange,  Mo.,  her  husband  W.  H.  Thomas,  being 
proprietor  of  River  View  Fruit  Farm.  The 
sons  are  all  engaged  in  business  in  this  State, 
the  oldest  being  in  family  grocery  business 
at  Anna,  111.,  the  second  for  eighteen  years  was 
connected  with  the  I.  C.  R.  R.,  but  now  fruit 
raising.  The  other  sons  are  in  Villa  Ridge,  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  business  and  carpentering. 


292 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


G.  H.  LUFKIN,  fruit-grower  and  merchant, 
Villa  Ridge,  was  born  in  Auburn,  Me.,  June 
5,  1851,  son  of  Joseph  Lufkin.  (See  sketch.) 
Our  subject  is  the  j^oungest  of  the  family.  He 
received  his  education  in  Auburn,  Me.,  and  in 
Villa  Ridge,  and  then  attended  the  Illinois 
State  University  at  Champaign,  taking  the  civil 
engineer  course,  but  quit  school  when  he  lacked 
but  two  terms  of  graduation.  He  then  taught 
school  for  one  year,  when  he  bought  an  interest 
in  a  saw  mill  in  Missouri,  which  he  kept  for  a 
year.  In  1877,  he  engaged  in  the  fruit  culture 
at  Villa  Ridge,  and  has  been  very  successful. 
His  fruit  farm  is  one  mile  west  of  the  village. 
He  has  in  vineyard  8,000  vines,  this  being  one 
of  the  largest  in  the  State.  Also  grows  straw- 
berries quite  extensively.  In  1882,  he  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business  in  Villa  Ridge,  car- 
rying a  general  stock  of  about  $6,000,  with 
sales  for  the  year  reaching  about  $15,000.  But 
Mr.  Lufkin  remains  on  his  farm  most  of  his 
time,  giving  it  his  personal  attention.  October 
15,  1882,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Nettie  V. 
Hooppaw,  daughter  of  W.  R.  Hooppaw.  (See 
sketch.)     In  politics,  he  is  Republican. 

J.  P.  MATHIS,  lumber  and  farming,  P.  0. 
Villa  Ridge,  was  born  in  Johnson  County,  111., 
April  5,  1851,  to  William  and  Cynthia  (Scott) 
Mathis.  They  were  from  Trigg  County,  Ky. 
Moved  to  Johnson  County,  111.,  in  1849,  and 
settled  on  the  farm  where  our  subject  was  born 
and  reared.  He  died  December,  1860,  at  the 
age  of  forty-five.  She  is  still  living  on  the  old 
homestead.  Our  subject  received  his  educa- 
tion in  Johnson  County,  first  in  the  common 
schools,  then  in  select  schools  of  Vienna.  When 
starting  out  for  himself  he  began  by  teaching, 
and  continued  for  eleven  terms.  He  has  since 
been  engaged  in  farming,  saw-milling,  etc.  At 
present  he  is  in  partnership  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  John  H.  Atherton.  They  have  a  saw- 
mill near  Vienna,  which  has  a  capacity  of  about 
8,000  feet  daily.  They  have  a  farm  near  Villa 
Ridge,  of  240  acres,  120   of  which  are  under 


cultivation,  and  it  is  here  our  subject  resides. 
They  are  also  engaged  in  dealing  in  agricult- 
ural implements,  their  headquarters  for  imple- 
ments being  at  Vienna,  where  they  carry  all 
kinds  of  farm  machinery.  July  7,  1878,  Mr. 
Mathis  was  married  to  Ellen  E.  Atherton.  She 
was  born  at  their  present  home,  daughter  of  A. 
C.  and  Elizabeth  J.  Atherton.  He  was  also  born 
and  reared  on  the  same  farm,  but  now  resides 
at  Hodge's  Park,  Alexander  County,  engaged  in 
mercantile  and  saw-mill  business.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Mathis  have  two  children — Alice  Eliza- 
beth and  Earnest  Coleman.  He  is  member  of 
Vienna  Lodge,  No.  150,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and 
Vienna  Chapter,  No.  67.  In  politics,  he  is  Re- 
publican. 

W.  P.  MINNICH,  farmer,  P.  0.  Villa  Ridge, 
was  born  in  Ohio  July  23, 1851.  He  is  the  son  of 
Greorge  Minnich,  who  was  born  in  Clark  County, 
Ohio,  1825,  and  came  to  Pulaski,  III.,  1856, 
when  the  county  was  but  little  improved,  the 
logging  and  milling  business  being  the  leading 
industry  at  the  time.  Mr.  Minnich  has  since 
held  prominent  positions  in  the  count}'. 
Sheriff,  Surveyor,  etc.  Our  subject  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools  of  the  county, 
then  attended  one  year  at  the  State  University 
at  Champaign,  111.  When  commencing  for 
himself  it  was  by  clerking  in  the  store  of  W. 
R.  Hooppaw  in  Villa  Ridge,  then  he  was  with 
E.  M.  Titus,  having  one-fourth  interest  in  the 
store.  In  1876,  he  came  to  the  farm  and  has 
been  engaged  in  horticulture  and  agriculture 
since,  he  and  his  brother  having  charge  of 
the  home  farm.  He  owns  a  farm  of  eighty 
acres  north  of  Villa  Ridge,  fifty  of  which  are  in 
cultivation.  He  is  member  of  the  Villa  Ridge 
Lodge,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  In  politics,  he  is  Re- 
publican. November,  1882,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  County  Board  of  Commissioners. 
December  5,  1881,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Emma  Gr.  Brown.  She  was  born  in  Kentucky, 
daughter  of  Judge  A.  M.  Brown.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Minnich  have  one   child — Scott  B.     Judge   A. 


VILLA    EIDGE  PRECINCT. 


393 


M.  Brown  was  born  in  Bourbon  Count}-,  Ky., 
in  1818.  B}^  pi'ofession,  he  was  an  attorney. 
For  some  time  he  practiced  his  profession  at 
Paris,  Ky.,  and  was  editor  of  the  Western 
Citizen,  a  Whig  paper.  For  some  time  he  had 
desired  to  moA-e  to  a  fruit-growing  country  ; 
so,  in  March,  1861,  he  came  to  this  county, 
having  bought  land  before.  Here  he  resided 
till  the  time  of  his  death,  June  27,  1879.  For 
years,  he  held  the  office  of  County  Judge,  and 
was  one  of  the  Trustees  of  the  State  University 
al  Champaign,  from  its  origin  till  the  time  of 
his  death.  He  also  had  been  President  of  the 
State  Horticultural  Society.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  orders,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  and  I.  0.  0.  F., 
and  in  politics  always  was  a  strong  Republican, 
and  always  took  an  active  part  in  helping  .to 
develop  the  county.  In  earl}-  life  he  had 
graduated  at  Hanover  College,  Hanover,  Ind., 
and  afterward  read  law  with  Judge  Quarls,  of 
Indianapolis,  and  for  some  time  was  in  partner- 
ship with  him.  He  was  married,  at  Madison, 
Ind.,  1841,  to  Mary  A.  Maxwell.  She  was 
born  in  Indiana,  near  Hanover.  To  them  five 
children  were  born — Elizabeth  (deceased),  Ed- 
ward M.,  died  at  Jackson,  Tenn.,  a  member  of 
Company  I,  Eighty-first  Illinois  Infantry  ; 
Jennie  T.,  A.  B.,  and  Emma  Gr.  Mrs.  Brown 
still  lives  on  the  old  homestead. 

W.  F.  PARKER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Villa  Ridge, 
born  March  3,  1852,  near  Villa  Ridge,  Pulaski 
Co.,  111. ;  son  of  Thomas  Parker,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  came  to  this  county  with  his  father 
when  he  was  quite  young,  and  hei'e  he  followed 
farming  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1864. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Elizabeth 
(Sheppard)  Parker,  yet  living.  She  was  the 
mother  of  ten  children.  Our  subject  received 
a  common  school  education  at  the  old  Valley 
Forge  school  house  near  Villa  Ridge.  In  early 
life  he  turned  his  attention  to  farming,  and  has 
made  that  his  vocation  thi'ough  life.  Our  sub- 
ject was  joined  in  matrimony  October  4,  1874, 
in  Alexander  Count}',  near  Goose   Island,  to 


Miss  Martha  M.  Berry,  born  January  12,  1857, 
in  Missouri,  near  Charleston.  She  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  David  B.  Berry,  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
Mrs.  Martha  M  Parker  is  the  mother  of  three 
children  now  living,  viz.,  Nellie  E.,  born  June 
23,  1875  ;  William  0.,  born  December  1.  1878, 
and  Jenette  May,  born  May  3,  1881.  Mr. 
Parker  has  a  fruit  farm  two  miles  east  of  Villa 
Ridge.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Good  Templars.  In  politics,  he  is  in- 
dependent. 

G.  A.  PAVEY,  saw  mill  and  fruit-grower. 
Villa  Ridge,  was  born  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  May  5, 
1847.  In  1849,  his  father  went  to  California, 
and  in  1852  his  mother  also  went,  but  our  sub- 
ject remained  in  New  York  till  1856,  when  he 
also  was  sent  to  California.  His  father  was 
engaged  in  hotel  business,  supply  store,  ranch, 
and  he  ran  a  stage  line  from  Placer ville  to 
Stockton  via  Dry  Town,  Jackson,  etc.  Our 
subject  assisted  his  father  in  his  business  after 
he  was  old  enough,  and  attended  the  public 
schools  of  El  Dorado,  then  two  years  at  Santa 
Clara  College,  Santa  Clara,  Cal.  In  1868,  his 
mother  died  and  he  returned  to  New  York, 
where  he  remained  for  a  short  time  and  then 
came  to  this  county,  which  has  been  his  home 
most  of  the  time  since.  His  occupation  has 
been  quite  general  since  coming  here,  teaching, 
clerking,  saw-milling,  fruit-growing,  etc.  For 
six  years  he  clerked  for  W.  R.  Hooppaw,  Sr., 
at  Villa  Ridge  and  Pulaski,  also  in  the  New 
York  store  of  Patier  &  Wolf,  of  Caii'o,  leaving 
their  employ  in  1881,  to  go  to  California  to 
attend  to  business  after  his  father's  death.  He 
remained  in  California  for  one  year,  then  re- 
turned to  this  county  and  has  been  in  saw  mill 
since,  also  fruit-raising  on  his  farm  of  thirty- 
three  acres.  September  1st,  1872,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  E.  J.  Hooppaw,  eldest  daughter  of 
W.  R.  Hooppaw,  Sr.  Two  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter are  the  result  of  this  union,  viz.,  Charles 
William  Barton,  George  Paul  and  Anna  Laura. 
Mr.  Pavey  is  a  member  of  Villa  Ridge  Lodge, 


29 1 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


No.  562.  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  for  years  of  the   i 
I.  0.  of  G.   T.     He  and  wife  are  members  of  ! 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  Villa   Ridge.  : 
In  politics,  he  is  Republican,  and  was  Deputy 
Sheriff  of  this  county  under  H.  H.  Spencer,  for 
two  years. 

A.  POLLOCK,  farmer,  P.  0.  Villa  Ridge,  was 
born  in  Renfrewshire,  Scotland,  near  the  city  of 
Glasgow,  on  the  10th  of  March,  1831,  to  Rob- 
ert and  Agnes  (Campbell)  Pollock,  both  of 
whom  died  in  Scotland,  their  native  State.  Of 
their  children,  Mr.  Pollock,  our  subject,  is  the 
only  one  residing  in  America.  He  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1851,  and  in  1856  came  to 
Pulaski  County  and  engaged  in  farming  and 
lumbering,  making  the  latter  a  specialty.  His 
first  operation  in  the  lumber  business  was  at 
Villa  Ridge,  and  afterward  moved  his  mill  as 
the  scarcity  of  the  timber  demanded.  He  was 
for  a  time  the  partner  of  S.  0.  Lewis,  but  is 
now  alone  in  business,  running  a  mill  at  San- 
dusky, Alexander  Co.,  111.  In  1860,  he  married 
Miss  Mary  Ann  Barnett,  a  native  of  the  coun- 
ty. They  have  five  children — Robert  L.,  Mary 
Agnes,  William,  Jesse  and  "Walter.  Mr.  P.  is 
a  good  citizen,  enjoying  the  confidence  and  es- 
teem of  all  who  know  him,  is  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  a  Republican, 
politically. 

LEWIS  REDDEN,  fruit-grower,  P.  0.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Nova  Scotia,  to  Patrick  and 
Elizabeth  (SchofiUe)  Redden.  They  were  both 
born    in   Nova  Scotia.      He   was  the    son   of 

James  and   (Lawrence)  Redden.     James 

Redden  was  from  Ireland,  but  the  Lawrences 
were  English.  Patrick  Redden  is  still  living 
in  Aylesford,  Nova  Scotia,  and  is  over  eighty 
years  of  age.  His  occupation  has  been  that  of 
farming.  His  wife  died  some  years  ago.  To 
them  six  sons  and  three  daughters  were  born, 
all  of  whom  are  living,  except  one.  Our  sub- 
ject was  educated  in  his  native  country,  and 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade  at  home.  For  one 
summer  he  followed  the  ocean,  coasting  along 


the  United  States  coast.  In  1860,  he  came  to 
the  United  States,  and  worked  at  his  trade  in 
different  places  for  some  years,  and  in  January, 
1868,  settled  on  his  present  fruit  farm  and  be- 
gan its  improvement.  He  gives  his  entire  at- 
tention to  fruit-growing,  and  his  farm  is  in  an 
excellent  state  of  cultivation.  He  is  also  inter- 
ested in  a  sheep  ranch  in  Butler  County,  Kan. 
Mr.  Redden  had  never  taken  out  his  full  nat- 
uralization papers  till  1882.  He  does  not  liold 
to  either  political  party.  April  9, 1867.  he  was 
married  in  Pulaski  County  to  Miss  Margaret 
Castle.  She  was  born  in  Ohio  April  16,  184:4, 
to  John  and  Rlioda  (Wynans)  Castle.  He  was 
born  in  Mar3dand,  she  in  Ohio.  (See  sketch  of 
D.  H.  Winans.)  Both  parents  now  dead,  she 
dying  in  Bond  Couut}^,  III,  when  Mrs.  Redden 
was  small  ;  he  in  this  county  in  the  spring  of 
1883.  The}^  had  moved  to  Bond  County  when 
Mrs.  R.  was  small,  and  it  was  there  she  was 
reared.  Mr.  Castle  came  to  Ohio  wlien  small, 
and  during  life  he  followed  school-teaching, 
carpentering  and  farming.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R. 
have  four  children — Otis,  David,  Martha  and 
Minnie. 

A.  B.  ROBERSON,  fruit-grower,  P.  0.  Villa 
Ridge,  is  a  native  of  Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  born 
April  24, 1835.  His  father,  James  Roberson.  was 
born  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  February  19, 
1808,  where  he  was  reared,  educated  and  mar- 
ried. In  1842,  with  his  famil}',  he  emigrated 
to  Pulaski  County,  111.  He  died  May  10, 
1852.  His  wife  (subject's  mother)  Mary  (Wal- 
lis)  Roberson,  was  born  in  Iredell  County,  N. 
C,  November  14,  1812,  and  is  now  living.  Of 
the  six  children  born  to  them,  three  are  now 
living,  A.  B.  Roberson  being  the  oldest  child. 
He  was  reared  on  the  farm,  and  the  death  of 
his  father,  together  with  the  poor  school  facili- 
ties, deprived  him  of  the  opportunit}' of  receiv- 
ing anything  but  a  limited  education.  After 
his  father's  death,  he  became  the  main  support 
of  the  family,  and  remained  at  home  until  he 
was  twenty-five  years  of  age,  when  he  married 


VILLA    RIDGE  PRECINCT. 


2  95 


Oeorgiana  Timmons,  a  native  of  the  county, 
and  a  daughter  of  George  and  Lucinda  (Conor) 
Walters.  She  died  May  11,  1868,  leaving 
two  children,  viz.:  George  C.  and  Mary  L.  He 
married  a  second  time  Mrs.  Susan  S.  Pierce,  by 
whom  he  had  one  child,  Susan  Bertha.  On  the 
7th  of  February,  1875,  he  married  his  present 
wife,  Miss  Amanda  J.  Essex.  Mr.  Roberson 
has  always  been  engaged  in  farming  and  fruit- 
growing, and  is  now  the  owner  of  140  acres  of 
well-improved  land.  He  has  filled  many  of  the 
offices  of  the  county,  is  an  enterprising  and 
self-made  man,  bearing  a  good  reputation.  In 
connection  with  his  farm,  he  is  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business. 

MICHAEL  ROCHE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1822,  to  Richard 
and  Margaret  (Jones)  Roche,  both  born  in  Ire- 
land. When  our  subject  was  sixteen  years  of 
age,  they  came  to  the  United  States,  and  came 
to  Pulaski  County,  October,  1839.  On  the  29th 
of  October  of  the  same  year  they  both  died, 
and  are  buried  in  the  Shiloh  burying  grounds. 
Our  subject  did  not  come  to  this  county  with 
his  parents,  but  remained  in  New  York  for  some 
j^ears,  and  while  there  served  an  apprentice- 
ship in  learning  the  molder's  business.  In  1 848 
he  came  to  Illinois,  and  taught  school  the  first 
winter  at  the  old  Shiloh  log  church.  The  next 
summer,  he  farmed,  but  in  the  winter  went  to 
St.  Louis  and  worked  at  his  trade,  then  came 
back  to  this  county  and  finished  two  miles  for 
I.  C.  R.  R.  Since  that,  he  has  been  engaged  in 
farming,  and  has  been  very  successful.  He 
now  owns  160  acres  of  land,  about  100  being 
in  cultivation.  He  was  man-ied  in  Albany,  N. 
Y.,  July  26,  1847,  to  Ellen  Murphy.  '  They 
have  three  children  living — Margaret,  now  Mi'S. 
Joe  Miller  ;  James,  at  home,  and  Anna,  at- 
tending school  at  Notre  Dame.  Our  subject  is 
a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  got 
Father  McCabe,  the  first  priest,  to  come  to 
Southern  Illinois. 

B.  A.  ROY  ALL,  M.  D.,  Villa  Ridge. 
Among  the  practitioners  of  materia  medica  in 


Pulaski  County,  none  are  more  deserving  of 
an  honorable  mention  in  this  work  than  Dr. 
B.  A.  Royall,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  is 
the  second  child  of  a  family  of  nine  children 
born  to  Joseph  and  Mary  (Arnold)  Royall,  both 
natives  of  Vermont,  who  were  removed  to 
Tennessee  when  quite  young,  by  their  parents, 
and  where  they  were  married.  The  mother 
died  when  our  subject  was  quite  3'oung  ;  and 
the  father  died  in  Pulaski  County,  111.,  August 
9,  1882.  B.  A.  Royall  was  born  in  Carroll 
County,  Tenn.,  on  the  27th  of  September, 
1849;  here  he  spent  his  early  life,  assisting  to 
till  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm,  and  receiving 
such  an  education  as  could  be  obtained  in  the 
common  schools.  In  1868,  he  began  the  study 
of  medicine  with  Dr.  Goshorn,  of  Dyersburg, 
Tenn.,  and  continued  with  him  until  he  entered 
Rush  Medical  College  of  Chicago,  attending 
the  courses  of  1870-1871.  At  the  close  of  the 
course  of  lectures  in  the  latter  year,  he  came 
to  Villa  Ridge,  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
his  chosen  profession.  The  Doctor  has  built 
up  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  and  as  a 
physician  and  gentleman  stands  high  in  the 
esteem  of  his  fellow-men.  In  Pulaski  County, 
111.,  November  26,  1871,  he  married  Miss  Sarah 
J.,  daughter  of  George  W.  and  Sarah  J.  (Ken- 
nedy) Bankson,  who  were  early  settlers  of  the 
county,  emigrants  from  Tennessee.  Mrs.  Roy- 
all was  born  in  Pulaski  County,  111.,  and  is  the 
mother  of  two  children — Lilly  and  Stella.  In 
connection  with  his  practice  of  medicine,  the 
Doctor  finds  time  to  oversee  his  beautiful  fruit 
farm,  which  contains  140  acres  of  good  land. 
He  is  an  active  member  of  the  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M.  and  Knights  of  Honor.  Politically,  he 
is  identified  with  the  principles  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party. 

B.  H.  SCHEIRICK,  fruit  farmer,  P.  0.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Penu., 
February  1,  1833,  to  Henry  and  Margaret 
Scheirick,  both  of  whom  were  born  and  died  in 
Pennsylvania.     They  were  parents  of  four  sons 


'290 


BIOGRAPHICAjl. 


and  two  daughters.  In  1865  our  subject  came 
West,  settling  first  in  Ohio,  but  shortly  after- 
ward came  to  Villa  K.idge,  and  remained  in  the 
village  for  two  years,  then  to  his  present  fruit 
farm.  By  trade  he  is  a  coach-maker,  serving 
an  apprenticeship  of  three  years,  then  worked 
under  instructions  for  a  year  longer.  He  was 
married  in  Pennsylvania,  to  Elizabeth  Metzger. 
She  was  also  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Penn. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scheirrck  have  two  sons  and  two 
daughters.  In  politics,  he  is  Republican.  When 
first  coming  to  his  farm  it  was  all  in  woods,  but 
b)^  his  energy  and  industry'  he  has  made  a  suc- 
cess, and  has  his  farm  in  good  state  of  cultiva-  ^ 
tion.  Strawbei'ries,  grapes,  sweet  potatoes,  etc., 
receive  his  attention. 

T.  N.  TAYLOR,  teacher,  Villa  Ridge,  was 
born  in  Owensboro,  Ky.,  January  1,  1858, 
son  of  Thomas  and  Maria  (Norris)  Taylor. 
They  were  both  born  in  Ohio,  and  he  was  a 
relative  of  President  Taylor.  By  trade  he  was 
a  carpenter,  but  had  engaged  in  the  saw-mill 
business  before  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1864,  in  Massac  County,  III.  She  died  in  Hick- 
man, K}'.,  in  1862.  They  were  the  parents  of 
five  children,  four  of  whom  are  still  living,  two 
daughters  and  two  sons.  The  daughters  both 
reside  in  New  Orleans.  Our  subject  and  his 
brother,  George  Z.,  in  this  county.  George  Z. 
is  ship  carpenter  on  the  United  States  boat, 
"  John  N.  McCombe,"  but  his  family  resides  in 
Mound  City.  Our  subject,  the  3'oungest  of  the 
family,  was  educated  in  the  high  school  of  Me- 
tropolis, 111.,  and  then,  instead  of  selecting  some 
mechanical  pursuit,  as  almost  all  his  relatives 
have  done,  he  chose  the  profession  of  teacher, 
and  for  several  years  taught  school  in  John- 
son County,  111.,  and  then  began  a  classical 
course  at  the  Southern  State  Normal,  at  Car- 
bondale.  He  attended  for  three  years,  and  has 
taught  two  successful  years  in  this  (Pulaski) 
County,  one  year  being  Principal  of  the  Villa 
Ridge  Schools.  In  1882  he  again  returned  to 
the    Normal  to  complete  his   course,    but  his 


health  failed,  and  he  had  to  abandon  it  for  the 
time.  For  two  seasons,  he  has  represented  the 
fruit  commission  firm  of  Ender  &  Meyers,  of 
Chicago,  at  this  point.  He  is  member  of  Me- 
ridian Lodge,  No.  94,  I.  0.  of  G.  T.;  also  Mound 
City  Lodge,  No.  250,  I.  0.  0.  F.  He  is  Repub- 
lican in  politics. 

E.  M.  TITUS,  merchant  and  fruit-grower, 
was  born  in  Auburn,  Cayuga  Co.,  N.  Y., 
January  2,  1829,  son  of  G.  W.  and  Jerusha 
(Sutphin)  Titus.  They  were  natives  of  Middle- 
sex County,  N.  J.,  both  born  in  1800.  After 
marriage  they  moved  into  New  York.  In  1839, 
they  moved  to  Franklin  County,  Ohio,  where 
they  died,  she  in  1814,  he  in  1862.  They  were 
the  parents  of  four  sons,  three  of  whom  still 
survive,  the  other  being  killed  by  Indians  in 
Oregon.  I.  S.  is  a  physician  in  San  Francisco, 
the  other,  A.  R.,  is  a  cabinet-maker  in  Michigan.' 
For  some  years,  our  subject  was  engaged  in  the 
distilling  business  in  Ohio.  In  1855,  he  went 
to  California,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mining, 
but  in  1860  he  came  to  Cairo,  111.,  and  was  in 
the  wholesale  groceiy  house  of  Trover  &  Miller. 
In  1867,  he  located  in  Villa  Ridge,  and  engaged 
in  the  general  merchandise  business,  and  has 
been  here  since,  having  different  partners  in 
business.  In  1877,  Mr.  E.  J.  Ayers  bought  an 
interest  in  the  store,  and  has  continued  since. 
They  carry  a  complete  general  stock  of  about 
$10,000,  with  annual  sales  reaching  $30,000. 
Mr.  Titus  has  been  Postmaster  of  Village  Ridge 
since  March  1,  1873.  In  Ohio,  in  1854,  he  was 
married  to  Christina  Montgomery.  She  was 
born  in  Coshocton  Co.,  Ohio,  to  John  and  Mary 
(Markley)  Montgomery',  both  of  whom  are  na- 
tives of  Ohio  and  still  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Titus  have  five  children,  viz.:  John,  Frances, 
Mary,  Seth  and  George.  He  is  member  of  I. 
0.  0.  F.  In  politics,  is  Republican.  Mr.  Titus 
resides  about  two  and  one-half  miles  east  of 
Villa  Ridge,  where  he  has  a  fruit  farm,  having 
eighty  acres,  about  one-half  being  in  fruit  and 
vegetables. 


VILLA    RIDGE    PRECINCT. 


297 


ROBERT  WELSEN,  farmer,  miller,  etc., 
P.  0.  Villa  Ridge,  was  born  in  Saxony, 
Germany,  February  28,  1832,  son  of  Gott- 
helf  and  Regina  Welsen.  The  father  was 
a  farmer  in  Saxony,  and  was  raised  and 
died  there.  They  were  the  parents  of  thir- 
teen children,  our  subject  being  the  youngest, 
and  the  only  one  of  the  family  to  emigrate  to 
America.  He  received  his  education  in  the 
high  schools  of  his  native  country.  In  1850, 
he  came  to  the  United  States,  to  New  Orleans, 
then  New  Albany,  Ind.,  where  he  worked  in  a 
foundry  and  learned  the  trade.  July  10, 1857, 
he  came  to  Mound  City,  and  worked  at  his 
trade  for  a  short  time,  but  soon  quit  and  engaged 
in  other  business  for  himself.  Since  1860,  he 
has  been  engaged  in  saw  and  grist  mill  busi- 
ness in  Missouri,  in  Mound  City,  and  since 
1873  at  his  present  location.  He  is  also  en 
gaged  in  farming,  his  farm  contains  eighty 
acres,  and  lies  one-half  mile  north  of  Villa 
Ridge.  At  New  Albany,  Ind.,  April  22,  1855, 
he  was  married  to  Margaret  Vogle.  She  was 
born  in  Bavaria,  April  13,  1834,  to  Wolfgang 
and  Kate  Vogle.  He  died  in  the  old  country. 
Mrs.  Welsen  came  to  America  with  her  mother 
in  1851.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Welsen  have  three  chil- 
(Iren — Emma,  John  F.  and  Flora.  They  were 
reared  in  the  Lutheran  Church. 

H.  H.  WIETING,  fruit-farmer,  P.  0.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  Novem- 
ber 10,  1821,  to  Gearhard  and  Deborah  Wiet- 
ing.  They  were  born  and  lived  in  the  same 
State  of  which  our  subject  was  a  native,  and 
both  died  there,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three  years. 
His  occupation  was  that  of  farmer.  They  were 
the  parents  of  eight  children,  only  three  of 
whom  are  still  living,  our  subject  being  the 
only  one  in  America  ;  one  sister  came  also,  but 
she  has  been  dead  many  years.  Mr.  Wieting 
was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native  counti-y.  At  the 
time  he  was  twenty  3-ears  of  age,  eleven  out  of 
every  hundred  were  exempt  from    the  army, 


and  our  subject  drew  one  of  the  exemption 
tickets,  so  did  not  have  to  serve  an^^  time  in  the 
army.  In  1847,  he  came  to  the  United  States, 
and  settled  in  Pulaski  County,  111.,  and  this 
State  has  been  his  home  since.  In  making  the 
trip,  he  was  eight  weeks  on  the  water,  coming 
to  New  Orleans,  then  up  the  river  to  Caledonia. 
November  11,  1873,  he  came  to  his  present 
farm.  It  had  been  let  go  down  and  thrown  out, 
but  Mr.  Wieting  has  now  "put  it  in  a  good  state 
of  cultivation.  His  farm  contains  eighty-three 
acres,  fifty  of  which  are  in  cultivation.  Straw- 
berries receive  most  of  his  attention.  Novem- 
ber 11,  1849,  he  was  married  in  this  county  to 
Mary  Sowers.  She  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  daughter  of  David  Sowers,  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  the  county.  She  died  August 
11,  1851,  leaving  one  child,  which  died  in  in- 
fancy. October  14,  1852,  he  was  married  to 
Pheba  Essex,  she  was  born  in  North  Carolina. 
(See  sketch  of  Joseph  Essex.)  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wieting  have  three  children  dead  and  two  liv- 
ing— Mary  Ann,  Lovina  and  Nancy  deceased, 
Joseph  H.  and  Susie,  the  living.  Mr.  W.  and 
family  are  members  of  the  Shiloh  Baptist 
Church. 

U.  H.  WINANS,  fruit-farmer,  P.  0.  Villa 
Ridge,  was  born  in  Piqua,  Miama  Co.,  111., 
September  20,  1825,  to  John  and  Louis  (Hand) 
Winans.  Both  were  born  in  Newark,  N.  J., 
and  were  married  previous  to  moving  to 
Ohio.  They  died  in  Ohio,  he,  in  1833  of 
the  cholera,  she  at  the  age  of  eighty-four 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  seven  chil- 
dren, four  of  whom  still  survive.  He  by  trade 
was  a  boot  and  shoe  maker.  Our  subject,  who 
is  the  youngest  of  the  family,  received  his  edu- 
cation in  Piqua,  Ohio,  and  while  in  Illinois 
learned  the  marble  business.  In  the  fall  of 
1847,  he  come  to  St.  Louis,  and  in  spring  of 
1850,  started  in  the  marble  business  in  Green- 
ville, 111.,  and  carried  on  a  shop  till  1864,  when 
he  went  to  Cairo,  where  he  remained  till  1881, 
then  came  to  his  present  farm,  but  his  family 


29« 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


had  preceded  him  to  the  farm  two  years.  As 
he  has  stock  on  hand,  he  still  works  some  at 
the  marble  business.  His  farm  contains  126 
acres,  on  this  he  cultivates  fruits.  December  20, 
1853,  he  was  married  in  Carlyle,  111.,  to  Ellen 
L.  Norton.  She  was  born  in  Bond  County,  111., 
to  Augustus  and  Sarah  (Scott)  Norton  (both  de- 
ceased).    Mr.   and  Mrs.  Winans   have    seven 


children — Alice  H.,  William  L.,  John  D.,  Mary 
E.,  David  H.,  Josie  M.  and  Walter  S.  He  is 
member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  Alexander  Lodge, 
No.  224,  of  Cairo.  He  had  joined  the  order 
before  coming  west,  also  belongs  to  the  Cairo 
Encampment,  and  to  the  Villa  Ridge  Pat- 
rons of  Husbandry.  He  is  Republican  in 
politics. 


GEAND    OHAIJSr    PEEOmCT. 


JAMES  A.  C.  ALLEN,  physician,  New 
Grand  Chain,  is  a  native  of  Piince  Edward 
County,  Va.,  born  July  23,  1827,  a  son  of  Sims 
and  Margaret  (Calhoun)  Allen,  both  natives  of 
Virginia.  The  father  was  a  farmer,  and  was  a 
man  of  great  talents  for  one  of  no  profession. 
He  was  well  versed  in  the  literature  of  the  day, 
and  was  favored  with  comparative  great 
wealth.  His  death  occurred  in  1870,  at  which 
time  he  was  eighty-four  years  old.  He  was  in 
the  war  of  1812.  His  wife,  by  whom  he  had 
five  children,  died  early,  when  our  subject  was 
small,  and  he  subsequently  married  Sally 
(Vaughn)  Whitehead.  James  A.  C.  Allen,  the 
subject  of  these  lines,  in  his  younger  days  was 
quite  feeble  in  health,  which  circumstance  per- 
mitted only  an  occasional  attendance  in  the 
old  subscription  schools  of  his  native  county. 
Engaging  in  farming  pursuits  imparted  new 
vigor  to  his  frame,  and  his  health  was  thereby 
greatly  improved.  Leaving  Virginia  about 
1850,  he  traveled  considerably  for  his  health 
also,  and  in  August,  1853,  he  located  in  Union 
County,  111.  Previous  to  leaving  his  old  home, 
however,  he  had  commenced  the  study  of  medi- 
cine under  M.  A.  Bentley,  M.  D.,  of  New  York, 
who  also  removed  to  Illinois,  and  the  two  ac- 
cidently  met,  neither  one  knowing  that  the 
other  had  wandered  so  far  West.  The  two 
practiced  together  for  a  year  or  so.  Dr.  Bent- 


ley  dyifig  in  1854  ;  the  same  year  our  subject 
went  to  Williamson  Count}^,  111.,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  for  a 
period  of  ten  years,  during  which  time  he 
farmed  some,  also  being  the  owner  of  two 
farms.  In  this  county,  he  was  married,  No- 
vember 22,  1854,  to  Sarah  E.  Todd,  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  W.  and  Mahala  (Phillips)  Todd, 
natives  of  Tennessee.  About  1864,  he  re-<» 
turned  to  Union  County,  where  he  remained 
until  1873,  at  which  date  he  came  to  Pulaski 
County,  and  has  since  resided  here.  He  has  a 
farm  of  eighty  acres,  besides  his  residence  in 
Gi'and  Chain.  His  family  consists  of  three 
children — John  S.,  born  December  29,  1855  ; 
Margaret  V.,  April  19,  1858,  and  James  E., 
January  26,  1862.  The  Doctor  is  a  member 
of  the  A.,  F.  «fe  A.  M.,  Saline  Lodge,  No.  336. 
Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

THE  BARTLESON  FAMILY.  John  Bar- 
tleson  was  born  in  Virginia  about  1801.  He 
was  a  tailor  by  trade,  and  was  thus  engaged 
in  Lancaster,  Penn.,  at  an  early  age.  It  was 
here  or  somewhere  in  the  immediate  vicinity, 
that  he  became  acquainted  with  Mary  W.. 
Chapman,  and  shortly  afterward  married  her. 
From  information  gleaned  from  the  most 
authentic  resources,  it  appears  that  the  only 
known  relative  that  John  Bartleson  had,  was  a 
half-brother  by  the  name  of  Janies  Bartleson, 


GRAND  CHAIN  PRECINCT. 


299 


t  was  much  the  same  case  with  his  wife.  She 
was  the  only  child  of  Ambrose  Chapman, 
and  being  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age,  was 
raised  bj'  her  grandmother,  at  whose  death  she 
was  left  without  a  relative  within  her  knowl- 
edge. After  their  marriage,  the  happy  twain 
removed  to  Ohio,  and  very  soon  afterward  lo- 
cated in  Stark  County,  where  a  part  of  their 
large  family  was  raised.  They  removed  to 
Morgan  County,  of  the  same  State,  and  re- 
sided there  for  a  few  years.  In  1843,  they 
came  West,  by  river,  settling  in  Pulaski 
County,  where  their  two  youngest  children  were 
born.  In  all.  there  were  thirteen  children,  viz., 
Edwin,  who  now  lives  in  Missouri  ;  A.  C, 
Robert  and  William,  twins  ;  Amanda  (de- 
ceased), Eliza  S.,  James,  W^arren  K.,  Aratus, 
Mary  J.,  an  infant  (deceased),.  Alonzo  (de- 
ceased), and  John  W.  John  Bartleson  and  his 
two  eldest  sons,  were  in  the  Mexican  war. 
The  father  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista.  The  report  of  his  death  nearh'  broke 
<  the  heart  of  the  one  b}'  whom  he  was  most 
dearly  loved.  She  was  left  a  widow,  with 
twelve  children,  the  youngest  of  whom  was 
born  while  his  patriotic  father  was  fighting 
for  his  country.  But  it  was  not  long  before 
the  ringing  tones  of  the  bugle  were  heard 
again  throughout  the  land.  This  time,  we  were 
divided  against  ourselves.  President  Lincoln 
called  for  those  who  would  uphold  the  stars 
and  stripes,  who  would  fight  for  union  and  for 
liberty.  Nobly,  gloriously,  did  she  respond  to 
the  nation's  call  for  aid  ;  no  less  than  eight  no- 
ble sons  did  she  send  to  the  front,  to  give  their 
lives  if  necessar)',  for  that  of  the  country,  to 
which  their  father  before  had  given  his  all. 
Two  went  out  as  Captains  of  companies. 
Seven  of  the  eight  returned.  Alonzo  died  in 
Cairo.  Mar}'  ^Y.  Bartleson  passed  away  Jan- 
uary 4,  1868,  loved  and  respected  by  all. 

A.    C.    BARTLESON,  proprietor  Oaktown 

Saw  Mills  and  farmer,  Oaktown,  was  born  De- 

•     cember  6, 1827,  in  Stark  County,  Ohio,  the  sec- 


ond child  born  to  John  and  Mary  W.  (Chap- 
man) Bartleson.  He  received  but  a  meager 
education  in  the  schools  of  Morgan  County, 
Ohio,  his  parents  removing  there  when  he  was 
small.  At  the  age  of  ten  years,  he  was  hired 
out  to  a  man  to  work  on  a  farm,  and  was  thus 
engaged  for  six  months,  receiving  but  $3  per 
month  for  his  services.  In  1843,  he  came  to 
Pulaski  County  with  his  parents,  and  he  now 
owns  the  old  homestead  on  which  they  first 
settled.  He  has  given  most  of  his  attention 
during  life  to  farming  pursuits.  He  now  owns 
over  2,000  acres  of  land  in  this  count}'  aiid 
80  acres  in  Massac  Count}-.  Most  of  this  he 
runs  himself,  and  part  he  rents.  In  1871,  he 
built,  in  connection  with  other  parties,  his  pres- 
ent saw-mill,  which  gives  employment  to  from 
fifteen  to  forty  men.  He  owns  several  build- 
ings surrounding  the  mill,  which  are  used  as 
dwelling  houses  by  his  employes.  He  also 
runs  a  general  store  at  Oaktown,  and  also  the 
post  office:  and  is  also  freight  agent  of  the  Wa- 
bash Railroad  at  this  point.  In  1849,  he  was 
married  to  Nancy  Kitchel,  who  died  in  1852 
the  mother  of  two  children,  one  living — John 
F.,  born  in  1850.  He  was  married  a  second 
time  in  1862  to  Susan  M.  Wilson,  a  daughter 
of  William  W.  W' ilson,  of  Ohio.  Mr.  and  xMrs. 
Bartleson  are  the  parents  of  six  children,  five 
of  whom  are  living — Wilson  W.,  George  A., 
Mary  A.,  Nancy  L.  and  Hugh  B.  In  June, 
1846,  our  subject  and  father  enlisted  in  the 
Second  Illinois  Infantry,  in  the  3Iexican  war. 
The  father  was  afterward  elected  Lieutenant  of 
the  company.  He  was  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Buena  Vista.  Augustus  served  out  his  year  of 
enlistment,  and  returned  home  in  July,  1847. 
In  1853,  he  went  to  California,  and  was  engaged 
in  mining,  etc.,  until  1857.  He  is  a  member  of 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  Grand  Chain  Lodge,  No.  660.  In 
1858,  he  was  elected  Sheriff,  and  served  two 
years.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  same  position 
in  1862,  and  served  a  like  period.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Democrat.      He  has  a  residence  and  a 


300 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


small  fruit  farm  in  Villa  Ridge,  where  he  re- 
sides a  part  of  the  j-ear. 

ROBERT  B.  BARTLESON,  of  Bartleson  & 
Lipe,  grocers,  New  Grrand  Chain,  was  born  in 
Stark  County,  Ohio,  March  31,  1829,  a  twin 
brother  to  William.  His  earl}-  schooling  was 
limited.  He  received  what  little  he  did  get  in 
Morgan  County,  his  parents  removing  to  that 
count}'  when  he  was  small.  He  came  with  his 
parents  to  Pulaski  County  in  1843,  and  took 
up  farming  for  an  occupation.  In  1852,  he 
made  a  purchase  of  land,  and  up  to  1878  he 
was  engaged  in  farming.  At  the  latter  date, 
he  sold  out  and  went  to  Kansas,  returning  a 
year  later,  and  in  March,  1880,  went  into  the 
famih'  gx'ocer}'  business,  in  which  he  has  since 
been  engaged.  In  May,  1881,  he  took  in  Frank 
D.  Lipe  as  a  partner.  In  August,  1862,  Mr. 
Bartleson  enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and 
Ninth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Col.  Nimmo. 
He  served  a  few  months  in  this  regiment,  in 
Company  K.  The  remaining  eleven  companies 
were  arrested  at  Holly  Springs,  and  while  they 
were  under  arrest  Company  K  went  into  the 
Ninety-ninth  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantr}'.  The 
compan}'  was  afterward  transferred  to  the 
Eleventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  whose 
depleted  ranks  were  filled  up  by  many  from 
the  old  One  Hundi-ed  and  Ninth.  Thej'  were 
mustered  out  in  July,  1865.  May  9,  1852,  sub- 
ject was  married  to  Eliza  A.  Youngblood,  a 
daughter  of  Absalom  Youngblood,  of  Pulaski 
County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bartleson  are  the  par- 
ents of  seven  children,  six  of  whom  are  living 
— Augustus  A.,  Viola  J.,  Mary  E.,  Missouri  M., 
Robert  B.  and  Harry.  Mr.  Bartleson  is  a 
member  of  the  K.  of  H.,  and,  with  his  wife,  of 
the  K.  &  L.  of  H.  In  political  aflfairs,  he  votes 
for  whom  he  considers  the  best  man.  He  is 
the  owner  of  Bartleson's  Hall  and  building,  and 
also  a  residence  and  other  property  in  New 
Grand.  Chain. 

WILLIAM    BARTLESON,   farmer,    P.    0. 
New  Grand  Chain,  was  born  in  Stark  County, 


Ohio,  March  31,  1829,  a  twin  brother  to  Rob- 
ert. He  received  his  first  schooling  in  Morgan 
County,  Ohio,  where  his  parents  had  removed 
when  he  was  small.  With  them  he  came  to 
what  is  now  Pulaski  County,  in  1843.  and 
started  out  for  himself  some  time  afterwai'd  as 
a  farmer.  He  was  united  in  marriage  in  1851, 
to  Elizabeth  Hale,  a  daughter  of  Richard  and 
Drusilla  (Matthews)  Hale.  Her  mother  was 
akin  to  the  old  Matthews  families  injMississippi, 
including  Gov.  Matthews  and  others  who  were 
prominent  in  the  early  history  of  that  State. 
She  died  in  March,  1882,  at  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-nine  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bartleson 
are  the  parents  of  eight  children,  four  of  whom 
survive — Amanda  C,  Jennie,  Cora  and  Will- 
iam. In  1857,  Mr.  Bartleson  sold  out  his  prop- 
ert}^  here  and  removed  to  Texas,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  farming  and  general  work.  He  re- 
turned two  years  later,  but  in  the  spring  of 
1860  moved  to  Duquoin,  111.,  where  he  resided 
for  nine  3'ears.  Here  he  enlisted  in  Compau}' 
A,  Eighteenth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Col.  p 
M.  K.  Lawler.  They  did  heavy  fighting  at 
Fort  Donelson,  and  were  afterward  at  Pitts- 
burg Landing  and  Vicksburg.  At  Fort  Don- 
elson he  received  a  slight  wound,  a  ball  pass- 
ing through  his  right  ear  from  the  front,  mak- 
ing a  narrow  escape  for  himself:  He  served 
out  his  three  3'ears  of  enlistment,  and  was  mus- 
tered out  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  in  July,  1864, 
and  returned  to  Duquoin.  In  1870,  he  re- 
moved back  to  Pulaski  County,  and  purchased 
his  present  place,  which  is  situated  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ohio  River,  a  stretch  of  several  miles  of 
which  is  visible  from  his  residence.  He  be- 
longs to  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  also  K.  &  L. 
of  H.  In  politics  he  votes  the  Republican 
ticket. 

JAMES  BARTLESON,  farmer,  P.  0.  New 
Grand  Chain,  was  born  February  2,  1834,  in 
Morgan  County,  Ohio.  He  received  a  little 
schooling  in  that  county,  and  coming  with  his 
parents   to   what   is  now  Pulaski   Count}',   in 


GRAND    CHAIN    PRECINCT. 


301 


1843,   he  attended   the  schools  here  and  also 
two  winter  terms  hi  Vienna,  Johnson  Co.,  111. 
In  the  spring  of  1857,  he  went  to  Perry  County,  i 
111.,  and   was   engaged    as    a   teacher   in   the 
schools  of  that  county,  and  here  he  was  mar-  i 
ried   October  1,  of  the   same    year,  to  Sarah  ! 
Steers,  a  daughter  of  John  and  Sally  (Tharp) 
Steers.    After  his  marriage,  he  taught  two  win- 
ter terms  east  of  Duquoin,  and  then  in  the  fall 
of  1859  removed  to  Blairsville,  Williamson  Co., 
111.., where  he  taught   a   seven  months'  term. 
During  the  following  summer  he  was  engaged 
in  brick-making,  and  had  engaged  a  school  for 
the  next  winter,  but  the   civil  war  was   then 
brewing,  and  the  Republicans  and  Democrats 
were  becoming  somewhat  hostile  toward  each 
other.     The    affairs  of  the   Board    of   School 
Directors  were  manipulated  Democratically,  so 
to    speak,    and    it  was  soon   discovered   that 
thei'e  was  no  need  for  any  Republican  teachers 
whatever.   Mr.  Bartleson  moved  back  to  Pulaski 
County,  where  his  services  were  desired,   and 
he  taught  for  two  winter  terms.     He  enlisted  in 
August,  1862,  as  First  Lieutenant  in  Company  I, 
Eighty-first    Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,   Col. 
Dolling.    They  did  valuable  service  throughout 
the  Mississippi  campaign,  and  were  mustered  out 
August,  1865.    At  Vicksburg,  he  was  promoted 
to  the  Captaincy  of  his  company,  and  served 
two   years   as   such.     During  the  war,  he  had 
traded  his  farm  in  this  county  for  seventy  acres 
of  his  present   place,  which  now    consists  of 
190  acres,  which  are  given  to  general  farming. 
He  taught  school  several  terms  after  his  return 
from  the  service,  and  wf^  also  in  partnership 
with  W.  I.  Steers,  engaged  in  the    mercantile 
business   for   a   short   period    in    Old  Grand 
Chain.   Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bartleson  are  the  parents 
of  nine  children,  seven  of  whom  are    living — 
John  W.  and  Zylpha,  the  two  oldest,  are  both 
deceased,  James  W.,  Luella  M.,  Ida  E.,  George 
G.,  Sally   M.,  Frederick  A.  and  Elsie  G.     Mr. 
Bartleson  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.; 
K.  of  H.,  K.  &  L.  of  H.,  G.  T.  and  G.   A.   R.. 


and  with  his  wife  and  daughters  members  of 
Christian  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  also  gives  his  support  to  the  temper- 
ance cause.  During  the  winters  of  1855-56 
and  1856-57,  he  was  engaged  in  trade,  boating 
on  the  Mississippi.  In  the  summer  of  1853, 
his  brother,  A.  C,  who  was  with  him  in  New 
Orleans,  took  the  yellew  fever  and  had  nearly 
succumbed  to  the  disease  when  they  had 
reached  Caledonia,  upon  their  return. 

WARREN  K.  BARTLESON,  merchant  and 
miller,  New  Grand  Chain,  was  born  December 
20, 1835,  in  Morgan  County,  Ohio.  He  obtained 
his  early  education  in  his  native  county,  and 
his  parents  removing  to  Pulaski  County  when 
he  was    eight    years    old,    he  continued    his 
studies  here.     He  was  raised  on  the  farm,  and 
has  given   a  large  share  of    his  attention  to 
farming,  but  during  his  life  has  been  engaged 
in  various  occupations.     In  July,  1861,  he  en- 
listed in  the  First  Illinois  Cavalry  ;  but  Com- 
pany  H,  to  which  he  belonged,  was  never  in 
the   regiment;  the    latter  was    captured,   and 
afterward    paroled,  and    by  an  order  of  War 
Department,  was  mustered  out  at    St.  Louis, 
Mo      Mr.     Bartleson    was    among     the    first 
federal  troops  to  enter  Memphis  after  its  sur- 
render, and  was  at  the  bombardment  of  Fort 
Madrid,  and  entered  it  the  morning  after  its 
evacuation.     He  returned  home,  and  May  10, 
1863,  was  united  in  marriage  to  H.-  Amelia 
Porter,   born  March  16,   1846,  a  daughter  of 
David  and    Tirzah  (Vandeveer)   Porter.     Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bartleson  are  the  parents  of    seven 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living — Sarah  M., 
born  September  8,  1864  ;  Charles  W.,  October 
16,   1867  ;  Marcus   D.,  August  13,  1870,  and 
John  F.,  July   27,  1872.     After  the  war,  Mr. 
Bartleson  engaged  in  stock-dealing  and  farm- 
ing, and  shortly  afterward  went  to  merchan- 
dising, which  he  followed  from  1864  to  1870. 
In   1872,  he  moved  to  his  present  place,  and 
built  a  fine  residence  the  following  year.     He 
owns  several  hundred  acres  of  land  in  the  pre- 


302 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


cinct.  He  was  one  of  three  to  la}-  off  New 
Grand  Chain.  They  built  a  depot  in  which  he 
merchandized  from  1873  to  1876.  In  the  fall 
of  1877,  he  went  to  Texas,  and  for  six  months 
ran  a  general  store  at  Hutchings.  Upon  his 
return  to  New  Grand  Chain,  he  purchased  a 
half  interest  in  the  Pulaski  flouring  mills,  and 
a  few  3-ears  later  became  its  sole  owner.  In 
the  spring  of  1883,  in  company  with  J.  R.  Por- 
ter, his  brother-in-law,  he  purchased  the  store 
of  J.  W.  Gaunt,  and  they  have  since  run  it. 
They  carry  a  general  stock,  and  opposite  the 
store  have  a  warehouse  filled  with  a  line  of 
cotBns,  wagons,  etc.  Mr.  Bartleson  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Grand  Chain  Lodge, 
No.  660,  and  also  the  Good  Templars,  May- 
flower Lodge,  No.  144.  He  is  Democratic  in 
politics. 

GEORGE  W.  BRISTOW,  physician,  New 
Grand  Chain,  is  a  native  of  Jackson  County, 
Ind.,  born  July  31,  1833,  the  eldest  son  of  Will- 
iam and  Malinda  (Hays)  Bristow.  The  father 
was  born  near  Lexington,  Ky.  He  was  a  con- 
servative rather  than  a  progressive  man.  In 
early  life  he  showed  especial  aptitude  in  hand- 
ling tools,  and  for  many  years  he  labored  as  a 
mechanic.  He  was  a  man  to  whom  new  ideas 
and  new  inventions  amounted  to  nothing  until 
their  merits  had  been  practically  demonstrated, 
at  which  times  he  was  prepared  to  give  them  a 
hearty  welcome.  In  later  j'ears,  he  preached 
the  Gospel.  He  had  long  been  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Christian  Church,  and  in  that  faith 
be  passed  away  in  1849.  He  had  been  mar- 
ried three  times,  his  first  wife  being  a  Miss 
Lewis,  who  died  about  1828,  the  mother  of 
three  children.  His  second  wife,  the  mother  of 
our  subject,  died  in  1840.  She  was  the  mother 
of  five  children,  three  of  whom  are  living — G. 
W.,  F.  W.  and  F.  B.  His  third  wife  was  Phoebe 
Gibson,  widow  of  Hiram  Gibson.  She  died  in 
1854,  the  mother  of  two  children.  William 
died  in  Paducah,  K}'.,  in  1861,  a  member  of  an 
Illinois  Regiment,  and  Sarah    C,    the   wife  of 


William  Maxwell,  of  Joplin,  Mo.  The  subject 
of  these  lines  received  his  early  education  in 
the  common  schools  of  Perrj-  Countv,  111., 
whence  he  had  gone  to  live  with  friends,  his 
mother  having  died  when  he  was  small.  -  In 
1848,  he  went  to  St.  Clair  Count}',  111.,  where  he 
served  an  apprenticeship  to  the  carpenter's 
trade,  at  which  he  worked  about  three  years. 
In  1853,  he  returned  to  Perry  County,  and  as- 
sisted in  the  building  of  a  large  freight  depot 
on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  he  also 
taught  several  terms  of  school,  and  also  at- 
tended school  himself  in  the  winter.  In  Feb- 
ruar}',  1857,  he  was  united  in  matrimony  to 
Mary  J.  Bartleson,  born  March  18,  1839,  a 
daughter  of  John  Bartleson,  a  sketch  of  whom 
will  be  found  elsewhere.  In  1861,  he  com- 
menced the  stud}'  of  medicine  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  J.  R.  Covington,  of  Grand  Chain,  III., 
and  shortly  afterward  engaged  in  practice, 
which  he  has  continued  to  the  present  time. 
He  gives  his  attention  also  to  farming.  He 
has  a  farm  of  105  acres,  in  which  he  raises 
sweet  potatoes  and  strawberries  in  great  abun- 
dance, having  a  crop  of  the  former  this  year 
that  exceeds  2,000  bushels.  June  6,  1882,  his 
house  was  burned  to  the  ground,  but  with  his 
characteristic  enterprise,  the  building  of  a  new 
residence  was  commenced  at  once,  and  com- 
pleted the  same  year.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bristow 
are  the  parents  of  nine  children,  five  of  whom 
are  living — John  D.,  born  January'  5,  1865  ; 
George  6.,  October  18, 1866  ;  Henry  C,  Decem- 
ber 18,  1867  ;  James  F.,  November  4, 1869,  and 
Samuel  A.,  November^  22,  1871.  The  Doctor 
filled  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace 
at  Grand  Chain,  from  1874  to  1877.  He  is 
a  charter  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M., 
Grand  Chain  Lodge,  No.  660  ;  was  master  of 
Lodge  three  terms,  and  delegate  to  Grand 
Lodge  at  Chicago  one  term.  He  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  K.  of  H.  and  K.  &  L.  of  H.,  and  is 
medical  examiner  to  the  latter  body.  In  pol- 
itics, he  is  a  Republican. 


GRAND    CHAIN   PRECINCT. 


SOS- 


WILLIAM  P.  COURTNEY,  physician.  New 
Grand  Chain,was  born  October  30, 1 821 ,  in  Chris- 
tian County,  Ky.,  and  was  the  eldest  child  born 
to  John  T.  and  Malinda  (Harrison)  Courtney, 
he,  a  native  of  Culpepper  County,  Va.,  and  she 
of  Woodford  County,  Ky.  The  father  was 
principall}-  engaged  as  a  merchant  in  Hopkins- 
ville,  Ky.  He  was  a  man  who  stood  high  in 
popular  esteem,  had  filled  many  offices,  and 
was  known  as  a  great  collector,  being  uncom- 
monly proficient  in  the  latter  capacity.  He 
died  about  1837.  His  wife,  who  was  a  relative  of 
Gen.  Harrison,  survived  him  a  long  time.  She 
departed  from  this  life  in  1876,  being  about 
eighty  years  of  age.  She  was  the  mother  of  a 
large  family  of  children.  William  P.  Court- 
ney, the  subject  of  this  sketch,  first  went  to 
school  in  Trigg  County,  Ky.,  where  his  parents 
ha>.l  removed  when  he  was  about  seven  years 
old.  He  supplemented  his  early  schooling  by 
an  attendance  at  the  Hopkinsville  Academy, 
for  a  period  of  about  nine  years.  He  com- 
menced the  stud}'  of  medicine  at  an  early  age, 
under  the  tutorship  of  Dr.  Webber,  of  Hop- 
kinsville. This  he  supplemented  b}'  a  course 
of  study   under  Thomas  Lindley,  M.  D.,  and  in 

1859,  he  attended  the  Ohio  Medical  College  at 
Cincinnati,  since  which  time  he  has  been  con- 
stantly engaged  in  practice.  Previous  to  the 
war,  he  had  been  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business  in  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  which  re- 
sulted disastrously.  The  war  itself  entailed 
upon  him  heavy  losses  in  Southern  property, 
and  his  only  resources  at  command  were  his 
characteristic  energy  and  perseverance,  which, 
however  proved  equal   to  the  emergency.     In 

1860,  he  had  removed  to  Illinois,  and  locating 
in  Metropolis,  Massac  Count)-,  he  was  engaged 
in  practice  up  to  1869,  at  which  date  he  came  to 
his  present  place,  which  consists  of  fort}'  acres 
of  land,  and  a  fine  residence.  He  has  been 
married  three  times,  his  fii'st  wife  being  Bettie 
Kelley,  who  died  in  July,  1867,  the  mother  of 
four  children,  three  of  whom  are  living — James 


C,  Augusta  and  Irene.  His  second  wife  was 
Mary  M.  Houston,  and  iiis  present  wife  Susan 
Renner.  The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F 
&  A.  M.,  Grand  Chain  Lodge,  No.  660.  Poli- 
tically, he  is  a  Democrat. 

GEORGE  W.  ELLEXWOOD,  farmer,  P.  0. 
New  Grand  Chain,  was  born  in  Pulaski  County, 
111.,  January  16,  1845.  His  parents,  John  D. 
and  Mary  E.  Ellen  wood,  both  died  when  he 
was  small.  They  were  natives  of  East  Ten- 
nessee, and  their  married  life  had  been  blessed 
with  nine  children,  only  two  of  whom  survive 
— Rebecca  and  George  W.  The  former  married 
a  Mr.  Coughman,  who  died  in  New  Orleans 
of  yellow  fever.  By  him  she  has  two  children, 
G.  W.  and  Charlie.  George  W.,  the  subject  of 
these  lines,  obtained  what  little  education  the 
common  schools  of  the  county  afforded.  He 
chose  farming  for  an  occupation,  and  has  al- 
ways been  thus  engaged.  In  July,  1862,  he 
responded  to  the  nation's  call  for  patriots,  and 
cast  his  lot  with  the  Eleventh  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  Col.  Coates.  He  served  three  years, 
was  through  the  Vicksburg  campaign,  etc.,  and 
was  mustered  out  in  July,  1865,  at  Springfield. 
In  March.  1867,  he  wedded  Malinda  E.  Yocum, 
a  daughter  of  William  J.  and  Mary  Ann  Yo- 
cum. This  union  has  been  blessed  with  five 
children — Floi^ence  M.,  James  F.,  Charlie  E., 
Amine  B.  and  George  W.  Mr.  Ellen  wood  is  a 
member  of  the  K.  of  H.,  and  also,  with  his  wife, 
of  the  Good  Templars  and  also  K.  &  L.  of  H. 
Both  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Politically,  he  is  a  Republican.  He  has  a 
farm  of  fifty  acres,  which  is  devoted  largely  to 
the  raising  of  sweet  potatoes. 

JAMES  W.  ESQUE,  farmer,  P.  0.  New 
Grand  Chain,  is  a  native  of  Pulaski  County, 
111.,  born  February  14,  1851,  the  eldest  child 
of  Booker  and  Eliza  S.  (Bartlesou)  Esque.  The 
father  died  about  1853,  and  the  mother  is  now 
the  wife  of  N.  P.  Tarr.  of  this  precinct.  Booker 
Esque  was  a  tailor  by  trade,  but  in  late  years 
he  gave  his  attention  to  farming.     There  were 


304 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


two  children  in  the  family — J.  "W.  and  J.  E. 
The  former  received  his  education  mostl}-  in 
Duquoin,  111.,  where  his  parents  moved  when 
he  was  about  four  years  old.  He  returned  to 
this  county  about  1868,  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing. In  1879,  he  purchased  eighty  acres,  which 
constitutes  his  present  place.  He  also  owns 
two  separators  and  an  engine,  with  which  he 
does  threshing  throughout  the  country.  He  was 
married.  March  27,  1873,  to  Martha  S.  Boyd,  a 
daughter  of  George  W.  Boyd,  of  this  county. 
The  union  has  been  blessed  with  four  children, 
three  of  whom  survive— Ettie,  Maud  and  Ches- 
ter B.  Mr.  Esque  is  a  member  of  the  A..  F.  & 
A.  M.,  and  also  K.  of  H.  In  November,  1881, 
he  was  elected  to  a  constabulary  position  to 
serve  a  period  of  four  3'ears.  He  is  Democratic 
in  politics.  His  brother,  John  E.,  was  educat- 
ed also  in  Duquoin,  and  most  of  his  life  has 
been  engaged  in  clerking.  He  clerked  for  his 
step-father  in  Duquoin.  and  afterward  was  for 
five  years  with  the  wholesale  house  of  C.  0. 
Patier  &  Co.,  Cairo.  In  partnership  with  H. 
"Winter,  he  went  into  the  general  merchandise 
business  in  Carmi,  111.,  and  was  thus  engaged 
two  years.  He  then  came  to  Oakwood,  this 
county,  and  has  since  been  in  the  employ  of 
his  uncle,  A.  C.  Bartleson.  He  is  a  Republican 
in  politics.  He  married  Elizabeth  Hilbourn, 
and  has  one  child  living,  Bosamond. 

EZEKIEL  FIELD,  farmer,  P.  0.  New  Grand 
Chain,  was  born  in  Davis  County,  Ky.,  Febru- 
ary 19,  1840.  His  parents  were  natives  of  the 
same  State.  His  father,  John  Field,  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  and  he  died  in  1853. 
His  wife,  Nancy  (Allen)  Field,  married  a  sec- 
ond time — W.  H.  Hoskinson,  who  is  living  in 
Tennessee.  She  died  in  1868.  Mr.  Field's 
parents  had  seven  children,  our  subject  being 
the  only  one  living.  He  received  but  a  meager 
education,  and  for  several  years  lived  in  Ken- 
tucky and  Indiana.  He  came  to  Pulaski  County 
with  his  step-father,  and  has  since  resided  here. 
The  latter  purchased  about  200   acres  of  land. 


which  Mr.  Field  afterward  bought  of  him.  He 
now  has  about  1,000  acres,  part  of  which  he 
rents.  February  19,  1860,  he  married  Malinda 
B.  Metcalf,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  F.  and  Jane 
A.  (Graham)  Metcalf,  and  by  her  has  had  nine 
children,  six  of  whom  are  living — Curtis,  Stan- 
ton E.,  Lillie,  Ishmael,  Indiana  and  Chalmer  O. 
Mr.  Field  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M., 
Grand  Chain  Lodge,  No.  660,  and  also  K.  of 
H.,  and  K.  &  L.  of  H.  He  votes  the  Repub- 
lican ticket. 

JOSEPH  W.  GAUNT,  stock  and  grain 
dealer,  New  Grand  Chain.  The  growth  and 
pi'osperitj'  of  a  whole  country,  or  even  a  small 
hamlet,  depend  largely,  if  not  altogether,  upon 
the  character  of  the  men  who  make  up  its 
population.  While  nature  gives  to  some  local- 
ities special  advantages  over  others,  the  gen- 
ius and  enterprise  of  man  ofttimes  turns  the 
scales  to  the  advantage  of  the  least  favored  in 
this  direction.  Hence  we  now  see  large  and 
prosperous  cities  throughout  our  land,  which 
in  the  da3's  of  their  infancy  were  compelled  to 
struggle  against  the  greatest  of  natural  disad- 
vantages, are  now  the  centers  of  the  trade 
world,  and  are  connected  with  points  in  all 
directions  b}-  rail,  water  and  telegraph.  The 
little  village  which  suddenl}'  springs  up  in  the 
wilderness,  requires  the  tenderest  of  care.  It 
has  no  churches,  schools,  mills,  stores,  or  any- 
thing which  would  kindly  say  to  it.  Thou  shalt 
live  and  prosper.  The  enterprise  and  energy 
of  its  citizens  are  loudly  called  for,  and  the  re- 
sults of  the  earnest  endeavors  of  those  who  re- 
spond thereto  are  plainlv  seen  in  its  near  fut- 
ure. The  subject  of  this  sketch,  Mr.  Joseph 
W.  Gaunt,  a  portrait  of  whom  will  be  found 
elsewhere  in  this  work,  is  a  man  whose  life  has 
been  made  up  of  ambition,  industry  and  perse- 
verance. The  village  of  New  Grand  Chain 
owes  two-thirds  of  her  present  buildings  to  his 
enterprising  efforts  in  her  behalf,  and  he  has 
otherwise  contributed  largely  to  her  success 
and  material  growth.     He  is  a  Kentuckian  by 


GRAND  CHAIN  PRECINCT. 


305 


birth,  Hopkins  County,  that  State,  being  his 
native  county.     He  was  born  May  23,  1827,  to 
Thomas  and  Maria  (Mott)  Gaunt,  both  of  whom 
were    natives  of    Virginia.     They    had    been 
raised  together  as  children,  one's  father  having 
married    the  other's  mother.     Thomas  Gaunt 
was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  but  in  after  years 
was  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits.     He  died 
in  1847.     He  participated  in  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  under  Jackson.     His  wife  had  died 
some  years  previously.     Their  married  life  had 
been  blessed  with  ten  children,  five  of  whom 
yet  survive— John  M.,  Joseph  W.,  Christopher, 
Ambrose  G.  and  R.  M.     Our  subject  obtained 
some  schooling  in  his  native  county,  and  his 
parents,  when  he  was  young,  removing  to  Pu- 
laski County,  111.,  permitted  him  to  attend  the 
schools  here  for  some  time.     He  chose  farm- 
ing for  an  occupation  in  early  life,  and   was 
thus  engaged  for  several  years.     Boating  upon 
the  river  afterward  claimed  his  attention  for 
about  six  years,  and  about  1861,  he  went  to 
merchandising  in  Old  Grand  Chain,  and  was  in 
the  business  for  some  time.     He  took  in  his 
brother  as  a  partner  and  the  business  was  con- 
tinued,  until    a    disastrous    fire    swept    away 
everything    in    1865.     Having    no  insurance, 
tbey    sustained     a    total     loss.     They     built 
another  store,  however,  and  the  business  was 
continued  by  them  until  their  disposal  of   it 
shortly  afterward  to  Bartleson  &  Steers,  when 
our  subject  retired  from  active   business    for 
awhile.     When  the  railroad  was  built,  he  came 
to  New  Grand  Chain  and  erected  a  large  store, 
and  also  shortl}^  afterward    a  fine  residence. 
He  re-engaged  in  merchandising  and  continued 
it  until  March,  1883,  at  which  date  he  sold  out 
to  Bartleson  &  Porter,  since  which  he  has  been 
interested  in  various  enterprises,  and  at  present 
gives  his  attention  to  stock  and  wheat,  which 
he  buys  for  the  market.     He  also  owns  several 
pieces  of  land,  in  all  about  285  acres.     He  was 
first  married  to  Caroline  Hall,  who  bore  him 
five  children,  two  of  whom  are  living — Maria 


and  Geogianna.  The  former  married  R.  B. 
Brown,  and  the  latter  T.  E.  Berry.  His  second 
marriage  was  with  Margaret  Ray,  widow  of 
Calvin  Ray,  of  Kentucky.  His  third  marriage 
was  with  Addie  Copeland.  This  union  has 
been  blessed  with  three  children,  two  of  whom 
are  living — ^Fred  and  Joseph.  Mr.  Gaunt  is  a 
member  of  the  K.  of  H.,  and  also  the  Good 
Templars.     Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

AMBROSE  G.  GAUNT,  farmer,  P.  0.  New 
Grand  Chain,  was  born  in  Hopkins  County, 
Ky.,  June  13,  1834,  a  son  of  Thomas  and 
Maria  (Mott)  Gaunt  (see  sketch  of  Joseph  W. 
Gaunt  elsewhere).  He  obtained  his  early 
schooling  in  Pulaski  County,  his  parents  re- 
moving here  when  he  was  small.  At  the  age 
of  about  twelve  years,  he  went  to  Iowa,  and  for 
four  or  five  years  was  engaged  in  farming  in 
Delaware  County,  that  State.  He  returned  to 
Pulaski  County,  and  has  since  resided  here. 
His  farm  consists  of  106^  acres,  which  are  given 
to  farming  in  its  various  branches.  He  was 
mai'ried.  May  20, 1855,  to  Sarah  H.  Youngblood, 
a  daughter  of  Absalom  and  Fannie  (Hall) 
Youngblood.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gaunt  are  the 
parents  of  seven  children,  six  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing— W.  A.,  Thomas  C,  Charlie,  Margaret  E., 
Robbie  and  Seth  F.  Mr.  Gaunt  is  a  member  of 
the  K.  of  H.,  and,  with  his  wife,  of  the  Christian 
Church.  He  has  been  a  Republican  in  politics 
since  the  war.  His  oldest  son,  W.  A.,  was 
elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  November,  1881, 
to  serve  four  3'ears.  He  married  Maggie  Fel- 
lenstein,  and  has  one  child — Callie. 

JOHN  W.  GAUNT,  farmer,  P.  0.  New 
Grand  Chain,  was  born  in  Pulaski  Count}',  111., 
September  24,  1850.  His  parents,  James  M. 
and  Mary  A.  (Steers)  Gaunt,  were  both  natives 
of  Kentucky.  The  father  was  a  son  of  Thomas 
Gaunt,  who  came  from  Virginia.  He  was  a 
carpenter  b}'  trade,  and  afterward  engaged  in 
merchandising  and  farming.  At  different  times 
he  run  general  stores  at  Old  Grand  Chain,  for 
several  years.     He  burned  out  in   April,  1865. 


306 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


He  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-four  years,  October 
21, 1875.  He  was  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  was 
a  Christian  man,  universally  esteemed  by  all 
who  knew  him.  His  wife  is  still  living,  and 
resides  with  our  subject.  She  is  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  five  of  whom  survive — Sarah 
J.,  John  W.,  Annie  M.,  Mary  M.  and  James 
H.  The  early  schooling  of  our  subject  was  ob- 
tained in  the  common  schools  of  this  county. 
He  afterward  attended  the  Southern  Illinois 
College  at  Carbondale,  111.,  and  in  the  winter 
of  1870-71,  took  a  business  course  at  the 
Evansville  Commercial  College,  Indiana.  In 
his  earlj^  life  he  assisted  his  father  in  merchan- 
dising and  farming,  and  at  the  latter's  death 
he  took  charge  of  the  home  place,  which  now 
consists  of  ninety-seven  acres,  which  is  given 
to  general  farming.  In  politics,  Mr.  Gaunt  is 
a  Republican. 

NATHAN  D.  KISNER,  engineer,  New 
Grand  Chain,  was  born  in  Marion  County,  W. 
Va.,  July  3,  1851,  the  eldest  child  of  William 
and  Nancy  J.  (Williams)  Kisner,  both  natives 
of  the  same  State.  William  Kisner  was  a  tiller 
of  the  soil,  and  he  departed  this  life  in  1861. 
His  wife,  who  since  his  death  has  been  married 
twice,  is  still  living  in  the  county.  The  parents 
had  three  children — N.  D.,  Mary  C.  and  George 
W.  When  he  was  about  two  years  old,  our 
subject's  parents  removed  to  Posey  County, 
Ind.,  and  here  he  first  went  to  school,  but  ob- 
tained his  education  mostly  in  White  Countj^ 
111.,  where  they  went  in  1858.  At  sixteen  years 
of  age  he  went  to  Evansville,  Ind.,  and  served 
a  four  years'  apprenticeship  at  the  machinist 
trade  under  W.  M.  Hileman.  He  afterward 
worked  for  about  four  years  at  his  trade  in 
West  Tennessee.  He  removed  to  Pulaski 
County,  111.,  and  went  to  farming,  purchased 
fift}-  acres  of  land,  which  he  still  owns,  in 
Ohio  Precinct,  which  is  now  operated  by  his 
brother,  George  W.  Mr.  Kisner  came  to  New 
Grand  Chain,  and  January  1,  1883,  took  charge 
of  the   engine   and  machinery  of  Bartleson's 


flouring  mill  at  this  place,  which  position  he 
still  fills.  March  24,  1874,  he  married  Nancy 
E.  McAllister,  a  daughter  of  James  Y.  and 
Amanda  McAllister.  Five  children  have  blessed 
this  union,  four  of  whom  are  living — Cora, 
Leona,  Gusty  E.  and  James  E.  Mr.  Kisner  is 
a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Grand  Chain 
Lodge,  No.  660.     Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

FRANK  D.  LIPE  (Bartleson  &  Lipe,  gro- 
cers), New  Grand  Chain,  is  a  native  of  Hawkins 
County,  Tenn.,  born  January  27,  1837,  a  son  of 
William  E.  and  Francis  (Bishop)  Lipe.  The 
father  was  a  farmer.  He  died  in  1856,  aged 
fifty-five  3'ears.  His  wife  survived  him  until 
1862,  when  she  passed  away  at  the  age  of 
about  fifty  years.  The  parents  were  blessed 
with  a  large  family,  onl}'  three  of  whom  are 
living — Eliza,  Rufus  and  Frank  D.  The  only 
education  the  latter  received  in  early  life  was 
picked  up  by  himself  For  many  years  up  to 
the  time  of  the  war,  he  was  engaged  in  flat- 
boating  on  the  Mississippi.  In  August,  1861, 
he  enlisted  in  the  service,  and  the  following 
year  was  mustered  into  Stewart's  Battalion, 
and  a  year  later,  into  the  Fifteenth  Illinois  Cav- 
alry. Thej'  were  at  Shiloh,  Corinth,  etc.,  and  did 
valuable  service  in  Tennessee.  Mr.  Lipe  was  mus- 
tered out  at  Springfield  in  October,  1864.  He  was 
married,  in  1866,  to  Nanc}'  A.  McGee  a  daughter 
of  Hugh  McGee,  of  this  count}'.  He  has  a  farm  of 
eighty  acres,  which  is  given  to  general  farming. 
In  May,  1881,  he  entered  into  partnership  with 
R.  B.  Bartleson,  and  they  carr^'  a  general  line 
of  family  groceries.  Mr.  Lipe  is  a  member  of 
the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  K.  of  H.,  K.  &.  L.  of  H. 
and  G.  A.  R.     He  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 

JUDGE  HUGH  McGEE,  farmer,  P.  0.  New 
Grand  Chain,  was  born  July  26, 1817,  in  Chris- 
tian County.  K}'.,  the  eldest  child  of  Benjamin 
and  Nancy  (Armstrong)  McGee.  The  father 
was  a  native  of  Sumner  County,  Tenn.,  and  was 
a  farmer  by  occupation.  He  was  a  man  who 
was  held  high  in  popular  favor,  and  he  was 
elected  one  of  the  first  County  Commissioners 


GRAND  CHAIN   PRECINCT. 


3O7 


of  the  county.  He  had  served  several  years  as 
Justice  of  the  Peace  in  Kentucky,  and  alto- 
gether he  was  an  uncommon  man,  one  who 
took  active  interest  in  local  affairs  and  enter- 
prises calculated  for  the  public  good.  He  was 
born  June  2-4,  1794,  and  died  about  1849.  His 
wife  was  born  December  6,  1800,  and  died  in 
1852.  Thirteen  children  blessed  their  wedded 
life,  only  three  of  whom  survive — Hugh,  F.  M. 
and  A.  W.  Our  subject's  early  schooling  was 
attained  in  the  schools  of  his  native  county, 
and  his  parents,  removing  to  Graves  County, 
same  State,  when  he  was  about  ten  years  old, 
he  attended  school  a  little  there.  He  gave 
his  attention  to  farming  from  the  first,  and  has 
always  been  thus  engaged.  He  came  to  what 
is  now  Pulaski  County  in  December,  1837,  and 
made  preparation  for  the  reception  of  his  par- 
ents, who  followed  him  a  couple  of  months 
later.  In  1842,  Mr.  McGee  purchased  forty 
acres  where  he  now  resides,  and  he  has  now 
160  acres,  which  are  given  to  general  farming. 
He  has  bought  and  sold  several  pieces  of  land 
during  his  residence  in  this  county.  His  house 
burned  to  the  ground  on  the  morning  of  Sep- 
tember 18,  1881,  and  the  inmates  barely  es- 
caped with  theii'  lives.  The  savings  of  many 
years  were  devoured  by  the  tire  fiend  in  a  few 
moments.  He  finished  a  new  residence  in  the 
fall  of  1882.  In  1862,  he  was  elected  to  the 
position  of  Associate  Judge  of  Pulaski  County, 
and  served  three  years  with  Judge  Hoffner  as 
other  associate.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  same 
position  in  1873,  and  served  four  years.  Awa}' 
back  in  1844,  he  was  elected  to  fill  the  office  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  with  the  exception  of 
a  period  of  four  j'ears,  he  served  continuousl3- 
up  to  the  election  in  November,  1881.  He  has 
also  filled  many  minor  offices.  He  was  first 
married  to  Sarah  Ward,  who  died  in  1846,  the 
mother  of  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing— James  H.  and  Nancy  A.  His  second 
wife  was  Harriet  E.  Metcalf  She  died  in  1864, 
and  was  the  mother  of  seven  children,  three  of 


whom  are  living — Ann  E.,  Hester  M.  and  Sa- 
rah E.,  all  of  whom  are  married.  He  wedded 
his  present  wife  Amanda,  May  7,  1865.  She 
is  the  daughter  of  Robert  and  Isabel  (Mc- 
Quaid)  Elliott.  Two  children  have  blessed 
this  union,  Hugh  L.  and  Nellie.  Mr.  McGee 
is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Grand  Chain 
Lodge,  No.  660.  Politically,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

JAMES  A.  METCALF,  farmer  and  Gov- 
ern aaent  light-keeper,  P.  0.  New  Grand  Chain, 
is  a  native  of  Calloway  County,  K}-.,  born 
December  19,  1833,  the  eldest  child  of 
Thomas  F.  and  Jane  A.  (Graham)  Metcalf, 
both  of  whom  were  natives  of  the  same  State. 
The  father  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  and  he  died 
in  1869.  His  wife  survived  him  until  July, 
1882.  The  married  life  of  the  old  couple  was 
blessed  with  a  family  of  ten  children,  three  of 
whom  are  living — James  A.,  Robert  E.  and  Ma- 
linda  B.  Our  subject  got  a  little  early  school- 
ing in  his  native  count}',  and  in  his  younger 
days  he  assisted  his  father  on  the  home  farm. 
He  came  to  Pulaski  Count}',  111.,  in  1852,  and 
remained  until  1867,  engaged  in  carpentering 
and  farming.  At  the  latter  date,  he  moved  to 
L3on  County,  Ky.,  and  lived  her6  until  the 
spring  of  1870,  engaged  in  clerking.  He  moved 
to  Crittenden  Count}-,  Ky.,  at  the  latter  date, 
and  here  farmed  until  returning  to  Pulaski 
County  in  the  spring  of  1883.  He  has  a  farm 
of  fift3^-five  acres  on  the  river  front,  right  below 
which  is  Renard's  Landing,  and  at  this  point 
he  has  charge  of  the  Government  lights.  July 
2,  1862,  he  married  Nancy  J.  Gray,  a  daughter 
of  Nathan  0.  and  Minerva  B.  (Holeman)  Gray. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Metcalf  are  the  parents  of  nine 
children,  six  of  whom  are  living — John  F., 
Nathan  G.,  Otho  M.,  Nanc}-  E.,  Joseph  0.  and 
Myrtie.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Metcalf  are  members  of 
the  Universalist  Church,  and  in  politics  he  is  a 
Greenbacker. 

ROBERT  E.  METCALF,  farmer,  P.  O.  New 
Grand   Chain,  was    born  in  Calloway  County. 


308 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


October  23,  1849,  a  son  of  Thomas  F.  and 
Jane  A.  (Graham)  Metcalf  (see  sketch  of  J.  A. 
Metcalf  elsewhere).  Robert  came  to  Pulaski 
County  with  his  parents  in  1852,  and  here  re- 
ceived his  early  education.  He  took  up  farm- 
ing for  an  occupation,  and  has  always  been  thus 
engaged.  His  present  farm  consists  of  160 
acres,  which  is  given  to  farming  in  its  various 
branches.  He  is  also  the  proprietor  of  a  port- 
able saw-mill,  which  he  intends  to  move  around 
and  do  custom  work  in  this  line.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1872  to  Elizabeth  A.  Ranney,  a  daugh- 
ter of  William  Ranney  (deceased).  This  union 
has  been  blessed  with  one  child — William  W., 
born  in  1875.  Mr.  Metcalf  is  a  member  of  the 
A..  F.  &  A.  M.,  Grand  Chain  Lodge,  No.  660,  and 
also  K.  of  H.  In  November,  1881,  he  was  elected 
to  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  to  serve 
four  years.     Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

RICHARD  MOORE,  farmer,  P.  O.  New 
Grand  Chain,  is  a  native  of  Lake  County,  Ohio, 
born  in  1835,  a  son  of  Robert  and  Fannie  (Dear- 
born) Moore,  both  natives  of  New  Hampshire. 
The  father  was  a  cooper  by  trade,  and  he  died 
about  1840.  His  wife  survived  him  until  1879. 
when  she  passed  away  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
six  years.  ^Thirteen  children  blessed  the  wed- 
ded life  of  the  old  folks,  five  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing— George,  Jane,  Matilda,  Samuel  and  Rich- 
ard. When  the  latter  was  about  four  years 
old,  his  parents  moved  to  Pulaski  County,  and 
here  obtained  what  education  the  schools  of 
this  county  afforded,  having  to  go  five  miles  to 
the  schoolhouse,  which  was  a  rude,  primitive 
structure.  Before  the  war  broke  out  he  was 
engaged  at  flat-boating  on  the  Mississippi,  do- 
ing the  piloting  most  of  the  time.  In  August, 
1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  Thirty-first  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  Col.  John  A.  Logan.  They 
participated  in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and 
other  engagements  in  the  lower  country,  and 
was  mustered  out  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  in  1865.  He 
returned  home,  and  in  June,  1866,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Marv  J.  Hughes.  The  union  was  blessed 


with  nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are  living — 
Fannie,  James  H.,  Gibson  H.,  Andrew,  Hiram, 
Robert  and  Henr}-  (twins),  and  Flora.  In  1866, 
Mr.  Moore  purchased  eighty'  acres  of  land, 
which  subsequent  additions  have  increased  to 
300  acres.  He  engages  in  farming  in  the  vari- 
ous branches.  He  gives  a  great  deal  of  atten- 
tion to  stock  dealing  and  raising.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  A..  F.  &  A.  M.,  Grand  Chain  Lodge, 
No.  660,  and  alsoK.  of  H.  Politically,  he  is  a 
Democrat. 

JOHN  S.  SMITH,  farmer,  P.  0.  New  Grand 
Chain.  "Uncle  Johnny  Smith,"  as  his  numerous 
friends  familiarly  call  him,  is  one  of  those 
good  old  souls  that  are  a  blessing  to  the  whole 
countr\\  He  is  realU'  a  native  of  Pulaski 
Count}',  having  first  beheld  the  light  of  daj'  at 
Big  Spring  or  what  was  otherwise  called  the 
"  Dick}'  Brown  place,"  near  where  Wetaug  is 
now  located.  At  the  time  of  his  birth,  the 
countr}'  was  Alexander  and  Johnson  Counties, 
and  his  birthplace  was  within  the  boundaries 
of  the  former.  He  was  born  April  18,  1819, 
to  William  and  Annie  (Tellus)  Smith,  he  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  and  she  of  Ten- 
nessee. The  father  was  a  natural  mechanic, 
and  about  1831  he  was  emplo3'ed  as  ship-car- 
penter on  Ohio  River  boats.  He  was  engaged 
in  farming  pursuits  in  later  years.  He  was  a 
son  of  John  C.  Smith,  of  North  Carolina,  who 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  For  a  period 
of  three  or  four  years  during  his  life,  John  C. 
was  engaged  in  piloting  boats  from  old  Fort 
Wilkinsonville  to  the  Chalk  Banks,  a  distance 
of  about  seven  miles  down  the  Ohio  River, 
which  at  the  point  mentioned  was  seri- 
ously obstructed  by  rapids,  rocks,  etc.,  which 
only  a  skilled  pilot  could  get  a  boat  through. 
He  was  at  one  time  very  wealth}-,  owning  320 
acres  of  land  in  Hopkinsville,  K}'.,  and  the 
city  now  stands  on  his  land.  Hearing  that 
Illinois  was  a  veritable  paradise,  he  sold  out  and, 
coming  to  old  Fort  Wilkinsonville,  he  invested 
his  all  in  horses,  intending  to  raise    them   to 


GRAND    CHAIN    PRECINCT. 


309 


make  his  fortune.  All  of  them  died  but  an  old 
black  stud.  He  lost  his  wife  and  many  or  his 
children,  and  becoming  disheartened,  he  went 
to  Arkansas,  where  he  lived  on  green  meat  for 
several  months,  and  here  he  lost  another  child, 
and  finall}'  had  to  leave  the  country  b}"  order 
of  the  Indian  Agents.  Our  subject's  parents 
were  married  about  October,  1814,  and  the 
mother  died  about  1826.  They  were  blessed 
with  six  children,  two  of  whom  are  living, 
John  S.  and  Jane.  Our  subject  went  to  school 
in  this  county.  After  his  fathers  death,  he 
lived  with  his  uncle,  Nicholas  Smith,  in  Ken- 
tucky, until  the  latter  died.  He  then  lived 
with  his  grandfather  two  years,  when  he  died. 
John  had  made  him  a  good  crop  of  corn,  and 
at  his  death  he  instructed  his  administrator  to 
allow  John  one-half  of  the  crop,  which  he  did, 
and  it  netted  $55.  With  this  amount  of 
cash,  our  subject  determined  how  much  of  an 
education  he  could  receive.  He  went  and 
boarded  with  a  man  by  the  name  of  Atherton, 
and  b}'  working  Saturdays,  he  was  enabled  to 
attend  school  considerably.  His  school  bill  was 
$10  and  board  bill  $50.  He  made  some  more 
crops,  went  to  Arkansas  to  visit  some  ''  rich  kin" 
that  he  had  heard  of,  but  shortly  afterward 
returned  and  rented  more  ground  and  engaged 
in  farming.  In  1839,  he  came  to  the  "  Nation," 
built  a  good  house,  stable,  etc.,  when  some  in- 
dividuals endeavored  to  enter  him  out.  A  man 
was  hired  to  whip  him  out  of  the  house,  and 
John  came  near  shooting  him  ;  five  3'ears  of 
court  trouble  ensuedj  John  finally  coming  out 
victorious.  In  1846,  he  went  with  an  uncle, 
Isom  Smith,  to  Texas,  and  to  make  the  stor}' 
short,  nearly  starved  to  death.  He  retui'ned, 
bought  and  sold  several  tracts  of  land,  and 
finally  settled  on  his  present  place,  which  now 
contains  sixt}'  acres,  which  is  given  to  general 
farming.  He  was  first  married,  April  13,  1848, 
to  Amanda  Bartleson  (see  sketch  of  the  Bartle- 
son  family),  who  died  April  29,  1849,  the 
mother    of   one    child,    Amanda.      He    was 


married  a  second  time,  March  9,  1851,  to 
Rosanna  (Mangold)  Forker,  who  died  August 
5,  1879.  His  present  wife,  Polly  (Karraker) 
Dry,  he  married  April  18,  1880.  Both  are 
members  of  the  Christian  Church.  In  politics, 
he  was  a  Democrat  up  to  Lincoln's  second 
election,  since  which  he  has  been  a  Republican. 
NATHANIEL  P.  TARR,  farmer,  P.  0.  New 
Grand  Chain,  was  born  June  24,  1824.  in 
Adams  County,  Ohio.  His  parents,  Joseph 
and  Catharine  (East)  Tarr,  were  natives  i'«- 
spectivel}'  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  The 
father  was  a  carpenter  b}'  trade,  and  in  late 
3'ears  was  engaged  in  farming.  He  died 
near  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  in  1873,  at  the 
age  of  seventj'-six  years.  His  wife  died 
about  1840,  of  what  the  physicians  called  the 
"unknown"  fever.  The  father  was  married 
a  second  time,  to  a  Widow  Parsons,  who  had  bj' 
her  previous  husband  a  son  by  the  name  of 
Charles  F.  Parsons,  who  is  now  in  the  liverj- 
business  in  Iowa.  Our  subject's  parents  were 
blessed  with  eleven  children,  six  of  whom  sur- 
vive— Thomas  W.,  Levi  A.,  Nathaniel  P.,  John 
S.,  Mar}-  and  Martha.  Nathaniel  P.  received 
his  early  education  in  the  common  schools  of 
Richland  and  Hamilton  Counties,  Ohio,  and  he 
afterward  attended  Oberlin  Institute  at  Lorain. 
He  afterward  went  to  Bucyrus,  Ohio,  where  he 
was  engaged  for  some  time  in  teaching  school, 
and  clerking  in  stores.  He  then  came  to  Pu- 
laski Count}',  and  resided  a  j-ear  in  Mound  Cit}', 
after  which  he  moved  up  in  the  "  nation  ;"  after 
two  3'ears  there  he  removed  to  Duquoin,  III., 
where  he  lived  about  twelve  years.  Here  he 
ran  a  grocer}-  and  provision  store.     August  26, 

1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  Eighty-first  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  Col.  J.  DoUins.  He  was 
taken  sick  at  Humboldt,  Tenn.  ;  was  taken 
to  hospital,  and  finally  discharged  February  17, 

1863.  He  was  first  married  to  Barbara  Stew- 
art, who  died  about  1852,  leaving  two  sons  J.  S. 
and  C.  W.,  who  live  in  Cleveland,  Ohio.  He 
was  married  a  second  time,  to  Elizabeth  Stew. 


310 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


art,  a  sister  of  first  wife.  She  died  in  1854. 
He  afterward  married  Eliza  S.  Esque,  born 
May  2,  1832,  widow  of  Booker  Esque,  and 
daugliter  of  John  and  Mary  W.  (Chapman) 
Bartleson.  This  union  has  been  blessed  with 
four  children — Augustus  W.,  Mary  S.,  Flora 
B.  and  David  W.  Mr.  Tarr  is  a  member  of  the 
G.  A.  R,  Grand  Chain  Lodge,  No.  217.  In 
politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

JOHN  WEAVER,  County  Treasurer  and 
Assessor,  New  Grand  Chain.  The  public  affairs 
of  a  single  county,  as  well  as  those  of  a 
State  or  the  country  at  large — though  of  less 
magnitude — require,  nevertheless,  nearly  as 
much  abilty  and  quite  as  much  honesty  in  the 
successful  management  thereof.  Ability  and 
integrity  are  two  pre-requisites  which,  when 
possessed  by  the  same  individual,  assure  the 
public,  who  may  favor  him  with  positions  of 
the  highest  trust,  that  the  duties  thereof  will 
be  ably  and  faithfully  discharged.  It  is  a  fact 
greatlv  to  be  deplored  that  many  of  our  public 
men  do  not  possess  both  of  these  essential 
characteristics  to  any  creditable  extent.  Their 
abilities  on  the  one  hand  may  be  remarkable, 
while  their  integrity  of  purpose  on  the  other 
may  be  justly  questioned  and  vice  versa.  The 
people  understand  this,  and  so  it  is  that  the^^ 
are  loath  to  part  with  the  services  of  one  who 
possesses  the  necessary  qualifications  of  which 
we  speak,  and  this  is  plainly  shown  b}-  the  tenac- 
ity with  which  they  cling  to  them.  The  sub- 
ject of  these  lines,  Mx".  John  Weaver,  a  portrait 
of  whom  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  volume, 
though  comparatively  a  young  man,  has  been 
prominently  and  largely  identified  with  the 
public  interests  of  Pulaski  County  ;  elected,  in 
1873,  to  the  responsible  position  of  County  As- 
sessor and  Treasurer,  he  has  served  continuously 
ever  since,  having  been  many  times  re-elected. 
The  duties  of  impartially  distributing  the  ex- 
penses of  the  county  upon  her  citizens,  and  the 
duties  pertaining  to  the  proper  handling  of  her 
funds,  he  has  faithfully'   discharged  for  many 


3'ears,  with  an  eye  single  to  the  interests  of  the 
people  as  a  whole.  Upon  the  services  of  such 
a  man,  the  public  assume  to  have  a  claim,  as  is 
clearly  indicated  by  the  contents  of  the  ballot- 
box  year  after  year.  Mr.  Weaver  is  an  lUi- 
noisan  by  birth,  Johnson  County,  this  State,  be- 
ing his  native  county.  He  was  born  June  27, 
1843,  the  youngest  child  born  to  Barnett  and 
Nancy  N.  (Madden)  Weaver,  he  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania  and  she  of  Kentucky.  The 
father  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  but  in  later 
years  engaged  in  farming  pursuits.  He  died, 
as  did  his  wife  also,  when  John  was  onl}'  about 
six  years  old.  Their  union  had  been  blessed 
with  eight  children,  five  of  whom  still  survive. 
Charlotte  T.,  wife  of  Dr.  J.  B.  Ray,  of  Franklin 
County,  this  State  ;  Barnett ;  Catharine,  wife  of 
Matthew  Hood,  of  Union  County,  III.  ;  Jasper 
N.  and  John.  The  latter  being  left  an  orphan 
at  a  tender  age,  went  to  live  with  his  brother- 
in-law  in  Johnson  County,  and  there  obtained 
what  little  education  was  afforded  by  the  early 
schools.  He  continued  his  studies  at  Duquoin, 
111.,  and  afterward  attended  a  select  school  in 
Johnson  County,  which  numbered  about  seventy- 
five  scholars,  all  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few,  enlisted  in  the  Union  service  when  the 
war  opened.  August  22,  1861,  our  subject 
joined  Company  F,  Thirty-first  Illinois  Volun- 
tarj^  Infantry,  Col.  J.  A.  Logan.  They  did 
valuable  service  at  Belmont,  Fort  Donel- 
son,  Corinth,  Yicksburg  and  Atlanta,  near 
which  latter  place  Mr.  Weaver  was  discharged, 
his  time  of  enlistment  having  expired.  He 
came  to  Pulaski  County  and  attended  school 
a  year,  and  was  afterward  for  five  years  en- 
gaged in  teaching  in  this  count}'.  In  1867.  he 
wedded  Esther  H.  Youngblood,  a  daughter  of 
Absalom  and  Margaret  (Daniel)  Youngblood. 
Five  children  have  blessed  this  union,  four  of 
whom  are  living — James  H.,  Margaret  M., 
Frank  and  Frederick  twins.  Besides  his  offi- 
cial duties,  Mr.  Weaver  has  farming  interests 
to  look  after,  having  in  the  county  about  five 


OHIO    PRECINCT. 


311 


hundred  acres  of  land,  which  he  is  putting  into 
condition  for  stock-raising.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  also  K.  of  H.  Politically, 
he  is  a  Republican. 

GEORGE  W.  YOAKUM,  farmer,  P.  0. 
New  Grand  Chain,  is  a  native  of  East  Ten- 
nessee, born  in  October,  1833,  a  son  of  Peter 
and  Sarah  (Stinnette)  Yoakum,  natives  of  the 
same  State.  The  parents  had  ten  children, 
only  two  of  whom  survive — George  W.,  and 
Eliza.  Mr.  Yoakum  received  his  education  in 
the  schools  of  Pulaski  County,  his  parents  re- 
moving here  when  he  was  about  a  year  old. 
In  1853,  he  married  Juliette  M.  Cooper,  a 
daughter  of  John  L.  and  Sarah  (Copeland) 
Cooper.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Yoakum  are  the  parents 
of  nine  children,  seven  of  whom  are  living — 
William  J.,  James  F.,  Eliza  I.,  George  D., 
Sheridan  J.,  Electa  I.   and  Warren  D.  M.     Mr. 


Yoakum  has  a  farm  of  117  acres.  He  is  a 
member  of  K.  of  H.,  Grand  Chain  Lodge,  No. 
2,085.  He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  United 
Brethren  Church,  and  in  politics  he  is  a  Re- 
publican. James  F.  Yoakum  was  born  Sep- 
tember 30,  1856.  He  obtained  his  early  edu- 
cation in  the  schools  of  this  county,  and  after- 
ward attended  the  high  school  at  Arlington, 
Ky.,  and  still  later  Lebanon  College,  111.  He 
is  a  Republican  in  politics,  is  a  member  of  the 
K.  of  G.  R.,  Arlington  Castle,  No.  43,  also  of 
the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Grand  Chain  Lodge,  No. 
660,  also  of  the  G.  T.  Olmsted  Lodge,  No.  143. 
For  several  years  he  has  studied  for  the  min- 
istry, and  is  a  local  preacher  in  the  Methodist 
Church.  He  has  in  late  years  been  engaged  in 
teaching  school,  both  in  Kentucky  and  in 
Pulaski  County. 


OHIO    PEEOli^OT. 


M.  T.  BAGBY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Olmsted.  Of 
the  men  in  this  county  who  came  here  with- 
out means  and  who  by  their  energy  and  shrewd- 
ness have  gained  a  good  farm,  we  count  him 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  He  was  born 
October  12,  1834,  in  Lewis  County,  Ky.  His 
father,  Willis  Bagby,  was  born  in  1800  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  died  in  1849  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
He  was  a  farmer  and  riverman  by  occupation, 
running  from  Lewis  County,  Ky.,  to  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.  The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Robert 
Bagby,  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  died 
in  1828  in  Lewis  County,  Ky.  He  had  eight 
children,  who  are  all  living,  except  one.  The 
mother  of  our  subject,  Mary  Thompson,  was 
born  in  1799  in  Kentucky  ;  she  died  July  27, 
1849,  in  Lewis  County,  Ky.  She  was  the 
mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom  seven  are  now 


living.  Her  parents  were  James  and  Nancy 
Thompson,  of  Kentucky.  Our  subject  was  edu- 
cated in  Minerva,  Mason  Co.,  Ky.,  and  Ash- 
land, Boyd  Co.,  Ky.  In  1857,  he  went  to 
Augusta,  Schuyler  Co.,  111.,  where  he  taught 
school  one-half  year,  and  the  next  year  taught 
in  Pike  County,  111.  Returning  to  Kentucky, 
he  taught  school  one  year,  and  then  went  to 
school  one-half  year  in  the  Ashland  College, 
Kentucky.  After  the  war  broke  out,  he  farmed 
one  year,  and  then  came  to  Pulaski  County, 
where  he  again  taught  school,  after  which  he 
clerked  three  months  for  G.  F.  Meyer,  and  then 
kept  a  grocery  store  in  Caledonia  one  year. 
In  1868,  he  bought  a  farm  of  200  acres  for 
$4,000,  and  has  farmed  ever  since.  In  1881, 
he  bought  150  acres  of  land  for  $1,000,  which 
cost  the  former  owner  almost  $5,000.     Our  sub- 


312 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


ject  was  married  August  1, 1863,  in  this  county, 
to  Mrs.  Anna  C.  Ayers,  born  January  21,  1839, 
in  this  count}'.  She  was  a  daughter  of  James 
M.  Timmons,  a  fine  old  man,  and  a  native  of 
South  Carolina.  Her  mother,  Nancy  (Echols) 
Timmons,  was  a  native  of  Union  County,  111., 
and  is  yet  living  in  Olmsted.  Mrs.  Bagby  is 
religiously  connected  with  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  She  is  the  mother  of  five  chil- 
dren now  living — Mathew  H.,  born  January  18, 
1867  ;  Susie  and  Nancy  are  twins,  they  were 
born  February  28, 1870  ;  Burton,  born  Novem- 
ber 4,  1872,  and  James,  born  July  7,  1875  ; 
Emmet  R.  and  Agnes  are  deceased.  Mr.  Bagby 
has  been  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  four  years. 
He  came  to  this  county  with  $1.50,  but  is  to- 
day classed  among  our  wide-awake,  well-to-do 
men. 

R.  T.  CALVIN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Olmsted.  In 
writing  the  annals  of  history,  it  has  always 
been  necessary  to  try  to  perpetuate  the  lives  of 
self-made,  energetic  men  who  have  benefited 
the  country  by  their  honesty  and  industry, 
who  have  tried  to  promote  the  public  welfare 
as  well  as  their  own,  and  we  know  of  no  man 
who  deserves  more  credit  than  he  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch.  Our  subject  was  born  April 
23,  1823,  in  Sussex  County,  N.  J.  He  is  a  son 
of  Nathaniel  Calvin,  a  native  of  New  Jersey, 
where  he  died,  and  a  miller  by  occupation. 
He  participated  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  was 
one  of  the  prominent  men  of  his  count3^  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Sarah  (Kitchen)  Cal- 
vin, born  in  New  Jersey,  where  she  died,  leav- 
ing five  children,  of  whom  our  subject  is  the 
only  one  now  living.  He  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  New  Jersey,  working  night 
and  morning  for  his  board.  Afterward,  he 
learned  the  carpenter  trade.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen,  he  went  to  Harrison,  Ohio,  where  he 
was  engaged  as  contractor  on  the  White  Water 
Canal.  After  four  years  of  successful  toil,  he 
came  to  Mound  City,  in  1857,  whither  he  was 
drawn  by  the  "  Emporium  "  boom.     There  he 


was  a  contractor  for  grading  and  building  the 
levee,  landing  and  marine  ways.  In  March  of 
the  following  year,  he  moved  his  family  on  to  a 
farm  of  170  acres,  which  he  mostly  improved. 
He  has  now  a  good  farm  of  370  acres,  with  ex- 
tensive buildings.  Mr.  Calvin  was  joined  in 
matrimony-  in  September,  1853,  in  Harrison, 
Ohio,  to  Miss  Angle  Rifner,  born  December  5, 
1828,  in  Harrison,  Ohio,  daughter  of  Peter  and 
Elizabeth  (Rockafellar)  Rifner,  Peter  Rifner, 
a  soldier  in  the  Indian  war  of  1811,  being  com- 
missioned by  Gen.  Harrison  as  the  commander 
of  a  company.  Mrs.  Calvin  is  the  mother  of 
five  children  now  living — Hiram,  born  May  31 , 
1854,  married  G-ussie  Boren,  and  is  now  a  mer- 
chant in  St.  Francis,  Ark.;  Lizzie,  born  Janu- 
ary 18,  1856,  wife  of  James  Barber  ;  Martha, 
born  July  10,  1859  ;  Line,  born  January  22, 
1861,  and  Sallie,  born  December  22,  1865. 
Mrs.  Calvin  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  Mr.  Calvin  is  an  I.  0.  0.  F.  and  A., 
F.  &  A.  M.  In  politics,  he  has-been  identified 
with  the  Democratic  part}'. 

R.  M.  CARNS,  merchant,  Olmsted.  Of  the 
young  business  men  who  have  identified  them- 
selves with  Pulaski  County,  we  recognize  him 
whose  name  appears  above.  He  was  born  April 
1,  1846,  in  this  county.  His  father,  John 
Cams,  was  a  native  of  Tennessee.  He  is  well 
remembered  by  our  older  citizens,  and  died 
in  this  county.  His  wife,  Eliza  J.  Smith,  is  yet 
living.  She  is  a  native  of  South  Carolina  and 
is  the  mother  of  nine  children — Dorcas  Caster, 
John  W.  (deceased,  a  soldier  in  our  late  war), 
Julia  A.  (deceased),  Daniel  S.,  William  H., 
Elizabeth  (deceased),  Robert  M.  (our  subject), 
Kate  F.  Steele  and  Thomas  A.  (deceased).  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  this  county,  where  he 
assisted  in  tilling  its  bountiful  soil  till  Septem- 
ber, 1864,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  when  he 
enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Forty-sixth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Regiment,  serving  till  the 
close  of  the  war,  when  he  clerked  for  Judge 
Smith  till  his  election  as  Constable  and  his  ap- 


OHIO   PRECINCT. 


313 


pointment  as  Deputy  SheriflF,  in  which  capaci- 
ties he  served  two  years.  He  was  also  elected 
County  Coroner.  In  May,  1870,  he  was  mar- 
ried here  to  Miss  Nannie  Pearson,  born  May 
19,  1853,  in  America,  Pulaski  Co.,  HI.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  A.  and  Nancy 
(Fields)  Pearson,  the  former  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  latter  of  Kentucky.  Mrs.  Nan- 
nie Cams  is  the  mother  of  four  children,  viz.: 
Erdine,  born  October  2,  1871;  Maud,  born 
February  12,  1873  ;  Allen  J.,  born  March  9, 
1875,  and  Claude,  born  October  4,  1879.  Mr. 
R.  M.  Cams  was  a  farmer  for  about  ten  years 
after  his  marriage.  In  1882,  he  came  to  Olm- 
sted, where  he  is  now  engaged  in  the  mercan- 
tile business.  In  1882,  he  was  elected  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  but  resigned  the  same  year.  In 
politics,  he  has  identified  himself  with  the 
Democratic  party. 

SAMUEL  T.  CHITTICK,  carpenter,  Olm- 
sted, was  born  August  11,  1833,  in  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  son  of  Samuel  Chittick,  a  native 
of  the  County  Enniskillen,  in  the  North  of  Ire- 
land. He  was  an  apothecary  by  occupation  ; 
he  is  now  a  farmer  in  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Charlotte  Pr^'or, 
a  native  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  where  she 
died.  She  was  the  mother  of  eleven  children 
now  living — Samuel  T.  (our  subject),  Isabella 
McLean,  William  L.,  Charlotte  White,  John, 
Martha  Chapman,  David,  Mary  Ann,  Joseph, 
Francis  J.,  and  Benjamin.  Our  subject  was 
educated  in  private  schools  in  Halifax,  Nova 
Scotia,  where  he  learned  the  carpenter's  trade, 
being  apprenticed  to  David  Calder,  a  Scotch- 
man. After  he  had  learned  his] trade,  he  trav- 
eled extensivel}-  through  the  United  States. 
During  the  war,  he  was  a  contractor  and  builder 
in  Lancaster,  Dallas  Co.,  Tex.  He  served  fif- 
teen months  in  the  Confederate  arm}',  and  after 
being  taken  prisoner  at  the  last  Corinth  fight, 
he  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  at  Cairo,  111.  He 
then  worked  at  his  trade  in  Cairo  and  Mound 
City,  in  which  latter  place  he  was  married  to 


Mrs.  Emily  E.  Bagby,  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Hiram  Horsley,  a  farmer 
and  a  native  of  Virginia.  She  was  the  mother 
of  six  children  now  living — Alice  Bagby,  pres- 
ent wife  of  Henry  Hileman,  a  native  of  Union 
County,  111.;  Charlotte,  Samuel  T.,  William  L., 
Hiram  and  Edith.  Mr.  Chittick  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South  ;  also 
a  Master  Mason,  Lancaster  Lodge,  Texas. 
He  has  filled  school  oflflces.  Has  a  farm 
of  eighty  acres,  and  in  politics  is  a  Demo- 
crat. Mrs.  Chittick  is  also  religiously  con- 
nected with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
South. 

JAxMES  Y.  CLEMSON,  merchant,  Olmsted. 
Among  the  enterprising  men  of  Pulaski  County, 
who,  by  their  own  exertions,  have  carved  out 
their  way  in  the  world,  accumulating  wealth 
and  at  the  same  time  benefiting  their  country 
and  their  fellow-men,  is  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch,  and  whose  portrait  ap- 
pears in  this  volume.  He  was  born  in  Edwards- 
ville.  111.,  March  20,  1821,  and  is  a  son  of  Eli 
B.  Clemson,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of 
German  descent.  The  latter  was  mainly  self- 
educated,  and  entered  the  United  States  Army 
at  an  early  age,  in  which  he  received  the  posi- 
tion of  Second  Lieutenant.  He  was  afterward, 
for  bravery  and  ability,  promoted  to  First 
Lieutenant  in  the  First  Regiment  of  Infantry, 
his  commission  bearing  the  signature  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  then  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  afterward  promoted  to  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  in  the  Sixteenth  Regiment 
of  Infantry,  his  commission  in  this  case 
being  signed  by  President  James  Monroe.  He 
participated  actively  in  our  second  war  with 
Great  Britain,  and  afterward  was  stationed  at 
St.  Louis  and  at  Fort  Osage.  He  arose  from 
Second  Lieutenant  successively  to  First  Lieu- 
tenant, Major,  Lieutenant  Colonel  and  to 
Coionel.  When  the  war-clouds  were  all  dispelled 
from  our  country's  horizon,  he  laid  aside  the 
sword  and  took   up  the  implements  of  peace, 


314 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


but  afterward  bore  an  honorable  part  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war.  He  located  in  Lebanon, 
St.  Clair  Co.,  111.,  and  for  a  time  operated  a 
line  of  stage  and  mail  coaches  between  Vin- 
cennes  and  St.  Louis.  He  then  went  Carlyle, 
when  he  embarked  in  merchandising,  and  in 
1832  moved  to  Carrolton,  111.,  and  again  en- 
gaged staging,  running  a  line  of  mail  and  pas- 
senger coaches  between  Springfield  and  St. 
Louis.  His  wife,  Ann  Maria  Oliver,  of  En- 
glish descent,  and  a  native  of  Nova  Scotia, 
died  in  June,  1833  of  epidemic  cholera,  leaving 
four  children.  He  then  went  East  to  New  Jer- 
sey, where  he  left  his  children  (except  subject) 
to  be  educated.  They  were  Henry  A.,  James 
Y.  (subject),  Frederick  W.  and  Mary  C,  the  lat- 
ter and  our  subject  being  the  only  two  now 
living.  The  eldest  son.  Henr}-,  was  an 
officer  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  was 
lost  during  the  siege  of  Vera  Cruz  (in  Mex- 
ican war),  when  the  United  States  brig 
"  Somers  '"  capsized  in  a  squall,  and  to  the  lost 
of  the  ill-fated  vessel  the  Government  after- 
ward erected  a  monument  in  the  nav3'-yard  at 
Annapolis,  Md.  Col.  Clemson,  after  his  return 
from  the  East,  in  1836,  located  in  Pulaski 
County,  and  again  married.  His  second  wife 
was  Mrs.  Esther  Riddle,  the  widow  of  Capt. 
James  Riddle,  the  founder  of  the  towns  of 
America,  111.,  and  of  Covington,  Ky.  By  his 
second  marriage  he  had  two  children,  Aaron  B. 
and  Theodosia  B.  Col.  Clemson  now  engaged 
in  farming  ;  he  also  kept  the  post  office  and 
acted  as  County  Clerk.  He  was  one  of  the 
projectors  of  the  town  of  Napoleon,  in  this 
county,  not  a  vestige  of  which  now  remains  to 
show  where  it  stood.  He  was  also  agent  of 
the  Winnebago  Land  Company,  and  was 
long  identified  with  Col.  Henry  L.  Webb  and 
Col.  Justus  Post.  He  died  in  1842  in  this 
county  ;  he  was  one  of  the  leading  men  of  his 
day,  and  esteemed  b}'  all  who  knew  him.  Our 
subject,  Mr.  J.  Y.  Clemson,  spent  his  youth  in 
Caledonia  (this   county),    and    at  the   age   of 


fourteen  years  entered  McKendree  College, 
at  Lebanon,  111.,  where  he  remained  for  four 
years  and  then  returned  home.  He  after- 
ward went  to  Texas,  remaining  some  two 
years  engaged  in  merchandising,  and  then 
went  to  New  Orleans  and  followed  boating 
for  about  six  j-ears.  He  then  returned  home 
and  again  entered  the  mercantile  business, 
and  after  four  years  took  command  of  the 
snag-boat  A.  H.  Sevier,  in  the  employ  of  the 
Government.  After  about  three  3-ears,  he  re- 
tired from  the  river  and  again  engaged  in 
merchandising  and  in  the  manufacture  of 
furniture  at  Mound  Cit}^  until  1861,  when 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  United  States  as 
second  master  on  the  gunboat  St.  Louis 
in  participating  in  the  battles  Forts  Henry  and 
Donelson,  and  in  the  battle  of  Columbus 
In  1862,  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health, 
and  returned  home,  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  He  is 
a  large  land  ownei',  having  about  800  acres, 
and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  homesteads  in 
the  county.  He  was  married  November  25, 
1849,  in  Caledonia,  to  Miss  Henrietta  Mc- 
Donald, born  August  7,  1832,  in  Circleville, 
Ohio.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Richard  and 
Mar}-  J.  McDonald,  the  former  a  native  of 
Canada  and  of  Scotch  descent,  the  latter  of 
Ohio  and  of  German  descent.  She  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Mr.  Clem- 
son is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  of  Cairo  Commandery  of  Knights  Tem- 
plar, also  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  In  pol- 
itics, he  is  a  Democrat. 

JUDGE  J.  M.  DAVIDGE,  lawyer  and  farm- 
er, Olmsted,  a  native  of  Hopkinsville,  Ky., 
born  August  31,  1816.  His  father,  Rezin  Da- 
vidge,  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  where  he  was 
reared  and  educated  and  subsequently  admit- 
ted to  the  bar,  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession.  He  was  a  prominent  man  of 
his  county,  and  was  Circuit  Judge  and  Judge 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Kentuckj-.     He  was 


OHIO  PRECINCT. 


315 


at  one  time  possessed  of  a  considerable  wealth, 
and  at  all  times  had  the  esteem  and  confidence 
of  his  fellow-men.  He  died  in  1861  at  Hop- 
kinsville,  Ky.  His  father  was  a  native  of  En- 
gland. The  mother  of  our  subject.  Elizabeth 
(Bell)  Davidge,  was  a  native  of  Virginia.  She 
died  at  Princeton,  Ky.,  in  1827.  She  was  the 
mother  of  the  following  living  children  :  Mrs. 
Mary  0.  Fry,  of  Louisville,  Ky.;  Reason,  of 
Princeton.  Ky.,  and  James  M.,  our  subject. 
He  was  reared  and  educated  at  Hopkinsville, 
Ky..  and  with  his  father  and  his  partner,  T.  C. 
Lander,  studied  law,  and  in  1838  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  In  the  fall  of  1839,  he  came 
Xo  Illinois  and  located  at  Golconda,  and 
afterward  removed  to  Vienna,  where  he  re- 
mained four  years.  In  October,  1843,  he 
came  to  Pulaski  County  and  was  appointed 
Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  served  until 
1860.  From  1848  to  1861,  he  held  the  office 
of  County  Clerk.  In  1861,  he  was  elected 
Judge  of  the  County  Court.  He  was  Postmas- 
ter of  Caledonia  for  over  fifteen  years.  He  is 
still  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
and  in  connection  is  engaged  in  farming.  He 
was  married  in  Johnson  County,  111.,  in  1840, 
to  Miss  Nancy  Ladd,  a  native  of  the  same 
vounty.  She  was  born  February  29,  1824,  and 
died  September  21,  1877,  in  Pulaski  County. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Milton  Ladd,  a 
prominent  man  who  represented  Johnson 
County  in  the  Senate.  She  was  the  mother  of 
the  following  children  :  Mary,  James,  Charles. 
Cornelia  and  Nanzy.  He  was  married  a  sec- 
ond time,  to  Mrs.  Minerva  Riddle,  widow  of 
I>r.  H.  D.  Riddle,  a  son  of  James  Riddle,  the 
founder  of  Covington,  Ky.,  and  America,  111. 

MRS  MINERVA  DAVIDGE,  Olmsted,  was 
born  September  10,  1833,  in  Harrison  County, 
Ind.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Jacob  Musselman, 
a  native  of  Indiana.  He  was  a  millwright  in 
early  life,  but  the  last  part  of  his  life  he  has 
been  mostly  merchandising,  keeping  a  drug 
store  the  last  eight  years  that  he  was  in  active 


business.  He  is  yet  living  in  Metropolis,  111., 
where  he  was  engaged  in  business.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Sarah  (Anderson) 
Musselman,  a  native  of  Knox  County,  Ind. 
She  died  September  25,  1875,  in  Metropolis. 
She  was  the  mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom 
six  are  now  living — Daniel,  Charles  M.,  Elvira 
Durff,  Jennie  Deavers,  Sarah  Cheek  and  Mi- 
nerva, our  subject,  who  was  educated  in  Indi- 
ana. She  married  Dr.  Henry  D.  Riddle,  a  na- 
tive of  Covington,  Ky.,  and  a  son  of  Capt. 
James  Riddle.  The  Doctor  was  a  man  of  good 
abilities  and  extraordinary  energy.  He  lived 
a  useful  life  and  died  October  15,  1871.  He 
was  the  father  of  eight  children,  of  whom  five 
are  now  living — Mary,  wife  of  B.  F.  Echols  ; 
Henry,  Sallie,  Minnie  M.  and  Jennie  D.  Our 
subject  was  married  a  second  time  to  Judge 
James  M.  Davidge.  Mrs.  Davidge  is  religious- 
ly connected  with  the  Presbyterian    Church. 

W.  F.  HARMAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Olmsted, 
was  born  October  4,  1836,  in  Campbelltown, 
Lebanon  Co.,  Penn.,  son  of  John  M.  Harman 
of  Wittenberg,  Germany,  born  1797  ;  he  died  in 
1864  in  Campbelltown,  Penn.,  was  a  merchant 
and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1811,  with  his 
father,  Martin  Harman.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  Christiana  Brown,  born  in  1800,  in 
Lebanon  County,  in  Londonderry  Township, 
Penn.  She  died  in  1875  in  Dayton,  Ohio, 
daughter  of  Philip  and  Barbara  (Settly)  Brown 
of  German  descent.  She  is  the  mother  of  six 
children  now  living— Gabriel  B.,  Philip  M., 
William  F.,  our  subject,  Catherine,  Christiana, 
Mary  Rockey.  Our  subject  was  educated  in 
Palmyra,  Penn. ;  learned  the  tailor  trade,  and 
followed  it  for  twenty  years  at  Palmyra.  Then 
came  to  Pulaski  County  in  1878,  where  he  has 
farmed  ever  since,  identifying  himself  with  the 
county  in  general.  He  is  also  Superintendent 
of  the  Sunday  school,  and  he  and  wife  are 
members  of  the  Church  of  God.  He  has  260 
acres  of  good  land,  all  in  one  farm,  with  good 
buildings.     He    was    married    November   11, 


316 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


1863,  in  Palmyra,  Penn.,  to  Miss  Sally  E. 
Bracht,  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Penn., 
March  16,  1843  ;  she  is  a  daughter  of  Samuel 
and  Anna  (Albright)  Bracht,  natives  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, farmers.  She  is  the  mother  of  two  chil- 
dren— Seymour  H.,  born  November  14,  1864, 
and  Stella  M.,  born  September  14,  1866.  In 
politics,  he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party. 

WILLIAM  M.  HATHAWAY,  physician, 
Olmsted,  is  a  native  of  Peterboro,  Madison 
Co.,  N.  Y.  He  is  a  son  of  Peter  Hathaway, 
born  1790,  in  Morristown,  N.  J. ;  he  died  1856, 
in  Waterloo,  N.  Y.  He  was  a  glass  cutter  by 
occupation.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Elizabeth  Stevens,  born  in  1796,  in  Wales  ;  she 
died  in  1868.  in  Pulaski  County.  Her  father 
was  Stephen  Stevens,  a  mason  by  trade.  She 
was  the  mother  of  nine  children.  Our  subject 
was  born  July  24, 1824  ;  he  received  a  common 
school  education  in  Oneida  County,  N.  Y.  Af- 
ter taking  an  academic  course,  he  prepared  for 
college  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  and  then  attended 
the  Geneva  College,  after  which  he  attended 
medical  lectures  at  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  where 
he  graduated  m  1870,  having,  previous  to 
that,  practiced  medicine  for  thirteen  years,  hav- 
ing taken  his  first  course  in  1855.  After 
graduating,  he  returned  to  Caledonia,  where  he 
had  first  settled  in  1857.  He  has  followed  his 
noble  profession  most  of  the  time  till  the  pres- 
ent day.  He  was  elected  County  Superintendent 
of  Schools  in  1863,  serving  two  years.  Ten 
years  after  that,  he  was  elected  for  a  term  of 
four  years.  In  1878,  he  removed  to  Chicago, 
where  he  practiced  his  profession  for  two 
3'ears,  returning  to  Caledonia  in  1881.  Our 
subject  was  married  in  the  spring  of  1856,  at 
Auburn,  N.  Y.,  to  Myra  Johnson,  born  July 
19,  1832,  in  Enfield,  N- H.,  daughter  of  James 
and  Eliza  (Goodhue)  Johnson,  both  natives 
of  New  Hampshire.  Mrs.  Hathawa}-  is  the 
mother  of  four  children  now  living — George  W., 
born  October  13,  1859  ;  Frank  B.,  born  Febru- 


ary 17,  1863  ;  Jessie  E.,  born  February  7, 1866, 
and  Julian  C,  born  May  30,  1868.  Mr. 
Hathaway  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, Caledonia  Lodge,  No.  47.  In  politics, 
he  has  been  identified  with  the  Republican 
part3^ 

GEORGE  W.  HIGGINS,  merchant,  Olm- 
sted, born  August  28,  1847,  in  Wheeling,  W. 
Va.,  son  of  Bernhard  Higgins,  a  native  of 
Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  where  he  died  1881.  He 
was  a  saddler  by  occupation.  He  was  a  soldier 
in  our  late  civil  war.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject is  Ann  J.  (Rankin)  Higgins,  a  native  of 
County  Tyrone,  Ireland.  She  is  yet  living 
at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  She  is  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  viz.:  Thomas  H.,  William  A.. 
Eliza  A.  (deceased),  Martha  B.  (wife  of  Rev. 
J.  Hall),  George  W.,  Benjamin  F.  and  Mary  J. 
(wife  of  Rev.  B.  Smith,  New  Lisbon,  Ohio.  The 
oldest  son,  Thomas  H.,  is  a  photographer,  Will- 
iam A.  is  a  sign  painter,  and  Benjamin  F.  is  a 
local  editor  on  the  Wheeling  Journal.  Our 
subject  was  educated  in  Wheeling,  W.  Va.  In 
early  life,  he  clerked  on  the  Silver  Moon 
steamer,  running  between  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and 
Memphis,  Tenn.  He  was  on  the  river  for 
seven  years,  and  then  in  1872  he  came  to  Cale- 
donia, Pulaski  County,  where  he  was  married, 
in  the  same  year  to  Miss  Mollie  Clemson,  who 
died  April  1,  1879,  leaving  two  children,  viz.: 
Ben  M.,  born  March  5,  1873,  and  Mollie  C,  de- 
ceased. April  26,  1882,  he  was  married  a  sec- 
ond time  to  Miss  Nannie  Olmsted,  born  July 
16,  1862.  She  is  a  daughter  of  George  E. 
Olmsted,  a  son  of  Rev.  Ed  Olmsted.  Her 
mother  was  Sallie  (Timmons)  Olmsted,  whose 
mother,  Nancy  Timmons,  is  3'et  living,  and 
may  be  classed  among  our  pioneex's.  Our  sub- 
ject entered  in  partnership  with  James  Y.  Clem- 
son in  June,  1872,  keeping  a  general  merchan- 
dising store  at  Olmsted,  Pulaski  Co.,  111.  He 
is  also  Postmaster,  and  in  politics  he  is  identi- 
fied with  the  Democratic  party.  Mrs.  Higgins 
is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 


OHIO   PRECINCT. 


317 


MARCUS  L.  HUGHES,  deceased,  whose  por- 
trait appears  in  this  work,  deserves  to  be  reineixi- 
bered  as  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  practi- 
cal farmers  and  business  men  of  Pulaski  County. 
Of  busy  men,  he  became  about  the  busiest, 
not  for  a  greed  of  gain,  but  because  he  had  an 
instinct  of  activity  and  a  fondness  for  business. 
He  was  born  in  Caledonia,  Pulaski  County, 
February  11,  1848  ;  was  educated  at  Notre 
Dame,  graduating  from  that  institution  Febru- 
ary 1,  1866,  after  which  he  began  farming  on 
his  own  account,  and  not  only  became  a  prac- 
tical farmer,  but  engaged  lai'gely  in  stock- 
raising.  His  farm  was  the  model  farm  of  Pu- 
laski County,  and  everything  about  shows  not 
only  refinement  but  good  judgment.  He  was 
married   in   Mound    City,    111.,    September  17, 

1878,  to  Mrs.  Mary  E.,  widow  of  Dr.  William 
Anonett,  and  a  daughter  of  P.  W.  Stophlett.  a 
native  of  Ohio.  This  union  was  blessed  with 
two  children,  viz.:  Marcus  L.,  born  August  11, 

1879,  and  Edgar,  born  February  21,  1881.  Mr. 
Hughes  did  not  take  an  interest  in  outward 
forms  of  religion,  but  led  practically  a  good  life. 
His  friendships  were  many,  his  acquaintances 
numerous,  and  his  taking  awa}'  in  December, 
1881,  was  widely  regretted  by  all  among  whom 
he  was  known.  He  was  a  son  of  William  A. 
and  Sarah  Hughes,  who  were  among  the  early 
settlers  of  Pulaski  County.  He  was  born 
March  25,  1818,  and  died  February  8,  1873  ; 
she  was  born  November  30,  1825,  and  died 
October  25,  1854.  Thc}^  are  the  parents  of 
three  children. 

R.  M.  JOHNSON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Olmsted, 
was  born  Februar}'  24, 1842,  in  Morgan  County, 
Ky.,  son  of  John  P.  Johnson,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, a  native  of  Virginia,  yet  living  in  Olm- 
sted. His  father  was  Elijah  Johnson,  a  native 
of  Virginia.  He  died  in  Kentucky.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Mary  (Day)  John- 
son, born  in  Kentuck}'.  She  is  yet  living  in 
Olmsted,,  being  the  mother  of  nine  children — 
Richard  M.,  our  subject,  John,  Henry,  Fannie, 


James  and  Alfred;  Jefferson,  Kelc}'  and  George 
are  deceased.  Our  subject  received  a  common 
school  education  in  Lewis  County, Ky.,  where  he 
spent  his  earl}-  life  in  tilling  the  soil  and  steam- 
boating,  about  six  falls  and  winters,  on  the  Ohio 
River.  In  1864,  he  came  to  Pulaski  County, 
where  he  has  been  engaged  in  various  occupa- 
tions, viz.:  First,  farmed  one  year,  and  then  for 
the  next  five  years  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business,  and  then  once  more  went  to  farming. 
He  now  owns  about  200  acres  of  land  in  this 
county.  He  is  a  self-made  man,  such  as  we 
generally  find  among  our  more  energetic,  wide- 
awake farmers.  He  was  joined  in  matrimony 
December  29,  1868,  in  Caledonia,  to  Miss  Isora 
L.  Trahern,  born  Jul}-  30,  1850,  in  Union 
County,  111.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Morgan  and 
Sarah  B.  (Gayne)  Trahern,  natives  of  Tennes- 
see. Mrs.  Isora  L.  Johnson  is  the  mother  of 
four  children — Flora  B.,  born  August  13,  1870; 
Joseph  S.,  born  April  13,  1873  ;  Richard  and 
Marcus  are  deceased.  Mrs.  Johnson  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presb3'terian  Church.  Mr.  Johnson 
is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  fraternity, 
Grand  'Chain  Lodge,  No.  660.  He  now  fills 
the  office  of  Constable  and  School  Directoi-.  In 
politics  he  has  been  identified  with  the  Repub- 
lican party. 

B.  F.  MASON,  farmer  and  lumberman,  P. 
0.  iVmerica.  Of  our  self-made  men  in  this 
county  who  have  aided  in  developing  its  re- 
sources, and  whose  example  in  life  is  worth}- 
of  imitation,  we  must  count  him  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch.  Mr.  Mason  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 5, 1828,  in  Union  County,  Ind.,  where  he 
was  also  educated.  He  is  a  son  of  Adam  Ma- 
sou,  born  December  23,  1795,  in  Pennsylvania, 
near  Brownsville,  a  farmer  b}'  occupation.  He 
died  February  20,  1876,  in  this  State.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Sallie  (Youse)  Ma- 
son, a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born  July  26, 
1800.  She  died  December  15,  1840,  in  Browns- 
ville, Ind.  She  was  the  mother  of  six  children, 
of  whom  two  are   now  living — William  Y.,  a 


318 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


farmer  in  Iowa,  and  Benjamin  F.,  our  subject, 
who  was  a  contractor  of  public  works  for  about 
tliree  years  in  Indiana.  In  1855,  he  moved  to 
Warren  County,  111.,  where  he  was  a  tiller  of 
the  soil  till  1865,  when  he  sold  out  and  came  to 
Pulaski  County,  where  he  bought  land  and  now 
owns  2,200  acres  of  land,  of  which  about  800 
acres  lay  in  Johnson  County.  This  is  the  fruit 
of  a  successful  business  career,  and  is  showing 
what  industry,  energy  and  honest  dealing,  with 
good  resources  of  a  country,  can  do.  On  his 
arrival  in  this  county,  he  paid  some  attention  to 
the  lumber  business,  and  in  1871  he  bought  a 
portable  saw  mill,  which  he  operates  to  the 
present  day,  cutting  from  $8,000  to  $10,000 
worth  of  lumber  per  year,  cutting  principally 
for  the  railroad  companies.  His  home  farm 
consists  of  600  acres  of  good  land,  which  was 
wild  woods  when  he  first  came  here,  but  now  he 
has  excellent  buildings  unrivaled  by  any  in  the 
county.  Our  subject  has  been  no  office-seeker 
nor  politician,  but  has  devoted  his  attention  to 
the  development  of  the  resources  of  Pulaski 
County,  with  splendid  success.  He  was  joined 
in  matrimony  August  15,  1850,  in  Franklin 
County,  lnd.,to  Miss  Elizabeth  Campbell,  born 
November  19,  1832,  in  Franklin  County,  Ind. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Hugh  and  Lucinda  (Ross) 
Campbell,  both  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  Mrs. 
Mason  is  the  mother  of  eight  children  now  liv- 
ing— Sarah  E.  Mangold,  Alice  E.  Full,  Oscar  M., 
born  April  1,  1859  ;  Hughey  A.,  born  January 
3,  1862  ;  Charles  H.,  born  June  1,  1864  ;  Will- 
iam C,  born  February  9,  1869  ;  Mary  E.,  born 
May  26,  1871,  and  RosaS.,  born  November  18, 
1873.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mason  are  people  who 
enjo}'  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  all  with 
whom  they  come  in  contact. 

JUDGE  HENRY  M.  SMITH,  Olmsted. 
Of  the  men  in  Pulaski  County  who  stand  high 
among  their  fellow-men,  who  have  filled  dlmost 
all  the  higher  offices  and  whose  character  as  a 
man,  Judge  or  politician  is  unimpeached,  we 
take  great  pleasure  in   recognizing  him  whose 


name  heads  this  sketch.  Judge  Smith  is  a 
true  t3'pe  of  our  pioneers,  whose  honest,  rugged 
faces  are  fast  disappearing.  The  many  offices 
he  has  held  speak  for  themselves  and  show  that 
intelligence,  uprightness,  honesty  and  justice 
are  appreciated  the  world  over.  The  father  of 
our  subject,  Daniel  Lee  Smith,  was  a  native  of 
Virginia.  He  merchandized  in  South  Carolina 
and  farmed  in  this  county,  to  which  he  came 
in  1830,  and  where  he  died  in  1857.  The 
mother  of  our  subject,  Elizabeth  (Hampton) 
Smith,  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina.  She 
died  in  1858  in  this  county.  She  was  the 
mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom  five  are  now 
living — Eliza  J.  Carnes  ;  Elizabeth  Carnes  ; 
Henr}-  M.,  our  subject ;  James  G.  and  Julia 
Smith.  Our  subject  was  born  May  3,  1820, 
in  Newberry  District,  S.  C,  where  he  went  to 
school  about  three  years,  after  which  he  at- 
tended the  schools  of  this  county,  walking  five 
miles  to  and  from  school.  He  then  worked  on 
his  father's  farm  till  18-42,  when  he  went  to 
Lower  Caledonia,  where  he  worked  for  Capt. 
Hughes  till  18-14,  when  he  was  elected  Sheriff 
of  Pulaski  County.  He  served  four  years,  and 
in  1852  was  elected  Judge  of  the  County 
Court,  serving  one  year,  when  he  resigned  and 
studied  law  with  Judge  John  Dougherty.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1857.  in  Caledonia, 
where  he  practiced  law,  also  all  over  Southern 
Illinois,  and  has  followed  the  calling  of  his  no- 
ble profession  ever  since.  In  1860,  he  was 
elected  Circuit  Clerk  of  Pulaski  County,  serv- 
ing eight  years.  In  1872,  he  was  elected  State's 
Attorney,  serving  four  years.  He  was  elected 
County  Judge  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  1879.  and  in 
1882  he  was  elected  to  the  same  office  for  a 
term  of  four  years.  He  is  an  active  member 
and  Senior  Warden  of  the  Caledonia  Lodge. 
No.  47,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  The  Judge  has  been 
interested  in  the  tilling  of  the  bounteous  soil 
of  Pulaski  County,  and  now  owns  a  fine  farm 
of  530  acres  of  land  in  this  county.  He  has 
also  been  identified  with  the  mercantile  bust- 


WETAUG    PRECINCT. 


31» 


ness  of  the  eountr3-  ever  since  1863,  when  he 
started  a  general  store  in  Caledonia,  which 
burnt  down  in  Ma}',  1883.  He  now  runs  a 
general  store  in  Olmsted,  near  his  country  resi- 
dence. The  Judge  has  been  married  four 
times.     His  present  wife  is  Mrs.  Sarah  Little, 


whose  maiden  name  was  Swain.  She  is  the 
mother  of  Bettie  Muffitt,  Henry  M.,  Belle  M. 
and  Myra  B.  The  Judge's  second  wife,  Sarah 
A.  Burton,  was  the  mother  of  three  children — 
Alice  M.,  Hulda  E.  and  Frank  P. 


WETAUG    PEEOINOT. 


GEORGE  P.  BIRD,  Superintendent  of  We- 
taug  Mills,  Wetaug,  is  a  native  of  Ballard 
County,  Ky.,  born  September  29, 1860,  a  son  of 
John  H.  and  Virginia  J.  (Ward)  Bird.  The 
parents  had  two  children,  George  P.  being  the 
only  one  living.  Their  mother  is  the  present 
wife  of  Capt.  W.  A.  Hight,  of  Wetaug.  The 
subject  of  these  lines  obtained  his  first  school- 
ing in  La  Salle  County,  111.,  and  at  Cape  Girar- 
deau, and  he  afterward  attended  the  College  of 
the  Christian  Brothers  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.  In 
1877,  he  came  to  Wetaug,  and  worked  in  the 
flouring  mills  of  this  place.  Three  years  later, 
he  assumed  the  superintendency  of  the  mills, 
which  position  he  still  holds.  He  was  married, 
May  2,  1880,  to  Eliza  A.  Topping,  born  in 
1860,  a  daughter  of  James  Topping.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Bird  are  the  parents  of  one  child — Bertha 
G.,  born  April  4,  1881.  In  politics,  Mr.  Bird 
is  a  Republican. 

JAMES  B.  COTTNER,  physician,  Wetaug, 
is  a  native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born  August 
3,  1828,  a  son  of  David  and  Catharine  (Miller) 
Cottner,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Stod- 
dard County,  Mo.  The  father  was  a  farmer. 
He  moved  to  Union  County  in  1827,  and  died 
shortly  afterward.  He  was  a  son  of  Frederick 
Cottner,  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  died  March  4,  1869, 
aged  sixtj'-three  years.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Nicholas  Miller,  of  North  Carolina.  The 
parents  were  blessed  with  four  children,  James 


B.  being  the  only  one  living.  The  mother  was 
married  a  second  time,  to  Matthew  Anderson,  by 
whom  she  had  four  children,  one  living — Isaac. 
The  subject  of  these  lines  received  what  little 
education  was  afforded  by  the  subscription 
schools  of  his  native  county.  He  first  took  up 
farming  as  an  occupation,  but  living  in  the 
Mississippi  bottoms,  where  there  was  a  great 
amount  of  sickness,  his  attendance  at  the  sick- 
bed was  often  required.  Becoming  more  and 
more  acquainted  with  the  several  remedies 
generall}'  administered  in  various  cases,  and 
showing  a  special  aptitude  for  his  new  work, 
he  soon  discovered  that  he  could  not  both 
farm  and  doctor,  so  constantly  were  his  serv- 
ices demanded  in  the  latter  direction.  He 
therefore  gave  up  farming,  and  bent  all  his  en- 
ergies to  the  prosecution  of  his  medical  studies, 
and,  for  a  period  of  thirty-one  years,  has  been 
engaged  in  constant  practice.  He  removed  to 
Ullen,  111.,  and  afterward  to  Wetaug,  in  1877, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  was  married, 
January  29,  1861,  to  Julia  A.  Scott,  born  Jan- 
uary 29,  1837,  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  and 
Mary  Ann  Scott.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Cottner  are 
the  parents  of  two  children,  one  of  whom  is 
living — Mary  C,  born  February  29,  1863,  the 
wife  of  James  M.  Anderson,  a  merchant  in 
Wetaug.  In  March,  1864,  our  subject  enlisted 
in  the  Sixth  Illinois  Cavalry,  Col.  Lynch.  They 
did  active  service  in  Mississippi,  Alabama  and 
Louisiana,  and  were  mustered  out  at  Spring- 


320 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


field,  111.,  July  2,  1865.    In  politics,  the  Doctor 
votes  the  Republican  ticket. 

CHARLES  W.  HARTLINE,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Pongola,  is  a  native  of  Rowan  County,  N.  C, 
born  August  27,  1833,  a  son  of  Henry  and 
Sophia  (Kesler)  Hartline,  both  natives  of  same 
county.  The  father  was  a  blacksmith  and 
farmer,  and  he  died  when  subject  was  about 
twelve  years  old.  The  mother  died  in  1881, 
aged  seventy-three  years.  The  parents  were 
blessed  with  seven  children,  three  living — 
Alexander,  Mary  and  Charles  W.  The  latter 
received  his  early  education  in  the  subscription 
schools  of  Union  County,  his  parents  having 
removed  when  he  was  about  six  years  old. 
He  afterward  went  a  little  in  Pulaski  County. 
He  started  in  life  as  a  farmer,  and  farming  has 
since  been  his  occupation.  He  has  now  192 
acres,  which  are  given  to  general  farming.  He 
was  first  married  in  1862,  to  Mary  Ann  Me3ers, 
a  daughter  of  John  Meyers.  By  her  he  had 
one  child — John,  born  September  4,  1864. 
Mrs.  Hartline  died  in  November,  1864.  He 
was  married  a  second  time  April  7,  1867,  to 
Susan  Casper,  born  January  1,  1835,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Jacob  and  Eliza  (Mowery)  Casper.  By 
her  he  has  four  children,  three  living— Minerva 
E.,  born  March  29,  1869  ;  Amy  I.,  born  Janu- 
ary 14,  1870,  and  Martha  A.,  born  August  16, 
1874.  Subject  and  wife  are  members  of  Ger- 
man Reform  Church.  In  politics,  he  is  a 
Democrat. 

SAMUEL  C.  HARTMAN,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Wetaug,  is  a  native  of  Davie  County,  N.  C, 
born  October  22,  1834,  a  son  of  Charles  and 
Elizabeth  (Cruse)  Hartman,  both  natives  of 
Pennsylvania.  The  father  was  a  farmer  ;  he 
moved  to  Bond  County,  111.,  when  Samuel  was 
about  seventeen  years  old,  and  a  year  later  to 
Texas,  where  he  remained  two  years.  They 
returned  to  Union  County,  111.,  and  purchased 
330  acres  of  land,  which  he  farmed  for  several 
years.  He  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
seven    vears.     The  mother   died   about    1863, 


aged  about  sixty-three  years.  The  parents 
had  a  famil}'  of  nine  children,  seven  of  whom 
are  living — James,  Alexander,  Elam,  Grcorge, 
Mary,  Sammie  C.  and  Sarah.  Our  subject  re- 
ceived his  early  education  in  the  subscription 
schools  of  his  native  county  ;  he  has  always 
been  engaged  in  farming.  About  1868,  he 
came  to  Pulaski  Count}',  and  purchased  140 
acres  of  land  which  is  his  present  place.  He 
engaged  in  general  farming.  He  was  first 
married  to  Elizabeth  Hileman,  who  died  about 
1867.  By  her  he  had  three  children,  two  of 
whom  are  living — Sarah  Ann,  born  Februar}' 
15,  1862,  and  Mary  Alice,  born  March  14, 
1864.  He  was  married  a  second  time  to  Re- 
becca Hileman,  who  died  January  8,  1873. 
June  12,  1873,  he  married  his  present  wife, 
Mary  J.  Cline,  born  November  22,  1849,  a 
daughter  of  Alfred  and  Catharine  (File)  Cline. 
By  her  he  had  four  children,  two  living — John 
E.,  born  July  29,  1878,  and  Homer  0.,  born 
September  25,  1880.  Mr.  Hartman  and  wife 
are  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  He 
votes  the  Republican  ticket. 

CAPT.  W.  A.  HIGHT.  merchant,  etc.,  We- 
taug. When  we  study  the  history  of  self-made 
men,  persevering  industry  and  energetic  eiFort 
seem  to  be  the  great  secret  of  their  success. 
What  is  usually  termed  genius  has  little  to  do 
in  the  success  of  men  in  general.  It  is  rather 
a  matter  of  experience,  sound  judgment  and  a 
determined  power  of  will.  Such,  in  a  measure, 
wei-e  the  characteristics  of  the  man  whose 
name  stands  at  the  head  of  this  sketch,  and 
whose  portrait  appears  elsewhere  in  this  vol- 
ume. He  came  of  an  old  Virginia  family, 
and  possesses  in  an  eminent  degree  that  court- 
esy and  genuine  hospitality  for  which  the  true 
gentlemen  of  the  Old  Dominion  are  evervwhere 
noted.  He  was  born  in  Richmond,  Va.,  Janu- 
ary 27,  1820.  ■  His  parents  were  Robert  and 
Mary  (Davis)  Hight,  the  former  a  farmer  who 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  afiairs  of  his  com- 
munity.    During  his  long  and  active  life,  he 


WETAUG  PRECINCT. 


321 


was  identified  with  man^'  movements  calculat- 
ed to  promote  the  prosperity  and  welfare  of 
the  people  and  the  neighborhood  in  which  he 
lived.  He  served  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  was 
a  great  admirer  of  Gen.  Jackson,  and  accepted 
him  as  his  particula,r  political  patron  saint.  He 
died  in  Ma}-,  1871.  at  the  age  of  about  seventy- 
nine  years.  His  wife  survived  him  but  one  year, 
and  died  at  the  age  of  sevent3'-four  j-ears. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children,  of 
whom  but  four  are  now  living — William  (our 
subject),  Emeline,  Parlee  and  Robert  M.  The 
early  education  of  our  subject  was  attained  in 
the  old-time  subscription  schools  near  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  whence  his  parents  removed  when 
he  was  quite  small.  He  afterward  accompanied 
an  uncle  to  Missouri,  and  while  there  attend- 
ed the  St.  Mary's  school  some  two  years.  He 
then  rejoined  his  parents,  who  had,  in  the 
meantime,  removed  to  Union  Count}',  Dl.  Here 
he  attended  school  for  about  three  j'ears,  com- 
pleting his  education.  At  an  early  age,  he 
launched  out  into  the  world,  with  a  brave 
heart  and  a  strong  arm,  and  firm  in  the  deter- 
mination to  carve  out  his  own  way  to  foi'tune. 
His  grand  aim  was  to  become  a  warehouse 
boy,  and  to  gratify  this  laudable  ambition  he 
engaged  to  cut  cord-wood,  as  the  first  step 
toward  the  realization  of  his  dreams,  and  when, 
some  time  afterward,  he  went  to  Grand  Tower, 
111.,  where  he  received  the  position  of  clerk  in 
a  store,  the  full  fruition  of  his  hopes  was  at- 
tained. He  remained  in  Grand  Tower  for  five 
jears,  and  then  went  to  Jonesboro,  where  he 
opened  a  store  on  his  own  account,  which  he 
operated  for  some  two  years,  and  then  took  in 
a  partner.  For  about  a  year  the  firm  was 
Hodges  &  Hight.  In  1844,  he,  in  company 
with  Daniel  Hileman,  removed  to  Pulaski 
County,  and  located  on  the  Jonesboro  & 
Caledonia  road,  about  twelve  miles  south  of 
Jonesboro.  Here  they  carried  on  a  general 
store  until  1861,  at  which  time  Mr.  Hight  pur- 
chased the  interest  of  his  partner,  and  has  since 


continued  the  same  business.  In  1859,  before 
the  retirement  of  Mr.  Hileman,  they  removed 
to  a  point  convenient  to  the  railroad,  which 
had  been  built  since  the  commencement  of 
their  business  intercourse,  and  which  is  still 
Mr.  Hight's  location.  In  1876,  Mr.  Henry 
Mowery  was  taken  in  as  a  partner,  and  the 
present  firm  is  Hight  &  Mowery.  During  his 
business  life.  Mr.  Hight  has  been  engaged  in 
various  enterprises,  in  all  of  which  his  keen 
sagacit}'  and  sound  judgment  have  carried 
through  successfully.  He  owns  near  four 
thousand  acres  of  land,  over  two  thousand 
acres  of  which  lie  in  Pulaski  County,  and  the 
remainder  in  Johnson  County.  He  made  a 
donation  recently  of  about  six  hundred  acres 
to  the  Catholic  order  of  Benedictine.  In  1877, 
he  completed  a  fine  flouring  mill,  known  as  the 
Wetaug  Mills.  They  contain  four  run  of  buhrs, 
and  do  a  large  and  profitable  business.  He 
also  has  the  management  of  tlie  Wetaug  saw 
mills,  and  is  interested  in  a  number  of  other 
business  enterprises  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  He  is  at  present  one  of  the  County 
Commissioners  of  Pulaski  Count}-,  and  is  a  Re- 
publican in  politics.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  belongs  to  Caledonia 
Lodge,  No.  47.  Mr.  Hight  has  five  children 
living — Alexander,  Arnette,  Alice,  Adelia  and 
Josephine.  As  a  business  man,  Mr.  Hight 
ranks  among  the  first  in  the  county.  He  is 
decided,  yet  kind  ;  firm  and  resolute,  yet  in- 
dulgent, and  an  open-hearted,  generous  and 
true  friend  to  all  who  win  his  trust  and  con- 
fidence. 

JUDGE  CALEB  HOFFNER,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Wetaug,  is  one  of  the  old  and  respected  resi- 
dents of  Pulaski  County.  He  came  from 
Rowan  County,  N.  C,  where  he  was  born  May 
11,  1814.  His  parents,  John  and  Catharine 
(Powles)  Hoffner,  were  natives  of  the  same 
county.  The  father  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil.  He 
died  in  1841.  His  noble  wife  survived  him  until 
1879,  having  passed   her  nintey-first  birthday. 

u 


322 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


The  union  of  the  old  couple  was  blessed  with 
ten  children,  only  three  of  whom  are  living — 
Catharine,  Sophia  and  Caleb.  The  latter  re- 
ceived the  meager  education  that  the  old  sub- 
scription schools  of  Union  and  Pulaski  Coun- 
ties afforded,  his  parents  having  removed  from 
North  Carolina  when  he  was  about  six  years 
old.  He  assisted  his  father  on  the  home  farm 
in  early  life,  but  becoming  desirous  of  more 
active  fields  of  operation,  he  sought  life  on  the 
Mississippi,  and  from  about  1836  to  1844  he 
was  engaged  at  trafficking  in  produce  between 
Cairo  and  New  Orleans.  He  returned  at  the 
latter  date,  and  located  in  Pulaski  County, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  His  present  farm 
consists  of  300  acres,  about  one  half  of  which 
is  in  systematic  cultivation.  He  was  united 
in  marriage  in  1838  to  Amelia  Knupp,  born 
November  18,  1818,  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and 
Elizabeth  (Powles)  Knupp.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hoffner  are  the  parents  of  six  children,  two  of 
whom  are  living — Amy,  wife  of  William  T. 
Freeze,  of  Mound  City,  and  Henry  A.  In 
1861,  our  subject  was  elected  Associate  Judge 
of  Pulaski  County,  and  he  served  a  term  of 
four  years.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  same 
position  in  1869,  serving  a  like  period.  He  is 
a  man  who  has  always  held  an  enviable  posi- 
tion in  popular  esteem,  having  administered 
the  affairs  of  over  twenty  estates.  He  is  a 
man  who  strives  for  good  churches,  good 
schools,  good  roads,  and  he  always  takes  a 
deep  interest  in  all  enterprises  calculated  for 
the  good  of  the  people.  In  politics,  he  has 
been  a  Republican  since  the  organization  of 
that  party. 

JOHN  H.  LENTZ,  farmer,  P.  0.  Wetaug,  is 
a  native  of  Alexander  County,  111.,  but  moved 
to  Pulaski  County  when  he  was  quite  small. 
He  was  born  January  10,  1835,  a  son  of  John 
Jacob  and  Catharine  (Clutts)  Lentz,  both  na- 
tives of  Rowan  County,  N.  C.  The  father  was 
a  tailor  by  trade,  and  afterward  a  farmer,  and 
died  August  14,  1868,  aged  seventy-four  years. 


The  mother  died  January  21,  1870,  aged  about 
sevent}'- three  years.  The  parents  were  blessed 
with  eight  children,  three  of  whom  are  living 
— Paul,  Pen}-  and  John  H.  The  earl}-  educa- 
tion of  the  latter  was  received  in  the  old  sub- 
scription schools  of  Pulaski  County,  and  he 
has  alwaj'S  been  engaged  in  farming.  He  has 
120  acres  of  land,  mostly  in  cultivation.  He 
was  first  married  in  1861,  to  Malinda  Hartraan, 
a  daughter  of  Peter  and  Sarah  Hartman.  She 
died  December  10,  1878.  B}-  her  he  had 
seven  children — Mary  A.  E.,  born  October  24, 
1862;  George  E.,  May  1,  1864;  James  F., 
August  3,  1867 ;  Lewis  E.,  September  17, 
1869 ;  Effle  L.,  June  21,  1871  ;  Henry  H., 
August  11,  1874,  and  Chloe  M.,  September  11, 
1878.  He  was  married  a  second  time  to  Mary 
J.  Eton,  who  died  May  30,  1881.  Mr.  Lentz 
is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  In  poli- 
tics, he  is  a  Democrat. 

JOHN  McINTOSH,  farmer,  P.  0.  Wetaug, 
is  a  native  of  Pulaski  County,  111.,  born  De- 
cember 25,  1851,  a  son  of  George  W.  and 
Elizabeth  (Hoffner)  Mcintosh,  he  of  English 
descent,  and  she  a  native  of  North  Carolina. 
The  father  was  a  farmer,  and  died  March  26, 
1875.  His  wife  died  in  Decemljer,  1875.  The 
parents  had  seven  children,  three  of  whom  are 
living — Levi,  John  and  Henry  W.  Subject's 
earl}'  education  was  received  in  the  common 
schools  of  this  county,  and  he  has  always  been 
engaged  in  farming.  He  now  has  115  acres  of 
land,  which  are  given  to  general  farming.  He 
was  married  in  1873  to  Mary  E.  Beaver,  a 
daughter  of  Moses  and  Annie  Beaver.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Mcintosh  are  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren— Willie,  born  September  1,  1874,  and 
Arminda,  July  23,  1877.  Subject  and  wife  are 
members  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Democrat. 

ELI  MOWERY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Dongola,  is  a 
native  of  Alexander  County,  111.,  born  April  5, 
1849,  a  son  of  David  and  Elizabeth  (Dillow) 
Mowery,  he    from  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  and 


WETAUG    PRECINCT. 


323 


she  of  Union  County.  The  parents  are  both 
living.  The}'  were  blessed  with  ten  children, 
seven  of  whom  are  living — Eli,  Polly  A.,  Ma- 
linda  J.,  George  W.,  Melia  L.,  David  W.  and 
Edward  C.  The  early  education  of  subject 
was  received  in  the  common  schools  of  Pulas- 
ki County ;  he  has  always  been  engaged  in 
farming.  He  was  married,  November  18,  1869, 
to  Amanda  J.  Cruse,  born  February  23,  1849, 
a  daughter  of  Peter  M.  Cruse.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Moweiy  have  five  children — Peter  H.,  born 
October  7,  1870  ;  Lewis  E.,  October  25,  1872  ; 
Addie  E.,  March  5,  1875  ;  Clara  D.,  February. 
20,  1878,  and  Cora  A.,  February  10,  1881. 
Mr.  Mowery  has  now  160  acres,  which  are  given 
to  general  farming.  He  and  wife  are  members 
of  the  German  Reformed  Church.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Democrat. 

SAMUEL  C.  PEELER,  farmer,  P.  0.  We- 
taug,  is  a  native  of  Union  County,  111.,  born 
October  7,  1851,  a  son  of  Jesse  and  Mary 
(Crite)  Peeler.  The  father  is  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  and  is  a  substantial  farmer  in  Union 
County,  111.  He  has  been  married  three  times, 
his  first  wife,  the  mother  of  the  subject  of  these 
lines,  having  died  about  1855.  His  second 
wife  was  a  Mrs.  Lockman,  and  his  third  Mary 
Miller.  The  parents  of  Samuel  C.  were  blessed 
with  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  living. 
The  former  received  what  little  education  the 
common  schools  of  Union  Count}-  aflTorded. 
He  took  up  farming  for  an  occupation,  and 
has  always  been  thus  engaged.  In  October. 
1877,  he  purchased  his  present  farm,  which 
consists  of  eighty  acres.  He  was  married  in 
March,  1877,  to  Martha  M.  Lackey,  a  daughter 
of  Joel  and  Lucinda  Lackey,  and  now  has  a 
family  of  three  children — Charlie,  born  Febru- 
ary 26,  1878;  Ora  L.,  born  July  26,  1879,  and 
Essie  J.,  born  February  -4,  1882.  Mr.  Peeler 
and  wife  are  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
In  politics,  he  votes  the  Republican  ticket. 

THOMAS  J.  PEELER,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Wetaug,   is   a   native   of  Pulaski  County,  111., 


born  June  1,  1861,  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Eliza- 
beth (Lackey-Meyers)  Peeler,  he  from  North 
Carolina  and  she  from  Tennessee.  The  father 
was  a  farmer,  a  son  of  Anthony  Peeler,  and 
was  first  married  to  Nancy  Sowers,  who  died 
September  13,  1852.  By  her  he  had  a  large 
family,  only  one  of  whom  is  living — Louvina. 
Tiie  lather  died  February  26,  1876.  The 
mother  is  still  living.  She  was  the  widow  of 
John  Meyers,  and  daughter  of  Thomas  and 
Elizabeth  (Barker)  Lackey.  The  early  educa- 
tion of  our  subject  was  received  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Pulaski  County.  He  started 
in  life  as  a  farmer,  assisting  his  father  on  the 
home  farm  up  to  the  time  of  the  latter's  death. 
He  now  has  157  acres,  which  are  given  to 
general  farming.  He  was  married.  May  9, 
1881,  to  Laura  Richey,  born  January  5,  1862, 
a  daughter  of  Eli  and  Eliza  (Hileman)  Richey. 
In  politics,  Mr.  Peeler  is  a  Republican. 

BENJAMIN  C.  PRUETT,  general  railroad 
and  express  agent,  Wetaug,  was  born  in  Mar- 
ion County,  111.,  September  29,  1851,  a  son  of 
Jarrett  W.  and  Susan  M.  (Corwin)  Pruett  ;  he 
is  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  she  of  Kentucky. 
They  are  farmers,  and  are  living  in  Kinmundy, 
111.,  and  are  the  parents  of  eight  children,  six 
of  whom  are  living — Francis  A.,  Meredith  M., 
Elizabeth  J.,  Benjamin  C,  Rosa  M.  and  Bur- 
well  S.  The  common  schools  of  his  native 
county  afforded  our  subject  a  fair  education, 
and  his  early  life  was  spent  in  assisting  his 
father  on  the  home  farm.  About  1877,  he 
commenced  learning  telegraphy  and  general 
railroading  at  Kinmundy,  111.,  and  in  Septem- 
ber. 1880,  took  charge  of  the  office  at  Wetaug, 
which  position  he  still  retains.  He  has  charge 
of  the  telegraph,  express  and  freight  depart- 
ments. He  is  noted  for  his  many  genial  quali- 
ties, and  is  held  in  popular  esteem  by  all,  He 
married  Nellie  B.,  born  January  16,  1862,  a 
daughter  of  Frederick  G.  and  Rebecca  J. 
(Nalley)  Ulen,  residents  of  Pulaski  County. 
Mr.  Pruett  is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F..  Don- 


324 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


gola.  No.  343.     Politically,  he  is  a  Republican. 

DAVID  RICHEY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Wetaug, 
was  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  November 
28,  1810,  the  eldest  child  of  Philip  and  Catha- 
rine (Walker)  Richey,  natives  of  same  county. 
The  father  was  a  farmer  ;  was  in  the  war  of 
1812,  and  died  in  August,  1816.  The  mother 
died  about  1857.  They  had  two  children, 
David  being  the  only  one  living.  The  mother 
was  married  a  second  time  to  George  Lingle, 
by  whom  she  had  seven  children,  six  of  whom 
are  living.  David  received  a  limited  education 
in  his  native  county,  and  at  sixteen  years  of 
age  he  started  out  for  himself.  He  clerked  in 
his  uncle's  store  for  five  years,  and  was  vari- 
ously engaged  till  coming  West  in  the  latter 
part  of  1835.  He  located  where  he  at  present 
resides.  He  was  married,  January  16,  1839,  to 
Elizabeth  Sowers,  a  daughter  of  Henry  and 
Sarah  (Linker)  Sowers.  She  died  March  26, 
1876.  the  mother  of  seven  children,  three  of 
whom  are  living — Eli  M.,  Mary  Ann  and  Dan- 
iel S.  Mr.  Richey  has  filled  many  offices  ;  is 
a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  is  Re- 
publican in  politics. 

DANIEL  S.  RICHEY,  farmer,  P.  0.  We- 
taug. was  born  May  30,  1847,  a  son  of  David 
Richey,  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  else- 
where. He  received  his  early  education  in  the 
common  schools  of  Pulaski  County,  and  has 
always  been  engaged  in  farming.  He  married 
Susan  S.  Rendleman,  a  daughter  of  D.  H. 
and  Catharine  (Hunsakei')  Rendleman,  and  has 
a  family  of  six  children — Effie  L.,  Marcus  L., 
Albert  A.,  Viola  V.,  Lillie  0.  and  Lyman  A. 
Mr.  Richey  has  eighty  acres  of  land,  and  en- 
gages in  general  farming.  He  and  wife  are 
members  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Republican. 

RICHARD  B.  SOWERS,  farmer,  P.  0.  We- 
taug, was  born  November  14,  1830,  in  Rowan 
County,  N.  C,  a  son  of  John,  born  January  12, 
1804,  and  Elizabeth  (Durham)  Sowers,  natives 
of  same  county.     The  father  was  a  farmer,  and 


was  married  a  second  time  to  Jane  Durham,  a 
sister  of  his  first  wife.  She  is  still  living.  The 
father  died  January  28,  1876,  and  the  mother 
of  our  subject  about  1847.  The  parents  were 
blessed  with  a  large  family,  four  of  whom  are 
living — R.  B.,  Eli,  Sarah  and  Elizabeth.  The 
subject  of  these  lines  received  his  early  school- 
ing, which  was  limited  to  the  old-fashioned 
schools  in  his  native  county,  and  he  afterward 
attended  a  little  in  Pulaski  County,  his  parents 
having  removed  from  North  Carolina  when  he 
was  about  nine  years  old.  In  early  life,  he 
served  a  three-3ear  apprenticeship  to  the  black- 
smith's trade,  and  afterward  ran  a  shop  in  Cob- 
den,  111.  He  was  married,  July  22,  1852,  to 
Catharine  M.  Rendleman,  born  October  8, 1833, 
a  daughter  of  D.  H.  and  Catharine  (Hunsaker) 
Rendleman,  both  of  whom  are  living.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sowers  are  the  parents  of  twelve  chil- 
dren, nine  of  whom  are  living — Mary  A.,  born 
November  18, 1858  ;  John  F.,  July  18,  1860  ; 
Ellen,  August  31,  1862  ;  Sarah  C,  October  1, 
1866  ;  Martin  L.,  December  27, 1868  ;  Lydia  A„ 
April.  12,  1870  ;  Jacob  A.,  March  18,  1872  ; 
Drake  H.,  June  26,  1874,  and  George  W.,  Octo- 
ber 15,  1877.  In  the  spring  of  1861,  Mr.  Sow- 
ers moved  to  his  present  place,  whei'e  he  has 
160  acres  of  land.  He  engages  in  the  various 
branches  of  farming.  August  11,  1862,  he  en- 
tered the  Eighty -fii-st  Illinois  Volunteer  Infan- 
try, Col.  DoUins,  and  afterward  Col.  A.  J.  Smith. 
He  was  captured  at  Brice's  Cross  Roads,  and 
lay  in  Andersonville  and  other  prisons  for 
nearly  six  months.  He  afterward  rejoined  his 
regiment  at  Montgomery-,  Ala.  Mr.  Sowers 
and  famil}-  are  members  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.     Politically,  he  is  a  Republican. 

FREDERICK  G.  ULEN,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Ullin,  111.,  was  born  June  19,  1831,  in 
Greenup  County,  Ky.,  a  son  of  Samuel  and 
Margaret  Ann  (Thompson)  Ulen.  He  was 
born  in  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  December  5,  1798, 
a  son  of  Benjamin  and  Catharine  (Carpenter) 
LTlen,  he  a  native  of  Holland,  and  she   born 


WETAUG  PRECINCT. 


325 


in  Hagerstown,  Md.  Samuel  Ulen  was  a  shoe- 
maker and  saddler  by  trade,  and  later  a 
farmer.  He  was  a  great  politician,  and  cast 
the  second  vote  in  Pulaski  County.  His 
father  had  willed  him,  amongst  other  effects, 
nine  negroes,  which  Samuel  set  at  liberty. 
He  moved  to  Missouri,  and  then  to  Alexan- 
der County  in  184G,  and  in  1851,  to  Pulaski 
County.  He  was  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  died 
in  1867.  His  wife  died  shortly  afterward. 
They  were  blessed  with  thirteen  children,  five 
of  whom  are  living — Hamilton  C,  F.  G.,  B.  L., 
Matthew  and  Thomas  J.  Our  subject's  early 
education  was  received  in  his  native  count}', 
and  he  afterward  went  to  school  in  Mis- 
souri and  also  in  Pulaski  County.  He 
remained  with  his  father  ;  engaged  in  farm- 
ing until  his  marriage,  which  occurred 
October  30,  1853.  He  wedded  Rebecca  J. 
Nalley,  born  May  30,  1831,  a  daughter  of 
Walter  and  Sarah  (Garner)  Nalley,  he  from 
Virginia,  and  she  from  Kentucky.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ulen  are  the  parents  of  eleven  children, 
eight  of  whom  are  living — Mary  A.,  born  Sep- 
tember 4,  1854  ;  James  A.  and  William  A., 
twins,  born  September  13,  1859  ;  Nellie  B., 
January  16,1862;  Sarah,  August  16,  1865; 
Samuel,  May  28,  1867;  Daniel  M.,  March  22, 
1870,  and  Frederick  J.,  July  20,  1872.  In 
1854,  Mr.  Ulen  purchased  200  acres  of  land  in 
Union  County,  since  which  he  has  bought  and 
sold  several  pieces  in  the  three  counties.  He 
now  has  105  acres,  which  are  given  to  general 
farming.     He  and  wife  are   members   of   the 


Methodist    Church,    and     politicall}-    he    is    a 
stanch  Republican. 

JAMES  WEBSTER,  proprietor  Wetaug 
Saw  Mills,  is  a  native  of  Scotland,  born  June 
18,  1830,  a  son  of  William  and  Mar}'  (Peter) 
Webster,  both  natives  of  the  same  country. 
The  father  was  a  stone-cutter.  He  died  in 
1842,  aged  fifty-two  years.  The  mother  died 
March  8,  1883,  aged  eighty-four  years.  The 
parents  were  blessed  with  eight  children,  seven 
of  whom  ai'e  living — Jeannette,  Elizabeth, 
James,  William,  Ann,  Mary  and  Charles.  Our 
subject  received  but  a  meager  education  in  his 
native  country.  He  learned  the  trade  of  his 
father.  He  came  to  America  in  1852,  and  for 
five  years  was  engaged  at  building  bridges,  etc., 
for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Compau}-, 
since  which  he  has  followed  saw-milling.  He 
ran  mills  above  Mound  City  for  about  thirteen 
3'ears,  at  Oaktown,  111.,  nine  years,  and  also  at 
Mill  Creek.  The  Wetaug  Mills,  of  which  he  is 
the  present  proprietor,  has  a  large  capacity, 
and  employs  several  hands.  Mr.  Webster 
has  been  married  three  times,  his  first  wife 
being  Emma  J.  Wethingtou,  who  died  in  1S61. 
By  her  he  had  three  children,  all  of  whom 
are  deceased.  His  second  marriage  occurred 
June  19,  1863.  He  wedded  Emma  Morris, 
who  died  in  1877.  Two  children  are  living  of 
this  marriage — Emma  and  Marj'.  He  married 
Ellen  Spires  November  8,  1879.  She  was  the 
widow  of  Charles  Spires,  and  daughter  of  N. 
M.  Farrin.  Mr.  Webster  is  a  member  of  the 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  Mound  City  Lodge.  In  politics, 
he  is  fi  Democrat. 


326 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


ULLIK    PREOINOT. 


GEORGE  T.  ADAMS,  mill  superintendent, 
Ullin,  was  born  in  Athol,  Worcester  Co.,  Mass., 
March  13,  1835,  and  was  a  son  of  Timothy  and 
Laura  (Twitche)  Adams,  the  father  being  a  dis- 
tant relative  of  President  John  Quincy  Adams. 
There  were  three  children — Rosanna,  wife  of 
Button  De  Wood,  of  Pana,  111.;  Achsah,  wife 
of  Emor}-  Gage,  of  Athol,  Mass.,  and  our  sub- 
ject, George  T.,  who  received  his  education  at 
the  schools  of  New  Salem,  Mass.,  and  then 
went  to  a  door  and  sash  manufactorj'  in  his 
native  town.  In  that  mill  he  remained  until 
1857.  and  then  came  to  Pulaski  County,  where 
he  worked  in  a  mill  owned  by  Dutton  DeWood. 
After  remaining  in  that  location  four  ^ears,  he 
returned  to  his  native  town.  At  the  latter 
place  he  also  remained  four  years  ;  then  in  1865 
came  back  to  Pulaski  County  and  commenced 
working  in  James  Bell's  mill,  where  he  now 
acts  as  General  Superintendent.  Mr.  Adams 
was  married,  February  24,  1866,  to  Mrs.  Jen- 
nie R.  Morford,  nee  Mangold,  who  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania.  This  lady  is  the  mother  of  four 
children  by  her  present  husband,  one  of  whom 
is  now  living — Roy,  born  February  24,  1873. 
Mrs.  Adams  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Our  subject  is  a  member  of 
Dongola  Lodge,  No.  581,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,and  of 
the  American  Legion  of  Honor.  In  politics,  is 
a  Republican. 

JON.  T.  ADKINS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ullin,  was 
born  in  Mai'ion  County,  Ala.,  March  15,  1853. 
He  was  the  eldest  of  six  children,  and  was  the 
son  of  Robert  and  Margaret  (Andetond)  Adkins. 
When  subject  was  six  j'ears  old,  his  parents 
moved  to  Tishomingo  County,  Miss.,  and  there 
he  was  permitted  to  attend  school  some.  His 
father  was  a  strong  Union  man,  left  the  South 
at  the  breaking-out  of   the  war  and  came  to 


Memphis,  Tenn.,  where,  February  4,  1863.  he 
joined  the  Fourth  Michigan  Volunteer  Infantry, 
Company  I,  Capt.  Ward.  He  remained  in  act- 
ive service  until  stricken  by  a  congestive  chill 
while  in  camp  at  Bowling  Green,  Ky.,  and  died 
August  9  of  the  same  j^ear.  Our  subject's 
mother  remained  in  Mississippi  until  the  spring 
of  1865,  and  then  came  to  Illinois,  where  she 
settled  in  Dongola  Precinct,  Union  Count}'. 
Here  subject  was  permitted  to  go  to  school 
some  also.  In  1873,  he  came  with  his  mother 
to  his  present  farm,  and  on  becoming  of  age 
assumed  control  of  it.  He  now  owns  eighth- 
acres  in  Section  24,  Town  14,  Range  1  west. 
Of  this  sixty  acres  are  in  cultivation.  Mr.  Ad- 
kins was  married,  February-  4,  1869,  to  Miss 
Harriet  Pruit,  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  and 
Elizabeth  (Johnson)  Pruit.  This  lady  died 
April  7,  1869,  and  he  was  married  the  second 
time,  October  4,  1871,  to  Amanda  Brown,  a 
daughter  of  Simeon  and  Margaret  Brown. 
This  lady  was  the  mother  of  one  child,  an  infant, 
born  September  5,  1873,  which  died  four  days 
afterward.  Mr.  Adkins  is  a  member  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  attends  the  Corinth 
Baptist  Church. 

A.  W.  BROWN,  merchant,  Ullin,  was  born 
in  Wabash  County,  Ind.,  December  26,  1848  ; 
is  a  son  of  Ephraim  and  Elizabeth  (Birds) 
Brown,  both  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
the  fifth  of  twelve  children,  and  received  but  a 
common  school  education  in  the  schools  of  his 
count}'.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  started  out 
for  himself  and  went  first  to  Buchanan,  Ber- 
rien Co.,  Mich.,  where  he  woi'^ed  on  a  railroad, 
and  then  after  a  year's  visit  at  his  native 
town,  he  came  to  Ullin,  111.  Here  he  first 
acted  as  sawyer  in  Morris,  Rood  &  Co.'s  mill; 
remained  with  them  three  years,  then  worked 


ULLIN    PRECINCT. 


327 


in  James  Bell's  mill  as  setter  ;  next  he  opened 
a  saloon  which  he  ran  for  about  three  years, 
and  then  embarked  in  the  mercantile  business. 
He  now  carries  a  stock  of  about  $3,000.  He 
has  a  farm  of  fort}'  acres,  located  in  Section  1 5, 
Town  14,  Range  1  west,  and  is  also  engaged 
quite  extensivel}'  in  buying  and  selling  lumber. 
Mr.  Brown  was  married  October  13,  1870,  to 
Alice  James,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Eliza 
(Garust)  James.  She  is  the  mother  of  three 
children — Bertie,  Lela  Gertrude  and  Maude. 
Our  subject  is  a  member  of  the  Mound  City 
Lodge,  K.  of  H.,  No.'  1847,  and  in  politics  votes 
the  Democratic  ticket. 

W.  H.  HICKS,  hotel-keeper,  Ullin,  is   a  son 
of  Angus  and   Sallie  (Myers)  Hicks,  and  was 
born 'in  Jessamine  County,  Ky.,  November  16, 
1842.     In  the  spring  of  1849,  his  father  moved 
to  Pekin,  111.,  and  after  a  short  residence  there 
came  to   Bloomington,  111.,  where  our  subject 
received    his   education.     In   1856,  his   father 
again  moved,  and  this  time  he  came  to  Ullin, 
where   he  is  still    living  at  the    ripe   age  of 
eighty-two.     The  son,  after  helping  his  father 
for   a   short   time  on  his  farm,  went  into  the 
lumber  and  shingle  business.  In  1870,  he  went 
to  Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business  for  a  number  of  years.     From 
that  point;  he  went  to  Frankfort,  Ky.,  where  he 
acted  as  agent  for  Archer  McKeen  &  Co.,  of 
Terre  Haute  ;  also  acted  as  agent  for  this  firm 
all  through  the  South  and  West.     In  1879,  he 
came  to  Ullin,  and  has  since  acted  as  head  saw- 
yer for  James  Bell.  In  1882,  he  also  commenced 
running  a  boarding  house.  Mr.  Hicks  was  mar- 
ried, June  29,  1870,  to  Miss  Anna  E.  Culver,  a 
daughter  of  John  Culver,  of  Detroit.     She  is 
the   mother   of  one  child.  Bertha  May,  born 
May  23,  1875.      Subject  enlisted  in  the  One 
Hundred  and  Forty-fourth   Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  September   24,    1864,  and  remained 
out   until  August,  1865.     In  politics,   he  is   a 
Democrat.     Mr.  Hicks  is  also  agent  of  several 
hundred  acres  of  good  land  in  Pulaski  precinct. 


RICHARD  HICKMAN,  merchant,  Ullin, 
was  born  in  Preston,  Union  Co.,  111.,  May  10, 
1851 ,  the  youngest  of  five  children,  and  the  son 
of  George  and  Louise  (Tingle)  Hickman.  When 
subject  was  six  j-ears  of  age,  his  father  moved 
to  Cairo,  and  after  a  year's  I'esidence  at  that 
point  came  to  Ullin,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
Our  subject  received  his  education  in  the 
schools  of  Pulaski  County,  and  then  commenced 
clerking  in  James  Bell's  store  at  Ullin.  He  is 
now  acting  as  manager  for  that  institution.  Mr. 
Hickman  was  married  December  15,  1871,  to 
Nellie  Tingle,  a  daughter  of  William  and  Isa- 
bella (McKee)  Tingle,  of  Jasper  County,  Mo. 
She  is  the  mother  of  two  children — Frank,  liv- 
ing, and  an  infant  that  died  two  days  after 
birth.  He  is  a  member  of  Elco  Lodge,  No. 
643,  I.  0.  0.  F.  In  politics,  Mr.  Hickman  gen- 
erally votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 

FRED  HUFFMEIER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ullin, 
was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  February  1, 
1846,  and  is  a  son  of  Clemer  and  Angel  HuflT- 
meier.  He  was  educated  in  his  native  tongue, 
but  since  his  arrival  in  this  country  has  also 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language. 
At  the  age  of  twenty -one,  he  came  to  this  coun- 
try. Landing  first  at  Baltimore,  he  proceeded 
directly  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  worked  in  a 
varnish  house.  It  was  here  that  he  attended 
a  night  school,  and  gained  the  first  rudiments 
of  the  English  language.  From  Cincinnati  he 
went  to  Livingston  County,  111.,  and  there  fol- 
lowed farming.  Leaving  that  point  at  the  end 
of  two  3'ears,  he  came  to  Villa  Ridge,  Pulaski 
County.  Here  he  learned  to  make  staves  under 
Mr.  Younghaney.  He  worked  for  this  man 
three  years,  and  then  started  out  for  himself 
After  a  lapse  of  eight  years,  in  which  he  did 
quite  a  successful  business,  he  left  Villa  Ridge 
and  came  to  Ullin  Precinct,  in  1876,  where  he 
bought  a  farm  of  120  acres,  in  Section  24, 
Town  14,  Range  1  west.  Of  this,  about  eighty 
acres  are  in  cultivation.  He  still  follows  his 
trade  some.     Mr.  Huflfmeier  was  married,  De- 


338 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


cember  2-i,  1874,  to  Ferbin  Adkins,  a  daughter 
of  Robert  and  Margaret  (Andetond)  Adkins. 
She  has  been  the  mother  of  two  children,  both  of 
whom  are  now  dead.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church.  In  politics,  he  generally 
votes  the  Republican  ticket. 

J.  L.  LENTZ,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ullin.  The 
father  of  our  subject,  Paul  Lentz,  was  born  in 
Rowan  County,  N.  C,  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob 
and  Catherine  (Clutts)  Lentz,  both  of  German 
descent.  When  the  father  was  six  3-ears  old, 
his  parents  moved  to  what  was  then  Alexander 
County,  now  Pulaski  County,  and  settled  about 
a  mile  west  of  Wetaug.  The  former,  as  soon 
as  he  was  able,  commenced  life  for  himself  on 
a  farm  of  forty  acres  in  Dongola  Precinct, 
Union  County.  There  he  married  Elizabeth 
Crite,  a  daughter  of  George  Crite,  a  native  of 
North  Carolina.  This  union  resulted  in  eight 
children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living — S.  R. 
(now  in  Areola,  111.),  J.  L.  (our  subject),  Daniel 
(in  Ullin  Precinct),  Tabitha  Ann  (wife  of  H.  J. 
Hudson,  of  Ullin  Precinct),  Andrew  (in  busi- 
ness in  Areola,  III.)  and  Silas  (farming  in  Min- 
nesota). J.  L.,  our  subject,  was  born  in  Don- 
gola Precinct,  Union  County,  June  15,  1849. 
His  education  was  received  in  the  schools  of 
his  township,  and  at  an  earl}-  age  he  com- 
menced helping  his  father  on  tlie  home  farm. 
As  soon  as  he  was  of  age,  at  his  father's  re- 
quest, the  son  took  charge  of  the  home  farm. 
In  1874,  he  sold  the  old  homestead  and  came 
to  Pulaski  County,  where  he  settled  on  a  farm 
of  157  acres  in  Section  29,  Town  14,  Range  1 
«  east.  Of  this  tract  there  are  about  110 
acres  in  cultivation  and  four  acres  in  orchard. 
The  father  is  now  living  with  his  son,  at  an  ad- 
vanced age.  The  mother  died  March  8,  1883, 
at  the  residence  of  her  son.  Our  subject  was 
married,  April  27,  1871,  to  Julia  E.  Mowry,  a 
daughter  of  Daniel  Mowiy.  This  lady  is  the 
mother  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now 
living-  Essie  Olive  and  Paul  Alexander.     Mr. 


Lentz  is  a  member  of  the  New  Hope  Lutheran 
Church,  and  in  politics  is  a  Republican. 

J.  B.  McCLARAN,  mill  foreman,  Ullin,  was 
born  in  Corydon,  Harrison  Co.,  Ind.,  March  27, 
1833,  and  is  a  son  of  James  and  Agnes  (Fair) 
McClaran,  both  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  He 
received  a  slight  schooling  at  Corydon,  but  is 
mainl}-  self-educated.  As  soon  as  he  was  able, 
he  apprenticed  himself  at  a  saw  mill  at  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  where  he  remained  until  1856.  At 
the  expiration  of  that  year,  he  commenced  trav- 
eling as  a  lumber  agent  for  a  Louisv  lie  firm. 
As  his  travels  were  mainl}-  through  the  South, 
he  was  compelled  to  resign  at  the  breakrng-out 
of  the  war,  and  in  June,  1861,  he  came  to 
Ullin,  111.,  where  he  remained  most  of  the  time 
since.  He  now  acts  as  foreman  at  the  mill. 
Our  subject  was  married  April  28,  1862,  to 
Caroline  McCleer}-,  a  daughter  of  Robert  and 
Eleanor  (Dunlop)  McCleery,  of  Sharon,  Penn. 
This  lady  is  the  mother  of  four  children,  all  of 
whom  are  now  dead.  Mr.  McClaran  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Legion  of  Honor,  and  in 
politics  is  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  S.  MORRIS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ullin, 
whose  portrait  appears  elsewhere  in  this  work, 
and  who  is  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  the 
county,  was  born  in  Chester  County,  Penn., 
January  15,  1835.  He  was  a  son  of  Enos  and 
Jane  (Cadwallader)  Morris,  and  the  ninth  of 
eleven  children.  The  mother  was  a  direct  de- 
scendant of  old  Gen.  Cadwallader,  of  Revolu- 
tionary fame.  He  received  the  education  that 
the  schools  of  his  native  county  afforded  at  that 
time,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  made  his 
start  in  life.  He  first  went  to  Philadelphia, 
where  he  learned  to  be  a  bricklayer.  This  trade 
he  followed  for  about  eight  years,  first  under 
his  instructor,  then  at  Bloomington,  111.,  next 
at  Memphis,  Teun.,  and  then  at  Cairo,  III., 
where  he  continued  at  this  occupation  until 
1862,  when  he  opened  a  lumber  yard  and  did 
business  there  for  a  number  of  3'ears,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Kensey  &  Morris.     In  1870,  he 


ULLIN    PRECINCT. 


329 


came  to  UUin  Precinct,  and  purchased  the  in- 
terest of  Mr.  St.  Leger,  in  the  large  saw  mill  at 
Poletown.  The  firm  was  then  known  as  Mor- 
ris, Rood  &  Co.,  and  consisted  of  our  subject, 
E.  N.  Rood,  of  Bloomington,  and  J.  A.  P.  Ten- 
Eyck,  of  Williamsport,  Penn.  The  mill  is 
located  about  a  mile  west  of  Ullin,  and  is  one 
of  the  largest  in  the  county.  This  mill  con- 
tinued in  operation  until  May,  1883,  when,  ow- 
ing to  the  scarcity  of  timber  it  was  compelled 
to  shut  down.  Mr.  Morris  now  confines  him- 
self principally  to  farming,  owning  2,800  acres 
lying  in  Sections  9,  19,  20,  22,  28,  29,  30,  31 
and  32,  of  Town  1-1  south,  Range  1  west,  and 
in  Sections  5  and  6  of  Town  15  south.  Range  1 
west.  Of  this  about  300  acres  are  in  cultivation. 
In  1876,  he  erected  a  store  room  on  his  place, 
and  now  carries  a  stock  of  $4,000  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  his  employes.  Our  subject 
was  married,  April  9,  1862,  to  Mary  Jane  Starr, 
a  native  of  Mt.  Pulaski,  Logan  Co.,  111.,  and 
the  daughter  of  Barton  and  Rebecca  (Patter- 
son) Starr,  the  mother  a  native  of  Virginia,  and 
the  father  of  Kentucky.  She  was  the  mother 
of  four  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing—Enos,  Mary  and  Robert.  This  lady  died 
February  26,  1876.  Mr.  Morris  is  a  member 
of  Alexander  Lodge,  No.  224,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  of 
Cairo,  III,  and  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
While  a  resident  in  Cairo,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Common  Council,  and  since  his  advent  in 
this  county  has  served  as  County  Commis- 
sioner. 

H.  L.  NICKENS,  farmer,  P.  0.  UUin,  was 
born  in  Wilson  County,  Tenn.,  July  27,  1827, 
and  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Martha  (Holton) 
Nickens.  He  was  the  fifth  of  nine  children, 
four  of  whom  are  now  living — Harvey,  E.  C. 
G.,  Hannah  and  H.  L.  The  first  named  is  a 
resident  of  Marshall  County,  Tenn.,  and  the 
others  of  Ullin  Precinct.  Subject  received  his 
education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  county, 
and  then  worked  on  the  home  farm  until 
seventeen,  when  he  commenced  life  for  himself 


as  a  rafter  down  the  Duck  River,  and  thence  to 
the  Tennessee,  and  then  on  to  New  Orleans. 
In  this  connection  he  followed  the  river  for 
about  twelve  years.  In  1857,  he  came  to  Pu- 
laski County,  and  settled  near  his  present  home. 
He  now  owns  100  acres  in  Section  23,  Town 
14,  Range  1  west,  of  which  about  sixty  acres 
are  in  cultivation,  and  eight  in  orchard.  Mr. 
Nickens  was  married,  August  13,  1862,  to  Mrs. 
Phoebe  Ann  Brown,  ?iee  Ellsworth,  a  native  of 
Indiana.  This  union  resulted  in  one  child — 
Everett  Holton,  who  was  born  June  17,  1863, 
and  died  the  following  monty.  Subject  is  a 
member  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church. 
He  has  served  his  township  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace  for  the  last  sixteen  years,  and  in  politics 
he  generally  votes  the  Democratic  ticket. 

J.  SHICK,  lime-kiln,  Ullin,  was  born  June 
22,  1848,  in  Chester  County,  Penn.  He  was 
the  fourth  of  eleven  children,  and  the  son  of 
Amos  and  Elizabeth  (Hook)  Shick.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  in  his  native  county,  and 
in  1868  came  West  and  settled  in  Union 
County,  111.  The  first  work  he  did  in  this 
county  was  upon  a  farm.  He  did  not  remain 
there  long,  but  soon  commenced  working  for 
Finch  &  Shick  in  their  lime-kiln  there.  With 
this  firm  our  subject  remained  four  years,  and 
then  went  to  Texas,  where  he  remained  until 
1879.  In  the  fall  of  that  year,  he  came  to 
Ullin,  and  assumed  control  of  the  lime-kihi 
owned  by  C.  Shick  &  Co.,  the  head  of  the  firm 
residing  at  Reading,  Penn.  There  are  two 
kilns,  the  combined  capacity  of  which  is  five 
hundred  bushels  a  day.  The  enterprise  gives 
employment  to  about  fifteen  men.  In  connec- 
tion with  it,  there  is  a  cooper  shop  where  the 
barrels-  necessary  for  shipment  are  manufact- 
ured. Mr.  Shick  also  owns  240  acres  in  Sec- 
tion 14,  Town  14,  Range  1  west,  and  of  this 
about  eighty  acres  are  in  cultivation.  Our  sub- 
ject was  married,  October  23,  1879,  to  Mary 
Elizabeth  Frick,  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and 
Mary    Frick,  deceased,    but    old    residents  of 


330 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Union  County.  Mrs.  Shick  is  a  member  of 
the  Anna  Presbyterian  Church.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Shick  is  a  Democrat. 

JOHx\  A.  SICKLING,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ullin. 
The  earliest  settler  in  this  precinct  is  the  man 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  This  gentle- 
man was  born  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  February 
5,  1828,  and  was  a  son  of  Casper  and  Eve 
Sickling.  He  received  an  education  in  his 
native  tongue,  and  has  since  his  advent  to  this 
country  obtained  a  knowledge  of  the  English 
language.  In  the  old  country,  he  also  learned 
the  cabinet-maker's  trade.  August  20,  1846, 
he  landed  in  New  Orleans,  and  from  there  came 
to  Columbus,  Ky.,  where  he  worked  on  a  farm 
for  about  eighteen  months  ;  he  then  went  to 
Clinton,  Ky.,  and  in  that  town  he  followed  his 
trade  for  several  years.  In  1 854,  he  came  to 
Ullin,  and  at  first  worked  at  the  carpenter's 
trade,  putting  up,  among  other  buildings,  the 
hotel  at  that  place.  In  1862,  he  purchased  his 
present  farm  of  100  acres  in  Section  32,  Town 
14,  Range  1  east.  Of  this,  there  are  about 
sixty  acres  in  cultivation.  He  still  follows  his 
trade  some.  In  1882,  he  erected  a  store  room 
on  his  farm,  where  he  now  carries  a  stock  of 
about  $500,  supplying  his  neighbors  with  the 
necessities  of  life.  He  was  married,  January  7, 
1849,  to  Eliza  Hudson,  a  native  of  Clinton,  Ky., 
and  a  daughter  of  Richard  and  Mary  (Bald- 
win) Hudson.  This  lady  is  the  mother  of  four 
children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living — Matilda 
(wife  of  S.  C.  Wilson,  of  Ullin),  and  John  H. 
(now  farming  upon  part  of  his  father's  place). 
Our  subject  is  a  member  of  Caledonia  Lodge, 
No.  47,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  in  politics  is  a 
Republican. 

WILLIAM  F.  STONE,  M.  D.,  physician, 
Ullin.  The  leading  physiciau  of  this  section 
of  Pulaski  County,  and  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  brief  sketch,  was  born  in  Pe- 
tersburg, Ind.,  June  23,  1845,  and  was  a  son 
of  William  F.  and  Maria  (Lamb)  Stone.  The 
father  was  a  native   of  Dresden,  Saxony,  and 


the  mother  of  Indiana.  Our  subject  received 
his  education  at  the  Oakland  High  School,  and 
upon  finishing  his  schooling  he  taught  two 
years  in  his  native  county,  and  then  clerked 
for  a  time  in  a  store  in  his  native  town.  In 
1866,  he  came  to  Ullin,  and  first  worked  in  a 
saw  mill.  In  1873,  he  commenced  reading 
medicine  with  Dr.  A.  P.  Greer,  who  was  then 
at  that  point,  but  is  now  in  business  at  Elco, 
Alexander  County.  After  three  years'  study 
there,  he  supplemented  that  with  a  course  of 
lectures  at  the  American  College  in  St.  Louis. 
Graduating  from  that  institution  in  1877,  he 
returned  to  Ullin,  where  he  has  since  practiced, 
except  during  the  winters  of  1879  and  1880, 
when  he  attended  lectures  at  the  Medical  De- 
partment of  the  Northwestern  University  of 
Chicago.  He  is  now  the  only  physician  in  that 
section,  and  is  constantly  increasing  in  prac- 
tice. He  was  married  June  14,  1870,  to  Mrs. 
Mary  McElroy,  a  daughter  of  Angus  and 
Sallie  (Myers)  Hicks,  of  Ullin  Precinct.  The 
Doctor  is  a  member  of  Dongola  Lodge,  No. 
581,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  Dongola  Lodge,  No. 
643,  I.  0.  0.  F.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

J.  R.  WILLIAMS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Ullin,  is  a 
native  of  Murray  County,  Ga.,  and  was  born 
there  May  26,  1856.  He  is  a  son  of  John  and 
Margaret  Williams.  His  education  was  re- 
ceived at  the  schools  of  his  native  State.  At 
the  age  of  eighteen,  he  left  home  and  started 
out  in  life  for  himself.  Making  his  waj'  to  Il- 
linois, he  came  to  Anna.  Remaining  there 
only  a  short  time,  he  came  next  to  Pulaski 
County,  where  he  worked  on  different  farms  in 
this  precinct.  In  1878,  he  commenced  to  farm 
on  a  rented  place,  and  in  1882  he  purchased 
his  present  location.  It  is  a  farm  of  ninety-six 
acres,  located  in  Section  25,  Town  14,  Range  1 
west.  He  has  about  thirty-five  acres  in  culti- 
vation, and  three  in  orchard.  Mr.  Williams 
was  married,  January  2,  1881,  to  Mary  Whir- 
low,  a  daughter  of  Alexander  Whirlow,  a  native 


PULASKI    PRECINCT. 


331 


of  North  Carolina.  This  lady  is  the  mother  of 
one  child,  born  December  2,  1882.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  New  Hope  Methodist  Episcopal 


Church.     In  politics,  he   generally   votes  the 
Democratic  ticket. 


PULASKI  PEECIE'OT. 


J.  L.  ALDRED,  farmer,  P.  0.  Pulaski,  was 
born  in  Switzerland  County,  Ind.,  August  19, 
1839,  to  Alfred  G.  and  Harriet  M.  (Lyons)  Al- 
dred.  He  was  born  in  Ohio  November  1, 1803  ; 
she  in  Indiana  about  ten  years  later.  Her  peo- 
ple had  emigrated  from  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  to 
Indiana.  He  came  to  Indiana  when  a  young 
man.  Thev  were  married  there  about  1836. 
To  ihem  ten  children  were  born,  seven  of  whom 
still  survive.  His  occupation  was  that  of 
blacksmith,  but  he  also  farmed.  From  Indi- 
ana the}'  moved  to  Ohio,  where  they  remained 
for  about  four  years,  then,  in  the  winter  of 
1854,  to  this  county,  where  he  died  in  1870. 
She  still  survives.  Our  subject  was  educated 
in  common  schools,  then  attended  select  school 
in  Patriot,  Ind.,  for  three  3'ears.  His  occupa- 
tion has  been  that  of  fai'mer.  February,  1869, 
he  was  married  to  Ellen  Lackey,  daughter  of 
Alfred  Lackey,  an  old  settler  in  this  county. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Aldred  have  five  children — Al- 
fred Wesley,  Abbie  L.,  Charles,  Elmer  and 
Laura.  He  came  to  his  present  farm  since 
marriage.  It  contains  160  acres,  130  of  which 
are  in  good  state  of  cultivation.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Villa  Ridge  Lod*e,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.;  is 
Democratic  in  politics.  For  one  full  term  he 
was  County  Surveyor,  and  also  served  almost 
the  entire  term  to  fill  out  vacancy. 

A.  W.  LEWIS,  merchant,  Pulaski,  was 
born  in  Pulaski  County,  near  Villa  Ridge, 
Januar}-  2,  1850,  to  Alfred  E.  and  Sarah 
(Piercefield)  Lewis.  He  was  born  February  24, 
1811,  and  died  December  11,  1851,  in  this 
county.     She  was  born  April  20,  1814,  and  died 


November  29, 1859.  They  were  married  Janu- 
ary 2,  1831,  and  were  the  parents  of  eight 
children,  four  of  whom  are  still  living,  our 
subject,  being  the  youngest  of  the  family. 
During  his  life,  he  followed  diflFerent  occupa- 
tions. Being  an  excellent  blacksmith,  also 
understanding  the  ph3'sician's  profession,  and 
had  also  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business. 
His  place  of  residence  was  also  varied.  He 
and  wife  were  born  in  Middle  Tennessee.  Their 
two  oldest  children  were  born  in  Kentuck}-; 
four  while  living  in  different  parishes  in  Louis- 
iana— one  in  Hines  County,  Miss.,  and  our 
subject  in  this  count}'.  After  her  husband's 
death,  Mrs.  Lewis  and  her  two  sons  moved  to 
Missouri,  where  she  bought  a  small  farm,  and, 
in  1858,  was  there  married  to  her  second  hus- 
band, W.  W.  Ward,  and  a  short  time  afterward 
they  moved  to  Alexander  County,  111.,  where 
she  died.  For  some  time,  then,  our  subject  lived 
with  his  oldest  sister,  Mrs.  Emma  Ainger,  near 
Villa  Ridge,  then  with  another  sister,  Mrs.  W.  R. 
Hooppaw,  then  with  his  brother,  wlio  then  resided 
at  Villa  Ridge.  Here  our  subject  remained  till 
starting  out  for  himself  His  employment  since 
has  been  various.  First  in  a  saw-mill  in  Cairo, 
then  contracting  for  railroad  cross  ties,  which 
he  made  at  Villa  Ridge.  Then  he  engaged  in 
his  present  business,  but  only  as  a  clerk  in  the 
store  of  W.  R.  Hooppaw  in  Villa  Ridge  ;  then  as 
manager  of  a  store  in  Pulaski  for  Mr.  Hooppaw. 
The  close  confinement  of  the  store  room  caused 
his  health  to  fail,  so  he  went  on  the  road  as 
traveling  salesman,  but  only  remained  at  that 
business  for  six  months,  when  he  again  began 


332 


BIOGRAPHICAL; 


clerking  for  Mr.  Hooppaw  in  Villa  Ridge  ; 
then  again  came  to  Pulaski  to  3Ir.  H.'s  store 
there  ;  then  for  Mr.  G.  W.  Bonner,  who  bought 
out  Mr.  Hooppaw.  Our  subject,  however, 
remained  with  Mr.  Bonner  onl}'  for  a  short 
time,  when  he  borrowed  mone}-  and  opened  a 
stock  of  goods  in  Pulaski  November  27,  1875. 
His  stock  cost  $620 ;  his  first  da3-'s  sales 
were  $11.  He  has  steadily  increased  his 
business  since,  till  now  he  occupies  a  building 
22x100  feet,  one  half  of  which  is  two  stories- 
His  average  stock  of  goods  on  hand  is  about 
$9,000  to  $10,000 ;  annual  sales  reaching 
about  $20,000  to  $25,000.  His  stock  includes 
everything  in  general  mei'chandise,  drugs,  etc. 
Mr.  Lewis  has  also  been  P.  M.  since  being  in 
the  village  ;  is  also  interested  in  a  garden  farm. 
Has  houses  and  lots  which  he  rents  in  Pulaski, 
property-  in  Villa  Ridge,  etc.  November  13, 
1870,  he  was  married  to  Miss  E.  F.  Butler.  She 
was  born  April  8,  1850,  to  L.  D.  and  Pernina 
(Whkklen)  Butler.  He  was  born  in  Maine, 
she  in  Clermont  County,  Ohio.  He  died  in 
this  count}-.  She  is  still  living.  By  trade  he 
was  a  carpenter.  In  1861,  the}'  moved  from 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  to  Villa  Ridge.  They  were 
the  parents  of  ten  children,  seven  of  whom  still 
sui'vive.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lewis  have  six  chil- 
dren—Everett 0.,  Otho  0.,  Eli  U.,  Adda  M., 
William  G.  and  ^Myrtle  May.  In  politics,  Mr. 
Lewis  has  ever  been  Republican. 

DR.  E.  M.  LOW,  farmer  and  physician,  P.  0. 
Pulaski,  was  born  in  Essex  County,  N.  Y.,  July 
7,  1825,  to  Wilson  K.  and  Harriet  (Stone)  Low, 
both  of  whom  were  born  in  New  York.  The 
ancestors  of  the  Low  famil}*  in  this  country 
were  three  brothers,  who  came  to  America  in 
the  English  Arm}'.  One  settled  in  Virgina.  one 
in  New  Jersey  and  one  in  New  Yoi-k.  The 
grandfather  of  our  subject  was  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  At  the  age  of  twenty  years,  our 
subject  enlisted  in  the  army,  and  served  for 
three  years  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  during 
his  service  he  received  three  wounds,  and  the 


scars  still  remain,  showing  how  narrowly  he 
escaped  losing  his  life.  January  29,  1855,  he 
was  married  in  this  county  to  Mary  A.  R.  An- 
yan.  She  was  born  in  Obion  County,  Tenn., 
daughter  of  John  Anyan,  who  settled  in  this 
State  at  an  early  date.  In  1858,  he  settled  in 
Pulaski,  and  followed  his  profession  of  physi- 
cian. At  the  commencement  of  the  war,  he 
was  a  strong  supporter  of  the  Government,  and 
helped  raise  the  United  States  flag  at  Pulaski 
as  the  troops  first  went  through  for  the  South. 
April  26,  1861,  our  subject  entered  the  service 
of  the  country  ;  was  chosen  as  First  Lieutenant 
of  the  Prentice  Guards.  They  served  for  three 
months.  Then  our  subject  raised  a  company 
for  the  Ninth  Illinois  Infantry,  and  was  made 
Captain  of  Company  G.  He  served  in  that  ca- 
pacity till  the  spring  of  1863,  when  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  oflflce  of  Major  of  the  Fifty -fifth 
United  States  Colored  Infantry  ;  served  till 
June  1,  1864,  and  then  was  promoted  Lieuten- 
ant Colonel  of  that  regiment.  February  28, 
1865,  he  resigned  on  account  of  physical  disa- 
bility. June  10,  1864,  he  had  received  a  se- 
vere wound  in  the  left  arm.  When  the  Doctor 
entered  the  service,  his  wife  quit  housekeeping 
and  went  to  Cairo,  and  for  three  months  gave 
her  time  and  money  toward  the  care  of 
the  sick,  not  receiving  any  recompense  in 
a  money  value.  Since  coming  from  the 
army,  the  Doctor  has  given  most  of  his  atten- 
tion to  farming,  but  practices  to  some  extent. 
Although  the  Doctor  and  wife  never  have  had 
children  of  their  own,  they  have  reared  two 
sons  and  two  daughters,  and  have  the  third  boy 
now  rearing.  In  politics,  the  Doctor  is  and 
always  has  been  a  stanch  Republican. 

S.  J.  MOORE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Pulaski.  Among 
the  more  active,  upright,  and  highly  respected 
citizens  of  Pulaski  Precinct  is  Mr.  S.  J.  Moore, 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch.  He  was  born 
on  the  3d  of  June,  1836,  to  John  and  A.  M. 
(Wallace)  Moore.  The  elder  Moore  was  born 
in    Edinburgh,  Scotland  ;  was   twice  married, 


PULASKI    PRECINCT. 


333 


his  marriage  to  Miss  Wallace  occurring  when 
he  was  sixty  years  of  age ;  he  emigrated  to 
America  and  settled  in  Iredell  County,  N.  C, 
and  there  followed  the  occupation  of  a  planter, 
and  was  Judge  of  the  same  county ;  he  died  at 
the  age  of  ninety  three  years.  S.  J.  Moore  was 
reared  on  the  farm,  and  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools.  In  1851,  he  emigrated  to  Illinois 
and  settled  in  Union  Count}',  and  engaged  in 
farming.  He  was  for  three  years  the  station 
agent  for  the  Illinois  Central  R.  R.  Co.  at 
Makanda,  and  was  afterward  transferred  to 
Mound  City  Junction,  where  he  acted  as  opera- 
tor and  agent  for  the  compan}'.  In  1865,  he 
resigned  his  position  and  went  to  Ozark  Mount- 
ains, Mo.,  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  and  re- 
mained there  nearly  two  years,  when  he  re- 
turned to  Pulaski  Count}'  and  engaged  in  the 
railroad  tie  trade  in  the  employ  of  Porter  field 
Bros.,  who  were  at  the  time  furnishing  ties 
for  the  South  Division  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad.  He  afterward  engaged  in  the  saw- 
mill business  for  one  year  and  sold  his  mill  to 
H.  H.  Porterfield.  He  then  again  resumed  his 
position  as  telegraph  operator,  working  for 
different  companies  through  the  State,  and  was 
agent  and  operator  at  Pulaski  Station  for 
about  ten  years,  resigning  his  position  in  April, 
1880,  when  he  went  to  Leadville,  Colo.,  and 
remained  for  a  few  months.  For  the  last  three 
years,  he  has  been  giving  his  attention  to  his 
farm  and  timber  business  ;  his  farm  contains 
320  acres  of  land.  He  is  also  a  breeder  of  fine 
stock.  In  1861,  he  married  Miss  Martha  A. 
Ardery,  who  died  in  1802.  In  1865,  he  mar- 
ried a  second  time,  Miss  Cynthia  A.  Littlejohn, 
who  has  borne  him  six  children,  viz.:  Ida,  Will- 
iam A.,  Franklin,  Ada,  John  and  Burd.  Mr. 
Moore  is  an  active  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A. 
M.,  at  Cairo,  and  a  stanch  Democrat. 

PAT  MULLEN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Pulaski, 
was  born  September  1,  1833,  on  an  English 
man-of-war,  between  Bermuda  and  Jamaica. 
His  father,  who  held   a  position  in  the  English 


Nav}-,  died  when  our  subject  was  small,  leaving 
a  widow  and  two  sons.  Our  subject  was 
mostly  raised  in  Ireland  and  educated  there. 
In  1853,  he  came  to  America,  and  began  at 
railroading  in  New  York,  Ohio  and  Illinois. 
For  a  number  of  years,  he"  worked  as  common 
laborer  and  then  as  boss.  He  came  to  this 
county  on  the  first  passenger  coach  over  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  about  six  months,  has  lived  here  since.  For 
nine  years  he  was  foreman  on  the  section  at  Pu- 
laski. When  coming  to  this  country,  he  was  a 
poor  boy,  but  applied  himself  to  work,  and  used 
econom}-,  and  so  has  made  a  good  property. 
During  the  time  he  was  section  boss,  he  bought 
eighty  acres  of  woodland,  and  in  1866  moved 
on  to  it,  first  in  a  little  shant}',  but  iu  1867  built 
his  present  residence.  His  farm  now  consists 
of  160  acres,  about  ninety  of  which  are  in  a 
good  state  of  cultivation.  He  gives  most  of 
his  attention  to  raising  of  grain,  stock,  etc., 
but  also  raises  some  fruits.  In  1857,  he  was 
married  in  this  county  to  Sarah  J.  Smith.  She 
was  raised  in  this  count}',  and  died  October  -1, 
1873.  The  result  of  this  union  was  the  follow- 
ing-named children  :  Annie,  Catherine,  Marga- 
ret, Lizzie,  Sarah  and  two  deceased.  Up  to 
the  time  of  the  war,  he  was  Democratic  in 
politics,  but  has  since  been  Republican.  He 
was  one  of  the  few  lo3'al  men  who  raised  the 
stars  and  stripes  as  the  first  soldiers  passed 
through  Pulaski  for  the  South.  He  contrib- 
uted his  time  and  money  toward  raising  Com- 
pany C,  Thirty-eight  Illinois  Infantr}-,  and  his 
brother,  James  Mullen,  was  chosen  Second 
Lieutenant,  entering  November  11,  1861.  He 
was  afterward  promoted  to  First  Lieutenant, 
then  to  Captain  of  the  same  company.  Then 
was  commissioned  First  Lieutenant  of  the 
First  Regiment  of  United  States  Veteran  En- 
gineers, serving  till  September  26,  1865;  then 
was  mustered  out  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 

F.  M.  SPENCER,  station   agent,   operator, 
Pulaski.     The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 


334 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


October  24,  1856,  in  Wisconsin,  to  E.  T.  and 
Sarah  J.  (Taylor)  Spencer.  He  was  born  in 
New  York,  but  she  in  Canada,  and  was  reared 
in  Vermont.  He  was  reared  in  Broome  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  and  his  father  still  lives  there  at  about  the 
ageof  eighty-seven  years.  In  1862,  our  sub- 
ject with  his  parents  came  to  this  county,  and 
have  resided  here  since.  By  trade,  his  father 
is  a  millwright,  but  has  kept  the  family  on  a 
farm  most  of  the  time.  Both  of  the  parents 
are  still  living,  and  have  two  sons  and  two 
daughters  living.  Our  subject  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  this  county.  In 
1876,  he  began  clerking  in  a  store  in  Pulaski, 
where  he  remained  for  four  years.  August, 
1880,  he  began  learning  telegraphing  at  this 
otfice.  He  studied  here  for  four  months,  then 
began  work  at  Mound  City  Junction,  and  re- 
mained in  that  place  till  August,  1881,  when 
he  was  sent  to  Odin,  but  four  months  later  he 
was  returned  to  the  office  at  Pulaski,  and  has 
remained  since,  attending  to  the  company's 
work  here,  operator,  station  agent,  express 
agent,  etc.  May  23,  1883,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Tillie  Hildebrant.  She  was  an  orphan 
girl,  but  had  lived  here  since  childhood.  In 
politics.  Mr.  Spencer  is  a  Republican,  as  his 
father  and  grandfather  also  are. 


WILLIAM  M.  STRINGSR,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Pulaski,  was  born  in  Livingston  Count}-,  Ky., 
Januar}-  3,  1845,  to  William  and  Mary  String- 
er, both  of  whom  still  survive,  residing  in  this 
county.  The}'  have  two  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters now  living.  When  our  subject  was  about 
nineteen  years  of  age,  his  parents  moved  to 
Missouri,  whei'e  they  remained  till  Jul}',  1862, 
then  came  to  this  county,  and  have  been  here 
ever  since.  His  opportunities  for  an  education 
were  very  limited,  not  getting  to  attend  more 
than  five  months  during  his  life.  His  occupa- 
tion has  alwa}s  been  that  of  farmer,  and  he 
has  been  successful  in  his  chosen  vocation. 
September  28,  1869,  he  was  married  in  this 
county  to  Mary  Jane  Kelly.  She  was  born 
in  this  county,  daughter  of  Rev.  M.  B.  Kelly, 
a  minister  in  the  Seventh-Day  Baptist  denom- 
ination. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Springer  have  four  chil- 
dren living — Francis  M.,  Nancy  Louisa,  Annie 
and  L.  H.  In  1869,  he  settled  on  his  present 
farm,  which  contains  120  acres,  seventy  of 
which  are  in  a  good  state  of  cultivation.  He 
gives  his  attention  to  general  farming,  fruit 
and  vegetable  growing.  When  first  beginning 
for  himself,  it  was  by  days'  work.  By  energy 
and  industry,  he  has  made  a  good  farm.  He 
and  wife  are  members  of  the  Seventh-Day  Bap- 
tist Church.     In  politics,  he  is  Republican. 


BURKYILLE   PRECIXOT. 


DR.  JAMES  H.  CRAIN,  of  Burkville  Pre- 
cinct, was  the  pioneer  of  a  considerable  immi- 
gration to  Pulaski  County,  from  Clark  County, 
Ohio,  of  Crains,  Minnichs,  Wilsons,  Millers, 
Fearnsides,  Dillers,  Hogendoblers,  Shirachs, 
Davidsons  and  Leidichs,  who  now  constitute  a 
considerable  and  influential  part  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  Doctor  was  descended  from  pio- 
neers to  the  New  World,  fi'om  the  British 
Islands,  and    from  pioneers   to  Kentucky  and 


Ohio,  from  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  who 
had  participated  in  the  war  for  independence, 
and  in  the  Indian  wars  of  the  period.  He  thus 
inherited  through  a  long  line  of  ances- 
try a  spirit  of  investigation,  allied  to  a  love 
of  the  beautiful  in  every  sense.  He  also 
inherited  a  taste  for  horticulture,  and  was  early 
employed  in  its  pursuit,  so  that  when  tempo- 
rarily diverted  from  the  pursuit  of  his  profess- 
ion— by    a  poisoned  wound — which    disabled 


BURKYILLE   PRECINCT. 


335- 


him,  he  sought  a  new  home  which  should  unite 
the  beauties  of  nature  with  probable  horticult- 
ural capabilities  of  wide  range.  To  test  the 
horticultural  capabilities  of  this  new  home  was 
the  work  to  which  the  Doctor  now  addressed 
himself  with  untiring  energ}-,  and  after  twenty- 
eight  3'ears  of  carefully  directed  observation, 
finds  the  region  unfavorable  to  many  desirable 
fruits.  This  is  especially  true  of  winter  apples, 
apricots,  plums,  and  all  the  smooth-skinned 
fruits,  except  the  grape,  which  is  profitably 
grown  in  large  quantitj-,  and  in  considerable 
variety.  These  experiments,  though  costing 
the  Doctor  (and  man}-  who  were  misled  by  his 
early  and  temporary  successes)  great  loss,  will 
prove  no  disparagement  to  the  county,  as  the 
minor  fruits  and  berries  are  generall}-  success- 
ful, and  are  largely  grown,  while  wheat  and 
clover  are  proving  the  basis  of  great  wealth  to 
the  country.  In  this  long,  and  in  many  in- 
stances, painful  course  of  experience,  the  Doc- 
tor has  at  no  time  lost  his  zeal  for  investigation, 
but  has  widened  and  extended  his  views  into 
eveiy  department  of  natural  science,  and  finds 
nature  everywhere  producing  worlds  and  sj'S- 
tems  whereon  beaut}^  is  developed  in  many 
varied  forms  for  the  gratification  of  myriads  of 
sentient  creatures,  for  he  with  Wordsworth  be- 
lieves— 

"That  Nature  never  did  betray 
The  heart  that  loved  her." 

And  that  Nature's  work  is  to  present  the  condi- 
tions requisite  to  individual  experience,  and  in- 
dividual pain  and  pleasure,  in  wide  diversity. 
W.  R.  GRAIN,  farmer.  Among  the  more 
active,  upright  and  highl}-  respected  citizens 
of  Pulaski  County,  who  have  carved  out  a  suc- 
cessful career  by  their  own  indomitable  energy, 
is  Mr.  W.  R.  Grain,  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch.  Gommencing  life  a  poor  man,  he 
has,  b}'  his  honest}-,  industr}'  and  economy', 
succeeded  in  accumulating  a  good  property. 
He  was  born  in  Springfield,  Ohio,  September 
29.   1834,   where  he  was  reared  and  educated. 


In  1858  with  father  came  to  Illinois  and  settled 
in  Pulaski  Gounty,  and  engaged  in  farming.  In 
the  fall  of  1862,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
the  late  civil  war,  serving  in  Gompany  I  of  the 
Eighty-first  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
when  he  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  held 
the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant.  He  was  in  the 
following  engagements  :  Port  Gibson,  Raymond, 
Jackson,  Gharapion  Hill,  Black  River,  Siege  of 
Vicksburg,  Red  River.  Gun  Town,  Blue  River, 
Nashville  and  Fort  Blakelj-.  After  the  war, 
he  returned  to  his  home  in  Pulaski  Gounty, 
and  again  engaged  in  farming.  He  is  now  the 
owner  of  3-10  acres  of  good  land,  and  is  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  practical  farmers  of 
the  county.  On  the  2d  of  February,  1862,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Mar}'  A.  Spence,  a  daugh- 
ter of  William  J.  and  Ghristie  Ann  Spence. 
Mrs.  Grain  is  a  native  of  Pulaski  Gounty,  born 
March  2,  18-41.  This  union  has  been  blessed 
with  the  following  children  :  James  L.,  War- 
ren G.,  Emma,  Alma,  Lewis  F.,  Mary  and  Will- 
iam R.  Mr.  Grain  is  an  active  member  of  the 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  Villa  Ridge  Lodge,  No.  562. 
Politicall}',  he  is  a  Republican,  and  has  served 
the  people  in  the  oflfice  of  Gount}'  Gommis- 
sioner  for  five  years,  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
twelve  3'ears.  and  besides  man}'  of  the  minor 
offices. 

SAMUEL  SPENGE,  merchant  and  Ameri- 
can Express  Agent,  Junction,  was  born  in  the 
city  of  New  York  February  8,  1836,  and  is  a 
son  of  Samuel  and  Deborah  W.  (Stimost) 
Spence.  He,  a  native  of  Scotland,  was  born 
September  22,  1788.  He  learned  the  carpen- 
ter's trade  in  Scotland,  and  worked  at  the  same 
there  and  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
and  also  in  New  York  Git}'.  He  was  also  for 
a  trme  engaged  in  navigation.  He  came  West 
to  Pulaski  Gounty,  111.,  in  1838,  and  here  died 
in  1852.  His  wife,  subject's  mother,  was  born 
in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  December  28, 
1796,  and  died  in  Pulaski  Gounty,  111.,  March 
11,  1859.     She  was  the  mother  of  twelve  chil- 


336 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


dren,  three  of  whom  are  now  living— James  I., 
Mrs.  Helen  S.  W.  Newsom  and  Samuel  Spence, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch.  His  early  life  was 
spent  at  home,  assisting  to  till  the  soil  of  the 
home  farm,  and  receiving  a  limited  education 
in  the  schools  of  Pulaski  County.  At  eighteen 
years  of  age,  he  left  home  and  embarked  on  his 
career  in  life  by  working  on  the  Ohio  River, 
continuing  the  same  for  two  years,  and  engaged 
in  clerking  for  different  individuals  in  the  mer- 
cantile business  until  1870,  when  he  engaged 
as  a  book-keeper  and  operator  for  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company.  He  is  at  the  pres- 
ent time  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at 
Mound  City  Junction,  doing  a  large  and  lu- 
crative business.  He  has  been  twice  married. 
His  first  wife  was  Miss  Nancy  Murphy,  a  na- 
tive of  this  county.  She  died  January  26, 
1 863,  leaving  three  children,  of  whom  but  one 
is  now  living — Clara  0.,  born  February  18, 
1859,  now  the  wife  of  M.  F.  Perks,  a  stock- 
dealer  of  Villa  Ridge,  111.  His  present  wife 
was  Sarah  A.,  daughter  of  John  W.  and  Sarah 
(Berget)  Richards.  Mr.  Spence  is  the.  owner 
of  a  farm  containing  120  acres.  He  is  an  act- 
ive member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics,  and  has  held  the  office  of  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  for  several  years. 

HON.  H.  H.  SPENCER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mound 
City,  Burkville  Precinct.  In  the  annals  some- 
times of  a  county  the  important  event  in  that 
history  is  the  coming  of  a  certain  individual, 
because  in  that  one  life  is  more  of  importance 
to  the  growth,  development  and  reputation  of 
his  adopted  county  than  perhaps  all  the  other 
men  in  it.  The  man  of  strong  character,  origi- 
nal mind,  and  great  enterprise,  and  who  can 
conceive  and  execute  great  designs  in  the 
development  of  the  industries  and  the  advance- 
ment of  the  entire  community  in  which  he  lives, 
is  a  person  of  inestimable  worth.  He  is  one  of 
the  promoters  of  civilization — an  architect  who 
forms  and  creates  the  arts  and  sciences  among 
the  people,  which  advances  man  and  surrounds 


him  with  the  joys  and  comforts  of  civilized 
life.  Among  the  rush  of  people  to  a  new  coun- 
try such  men  are  always  the  rare  and  few.  But 
when  an  individual  does  come  it  never  should 
be  forgotten  that  his  history  is  the  true  history 
of  his  county  and  people.  To  build  up  the  arts 
and  sciences,  trade  manufactui'es,  agriculture 
and  general  industries  among  the  people  ;  to 
point  the  way  to  great  commercial  and  manu- 
facturing enterprises,  and  thereby  cause  school 
houses,  churches,  factories,  farms,  villages 
and  towns  to  spring  into  existence,  bring- 
ing with  them  the  culture,  comforts  and 
splendid  advantages  of  a  ripened  civiliza- 
tion, is  to  achieve  victories  surpassing  those  of 
war  and  empire,  and  whose  cheering  and  benign 
influences  endure  and  bless  the  people  long 
after  their  originator  has  "joined  the  silent 
multitude  "  and  is  peacefully  sleeping  where 
"the  dead  and  beautiful  rest."  Thus  the 
world  has  the  benefits  of  great  individual 
worth,  and  the  examples  of  lives  whose 
good  effects  endure  forever.  It  is  our  high- 
est duty  and  privilege  to  cherish  and  per- 
petuate the  good  name  and  great  life  work  of 
these  true  and  peaceful  benefactors  of  mankind, 
for  the  study  and  contemplation  of  the  youths 
of  the  coming  generations.  The  stor}-  of  such 
lives — their  humble  beginnings  slow  toiling  up 
the  steep  of  life,  and  the  blessings  their  enter- 
prise and  energy  scattered  along  the  pathway, 
and  the  final  crown  of  success,  will  prove  the 
most  valuable  lessons,  and  the  most  useful 
monitors  that  we  can  transmit  to  our  children. 
And  of  all  the  people  who  have  spent  the  ac- 
tive part  of  their  lives  here,  we  know  of  none 
whose  history  tells  a  better  moral  than  of  Hon. 
H.  H.  Spencer,  whose  name  heads  this  sketch. 
He  was  born  at  Whitney  Point,  Broome  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  on  the  ITth  of  November,  1832.  He  is  the 
son  of  Jason  G.  Spencer,  born  about  1801,  in 
New  York,  a  mechanic  by  occupation,  who  is 
yet  living.  His  father  was  Nehemiah  Spencer, 
a  native  of  New  Hampshire,    and  of  English 


BURKVIJ.LE  PRECINCT. 


33: 


descent.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Polly 
Ticknor,  a  native  of  New  York,  where  she  died. 
She  was  the  mother  of  eight  children — Elias, 
Nehemiah,  Angeline,  Ruth  A.,  Henr}'  H.  tlie 
subject  of  this  sketch,  Sarah,  Laura  (deceased), 
aiid  >huT.  Our  subject  spent  his  early  life  at 
home,  assisting  to  till  the  soil  of  his  father's 
farm,  and  receiving  such  an  education  as  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county  afforded. 
At  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  left  his  home  and 
embarked  on  lifes  rugged  pathwa}-  as  a  hired 
hand  in  a  mill  at  Olean,  on  the  Allegheny 
River,  where  he  remained  till  the  summer  of 
1852,  when  he  came  West  and  located  at  Bloom- 
ington,  111.,  and  there  worked  in  a  saw  mill. 
In  1855,  he  came  to  Ullin,  Pulaski  Co.,  111., 
where  he  worked  in  a  mill  until  the  spring  of 
1856,  when  he  bought  an  interest  in  a  saw  mill 
at  Ullin,  which  he  removed  after  one  year  to  a 
place  three  miles  east  of  Villa  Ridge,  and  oper- 
ated the  same  until  the  spring  of  1861,  when 
he  sold  his  interest,  and  built  him  a  large  and 
commodious  residence  on  his  farm,  where  he 
now  resides.  In  1862,  he  again  embarked  in 
the  saw  mill  business,  building  a  mill  two  miles 
northeast  of  Puluski,  on  the  Cache  River,  which 
he  conducted  successfuU}-  until  1872,  when  he 
sold  it.  Since  then  his  time  has  been  chief!}' 
occupied  in  looking  after  his  real  estate  inter- 
ests. When  he  came  to  this  county  he  had  $20, 
but  although  poor  in  purse,  he  was  rich  in  per- 
severance and  experience,  and  possessed  a 
strong  will  and  gi-eat  energ}-.  He  has  now 
practically  retired  from  active  life,  engaged  in 
superintending  his  farms.  He  has  over  2,000 
acres  of  laud  in  this  county,  the  fruit  of  a  suc- 
cessful business  career.  The  people  have  shown 
the  confidence  put  in  him  by  electing  him  to 
different  offices.  In  1875,  he  was  elected  Sher- 
iff of  Pulaski  Count}-,  and  served  two  years. 
In  the  fall  of  1878,  he  was  elected  Representa- 
tive of  the  Fifty -first  Senatorial  District  of  Illi- 
nois, serving  two  years.  He  also  filled  many 
of  the  minor  oflSces,  too  numerous  to  mention. 


In  politics,  Mr.  Spencer  has  been  identified  with 
the  Republican  party,  and  his  was  one  of  the 
seven  votes  cast  for  Fremont  in  this  count}-  in 
the  year  1856.  Of  late  his  sympathies  are 
with  the  Free  Trade  movement.  Mr.  Spencer 
was  joined  in  matrimony  September  12,1855, 
in  Bloomington.  111.,  to  Miss  Eleanor  T.  Gould, 
a  native  of  Dexter,  Me.,  born  October  15,  1833. 
She  is  the  mother  of  the  following  children — 
Frank,  born  June  19,  1856,  he  married  Miss 
Abbie  Ent,  who  has  borne  him  one  child — 
Frank  ;' Edgar,  born  August  26,  1858;  Ella, 
born  September  19,  1860,  the  wife  of  John  W. 
Titus,  they  have  one  child — Henry  Titus  ; 
Flora,  born  April  8,  1862  ;  Zena,  born  Novem- 
ber 2,  1864;  Louisa  H.,  born  March  20,  1869. 
Mrs.  Eleanor.  T.  Spencer  died  May  29,  1878. 
HENRY  S.  WALBRIDGE,  lumberman, 
Junction.  One  of  the  substantial  and  en- 
terprising citizens  of  Burkville  Precinct  is 
Mr.  Henry  S.  Walbridge,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  He  was  born  in  Bennington,  Vt.,  on 
the  1st  of  January,  1821.  His  father,  Elipha- 
let  Walbridge,  was  a  native  of  New  York, 
where  he  died  in  about  1827.  Sally  (Strong) 
Walbridge,  subject's  mother,  was  a  native  of 
Vergennes,  Yt.,  born  January  8,  1801.  After 
the  death  of  Mr.  Walbridge,  she  married  Prof. 
D.  D.  Tuthill,  of  Edenton,  S.  C;  she  was  the 
mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom  four  are  now 
living — Heni'y  S.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  ; 
Egbert  E.  Walbridge  ;  Mrs.  Mary  E.  (Tuthill) 
Pierson,  and  Richard  S.  Tuthill,  a  prominent 
lawyer  of  Chicago.  Henry  S.  Walbridge  was 
educated  in  New  York  and  Southern  Illinois, 
principally  under  the  instruction  of  his  step- 
father. He  has  been  chiefly  engaged  in  the 
saw  mill  business,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
who  used  the  circular  saw  in  Southern  Illinois, 
the  great  lumber  region  of  the  State.  He  first 
engaged  in  the  business  in  Jackson  County, 
111.,  in  1845,  and  continued  the  same  in  dif- 
feernt  parts  of  the  State  with  marked  suc- 
cess until  1883,  when  he  sold  his  mill,  which 


c48 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  located  at  Burkville.  He  may  now  be 
classed  among  the  retired  men  of  Pulaski 
Count}',  enjoj-ing  in  the  latter  3'ears  of  his 
life  those  comforts  and  pleasures  which  ever 
result  from  honesty,  industry  and  econom3^ 
Mr.  Walbridge  has  been  twice  married,  first  to 
Miss  Rebecca  J.  Phelps,  who  died  leaving  four 
children,  of  whom  Mrs.  Salh*  Hawkins  is  now' 


living.  His  second  was  Matilda  Green,  a  native 
of  Ohio.  She  died  in  Pulaski  County.  III.,  in 
1861,  leaving  two  children  as  the  result  of 
their  union — Eliza  B.  and  Charles  H..  who 
married  Miss  Hatiie  D.  Ent.  Mr.  W.  is  an 
active  member  of  tiie  Masonic  fraternity,  and 
an  ardent  Republican,  and  during  the  war  did 
great  service  in  organizing  the  ■'  Union  League." 


